Low Hanging Fruit, Right In The Backyard.

Robert:

One of the many joys and pleasures of tropical living is the abundance of greenery, flowers, and even fresh fruit year round.

Behind my humble abode is an old orange orchard (huerta), and beyond that, just tropical forest. Nice. Just how I like it. Sometimes it's relaxing just to walk through the orchard in the morning.

These are everywhere right now. Nobody is harvesting them. There are oranges all over the ground, and hanging in the trees. The orchard seems to be abandoned. But, it's peaceful that way.

There are a few of these trees mixed in with the orange trees. The leaves look almost like a rubber tree. But the fruits? No idea what they are, and haven't the courage to bite into one. Any guesses? Want to take the first bite? I'll be right behind you.

Tranquility Break, Fix You, Young At Heart

Robert:

You've probably heard about this group of octogenarians called Young At Heart. Their version of Coldplay's Fix You is heartfelt and moving. I enjoy and admire Coldplay, and their original, but this is more touching.

This was rehearsed and supposed to be performed as a duet, but one member of the duo died a few days before this live performance. So the surviving singer, Fred Knittle, performed it solo, as a tribute. (Those are bereaved family members in the audience, moved to tears.)

Sappy? No, because it's real.

For the video CLICK HERE

The choir master and founder is Bob Cilman. He tells how the group came about:

"...I was offered a job running a meal site for the elderly. It came with health insurance so I took it. I had some wonderful older people in my life, so I was intrigued by the job. After a year or so Judith Sharpe approached me and asked if I could get some people together for a sing along where she would play the piano. That was how it started..."

Fred Knittle, the singer in the video, has died since that performance. Here's an article about Fred from USA Today:  CLICK HERE

Lost Kitty Cat In the Office Today!

About 1 p.m. this little guy just walked in the door and made himself at home. He's starving, so I sent Lily to the tiendita to buy some catfood.

Laurie and Kitty Cat

He's charming Lily.

This is a very affectionate, purring little guy. He has been well fed, is clean, and socialized. Apparently he is not a street cat, but just someone's lost pet. What to do?

If we put him out on the street, he will likely not be found by his owner, and will be crushed by traffic.

I'm considering taking him home to care for him temporarily, while posting a flyer on our outer wall with his photo, asking if anyone las lost this cat. If an owner shows up, they'll be reunited. If not, I'll have two cats now instead of one.

Better ideas?

Vanna White at Green Bay II #224 Open House?

Robert:

Yesterday Deborah Foster hosted an Open House at Green Bay II, #224.

Deborah channeling Vanna White?

It was my first time inside this condo, and I was knocked out. This is a perfectly located unit, looking over the Paradise Village El Tigre golf course, to the pool and mountains beyond.

But even more than that, the furnishings are magnificent, tasteful and lovely. And everything is included. This is a true turn-key sale.

Here's an HD video tour:

Lots more photos and data on our web page. Click HERE.

The German Shepherd and the Siamese Cat.

Robert:

My neighbor has a cool German Shepherd, the kind that is mellow and loves everybody. They just adopted a new Siamese cat, and the German Shepherd has already taken the kitty under his care. They're big amigos already. He's looking out for her welfare, since she's the new kid in town.

German Shepherd is "Pastor Aleman" in Spanish...a literal translation. Pastor is shepherd (duh) and German is Aleman.

Another Adobe Brick In The Wall

Robert:

Went back to El Pato Borracho (The Drunken Duck) bar in Bucerias Saturday night.

The young Mexican band was laboring gamely through the vocals of the obligatory "Another Brick In The Wall" while the old gringos danced. Everyone seemed to be having fun, and that's all that counts, eh? (You can see I've been hanging around a lot of Canadians. That "eh" keeps creeping into the end of my sentences.)

The best part of this little video is when the guitarist stops singing and goes into the lead guitar solo. That's where he's confident and in his element. Nice playin' amigo. Wish I were half as good.

Hot Shrimp by the Cool River! Yum Alert!

Robert:

Yesterday being Sunday, I did my 2 or 3 hours of catch up in the office, then headed out with my S.O. to find a restaurant called El Guero Palancas.

