Water Logged

What a soggy, mushy, mess our place has become. Will it never quit raining ??! All the grandkids ballgames this week have been cancelled, Some were cancelled last week as well. And this is their band concert season in High School. They have placed "ones" across the board and "sweepstakes" band.Both of our 2 grands in town play so we are so proud of them. Grandson Jake has the flu but is feeling better with the Tamiflu. There is no vaccine available in the entire town.
I photographed this bedraggled hawk the other day searching for food ....in our trash can! Not very dignified! He had perched on top of the motorhome and I could hear him scratching around up there.
Ordered Pop's tuxedo today for his "Phantom Ball". I am so proud of him..he is being honored for all his years of working with the Easter Seals program in our town. He loves the kids and has helped with his time and money to help those who need a little extra help along the way. Never wanted any thanks so this is extra special thank you from his peers.
Will start to repack this weekend. supposed to be sunny and turn colder. At least the rain is supposed to get out of here! Yea.

As the worm turns.

As we await the coming of fall from our own driveway, I feel we are just biding our time until we can be on the road again. How strange to be living in our motorhome a stone's throw away from the house that we have lived in for the past almost 20 years. But it has been nice to be able to adjust to this new life. We are beseiged by doctor's appts. and checkups. Is everybody getting older?? Everywhere I look, I think, "Good Lord, the whole world is aging right along with us!" Let us run while we can... back to our own sanctuary in Mexico!
It has rained and rained here, Puddles and lakes are brimming over. Before long, the big v's of geese and ducks will start to fly over..one of my most favorite times of the year. The hunters are already cleaning their rifles and stocking up on shells. The grandson informed us that they are having a "resident" goose hunt on certain days to get rid of some of the "nuisance" geese that infest the parks and lakes. Didn't know there was such a term for one of God's beautiful birds.
Getting tired of all the explosive news (?) on TV. Have stocked up on some of my favorite videos..I love the English Channel's "Midsummer Murders" which are done by the Acorn Productions...as seen on some of the A&E channels here. The English countryside is so lovely and the character actors are wonderful.
Cannot wait to be out of here and on the road! Hurry the Day!

Is August thru' yet??

As usual, time flew by for us after we left PaaMul on the 1st. It was hot and still as we pulled away from the park, I hated to look behind us as we pulled away. The return trip was bone-jarring as the whole of Mexico must be under construction. One bright spot was Catemaco, Veracruz. What a beautiful area! It was cool, lush, and wonderful. Would love to go back. Villas Tepetepan is a great place to stay and the folks there were terrific. On to the border where I discovered my first robbery in all the years we have traveled there. We made 2 military stops between Tampico and the border and on one of those, one young soldado lifted my purse! He must have stuffed it under his flack jacket while his compadres talked politely to me at the doorway. Took our passports and money but my wallet was with me so he did not get any credit cards. I was so angry. Did not discover it until we got to Los Indios and I started looking for my PP and realized the purse was gone. The commandant there was very concerned and took our information and made phone calls. He was a bit mortified that someone in uniform could have taken it in out and out theft of an Americano down there for so long. Now I am in the process of filing for a new PP all over again.
Took the coach down to Alabama to the Tiffin factory for a checkup and to get a quick fix of a few little things. Took us 12 days at the campground to finally get stuff done. Then back home to the driveway and next to the lake. First time that we are at home without a home. The daughter and granchildren are now living in our place and we are camped in the driveway. We are both so glad that we made the move! Love this lifestyle! After a few medical checks, we will probably go back down to Rockport, Tx on the coast and do some fishing for a few weeks before we fly back to Vegas for Pete's annual APRA convention. Then fly back to Corpus and drive the MH back to PaaMul the first part of November, Gypsies are US!

