Cantaloupes and Watermelons

Well it is that time of the month, the bills are due and paid.  Errands are run and all is calm on the home front.  December waits in the wings, with all its excitement and parties.

It is also the time of the year that there is more local fresh fruit on the scene.  The 1/2 ton trucks with their boxes full of fruit are going through the neighbourhoods selling Cantaloupes - 3 for 10 pesos, (about .81 cents) and also watermelons.  The watermelons are also 10 pesos; but you only get one for that price.
The guys who wait at the traffic lights are selling the same things.  I loved when it was strawberry season, I enjoyed sitting at the red lights then.  Yum.  In a couple of weeks the lady at the mercado en centro will have her sweet corn for sale and I will be a frequent visitor to her stall.  I stopped and chatted with her last week and she just smiled when she saw me coming.  She knows what my favorite thing is at her stall.

The Christmas season is also gearing up, I noticed today that the trees, a lot of them have white painted trunks, are all wrapped with red ribbons and are looking festive.  The stores downtown are devoting their window displays to whatever they are hawking for the season.  People are beginning to make pinatas for the posadas at the beginning of the month.
I forgot to look downtown yesterday to see if the street decorations are up; but if they aren't they will be soon.  I did notice that the street venders are getting thicker in centro and have more gifty type items for sale, along with the usual hats, scarves, and mittens.
As for me,  I am very happy that the palm trees are not covered with snow and though a bit chilly, (26/27 C.), it is not cold and nasty.  The socks, blue jeans, jackets and closed toe shoes have come out of their summer hiding places; but the sun shines brightly in the blue sky and life is good.

Cloudy Day Views

We have great views from our windows and patio; whether it is sunny or on the occasional days when we get clouds.
Yesterday we had a cold front blow in from Arizona along with clouds.  Ok, so it is not that cold; but for us it was chilly enough for jeans and heavier tops.  I think the temperature was around 25 C. or so.

I took a few photos from the patio yesterday afternoon, just before the sun came out from behind the clouds.

New Family Members

I forgot to mention earlier that I have been teasing Roy about being a grandparent again, this time to 7 and all at once!  Amazing, isn't it?  The other family members have been crowing and cackling about the event all week, braggers!!

So, without further ado here is a photo of the newest family additions and their mom.

And here is a photo of a few of the other proud family members.

Cleaning Up

Well another first for us.  Our walls and ceilings needed washing down and neither one of us felt up to doing it, so we hired our landlords cleaning lady to come in on Thursday to do it for us.
She did the bathroom, kitchen and living areas first, so Roy and I spent the morning moving furniture for her.  Then after she left we spent the afternoon putting it all back.  It took her about 3 hours to do that and then she had to leave for other commitments.
She is coming back on Wednesday to do the bedroom and that will be that.
I washed all the curtains and Roy cleaned the windows, so all is good.

Ran some errands yesterday and picked up a few groceries and other than that nothing much.  Lazy days.

Lest We Forget

Festival de la Calaca

This years Festival de la Calaca is being held on Thursday, Friday and Saturday of this week.  The festival is organised and sponsored by several state and municipal art and culture groups, the city and many businesses as well. This is apparently the 10 th one, I think we have been to most of them over the last 8 years and enjoyed all of them.  The theme this year is, " La Muerte Tiene Permiso", which is from, or so I read, from a 1930's novel written by a Guaymas author named Valdez.

Yesterday we went downtown to have a look/see, it is always a fun time and this year it seems better than ever.

We first went and visited the malecon to see if anything was going on there, it was pretty quiet; although we were approached by a fellow for some information about living here and ended up talking to his wife in the USA over his cell phone.  Interesting encounter, after that a group of high school students who had been listening to us chatting had lots of questions for us.  We had a fun conversation with them.  There was what looked like a small cruise ship parked at the cruise ship dock and we hadn't heard anything about a cruise coming in, so I asked the students if they knew anything about it.  One young fellow, quickly replied with a grin that it was his yacht and laughed.  I laughed back and told him, "in your dreams".  His friends and he all thought that was hilarious and then wanted to know how to say it in English.  A fun chat with them before we went on our way.

Off we wandered to the plazas where the festival is being held and looked around.  It was still early so they were still setting up some of the lighting.  We sat on one of the benches and watched some children getting their faces painted and laughed at the antics of the little children.  They are so much fun when you know they are not coming home with you!

Our stomachs told us it was time for dinner so we wandered over to the restaurant La Casona del Bueno.  We relaxed over a light dinner and then returned to the festival.

We grabbed some seats in the plaza and relaxed listening to a musical group from the Casa de la Cultura and then watched the dance group "Guaima" perform several Veracruz style dances.  Then the group we had been waiting for, La Ruckeada, took the stage.  They are also a local group and perform older songs, "los oldies" usually, both Spanish and English.  We enjoy this group so were looking forward to hearing them again.














Needless to say I took a lot of photos so put them into a slideshow to save some
space.  I hope you enjoy looking at the scenes through our eyes.