Morning Thoughts--Losing Stacey Hewitt

I have been looking through all of my photos, trying to find one of my friend Stacey Hewitt. We did a lot of things together when she first arrived here. I don't know how long ago that was because time doesn't mean much to me these days. I remember that we got our Inapam cards together. On the back is her name listed as a contact.STACEY HEWITT (AMIGA) along with her phone number.  She lived in a beautiful apartment but she rarely stayed there. She loved to house sit. And that is where she was found dead a few days ago when the owners of the house walked in their front door. I have no other information about her death.  I am guessing it was natural causes. She was a swimmer and after coming down here she lost weight and was looking great. She had such a flair for the dramatic. Her first year here, for her birthday, she invited friends she had met and they filled up the restaurant. It was a huge room. She was very social. 

I wish I could find some photos of her. Unfortunately I have lost half of my photos and hers were in the lost section.

She was so full of life that I am having a hard time realizing that she is gone now. She is the third friend who has passed away down here. I feel a heavy sadness that she will no more pop into my life.  

My friend just suggested that I try to get a photo from her facebook page. I hope this works. It is a beautiful photo of her. Expresses her essence completely. Stacey, you will be missed.  Well I managed to get it on here but it is too large and very unclear and because of the app I am using I cannot change it. Sorry. If you want to see a better photo and more photos of her, go to her facebook page. 

 

Another Wednesday Morning with Chico at the Ajijic Market

 

 

 

 

Chico isn't sure if he likes so much attention.

 

 

The market isn't so crowded now that the snow birds are mostly gone.

 

 

 Coconut candy.

 

This man is selling banana bread.

 

 

 

 

Breakfast at Salvador's Restaurant. 

Sunday lunch at the American Legion in Chapala

I had Sunday barbecue with my friend Emily at the American Legion. We may do it again this coming weekend. 

 

  

 

They serve hot dogs and hamburgers. Above is a photo of Emily's hot dog.

 

Emily is showing me her shoe. They were so uncomfortable she could hardly walk but worth the price to her.

After lunch she took me to her house to see her little dogs. They are very loving and were all over us. Emily lives in a beautiful house not far from the bus station. Her car was leaking gas so she drove me to the bus station instead of her plan to take me all the way home. I must remember not to take the bus home on a Sunday afternoon from Chapala. I was one of the first ones to get on the bus and before they left the station there wasn't any standing room left. Yet they picked up people all the way to Ajijic. I was so glad to finally get off that bus. Good thing I was wearing ratty old comfortable tennis shoes instead of ones like Emily's. I never would have made it home trying to walk in those shoes.

 

 The photo above is of Emily's house and back yard. Rents are so much cheaper in Chapala than in Ajijic. She pays very little rent. 

 

 

Emily at home with two of her dogs. I could handle walking in those crocks. 

Sunday Morning in Ajijic

This morning I woke up with a feeling of rain in the air. But I thought it was just water from my garden. Later on in the morning I heard that it had rained and there was also some thunder. I looked at the weather forecast and it said for today, thunderstorms in spots. But otherwise it looks like it will be another pretty day here. The weather report is often wrong. I am taking the bus into Chapala to the American Legion to have lunch with my friend Emily. I will take some photos and post them on here. I always enjoy going to the Legion. People are very friendly there and the food is always delicious. Sometimes they have great homemade pies. I hope they have some today. I love their lime pie. 

I finally got my telephone reconnected. I only care about it for emergencies and hopefully I won't have any more of them for awhile. Most of my communications are through e mail with the i pad and the generic connector finally started working. My first phone call after it reconnected was from Emily. She had just read about my electronic problems and she was all excited. She said that she wanted to drive me to San Blas to get my connector for my i pad. Now that is a devoted friend!  It is a day's drive from here.  I told her that it wasn't necessary as my generic one works now. But I really appreciate it that she wanted to do that for me. 

It is very quiet in town now. Most of the snow birds have left. This is a good time to visit Ajijic, after the snow birds leave and before the rains come. But with today's forecast, maybe the rains will come early this year. This is usually the hottest time of the year and the rainy season doesn't start until late June.With global warming, who knows what the weather will be like this year. 

Okay, no more weather stuff.  I am looking forward to taking the bus to Chapala. I lived there for four months when I first came to this area. I like Chapala. I would consider living there except it makes the bus ride to the spa too long. On Monday I will be able to swim again. During the week before Easter and the week after Easter, I can't swim. That is the break for all the children. Impossible to do laps with them jumping in on my head. So tomorrow morning will be great. Everytime I think of moving somewhere else in Mexico I realize that I don't want to leave the spa here. So I stay.

