Like a Fine Wine

Friends,

I could talk a bit about our several days of doing very little, but reading, drinking and eating, but as most of you have been kind enough to send birthday wishes, I should dispense with the trivial and get to Polley's 74th!

Yesterday we had a lovely day celebrating #74. I got off to my walk and was able to return with a small, humble bouquet of flowers for Polley. I captured her with them as she sat in the sunlight letting her hair dry (we go nowhere until the hair is dry!)

We decided to do a late breakfast at a place that is new this year, on the ground floor of yet another PV condominium unit. It is call the French Riviera Bakery and it has a lovely setting that catches the morning sun. I caught Polley as she prepared for breakfast, already well into her Mimosa!.

Sadly, the location is lovely, but the breakfast was a bit disappointing.

From there, we strolled up to La Fuente del Puente, our favorite place, for just a glass of wine. However, when you have a birthday on St. Valentine's Day, people remember. Sure enough, Aurora, the owner had a gift of Hersey Kisses, a private serenade by the Marimba Duo


and a special birthday cake (Just what we needed after a full breakfast!).


It was a dirty job, but we had to eat the whole thing!

After waddling up the hill to our place, we spent the afternoon reading, resting, feeding the little kittens and collecting our laundry.

However, that evening we had a birthday dinner at our favorite place, Vitea. We were joined by a lady we met these last few weeks, Marsha, and had a great time.

The evenings are really becoming wonderful and tropical. We were a bit embarrassed that we had had such a day, that a stop at El Patio was not in the cards. Ah well, there is always tonight.

Much thanks to all of you who sent birthday wishes. I tried my bet to make it a day that we all think she deserves. More later

Change is in the Wind

Friends,

It has been 4 days since I last post. Little has occurred in that time, which is just the way we like it! OUr routine, which I went over a few posts ago, is about the same. The "Hounds of the Bastardville" are unleashed about 7 or 7:15 every morning so even if we chose to sleep in, there is no way to surmount the incessant barking. Actually, we tend to wake about 6:30 with the sun peeking in around 7:30. The change I refer to in the title is really about the air temperature. It has gotten warmer! While we still carry an extra layer with us in the evening, some nights it is nearly unnecessary.

Monday we had a nice early evening with our friends (and a former UP colleague) Neal and Judy Higgins. They invited us to have a drink with some Canadian artists, Jack and Lorraine, who are both quite well known potters from Toronto. Neal and Judy have moved into a new condominium unit and we had a nice evening out on their balcony. I took this picture of the sunset from there place.

Despite my best efforts to avoid another sunset photo, they seem to insist on my capturing them. From Época, our little beachside haunt run by a fellow from Portland, the sunsets are truly spectacular. Part of my fascination is with they way they keep evolving. You think you have caught the best moment,

and then it changes and another photo is called for;

soon another is required.

And then, almost as suddenly, it is gone! So, each evening that we are down there, I come home with half a dozen more images of the sunset.

Have eaten in the last couple of nights, just going out for drink. Have spent some lovely hours just sitting in our place or on the beach reading. We continue to whittle away at our stack of book. Have enjoyed "The Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet," "The Secret Scriptures," and "Let the Great World Spin." No real clunkers so far, but those three have been strong.

AS we stopped at Época yesterday we did capture a gathering (perhaps a "gaggle") of Red Hat ladies parading down the Malecon.

Very flashy and lively group.

As we left there yesterday and head up our hill, I did get a picture of one of the little kittens who had fitted him(her)self into a tree branch and was just gazing out at the world

Polley continues to feed them, but they are still very skittish and I don't know if we will ever gain their confidence to the point of actually petting them.

But most important, the weather is now grand. Nearly everyday is blue sky and their is hardly a cloud to be seen. Had dinner last night with Neal and Judy at a place call La Tia Catrina. Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays dinners are half price! Really good food and our whole bill for food was about $8.00. It may become a regular Thursday night haunt.

Anyway, life is good and things are looking up for out last month in PV. More later

A Bit of PV Culture

Friends and other readers,

I will keep this brief as it was another slightly overcast and cool day in Puerto Vallarta. We did very little. Read a good deal, did the walk and a bit of grocery shopping. We are joining former UP Business School professor, Neal Higgins and his wife, Judy, for some drinks this evening. So I picked up a bit of wine and a wonderful artichoke and jalapeño dip. I make it at home, but I must admit that this one is better. I was told the secret is in baking it for a bit to let the flavors mix. I can't wait to try that once we get home.

