It's A Dog Day

I finally managed to finish my pastel drawing/painting of my deceased dog Brandy.  She lived to a ripe old age of 14 1/2 yrs. and I still miss her.  She was the best dog ever.
I was kind of nervous about trying this as I wanted it to turn out well.  It came out not too bad for my first try at doing a drawing/painting of a dog.  It is done in Chalk Pastels.

Brandy

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE.

Update on Computers

UPDATE 2:  The computer dr. told me that both the computers would be ready this afternoon at 4 PM..  I decided to phone him before leaving home to see if they were ready.  He informed me that they were both ready to go, so off downtown I went.  I walked past the taxi stand at the Mercado and asked a taxista to come to the computer store in 15 or 20 minutes and he said he would be there.  I continued on to the store where the fellow had both computers hooked up and showed me that they were both working and asked me to test them out.  I did and things seemed fine so proceeded to pay him.  As he was writing out the factura (bill), the door to the store opened and the taxi man stuck his head in the door looking for me.  He and the computer fellow loaded the computers into the taxi and we headed home.  I always enjoy the little conversations I have with the taxistas on our little trips from centro.  They are very helpful with loading and unloading the various parcels or whatever you have and the fellow today even opened the car door for me.  (The going rate for  a taxi from centro to our apartment is 35 pesos without the tip so if you have been getting charged more you are getting a little tourist tax added to the bill.  We did have one fellow overcharge us one evening after an event; so we didn't tip him as he had already taken his tip we figured.)


Bill for all the stuff done :
  Power supply for my computer -- 290 pesos
  1 Gb. Memory for my computer--900 pesos
   Windows 7 for Roys computer---300 pesos
             Total---             1490 pesos, (less than $130.00 CAD)

UPDATE 1:  I took both the computers to the computer doctor this morning and as I suspected the problem with mine was the power supply.  He put a new one in and it revved up right away.  I then asked him if he could add more memory to it and he told me the price for 1/2 a Gb and for 1 Gb..  I chose the 1 Gb..  I also told him that every time the power goes off I have to reset everything so he checked and the backup battery was dead so he replaced that also.  He is also going to put a new copy of Windows on Roys old PC.   They should both be ready this afternoon by around 4 PM and he is usually pretty close with his timing or has been other times.  The cost for all of this work will be around $130.00 CAD or about 1500 pesos.  Good deal!!!

KA BOOM!!!!!!

UPDATE:  I took both the computers to the computer doctor this morning and as I suspected the problem with mine was the power supply.  He put a new one in and it revved up right away.  I then asked him if he could add more memory to it and he told me the price for 1/2 a Gb and for 1 Gb..  I chose the 1 Gb..  I also told him that every time the power goes off I have to reset everything so he checked and the backup battery was dead so he replaced that also.  He is also going to put a new copy of Windows on Roys old PC.   They should both be ready this afternoon by around 4 PM and he is usually pretty close with his timing or has been other times.  The cost for all of this work will be around $130.00 CAD or about 1500 pesos.  Good deal!!!

Last night I was sitting in my recliner reading a book, when suddenly a loud bang almost made me jump out of my skin.  Roy and I both looked at each other wondering what on earth had happened.  I thought it had sounded as if something had slammed into our door, HARD.  We turned on the outside light and went out to have a look.  Nothing, all normal, quiet and still.  Hmmmm........ back inside we came and looked around.  Everything seemed normal.  Roy went back to his computer and I sat down to mine.  Turned the screen on and nothing, looked down and the power light was off.  Strange, as it had been on a while before.  Hit the power button and nothing, nada, zilch, no action.  Hit it again, still dead.
Then it hit us both, I guess my computer must have blown a gasket or something.  Very weird !!!
My computer is old for a computer, I purchased it at the beginning of 2004 I think and have spent next to nothing on it for repairs.  It has served me well.
I have been saving everything lately onto discs and other online storage sites so am not too upset about losing any data.
I am really hoping that it is just a power supply issue or something simple and he can just repair it for me as I really don't want to buy a new computer right now.  We are going to take Roys old one that I am using right now and get a new version of browser put on it.  It quit working for him quite a while ago for a simple reason; but he hasn't wanted me to reload my legal copy of XP onto it.  So today we dragged it out and I managed to download the Chrome browser onto it and it has been working fine for me; but it does need a reload.  Anyway, if mine can't be repaired cheaply I think we will just get his old one revamped and he will take it back and I will take over the laptop that he is using now.  We will have to see what happens when we check in with our favorite computer guy.  He did a good job for Roy several times so we have some confidence in his ability.
Wish me luck.  See you tomorrow, maybe.

