Morning Thoughts

My son and daughter-in-law left early this morning for their trip to England. They will be gone for ten days. I am taking care of the two dogs and the house. Cloudy today and cloudy yesterday. Clouds are predicted for tomorrow. And the day after that. I love it here when the sun comes out. Not so much when it is cloudy.

I am going on Saturday to another neighborhood yard sale with some friends. I have already bought enough to fill up two suitcases, possibly three. I haven't had the courage to find out. I just enjoy the yards sales so much that I buy and buy. No thought to how I am going to be able to get all this stuff back to Mexico. Most of it will probably end up in the garage here.

Today a friend is taking me out to lunch. I met her in Ajijic.  Ajijic is a popular destination for Portland people. I can understand why, after experiencing several days of clouds and cold weather here.

There are several other friends I am hopefully going to meet up with while I am in Portland. That will make life interesting for me. I am already feeling lonely with my family gone. But they have two handsome young men housemates.  If I am lucky, I will see them in passing in the kitchen or other areas of the house. This is an enormous house. At least by my two room casita eyes..... (If they lived with me in my casita I would have no worries of running into them. One advantage of living in small places. People see each other more often. Okay, that could also be a disadvantage.)

They have a washer and dryer and a dishwasher and hot water for washing dishes in the kitchen sink. A kitchen sink! What a pleasure. At home, I wash my dishes in the bathroom sink by hand in cold water. Americans have so much. It was clear to me last week end at the yard sales. They can afford to get rid of things at low prices. In Mexico, nothing is cheap. Except labor.

Another major difference is the isolation.  Americans spend a lot of time in their cars. In the neighborhoods, rarely I see people out in their yards. No one is around. I guess they are all working so they can afford those beautiful homes.

Pressure. I feel pressure here. In stores, people are hurrying around. No one says hello when they do happen to be walking on the sidewalks. The hellos by shopkeepers are just said out of necessity. No warmth behind them. No recognition in people's eyes. In Mexico, I say hello to everyone I pass on the street and they answer me with smiles and hellos. Here, I have given up because people look at me strangely when I acknowledge them. It is a different world.  I miss the warmth of Mexico. The warmth of the environment and the warmth of the people.