It isn't a bad life. I just get depressed when I can't swim. And when there are so many people in town that I have a hard time getting across the carretera. I was told that three people were killed recently while trying to cross that street. One driver was swerving and sped off when he saw that he had hit a woman. My friend told me this story because her friend held the woman's hand while they waited for the ambulance to arrive. She was the first one crossing and her daughter was behind her walking and her granddaughter was walking behind her mother. So they witnessed the hit and run.   It makes me so sad.   Too many people are here during the holidays and they party and drink and drive.  I am very careful now when I cross the street.

I was talking with a friend about this when the response was, "Well, you know drivers have the right of way here."

I was surprised at that answer. I said, "Do you mean that they have the right to run over pedestrians?"

I will never get used to that law. I guess I am still in a bad mood from spending too much time at home. I am going now to the Legion. 

More of my art work

Some of these things aren't what you would call art work, like the plastic fish on the wall in my hall.  I needed to write these two articles today because I woke up feeling depressed. A good cure for depression is appreciation. So I am appreciating all that I have here. I have a good life and sometimes I forget that. 

 

I bought several of the samplers at the same yard sale. This is a small one over my sink. It doesn't have a date on it.

 

This is also a smaller one dated 1856

 

I bought this one at a different sale, the newest one I have. Dated 1933. It says," Houses are made of brick and stone But homes are made of love alone. Anna Beall Johnson 1933.

 

I have five matted and framed prints that my son brought back from India. He bought a stack of them in a museum there and gave me these. My friend Steve had them matted and framed. Thank you Steve. And Tammy is also responsible for the frames. Thank you Tammy.

 

 

 

 

Thank you David for these prints.

 

This was a gift from Tammy. It is made out of a heavy paper with a light behind it. Thank you Tammy. It is in my kitchen.

 

 

 Above are two woven baskets I got at yard sales. That little rubber thing beside it is Chico's toy. He Loves that thing but I get tired of tripping over it as he puts it all over the house, right where I walk.

 

 

This is a photo of a tin sculpture Nicks gave me. His neighbors made it. You can tell what they like. I think it is very festive. Thank you Nicks.

 

 

Here is my Virgin Mary sculpture. I am not a Catholic but I like it anyway. Just as I don't smoke pot but I still like the sculpture above this one.

 

Here is my dog sculpture. It has a broken tail but I glued it back on. It is a copy of the ancient ones. I use it to prop up my i pad. This came from a yard sale here.

 

And last but least is my plastic sculpture of a fish. I think it is whimsical but it has no other redeeming qualities. And you saw the two ceramic faces in my garden in the other post.  So the other photos all went onto the last post with no problems. I am still testing out how the blog is working and at the same time trying to chase away my morning blues, by being thankful for all the things people have given me to make my life more interesting.

 One of my mother's other favorite phrases when I was down was, "Stop feeling sorry for yourself."  Telling someone to buck up, never works for me. (I realize now that she was just trying to make me feel better. She couldn't stand to see me feeling down.) Instead, that kind of advice just makes me feel guilty for feeling down and even more depressed.  But if I can reach into my own heart and be grateful for all I have, that helps tremendously.  Sad but true, you cannot FORCE another person to change his or her feelings. Only the other person can take care of that. I do feel better now and am going to take a walk with Chico into town. Looks like my blog is working again. 

As I just walked through my three room apartment again, I saw other things I did not put on here, ceramic painted bowls, pewter platters, wooden sculptures, etc... Where did all this stuff come from?  I guess from being here for so many years.  But I would trade it all in for time with my family. That is one of the biggest downsides of living in Mexico when your family still lives in the United States. 

Morning Thoughts and Photos

 

Chico built a little nest for himself with a blanket that I keep on that bed. His ears are down because he knows I am going to take his picture. He doesn't like me doing that. Maybe because sometimes it flashes and bothers his eyes. But the flash is off now. 

 

This is my living room, extra bedroom, and office. Okay it is also Chico's bed. He likes to sleep there at night. Both Chico and Olive like to sit on that bed and look out the front window at people passing by. Sometimes if Chico doesn't like the way a person looks or smells, he will bark at that person. I am always surprised at which people he picks out to be on his bark list. 

 

 

Because of my friend Jack, I now have two places to use my I pad. One in the front room and one in the back so I can see the garden while I work. I have my morning coffee when I am on the i pad. 

 

 

I bought two ceramic masks for my little garden.

 

This is my basil and mint.

 

Olive is wondering why I am not at my desk in the front room, working on my i pad. She hasn't realized that I now have two desks. She likes to sit near me while I type.

