ROAD BLOG AHEAD

So it’s been waaaay too long since I posted anything here. Lots of stuff happened since last post, not all of it fit for public consumption Nyondo was here for 3 weeks, Silva and Orchid for about 10 days in which we had both intense times and intense relaxation. One of the best times of my life on many levels and, after they all left, I felt really sad because it had all seemed so… “right” I guess… with all of us here together sharing life. There was some trepidation beforehand because all the women I love the most and have the most intense relationships with were all going to be together in a relatively isolated setting for the first time. Well, yeah, I think we’ve all been together for a few hours on several occasions, but that’s really different than living under one roof for nearly two weeks. But it worked. Not just worked, but worked very very well. I knew that Nyondo, who is an easy person to get along with and eminently likeable just as she is, wouldn’t conflict with any of the others. She’s self-contained, well-balanced and cheerful, at least most of the time and, when she’s having difficulties, she knows it and tends to have her own coping mechanisms that work for her. I wasn’t, however, certain if Lena and Silva would comfortably cohabit for that long. They are very alike in some ways and very different in others. What I didn’t dare hope for was the bonding that occurred between them, the genuine comraderie, cooperation and liking I witnessed! It was glorious, really wonderful to see. A little scary too of course since, between them, they have seen all my dark corners, my foibles, my cracks. Sort of an emotional “nowhere to hide” with the two of them present. But everyone had/has such high levels of integrity that it was more like letting sunlight into all the corners. That’s kind of the emotional upshot, with the added plus that Silva arrived totally stressed and tense from working waaaay too hard and having too much shit to deal with over the past 18 months - and she left relaxed and looking 10 years younger! I had hoped to be able to give her that opportunity to relax a little and I am so happy it was successful in that way! I really do feel lucky to have such women in my life, lucky to love and be loved by all of them.

After they left, I came down with a bug. Or bugs, really. A bit of diarrhea and stomach upset at first. Then, by Thursday, it was obviously something else: I had a sore throat, tight chest, incredible aching in every inch of my body. No coughing or sneezing oddly, just a tight, hot, sore chest that hurt to breathe. On Saturday, Lena put me on Cipro. I’ve been sleeping constantly, whining about the aches and running a fever, but I woke up today feeling a whole lot better physically. Emotionally I have been weepy and paranoid, not uncommon when I take antibiotics. Sad, but true. I really should be locked in a rubber room with 10 boxes of kleenex when I have to take anything stronger than pennicillin. I swear I become posessed by the spirits of a billion dying bacteria. Ick. It’s a bit better tonight and Lena has been a trooper.

She had her own cross to bear last week when she went to a new dentist for root canal surgery. 25 mgs of valium and she was still tense (and still able to walk and talk.) The root canal went well though and she goes back for reconstruction on Weds. I liked this dentist’s office, so I’m going to have them take a look in my mouth as well and see what is urgent. One funny thing - I forget how different Mexico is. They gave Lena a prescription for valium which said “1 box”. I took it in to the pharmacy at the Hospital de la Fe and what they gave me was a box of ampules of liquid and 6 syringes! Nowhere in the states can I imagine that happening - they just don’t use IV valium outside of hospitals and then tightly controlled. Fortunately we know how to use the stuff, but I thought it was pretty funny! The good thing is that valium, taken IV or IM works a lot faster at a lower dose than when it has to be swallowed.

I finished the Opal socks a couple of weeks ago and was delighted with the results. I think they’re probably the best pair I’ve made yet - love both the colorway and the fit. I really find that doing both cuff and top of sock in a 2×2 ribbing helps the fit a lot, so I’ll be doing it with future pair. I keep meaning to take a picture, but camera and socks never end up in the same place at the same time. Started a pair of gloves in another Opal colorway, a natural background with stripes of dark purple and dark khaki green. Not sure I like the colors much, but Lena does and I didn’t have anything else with me that seemed suitable for gloves. Finished the first one and am working on the second. The first seems just a tad large, but not enough so that I feel like ripping it out and redoing it. I’m doing the second one a bit smaller and we’ll see. I may even have enough yarn left to do a third in the smaller size and, hey, a third glove is always useful (if you remember where you put it.) when one of the pair goes for a walk. People look at me like I’m nutty to be knitting wool socks and gloves in Mexico in August but, hey, this is when I have time to knit and I’m going to be really glad of them when we hit Kathmandu in January! Once I explain that I plan to spend the winter in the Himalayas so I’m knitting to get ready, people seem to get it. Of course it IS kinda nutty to be spending the Summer in Mexico and the winter in Nepal. But whoever said I was sane, eh? Besides, that’s when I have the invitations and the airfare is cheaper so, for poor homeless waifs like me and Lena, it makes a degree of sense.

