new home

I've started a new blog- http://cathiecarroll.blogspot.com/

house plan

It's getting exciting! We've found a nice piece of property and decided on a 2 story house plan- with a few minor modifications. Manana, we have a "perk" test to make sure there are no wetlands or hydric soil to prevent us from building where we want and then we start clearing as few of the the trees as possible.

The property is 5 acres halfway between Portland and Seattle- 2 great cities to get to easily. We 're planning on no grass and native planting for low maintenance. Learning as we go and so far everyone has been great. Lewis County has a great planning department and the folks at the local public utility just keeps smiling while we ask lots of dumb questions.

in which we become smugglers

Our time in Mexico was amazing, unforgettable, life-changing but we're back in the States and looking for a home here. So many reasons but the 2 biggies- we miss our grandson horribly and Tommy's meds. He uses an opium pain patch that isn't available in Mexico. The closest available drug is oxycontin which Tommy can't take. Not a big deal we thought as our health plan sends a 3 month supply to our US mail forwarder who bundles our mail and ships it on to wherever we are.

While a 3-month supply is legal to bring into Mexico for personal use it is illegal to mail any drugs to Mexico. When we crossed into Mexico we had just received a new batch of meds so we were fine for 3 months. We found out about the mailing restriction when we were very low on drugs and so a dear friend shipped us a new supply in a package labeled-Correspondence. We were lucky, the package wasn't checked and we got the meds and headed back to the States. If they had been confiscated, driving through Mexico with Tommy in withdrawal would have been more than I could have dealt with.

We're renting at the Oregon Coast for the summer and searching madly for a home.

central highlands

This little pink sweetie almost came home with me. I just didn't think I'd get him over the border. He watched me and moved my way a bit and then backed off over and over again.

Guanajuato is one of my favorite towns in Mexico. It's built above tunnels designed by the Spanish and built by indigenous slave labor. The tunnels seem endless and it's hard to believe the cab driver knows which is the right one to take but they never seem to get lost.

The center of town is the Teatro Juarez. At night the square across the street fills up with people watching other people. Mariachi and street performers come out and entertain those sitting on the steps of the theatre or eating in one the restaurants. It's a very lovely and tranquillo town.

On the move again...we're headed to Arizona to spend some time my family. Then on to California and Oregon for the summer.

We stayed in the most beautiful resort north of Mexico City; Mision Queretaro Juraquilla. The guest rooms, spa, golf course, and pool are new but the rest is built on the bones of a 300 year old hacienda. We ate desayuno by a fountain in a courtyard that must have been the families private daily use space. Beyond that was a grand courtyard the size of most cities zocalos and included a small band shell. There was a sweet chapelito, an original amphitheatre that's been restored and meetings rooms that were full of small conventions. What's amazing to me is the deal we got- a golf weekend- neither one of us played, but we got a grand room with view for $52.US a night.