New Listing, Casa Doris

Robert:

This will be in both MLS systems Monday. It's one of the best homes in Bucerias! Video between the two still shots.

Backyard  with pool, fountain, and pergola for outdoor grilling.

                 

Great room with massive cupola ceiling.

This home is 3 bedrooms, 2 baths; an open floor plan with dramatic and expansive domed cupola over the large great room. There is an enclosed garage, and a studio/workshop.

The garden is a dream-like tropical paradise, tranquil and hidden behind high brick walls for total privacy.

Just 2 blocks to the Bucerias plaza, and 1 1/2 blocks to the beach.

For more photos and data CLICK HERE!

Freakish December Rainstorm

Robert:

I was astonished in the early morning hours to be awakened by lightning, thunder and heavy rain. That just doesn't happen here in wintertime. But it did, and it was a downpour that roared for hours.

But, as is almost always the case here, by mid morning the sun was breaking through.

I shot this on the way to work at 8:30 a.m., then the last shot, of the sun breaking through, at around 11:00

Our Talking Office Doggie "Brooklyn!"

Robert:

Here's our office dog, Brooklyn, with her Xmas and New Year's wishes for you. I think Brooklyn is amazingly articulate and well spoken, considering that she has very little formal schooling.  Do you agree?

(Ok, I have to 'fess up. That's my sister's dog...she and Brooklyn live in Ft. Worth, Texas. My sister used an iPhone app (called "My Talking Pet") to make the video. Pretty cool, sis. Ho ho ho...woof woof woof...

An Especially Nice Xmas Link

Thanks to Deborah for sending this link:

http://videos.komando.com/watch/4592/kims-christmas-music-usaf-band-christmas-flash-mob

A Red Sea Of Poinsettias

Robert:

At various time during the year, a nursery is set up in the parking lot outside of Mega (one of our big super stores). The prettiest is the one each Christmas season, specializing in red and white poinsettias ("Noches Buenas" in Spanish), although they have a variety of other plants too.

I bought three of the smaller red ones for the office. They are about a foot tall,  good size for the corner of a desk. $30 pesos each (about $2.50 USD).

Notice how they almost glow in the night lighting.

Parades and Peregrinaciones

Robert:

This is a double festive season in Mexico. There is all the lead up to Christmas of course, and concurrently, through Dec 12th, all the reverence and celebrations for the Virgin of Guadalupe.

The "miracle of the Virgin of Guadalupe" occurred on Dec 12th, 1531, so every year on December 12, and the few days before, millions of Mexicans complete their long pilgrimages to the Basilica of the Virgin, built at the base of the hill where the miracles are said to have occurred. Many of the pilgrims have traveled long distances, and complete the last few miles on foot or even on their knees.

If you are not familiar with the background story, here is a summary from Wikipedia:

"...Official Catholic accounts state that on the morning of December 9, 1531 Juan Diego saw an apparition of a young girl at the Hill of Tepeyac, near Mexico City. Speaking to him in Nahuatl, the girl asked that a church be built at that site in her honor; from her words, Juan Diego recognized the girl as the Virgin Mary. Diego told his story to the Spanish Archbishop of Mexico City, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, who instructed him to return to Tepeyac Hill, and ask the "lady" for a miraculous sign to prove her identity. The first sign was the Virgin healing Juan's uncle. The Virgin told Juan Diego to gather flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill. Although December was very late in the growing season for flowers to bloom, Juan Diego found Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, on the normally barren hilltop. The Virgin arranged these in his peasant cloak or tilma. When Juan Diego opened his cloak before Bishop Zumárraga on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and on the fabric was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.^.."

Cloak of Juan Diego

<sup>Juan Diego's cloak is on display and viewed by thousands daily in the new Basilica, next door to the old church. The cloak is now 482 years old, and inexplicably shows only very slight signs of deterioration or fading.

Other cloaks have been made, copies, of similar fabric, and in the Mexico City air, begin to fray and fall apart in about 8 years. 

Throughout Mexico there are street parades and festivals in the two weeks leading up to December 12th. Lori LaVelle took these shots of past years' street parades and festivals in Vallarta.</sup>

Photos by Lori LaVelle

Expert Chiapas Hula Hooper, Working the Stop Light!

We get a lot of street and bus entertainers here. Fire eaters, jugglers, strolling troubadours (some of whom can sing well and some of whom people basically pay to shut up).

This morning I was out doing my banking and paying the office electric bill when I saw this gal performing at the intersection of calle Estaciones and Carretera 200.

She was putting on a good show, so I asked her if I could video her for the blog. She said sure, so long as I let her know the URL so she could go to a cyber-cafe and look at the blog and watch herself on Youtube!

I gave her a propina of course. She's working for change after all.

She says her name is Diana, and she is from Chiapas (way down south). Que tengas cuidado con el trafico Diana!!!

Snow, Sleet and Ice in Dallas Today!

Bitterly cold arctic air is blasting much of Canada and the USA right now. Denver has set two record lows this week.

Even normally balmy Dallas-Ft. Worth is getting the wintry weather.

My sister in Ft. Worth, Barbara, sent me this picture of her backyard via Whatsapp this morning. Notice some of the trees still have leaves clinging to the branches!

Photo by Barbara Tresenriter

She says it is currently 27 F in Dallas with a wind chill of 18 F. Of course to the people in Denver or Calgary or St. Paul or Edmonton, etc. that 27 degrees sounds downright tropical.

Denver saw 17 below (F) a couple of nights ago.

I think I'll cross the street and wade in the surf on the beach. Aaaahhh that warm ocean and warm sunshine feels nice.

Mass For Lily, Today, Sunday Dec 1, Main Church, Bucerias Plaza

There will be a Mass for Lily in the main church on the plaza in Bucerias at 11:00 a.m. today, Sunday, Dec 1.