Molasses Puzzle Solved

Molasses Puzzle Solved

Seeing as I had finally found molasses I decided that I better bake cookies. After I had them baked I took a plateful of them and the jar of molasses down to our landlady. She tasted the molasses and a lightbulb went off. It is the same as the piloncillos she says, the cones of brown sugar that you see everywhere in the stores. She says that you put a little water in a pan and melt the cone and then use it in your recipe. I am not sure how that would affect your sugar ratio in the recipe though, so I will have to stick with the already liquid form. You can also buy piloncillos in squares (rather than cones)with nuts, peanuts, etc. already in them. Ah...when I googled "piloncillos", I found a site that says to boil a piloncillo with a bit of water to make a molasses syrup. The ratio seems to be that 2 cones equal 1 cup of sugar. A couple of days later when Ciro and Irene were up visiting, they were telling me of a place in Sonora where apparently they grow the sugarcane and process it into the piloncillos. They said that you can go there and buy the liquid molasses also; but it is about 100 miles from here, more or less. The cones are made just for ease of transport, etc..

Roy drove me to spanish class on Thursday and we returned to the store to see if she had managed to get the easel. It was sitting out waiting for us and after checking that all the bits and pieces were there, we purchased it. Merry Christmas to us, (this was what we decided to get for our Christmas "gift").

Yesterday (Saturday), Roy and Ciro went fishing in the early afternoon. Around 5 PM, Irene and I were off to a baby shower for one of her nieces. We stopped at a couple of places on the way, first to say hello to some of her relatives and then to pick up her sister from work. Unfortunately her sister had to work until 7 PM so could not attend. Irene also pointed out where other members of her family live on the way to the salon where the shower was being held.

The baby is not born yet; but they know that it is going to be a girl, so everything was decorated with pink. The white tablecloths had overthrows of pink gingham with ceramic centerpieces of babies, each table had a different ceramic baby on it, so we wandered around looking at them all. There was a huge stork with his bundle holding a baby, a large floral arrangement on the main table, etc.. It was very pretty. We were each given a little thing to pin to our blouse, mine was a tiny baby bib with little colored balls inside, Irenes was a little angel head with wings. The momma to be had a pink corsage. We sat and visited with others, I actually recognised some of the ladies from the birthday party that we had attended earlier this month. Everyone sat around the tables visiting and snacking, I met lots of new people; but of course cannot remember names as usual. Some pictures were taken by the gift table, Irene obviously doesn't know how much I hate having my picture taken, as she dragged me along. A lady came in and did a bit of a show, I am not sure who she was impersonating; but she seemed to be known by everyone there. We were served a late dinner at around 9:30 which was very good. The meat was pork roasted with pinapple and was very tender and delicious, Irene said she will give me the recipe for it. Shortly after eating, we made our farewells and left, returning home around 10 PM. An enjoyable evening; but also one which showed me just how little spanish I do know and what a long road I have yet to travel to fluency. I probably understood about 20 % of the conversations. It was a good gabfest for the ladies and a fun time. Thank goodness there were none of the silly games played, like they used to do in Canada, how I hated those games.

I haven't touched my spanish homework so need to get at that today and also need to do some laundry.

Molasses

Molasses

Things are different here in the grocery stores. Some products that you are used to from "back home", are unfindable here, other things are different and still others you will need to hunt hard for. I had a hard time finding chocolate chips, they are not in the grocery stores, they are found in the cake baking supply stores. There seem to be 2 grades of white sugar, standard and refined, the refined is much more espensive. The standard is coarser and not as white as what we were used to; but is fine for almost everything, I have bought the refined a time or two; but decided that it was not worth the extra cost, unless I am baking something special. Brown sugar was not easy to find. Everywhere you look, you can find the hard cones; but those are impossible to use unless you want to dissolve it in something. For baking I had to find the mascabado, it is in a small packet and is not carried in all the grocery stores and is also very coarse. Canned tomatoes, pickles and other things are just not found here. Before Christmas I wanted to bake Gingersnap cookies, so began the hunt for molasses. I have found out that it is something that is just not used down here, or in this area anyway. My landlady did not even know what it was, she thought I was looking for honey. The store owners met my questions with blank stares and "No Hay", in other words they didn't have it and most didn't know what it was.