Lasst night we had a lovely evening. It was, of course, Super Bowl night. As we strolled along the Malecon it was great fun to tell the promoters trying to draw us into each bar and restaurant that we weren't doing the Super Bowl, we were going to the ballet! We did stop for a bit of Pre-Func at a bar that had the game turned up to a volume that would make most people's ears bleed. We sat as far outside as possible and enjoyed the passersby. We then went on to the new Performing Arts Center downtown for the ballet, Romeo and Julietta. This was a Russian troupe that was passing through. The place was packed. I took this one photo prior to the show

but, as a polite, respectful audience member I did not take photos during the performance, although a good deal of people did. I was surprised that there was no announcement, as we now always get, about turning off cell phones and no photography. Apparently those rules do not apply in Mexico. Each of the seats in the auditorium also had a cup holder and people were freely bringing in cups of coffee, wine and other more potent beverages.

The performance itself was really very good. The woman that danced Juliet was wonderful. Mercutio and Paris were also very strong. I was not taken with Romeo and as I continue to have contact with the play, I grow increasingly convinced that he is not really that important to the story. It is really about Juliet.

Anyway, it was well received. Polley and I picked a bit at the costuming choices and some of the acting/dance interpretation seemed a bit overdone. But it was nice to have the opportunity to see if and, of course, we both love the music.

So, a bit of culture beyond two beers for the price of one. Stopped for a drink on the way home and watched more of the Sunday evening crowd. We get down to the Malecon very little at night. We were reminded of how lively and enjoyable it is to just sit and watch the Mexican families and gringo tourists. A most pleasant day.

A PV Cold Spell

Friends and Unknown Readers,

I have been out of touch for a few days. Really just a lack of much to report. The weather has been awful (by PV standards that is). It has been misty, cloudy and very, very cold (PV standards applied again). Evenings have been so cold that Polley and I have eaten in our room with layer upon layer to protect us. Gloves would have been nice. We just weren't prepared for this sort of cold over here. We had our bout in Guadalajara last year, but, ironically, it is warmer in GDL than in PV at this time. We not only long for gloves, we are envious of those lucky souls who live in accommodations with WINDOWS!

Anyway, we have been limited in our travels about town. We have made it down the hill and yesterday, as it was a bit brighter (though the wind was blowing fit to knock you down) we went over the the Happy Hour at Epoca to see our friend Bobby and his fellow musicians warm the place up a bit.


It was a pretty good crowd

Also had a chance to sit with retired colleague, Neal Higgins and his wife Judy, under their palapa. In the sun it was quite pleasant, but still the wind was pushing at us from behind. We chatted and watched the crowds come and go.

Also caught our favorite bar maid, Hannah, up to her elbows in dishes.


We did stop in at El Patio on the way up the hill. In that walled courtyard it was surprisingly calm, so we enjoyed a respite from the pummeling wind. From there it was on up the hill a few steps more, when the craft lady, Marsha, caught us for a moment that turned into an hour of some pretty powerful vodka and mango juice! Then it was home for some serious cold-weather dressing and dinner indoors.

That has been the routine for the last 3 days. Limited walking about, a lot of lying under the covers in bed with our books, cursing the fact that it is so hard to turn pages in gloves. Did manage to catch some pretty impressive sunsets during the nippy evenings. Thought I would share this one with you

We are off to lunch this afternoon, looking forward to some excellent looking calamari at La Fuente. Home for a brief nap and, perhaps, a bit of the first half of the Super Bowl and then we are off to the ballet. A Russian company is passing through town, doing Romeo and Juliet. Critics' report to follow soon.

Doing?

Friends and all,

We are into the beginnings of month number 2 as the calendar turns over to February 1st. As I mentioned in the last report, we are back to establishing (re-establishing?) a routine. That sense of "the regular" got me to thinking about the notion of "doing." People down here ask us what we've been doing, what did you do today, what are you doing in your retirement, etc. There seems to be this need to "do!" Polley and I, as we fall into our routine, are trying the opposite approach; we are trying to "not do."

