Not enough hours in the day?

When I first moved here to Mexico, I would wake up in the morning and say to myself, ok so what are you going to do with yourself today?  I had endless hours to do nothing with, it was so strange to find myself in a strange land, with no job, no yard work etc. I did manage to catch up with my reading which I love. Now I find myself with to much to do. Which is a good thing, I'm not complaining, just seems funny how things have changed. The one thing that is taking up so much of my time is my friend Sherry's horses, and the land that she has them on. The place that she is leasing was waist high with weeds, well it looks nothing like that anymore, with a lot of hard work, we have managed to transform the place. Now that it looks nice we are working on putting in an obstacle course for the horses. We want people who have horses to come out and use it, also plan on having a horse fun day.  My husband Billy will be helping us build some of the obstacles for it. We already have the pole bending course up, and we have barrels for barrel racing, or in my case barrel trotting! I am also busy training Melaza, I have started riding her, which really means I have been on her back and we walked around the round pen for a few minutes, which is a very good start. I will be out there this afternoon to ride her, and I love  riding her mom too, she is all trained and a pleasure to ride.

Christmas: We had a nice Christmas and I was doing great, not missing everyone in the states until my son Skyped us, and everyone was at his house having a great time, then I started missing  them, after that my Christmas spirit kinda left me. I already took down all the Christmas decorations, something  that I never do till after the 1st of the year. Oh well like they say you can't have everything.

City:  My friend Julie, goes into Guad. all the time and sometimes I go with her, I love going into Guad. I wouldn't want to live there, but I love to visit it, so much to do and see. I just love people watching, and there were plenty to watch. I really am surprised that I like  the city, I usually don't like noise and crowds but I don't mind it at all when I am there. If you can't find what you are looking for in Guad, then you don't need it. It really helps to have someone with you who knows all the places to shop. My friend Jeanne, wanted  to go to the fabric stores as did Charis, Julie goes for the yarn and beads, and I went to look for some new clothes. We all managed to find things to buy, so it was a very successful day for all of us. I also remembered to take my camera so I could have  some new pictures for my blog. Get this I even had a spare battery for my camera, so I was prepared ! see you can teach an old dog new tricks. LOL

My Blog: Sometimes I think about not writing this blog, it takes awhile to do, with taking pictures, downloading them, finding something to say that will keep my readers coming back for more etc., but then I will go online and there will be a comment from a new reader, telling me that she likes my blog and horses, and she is looking forward to reading more, so what can you do, you say to yourself, and there you have it, you have to keep on writing.  So thank you readers for your comments, it is what keeps me going.

Traveling:  I told hubby, that we need to start seeing more of Mexico, next month we are going to go to Colima, it is only a 2 hour drive away, and I hear it is nice there, warmer than here as it is closer to the beach, maybe we will even go to the beach, which I really miss. I will post on that trip when we return.

Tapalpa:  We went to Tapalpa with our friends Jeanne and Eric, beautiful countryside, I thought it would be cold but it wasn't bad at all, we stayed over night because Jeanne and Eric were going Paragliding first thing in the morning. I took pictures of that but for some reason they didn't come out good so that is why there is only 1 posted here. This was our second time visiting Tapalpa, it is a nice quiet town, with lot's of little shops to wander in and out of. On our way into town we stopped at a little local store, we walked in and there was a young Mexican man with a smile from ear to ear, he spoke to us in his broken English and asked us where we were from and did we like Mexico, he was so happy to practice his English on us, this happens time and time again, it always makes us smile that the Mexican people are so proud to know some English. Now if only some of the Americans would show the same back by trying to learn Spanish that would be great!

Spanish lessons: My teacher is on vacation, and I am suppose to be studying on my own, and am I??? well not as much as I should be, I did do some homework, and I did study my nouns, so I guess I did some but I could do more, I have another week left before she gets back, after all I don't want to get detention.

Ok got to wrap this up and go ride Melaza this afternoon. Hope all my readers had a wonderful Christmas and Have a safe and Happy New Year.