Yesterday we had some errands to run in San Carlos. I had heard of a shop out there that carries a brand of Veracruz coffee that we wanted to try. According to the shop owner it is also an organic coffee, we bought a kilo (ground) for 140 pesos (around $14.00, coffee is not cheap here). I am just finishing off my old can of coffee so we didn't try it this morning, will try it tomorrow and see if it is better tasting. I had also been told of a store that stocks some US style products so thought that I would check there for the molasses. It is just a tiny store; but has lots of products: canned tomatoes, some pickles, Tollhouse chocolate chips and YES molasses. The prices are high, about $4.89 for a jar of molasses; but cheaper and easier than packing it back from the US. I also found a bag of brown sugar. I restrained myself and just bought 2 jars of molasses and 1 bag of brown sugar and the bill was over $13.00--you definately pay for being particular!!

We stopped at the shop where we are supposed to be buying the art easel. The owner said that she was just on her way into Guaymas to the warehouse to pick up her order. She and Roy arranged to met at a spot in Guaymas, for him to buy the easel, while I was in spanish class. I guess they did met but no easel. She told Roy that the man was not at the warehouse so she was unable to get her shipment. Roy told her we would check back in a few days. We then stopped at our friends restaurant, they were just leaving to take a break for a couple of hours so we went and visited at their home with them. Our little heater has not been working well, I think the thermostat is going bad, it clicks on and off every 30 seconds or so. Our friends had one that they were not using so we bought it from them. We also stopped and chatted with a lady who is driving to Tucson when we want to go to Yuma, she was looking for a couple of passengers and we thought it might be more convenient for us than the bus. We arranged to go with her, and then found out that she is going to Green Valley, not Tucson. In the evening we checked the bus site to see if we can go to Tucson from Green Valley and it doesn't even show up on their site. We are re-thinking the plan now and will go and check out some of the bus schedules here today to see if we can go from here to San Luis Rio Colorado rather than to Tucson and then over to Yuma. We will see. After we had finished with all our errands I went to spanish class. Hmmm... and people wonder what we do with all our time.

Gotta Love It Here

Gotta Love It Here

I love being able to shop without hardly leaving the yard. The trucks troll down the streets extolling the virtues of their products, which are varied. Their PA systems are great, you know what they are selling before they get to your house; although some of them are so garbled that by the time I understand what they are selling, the truck is already down the street. The first one this morning, called you to attention and told you to listen, it then went on to say that he was selling oranges, 25 oranges for 10 pesos (about $1.00), large and sweet. Roy went down and got a bag of 25, they were not real large; but he ate one and pronounced it good. Next was a truck with a poor sound system, by the time I figured it out, he was gone. He was selling potatoes, darn I am out of potatoes....oh well, maybe tomorrow. Next came the junk dealer, he was picking up aluminum, old batteries, etc., we had nothing to give him. All this within a 1/2 hour. Of course, there is also the daily paper VW, that tells you the headlines and you can go get your paper from him. Hmm....wonder who will be next?

I wasn't looking forward to spanish class yesterday, as we were getting back a little exam she gave us on Thursday, I felt so blank when I was writing the exam and was sure that I had gotten a very poor mark. I was almost embarassed to show my face. When she handed the paper to me, I didn't even look at it at first, when I did I got a very pleasant surprise, my mark was 97%, maybe I know more than I thought. Naw, probably just got lucky.

Today we are going to check and see if the easel is in at the store in San Carlos, so Roy will come with me in the car. I need to go to the bank and we need car gas. We also read of a lady who is driving to Tucson around the time that we want to go to Yuma, so we are going to go and see her. We could share costs with her instead of taking the bus up there. I have also heard of a store selling better coffee so want to check that out also. Roy will go visiting while I am in class and then pick me up later, and we will probably get some groceries on the way home. Lots of errands today.

