Big crash

Around 10pm we heard a big crash as if something heavy had fallen on the floor.  The problem was, we couldn't find anything that had fallen.  The next morning we discovered what had happened.  Part of the decorative masonry on a second story window fell off, crashed into the window below and ended up on the ground.  The landlord sent people to make repairs which turned out to be an extremely long and dusty proposition.  First they chipped off the damaged pieces, then to prevent another incident, they drilled holes in every piece of remaining trim all over the house and screwed them into the structure.  Then they filled the holes and sanded them smooth which send tons of dust into the house.  The badly damaged pieces are being copied and there will be more dust when those finally get installed.

Progress getting settled in the house

Getting unpacked and putting the house in shape has been challenging due to having had to leave so much furniture behind, and putting up wall art is very time consuming because of the brick and concrete walls.  We have to drill holes, put in plastic anchors and then screws.  Hard to modify if things don't come out even.  At least the living room is done except for curtains.

I took the photo of the rose which Erich grew in our garden in New York.

Lest you think everything is done, here is the guest room.

The donkey was a real ass!

Today we went on a lovely house tour to benefit the local library’s programs for children. At the second house which was out in the country, they had a donkey tied up and said it was fine to pet it.  It was very friendly and seemed to like having its ears rubbed.  It nuzzled people with its lips including me.  Then all of a sudden, it clamped down on my left hand.  It had the side of my hand including my thumb in its teeth and wouldn’t let go.  It kept clamping down harder and harder and I was in terrible pain.  Erich tried to pry its teeth open but couldn’t.  Finally I hit it hard on the nose and it released.  I had deep tooth marks on my hand but I didn’t think it had broken the skin.  Fortunately its teeth were biting down between my thumb and index finger, so it was mainly pressing on soft tissue.  If my fingers had been in its mouth, they would have been broken for sure.  I asked for ice and I’ve had it iced for most of the rest of the day.  It turns out that there is a very small place where the skin is broken, so I washed it and applied polysporin.  If it looks bad tomorrow, I’ll go to a clinic.  I’m typing with one hand and hoping this was a once in a lifetime experience.

It was nuzzling gently and then bit me!

Too many things to do and not enough time

October has been very busy for us what with unpacking and trying to get things arranged in the house as well as trying to do as many fun things as possible.  We had a delicious dinner on a rooftop restaurant with a Business School sectionmate of mine.  The restaurant is right next to a church and when the bells started ringing there was no point in trying to talk.  They were loud and went on forever.  Our friends who have lived here for several years were wearing jackets and thought it was cold.  We were in short sleeves and were very comfortable.

We went on an architectural tour, which was interesting, and on Sunday the 6th, we took our little dog and walked to St. Paul's Anglican Church for a blessing of the animals.  We are not at all religious, but this was a lovely ceremony with many dogs and a couple of cats in attendance.  Molly got blessed and was a very good girl.  Later in the day we attended our first ProMusica event, again at St. Paul's.  It was a violin concert by Susie Park, an Australian who was a child prodigy and has now played all over the world.  It is a small venue and she was about four feet away from us while she played.

The other thing we did was go to the dump to get rid of some furniture pieces and other items which were badly damaged during the move.  The dump is pretty far out of town on a very rough dirt road in a beautiful desert landscape, but the dump itself is a strange experience.  We drove on a scale to weigh the car and then drove up a fairly steep dirt road to the place to unload.  There must have been a hundred dogs laying around on the heaps of garbage, and as soon as we arrived, people carrying bags came running up to the car to see what we were dumping.  Some boys helped unload the stuff and others looked to see what was salvageable.  We could see some little shacks where these poor people lived, or at least stayed at during the day.  Very sad.  We gave the boys who unloaded the car some nice tips, then drove back down to weigh the car again and pay the fee.

Every Friday a local newspaper comes out, in English, with a calendar of events.  There are so many things we want to do, but there is no way to fit them all in.  Tomorrow we will go on a house and garden tour which will benefit a local charity.  We will get to see how the more well off folks live.

What a glorious day

We have been so busy that I never got around to publishing this post from October 5.

Yet another day of glorious weather and fun things to do.  We took the bus into Centro and then walked to the San Miguel Playhouse, a lovely small theater in the Independencia neighborhood, to see Lady Zen, a remarkable singer trained as a mezzo soprano for the Met, but who left opera after hearing Bessie Smith.  (http://www.ladyzen.world/) In this show, she was singing Broadway favorites and was extraordinary. Her accompanist was Mark Hartman, a well-known NY musician and performer who was absolutely delightful.  (https://www.hartmanmark.com/) I haven't seen many Broadway shows, but I really enjoyed the music.

After the show, we walked back to Centro, had a good margarita and then attended the Storytelling Showcase.  Six different people took turns standing on stage and telling stories of various types. One was a very amusing tale about a woman trying to keep her own name after getting married back in the early 70s, a story close to our hearts.  One of the reasons we did not get married in Massachusetts in 1971 is because the law said I would have to take my husband's name.  No way!  We lived together in unwedded bliss for 24 years before finally making it legal.

We decided to walk back home and stopped at a restaurant we had heard about called Fiamma.  I had the best vegetarian pizza I'd ever had, hot from their wood-fired oven.  We will definitely go back to try their other varieties of pizza.