Thursday, July 27, 2006

A Good Day

Today was a good day. We are working on stripping, fixing and refinishing a set of really old doors for a woman here in town. I'm finally feeling like I'm working in my arena again! I've patched old parts (with wood, not putty!) and made some new parts for the doors, and I think they will look great when they are done.

We have our shop space (photos coming soon) because our friends Joel and Miriam had extra space and are letting us use it rent free. They still have some things in there, and they are raising chickens in a space off our space, so they are around a lot. But they are really good people and I like them a lot. I have an easier time talking to them sometimes than I do with the family down here. They just seem more at ease with my limited Spanish.

I'll post some photos of the doors (before and after) once we're done.

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

8 Hour Flu

Last night I went to bed exhausted. We've been working hard on this job of refinishing these really old doors for a really old house. We were actually at the shop until 8 or 9pm last night! Sometime in the middle of the night I got up to use the bathroom. As soon as I sat up in bed I got the chills. I walked to the bathroom shivering. I walked back from the bathroom with chattering teeth. I crawled back into bed and snuggled up to Luis who is usually a furnace when he sleeps. A while later I woke up feverish. The light sheet we sleep under was too much for me. I was sweating a bit. And my body ached. I couldn't find a comfortable position. I slept some more, fitfully, constantly moving around.

I finally got up to find some aspirin. I used the light on my phone so I wouldn't wake Luis up. I figured I had been active enough in bed that he probably hadn't gotten much sleep either. To my surprise it was only 3.30 am. I thought for sure it was more like 5.30 am. I eventually slept some more, and woke up not feeling cold or warm. It was odd. Like I had an overnight flu. But today I've been low energy and my body still aches. So maybe I'm not over it yet.

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

So much to say...

...so little time to write it down! I've got all sorts of things to post here, and even have a few items drafted. But I'm so busy these days and am having a hard time finding time to sit and write it all down. So keep yer eyes peeled for a bunch of new stuff soon!

Monday, July 17, 2006

The Church of Madonna

No, not The Madonna, just Madonna.

I've been listening to a lot of her music lately. My workout track listing has at least 6 or 7 of her songs on it. And I've been finding a lot of inspiration in her lyrics. Take this for example, from Issac:

staring up into the heavens
in this hell that binds your hands
will you sacrifice your comfort
make your way in a foreign land

wrestle with your darkness
angels call your name
can you hear what they are saying
will you ever be the same


Ok, Mexico isn't a "hell", but I have committed to being here through the end of the year, so in a way my hands are bound. And, quite honestly, I do stare into the heavens here a lot. Not out of any prayer-type thing, but because there are beautiful skies and clouds here. And when a storm starts to blow in.... man, how gorgeous!

The "sacrifice your comfort" part - well, that fits me. And I am making my way in a foreign land. Which is causing me to wrestle with some long-term deamons. And no, I will never be the same.


remember, remember never forget
all of your life has all been a test
you will find the gate that's open
even thought your spirits broken


Here's the inspiration part. No matter how frustrated I can get down here, I will eventually find the gate that's open. That's some damn powerful stuff for me to hear on a daily basis!

Maybe you don't like Madonna, and maybe I'm making too much out of this, but what the hell - it's working for me!

Ponte la verde

Everything is going green here. It's finally rainy season and the once-dead plants are sucking it up. It's nice to look at the mountain outside of town and see green instead of dead, dry brown. The road-side fires have stopped since there is nothing to burn, and the sugarcane is no longer being burnt either, so there is no "black rain".

However, we have to time our laundry just right. If we wash in the morning, we need to watch the skies for rain, and run home, or hope Sergio is there to take our laundry in. Otherwise it will get doused with rainwater, and that means stinky clothes. I'm not sure if that's how it works in the States, but the rainwater here is not clean. Clothes end up smelling like old socks. Ick.

The skies are gorgeous now. Covered in clouds of all sorts. Sometimes they lay low in the sky, sometimes they are high and fluffy. With the green hills in the background, Tuxpan has suddenly become surrounded by beauty.

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

I'm frickin' manic!

So I haven't been online in about two weeks or so. It's rainy season and that means that power and phone lines are not necessarily constantly functional. Add the mid-day siesta time (roughly 2pm to 6pm) and the new business we're starting (furniture, cabinetry and dry wall work!), and suddenly it's the end of the day and I'm too frickin tired to slog down to the internet place, or it's closed, or whatever.

So today I finally get back online, but my email is not working correctly. I have to use the web-based interface to get my mail. This isn't too bad, but the connection was slow and it was 30 minutes before the internet place closed for the afternoon. So I was pretty frustrated.

One of the emails I had time to check was from Ginny, the woman who has been watching my cats for the past months. Or at least it was addressed from her. Turns out it was from an assistant at her job. She was writing to tell me that Ginny had brain surgery a few weeks ago and couldn't take care of my cats anymore.

Wow.

My first thoughts were for Ginny. This woman has been so frickin wonderful to me. When I was first buying my house, she helped me get the loan. And since I bought it directly from the owner, no real estate agent involved, she went to the closing with me just to keep me company and explain all the legal mumbo jumbo.

Six months later she called me up, out of the blue. Said she just wanted to check up on me and see how I was doing. Said she really liked me and just wanted to catch up. So fabulous.

Another year later and I called her to refinance my house. She remembered me and helped me out with that too. Then, when I needed to house my cats while I came down here to Mexico, she offered to take them in. I mean, this woman barely knows me and she is taking my cats in for at least 6 months!

And today I find out she has had brain surgery and is still in ICU.

I keep visualizing her laying in bed with tubes coming out of her head, groggy and not really herself. I wish I was there so I could visit her.

And then... my cats. What the hell am I going to do with them now? I had a difficult time finding anyone to take them in when I first came down here. Everyone I know already has cats or dogs or kids. Ginny was a last-minute angel swooping in to save me and my felines.

Now I'm back in the same spot, only I'm 1500 miles away. Anyone wanna watch two cats for me?