Irene came up and gave me an invitation to a baby shower for her niece on the 27 th. We teased Roy that we would put a dress and makeup on him and let him come too (it is only for women). He wasn't toooo interested in that, so I guess I will go with Irene and leave him at home. She told me that the building that it is being held in is enclosed, so it will be warmer than the place where we went to the birthday party. She also told me that there will be lots of ladies there who speak english, some of whom are Canadians from San Carlos. She said we would go at 3 PM, so I pointed out that the invitation said 5:30 PM, she said they told her 3; but that we would go at 4 PM instead.

It is sunny; but the wind is still cool.

Snow In Tucson, Arizona

Snow In Tucson, Arizona

El Nino must be laughing his head off, last evening it snowed in Tucson, Arizona. Here are a couple of photos that I borrowed from the online edition on the "Tucson Citizen" newspaper. Their forecast for today is: "Mostly cloudy today with scattered snow and freezing rain. Highs, 45 to 50. South wind 5 to 10 mph becoming northeast 10 to 15 mph this afternoon. " Sounds lovely doesn't it? Some bridges are closed and some schools have delayed opening times this morning. Tucson is about 325 miles from us; but it was also snowing in Nogales last night which is only 5 hours from us. Here it is sunny this morning (at 9:14 AM) and in the shade it is 18 C. (about 65 F.). Not too bad.

As for our exciting life, yesterday Roy and Ciro went fishing in the afternoon and I hung out at home reading. Today it is back to spanish class for me, not sure if Roy has any plans or not; but I do have a grocery list so, maybe he does have plans.....

Thunder And Lightning In January

Thunder And Lightning In January

I was awakened at 1 AM by a large boom and crash. I laid there for a minute, kind of disoriented, this was not one of the normal sounds we hear here. When I heard rain drumming on the roof, I realised that what I had heard was thunder. I got up and went into the livingroom to view the sights. The rain was pouring down, lightning was flashing and thunder was booming. One flash of lightning was so bright it felt like a flash cube going off in my eyes. The thunder boom that followed this one, rattled our windows. This one woke Roy up and he wanted to know what was going on. I stood and watched the rain come down until I started shivering and then climbed back into the nice warm cocoon of our bed. I went back to sleep with the rain drumming on the roof. El Nino is sure doing a job on the weather this winter. This current front going through is supposed to end up giving Albuquerque, New Mexico another foot of snow, as if they haven't had enough this year. Our housesit homeowners had emailed after one of their snowstorms that there was not a shovel left in any of the stores there. This morning it is sunny and although not warm, (it was 14 C. in the apt. this morning), it is nice to see the blue sky and sun again. Ciro came up with the newspaper from Hermosillo yesterday, on the front page was a photo taken in Hermosillo. It was frost and ice all over the plants and looked really pretty if you like that sort of stuff. They had another picture inside the paper that was taken at the golf course. The headline was: Hermosillo Congelado Y Viene Mas ( Hermosillo frozen and more coming). I can't seem to pull up yesterdays edition to get those photos and I don't have a scanner to scan it in from the paper. This is another photo that was in todays paper.

One of the local forums posts a picture almost everyday of something or other in San Carlos. I was surprised to see a photo of our spanish class, as the photo of the day a few days ago.

We got our power bill the other day for the last 2 months, not too tough on the wallet, it is 532 Pesos (about $53.20 dollars). Not too scary; but I do have to say that we are careful with our power consumption, not wanting to be power hogs.

Now It's Cold And Wet!!

Now It's Cold And Wet!!

Weather update, and yes, I realise that I am whining. This morning it was 15 C. (59 F.) in the apartment and 13 C. (56 F.) outside. It was also drizzling rain, go figure. The street was surface wet and of course, it is still grey and cloudy. Enough about the weather.

