This, That and a Recipe

Contessa Jewall4 Comments

The film crew are still here. What do you see extreme right?

It almost looks like the girls ran thru the film scene. I don’t think that they did!!

Well I don’t think so!

Not sure if this yacht is part of the film or not!

A few sunset photos of that evening.

Movie film update…..

This is how they record the telenovela “The Invincible Love” on the Island of the Stone ( Isla de la Piedra ), the protagonists are Angelique Boyer and Danilo Carrera.
I think that this is the closest we will get to seeing the telenovela/soap opera.

Last Friday we went to a kids Christmas concert at El Velero. Jose the son of the owner of the restaurant, MIkkail, has been volunteering in an underprivileged area of Mazatlan and teaching music to several students. This was their first ever concert and for some their first time in a restaurant and for all a first time performing in front of an audience.

The concert was a great success.

I was happy to be a small part of the promotion for the event. It was a by donation event and because of all the RVers who attended and their generosity and of course others they were able to raise enough funds to purchase TWO additional keyboards. A wonderful start to the Christmas season.

Another person who attended the concert put these photos on a FaceBook page. https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=9290757457604790&set=pcb.9290811380932731

Lovely sunset that evening.

The very next evening we went out to dinner with Dianne and Bob, neighbours and friends back home, Holiday Park Resort. They are staying in RV2 or a while.

And now, finally, the long awaited new guacamole recipe 😛 Special thanks to Michelle from Comox, BC

~3 avocados – smashed or mashed  😉

~1 large or two small green onions

~2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro

~3 garlic cloves, minced

~1/2 to 1 jalapeno, diced

~lime juice to taste

~two drops of liquid smoke or to taste (suggest mesquite not hickory )

~salt to taste

~cayenne to taste if you prefer more heat

 

 

 

 

Living every day to the fullest

Contessa Jewall7 Comments

I have been absent from posting but we are having a wonderful time. My knee is still sore but other days it is okay. I am doing a full set of my exercises everyday and walking a bit on the beach as well. I was going to get an MRI just for the heck of it. Prices have gone way up 🙄 So I am going back to day by day. Got some great shots of the girls on the beach today. Somehow they got into deep water. We now know that they can swim 😀

Close up of one my plants from last season that did not bloom. Love its flowers this year.

We are building new friendships and renewing old ones. Sadly the girls are being rather vocal and we have been using their bark collars. They are enjoying all the various visitors we get everyday but seem to want to say hola rather loudly to everyone. Overall they are 90% better than last season, its just that they like to greet everyone. We have offers from folks who want to puppy sit.

Lacey lived next door when we arrived but had to move to RV2 for a few weeks re scheduling. The girls miss their playdates.

It is really difficult to come inside and sit at the computer with everything being so wonderful out there.  The outside is done for Christmas and Colin put up the inside coloured lights. Tomorrow I will put up our special decorations inside and our mini mini tree.

Thank you Cindy for this lovely photo of our Mountain Ash back home. I am sure that the winter birds will be happy.

As in years past I am accepting donations via E-Transfer or PayPal for the December 24th food hamper distribution to those that need help in providing a Christmas for their families. Click here for a synopsis of years past.

This is this years request for donations and their hope for this Christmas season. $24.00CAD will give a family a complete Christmas meal along with extras for a few days.

Photos from the past few years.

Volunteers help package the food.

The RV Park now has a Santa on a sleigh ( ATV dressed up ) who will go out December 23rd giving candies to all the children on the Isla. The official Isla Santa passed last year and now we have Drew who grew his white beard long these past months just for the children. Hopefully I will get a few photos.

Tres Amigos RVers has a committee who do many things to raise funds to also help the less fortunate on the Isla. They get the names of those in need from the heads of the various areas in the Colonia. These people get coupons to spend at one of the two food stores here on the Isla. We support both but I have a soft spot in my heart for Dallas and his Isla born wife Rocio.

This is a large one.

Surprised to see all these cruise ship visitors sitting close up to the RV fence. Perhaps they feel more secure.

In other news we have a broken toilet seat. Rather precarious 😳  Colin may may need to duck tape things for the time being. Not sure if we can get a replacement here. Sadly Erik our wonderful RV tech’s wife had a stroke last week. So this is not the time to be bothering him with things like this. Gracie is coming along but has a very long road to recovery.