I’ve been having fun taking pictures of the surrounding area and reducing them to send in e-mails and post to the web. I think I’ll try to do a pictorial of Casa Lorena on this blog so my friends can see what it all looks like. I’ve posted a few pictures, but it’s time to put up more!

I have this feeling, however, that, if I try to make captions for every single picture, I’ll just never get around to doing it. So basically, I’m going to talk about what I intend to post and then just put the pics in in order with only those that really need clarification getting their own captions.

Starting with the road, going past San Miguel de Allende which can be seen on the hill,

turning onto the more rural road and past fields.

Past the village of La Cineguita with low brick buildings and walled yards full of laundry.

Past the little store on the road that functions as a local 7-11 and sells most staples out of a dark little room down a couple of steps.

From there one continues on along a dirt road to the little plaza in front of the church that is hundreds of years old and the old stone wall of the church yard.

Donkeys graze along this road and all sorts of livestock roam around.

At that stone wall you turn left

and go along a cobblestone path that is our “street” until you come to the gate in the wall, next to which is a bell and sign saying “Casa Lorena”

In thru the gate into the courtyard - garage is to the left, laundry and servants’ quarters to the right as well as the stairs up to the roof:

Thru into the main house area. To the left as you walk through the arch is the front way into the house. On the right is a small cactus and succulent plant garden which is beautiful - as long as you don’t trip and fall into it (ask me how I know this…)

If you keep going (which we’re doing on this particular tour of the server, you are in a lovely front garden area with a tiled fountain and mesquite trees hung with huge copper stars that light the garden at night with a magic glow.

Heading down the path, we go by the deck outside the kitchen’s back door where we find Lena sitting in the dappled sunlight:

Or Senorita Gatita/Miss Kitty posing briefly outside the back door after coming by for a snack:

If you go up the stairs, you’ll be on the patio, if you continue on the path past that deck, you approach the swimming pool behind the house. To the right, the path descends a few steps to a lower garden with an earth altar at its center:

You can see the back yard/lawn from here, where the path goes down to the natural hot springs. The lawn is vast and extends out to a wall.

The lawn is vast and extends out to a wall.

At times, the view across the land is just breathtaking - the sky can seem so huge:

Beyond the property wall is public land. All sorts of animals wander through and graze there and it extends up to the road. On the backside of thet wall is a lean-to shed covered by a tarp. A donkey lives there. And brays there. He’s loud. Very loud. At all hours. This shot was taken from the road looking back towards the wall and the hacienda.

Again, more later…

We’ve been relaxed and sybaritic as only a group of women can who collectively haven’t had a *real* vacation in years! Sleeping, shopping, swimming, cooking wonderful food and eating the same (plus some that we haven’t had to cook) has been the order of the day. What is particularly lovely is that, at least to some extent, it’s made even smoother by having a staff to handle things like dragging the heaviest of the groceries in from the car, cleaning the pool, taking out the garbage, making the beds and, at least every other day, doing the dishes and cleaning up the kitchen. Ya know, I think I could live in a tar paper shack and sleep on a cot if I had a maid to do my dishes and fluff the pillows Laughing

Silva, Nyondo, Orchid and I all went shopping today. We ended up at the “mall” - such as it is - where the supermarket equivalent is stashed. Despite having been here awhile, I hadn’t actually explored beyond buying groceries, so it was rather a lot of fun to prowl around the funky little shops and see what we could find. There was a deli that had things like rye bread and corned beef briskets, sushii nori and rice and a few other things that are not easy to find in Mexico. So we bought some of those and then went over to a little housewares shop where I bought a package of plastic clamps that look promising. I’ll let you know how they work out We found the local equivalent of a food court and had lunch, something of an experiment for Silva and Rose, certainly as much of the menu was completely alien, even to Orchid who speaks some Spanish. I’ve been here just long enough to translate most of what there was, but not with perfect accuracy, so there were some surprises. Then we went and, between the four of us, bought out the supermarket, particularly of those things we probably shouldn’t have bought. We may have cleared the shelves of cream and yoghurt, pastries and dulce de leche and chocolate. Silva made a most delicious dinner involving rice and portobello mushrooms and a to-die-for sauce with ginger and yams and we ate the cheesecake I bought.

