The house is the former residence of the Count who had the richest mines of silver and gold in the world at one time. If you want to read the story, go to www.condevalenciana.com It is quite amazing! We finished our comida, I made all the arrangements for the group of 24 in August and then strolled across the plaza to the magnificent Valenciana Church where the altarpieces are covered in gold .........The amount of carving and detailing is hard to believe, and although I had been in this church several times, my friends had not and were awed by it all. It's fun to take people to see something in Mexico that they have not seen before...........
We then left Valenciana, which is a suburb of the City of Guanajuato, one of the top five UN World Heritage Sites in the World, and traveled through the mountains to Santa Rosa. If you didn't know, you would see this village and just keep going........but I knew........and wanted my friends to see the factory that makes majolica very much like Italian pottery. Also the Mujeres de Santa Rosa where the women sell jams, preserves and jellies to make money since most of the men have left the village to find work in the USA. Well, lots has happened in a year and a half since I took this picture of the little church - they painted the church, darn, and they have paved the two streets in the town! Wow.............But the same people who I've always seen at the factory were there and so happy to see me. They graciously and with pride walked downstairs with us to the showroom where my friends nearly suffered apoplexy at all the beautifully painted plates, trays, vases, large urns - you name it- it is handpainted and fired, but also with raised fruit etc. on these items. It is incredibly beautiful. To give you an idea of quality such stores as Nordstrom, Neiman Marcus and Gumps' carry this product. Here it is 1/20th of the price in the USA..............
I managed to wrestle Ron and Fred out of the factory without buying anything, all the time promising that I WOULD bring them back...........
It was a fun day.............believe it or not there was a couple in the factory from Las Cruces, New Mexico and when the wife found out we lived in San Miguel, her question was "What do you do there all day?" Geez Louise............I had to grit my teeth!
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That question - what do you do all day - used to irritate the heck out of me too. You should do what I do when asked that now. I just say "Read my blog and find out!"
And I am getting the same question. "What are you giong to do when you retire in Mexico?" Today I just gave up and said: "I am going to wander around aimlessly -- and that is going to be ten more times interesting than what you are doing at work."
What do I do all day? Well yesterday was typical. Took the dog to the vet. Took him back home and went to the Tuesday market where we bought fruits and veggies, a level, a bird cage, carnitas for comida and we ran into friends and visited. Took the food home. Cleaned the fruits and veggies. Went to the hospital to check on a sick friend. Came home made the 'fixins' to go with the carnitas and had comida. Read a book for a while and took a short siesta. Wrote a blog entry. Went up on the terrace with a glass of wine and waited for the almost full moon to come up. Watched a little TV and went to bed so satisfied with life. These are the kind of things I do all day.
Wayne and Steve - My usual "retort" is, "I do as little as I can get away with......" They ponder this for a while and then say, "Well, do you volunteer?" No, I say......."Are you an artist?" No, I say.....and then "they" decide I'm uninteresting and leave me alone....All the while, I'm chuckling inside.........
And Billie - another "perfect" day in paradise..........LOVE IT!
OMG. THAT question. The one my mother still asks...after how many years?
On Monday, I spent the day shopping and having lunch with friends. Well, going to the Costco salvage store isn’t exactly chi-chi, but it’s always exciting. I don’t like to work on Mondays, so I don’t.
The power was off all day long on Tuesday. Well, at least I did have a half day’s advance notice. By 10 a.m., I am ready to climb the walls. No power means no Internet. I can't drive out of the gates, since they're electric, the manual override is a bitch, and besides, the street was blocked. I could've moved the cones, but there's the matter of getting back in. I debate whether to pack up the laptop and take a taxi to Starbucks. I walk over to my sister's for coffee, return home, read the paper, wander around the yard, harvest tomatoes, and go crazy. The garden is miraculously quiet now without the gardener’s radio blaring. I found myself even missing that. For noise, he decides to mow the lawn. He's never done that before, and I was amazed that he even knew how to run the power mower. I also know that he wants a loan come Friday. I'm not hungry, but I walk to my lunch cafe, the kind of place where other diners ask where you've been if you don't attend at least weekly. I walk slowly back home. I go out and supervise the CFE workers some more, hoping that they'll get the power restored. I give up and try to nap. I read a book, thankful that I don't have a Kindle. I nap some more. I fidget.
Finally, at 7 p.m. power is restored, and, so too, is my life. After checking my e-mail and reading the essentials, the phone calls from friends start to come in. It's nonstop telephone until around 11 p.m. Then I have to settle in and crank out my two overdue columns for Internet Law Researcher. Finishing that, I pull an all-nighter doing “stuff,” crashing at 7:15 a.m. I didn’t get up until noon.
On Wed., I did nothing but write. I didn’t leave the house. Sometimes I go for days without leaving the house. Today I might drive to Starbucks to hit the drive-up window. Tomorrow I’m meeting with friends at Starbucks for coffee and then having lunch. Friday lunch is a routine now.
Life in Mexico is just as it would be in the U.S. for me.
Whew Jennifer, I'm exhausted hearing about YOUR daily activities. I think, in the future, if anyone asks me that question, I'll just refer them to you! Ha.......
By the way, I think it is REALLY interesting that no one commented on "Sopa de Manzana" - so the blog must have hit a "nerve"!
Warm apple soup? Sounds like comfort food to me but only in winter, definitely not here in Tejas right now.
Didn't we go there for lunch when Julio was giving us that first tour? Way back then...
Kay, your memory is amazing! Yes, we had apple soup all those many years ago - almost 10! I have NEVER forgotten that soup - it IS incredible!
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