PS……. I have not forgotten and that guacamole recipe will be in the next post.

Beach day and tiny house open house

Contessa Jewall6 Comments

Beach walk Saturday, December 3rd. This was day three of a massive set up for a local wedding. We later found our that the wedding cost $250,000.00 USD. Most impressive. They had fireworks and three bands. All done in good taste. Apparently the dancing went until 7AM but it was not loud. Colin actually met the aunt of the bride the other day.

This was my first beach walk other than the drive to the far end of the beach. In this direction we can walk 10 miles if we wanted to. Ciela enjoying every second.

Of course Carlie as well.

They love the small waves.

Later that day we attended an open house here in RV1. One of the RVers decided to have a home custom built with materials that will last for a very very long time. It took about 18 months from planning to almost completion. The tiny house is on site #4 and he is also renting his original site #5 so that he can have lots of space for fun.

The home is 500 sq ft. We live in 1000 sq ft.

Pop up TV.

Pop up stove fan on the right. Great views.

Nice photo of Colin, Capitán Federico and his lovely wife Kelly.  They are new to RV1 this season and are in #3.

Snaps of the event.

 

 

Yesterday, Monday, startled us awake!

Contessa Jewall18 Comments

How many of you have had a generator parked next to you that was strong enough to run a large hospital?

This was the generator truck that started at 6:00AM yesterday ( Monday  the 5th ) and ran all day until 7:00PM.

With no previous knowledge we learned that a movie was being filmed directly in front of us.

The trucks ran all behind RV1 to past Cordon’s.

Wardrobe.  Another truck was makeup, another had showers and toilets and on and on. They were all supplied electricity from the generator next to us.

Meanwhile in front we suddenly had six sea-doos going back and forth.

We were a captive audience. So much activity. I vaguely recall reading within the past few months on the Isla de la Piedra Facebook page that extras were being sought for a movie. The turquoise Rubicon Jeep had been up and down the beach for a few days. Now we know why. It was actually in one of the scenes.

Various props were built here and there. In fact the first scene of the day and the last towards sunset were filmed closer to the shrimp farm up the beach. I actually walked there today:) And they were filming up there again.

Mid screen you can see the large white reflector screen, that is where the current action was being filmed.

This is what was behind the Jeep. The production crew catching all the film angles, sound, lighting, etc. It has been unusually humid the past few days. It is 90% humidity at 7PM locally at this very moment. Note the fan top right area.

They had a bullhorn, sound boom, lights and all you could expect. I even heard the word “action”! Pronounced slightly differently in Spanish.

Despite the heat and humidity these gaffers had to move their lighting equipment all over the beach. The cameras were on huge tripods that moved in the deep sand.

Time to move the production “tent” closer to the next scene directly on the water.

This scene required the sea-doos to do their thing.

About 4PM we went into our RV and were overwhelmed with the smell of exhaust inside. Instant headache. So Colin shut the widows and turned on the A/C. Besides the smell, the generators were an irritation with their constant hummmm.

What a special day for us to experience.

There has been so much happening in the past week that I can’t keep up with the blog. Lots more to come. Life on the Isla is indeed paradise.

Last night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Great Day!!

Contessa Jewall12 Comments

This Friday started with a 90 minute massage. However Katia had to give the girls some loving first.

My knee is better so I wandered around today and did a wee bit of visiting.

Later in the afternoon I did a full set of my exercises, thank you all for getting me going. It was not easy but I thought of each one of you and pushed through. However I only did the one set, tomorrow I will strive for two sets, am and pm 😎

Wow, just wow!

Last month of the year

Contessa Jewall8 Comments

Hard to believe it is already December. One month left in 2022. Was it just me or did the year fly by?

One of my hibiscus that survived the two hurricanes.

Thank you all so very much for your positive reinforcement of my exercise program. For the first time since November 8th I had an online session this afternoon with my kinesiologist. Got a few repeats to continue with and some new ones to work on. She is also working on helping me strengthen my knee. Which by the way, is more improved today than yesterday.

Our first oriole this winter season.

A few photos from a day as seen from our RV site here on the Isla.

Life just passes by us. Walkers, a bather, a horse and cart with folks enjoying the ride and of course a few musicians. Oh and the sailboat.