Coro Regina Pacis y Orcestra Heroica

For the Christmas season the Coro Regina Pacis and the Herocia Orhcestra, ( Regina Pacis Choir and Heroica Orchestra) are having several performances of the Christmas Story.
The first one was on Thursday morning at the Municipal Palace, (city hall) at 10 AM, we were going to go to this; but when we woke up on Thursday morning it was foggy and cold, well cold for us anyway.  We decided not to go, in other words we wimped out.  The next performance was on Friday night at the Casa de la Cultura at 7 PM.  We did manage to make this one.
The six band members on violins and wind instruments accompanied by the teacher, (on keyboard), and the choir are, as far as I know, trained in the courses given at the Casa de la Cultura.  I see the various members of the band there having classes when I go for my classes and I think the choir also meets there and trains.
The concert started a bit late as when they tried to begin the amp. was not picking up the keyboard so they had to switch keyboards and wires around a bit before everything was a go.
There were unfortunately very few people in attendance, perhaps 30? and from some remarks that the maestro made I think he was disappointed in the lack of support from the people of the city.
Personally, I also think it is a shame that the people do not support the events put on by the Casa de la Cultura by attending in greater numbers.  The majority of the performances are free and open to all.  The staff put in long hours and an enormous amount of work in hosting events all over the city for every festival, etc..  We always enjoy anything we go to there and appreciate all the effort they put into everything they do.

 I take classes there at times and enjoy them.  This was the last week of my art class and at our Monday evening class the maestro asked us to come to class at 3:30 PM until 7 PM on Tues, Wed., and Thurs., usually our classes would be on Monday and Wednesday from 5:30 PM until 7 PM; but several of the people in the class had not finished their painting and he wanted to give them an opportunity to do so in class.  What more could you ask of a teacher??
He will be having another class starting in February utilizing oil paints so I intend to attend that one also.
We have been told to have our finished projects at the Casa de la Cultura by a certain date in January so that they can be put on exhibit during the FAOT festival.

Anyway there is a photo of the choir and orchestra below and several videos of poor quality that give you some idea of their sound.

Coro Regina Pacis y Orcestra Heroica

Christmas Parade

Last night was the annual Christmas Parade and they were also supposed open the ice rink set up on the Plaza de Tres Presidentes.

We went with a couple of friends and centro was absolutely packed with wall to wall people.  Way too many people for me.  It was almost impossible for me to see much of the parade.  We met some relatives of our landlady and we had fun with their grand daughter, at times Roy held her up so that she could see some of the action.  She was very into Santa Claus and it was fun watching her face and listening to her.  She is about 3 yrs. old so is at the stage where everything amazes her.

We got tired of craning our necks trying to view the parade and headed down to the plaza.  You couldn't get close enough to the rink to even see the boards, I assume there are boards up around the edges anyway.  There were stands set up and those were full of people also.  They were supposed to have some professional figure skaters put on a performance; but we heard later that the show was cancelled as they had trouble with the ice maker and the ice melted.

  We found a some empty chairs in front of a stage and sat down to rest for a bit.  The band went into play mode and after a few tunes we decided our ears needed a rest from it and moved on.  We grazed on the snacks available from the vendors and headed over to the annual city Christmas tree and Nativity Scene that is set up on the Malecon.  We continued down the Malecon where we had a bit more breathing room and found that they have set up another tree, a new, different one, or I have not seen it other years anyway.  It is very pretty and has lit up bells on either side of it.  Lots of people were taking photos in front of it.  Pretty.

By this time we had had enough walking, noise, people, etc. and headed home.  After a stop off at our favorite hot dog lady where we initiated our friends into Mexican hot dogs we headed home.  We must be getting old as we were tuckered out.

A nice evening, made more enjoyable by good friends and a cute little girl enjoying her glimpses of Santa Claus.

Roy and our little friend.

Parade was attended by all ages.

The coca cola girls.

The new Christmas Tree.