My secretary Lily had been there with her novio a few days before, and came back raving about it. And to understand the significance of that, you need to know that Lily's mom just may be The Best Cook In The World, so when Lily is that impressed, I'm no fool. 

View From Our Table

It was a bit of a drive in the country to reach this place, but nice for a Sunday outing. We drove back through Mezcales and got off the highway at Las Juntas (near Home Depot), continued on past Ixtapa, the big, scary-looking penal (prison) then into the edge of the foothills. When the road makes a big bend to the left and crosses the river on a long bridge, you have have basically arrived. Make the first possible right, into a tiny pueblito and area of restaurants called El Desembocada.

The entrance to the river front restaurants comes up immediately, again on your right. If you don't see it (you will) just ask anybody. There are always people walking around in the street. This is Mexico after all. It doesn't matter at this moment if you don't speak Spanish. Just look bewildered and helpless (easy, right?) and say plaintively, "Guero Palancas?" (pronounced where-o palankas) and they'll point you in.

Right away you'll notice the wonderful smell of fried fresh shrimp and fish. Uuuuuiiii bebe!

 Pondering the menu choices! You can tell by the smell, it's gonna be good!

This is one of the menu items below; a fish filet, prepared as you like, plus shrimp prepared as you like (both the filet and the shrimp can be either grilled with butter and garlic; a la diabla; and/or breaded and fried. Or, a mix of two or all three!)

That's my S.O.'s little hand already reaching into the shot, grabbing a breaded shrimp. I had just said, in my commanding voice, "Wait until I get the photo for the blog!"

She ignored me of course and dug right in. :) So you have an action shot instead of a still life.

$120 pesos! About $9.50 USD

We'll be back. I'm already hungry just writing about it. El Guero Palancas.

Brilliant bougainvillea! Bird bomb warning.

Robert:

This pink giant is just across the corner from the office. It's where the taxi drivers hang out in the shade. See all those empty chairs? Where'd they all go? Normally there are several sitting around waiting for a fare. Maybe there was a rush.

Don't ever park under this bougainvillea. You'll get bird bombed. Once, my X-Trail was so badly bird-bombed they charged me extra at the car wash. Maybe the taxi drivers got carpet-bombed and fled to a temporary bunker.

Big Price Reductions, Condos Costa Dorada!

The developer of Condos Costa Dorada has just reduced the price on these remodeled beach front units by anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 dollars.

Now, with the new pricing, these 2 bedroom remodeled units with big ocean views start at only $250,000. Wowzer!

We are awaiting price reductions on the unremodeled units as well, but do not have those new prices as yet.

One of the biggest problems with getting older...

Robert:

This is from a very wise and insightful piece on aging, in The New Yorker, by George Packer:

"...One of the biggest problems with getting older, other than the place where it’s headed, is a massive projection about the state of the world: by fifty, the obvious fact of your own decline is easily mistaken for an intimation of the world’s. And, since there’s never a shortage of evidence that things are, indeed, worse than they used to be, it’s incredibly satisfying to indulge the idea, and easy to confuse it with a veteran’s seasoned judgment. That’s the impulse you have to resist if you want to retain your credibility while you lose other features..."

The complete article is HERE.

What on earth has this Mexican street dog been smoking?

Robert:

I was giving Lily (our secretary) a ride home yesterday afternoon when we were astonished to see this pooch frozen, motionless, for an extended time, in this very odd position. It cracked Lily up...maybe you had to be there, I don't know.

Que Haces Perrito?

We watched him for several minutes and his body never twitched. He did not seem to be holding down a lizard or bug with his paws, because his attention was not always focused on his paws...he was casually looking around. But never moving out of this weird position.

Right smack in the middle of the street, of course. Cars drove slowly past him. We drove past him. He didn't move.

He also did not seem to be sick or injured in the least. He was bright eyed and calm.

A few minutes later. No change.

This reminded me of people on the malecon who freeze into position for several minutes as a form of performance art. Maybe he was trained by one of those people. But, there was no doggie dish nearby in which to throw a treat.