After making a "sort of" alfredo/shrimp sauce for spaghetti for supper, I did do my spanish homework. We then settled in to an evening of reading/TV/computer with a cup of hot chocolate.

In case anyone is wondering what I mean by a "sort of" alfredo/shirmp sauce this is what I did. No recipe of course, which is the way I do most of my cooking. Scary, isn't it, but; my theory is that if you put in all the ingredients that you like, how bad can it taste? I sauteed some onion, garlic and peppers in butter with some sal con chili y limon (similiar to seasoning salt), then added cut up shrimp and waited for them to be cooked. I then removed this mixture from the pan, (saving on the dirty dishes, Roy does the dishes and whines when I use every dish in the kitchen to cook a meal, LOL). Before commenting on this too much guys, remember this is a partnership and we are BOTH retired, LOL, sometimes he cooks and I do the dishes, equal opportunity for all in this kitchen. But, I digress. In the same pan,(besides this gets the yummy bits left in the pan into your sauce), I put butter and flour and cooked it, then slowly added milk to it and waited for it to become a white sauce (bechamel?). I then threw the shrimp mixture into the sauce and heated it for just a couple of minutes, final touch was a small bunch of parsley for color. Surprisingly for me, I forgot to throw any cheese in the sauce. I poured this over the spaghetti and then added cheese on top. It was good.

This afternoon I will be heading back to spanish class.

It Is Cold

It Is Cold

It has still not warmed up here and I am freezing! On Monday while I was at spanish class, Roy went uptown and bought a little electric heater. I hate to think how much power it uses and we don't keep it on a lot. Just now and then to take the edge off. Yesterday morning it was only 15 C. in the apt. when we got up, so the heater ran for a few hours. UGH. Today at 3 PM it was 19 C. both inside and outside. It is cloudy and grey, which we are not used to. I am sick of winter, bring on spring. Someone at spanish class yesterday told me that she had turned on her oven and left the door open on it, just to get a bit of heat in her home. I hate to think how cold it feels in some of the less well built homes around here and further north of us in the higher elevations. It is definately a different winter this year than it was last year. At least the wind has gone away, which helps.

I have been putting off doing my spanish homework all day; but I guess it is time.

Video Of Orca Whales At San Carlos

Video Of Orca Whales At San Carlos

Here is a video from YouTube of Orca Whales, it was shot at San Carlos around the 4th of January. It is not my video, unfortunately we did not see the whales.

It is cold here this morning, our thermometer showed 10 degrees Celsius, it is windy with some high clouds that seem to be slowly dissipating.

Ceramic And Art Show

Ceramic And Art Show

We left home yesterday morning to pick up Marilyn and Edgar at the campground and headed for the ceramic show being head at Club Deportivo in San Carlos. We wandered through the show and looked at all of the items on display and also the items that were up for bids in the silent auction. This was their fund raiser for the year. I also chatted with some of the people who belong to the club and watched them as they worked on some of their things. It was interesting. We had time before going for lunch so decided we would check in at the store that is supposed to be getting in some more easels. When we looked in December the lady told us that she would have some more in January. Yesterday she told us they would be in "next week", so we will check in again next week. Remember stocking/delivery times/dates are "iffy" down here. We then stopped and looked at 3 different stores that carry mexican crafts, pots, etc..

By this time we were all getting hungry. We decided to try a different restaurant for a change and had an enjoyable lunch. Marilyn and I both had a huge shrimp omelet that was served with a different type of salsa. The salsa was, of course, tomato based with lots of onion; but it was served warm and was not picante (spicy), slightly sweet and very tasty. The refried beans were very good and it also came with potatoes, melon slice, lettuce and tomato. I did my best; but could not finish it (could have had 2 meals from it). Roy had a 15 ounce T-bone steak with 3 eggs, toast and hash browns ($8.99) and Edgar had a burger and fries, all of us had coffee (after ascertaining that it was NOT Nescafe). It was a huge meal and the bill for the four of us was only around $34.00, not bad for San Carlos. Instead of heading home for siesta, we then continued on to the Art Show.

