Household

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New Year – New House – More Fun

We are settled in our new house and have been having a good time making it comfortable. We like the way the house works for us, lots of space but not too much, a good sized garden but again not too big. The dogs seem to love it too – we have a magnetic screen door on the back so they can come and go as they please. The picture at the top is our new orchid-ish plant tillandsia fasciculata....

Getting Settled in Our New Home

We are so happy to be settled in our new home! This was our third move in two years, hopefully it is our last for a very long time. Our new home is in the little town of San Antonio Tlayacapan. San Antonio (or SAT as it’s sometimes written) is on the shore of Lake Chapala in between the towns of Ajijic and Chapala. We love San Antonio for a lot of reasons – but mostly because of its friendly,...

Time for (another) change

In my last post I talked about reading books about people who wanted to find a way to improve their quality of life.  That post perfectly transitions into this one as Paul and I have also been discussing what we want for the next chapter of ours. When we rented our house here in San Antonio Tlayacapan, it was a kind of hurried decision because our plans to live in Mexico City had fallen through.  We have been pleased with...

Our First Days at Lake Chapala

We are moved in to our new place on Lake Chapala.  We love the house and are putting things away and getting organized. We haven’t explored the community much since we just got here, that will come.  So far our only expedition has been to Walmart for provisions and today we are going to Costco. For any people reading this who are planning a move, please don’t use Castores Trucking unless you want a lot of heartburn!  It’s a long...

Painting the Town

Along with all the new road surfaces, sidewalks, sidewalk uplights, street lights, and flower baskets there is a project downtown to beautify the homes in Centro Historico as well. The city is doing some of the painting and lots of us homeowners are doing our part to go along with the beautifying, too!  In the pictures above you can also see some of the new lighting, flower baskets, and trees along Sixto Osuna. Above you can page through the pictures...

The reality of renovating in Mexico…

We’ve done five big renovation projects at our house over the years and I have learned a lot along the way. At the top of the page is our finished sala fresca, with its seven new roof beams and new paint. Looks a bit better than it did in my previous post on the project, wouldn’t you say? Are you curious about what it’s like to renovate an older home in Mazatlán? Here are some of my observations, and a...

Grow your own Turmeric

I tried various times – unsuccessfully- to grow turmeric that I bought at the grocery store, and have finally figured out the secret. You should give it a try, you could even grow it in a pot if you want to – I have grown ginger that way as they are pretty shallow rooted. At the top is a picture of my turmeric bed. I buy fresh turmeric at Mega, the mercado, and Ley. For some reason they call it...

Hoping for a late rainy season

We are in the middle of a huge construction project at our house. I always get up on the roof before rainy season every year to inspect things and this year I noticed we had gaps too wide for me to caulk on the roof of our sala fresca. (Yes, I have to inspect things, I was a property manager for 25 years, I can’t help it!) When we had a chunk of concrete fall out of the roof it...

I hate air conditioning

It’s been just about a week that we’ve been sleeping with the air conditioning on.  It’s hard to sleep without it when it’s humid,  as at night especially the weather is sticky and unpleasant. From November through mid-May we sleep with the air flowing through and a couple of fans going, both to stir the air and block the street noise.  I like hearing the rumble of the fans and the occasional barking dog, garbage truck, loud car, or church...

Worm Composting in the Tropics

I love composting. I don’t have a compost bin here in Mazatlán since our yard is small. But even in a small yard I am hoping it will be possible to compost with worms and keep them alive over the summer. I’ve had worm bins for many years, and love having that compost bucket on the counter and having a weekly visit with my little wriggly friends. This year I got some worms from farmer Sacramento at the Organic Market...

I love my kitchen

I love my kitchen. I really love it.* But maybe I love it even more than I did before with our latest addition. If you live in the US or Canada you probably cool or heat your house so that it stays in some sort of reasonable middle range. We don’t do that, though – in the summer our living spaces are made more comfortable through the use of lots of fans but the temperature is just what it is....

You Have To Be Flexible in México

Last Tuesday night we had a fairly good rainstorm.  I think it was just the second rain of the season so we weren’t surprised that the power went out for several hours in the middle of the night.  It came back on around 4 am and Paul and I went back to sleep for several more hours. I got to the kitchen first the next morning and found that the refrigerator didn’t have power.  I went and flipped the breaker...

Shopping for things I can’t find in Mazatlán

When I travel – whether it’s to the US or within México – I always think about shopping for items I can’t find here in Mazatlán. This post is a rundown of some of the things I brought back with me this time. When I fly North I always pack a fold-up duffle bag which then becomes my overflow and can be carried on. No need to pay another $25 for a second bag! This time I was lucky, too...

Pictures from around the house

              I’ll get back to regular Mazatlán news soon, I promise!  There’s been lots of work going on over at El Recreo, El Día de la Música is this Saturday, and this Sunday I leave for a a trip to Guadalajara with some girlfriends.  See you soon!...