Winter Illnesses

Seems like it is winter time here as we are both under the weather, we usually get sick once each every winter.  I know to anyone further north this will sound crazy; but when it gets cold here in the winter we always get 1 cold each.  Yes, to us it is cold; but then we are used to the summer heat so for us it does indeed feel cold.
I was having some symptoms and so of course went to google and looked up some stuff, it kind of confirmed what I had thought so off I went to see the Dr..  I usually go to the Drs. at Farmacia Similiares, they are good and very reasonably priced, 25 pesos or less than $2.00 a visit.  I had him check my blood pressure and then I explained my problem, he had a look and confirmed my and googles diagnosis.  He wrote out a prescription and  off I went downstairs to the farmacia (pharmacy) to pick it up and pay for it.
When I got home, of course I googled the best medication for the treatment of my problem and up popped exactly what the Dr. had prescribed for me.  Good deal.  I have always had good experiences with these Drs.
I seldom take antibiotics because they tend to upset my tummy and sure enough today my tummy is upset.  Oh well, not like I wasn't expecting it.
Roy is sick with a bad cold or I am thinking bad Bronchitis but until today (Sunday) has refused to go to the Dr..  MEN!!!!  What is with men and going to the Dr.????  He has been coughing so much for the last 5 or 6 days and nights that neither one of us has gotten hardly any sleep.  Well, this morning he finally decided that it was time to see a Dr..  He didn't feel like going out so we were going to have the Dr. come here to see him.  Yes, they still do housecalls here.   Right, it is Sunday and the only Drs. I know work at the Farmacias,  I went and enlisted the aid of my landlady and she knew some Drs. names; but of course when she tried them they were all out, being Sunday.  She was going to try one last person that she knew was away in the next town for a few hours; but Roy decided that he would just wait until tomorrow rather than bothering this fellow or going to the Emergency room.  He is sleeping now so maybe he will feel better when he wakes up.
You sure can tell it is winter.

Chalk Pastels

Last night at art class I finished my first ever attempt at using chalk pastels.  It is a different medium for me and is interesting to see how it works.  I like it so far.  I am going to attempt something more difficult for my next one and see how it goes.
Anyway here is the final result.

First attempt at chalk pastels. November 2010.

Revolution Day Costume

Our little friend from downstairs was all dressed up in her costume to dance at her school on Friday.  She very obligingly let me take a few pictures of her before she left.
She looked very cute.  I tried to get her to show me her dance; but her little brother wouldn't co-operate in partnering her, so no private show.

Our little friend from downstairs.

Side view so that I could see her "baby".

Hope the week coming up treats you all well and Happy Thanksgiving to those in the USA.

Centennial and Bicentennial Fair

I was away for a few days; but am back at home now.

As part of the Mexican Centennial and Bicentennial celebrations this year, here in Guaymas this weekend they are having a fair.  The fair showcases local talent and also has exhibits to view.  It is being held on the malecon and is a great place to relax and enjoy yourself.  The event, as is normal for events such as these, is free to all.

There was a stage set up for the entertainers and various exhibits, artwork, photos of the revolution, the stages of development of the Mexican flag, and also some very interesting statistics of Sonora.

There was a nice sized crowd watching the entertainment; but there were lots of chairs set up on three sides of the stage so we sat down to watch.

Apparently, it is also the 30 th anniversary, (1980-2010), this year of  Conalep , in Sonora and if I understood correctly some of the entertainers were from this  technical college.

Dancers, singers, etc. all found their way on stage and entertained the crowd.   We sat and watched until the modern dancers came on and then we decided to wander around and see what else was happening.

Tummies were grumbling so we headed for a torta stand and had some food before heading back to see what else there was to see.

Due to camera and user limitations the photos are not the greatest; but here are a few anyway.

The stage.

One of the gateways erected on the malecon.

Painting on exhibit.
I had seen the young woman starting 
this painting
at the Casa de la Cultura
and was impressed with the results. 
 We both really liked it.

One of the pictures on exhibit.

The Old Bank Of Sonora, (1908-1932)

I have posted pictures of the old Banco de Sonora before; although it is quite some time ago.
This is a wonderful old building that is deteriorating more and more as time goes by.  Unfortunately there doesn't seem to be any money laying around to either maintain it or restore it to its former glory.
At one time I had heard that there was an organisation trying to raise funds to look after it; I don't know if that was/is correct or not.
It truly is a shame to see buildings like this falling more and more into ruin as the years go by.  Yes, I fully understand that people and infrastructure come first, I am not blind or stupid; but still.......
I am not criticizing anyone, it is just a fact of life that no matter where you live, there is never enough money to go around to all the projects that need some.
















