Swine Flu update from Swisless

The world news is covering what's happening, so we won't repeat here. We are fine; no sign of anything in Ajijic area, though Guadalajara has been hit. We wear masks out, and have bought enough stuff that we don't have to go out for a few days anyway.

Beginning of the next chapter

Long time no write, I know. The first few months of the year were quite uneventful, what with readying for a trip to Canada/US and finding a new place to live. Both of these milestones were accomplished with little drama and lots of fun.

Ann's Dad's 90th birthday was on March 24, so Montreal for that date was a given. Around that we planned a drive to San Francisco from Ajijic, a few days in SF to see Garry's cardiologist and do a bit of shopping, a flight to Montreal for a 6 day visit, a flight to Vancouver for a 5-day visit and sort-through of the 40 boxes in storage from Toucan Tango, a flight to SF for another 3-day visit to review and repack our California stuff, and a drive back to Ajijic at the end. In the end we decided not to drive, so we added Guad to SF and return legs - made a total of 8 take-offs and landings. Whew - glad that part's over.

First SF visit was a good start, with a successful cardio visit and renewed scrips for Garry's heart meds. Tested purchase prices in SF, and found the key med would cost $4200 (and that was at Costco!). Decided to wait till we came back to SF to purchase.

In Montreal we had a great visit with Ann's Mum & Dad, (our hosts) sister Carol & Harry, and even a day overlap with brother Tom & Kathy in from Calgary. Walt was seriously not interested in a big party, but we managed a fabulous cream-filled cake with all of us there. Walt's not walking much these days, but he's still mostly alert, and it was truly wonderful to visit with him. We all look forward to the next visit - may next time we'll make it when it's not so COLD!

Vancouver was warmer, thank goodness, and John & Ro generously welcomed us, as always. We had a fun trip up to the Okanagan with them to see their house-building project - what a fabulous place. We all (they perhaps more than us!) look forward to seeing it completed. We also spent a day reviewing our TT boxes, trashing a few things, and readying for pickup to come to Mexico. Went faster than planned - how amazing is that. The best news was that we got Garry's meds, via a local doctor's endorsement of the scrip, for $1200. Really makes one wonder about the profit levels of US "big pharma".

Back to SF again, mainly for retail therapy, plus to review our California stuff that had been there for nearly 8 years. We tossed a few things there too, but in the end, decided to ship most of it. Added a couple of things we'd bought recently, like a TV, a bread-maker and a replacement Casio keyboard for Ann. Will be interesting to see what happens when it all comes here.

All through these travels of ours, a close friend, Eric Brown (husband of Myrna, who is sister to Rosalie), has been recovering from a massive heart attack. Each day we nervously checked our emails to see the latest. His is in fact getting better, but it's slow. At this point, he has been in the ICU in Calgary's Foothills Hospital for over 2 months. Many things went wrong with his body during the process, and they have had many challenges to overcome. They are both very upbeat about it all (as much as possible anyway), and we think about them often and admire them hugely.

Now that we are back in Ajijic, we have moved in to our newly rented home, a small single-family unit in a community of 16 homes. Much bigger than our Birds of Paradise place, and we're enjoying it very much. The slow ("rainy") season has started, though the weather here is still very hot and dry. Apparently the rain normally starts in July, though some think it might be early this year.

Our new address: Las Terrazas #14, Libramiento #101, San Antonio Tlayacapan, Jalisco 45900

The Holidays - and the end of a year of change

Christmas and New Year’s came and went in the usual manner for us this year, except that we had a Christmas tree of our own, and it was made from ROSEMARY! We didn't decorate it, but every time we touched it, a lovely aroma wafted around us.

We had an excellent Christmas dinner at Pedro’s, a local restaurant, where we ate a terrific turkey dinner, visited with some friends who were also there, and had no clean up to do later.

We attended many Christmas events, including a couple of concerts by Los Cantantes del Lago, a group of about 60 mostly gringo singers led by Timothy Ruff Welch, a Guadalajaran with an excellent reputation and a great sense of humor. It’s a group I (Ann) would like to join some time, as our travel schedule permits – our March trip to visit Canada precludes our joining this year.

New Year’s Eve was supposed to be our typical stay-at-home evening, but it turned out that we received an invite from new friends to join them for dinner. We did so, and even managed to see in the New Year. A first in many for us.

A very happy and prosperous 2009 to each and every one of you!