Dinner was actually after a lazy and playful afternoon in the swimming pool. The water was warm and we stayed in it until we all looked like golden raisins. Well, all of us except Nyondo, who just looked like a regular raisin. She manages to cavort in the pool without actually soaking her waist-length dreadlocks. A good thing since they take forever to dry once wet, but it means piling them in the most amazing topknot high on her head and threatening the life of any of us who attempt to dunk her. The rest of us did our share of dunking and laughing hysterically as we played with all the floatable pool toys that Tom has stashed under the house. At one point, I realized that my wedding ring had slipped off in the water (I made us matching rings when I was a lot fatter so now mine is very loose.) I did manage to spot it at the bottom of the pool since this water is clean enough and free of chemicals so one can open eyes underwater. Naturally, it was in the deep end. I’m extremely boyant - I float without effort - and have trouble actually diving deep, so Lena went down to the bottom and retrieved it. I’m just really glad that I noticed it and located it right away. It’s not that valuable - a heavy silver band stamped with sunbursts - but it’s sentimental and my silversmithing tools are packed away so I couldn’t easy duplicate it any time soon.

One of the best parts of this is that we (Silva, Lena Nyondo and I) are finally doing what we have always dreamed about having an opportunity to do: hang out in an easy, relaxed way and enjoy one another at leisure. Because of the distances involved (Silva lives in Vancouver, BC) the most time we’ve ever had together has been about 5 days and usually that’s just her and I. She and Lena haven’t really had much chance to get to know each other well. And there has always been pressure to do do do in a hurry, the kind of holiday stress of making the most of a little time. It is wonderful to be in a place where I can watch both my wives and my… lover (that word doesn’t really cover it all, but will have to do) interact and enjoy each other. I was nervous for the first 48 hours, now I’m just… happy.

I finished the Opal Mexico socks last night. They fit perfectly and look great. I’ll post a picture here as soon as I remember to take one. I keep thinking of it when the camera is at the other end of this (big) house or when I have the camera and the socks are over in the dressing room off my bath. Anyway, I’m pleased with them and, after not having knit for over a year, I think they turned out fine - no gap in the gusset at all and the 2×2 ribbing down the instep really improves both the look and the fit.

I wanted to do a pair of gloves next, since we’re going to be heading to Nepal in winter and I haven’t a clue where any of my other gloves might be anymore. I *think* there’s a pair in the pocket of my black leather trench coat, but then again, I’m not certain where my black trench coat ended up. Probably in storage at Allison’s… I messed around using the white wool singles I bought in Patzcuaro. There’s certainly enough of it and, being natural white wool, it will dye easily to any color I please, but it’s fine and, being singles, definitely has a twist. I knitted up a couple of inches of cuff on No. 0 double points and decided to put that aside for the moment - even at such a fine gauge, it doesn’t quite look right for gloves. So then I pulled out some more Opal than Nyondo had brought me. Wouldn’t have been my first choice of yarns - the colorway is creaml, a very dark khaki green and dark purple. I had hoped that she’d bring the fine, red Regia from my stash bin, but she couldn’t find it and grabbed this stuff out of her own stash. It will do fine as gloves. I don’t think I’d like the colors as socks, but they work okay for gloves and outdoor wear. So far, so good, though the glove pattern I’m using was a bit confusing on the initial thumb gusset. It’s working out in that I have a gusset, but it doesn’t look as neat as some gloves do. Perhaps as I go along…

Silva and Orchid will be arriving tonight (in the wee hours) after a long journey from Vancouver to Central Mexico. We’ve arranged it so that the place should be in particularly good shape. The staff has been forewarned: the swimming pool was drained last night and is currently being cleaned and then will be refilled tonight so it’s lovely and inviting tomorrow. We had the maid come in today and she is prioritizing a good clean up in the room where they will be staying for the next while as well as cleaning the kitchen. I’ve been to the market and stocked the fridge with food and beverages. Nyondo is off to the market today to see if there’s anything particularly nice in the way of fresh flowers and Lena is making chicken soup in case our guests arrive hungry after their journey. We even got the property manager to fix the fuse for the outdoor lights so that the pretty factor is maximized at night. There are some of the most amazing lanterns and lights scattered about the property, both on walls and hung in the trees - many of them artisan-made of pierced copper, in a variety of lovely shapes. When everything is lit up it’s a twinkling fairyland.