 

 

 Part of my kitchen. I haven't cleaned it up yet this morning. Sometimes I think about buying a regular stove but I don't want to get rid of that Baker's Shelf. No room for it anywhere else in my house. So I have a microwave, a convection oven and two electric burners, also a grill and a George Foreman grill. Okay, I have a pressure cooker and a slow cooker too. And a blender which I use almost every day. I  really don't need a stove.  Half the time I eat out anyway.  

The painting in my kitchen and a little bit of a view of the hallway.

 

My very overcrowded hallway with a view of the front room at the end of it.

 

This is my other bed that my friend Leslie slept on in Paris and brought back here.

 

Above my bed is this embroidery sampler. Dated 1779. I love this piece. I think it is my favorite art work in my house. I like to imagine a woman making it all those years ago. I bought it at a yard sale here one year for 30 pesos. 

 

The animals and I like to sit on that chair and look out at the garden area. You can see that screen I put up over part of the garden to keep it from being too hot.

 

I wanted to put all these photos on this morning to see if they will go onto the blog. I have been having too many problems getting more than one or two photos on the same post.

 So I am back at doing the blog again. I really appreciate everyone who encouraged me to continue with it. 

Also, I went to the Lake Chapala Society and gave them all the health care information that I wrote about and I was told that it will be kept in a file for anyone who is interested in all the options. Just ask at the front desk for the file. Maybe one day I will feel comfortable enough to go back there but not yet.  And right now I don't even trust that the file exists. I am cynical after my experience with them so thoroughly rejecting my work the first time around. I need to learn to be more trusting. 

When I was growing up and if my feeling were hurt, my mother would always say to me, "You are too sensitive." And I know she was right. I am too sensitive. But that is part of who I am. I just need to accept that and move on.  If I don't feel comfortable at LCS, then I just won't go there. But self acceptance is sometimes a very hard thing to do. And it is difficult to return to a place where people were rude to me. Being sensitive has both good and bad things about it. The good---maybe being able to keep on writing and taking photos all these years.  The bad----getting my feelings hurt easily...... To all you "overly sensitive" people out there, you know what I  mean.... It is a blessing and a curse......

Morning Thoughts--Rainbow Hair

 

 

I took a walk with Chico into town yesterday morning. We had to stop at the ATM machine to get money and this beautiful young woman was getting money too. I complimented her on her hair and she allowed me to take pictures of it. Her name is Val Jones. She said it took the hairdresser two and a half hours to do this style for her.

If you are interested, you can see the sign behind her which gives us the exchange rate, over 19 pesos to the dollar. For awhile there it was up to 23 pesos to the dollar. Still it isn't bad for people with American money. 

I hope these photos will publish. I am trying once again to use the blog. I have had so many problems with it lately. All my electronics have not been working. I left my i pad charger in San Blas. But finally the generic charger I bought here is working. My phone has been out of order since Friday of last week. Unfortunately, the phone company was closed for several days including Friday so I couldn't stop in to tell them about it not working. I went in on Monday and the customer service woman asked how long it had been out. 

I said, Since Friday. 

So she said, Why didn't you call and tell us on Friday? 

I said, Because my phone wasn't working.

 So she said, Why didn't you go to a public phone and call us? 

I have been living here almost ten years and I have not seen a public phone during all that time. There may be one on the street near six corners but it obviously doesn't work. There is no mouth piece connected to the cord. Besides, their office was closed. I didn't mention that to her.Why bother her with details?

 I think the real problem was that she couldn't imagine anyone not having a cell phone.

 What she said to me next was, We will call you and tell you when they are coming out to fix it.

 Again I said, I don't have a working phone so you can't call me.   She just couldn't understand that concept. Finally she said she would have them e mail me a work order. So far, no work orders. She said that on Friday of last week, Good Friday when they were closed, 800 phones stopped working. So it  may be a long time before mine gets fixed, especially since they can't call me and set up a time to come out here. I am most likely LAST on their list. 

I decided to ignore the people who were giving me problems about my blog. And to keep on at it.... Since I don't have the distraction of a cell phone that goes off every few minutes and demands my attention, I have lots of free time to do the blog. And I can't go swimming now because the kids are still off for the Easter holidays. No way to do laps with kids jumping in on my head. But next week I can swim again.  I am just walking around town with Chico. It is really hot here in the afternoons. Sometimes I take a taxi home. (It costs 50 pesos for a trip anywhere in town. I think that is about 2.27  in American money. Well worth it.) All the taxi drivers now know where I live and Chico loves to ride in the taxis. He is getting old now, like me, and those long hot walks up the hill are as exhausting for him as they are for me. As soon as he gets in the house he jumps on the bed and goes to sleep the rest of the afternoon. So ---- Taxis, here we come.