Roaming Through Retirement



May--All Hands on Deck
The home improvement projects that began in April picked up pace in May and spilled over into June. On this particular day, our general contractor (the House Doctor or HD Construction), his crew and all of his subcontractors were at our house painting or installing glass for our enclosed sun room, cabinets and granite in our kitchen and bathrooms. When we were not busy with the house, we were saying farewell to some of the remaining snowbirds or meeting more full timers who make Ajijic their home year 'round.

Jerry and Lori, (on the left) hosted a Cambodian dinner theme party for us and their friends Anthony and Catherine.  The food was awesome and the stories were awe inspiring. Lori escaped from Cambodia during the rule of the Khmer Rouge, where an estimated three million people died in the Killing Fields.	The Guadalajara Air Show which featured over forty hot air balloons, launched early each morning the first of May in the town of Catjititlan (Cawt-hee-tit-lan).  We packed six in the Jeep and got there in time to witness some taking off and others landing.  It was a spectacular scene.
Norm, Lil, Chuck and Jean joined us for the GDL Air Show. Here we are enjoying coffee and breakfast at a quaint restaurant in Catjititlan.	From Catjititlan, we drove into Guadalajara and spent the rest of the day in one of its suburbs--Tlaquepaque (cluka-paw-key).  We loved the canopy above!
Tlaquepaque is an artist community with nearly every imaginable art form for sale.  Street music filled this plaza thanks to these girls singing Mariachi songs.	We said farewell to friends Mark and Bernice at a great restaurant overlooking Lake Chapala with two of their longtime friends of Ajijic, Lorraine and Johnny.
At an equally nice restaurant overlooking the lake, we had one last meal for the season with friends Chuck and Jean.   They bought and sold a house in Ajijic and had their share of home improvement projects done before they left.	These kids were among a half dozen we worked with to have family tree posters, banners, cards, t-shirts and books designed and produced for our upcoming family reunions.  High quality at a low cost.  Mue Bien!
Larry met with Joel, a metal craftsman, to check out the design and construction of a metal door he is doing for our entry way.  Note the wrought iron design on the floor.	And what a fine job he did.   This door has a screen behind the wrought iron and a glass door that is hinged on the metal door.  Cool design and "Made in Mexico"!
This view shows the location of the new door on our new sunroom.  The remaining walls will be glass and screen sliding doors.  Note the round granite by the bushes--it will be our new dining room table.	The new ceiling was installed under the roof tiles.  This will hopefully keep all the rain out during the upcoming rainy season, which starts promptly on June 15 and provides about 40 inches of rain through October 15.
The cabinet maker was busy for over a month building custom made cabinets for the kitchen and bathrooms which included two medicine cabinets.	We met with Juan, the granite man, who helped us pick out this awesome slab of granite. He also helped us select the right piece of the granite for the island in our kitchen.
After the kitchen was painted, all the base and wall cabinets were installed and fitted perfectly.  The finish is a light blonde to keep the house filled with light.	Juan did his magic with the granite.  In one day, he installed three separate pieces in the kitchen and one in each of the two bathrooms.
The small bathroom had some extensive termite damage, which meant replacing the entire cabinet.  Here it is "a work in progress".	Seven years ago, we sold our home in Boise and gave away our life's possessions.  Here we are reacquiring stuff for our new home.  Thank God, we had a Jeep!
During one of many shopping sprees, we stopped at this quaint restaurant.  This art piece struck Larry's fancy and he had to take a picture of it.	These guys may look like a motley crew, but they are some of the finest craftsmen we have ever worked with.  There is nothing they cannot do.
After rooms were finished, Glorine and Aurora, (our housekeeper) spent two days cleaning the construction dust and cob webs from a home set empty for a year.	We had this Mexican tile mural made for our kitchen, but decided it would overpower our new granite countertops.  It will greet guests as they enter into the sunroom.
El Parque is noted as having the best security system in all the gated communities of Ajijic.  With two guards on duty 24-7 and newly installed security cameras, the security dogs feel a bit left out!	In May, we lost a dear family member, Leonard Kraft.  He was married to Marlene, Glorine's sister. To say farewell, Glorine laid these red roses next to the lilies by this statue at San Antonio Catholic Church.

May's web page includes May 1 through May 31.