How I spent inauguration week.

Thoroughly sick of politics as usual, I (and three of my closest friends) escaped from it all and flew out of Miami, through Dallas/Fort Worth, to Queretaro, Mexico, where we rented a car and drove an hour into the mountains of interior Mexico to the town of San Miguel de Allende to escape the negativity of American politics and loose ourselves in a wonderful adventure.

As seen in Miami at the airport

We checked into Posada de Ermita, an older hotel and into our suites. Me with some trepidation, never having had a roommate in my life, unless you count my former husband, and who wants to count him?

Lu, Gloria and Tom in the lobby

My friend, Gloria, was the ideal roommate.

Our bedroom. We also had a living room and a large loggia.

San Miguel de Allende is an old colonial city of about 100,000 people, with some 15,000 being expats from America and Canada. The altitude is 6500 feet and we all noticed it. Shortness of breath up and down these streets and a pounding heartbeat.

Our street

The street down into town. And I walked UP this street too!

All action takes place around el centro below and La Parroquia, seen above. There is always a crowd, people just sitting, musicians, artists sketching, cafes on all sides and ice cream and fruit vendors among others. All at the feet of the cathedral.

Tom models the wares

Many of the expats seem to check in at the library, seen above. Quite the mural, right? It is where the english newspaper of weekly events comes out and you can see postings for what's happening and where and it is the site of a lot of volunteer activities. Most expats you meet are giving back to this community in the form of tutoring or fund raising for scholarships, etc.

This is where Gloria and I took Spanish immersion lessons each day with our teacher, Javier. I wish I had a picture of him - looked a little like Sammy Davis Jr. He was funny and wise and taught us a lot and we liked him quite a bit.

As you can see, we ran into an old friend here. Florence is living in SMA for three months and we saw her every day. Here we are at The Restaurant (yes, that is the name), our second night in town. I did not have even one disappointing meal. The food was wonderful everywhere we went.

This is a little three day old goat and yes he wears a red sweater and pampers. His mother kicked him out and he has bonded with the woman who looks after him, feeding him every two hours and even sleeping in her bed. So sweet.

I took these pictures in the Market de los Artisanias.

Here is La Parroquia all lit up at night. That night there were dueling bands of mariachis playing. Noisy and chaotic and lots of happy faces all around us.

A rally against 45 in the square

The most important meal of the day: Desayuno!

On the birthday of Ignacio de Allende (there is always some celebration going on but this was a big one), there were women protesting the killing of three children and here are the policia surrounding them. Not clear on the details.

The lovely Florence!

We were headed for the Instituto de Arte and happened upon this ginormous parade that went on and on and on. It ran head on into the protestors and policia above but all was peaceful and after about 15 minutes, the protestors headed up the street, the parade following them.

The sweepers at the end

A big women's march to coincide with Washington, Boston and myriad others

We went to the roof of the Rosewood Hotel for sunset and dinner one night. You can see La Parroquia on the horizon. It was chilly but well worth the view and the tapas and margaritas were to die for!

Best mariachis I ever saw!

These paper mache people lead wedding parties through the streets and this day, showed up for the festivities in the square.

Lu and Tom

The girls

On our last full day, we went to La Escondida, a hot springs with grottos, just outside of town. It was hard to get into a bathing suit in 60 degree weather but the water was warm and wonderful. 

I usually travel alone but I thoroughly enjoyed being with everybody. It took a lot longer to get organized each day so we weren't able to take advantage of the art or cooking classes but we had so much fun. I would go back in a heart beat. A big pounding heart beat.

I will not lie to you. It was worse than usual getting through the holidays this year. It was a lonely and depressing time and I'm happy to put it behind me. Time to focus on all the good things happening in my life.

The Santa hat on my mailbox was my one nod to the holiday, until....

The Friday before Christmas, some of us met up at my pool for our weekly swim and happy hour. While in the pool, I noticed my Norfolk Pine has been decorated! Hey! Yes, a secret Santa snuck into my yard while I was at work in the morning and look at the result. I was so touched. I couldn't think who it might be and finally, my BFF, Miss Connie, copped to it. So sweet and thoughtful!