July wonder Daze

July was filled with great fun as all of our young families came in to visit bringing grandchildren! The weather was hot but not so hot as Texas and there was always a seabreeze. We spent days down at the beach at Yanten, swimming here at our hotel pool, snorkeling with the turtles at Akumal and culminating with a trip with Sue and kids to Isla Holbox to swim with the whale sharks. It was a wonderful summer for us. The worst thing is packing up the palapa and going back home. this has become home for us and I really don't want to leave! An I nuts for feeling this way? We have found a little bit of Eden in this place and I don't want to go back to the real world. I would rather stay in this one. We are beginning to talk about building a permanent apartment under the palapa like a few of the folks here have done. At first, I didn't like the idea but it does have merit when you really think about it. Time will tell..maybe next year. Right now, I wish my health were a little better.

Palapa Life is Good!!

We are once again enjoying the good life in our wonderful palapa! We are getting the cabinets installed by Mr. Marcos from Playa who did a fantastic job. Freddie poured concrete runways for the big coach to back down leading into the palapa and they worked just fine. We have to literally wrap this coach around the big poles so he had a slight slope put onto one of the runways and it helped keep the upper canopy frames off of the poles.
It is so hot! It rained all weekend and today it steamed! Felt like a lobster in a pot. Thank goodness for the fans and slight breeze. Some construction still going on. I feel sorry for these good men who have to work in this heat hauling gravel, digging holes, mixing cement, etc. But I have yet to hear one complain. Pop moved some rocks for me and did a number on his back. He laid around for a couple of days and took some muscle relaxers and is doing much better. The flamboyan trees are in full bloom. They are the mimosa looking trees that have huge cascading blooms of fiery red blossums. So beautiful. I hope to get one for the back yard by the jungle. The little aguti comes out each evening for the fruit I leave for him. Lots of big iguanas coming around and chomping any blooming flower they can find. Our boat sprang a leak and have ordered one to replace it. Supposed to come in to Cancun and be delivered to us. Hope it gets here soon.
Life is good. children and grands coming in July. Yippee!!

Rain, Rain in Paradise

We arrived back in PaaMul just in time for the first summer rains! How wonderful. After 2 weeks of consecutive raining in Texas, we come back to Paradise and it is raining here! Only thing is, they need it so badly down here. Life giving rain. It feeds this thirsty jungle and runs in little rivers down the gravel, dusty roads here in the park. The birds are so happy that they sing all day long in spite of the downpour. They fly out for a good soaking then scurry up under the palapa roofs to preen and clean their feathers.

The palapa still is not complete. Dino used the time we were gone to work on someone else's palapa! Go figure. He has been well paid and promised over and over again to complete it before we returned. Hard to maintain faith in somebody who cannot grasp the meaning of completing a project as you promised. Mexico! Manana!
But we plod on ahead and console ourselves that One Fine Day, we will have our own piece of Paradise completed.

May showers

We had doctor's appts. made by the kids for us the first 2 weeks of May, so we drug ourselves out of PaaMul and on a plane to fly back to Texas. In spite of all the swine flu hoopla! Such a crock! We hated to leave. Freddie and his masonry crew are laying the last of the tile in the kitchen and bath and it is so pretty! The palaperos have vanished for a while. Maybe it is because I am not there to cook for them! Ha! They can sure eat but somehow I don't mind. I sometimes wonder if it is the only real meal of the day that they get. And they work so hard..unbelievably hard. Pop backed the BBB under the palapa last Thursday to see if it fit...and it does!! Yippee!! 43 feet of honkin' motorhome and it takes every inch to clear the palapa posts...well, almost. The front left "tree" post lacks about 3 inches clearing the slide out so Sobriano will have to do his magic with that chain saw and make a "niche" to slide out the extension for the LR. No problem. We are also putting a 2nd bano upstairs in our so called "Tarzan" room. I can just see our guests trying to negotiate that catwalk, crawl down the stairs outside, and back into the palapa in the middle of the night to get to the bathroom! My sister would never make it. Dino has promised it would be completed by the time we get back on the 17th. We'll see! Hey..it's Mexico! Will post pics when we get back...they are all on the web album.