That doesn't mean we don't have things that we do. It just means that there is no need to do. Our typical day, and I say this with no sense of shame, means awaking around 6:45 or 7 a.m. Polley is usually still trying to sleep, so I spend a half hour to 45 minutes reading the New York Times and assorted promotional e-mails (never anything from someone we care about) on my i-.touch or i-pad. About 7:30 the day begins and for the next hour, we drink coffee, attend to the toilet, read, return to the toilet, etc. At 8:30 I am out for an hour's walk. Now these rapid strolls can be either of a practical nature, a stop at the store to stock-up, or they can be purely for the exercise. Usually, it is a combination of both. Occasionally I'll run into others we know in PV and chat for a few minutes, then on my way. I am gone about an hour.

The rest of the morning is caught up in tidying up the apartment, reading a bit more, a shower, a bit more exercise and then, whenever we wish, we stroll down to La Fuente del Puente (The Fountain at the Bridge) for a beer, some fun with the waiters, some music,

and some serious people watching. Actually, given the variety of people who pass through, a good deal of it is not serious at all. The variety of tourist that come to PV is fascinating! From the Tea-Party, Nascar, World Wrestling crowd to the most stylish and sophisticated appearing, you see them all.

Of course, occasionally we side-step La Fuente and go down to the beach and have a beer and enjoy the sunshine. There is this one amazing musician who wanders by and each time we witness him, we have to tip him, primarily for his ingenuity. He is somewhat crippled and has strapped a harmonica and an old flashlight to his crutch. He holds the crutch and plays the harmonica and sings (often seemingly at the same time!) and strums the rough edges of the flashlight edge for his percussion. I provide you with a photo, but a video may at some point be called for.

Amazing!

Around 1:30, we make our way up the hill for lunch and the always important SIESTA! Around 4 we are up and do read for a couple of hours before making that difficult decision about where to eat. Last night we wandered up to a place in the Mexican section call La Tia Katrina's. Of course, we first had to stop and provide a bit of food for our family of cats.


and catch a bit of a sunset

The food at La Tia was Excellent. Polley had Chile Rellenos and I had a terrific seared Tuna. We had a lovely talk with with the owner and then, of course, needed to stop at El Patio before arriving back at the house, bringing our "typical day" to an end. While we "did" a number of things, it never felt we had to "do" any of it. It is Heaven!

Back in the Groove, Hopefully!

One and all,

Routine! There is something so satisfying and yet challenging to the establishing and maintaining of routine. Obviously, from my absence, routine has not bee established here in Vallarta. So much has happened in the first 3 weeks of our first month here that routine is only now beginning to feel as though it is being established. We got settled in, then it was 4 days in Guadalajara, then our routine for three days before my brother and his wife, Dave and Katie arrived for a week-long stay. They were here two days and Polley came down with a virus and for three days did not leave her bed. Finally, on Saturday (day number 3), I insisted she go to the doctor who gave her antibiotics and probiotics and there may have even been robotics in there somewhere, and she soon started to recover. It has taken another week before she really started to eat regular meals.

However, as Polley says, the "good thing was" that my brother and his wife got a chance to operate independently and, I think, gained confidence about getting about in PV on their own. In fact, they have already booked two weeks for next year and are even looking at moving down here at some point in the future. Anyway, we had a great time once Polley recovered.


The weather has been beautiful. Cool mornings and evenings, but very nice, sunny blue-sky days. I caught these sunsets a couple of nights ago. As we say, AFGPVS (Another fucking gorgeous Puerto Vallarta Sunset). But it is true and we make an effort to get down to the beach every evening at about 6:30 to see what sort of show nature will put on that night.


The other event in our lives, or, perhaps, I should say in Polley's life, is a batch of cats that were born shortly before we arrived. We have counted up to 8 in all. They live just outside our door and, of course, half of what we spend on food is spent on cat food for Polley to give them. I caught this one photo as they were waiting for her to spread the food along the ground,

and this second as they were chowing down.


Now that activities are coming to a close, we are working on the routine part. We are reading some very good books, getting to the beach occasionally, thought it seems to be less important than previous years. We follow our Scottish musician friend, Bobby, as he plays in a variety of venues, and spend some time with people that we have met over the years down here. Life is good and we continue to enjoy each other and the town. More later

Friends and others so devoted,

Sorry to have been out of touch for so long. As I mentioned, we were going to Guadalajara and somehow that different environment gets us totally out of sync. Seemed like little time for blogging as the place we stay is so social that you seem to have little time for sitting down at the computer (or perhaps it is just that it seems rude!).