Some of the damage to the cupola, there is much more damage in other areas also.

Dove of Peace

I mentioned that we had seen something new, to us anyway, on the malecon the other night.
It is a dove of peace, which in itself is nothing unusual.  What is unusual is what it is made of.  The head of the dove is made up of small plastic soldiers, the body and wings consist of toy guns of all types and the tail is made up of toy swords.
There is a sign beside it to explain the sculpture.
Very interesting and very timely.

Art Exhibits At The Festival de las Calacas

I mentioned in the last post that some of the artwork from the students or former students of the Casa de la Cultura had been displayed at the Festival de las Calacas.
The first one is done on black paper and is either chalk or chalk pastels, I am not certain which.  I love how the artist got the veil to look so transparent.
The second one definitely has a sly look about her and you can imagine her sneaking around during the Revolution, or maybe I have too active an imagination.
Talented artists in my opinion.
The third one is of the interior of the building where the paintings were displayed.  Part of this building now houses a Spa and another part has the sidewalk cafe where we had our cokes the day before.  It must have been quite the home to live in at one time and is still a lovely building.

Festival de las Calacas

Today we went uptown to view the Festival de las Calacas that they hold each year for the Dia de los Muertos celebrations. The people at the Casa de la Cultura put a lot of work into this festival along with many other people.  The calacas (skeletons) and decorations are made by the people at the Casa de la Cultura and paintings from the classes held there are on display also.  Many of the schools and also private people set up altars to honour people that were important to them in some way, either family members or famous people.  The altars hold things that were important to the people that are being honoured, foods, photos, clothing, some of their possessions, etc..  The altars set up by the schools will be judged later on this evening I believe.
There is also music, food and dancing during the festival.
We wandered around, viewed the altars and art exhibits and then sat down at a street side cafe. We relaxed with a cold coke and people watched for awhile.  We had a great time, very relaxing and enjoyable.
I took lots of pictures and decided to put them into a slideshow rather than posting them all separately.
After we wandered over to the water and walked along the malecon before heading home.  There is something new on the malecon that I will show you in a day or two.
 A great outing with my favorite person.

First Project Completed

Last evening at drawing class we completed our first project.  Our teacher endeavored to teach us how to draw a face.  I have to say that I have never really had much interest in drawing people or faces so at first I was not too interested in the project.  As the class went on though the techniques began to intrigue me and I enjoyed it.  I will never be good at this as I have lots of trouble making 2 objects the same size even when using the measurements given for the standard face.  We were not allowed to use a ruler at any time during the process and had to make all the measurement lines freehand, this is a problem for me as I cannot draw a straight line, yikes.
I am still not really happy with the face as I think the dark shading on the left side of the mouth makes it appear as if the mouth is pulled over to that side, kind of like a stroke victim. I had had less shading on that area but the teacher made me add more, so I suppose he knows best.
Anyway it is finished.
Next week we begin to work with pastels, a medium I have never tried before either.  I have used oils, acrylics, water colour and water colour pencils; but never pastels, so should be fun.  We are supposed to bring a photo of a still life with vases, jars, and a variety of fruits in it so that we can work on lots of textures, shading, etc..  Sounds like lots of work and fun to come.

My first attempt at a face.

The Casa de la Cultura is getting ready to have the Festival de las Calacas this weekend for the Day of the Dead.  The building was abuzz with activity last night and it should be a fun weekend.  Music, calacas, food, altars, etc. will all be set up in the Plaza de la Pistola and adjoining streets.