The City at Christmas time

Me trying on my wings, I think I need a smaller size.

City traffic

I could not believe how they decorate your nails here!

My shopping buddies, from Left to right  Charis, Jeanne & Julie 

Guess who?

City Sights

People watching

the shoe shine man

something for everyone

street player

beautiful sand sculpture

cops on bikes

life size Nativity

Mexico's Michaels

Tapalpa

Tapalpa

This is Las Piedrotas

This is where Jeanne & Eric jumped off the mountain side!

Church

town square

 are we lost?  Our friends Chris & Barbara 

Church Bells

The view from up high

typical street in Tapalpa

another view of the church

church at sunset

either Jeanne or Eric, two wild and crazy people!

Animal Pictures:

One of my favorite pictures 

Our cats, taking a cat nap of course!

Sherry on Dulce

The girls in their Santa hats!

Melaza, ok are we done now?

Hope you all enjoyed the pictures, today they loaded right up, thank God!

It's that time agian!

Wall painting in town.

Paining outside a bar

can you take us for a walk ?

Salon in town, cool garage door.

Yes it's that time again, well actually past that time again for me to update my blog. I went on my friends blog, Mexico Daily Living and I saw that it has been 3 weeks since I last published something, wow where does the time go? Hope all my readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving.

Weather:  It has been getting cold, so we are using the fireplace, which I love doing, seems like for some reason lighting the fires and cleaning out the fireplace has become my job, I don't mind it, something that we didn't have in Florida, so it is still fun. I'll give the job to Billy when it stops being fun.

Spanish Lessons:  Well we are still taking them, and I must say it is getting harder, more to learn, understand etc. Except of course Billy who is taking to it like a duck takes to water, oh nice now I am comparing my husband to a duck! LOL  I will stick with it as I really want to understand what is being said to me. It is amazing to us how many Mexicans speak English or are trying to learn it, the other night we stopped at the local min market, and the owner was telling Billy what he owed in English so Billy answered him back in Spanish, to funny!! When we go places they want to practice their English on us!

Holidays:  Thanksgiving was great, yes you can get turkey here! We spent the day with our friends, and everyone brought a dish to Jeanne & Eric's,  everything was delicious. So good that I had seconds! . Of course you miss your family when you are here and  your families  are in the states, but you manage. Went to Costco last week and they had fresh Christmas trees, oh did it smell so good,  I miss that smell.  One thing I don't miss is all the shopping for things that cost way to much money, why do we equate gift giving with how much you care for someone?  I think spending time with the people that you care about is way more important than any gift.

Decorations: This year I was so excited to put up our Christmas decorations, I didn't have them with us last year and our friends were kind enough to bring them to us, so I got to see what I packed up. I think I did a good job of getting it down to fit into one box. I unpacked some sleds that are made out of Popsicle sticks, they each have our names on them, I remembered that we bought them at our son's school Holiday bazaar back in 1981 now that is old.  We don't have a tree so I hung things up here and there, I thought our new cat would probably mess with it, as she is still young with to much energy, maybe a tree next year.


Diet:  Happy to report that I haven't put back on any of the weight I lost !  I look forward to shopping for some new clothes next year when we come back to the states for a visit. Beal's outlet here I come!

Ok these pictures were suppose to go at the end of this post, not at the beginning and then here, but as you can see they didn't, oh well at least they loaded. LOL  Don't forget if you click on the pictures they will enlarge.

Dog day afternoon

Good eats here!

Wall painting outside a store.

I bet you're glad I'm behind these bars!

Keeping busy:  Yes I have been very busy that is why it has been so long in between my posts. I am training the horse Melaza and she is coming along. She is very smart so she picks up on things quickly, I think her mom wants to be trained to, she is always watching what we are doing, and the other day I was standing in the middle of them and I asked Melaza and Dulce ( her mom) to back up and they both did, I cracked up! It is interesting getting to know a new horse, I gave Melaza a bath yesterday and she was good, not a big fan of standing tied but she needs to get used to that. Speaking of horses I need to finish this up so I can go out and do some training today.  Adios Hasta Luego !

