March 7

Here is what the largest bougainvillea in the garden looks like from the upstairs terrace.

We've been here almost two months and every morning we wake up to sunshine and blue skies.  In fact, it has not rained a drop in all this time, and the housekeeper complains with good reason about "el polvo" -- the dust.  Now that it's March the daytime temperature is in the 80s, but since it's a dry climate it's completely comfortable in the shade.  Our house, like the others, is made of stone and cement and is therefore quite cool and comfortable now.  Nighttime temperatures in the 50s are perfect for sleeping.  In the morning I wake up to sunshine in the low 60s.  I go out onto the terrace from which I took this photo, listen to the birds sing, and marvel at the brilliant colors of the bougainvillea, the geraniums, and other flowers.

The other day I noticed mosquitoes.  Electricity is expensive here, so we don't often run the motor for the fountain.  Result:  mosquitoes.  I asked on the San Miguel Civil List what people do to control mosquitoes and have been told that running the fountain only 15 or 30 minutes per day is enough to prevent larvae forming in standing water.  Who knew I'd need to learn about the life cycle of mosquito larvae?

I've been ill this past week with a cough and sneezing and really low energy level, so I don't have all that much to report.  In fact, I didn't go to Mexico City with Rick as a result.  I've been reading and embroidering pillowcases and otherwise taking it easy.  One day this week we went to the SPA.  You may recall that on our first day of the trip down here in January my cat, Lila Tov, wriggled out of her halter at a rest stop and ran away.  Many, many tears.  Reading in a comfortable chair in the evening without a cat in my lap is definitely an inferior experience.  At the SPA I learned much to my amazement that kittens have an annual season just as lambs do (learning all the time here!).  The kittens available now were four and five months old, too old.  So we will go back in a month or two or three when younger kittens are available.

And on Saturday we went to a chamber music concert that's part of a series called Pro Musica, over two dozen classic music concerts offered from October through April in a church in San Miguel.  This one was the Cuarteto Latinoamericano playing string quartets by Haydn, Dvorak, and Debussy, and it was lovely.  I especially like the fact that we can hear great concerts for 100 pesos, about $9, a ticket.  Even Rick, who normally gets restive at classical music concerts, loved it.  During the intermission we had a glass of wine ($3.50!) in the garden.  Can you imagine, an amaryllis planted in the ground and not as a hot-house flower?!

In the intermission we spoke to a woman from Pittsburgh, who has just retired after 30 years of directing an abortion clinic.  One of the most wonderful things about this town is the amazing backgrounds of the people we meet.