El Presidente En Tu Colonia (the mayor in your neighbourhood)

Here in Guaymas, the mayor has a program called, "El Presidente en tu Colonia" or translated more or less, the mayor in your neighbourhood.  He and his cabinet come to an area in your colonia and they have a "cultural fair" along with a sort of speech, question/answer session.  I don't know if this is done in cities all over the state and or country or if it is just a Guaymas thing.  I did a quick search and could only find entries for Guaymas so perhaps it is a local thing.
Anyway, last night was our turn.  Our colonia is a very large one so perhaps he is doing this in other parts of it also, I don't know.  I do know that this one was only about 2 blocks away from us so we decided to go and see what was happening.
When we arrived the Cultural Fair part was going strong.  Some of the ladies from the Casa de la Cultura had tables set up and there were lots of children working hard at making bracelets, pictures and hand puppets.  They were a very busy bunch.  One of the ladies joked with us that maybe Roy wanted to make a bracelet.  He politely declined.  We know these ladies from taking classes there and the mother of one of the ladies in the office only lives a couple of blocks from us.
There was a small stage set up in front and the dancers from the Casa de la Cultura were doing their part to make the evening enjoyable, their dancing was interspersed with an older gentleman singing.  We have heard him sing at events before and he has a very nice singing voice.  He stated he was going to sing some beautiful old romantic songs and he did.  One of the songs he sang was about the beautiful October moon and very obligingly the moon came out from behind some sketchy clouds as he was singing.  He made sure to point this out during his song.  He also did one about the seaside of course and another for a  young girl whose 15 th birthday happened to be yesterday.  I forget what the song was; but it wasn't the usual "happy birthday" song.
The mayor did a meet and greet with the people there, shaking hands and chatting with most people.
After awhile he and his group went on stage and were introduced and the speeches began.  It was nice because they were all fairly short; although not always sweet.  A lady welcomed him to our community and thanked him and the group for coming  and then began to relate what the area would like to see happen with drainage, water, road repairs and paving, street lighting and security.
The mayor took his turn and outlined what had been done during his term so far and at what cost, what money has been allocated for paving, etc..  Then, of course, he went into the typical politician sweet talk, of everything that can be done, if everyone works together, etc., etc., etc..
Despues, he opened it up for people in the audience to ask questions, and several had things to say.  He directed them to the correct person and basically told them to get together to hash it out.
Fairly pleasant, not many raised voices.
Tomorrow, Saturday he will be at one of the schools here and according to my landlady this is when he will be going around and looking at the streets, etc. The flyer for tomorrow states, "asiste y participa", (attend and participate).  I think that might be something that we will not attend, not being nationals and not having any right to participate in local things of this nature.
Anyway, it was a nice evening last night and I enjoyed listening to some of the concerns in our part of the community.

Another First For Me In Guaymas

The other day I decided to give WalMart another try here.  I have been to their new store a couple of times and wasn't at all impressed, the prices are a lot higher than in the other grocery stores.  I had gotten a personal item there though and wanted to get another one while they were still around, so off I went.
When I got on a bus for Guaymas Norte my first impression was, wow, nice new bus.  Once I sat down I realized that all the windows were closed and cold air was blowing on me!!!!!  This nice new bus has air conditioning that works.  Wow!!!!  This was a first for me, not sure how long this bus has been around; but am thinking not long, as the driver was discussing it with one fellow and showing off the stereo, he was also driving very carefully.  Considering that careful driving is not really a city bus thing I am assuming he hadn't had this bus for long.  I am thinking that after he fills up with fuel a few times the air conditioning may be shut down.  Who knows.  Anyway it was a nice ride to the store, no squeaks, no squealing brakes, no grinding transmission, etc..  Luxury apparently comes with a price though as by the time I got off the bus I had an earache from the cold wind blowing on me, too funny.  On the way home I had my usual decrepit old school bus with all its attendant squeaks, squeals, rattles, etc. so felt more at home.  What a surprise that was.

In other news the landlords have another new grandchild born on Friday, mom and baby in good health and at home.  Other sons wife is expecting another baby also, so more to come.

We went and had a nice dinner out last night to celebrate our special day.  The weather was cooler and we enjoyed eating outside without the humidity.

I threw some cherry tomato seeds into a pot the other night, the seeds are old so not sure if they will germinate or not.  Will see.

Time to head out to do some shopping and go to art class.

October 10, 2005

October 10, 2005.

An important date in my mind and one that I will probably always remember.  That is the day we crossed the border into Mexico and saw our new home for the first time.  The joy and excitement of seeing the things in reality that we had been looking at pictures of, for a very long 10 months or a year of research was amazing.  I will never forget that feeling of recognizing views and buildings that we had only seen in pictures before.