We enjoyed the art show, we didn't buy anything; but Marilyn and Edgar bought an oil painting of a cowboy. We teased her about where she would hang it as it seemed that his eyes were watching you closely. The artista was the lady who had done the interior paintings at our friends restaurant so we chatted with her for a few minutes and Marilyn and Edgar had a photo taken of themselves with her and the painting. Roy and I chatted for a minutes with the people about the art league and classes, etc.. After putting the painting in the car, we wandered around the sub-division for awhile, looking at the homes and chatting with some of the residents. Marilyn really seems to be enjoying San Carlos and would like to come back again next year, Edgar does not seem to be so sure. They will be leaving in mid February, as she runs a greenhouse and has to be at home to get things up and running for the spring season. We don't envy them going back to Canada at that time of year, especially as they have to head to Winnipeg to pick up plants shortly after their return. Yuck, the only place worse than Alberta or Saskatchewan in the winter is Winnipeg, Manitoba. It has to be the windiest, coldest city that I have ever been in, in the winter.

We dropped them off at the campground and returned home. Roy found some NFL on TV to end the day with. We were still not very hungry so just snacked for supper.

I think that we will be sticking close to home today, I am feeling lazy and Roys Seattle Seahawks are on TV, so he won't be going anywhere for awhile.

It is chilly and windy today; although sunny. Chilly is a relative term, I guess, as chilly here is like a cool summer day in Alberta; but we are acclimatised now and it feels chilly to us.

Tomorrow I will be heading back to Spanish class so that will take up most of the afternoon.

Chore Day

Chore Day

Yesterday was a "chore" day. I went to the drugstore and got my prescriptions refilled and then got a haircut. I laughed afterwards with Roy, about the conversation with the hairdresser. She asked me if I color my hair, when I told her, no, she remarked that I don't have very much grey in it. I said to Roy, in one way it was a compliment; but on the other hand, how old does she think I look? Hmmmm. She also thought that rather than doing laundry with my "new do", we should be going out to a restaurant. Regardless, I still had to do the laundry and so on to the laundromat after the hairdresser. Roy hung the clothes to dry after I returned and then he washed the car. I had taken the car to do the laundry; but we hadn't used it for over a week (or maybe 2) before that, so it was very dusty. We are going to San Carlos today, so it needed to be washed. Later on in the afternoon Ciro came up and asked Roy if he wanted to go fishing; but Roy hadn't eaten yet and decided he didn't want to go as they don't usually return until after 7 or even later. I made shrimp tacos for supper and then we relaxed for the evening.

This morning we are going to pick up Marilyn and Edgar at the RV campground in San Carlos, and then go to a Ceramics show, have lunch and then on to an Art show. It should be an interesting day.

Clouds And Fog

Clouds And Fog

Here are some photos taken from our patio early this morning of the clouds and fog. It burned off quickly and now at 10:30 AM is bright, sunny, warm and the birds are chirping. Time to head down the street for a haircut and a prescription refill.

Weather in Alberta/Saskatchewan

Weather in Alberta/Saskatchewan

Our family/friends in Alberta and Saskatchewan are not having a good winter this year. Last winter when we were here, they kept telling us how nice a winter they were having. We were a bit miffed as we had left to get away from the rotten weather and they were having a (relatively) good winter. Well, this winter things have changed. They have been having a lot of snow this year and it is very cold right now. This morning we heard on CNN that it was to be -42 Celcius in Regina, Sask. today and as I write this the computer says that it is -29 Celius with a 17 kmh wind in Lloydminster. UGH.
We received an email from Roys daughter the other day saying that they had had a huge snowstorm and today she sent us some photos. The previous snowstorm they were stuck in their yard for 3 days, so her husband has now rented a bobcat to try and keep the yard clean. Obviously after this last storm, it is a very necessary piece of equipment. We couldn't believe the photos. Here are a couple of them.

