It is summertime here, but it is still quiet.  The hotels say they are at 60 percent occupancy, but I think that’s a bit of wishful thinking.  Paul and I had lunch today (Monday) at a nice hotel in the golden zone and the hotel and beach seemed pretty empty to us.  I can never get over that in a few minutes drive we can be having lunch on the beach – either a casual palapa or a fancy hotel.  I love it… and today it made our trip to Home Depot and Sam’s Club less of a chore.

At the top of the post is a picture of the birdcage, and its occupants, Poncho and Lefty (and a piece of bamboo.)  These are the two conures who were part of the bunch we had hand fed when they were tiny.  They love their home on the back terrace, but I was getting pretty aggravated with the little wild birds helping themselves to their food!

They fly over, slip through the bars, and help themselves without Poncho and Lefty doing a thing!  They’d scatter seed, poop everywhere and in general were a pain in the neck.  Well, as you can see from the picture, we attached wire mesh to the cage and now it is a no-sparrow zone!  I think the first day it was on, Poncho and Lefty did nothing but eat… they were hungry!

The picture above is Henry in his favorite spot, the corner behind the birdcage.  And since I can’t play favorites, below is Lucy in her favorite spot, underneath the table on the terrace.

I think I may have solved the problem of the irritating bugs in pasta and rice, etc.  I had been coming straight home from the store and putting the dry food into zipper bags or screw top containers.  But things were still buggy!  I was pretty ticked off the other night when I went to make pasta and a whole container of penne was bad.  But I asked a friend and she said it has to be kept in the cool, and said she puts hers in the bedroom where the air conditioning is.  I think I am going to only buy small quantities and store it in the refrigerator or freezer. Learning to live in this climate is many faceted, for sure.

I haven’t yet finished the dress I’ve been knitting for Consuelo but I am getting close.  So the other day I went to the merceria and bought four buttons and some embroidery thread to applique flowers, I think.  You want to guess what the buttons and thread cost me?  Five pesos. Thirty-eight cents.

The last thing going on around here is a tease picture. (below) That’s all I’ll say at the moment!  Ha!