town activities

The main square Christmas tree was laid out this morning - on its side - so the 4 men could decorate it with lights. Makes sense, really, no falling off ladders, no stepping on strings of lights as you walk around the tree - and although it took them all day, and it was still on its side tonight, it will be glorious once it is placed in the gazebo behind it and surrounded by the nativity scene and all the lighting in the square. Stay tuned.




One of our Quebec locals feeds many street dogs throughout the year - here is how he does it - puts out piles of dogfood on the sidewalk and everyone gets some. He feeds the cats, too, and our 3 bookstore cats looked like Garfield after last summer, but I think he has stopped feeding them so much, as there are 3 businesses who also do, 2 of which are restaurants.



After we closed up the bookstore tonight we went around the corner to the Cantine Bistrot to listen to some awesome blues. Jimmy is the main man in the Men in Blues, who plays at David Lau's all winter, starting in January, but he gets together with Manuel, a local bass player, Kenny, drummer from Quebec, and Diego, an awesome guitarist, to entertain between now and then. Great music!!!

Guadalupe........

This little group of kids now has our number - they come to our house every night to sing their song and gather coins for the church to use for poor families.









There were 3 groups at the bookstore window tonight, but missed taking a pic of one as we had customers...a good thing to have at the bookstore.







Group 2 - they are all so sweet, all sing exactly the same songs, and always appreciative of the coins we drop in their boxes.

Guadalupe and Peace.......

Ok, I am sorry - this is a dreadfully blurry picture, but this huge butterfly landed on the ceiling of the bookstore tonight and I snapped this pic in too much of a hurry. Turns out it sat there for an hour or more......lovely.







The Guadalupe kids were back tonight - another group at the bookstore. Very sweet.







Today there was a Walk for Peace on the beach (we were painting, so didn't make it) but tonight there was a quiet demonstration for peace which involved lovely peaceful music, crafts for sale, ribbons which you could write a message on and tie to the Peace Pole in the main square.........






And at the end of the evening, we all joined hands and sang John Lennon's Imagine, then hugged whomever you were standing near. It was very moving - all that collective energy is a very powerful thing. Give peace a chance!

cats and town life

We have a beautiful new face on our wall.......not at our food bowls yet, tho......











You can tell Mariposa has truly settled in - her first nap on a human....she and Miki bonding......:-)







Ah, we are getting close to the Guadalupe celebrations on December 12. All over town and in our neighbourhood, kids come door to door with their donation boxes, sing a song, and get a few coins for the church social service programs. This group came to the bookstore window on Saturday.






Saturday night was a dance performance in the town square - traditional Mayan dancing in original costumes - always dramatic and very wonderful!!!!

outdoor kitchen

Raul and Ramon put the finishing touches on the counter - a smooth stucco-like finish called "masilla".










Applying the final coat of cement.....










Isn't that wonderful...!! It will hold our barby, our outdoor stove and room for storage underneath for cooking tools and a cooler.









This surface is so smooth, you can almost see yourself in it - the boys did a wonderful job!!!

The winter kitchen

The back patio with the palapa we had built last year had a double sink in it (just to the right of the pole) but we were always gerry-rigging the barbeque on boards and wishing on really hot days that we didn't have to cook in the house at all.









So Raul (who built our walls, palapa and wonderful pool) and Ramon came today to start our our outdoor kitchen. The idea is to install a cement counter top the same height as the sink. First they drilled holes into the wall for the rebar.






Then they built the walls on either end with the "skinny" blocks, and set the formwork on the top for the counter, and underneath for the storage shelf.







Last step today was to mix and pour the concrete (mixed on the road and carried in by the bucket load). These guys always amaze us at how strong they are. They started at 8, left at 5 and will be back at 8 am to put the cement finish over the blocks and remove the form work. Rain is predicted for tomorrow, but since it is under the palapa, it will be fine.

Pool day

Miki has now finished painting the back patio deck in a soft terra cotta colour. Finally we can unwrap the pool and start filling it.
When we left in April, we drained the pool completely, and left it covered in plywood panels, set on a slope to allow for water run off, and then covered those panels with 2 heavy duty tarps. This is how it looked when we got here - a couple of rips in the outer tarp, but the inner one was fine, with no water entering the empty pool in our absence.






The plywood panels under the tarps.











This much slope was enough to keep the water from rainfall running off the panels and down the drain, rather than into the pool.






There were several pesky cockroaches who had taken up residence, but after a good sweep and scrub with a little bleach water, it was pristine and ready to fill.