Back And Forth

Back And Forth

The second Spanish lesson was scheduled for Tuesday. That morning Ciro came up and asked Roy if he would like to go fishing with him in the afternoon. They were going fishing at San Carlos so they gave me a ride to my lesson on their way. I took the bus home and they returned much, much later.

On Wednesday we went to the tianguis and then wandered around looking for some fishing supplies that Roy wanted, we found some of the things; but not others. While he went on to another store, I went to the plaza and sat and watched life go by, as I waited for him to return. We had a nice walk, the weather was great for walking, neither too hot or too cold.

While I went to class today, Roy again headed uptown to get a couple of things and then got all of his fishing gear organised. I feel like I have spent the week doing nothing but run back and forth to San Carlos; but I have 3 days off now. The classes so far, have not gotten into the unknown for me, other than a couple of new words; but I will continue for awhile and see how they progress. It is interesting to be with other people who are having the same problems that I am, I don't feel quite so "dumb", knowing that others are struggling in the same way. The atmosphere in San Carlos is so different from Guaymas, it feels like a separate world. I have never spent much time there before, because of this (and have to admit that I have no desire to); but I suppose the place appeals to some people or they wouldn't be there. Personally I am happy to be where I am. I had a chat with a fellow at the bus stop while we were waiting for the bus to San Carlos. He thought it was pretty funny that I live in Guaymas but have to go to San Carlos for Spanish lessons. In case you don't know, San Carlos is a more touristy town, where a lot of English is spoken. I explained that, because everyone here speaks Spanish there are no Spanish classes, I have to go where the English speakers are to learn Spanish. Makes sense in a convoluted sort of way. He got a chuckle out of it anyway.

Spanish Lessons

Spanish Lessons

After doing the usual daily tasks yesterday, I left home to head to the spanish lessons in San Carlos. The lesson was supposed to start at 3 PM, so I left home at 2 PM intending to pay the cable/internet bill on the way. As you never know how long you will have to wait for a bus, I thought I would give myself lots of time. I didn't have to wait in line for too long at the cable company, there were only 3 people ahead of me, as compared to a line up all the way out of the door at the beginning of the month. I just missed a bus to San Carlos and had to wait for another, by this time it was 2:30 PM, thankfully, I didn't have to wait too long for the next one. I arrived at the class with just minutes to spare. There were 8 of us altogether at the class and the teacher (who is not an actual teacher), did not have enough papers for everyone, so sent her boyfriend out to make some more copies. She didn't know how many people would attend as there was no pre-registration. It was somewhat dis-organised; but as it was the first class, I wasn't too upset by this. We went through some words and pronunciation and then she had us write out some sentences and the hour was over. The classes are supposed to be 3 times a week for an hour. I am not sure about all these trips to San Carlos; but figured I would try it and see how it goes. Next class is today and then we have a day off on Wednesday and return on Thursday. The "teacher" is not a "native" spanish speaker, my impression is that she has taken classes herself and because of the cost of other classes in the area she sees an opportunity to make some money by offering her knowledge at a discount. I wonder if she has a working visa? Hmmmm. The handouts we were given had a lot of english and spanish typos on them, which is not great when you are trying to learn new words in a different language. She also made a couple of mistakes that we picked up on, so that doesn't give me too much confidence in her ability; but as I said before, I will try it a few times and see if she gets the bugs worked out. She asked if there were things that we want to say in spanish and don't know how; but that is a difficult question to answer as most of the problems occur when you are in a conversation and it is hard to pull them out of a hat. I think what I need help the most with is sentence structure; if I really got to work at home, I could learn the verb conjugations. It is just too easy to be lazy at home, I thought classes might motivate me a bit more. We will see what happens today. Hmm...I wonder if there is anyone reading from Guaymas, that can speak some english also, that would like to get together just to chat with me?

