September 30: moved in!

Hola from the new casa!

And I even have Internet, mostly.  We moved in on Wednesday, and two days later the supply of full boxes is way reduced.  Not gone, but reduced.  I hooked up my music system -- well, all but one speaker, but I'll get that one figured out eventually, so with my new comfortable recliner, a good reading and sewing light, and music I am all set!  My kitchen is turning out to be smaller than I thought it would be, so I am trying to think like a friend from Camano Island who used to be a captain on boats and is also a gourmet chef:  he set up his kitchen at home in the same cramped style as in a boat, because it is maximally efficient.  Right, efficient.  It's small, but boy, is it gorgeous. 

Rick is almost completely moved in.  His kitchen cabinets won't be installed until early next week, though, so that part of his house is on hold.  But his living room is totally furnished, well lit, and comfortable, complete with music but not yet television -- Telmex needs to install a dish for that, and that will be mañana, figuratively speaking.   His bedroom and bathroom are also done.  His dog, Mela, is frustrated at being locked inside when there's so much interesting going on outside.  There continue to be six or eight workers here all day and the door to the street remains open.  No one is taking any chances in losing Mela or letting her get in the way.

The three kittens-becoming-fullgrown-cats were in pussycat hotel for three days while we moved, and yesterday I went to get them with two cat carriers.  They meowed furiously as soon as they they were put in the car, and kept it up as I carried them upstairs because upstairs they can't get out and will start getting used to the new place.  The angry meows continued for the next few hours as I unpacked boxes there, and then I left them to figure it out for themselves.  When I went up to bed a while later, the food in the dish was eaten, the water drunk, and the cats all meowed out.  They spent the night as close to me as they could get, though.

So the work being done now is to stucco the front wall at the street, and to make it as smooth as possible for the mural that will go up there.  The laundry room has been finished, up on the roof above the guest room, and the washer and dryer have been hooked up.  The iron structure for a translucent roof above the stairs to my bedroom, and for the retractable awning in front of the pool, has been done.  The pool is in process.  An unexpected job has been to buy and install a water pressure pump, when we discovered that without it the water pressure was too low for people who like a shower you can actually feel.  That turns out to be a complicated job with pipes running from the pump to the water delivery systems in both houses, and it will have taken four full days to install it when it's done on Monday. Still to come is a palapa on the roof above my bedroom, from which the view out over San Miguel is amazing.  A palapa is a roof-like structure (for shade) made of reeds.  I figure everything should be done by the end of October.

Life has not all been chores.  Actually, there have been not one but TWO truly superb artistic events I've gone to, way better than what is usual for a small town.  There is a dramatic group called Playreaders, which puts on relatively short plays with little in the way of props and in which the actors, after only three rehearsals, read from the script.  Admission is all of 20 pesos, which at the current exchange rate is about $1.50.  We saw "Ashes to Ashes" by Harold Pinter, a brilliantly acted play with only two actors who sustained almost unbearable tension for over an hour.  We discussed it afterward with two friends with whom we saw it, with great energy and even some sense.  Then the first Pro Musica concert of the season (September to April) was a departure from their usual chamber music with two Mexican opera singers performing arias from four operas; while it was uneven, they achieved beautiful music and powerful drama in the parts of Bizet's Carmen that they performed.  Okay, true, many performances aren't this wonderful but it makes it all the better when some are.

However, whatever is wrong with my Internet signal is preventing me from uploading pictures, damn.  That will have to wait until the computer tech visits and cures whatever is ailing the computer.

So this is a quickie to tell you that we have arrived and all is well.  Again, our US phone numbers:

Jo  (206) 414-3290
Rick  (214) 310-5870

I'll write again soon when I can send you some pictures.

Jo