November and December, 2021

 November 2021

My blog gets a little sketchy here. I temporarily lost access to the formatting tool and was unable to post anything. I let that be my excuse to stop writing for many months. There wasn't a lot to write about, anyway. I was mostly just home in La Cruz. I walked in the mornings and shopped for furniture. I also worked on painting the murals on my bedroom walls.

Sunrise Scenery

The Dresser for My Guest Room

Mural on the South Wall

Mural on the North Wall

One morning, I walked up what had formerly been the road to Destiladeras and Punta Mita, only to find that the road had been physically removed. A new highway had been constructed, bypassing that stretch of coast, and the area was designated for the construction of hotels and condos. I found this tragic, as that stretch of coast had been dotted with secret beaches, frequented only by locals, and was the last place on Banderas Bay seemingly free of development.

My Salsa Class

I went back to my salsa classes for the first time since Covid and resumed spending Saturday nights with friends at R&B, listening to salsa music and dancing. There was also music at the Treehouse and we got a chance to see Media Luna, again.

One afternoon, Brad and I took a group of local college students sailing on White Wind. We had a perfect breeze and the kids really enjoyed learning a little about sailing.

I ate Thanksgiving dinner with friends on the roof at the La Cruz Inn. It wasn't the party of twenty we had had before Covid, but there was still a good turnout. The food was everything one expected from Thanksgiving dinner. The only thing I missed was my rye bread stuffing, rye bread being unavailable in Mexico.

December 2021

Dawn from My Bedroom Window

By December, I had developed plantar fasciitis in my right foot and had to give up walking in the mornings and dancing salsa. I practiced the guitar and worked on my murals. Most of my furniture had arrived and the condo was starting to come together. I had ordered most of the furniture from a “rustic” furniture shop in Mezcales. They made me two bedroom sets, a kitchen cabinet, and a dining room table, all of which had been delivered before Christmas except for the dining room table.

December marked the beginning of the sailboat racing season and I returned to racing on Wings. The Banderas Bay Blast was held without parties, due to Covid, but we had a great time racing around the bay and out to Punta Mita and back. Wednesday afternoons saw us competing in the beer can races out of La Cruz.

Christmas Lights in the Anchorage

I had ten people over on Christmas Eve to make tamales and feast on enchiladas Suizas. The dining room table, which had been promised before Christmas, was delivered between the appetizers and dinner. When it arrived, it was the wrong color! With ten people there for dinner, I couldn't really send it back. I considered returning it later, but I was so unhappy with the finish job that I decided to keep it and refinish it myself. I had purchased a cheap, pine console table from a roadside vendor. By the time I stained it dark and put a sailor's seven coats of varnish on it, it looked like a piece of fine furniture. I decided to do the same with the dining table.

Christmas Brunch on the Beach

I had planned to go to Karen's Place in Bucerias for Christmas brunch with my former housemate, Cherie, but she had sailed south and not returned in time. My friend, Jennifer, was housesitting in Bucerias, so we decided to continue the tradition without Cherie. I gathered up my friend, Brad, who was alone in La Cruz for Christmas and Jennifer brought a woman named Marie-France, who was new to the area and looking to meet people. The four of us had a nice brunch on the beach.

My friend, Karen Cope, was dying and I had agreed to take her cat, Diego. Weeks had gone by as the doctors tried to stabilize her enough to medevac her to the United States and the cat had remained at her home to keep her sister, who was staying there, company. Finally, at the end of the month, they got the green light to go and Diego came to live with me. He was not happy about it and screamed all the way across La Cruz. He had been accustomed to going in and out as he pleased and did not like being shut into my third-floor condo. He hid in a basket in my closet for the first week and refused to use the cat box until I put it outside on the patio. It took me a month and a couple of accidents to train the housekeeper not to shut the patio door when she left.

Tom and Cary, from Dragon's Toy, arrived on the 30^th. They had not been to their boat for two years, so stayed with me for a few days while they cleaned everything out and made it habitable. Brad came over on New Year's Eve and we ordered pizza in and watched the fireworks from the balcony. It was a pleasant evening and none of us had the energy to go out anywhere.  I hoped that 2022 would prove to be as relaxing.