When I got home Ciro was visiting with Roy and we chatted for awhile, when he was almost ready to leave he remembered that he had been sent up by Irene to ask if I wanted a lesson on how to make "dulce toronja", sweet grapefruit, I am assuming this would be like the candied fruit you see in the stores, not sure. She was making it and thought I might be interested; but I guess when he came up and I wasn't home he and Roy got talking fishing and it slipped his mind. Oh well, maybe another time, it's not like I am going anywhere.

A Quiet Day

A Quiet Day

We spent a quiet day at home yesterday. Roy put some hooks into the walls for tie backs for the curtains, so I got out the sewing machines and made the tiebacks. I also made a new pair of pyjama pants and did some general mending. I had bought some fleece the other day to make a bathrobe; but didn't manage to get that done yesterday. I have been doing a little embroidery the last few days, I haven't done that for years. I had thrown my bag of threads into the car when we moved and found some little squares one day uptown. I finished the two squares that I had bought and don't have a clue what I will do with them now. A pair of potholders maybe? Who knows, will probably stick them in a corner for awhile until I decide.

I need to pay the cable/internet bill so I think I will do this on my way out to San Carlos this afternoon. I may have found some affordable spanish classes out there. They are just starting up, supposedly 3 times a week for an hour, with various levels so hopefully I will fit in somewhere, we will see. I will go and check it out anyway.

We have been having some awful winds here at night the last few days, hope that goes away soon. This morning (7:30 AM) the thermometer says 19 C./66 F., so maybe it will be a nice day. It was nice yesterday afternoon, (there was a breeze so it wasn't too hot in the sun) so I did my sewing outside on the patio.

A Birthday Party

A Birthday Party

Irene had come up and given us an invitation for one of her brothers granddaughters 1st birthday party. The invitation itself is really cute, it has a photo of the little girl dressed up as Minnie Mouse on it along with a picture of the cartoon Minnie. When we arrived at the party, it was still pretty quiet; but people started arriving shortly and continued to arrive for a couple of hours ( I would estimate that there was approx. 150 people there all together). The children were all very well behaved and throughout the whole party there was not one argument or any tears among them. Amazing, with that amount of children in one place! There was a clown and a fellow dressed up as a musketeer cat (I know he has a name; but can't think of it right now). The clown kept the children busy with face painting and various games. There were 3 piñatas, Minnie Mouse, Mickey Mouse and also a star shaped one. They were very tough and the children had a hard time breaking them, especially as the clown or the cat kept raising and lowering it as the children were whacking at it. Alan ended up with one of Minnies shoes and Brittany ended up with a shoe with part of the leg still in it. There was alot of playground equipment in the open area and the children had a ball. There was no shortage of people, drinks, snacks or music. The children were given cake and jello and then lined up to receive their goodie bags. These were really neat, they were cut out of styrofoam in the shape of Minnie Mouses head and then painted and decorated, with sides and handles added on, out of cardboard. Lots of work; but very cute. Lots of the adults ended up with them also, we gave ours to Alan, we told Irene that he needed the sugar more than we do; but Irene wasn't too sure of that! There was a fellow video tapeing the party the whole time we were there. At this point we thought that the evening was drawing to a close; but no. We were then served dinner and cake. It was a very good meal and we enjoyed the whole afternoon and evening. People started leaving and almost 5 hours after we had arrived, we too left for home. A good time was had by all.

Irene with Ariana the birthday girl.

The Minnie Mouse pinata.

El Día de Reyes-The Day Of The Kings (or Wise Men)

El Día de Reyes-The Day Of The Kings (or Wise Men)

Today is El Dia de Reyes, the day of the Kings or Wise Men. If I understand it correctly, it is the day when the 3 wise men found the baby Jesus and gave him their gifts. There is a special bread that is baked, sold for this day called Rosca de Reyes. It is a round ring of sweet bread with a figure baked into it symbolising the baby Jesus. Whoever gets the piece of bread with the figure in it is supposed to host a party on February 2nd (Candelaria). We have been seeing the special bread in the stores and being sold on the street for the last few days. We haven't purchased one as yet; but should get one to share with the landlords family.