At that time there were not the blogs about living in Mexico that there are today.  I remember finding Billys blog and Johns blog and not too many more.  Their information helped; but a lot of it differed from our area.  I think the people thinking of heading south now are very fortunate to have all the information that is available now from the many, many well written blogs about Mexico.  It was difficult to find much information about Guaymas as it is not your average tourist destination, San Carlos yes; Guaymas not so much.  We wanted to have a more down to earth experience for our 6 month winter in Mexico.  Yes, I said 6 months.  We had only intended to be down here for the winter, we were not retired we just wanted to escape 1 cold winter which we both hated.  When the beginning of January came around we both realized that we didn't ever want to live through another winter in Canada.  We sat down and spent a lot of time crunching numbers and thinking hard about trying to stay for an extended amount of time.  After many hours of this we decided to give it a try, after all, as someone very close to me used to say, "the Lord hates a coward".
The end of March came and we headed back to Canada, we rushed around frantically and sold everything that wouldn't fit in our small car and on July 1, 2006 we re-entered Mexico for the foreseeable future.  I don't say forever as you never know what life will throw into your path in the future.
I have to say that 99.99% of the last 5 years has been great and that we have no regrets about what we did back then.  We are both happy and content, perhaps too content as we intended to see more of the country than we have so far.  It seems when we think about travelling we now just seem to be too lazy to do it.  I guess we have adopted the mañana attitude.

So today we celebrate our 5 th anniversary of living in Mexico and Guaymas.  Hope everyone has as great a day as we will.

This is also Thanksgiving weekend in Canada so we want to wish everyone there a wonderful weekend.  We all have much to be thankful for today and everyday.

Still Alive Just Not Blogging

I guess I have been missing in action on here for the last couple of weeks.  Things have been going on; but not much that is blog worthy or that someone else has not written about much better than I can.
The big celebration is over until the next one starts.  We didn't do much over the holiday, neither or us is big on crowds so we kind out hung out at home mostly and even watched the fireworks from our patio.  I did go and check out the photo exhibition that the Casa de la Cultura has on until the end of September.

We renewed our FM3 's with little fuss; although it took a bit longer than it might have as they were closed for several days over the holiday.  The first day we took some documents in with us to see what else they were going to require.  They added a couple of more things to the list and asked us to please not come back until the next week as they were out of forms.  Apparently they had more people coming to renew or get their papers than they had expected and had run out of the forms they needed.  We gave them an extra day after the holiday was over and went back.  They looked through it all and sent us to the bank to pay.  Receipts in hand for the payments we returned to the office.  They told us to take a seat and kept calling us to the counter with one or another question on a form he was filling out on the computer.  Finally I asked him why he just didn't take it off of the forms that I had filled in.  He looked through our papers again, found the form and transferred the info. into his computer.  We sat and waited for a bit and he came back and presented me with my new card.  Repeated the same with Roy and shortly thereafter we were done.  Not bad.  No more return trips to pick it up, etc., etc..  Done for another year.
  One surprise this year was that there were a couple of the staff that could speak English, other years the only one that I ever saw that could speak some English was the boss and he wasn't around a lot of the time.  We did it ourselves in Spanish other years so weren't concerned about it anyway: but it might take some business away from the people in the next town over that earn a living doing this for people.

A plus was that when they gave me my new card I noticed that I now had a CURP number, I had been meaning to go and get one; but had been putting it off.  Now no muss, no fuss one was assigned to me.  I asked the fellow if this was an actual CURP number and he assured me it was.  The next day when I was downtown I went and got one printed off and laminated just to make sure I was actually in their computer with that number and sure enough there it was.  So for 14 pesos I now have a CURP card.  One less thing to do.  The CURP number is your ID number and every time you fill out a form you are asked for it.

I have been taking a drawing class at the Casa de la Cultura since the beginning of September.  I am enjoying it, the teacher actually gives good instruction and is easy to follow.  He lectures and tells us to take notes during some of it and then he gives us hands on tasks to do, homework also.  There are 2 classes a week for an hour and a half each.  This course is definitely worth my while to take and is just what I have been looking for.  It gives my Spanish a work out as it is naturally all in Spanish, good deal drawing and Spanish class all in one.

Still going to my Spanish class once a week also though, will never be able to stop that.

We had some sad news in Roys family, we had pretty much known it was coming; but was still hard to hear.

I had another birthday, I think they are coming more often than they used to.

