Lifestyle

Category

The Year in Books

I am always happy when year end rolls around as all the media outlets share their best books lists. I always get lots of ideas for new authors and ideas to explore. If you are interested in what I’ve been reading this year – the image at the top shows my favorite books of the 105 I enjoyed this year. You can see all my reading by following this link to my 2022 Goodreads list, if you’re interested. I mostly...

Returning Home to Mazatlan?

If you’ve spent any time in Mazatlán, you know it is a place that can really get under your skin. The silky air, beautiful blue skies and magnificent sunsets, of course. But the people, it really is the people. There is just so much joy here. We knew we had been missing our friends, of course. It took no time before we felt at home again, running into old friends every time we left the house. That’s just the way...

Planning a Move to Mexico?

A blog reader wrote me recently asking a couple of questions as he considers Mexico as a place to retire. I asked him if he’d mind if I turned his questions into a blog post as others might also be interested. Noise – We don’t mind the street noise (vendors, gas trucks, etc.), but we don’t do well with random fireworks, all-night parties, and dogs who bark nonstop. Some blogs and posts I’ve read say those kinds of noise are...

Horse at the lakeside

Blogging Vs Social Media

Here we are again after way too many months away from the blog. It seems most of my blogger friends have shifted – like I have – away from blogging and over to social media. That’s just not working for me any more. Facebook has been a great way to know what friends are doing in a sort of minimal way. Between all the advertising and the local groups and pages the clutter on Facebook is out of control. I...

Embracing the Local, the Artisanal and the Handmade

Don’t we all love to enjoy those special foods and drinks from our local area? I know I do! Whenever possible I choose my purchases by how local they are or how artisanal and handmade. I choose to – as much as possible – reject corporate food and drink. If you had to choose a place to buy a burger and fries, wouldn’t it be from a place that buys quality meat, hand cuts the fries and uses fresh oil...

My Reading Life

I am an avid reader and I love this time of year as every major magazine and newspaper seems to release their “Favorite Books of the Year” lists. I pore through them, adding books to my Goodreads “want to read” lists and downloading those I want to read first. The New York Times list is one of the first of the season, if you want to check it out it is here. At the top of this post is a...

It’s Time to Check-In Again

I’ve been AWOL for too long, sorry about that! It’s been hard to think of interesting things to blog about when we’ve been mostly home and nothing seems new enough or interesting enough to share with you. But that is going to change! I’ve recently been thinking about the reasons that the blog has sort of taken a back seat in my life and I believe one of the big reasons is Facebook. Most of us on Facebook have a...

Thoroughly Modern Us

A friend here in México posted on Facebook that she was excited to receive a book – a hard copy – of Francisco Goldman’s new book Monkey Boy. I’ve read his books before and have been planning on reading this one, too. But that’s not why I bring it up. It’s that she bought a book – a hardback book – and made a bit of an anti- ebook comment. I do miss books once in a while but I...

Plumeria blossom

Strange Times

These are strange times we’re living in, and not just because of the pandemic. Never could I have imagined living in a time where so many people behave in a way that is contrary to their own best interests. For example, many people in the US are refusing to be vaccinated against Covid-19. It just makes no sense to me (or the rest of the world) – but then I guess that’s the point I’m making. People also refuse to...

What I Have Learned from Living in Mexico

We have lived in Mexico for thirteen and a half years. I have learned a lot living here, and these lessons have made me a better person. Here are a few of the things I’ve noticed. I am more patient. You get a lot of chances to practice patience living here. When driving, you’ll often wait behind someone unloading furniture – or grandma – or stopping to say hello to a friend. The thumb and first finger motion means “un...

What does your crystal ball tell you?

Today I read the plan for vaccine distribution here in México. While I am amazed and thrilled that such effective vaccines have been developed so quickly I am shocked that they don’t expect to start immunizing the general (under 40) population until June 2021. I know it’s a huge project and they are likely trying to set expectations so everyone doesn’t think our lives will be back to normal very soon. From what I’m reading you can expect the immunization...

We Need To Do Better

I just watched the movie I Am Greta and was inspired to think about what we are doing right and what we can do better. I am trying to run all my decisions through the filter of “is this sustainable?” You are probably doing the same, but I believe we can all learn from each other. Here are some of the things Paul and I have incorporated into our life, and some things we are working on. Maybe you can...

Coping Strategies

I have been having a hard time figuring what to write about to keep the blog going. I know most of my readers are interested in life in Mexico but at the present time life here is mostly life at home. So that’s what I’m going to talk about today. We do go out – to the stores and twice to eat out at a very carefully selected spot – but mostly we are at home. We’ve enjoyed working in...

Activities to Enjoy at Home

We’re all in the same boat – unexpectedly spending all of our time at home. I’ve been saving links to fun things to explore online and thought others might enjoy it too. I’ll keep updating this post as I find more to share in the future. The picture at the top is a face mask I made using the pattern below. Books Explore Open Culture… much more than books Internet Archive – free books, music, etc. The Stay At Home...

Our Local Gym – Zona Fitness

Paul and I joined the Zona Fitness gym in Riberas a couple of months ago and have really enjoyed going together at least three times a week. We mostly use the treadmills and bikes but sometimes the weights, too. As gym newbies we like being able to watch people work on the machines so that we get an idea of what they do before we give them a try. There are staff here who are happy to help on an...

  • Read More
  • Comments Off on Our Local Gym – Zona Fitness
  • /
  • By
  • /