Colin sitting there watching all the activity as he sits with his girls and enjoys his morning coffee and muffin along with some sweet pineapple and papaya.

Four shrimp boats waiting to come into port but they had to wait as there were two cruise ships at dock.

A new coleus for me. Carol this is what your colourful plants are.

Looks like a brick works very well as a pillow for a nap in the sun.

How many can fit under one umbrella? Both girls on the left joined the family.

So happy to finally see some pelicans, there have not been many of late.

 

November catch up!

Contessa Jewall24 Comments

Where has the month gone? We arrived here two weeks ago yesterday. And of course 17 days ago is when I injured my right knee. It was better yesterday and again today. I started my kinesiology exercises three days ago. A different soreness but overall better. I have an online session booked with my therapist for tomorrow 😎  If I don’t get back into the program soon I will be so tempted to ditch the entire thing and just sit around. Hint, hint, I am asking for support and encouragement 😳

About four days later we had our first happy hour this season.

Not normal for us but there was an accomplished guitarist here in the park who was leaving the next day.  Marilyn plays a twelve string guitar.

Sadly it was Grey Cup Day and folks came and left and came back.

Colin played his classical music at first and later backed up new comer Bruce.

Colin accompanied Marylin for a few songs.

Doxies basking in the sun.

I found this product on Amazon.

The product is safe for the environment and animals ( ?? ) but not humans!!!!!! It was suggested that a mask and gloves be worn and so Colin did. It seems to be working thus far. You have to Google the product for the details.

Sorry not a clear photo ( my fault ). This is a hole where we planted our latest bougainvillea.

The girls dug  it out of the soil. I had hoped that it would live in this glass of water, but it did not.

…they ate most of the roots.

The replacement ( I really liked the colour of the first one ). It is now protected from over active doxies.

Not sure what day this was but yet another gift from Mother Nature.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fun at the beach!

Contessa Jewall8 Comments

We arrived here November 15th. On November 17th we all went to the beach for the first time. However Colin dropped me off at El Velero’s on the way back and carried on to hose off the salt on the girls and to dry them and leave them in the RV. He came back and we enjoyed our visit with some new people here in RV1. I wrote back then that the music got me up to dance. Note to self, you are too old to do the twist. 

I was feeling better just two days ago on Friday November 26th and so I went to the far end of the beach with my family. It was too much for me.  I wrote about this the other but I wanted to set the stage for these photos. We had a wonderful time. I have been a good girl and iced and used heat the past two days. I am on the mend 😉 I really miss being on the beach everyday.

The tide is low and there is lots of space for the girls to run around. They are not taking off this year. but we are still using a dragging leash for now. They go for two long runs and then they slow down and just run a short distance and come back.

At this far end of the beach ( towards Mazatlan ) there is much to be explored.

So many new sniffs. Colin is holding a plastic bag with some of their daly kibble to use as a treat to get them to come back. They each get a tiny piece on a return and lots of praise.

Ciela has spotted a crab going in and out of the surf.

She is one wet and sandy puppy.

They kept heading back along the rocks and into the small waves.

But always come back to us to get that piece of kibble. We don’t use treats as they have too many calories.

The white house in the middle of the above phone is being rented by long time friends Nancy & Randy. Hard to see but they are standing on their patio under that first palapa watching all of our activity. They used to RV here at Tres Amigos and we have remained friends ever since. How long ago was that Nancy? The large white house on the left is being built by other friends from RV2.

 

 

 

 

My snap, crackle and pop are missing!

Contessa Jewall14 Comments

I thought that I was almost ‘fixed’ but my knee is still giving me grief. We all actually went to the beach together for a bit yesterday but it was too much for me, even though we drove to the end of the beach so minimal walking. Hopefully I will have those fun photos for you tomorrow or the next day. I am a bit behind in my blogging. Sitting at the computer aggravates my knee 😥

Last night we had a different sunset.

This is how it started.

We were surprised to see a banana boat out there so late. What caught our attention was the ( tractor just above the palapa on the right ) pulling in the boat and also pulling in the actual banana. The tide had changed.

The moon in the upper left.

The colours were a deep orange.

All four of us are still enjoying every single moment of every bit of the day. Many new friends here in the park. We have not one single complaint 😎 Happy to be in paradise.