Thursday, October 24, 2013

I'm in countdown mode!


The pool steps are in!
It's just 5 short weeks before we leave for our month+ in Merida. Now I really need to get it together! I have 3 large bags packed with 'stuff' and enough things put aside for another large bag and that's not even counting our clothes! Now I've read that Cancun is getting strict about checking bags! I've left the price tags on anything new and there is really not much of that. 
I do however take some food items (gluten free) as last year it was difficult to find some items. I did find a loaf of frozen gluten free bread at Pescadelli, but at 20.00 US it was like gold! I know I need to plan ahead and get Monica at the slow market to make some for us.
I received some new photos this week and Roger, our esteemed architect, has told me that they are a week ahead of his schedule...unheard of ..but he knows that we are bringing family down in December and wants it to be ready for us! Nice guy!! We will have two weeks in the house before our guests arrive. I will need this time to get some more furnishings as well as de stress and settle in.
Meanwhile here in St Louis the Cardinals are in the World Series, the weather is changing to autumn like, my new kitchen floor is in and I do have to prepare the house for house sitters coming in. More worrisome is that two of my cats have disappeared! Gus, the Maine coon almost two weeks ago, and Bleu-Beri who this blogged is named after, (as well as mi casa) 6 days ago....These are cats who do not really wander and stay pretty close to home! I know that people say to keep them in, but these are rescue cats that could not acclimate to an inside only life...and I knew when adopting them.
Starting to look like design!





















Tuesday, October 8, 2013

December is taking forever to get here!


This summer seems very long, and time felt like it actually stood still in September. Carlos has been working very hard and needed to get away... he hasn't really had a vacation all year. We found a cheapo 7 day cruise (last minute) from Miami and couldn't resist. Luckily we also had enough points to use for our airfare! And so we packed our bags and headed out. The ports of call were Carnival private island, St Thomas, San Juan, Puerto Rico and Grand Turk Island, not to mention two sea days. We love to cruise and view the ship as the vacation.... the only land excursion we planned was in Puerto Rico. This is Carlos' place of birth and both his parents are buried here. We would only have time to visit the National Cemetery in Bayamon as Carlos' mom is buried in Yabacoa which is further away and the opposite direction. My first photos taken at the cemetery when Carlos found Papa Charlies place of rest where a little spooky...I think his spirit was happy with our visit!
Carlos found Papa Charlie's stone


We brought some fall flowers


San Juan
For the first time we visited Turks and Caicos and it was just beautiful...The people were very nice and the beaches were wonderful!
Grand Turk

While we were cruising, the building of the casita and pool continued and progress continued forward. We had a skype call yesterday and received a few updated photos: