Bits and Pieces

It’s catch up time today for the days I haven‘t posted. Today, the fourth-week anniversary of leaving Los Angeles, we were to finally be delivered of our household goods. The effects of Hurricane Alex were finally banished, the moving van’s place in line advanced, a customs broker obtained to certify the load, border crossed and goods delivered to us this last Tuesday. Or Wednesday. Make that Thursday.

Then this morning - after making arrangements to board the dogs and bring our man-of-all-trades in on Friday - we’re told it will be Friday morning, not today. Quickly extend the boarding to two days and reschedule Pedro.

Good part: the dogs (well, three of them) will have a chance to try out the boarding kennel for a couple of days to see if it’s simpatico. We hope so because we will need a place for all four of them later this month and then for four weeks beginning in mid-September, plus a week in December, et cetera. We’ll fetch them from the kennel (which is closer to town than we thought) on Saturday morning. This will give us a chance to size up each other. Hope it’s a good fit.

Wendy’s Boarding is named after the owner’s first dog (the owner is Maria, not Wendy). Got a very good feeling from our chat before sending the dogs off on their adventure. There’s 24/7 care, lots of room to romp, and tall walls to deter Fiyero’s penchant for climbing chain link fences, And there’s a reduction in fees for longer term boarding. All sounds good.

The house is really quiet without the dogs around. Coca stayed home because she had a date with the vet this morning. We pick her up late afternoon. Vet found a tumor during her surgery, so she’ll have less left of her than planned! But it’s good to take care of it all at one time. Miyake’s surgery went well last week so we expect things to be okay with Coca, too. And they’ll be getting a ceramic, Mexican-inspired water dish at the same time. Saw it in the window at the vet’s and just have to have it. No complaints about the un-Mexican-ness of the house will be tolerated!

Speaking of Mexican-ness, this is the big bicentennial year for Mexico. The bicentennial of the Mexican Revolution (1810) and the centennial of the Mexican Revolution (910) are being combined into one long celebration. It includes a Sound-and-Light style presentation projected from four towers onto the face and sides of the façade of La Parroquia on the Jardin. We have yet to see it.

We did see a snippet of a rehearsal one weekday night. Then we tried to see it the following weekend but Friday night was occupied by a live presentation of song and music dedicated to San Miguel (some better than others). San Miguel was one of the hotbeds of revolutionary fervor back in the day. Ignacio Allende (a favorite son of a San Miguel family) was in at the beginning (later captured in battle and beheaded - yech!). In fact, San Miguel was later renamed San Miguel de Allende in his honor.

And Saturday night we waited around for an hour-and-a-half only to discover that there was a problem with one of the projectors and the performance was cancelled. Many (not all) who have seen it rave about it.

We did see another snippet during a rehearsal after dinner at La Azotea Wednesday night, but some of the projectors still had not been repaired. What we did see was terrific. With music this time. Remembering Son et Lumiere performances seen in Athens, I was concerned that because the façade of La Parroquia is so deeply textured it would be difficult to project pictures on the building, but it works brilliantly. We’re looking forward to our first full presentation. It’s being presented on weekends through 2012, we hear.

The news is good for my sister Paula’s surgery in San Diego this recent Tuesday. Out-patient for shoulder troubles. What can’t they do by remote control, eh? A bit of good news amid all our so-so news.

Things have got to start looking up, right? SMA remains a great place to be. We took our second real estate tour yesterday. People still think we were really brave moving here with so little in-person knowledge of the town. It just seemed right to us and it's proving to be so.

Further good news: the rock band that lives next to us didn’t have a rehearsal this afternoon. With the absence of the dogs, that made for a really quiet time. School begins next week and we’re hoping the band members are all enrolled. That way rehearsals will at least be later in the day.

Later - Coca is now home with a giant incision up her abdomen. She’s really drowsy. Last week Miyake actually walked from the office to the car - well, stumbling a bit. Coca was carried to the car today and into the house and up to the second floor bedroom where she’s resting comfortably (we think; at least not
whining) on the down throw. When she feels up to it there’s water (in the new ceramic dish to brighten her day) and her crate is next to her with a fluffy towel lining it. The surgery turned into something a bit more involved, but she’s fixed and the nasty tumor is gone, she’s had a bath, and her nails have been trimmed. She’ll be all set to go once she’s up and about. Probably a good thing that the other dogs are out for the night. Hope the movers tomorrow don’t disturb her too much.

Someone is working on their house: you can hear them pounding on the cement so things aren’t quite as quiet as they were. We did stop at the store earlier today and replaced our queen-sized inflatable mattress with two twin-sized ones. The larger mattress has developed a leak and we spent several days (and nights) trying different patches - all to no avail (and not much sleep, either). I can report, after today’s naps on the new ones, that it’s a great improvement. Guess we should have sprung for the new mattresses earlier instead of trying to save money. New king-sized bed should be here tomorrow!

That’s probably all the news that’s fit to print. Doubt if we’ll be able to post tomorrow after the delivery of the furniture. There will be a lot of unpacking and assembling. Brought a lot of Ikea things with us. There were 200+ boxes plus loose items like rugs, the washer/dryer, patio umbrellas and their bases. First item on the agenda: see if the washer and dryer will fit up the staircase to the third floor. Otherwise we’ll be shopping for a new set at Liverpool on Saturday. I hear there’s a sale at Penney’s!!!

Still later - Have returned from La Azotea (just off the Jardin). Their margaritas and mojitos are terrific, as is their food - noshes mostly. There was a public concert tonight in the Plaza Principal (in front of the Parroquia) that was within earshot of the restaurant/bar. Well played; songs popular with the audience; lots of percussion instruments (never heard a gong used quite so often); et cetera. We applauded from our rooftop perch - though we were the only ones applauding from the restaurant, Philistines! - but enjoyed the musical background.