Maybe he had a back ache and was doing some self-imposed traction. I might try that position on my back at home tonight.

Or just maybe, he was a she, in search of a little romance, and striking a seductive pose?
Lily reports he finally walked away, perfectly normally, perfectly nonchalant.

More woof woof than blah blah...I hope.

Robert:

Words to live by? Or self-satisfied bs?

"The harder you work, the luckier you get." 

I don't know who first said that. It probably dates back thousands of years in one form or another. It's one of those bits of wisdom that should be self-evident, but that we all need reminding of now and then.

Another way of saying it is, "Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire."

That specific quote is variably attributed to Arnold H. Glasow and/or Fred Shero, among others.

The only trouble with all that is that while it is usually true, it isn't always true. Not by a long shot.

Sometimes dopey, lazy people suceed. In spite of themselves. And sometimes smart, truly hardworking people fail.

Dumb luck. It plays a big part in everything.

Some people are fond of saying, with lofty, wise gravitas, "You make your own luck."

This smug pronouncement is most often quoted by people who've suceeded materially. Whether they truly "made their own luck" or not, they did in their own minds at least.

 "You make your own luck."  Well, in real life, not always. Sometimes, your luck makes you.

Mendacious critter alert! It seems you can't trust anybody anymore.

Mendacious mammal! Prevaricating varmint!

Ouch. Looks cold!

Spring Starts Really Early Here---Flowers Everywhere

Every year about this time we see the bright yellow primavera ("primavera" means springtime) trees start to bloom, as well as the pink amapa trees. Here's a very early amapa already announcing itself on Lazaro Cardenas street, a couple of blocks south of the office.

People always ask us if we have a lot of bugs here. Surprisingly, we do not. Unless you mean this type of bug. Still plenty of those alive and kicking. I'm no entymologist but I do know this type of bug is called a Fahrvergnugen. (You'll only get the joke if you remember those VW commercials.)

Both primavera and amapa are used for furniture and cabinetry here. They are bug resistant. Primavera has a blondish cast; amapa has little character or color of its own, but takes any sort of stain very well.

(When you view properties here, the cabinetry and trim will almost surely be either amapa, primavera, or my personal favorite, the incredibly rich-grained, deep brown parota.)

These are out in full force just now.

                                                

Slam that refrigerator door quick!

Robert:

In fact, parts of Connecticut got a lot more than 2 feet...30-38 inches were common reports.

Two Feet of Snow!

Too bad they didn't have a giant pair of flip flops to put on those feet.

I'm cold, from looking at that.  I think I'll go to the beach.I'm so used to warm weather year round that I can't even stand to have my refrigerator door open for more than 5 seconds.

A chamarada by any other name would be just as orange.

"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." (Willie the Shake)

And it follows that a chamarada, even if you called it a nibbledeedoodah, would still be just as orange. I have no idea what the official name is of this plant; if anyone does, help us out here. But most locals call it chamarada. Others just shrug and say, "No tengo idea. Pero que bonita es."

Nibbledeedoodah! ! Chamarada! Lo que sea!

These can bloom at any time, but are in their fullest blazing glory in January and February.

Latka Tells A Joke To Louie

In case you missed it in the earlier Slovenian radio post (with the Slovenian rapper), here it is again, a short but priceless scene from Taxi in which Latka tells a joke to Louie.

Someone Famous, Fishing at 17 Years of Age

Robert:

This is in Michigan. The year is 1916. Can you guess who this is?

I'll post the answer in a day or two.


Congratulations to Hadley Barth for coming up with the correct answer: Ernest Hemingway.

Wow, what cool old toys and prices!

Robert:

I ran across a fun and interesting web site that has scanned in old Sears, Spiegels, Wards, and Lord and Taylor catalogs from 1933 forward. Amazingly fun to browse through.

 http://wishbookweb.com/

And can you even imagine these prices! Incredible. Click the link above or below to see the pages in great clarity.

We all know that inflation has demolished the USD's purchasing power. Nonetheless, this really drives it home. Of course, wages were commensurately low, so it balances out to a certain extent. 

Naturally, I went straight to the toy train pages!

http://wishbookweb.com/