We have been spending a few quiet days, cleaning the apartment and just being generally lazy. One of Marilyn and Edgars sons and his friend are visiting them for a few days, so we met them and Linda uptown yesterday afternoon. We strolled around centro for awhile, stopping in the park to fed the pigeons and ended up with pigeons climbing all over us. It was fun, the birds were really placid and one even allowed me to pet it for a few minutes. When the excursion started to turn into a shopping trip, we excused ourselves and went home. We did pick up a small mirror for our bathroom and wanted to get it home in one piece.

An Afternoon At Miramar

An Afternoon At Miramar

It was a lovely day today, so we decided to go and spent some time at the beach at Miramar. We hopped the bus uptown and then waited for the one that goes to Miramar. We walked the beach and picked up a few shells. The tide was low, so we had lots of nice sand to walk on. As usual there were hardly any people on the beach, (there were more sea gulls than people). It was a nice way to spend a relaxing afternoon.

Notice the hole in the rock in the center of the photo.

This morning I took some photos of the plants that are blooming right now.

I love the color of this geranium.

One of the blooms on the Jamaica plant. It's too bad they last for such a short time.

I made lasagna and garlic toast for supper and we also had some macaroni salad that Irene had brought up with some other food this morning. I wouldn't have had to cook as she brought up chicken and some roast; but I already had the sauce ready for the lasagna, so made it anyway. I may not have to cook for the rest of the week. Smile.

A lovely day for the 2nd of January.

Welcome 2007

Welcome 2007

Last evening as we watched the fireworks from our patio, we thought about all the changes that have happened in our lives in the last year. As the fireworks popped and cracked over our heads, we reminisced about the last year. This was our 2nd New Years Eve in Mexico and we have gone from being visitors to being happy and contented residents in this year.

We entered Mexico in October of 2005 and by January of 2006, we had already decided that we wanted to live here for longer than the 6 month winter vacation we had originally planned. We scoped out the city and ended up planning our new apt. at our landlords home. At the beginning of April, we returned to Canada for a fast paced spring/summer. We visited family, listed our home for sale/sold it, packed and sold our possessions. After an intense 3 months, we were ready to return to Mexico on a permanent basis. Our new apt. was not quite ready for us and we spent a couple of months in last winters apt. while we waited. We spent the time shopping and outfitting our new place, and moved in 2 weeks before we had to head up to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We spent the month of September there housesitting for a very nice couple. We visited with the homeowners from the previous house sit and met their new dog. We enjoyed our stay there and visited many wonderful sites. We returned to Guaymas, finished setting up our new home and settled in to enjoy life in the slow lane.

We have met some people, in person, through this blog and made some new friends. Others that we expected to met, have become missing in action, so to speak...as we have never heard from them again after they entered Mexico. What happened to them? Did they enjoy their trips? We will probably never know. We have met others online, through other blogs that we look forward to perhaps some day, actually meeting in person. We have met many friendly, wonderful people in our new home that have made our last year much more enjoyable than it would have been without them in our lives.

Words cannot convey how lucky and blessed we feel in being able to live our life the way that we are, in our new home. The people, the land, the weather, and everything else here never ceases to amaze us and bring joy to us.

What are our plans for 2007? So far, not too much that is written in stone. We will be returning to Albuquerque, New Mexico in April to house sit again for the first couple that we house sat for in October of 2005. We are looking forward to spending time with their dogs and visiting with our other house sit family and their pets. We also intend to head to Yuma, Arizona for a visit with some of Roy's family that winter there. We hope to do some travelling in Mexico, which we so far have not had time to do, due to our hectic schedule!!!

I am not sure that it is possible for 2007 to top 2006; but we will work on it.

We wish everyone, Peace, Joy and Happiness in the New Year.