In other news, my beloved niece, Ryder, turned 18 last month and I managed to get a quilt done and off to her just in time for the Big Day. Seems like she was about 10 and I blinked and poof! She is all grown up.

My sister asked me to make her a a t-shirt quilt, something I swore I would never do again. But what can I say? It was for Ryder so I agreed and then spent every spare minute working on it until her birthday. So here you have it. The last t-shirt quilt I will ever make. I didn't want the usual boxes, but instead a sort of collage and I think it turned out pretty good. The math just about did me in.

So fast forward to last Friday and I was getting ready for our weekly swim and HH, cleaned the pool and was wiping down the bar in the tiki when I flushed a BAI (big ass iguana). He went scrambling across the pool deck and took a header into the pool where he proceeded to swim around the bottom at high speed. I of course shrieked and jumped up on a bar stool (why? I don't know) and yelled for my neighbor, the resident drug dealer and super mellow dude. He came through for me and managed to get the thing out of the pool when it finally began to tire. Had to be three feet long. When I went back to cleaning up I flushed another smaller one. I cannot stand those things! Without Sophie to chase them off, they are making themselves at home. Yesterday I chased the big one and he went straight up the ginormous palm tree over my fence and out on the frond. I lobbed a few coconuts at him but he was up too far. Just gave me the hairy eyeball. Did you know they actually poop salmonella? Yuck. Disgusting.

So this is my latest project. Bicycle seat covers! I'm sure you've seen the bikes with plastic bags or shower caps protecting the seats. Well, this is a much prettier option, isn't it?

My bike Jimmy modeling his seat cover.

And another little project. Check it out. I trash picked this chair the other day and am in the process of spray painting it a yummy key lime green. Will just need a cushion.

And you know what a Cirque du Soleil groupie I am. I went up to Miami Gardens and saw their steampunk show called Kurios last week. So great!

front row seat!

So, things are good here in the Fabulous Florida Keys. Happy New Year everybody.

Time for a little catch-up and no worries, all is going well with yours truly. Been super busy trying to get a quilt done to meet a deadline and I'm getting close. Will share it with you once the recipient has it in hand.

I had a quiet Thanksgiving. Didn't see a soul I knew but did get a single phone call from my sweet friend Sue in Maine. Very peaceful and I was thankful for that. I walked over to Skippers for a margarita and some tuna tartare. Fab! My house is just in the trees behind the boats you see there so I just have to walk around the top of the canal to get there. 

My plumbing problems have followed me from Maine and don't know if you can see this but it is a single leg on a ladder outside my kitchen window. The plumber had to climb up on the roof to snake the sinks about 8 times. Kitchen sink was backing up into bathroom sink. Old iron plumbing just like in Maine.

I took this picture of my backyard to show you what December 1st looks like in the Fabulous Florida Keys. I still haven't finished cleaning up my garden - just too hard to work out there without my Sophie to help - but I'll get there. Beautiful, right? Lucky me.

 This was a sweet little surprise. I was parked by a secret ocean view I know about, having some coffee and waiting until it was time to go to an appointment, when the African Queen came around the corner. Gotta love Key Largo! Really made my day. 

This takes us to yesterday when I went to the annual Christmas party for the Florida Keys Quilters. Wasn't going to go but MaryLou called me and said WHERE ARE YOU? and I hopped in the car and drove down to the garden center for the party and glad that I did.

Maryann made this little quilt. So cute. Hopefully you can enlarge it and see the 12 days of Christmas. Things like Seven Flamingoes Flocking and Six Dolphins Leaping, Nine Manatees Munching and of course the Seagull in the Palm Tree. Great idea. 

That's all for now. It's another beautiful day here in the Fabulous Florida Keys and I plan to go to Our Lady of Perpetual Mimosas this morning, something I have not yet done this season. I'll keep you posted.

Cheers, 

Lizzie