Last Tuesday (hard to believe it was nearly a week ago), we caught a 10 am bus from PV to GDL. As we have said in years past, these are quite luxurious coaches that have a good deal of leg room, movies running continually (all in Spanish with no subtitles) and your own personal sandwich (one paper-thin slice of cheese [a Kraft single if I'm not mistaken], one paper-thin slice of meat and one half-inch thick slice of jalapeño trapped between two spongy pieces of Bimbo bread (My sense is that it is called "Bimbo" because each slice contains nearly as much air as the head of any conventional blonde). Despite these sandwiches sounding not the least bit appealing, it's amazing how good they can taste in about your third hour on the bus. You almost wish you had a second.

After 5 hours, we arrived at the station in Zapopan. This is a suburb of GDL, some former village that has now been swallowed up by the big city. You can catch a cab from there and it is faster into town than from the central station in GDL. So by 3:30 we were moving into our little hotel room (The Cupola) at Las Sabilas. This is the same garden style hotel that we lived in for a month two years ago and then revisited last year. WE had come primarily to see old friends from 2009. However, we soon learned that Rebecca was still in New York and, in fact, was no longer going to work at Las Sabilas. In addition, Max, the sort of manager of the place, had had a mental meltdown and was recuperating out at Lake Chapala. So, he was not going to be there. Our only link to the past was Gary Grosbeck, a wonderful man from Chicago. So Gary was going to get our full attention. I hope he was ready.

For most of the 3 1/2 days we were there, we just sat about and reminisced about our previous times together and met and talked with new guests at Las Sabilas and ate. There are about 6 rooms. In addition to Gary, there is Robert, the owner and designer of Las Sabilas, along with two other properties he has acquired. Robert, as always, is a charming host and a delight to talk with. Another guest was Susan Draftz, an American who has lived in Mexico for the last 10 years and has been recently visiting GDL to look for a home to buy. While there, she, in fact, found what she called the house of her dreams and was constantly scheming on the purchase the remodel. While the deal was not completed by the time we left, she certainly was moving in the direction of making an offer.

The other people we had some interaction with of the course of our time there was a couple from Arkansas, Duane and Laura Bender. He was a retired Air Force colonel and while I say they were from Arkansas, they has lived all over the world as you might expect of career military. OUr last night there, Gary, Laura, Duane and Polley and I had dinner together before retiring to finish a couple of bottles of wine before turning in.

Most of our time was just wandering the old historic section of GDL. We lunch with Gary a couple of times. We revisited an old haunt of ours, the Cafe Degollado, which sits on the front veranda of the Theatro Degollado. I caught this photo of Gary and Polley enjoying a lunch in the sunny afternoon.

While we were sitting there we were entertained by three city workers cleaning the gutters and struggling to put all the pieces back together. They hammered and forced things and eventually won. I caught this picture of them basking in the limelight of their victory over inanimate objects.


We later had another lunch with Gary at a place called Chai. Good fast food, Mexican style (that may be an oxymoran!)

If you remember last time we were in GDL, it was so cold that Polley and I had to buy sweatshirts and Polley got her famous toe-socks (which now are sadly beginning to wear out). This time, while the mornings were cool (GDL is at about 6,000 feet), the days were quite warm and it was a welcome change and we made the most of it. Thursday evening we travelled back to Zapopan to visit Candela. This was the GDL version of the restaurant/bar that was in PV, but is now El Patio de mi Casa. We hoped to meet with Francisco the owner. He was not in, but we got a wonderful surprise. Grace, the manager of Candela PV was working as a waitress that night. We had not seen her since we left a year ago and she has since had a baby. She was always so delightful and it was great to see her again. We also met Mariana who is Francisco's partner. It was a wonderful evening

and by the time we left it was as though we leave the mother country for the New World.

Anyway, it was a nice, relatively brief visit. Gary is off on a new adventure. He was headed out to Ajiic to start an 8 day seminar on moving to Mexico. He will follow that with a month in an apartment in Ajiic before returning to Chicago to gather his belongings and move down. We wish him the best of luck and have made him promise to keep us posted.

We caught the 9:20 bus back to PV on Saturday, arriving about 2. The bus trip really does wipe you out, so we stayed close to home that night before getting back into the regular Sunday routine. We saw Bobby play twice on Sunday, once with a guitarist at Epoca and then again from our regular table at Vitea on Sunday evening. As my brother arrives on Tuesday, for a week, we are planning a quiet Monday as we gear up for another week of "That's Entertainment - Mexican Style." More later.