I’m excited about having guests, and these guests in particular. Due to everyone’s schedules (particularly Silva’s and Nyondo’s) it looked a bit tricky at first to schedule and coordinate the visit, but it ended up working out. Even the weather looks to be cooperating. It’s the rainy season here and we’ve had quite a lot of overcast, grey days lately. But yesterday was sunny and today, although it dawned cloudy, is turning into a nice one with mostly blue skies and pleasant, moderate temps. Yay! A week of this would be welcome.

It was actually bright enough yesterday that I got a very mild, but noticeable sunburn. Of course I spent a couple of hours in the pool in the middle of the day. Since they were starting to drain the pool, we went in for a swim late morning, when the sun was high and bright and there was still plenty of water to play in. Usually I tend to swim either early in the morning or early evening when the sun is less intense. By now I’m fairly well acclimated. But two hours of direct midday sun and my nose and chest were pink. One thing we’ve really noticed after a month is that my hair is getting pretty sun-bleached - it’s at least two shades lighter than it was when I arrived and is less red and more golden amber than it’s been in years. We’ll see what happens over time. I’m being relatively careful about overexposure, but living only 500 miles north of the equator means that we’re bound to be exposed to more sunlight than we have in years!

I’m hoping that both Silva and Orchid manage to adapt to the warm, sunny climate without too much trouble. I have to remember to remind them that we’re at a bit of altitude here and they may feel surprisingly tired or short of breath on exertion for the first few days. The sun is also more intense a mile above sea level and, while it can be positively chilly in the shade, the moment one steps into the direct sunlight, it’s possible to overheat quickly. I’ve never been much of a sun worshipper, so it took me some getting used to at first. I’m surprised now at how comfortable I have been with the midday heat. Generally, when the temps get much above 70 degrees F (what’s that, about 21 C?) I melt. However, at the moment (10ish a.m. here) it’s about 72 F and I’m actually feeling rather chilly at my desk. Big change for my with my predominantly Northern European and North/Central Asian genetics.

I think I’m babbling a bit with excitement and a bit of nervousness. I am so hoping all goes well and that the 5 of us (Silva, Orchid, Nyondo, Lena and I) manage to have a really great holiday together. We all know each other (some of us quite intimately Wink ) but it will be the first time all of us try to spend an extended period of time all together. And all of us are “characters” - that is, people with rather strong and eccentric personalities. At the very least it ought to be quite interesting. Has the potential to be quite hot and there’s always the risk of conflict among such strong characters as well, particularly when we’re in a rather isolated setting together. It’s good, though, because this place is huge, there’s lots and lots of spots and rooms and just areas to hang out in, gardens to walk or sit in, etc. So it’s not like all being jammed together in tight quarters. And even with all of us here, there are still more bathrooms than people - always a good thing. I think I’ve mentioned that the bathroom down by the pool and the bathroom in Nyondo’s room are both bigger than some studio apartments I’ve been in!

Well, off to investigate the possibility of breakfast now that it’s almost lunchtime…

We had a really great dinner party here tonight! A dozen people all told, all really fun and interesting. Tom’s close friend Jane brought her friend Sue who has lived here in San Miguel for 20 years and knows absolutely everything and everywhere and everyone there is to know about the ex-pat community in the area. She’s really a hoot and a very interesting lady! We all liked her immensely. The new family next door came, having just arrived from living in Fiji for the past 3 1/2 years. The dykes up the road showed up and we all hit it off immediately with them as well. Also interesting, intelligent and lively women.