Tropical Depression Georgette came through yesterday and dumped some rain on us.  No problems in our neighborhood, not sure about other areas in Guaymas.  Haven't seen the local news today yet.  The news we have seen is from other areas so will see later on.  Hopefully nothing major happened, not much wind; but a fair amount of rain.  Apparently some homes in San Carlos got water in them so I am sure some of the people in Guaymas got water inside also.  One of the perks of living on a hill and also on the second floor.

Spanish And Art

Well, last night was the first night of class for the drawing/art class that I signed up for at the Casa de la Cultura.  I decided to try the drawing class as in the painting class there was no instruction and I need the basics having never had any type of classes before.
I was a little nervous as the classes naturally are all in Spanish and wasn't sure my language was up to the test; but nothing ventured nothing gained, so decided to go for it.
From sitting outside this teachers classroom while waiting for my painting class to begin in the summer session I knew that he did a lot of lecturing as well as practical hands on stuff.  I had spoken to him in July and gotten his name so that I could be sure and get the right class in fall.
After his early class yesterday he saw me waiting and came over to talk to me, asking if I had signed up for his class, I said I had and he told me to come into the classroom.  There were only 2 other people besides me so that was nice, it is possible that more will join though as that happens.
Anyway he began and asked me if I could speak Spanish, I told him a little and he said if I didn't understand something to ask him to slow down or repeat it.  He laughed and said his English is only of the ordering food at McDonalds type lol.  I told him that if I had any trouble it was my problem not his and thanked him for his consideration and class began.
He started out with a lecture about the different types of art and and told us to take notes on what he said.  I did fine, translating in my head and writing the notes down in English.  He seemed as surprised as I was with my keeping up and not holding the others back.  Thank goodness as I was dreading that.  We discussed and wrote notes about Realism, Surrealismo, and other types of art and also discussed some famous paintings and artists.  Very enjoyable.
During the practical stuff he told me I was going to have a harder time than the others because I am left handed and am using the other side of my brain and will need to train myself to do things that the others do naturally.  Great, like I need another handicap lol.  He showed us what we would be doing throughout the class until December and that was it for the first night.
  I have homework lol.  It has been a few years since I have had homework.
All in all the class was great, at the end I thanked the teacher for the class and the Spanish lesson lol.  I was walking on cloud nine when I exited the class, feeling really much better about my poor language skills.

Diego Turns Two

One of our landlords grandsons had his second birthday recently, so Friday was the day picked to have the fiesta.

  It is hard to believe that it is already two years since the day he was born.  I was lucky enough to get to go and see him and hold him about an hour after he was born.  Such an exciting day for everyone.  He is now a running bundle of energy and definitely has a very bright mind of his own.  He constantly makes us laugh.

The party was held at the Salon de Eventos Titanico, which the children love.  They have 2 water slides, each with its own small pool and another center pool for the children who don't want to be in the pools where the children are coming down off of the slides.  They also blow up a small inflatable pool on the outside for the really tiny ones.

The kids love it and are so busy that you don't see much of them until they get either hungry or thirsty.

There were the usual drinks and snacks served.  It was hot even under the shade and the kids really enjoyed the water.

The party theme was Spongebob Squarepants.  Diego was dressed appropriately and of course the piñata was also of this character.  They lowered it for him to whack at it while the other kids were still in the pool and he had a good time.

One of the water slides.

The pools and other slide.

The birthday boy with grandpa.

Going a couple of rounds with Sponge Bob.

Our Tenant/s

If you have been reading this blog for awhile you probably know that we live in a very small apartment.  You might be wondering, where on earth would they put a tenant or tenants?
Well, it just so happens that the tenants we have, (none paying naturally), take up very little space.  They are cute in a strange kind of way, you know the saying, "a face only a mother could love".  Well these tenants pretty much follow this saying.  They are quiet usually and not too messy; although the odd time they do their "business" in places I don't approve of.  They are helpful in that they eat things that Roy and I refuse to.  They never complain and are happy with whatever we provide.  In other words they are almost the perfect tenants.
They used to be pretty shy and would never allow me to take their photo; but lately they have been more open to the idea of becoming famous by having their picture on the blog.
So here one of them is, don't know which one it is as they have never told me their names and  it is hard to tell them apart, one is bigger than the others; but other than that they are pretty much indistinguishable.

Kind of good looking in his/her own way, don't you think?