Catching up !

Hard to believe that it has been 3 weeks since my last post. I have been very busy the last few weeks, so I just didn't have time to sit and get a post together. So what have I been up to you ask, well my friend Sherry bought 2 horses, then rented some land to put them on, so we have been getting it ready for the horses. Last Sunday the horses arrived and they have settled in nicely. Yesterday, Billy, Alex and I were out there all day, we put up a round pen. Now for those of you who don't know what that is, well it's a round pen, just kidding! It is used for training horses, it keeps them in a small area so it is easier to train them. When we lived in Florida we built one out of wood, here wood is very expensive, so we had one made out of metal, had it delivered and put it up yesterday. Today I am going to use it for the first time. The horse I am training is a 2 year old filly we named her Malaza, I wrote about her before in an earlier post, I have started training her and she is smart, picks up things very fast, a little spoiled, she never had to do anything before now, but she is willing to learn so that is good. She has had a saddle on her but has never been ridden, so after I get her to trust me, I will start on the riding part. I am really looking forward to seeing how much I can teach her. After not having a day to day relationship with horses in 18 months, and all the work that goes with them, I must say I am out of shape for all this work, but I plan on getting it all together again!

Halloween:  Another thing that kept us busy, we decided to have a party here and even had a DJ, it was a great time, good food, music and friends, all add up to a good party.

Face book:  I know there are lot's of people that don't like face book but I like it, keeping up with all my friends and family  in Florida and my family in R.I. is so easy to do, just log in and see pictures of everyone, write a few lines and you are in touch.

Apologies: I have a question  for my readers, if you are out of line with some one, you say some thing that they take offense to, you say you are sorry, and think that is the end of it, then you find out that they are still very upset with you and don't want you in their life anymore, so you write them a very apologetic email and tell them that you are sad that they will no longer be involved in your life. What do  you do next? I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens. I always like to think that a person should be forgiven. I hope that in time this person comes to forgive and forget because I do miss him in my life.

Pictures: So I have lot's of pictures that are suppose to go on my blogs and now of course I can't remember where some of them have been taken, or how to spell the names of the towns, so I am just going to publish them for you all to see, and that way I can start again!

Swimming: I haven't been in the pool in what seems like ages, been to busy with the horses, I may try and get in there this week, I stuck my hand in it yesterday and it doesn't seem to cold, and there were people in it today.

Snow birds:  They are back, traffic is  getting worse, restaurants will be getting crowded, some times it doesn't even seem like we live in Mexico, there are so many NOB people here!

Spanish lessons: Yes we are taking Spanish lessons, and if I could find time to study  I would be learning  more! but I am learning.  Yesterday I learned that ropa is clothing , so what is interior ropa? well underwear of course, I cracked up !!!! It is very interesting that words are either female or male, drives me crazy. Billy is light years ahead of me, he talks to everyone!! you should see him at the open air markets. Our favorite market is in Chapala I think they have the best prices and the freshest veggies and fruit, not to mention my favorite taco place is there!

Ending: Ok I think that about does it for this post, time to try and add the pictures, wish me luck!

Dancing the night away!

Eric, Jeanne, Susan

Group Shot!

Having fun

Go Gators!

DJ Gary!

Gabby sitting this one out.

The natives are restless!

Cereal killer Billy & Pumpkin Cheryl

First prize went to Bubbles!

The hippie couple Julie & Wayne

Kathy & Rick

Rick & Dorothy

JoAnn,Bob & Wayne

Boigie time!

Downtown Guad

Modern City

But yet still old fashioned

Building near the mall

Restaurant outside the mall

Central downtown

Newsstand

Women outside knitting

Up the street from us during the rainy season

This has all been fixed now, came out nice.

 we had lunch here.

Interesting shot

Wheel barrow in field

Billy at the market

pond inside the mall

See we have the chains here too!

Billboard at the mall

 

Even a Changs!