Too much
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- Published on Friday, 07 December 2012 11:52
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
‘Tis the season to be jolly but I seem to be spinning wheels trying to keep up. There’s too much traffic, too much food, too much booze, too many events, too many emails, too much money spent, too many requests for help and too many bottle rockets. Why does it all have to happen all at once?
The rockets
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- Published on Friday, 30 November 2012 12:39
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
The rocket season is in full swing as we go from November’s Revolution Day to Ajijic’s fiesta of San Andres (nine days), to the Christmas posadas that begin on December 16, through Three Kings Day and Dia de San Antonio in January and on to Candlemas Day in February. Oops, I forgot the December 12 celebrations for Our Lady of Guadalupe, who appeared in a vision to humble peasant Juan Diego way back in 1531.
Independence Day
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- Published on Friday, 14 September 2012 12:51
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
For years, I tried to convince the heads at the local television station in Missoula, Montana that May 5 was NOT Mexican Independence Day.
Ease up
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- Published on Friday, 23 November 2012 12:48
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
Many of our readers are busy people. They hustle and bustle and give of their talent, time and treasure unwaveringly. Most claim that they are busier now than before they retired or at least before they moved to Mexico. This time of year they seem to work even harder because all of their favorite charities and causes are staging big events. The social and cultural life expands this time of year because old friends turn up and dramatic and musical organizations want to cash in on the increased population and all of this happens just when local fiestas go into full swing with bangs – the bangs of bottle rockets going off with every excuse (many with no excuse) at all hours of the day and night, so getting enough sleep is difficult.
Getting started
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- Published on Friday, 07 September 2012 12:24
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
Wow! I hadn’t expected it for a few weeks yet but suddenly our little Lakeside community is coming alive. People are moving around, getting organized (well, sort of organized) and generally looking forward to “the season.”
Thanksgiving
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- Published on Friday, 16 November 2012 11:04
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
For Americans (I can’t speak for Canadians since my family left Canada several generations ago), probably no holiday speaks of home as does Thanksgiving. Whether fact or fiction, just the word brings on visions of the perfect family gathered around a table laden with beautifully cooked favorite dishes (each family with its own recipes for them), in a room warmed by a fireplace (and central heating) with snowy trees seen through the window panes. Of course, few families are perfect, the turkey is often overcooked, many neighborhoods and towns no longer allow real wood fires and in much of the United States there is little or no snow this early in the year.
Driving
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- Published on Friday, 31 August 2012 12:34
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
At last. I see that the Canadian Club is going to present a “Survivor’s Guide to Driving in Mexico” talk at their next meeting. It can’t happen too soon! Every day we see folks running red lights (even when they are actually functioning), driving the wrong way down busy streets and laterals, backing out of parking spaces without even a glance in the rearview mirror, and using horns instead of brakes … and these are the good drivers. Consider attending this meeting (see below). If you’re scared, take a taxi!
What to do?
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- Published on Friday, 09 November 2012 12:33
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
It’s always this way at the beginning of the “high” season. Folks, either newbies or those with lousy memories, start to complain about barking dogs, bottle rockets, loud music from noisy neighbors, people not speaking English and a myriad of other problems that would be solved “at home” by the swift implementation of city ordinances.
Just for me
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- Published on Friday, 24 August 2012 12:26
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
Why is it that so many people moving here from other countries seem to think that Mexico didn’t exist before they got here? They behave as though it is some sort of fairyland invented and waiting just for their arrival…and in many cases just for them to criticize. They write letters home that there are no plumbers or real gardeners in Mexico and that the place is filled with huge spiders (I guess they are looking for sympathy or want their friends to think that they are extremely brave to come to this ‘awful’ place). The same people are often quick to join various charitable organizations and just as quick to tell those who have labored with the entity for years how it should be run, without any knowledge of its history or the local culture. In some cases, these newly arrived and smarter-than-anyone-else types actually begin to think that they were the founders and at least the saviors of the organization, even though the group has been around for half a century.
Oh, come on!
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- Published on Friday, 26 October 2012 12:40
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
It isn’t enough that driving at Lakeside requires constant vigilance due to kids on four by fours skidding from behind parked cars or bushes, beer trucks racing the wrong way down village streets, grandmothers allowing gaggles of tiny children to jump into the street, kids playing soccer, the ice cream man gathering lines of children pushing each other out of line so they can be the first for the next “nieve,” elderly folks with bad hearing and too much gin wandering in the street, drivers backing up against the traffic to access their driveways and bicycle riders passing on the right.
Rain, rain
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- Published on Friday, 17 August 2012 12:02
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
We all wish for an abundant rainy season (at least those with any sense at all do).
Something nice
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- Published on Friday, 19 October 2012 14:19
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
Play nice
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- Published on Friday, 10 August 2012 12:23
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
It’s definitely time for everyone to spruce up their manners. I don’t mean those ones about how to fold your napkin or which fork to use.
Getting late
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- Published on Friday, 12 October 2012 12:41
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
With July still fresh in the memory it’s hard to believe that fall is really here. The weather is splendid, the air clear and the sunsets stupendous behind the frangipani trees in the breezy evenings. Look closely at the poinsettia plants (trees). They are just starting to turn crimson on the top and when you actually manage to stray from village streets the yellow and orange of wild flowers cover everything!
Yer out!
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- Published on Friday, 03 August 2012 12:14
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
They’re here
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- Published on Friday, 05 October 2012 10:41
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
It seems a little early to me (doesn’t everything lately?), but it’s clear that our wintertime visitors are not just drifting in – they are arriving in droves.
Little buggers
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- Published on Friday, 27 July 2012 12:14
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
For years, certain real estate agents were able to convince those newbies shopping for houses in Ajijic that there are no mosquitoes here. They would be hard pressed this year to convince anyone. Those tiny ankle-biters are everywhere—and they are HUNGRY, having apparently developed a penchant for the flavor of repellant. They are hard to catch, too. Some are so tiny they are invisible unless you’re wearing your reading glasses. Give me old fashioned Montana style mosquitoes (you know the ones — they can make love to a turkey while standing flat-footed) that are a little slower and visible to the naked eye. There’s a great satisfaction in grabbing them from the air, opening your hand and viewing the squished remains.
Backwards
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- Published on Friday, 28 September 2012 12:33
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
While waiting in the parking lot of a popular local supermarket, I became aware (again) of the carelessness of some local drivers.
Bringing rain
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- Published on Friday, 20 July 2012 12:02
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
Down
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- Published on Friday, 21 September 2012 11:29
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
By now, thanks to friends who frequently post on local blab sheets, most of you are aware that I just spent seven horrific days with both telephone and Internet down. This would be a great inconvenience for most people. For me, it was a disaster since I couldn’t go someplace else to use other equipment because there was no way to know exactly when the repairman would show up.
Another one bites the dust
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- Published on Friday, 13 July 2012 13:03
- Written by Jeanne Chaussee
Some folks moving into the village, supposedly excited about “living in Mexico,” promptly tear down the picturesque and adequate Mexican home they just paid a fortune for to put up one built on “Canadian” or “American” standards.