People who have lived here for many years say it does not rain after October. It has rained since Christmas evening and the temperature has been from 52-56 degrees during the day.  It is "chilly" in our house as we have no heat.  I did bring a small plug in heater with me and have used it for about 15 minutes a few times directly facing me!

The last two days we have had a garage sale to sell some of Bob's sister's furniture and belongings as she prepares to go back to Richmond, VA.  Saturday it rained most of the day and today it began raining again about 2:30 p.m.

Me in my rain apparel and jeans as it was rainy and cold.

Bob and Pat arranging furniture on the porch.

People came out even though the weather wasn't nice.

The furniture sale.

Wild orchids for sale.

This is a beautiful piece of furniture for sale in the trailer they will use to take back the remainder of their belongings.

More customers.  We met a lot of nice Canadians and

Americans.  We did our best to understand the questions asked by the Mexican shoppers as we spoke little Spanish and they spoke little English.

Lots of plants for sale.

While we worked, Flower played with the soccer ball.

We had dog visitors also.

Bob taking a break with Flower.

Pat petting her friend's dog.

This is Fernando.  He is from Barcelona, Spain and has lived in the US for a long time.  He lives across the street and bought several plants.

 

We are all worn out after preparing for the yard sale and working it for two days in the cold, rainy weather.  We will all sleep late tomorrow! 

Christmas has come and gone.  We had a wonderful Christmas Day.  We invited a single guy from California who is renting the 2 bedroom house on our property and a single woman artist from Australia who just rented the 3 bedroom house on the property. Melanie, our neighbor across the street, also joined us. I had decided to cook baked chicken instead of turkey as turkey is so dry and we already had it for Thanksgiving.  Most of the chickens we see here are small in size so I asked the local butcher we use to try and get me two good size whole chickens.  Bob went to pick them up and he brought back two huge chickens in the bag!  Probably 20 lbs. worth! I could hardly fit them in the large roasting pan I had! we all laughed and laughed about the chickens.  We are still eating baked chicken.



 

 

 

After eating at 1:00 p.m., we went to a Christmas party at a friend's house down the street.  We met 12 new couples there  and had Spanish Paella, salad, appetizers and dessert.  We were more than full!  It was a good day.

 

We will be moving to the Racquet Club the last week of January.  We knew we would probably be  moving after Pat and Ray left the end of January.  We were sharing the rent and did not want to pay double.  We knew that our main priority was to have a safe place with a view of the lake and mountains.  We spend most of our time outside.  Eating outside, walking and relaxing in our patio lounge chairs so we are excited with the casita we found.  It is located in San Juan Cosala, about 7 minutes from where we are currently living.  It has 2 bedrooms with "American mattresses".  Mexican beds are very hard in comparison. It has a large yard, with an outdoor bar, grill and hot tub.  You can see a beautiful view of the lake and mountains from the left to the right from our terrace.  The woman who owns the house is German and lived in Washington, DC for a long time.  The rent of $450 will includes all utilities, cable TV, internet, gardener, maid once a week and a garage to park our car in.  It is in a gated community with it's own security police that patrol the area day and night. We will also have access to the two pools and a dog park.  There are 8 tennis courts but forget the tennis courts - if I wasn't good at tennis at 30, I'm sure I won't be now!  Our landlord said we could even bring our stuff over and move in the last week of January even though we start paying rent in February.  We feel blessed to have found such a nice place for so little rent.

 

 

This is the view from the top of the steps (about 20) to our casita below.

 

Pictures of our yard.

 

 

 

The hot tub is in the middle by the wall. It was so cloudy that day you could not see the lake or mountains.

 

 

 

Outside terrace.

 

This bedroom has shelves and 3 closets on the right hand side with a window view of the lake. 

Living room

Living room

Kitchen with bar

Kitchen with large window with a view of the lake and mountains.

 

 

The refrigerator is small.  We buy for each week anyway...shouldn't be a problem.

Bathroom

 

 

2nd Bedroom

With a TV and sliding glass doors and view of the lake and mountains.

This sliding glass door is in the living room so you can see the lake and mountains. We think flower will like her new home as the landlord has an English sheepdog to play with.



 



 

 

 



Merry Christmas to all who are viewing this blog!

Today was overcast and about 60 degrees with a very chilly wind.  Actually I loved it.  Sometimes it is good to have a day different from sunny. It also made it feel more like Christmas Eve.  Everyone who has lived here for 2-3 years or more tells us that it never rains after the end of October.  Well, it rained today.

For Christmas Eve we had a birthday party for a lady named Melanie who lives across the street.  She turned 63 today and has NEVER had a birthday party.  I am sure it is hard for kids who are born on Christmas Eve when it comes to birthdays.

Melanie and Pat (Bob's sister)

We had lots of appetizers to eat!

 

Birthday Cake, Egg Nog, and lots of sweets.

 

 

Melanie invited her friends to attend.

 

Our friends, Aracelly and Gilberto.

Pat put out some of her Christmas decorations.

A great time was had by all.

 

It is 11:30 p.m. and you can hear fireworks.  There is much celebrating all around us!

 

 

If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us at bwb819@aol.com

Christmas decorations for sale along the main street.



 

There aren't many outside Christmas lights in our area.  This video is of the lights across the street from us.

This is the only Christmas decoration we brought from the states.  Our Jeep was so full!  Our son and his wife brought us this nativity scene from Africa while serving on the Mercy Ship with YWAM.

 

The mountains across the lake are so clear today.  It looks so close, but is 12 miles away.

We are continuing to hunt for another place to live as of Feb.1 as we are not sure whether we will remain in our current house. We looked at a second floor apartment just off the boardwalk on the lake.  It was a cute place and the picture above was the view from about every room.  However, you had to climb a small winding metal staircase to enter.  With a dog or groceries, that was not what I had in mind. Also, a restaurant would be going in beneath us.  That could be noisy and so we are still looking.  We do have a place in mind and will soon see if it is for us.

This is the oddest looking tree.  It has avocado colored and shaped things growing on it and then they burst open to have cotton looking balls.  See below.

This young man was flying high on his bike alone the lakeside at the skateboard park.

The park along the lake was full of dogs, children and families enjoying the beautiful day.

This treat for sale on the boardwalk was a mix of nuts and sweet caramel and sold for 80 cents.

These little boys were fascinated with the water fountain.

This family was hanging a piñata.

Before they could get it hung, one young boy picked up a stick and started swinging.

People riding horses by the lake.

 

We spent the morning attending Christmas services at a new church.  We went with our neighbor, Melanie, and enjoyed the service.  The pastor and his wife are from Texas.  It is difficult to find a church similar to the Waters Edge Church that we attended at home; however the people were friendly and we will be going back.