We ended up talking over dinner, about our origins, where each of us came from, where we’d been. One thing about any group of people living by choice in a country or region different from their place of birth: no matter who, no matter what their lifestyle or political leanings or philosophy, they are bound to be interesting, alive and adventurous. Because people who don’t have some sense of adventure and aren’t fully participating in life, rarely wander far from home of their own will and initiative. So far, every single person we’ve met on the road has had a story to tell, dreams they are pursuing and a streak of curiousity or creativity that won’t be suppressed or squeezed into a nine-to-five lifestyle.

The food was wonderful of course. Akeo is the cook in the family next door and he did a pot of the best miso soup any of us have ever eaten, plus a dish of baked squash, some braised greens and a fried rice which I couldn’t eat because it had bell pepper in it, but which looked great. Jane made a chicken salad with cellophane noodles and spinach, Thai style that I couldn’t stop eating. Lena made a Phillipino style chicken adobo and Indian dry-cooked spiced cauliflower and I filled in with a pot of steamed rice and a fruit salad. Liz and Cath brough munchies and wine. All in all, we were stuffed, happy and the company was extremely congenial. Katalina and Akeo’s kids are amazingly well-mannered and absolutely beautiful as well, a blend of the best of their Japanese dad and their blonde mother. Everyone had a chance to swim before dinner and, while we ate, we traded war stories and laughed a lot. And said a big thank you to Tom, for making the occasion possible.

One of the nice things is that, afterwards, yeah we stacked dishes, filled and ran the dishwasher and put leftovers away because we are in the habit. But that’s all we had to do. Maria will come first thing in the morning and clean up and do the washing up and the sweeping and all the rest. We were marveling at this and Sue, who is probably in her late 70’s and has been in Mexico for two decades, said that she’s gotten so used to having a maid that it’s hard to remember living without one. She also said that, while her aging siblings are talking about “assisted living” situations she had to stop a moment and then laugh and say that she has had “assistance” with her living for all that 20 years and figures that’s how she’ll end her days - at home, but with help as she ages. I’ve gotta say it beats the hell out of any other retirement scheme I have yet seen!

Oh and Sue told Nyondo that she knows where the *real* yarn store is!

So, just cuz I can now that Nyondo has fixed up my blog a bit, I’m going to post a few pictures of the hacienda where we’re currently living.

Here’s a shot of the back patio:

Now the central courtyard around which all the rooms are arranged:

The swimming pool in which we almost live:

Sunset seen from the back patio:

You see why I say that we’re doing this homeless thing in style?

We’ve been sick for a few days. Not horribly sick, but not quite right and pretty cranky. I’m still recovering from the trots combined with a spider bite on my left wrist that turned out to be worse than I initially thought. Lena is fighting some sort of bug, winning, but grouchy and her eyes and throat have been scratchy. Nyondo is… Nyondo. Managing to have a nice time despite us I suspect. It’s amazing how much 3 women, who have been under a lot of stress the past year, can sleep when they finally get a chance. We’ve been having nap marathons. This house has an awful lot of nice places to nap too. Today it was one of the leather sofas in the “living room” area of the hacienda. Yesterday it was the wicker couch on the back patio. Tomorrow, who knows? I’ve been meaning to test drive the huge bed in the bedroom that’s unoccupied because it’s due to be painted any day…

Feeling weird and slightly guilty because we’ve arranged to have the maid come in for an extra half day on Wednesdays to clean up the kitchen. Usually she’s in full time on Mondays and Fridays but, with 3 or more of us here, the mess builds up in the kitchen so we talked to Maria about coming in on Weds. and she said “sure”. So why do I feel guilty? Cuz her rate for a half day of cleaning is… 50 pesos (just under $5 US) which seems absolutely ridiculously cheap. Even though I’ve got no current source of income and am living off savings, I still think of $5 as pocket change. Realizing that, to someone else, it’s a fair morning’s work is… humbling I guess. I know it’s all relative, but really… I read Cat’s blog about her penthouse and making money hand over fist and then I look at Maria who cleans up after gringos for a living and takes care of a sick grandbaby. Then I look at my family which is currently homeless and unemployed, but living in a style to which we dare not become accustomed. Sometimes it just doesn’t all make sense, ya know?

I guess that one way I know I am rich is in having lots of choices. Abundance of opportunity, of possibilities, of pathways open before me. That’s a luxury a lot of women don’t have. I really want to respect and see that luxury for what it is and not to squander those opportunities. Hope I can keep that intention in sight over the next few months, I really do.