Ah, fresh tangerines and strawberries

As most of you know we have decamped from the north and have installed ourselves in The Winter Residence. Turnaround took less than a week. And it was not too long before Juan Carlos came by in his truck with fresh strawberries and tangerines. The tangerines are simply splendid – sweet and juicy. And we have already had fresh-squeezed oj from Mary Paz several times.

One of the first things we always do is purchase pesos for our phone; we have a cell specifically for Mexico. Of course the first call was to Alex, R's dive buddy. She has already been out with her fish friends and expects to go again next week.

Mrs. T gives a brief synopsis of the summer and our first few days south:

Now is the summer of our discontent made glorious by the sun of Mexico.

It was a pretty hard summer for me. First I fell off a church pew. (Those of you in a certain art organization will know where the pew is. –dt) Then I was cured of bursitis in my shoulder by the longest needle in the world. After that I fell off a horse. (A previous installment -dt) Next I strained my other shoulder by overuse of my new chainsaw. Finally, I had a rather large mass removed from my breast - not cancer, thank God. (As The Voodoo Doctor had told her. –dt)

After all that I am ready to relax lethargically in our Southern home. (a.k.a. The Winter Residence. –dt) Most of our stuff has been arranged to its approximately correct locations. We have bought a few basic supplies at Mary Paz. I think Judy (Dual degrees in shopping and puzzling –dt) and I have created a monster because often when I want to buy something Dan says, "You and Judy can buy that at Sam's Club." (Actually except for things in jumbo sizes I prefer shopping at the aforementioned Mary Paz, one of the best minisupers in town. –dt) The thing is now he has broadened his sights. He no longer wants large-sized mouthwash and toilet paper. Now he wants a big screen TV. (Why not? -dt) I guess I don't mind as long as we can take a taxi. If he thinks I am lugging a 60 inch TV home on the bus he is seriously deluded. Hurry Judy, Help!! Help!!

Judy has come and we went on a major supplies expedition - no TV. But, alas it was not an unqualified success. In all fairness, Judy warned me that those hot dogs looked pretty small but they were so cheap I bought them anyway. When we got them home it seemed as if they had shrunk even more. They were the skinniest hot dogs I had ever seen. Still we thought we might as well try them how bad could they be? Well, REALLY, REALLY BAD. I took one bite and chewed and chewed but the bite would not come off. I think the casings are made of heavy plastic. Dan was not to be defeated by a mere tube steak. He got a serrated knife and chopped the durn things to bits. He proceeded to eat them and pronounced them "not too bad." Well good for him because I am not going to eat them. I told him he didn't have to eat them either but now he has a plan to uncase them and cook them in a casserole or something. Hmmm? Not only that, but the potato chips I bought, because they were cheap, taste funny too. Not as bad as the hot dogs, but neither greasy nor salty nor anything bad for you. Just to tell you how bad they are we have had the bag for three days and it is still half full. They are mostly tasteless. I think maybe I got zucchini chips by mistake. (The backstory here is that Mrs.T has been known to inhale a pound bag of chips in just one or two sittings. –dt) I guess the moral of this story is you get what you pay for or don't pay for, as the case may be.

Well the US elections are over and as usual lots of people I voted for lost. Sigh. The good thing is being in Mexico we are spared many of the obnoxious TV ads. We saw a few for Connecticut and New York when Dan watched the New York channels. I figure they were all the same anyway so you could just take out one local name and substitute another, e.g., "My opponent voted for gun control!"; "My opponent voted against gun control!!"; "My opponent has a nephew getting food stamps"; "My opponent is a Nazi, a communist, a Christian, a Jew, or all of the above.": "My opponent mooned his high school Latin teacher at a toga party!"; or whatever. We didn't get many election ads from New Jersey; I believe that the block captain came around the week before the election and told you who you will vote for or else he will break your knees. (R has watched one too many episodes of the Sopranos. –dt) I sent in an absentee ballot before we left for Mexico. Vote early and often I always say. Isn't democracy wonderful!?

Only a couple of pictures. Although the ladies seemingly are doing a puzzle, they are actually planning a shopping trip to Tonala.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157648773771048/

Anyone know the orange fungus/mushroom/??

Hope you folks up north are enjoying the first visit of the Polar Vortex.

Dan and Rebecca