The Dude has feet

The lifeguard, since his rescue from the pool, has sprouted feet that anchor him to the pavers surrounding the pool. Even if he wanted to, he couldn't rescue a drowning swimmer. As a result, he has been renamed "The Dude". It is a humiliating demotion for him and he has refused to be reheaded!

I attended the second writing class yesterday. No more! For the entire two hours, I wished that I was sitting with my writing group back home. Where were Marg, Maggie, Lois, Joyce, Tracey, Jean and Catherine??? Imagine what we would have accomplished in that two hour period! I really miss Octava!

The pool saga continues. A connection to the pump cracked on Sunday and water was leaking out again. Apparently the solar heating was repaired (again) but there is no warm water coming from above. The pool heater has been repaired and is enroute back to PV from Guadalajara to be reinstalled by Friday. Meanwhile, this feels like a repeat of last year. With a daily temperature of 76 degrees, the pool sits empty.

Salmon Armenians

A group of Salmon Armenians, who prefer to remain anonymous, gathered at The Cheeky Monkey today to test the margaritas, beers and banana floats. We shared stories, toasted the sun and avoided any discussion about the poor folks back home. It didn't seem fair to talk about boots and coats, central heating and muddy roads, grey days and cold nights.

Bucerias

We were kidnapped yesterday and taken on a road trip to Bucerias. When we got into the car, we asked to be dropped off downtown for a walk on the Malecon but our hosts asked if we would like to go along with them to order a kitchen cabinet first. Eight hours later we arrived home after visiting galleries and market stalls in Bucerias, a furniture manufacturing shop, a framing store(to frame two new purchases from Bucerias), Walmart(for frozen peas), Costco(for chicken and cake)and Rizo's(for rosemary)! The only thing that we didn't return with was the kitchen cabinet!!

UNO Sharks

Stormy weather

What a storm! Solid rain all day, no breaks, filling the pool, washing the terraces, cooling the air. The city kept disappearing and peeking out from inside a blanket of white mist. Cars tried to drive up our road, sliding and skidding on slick cobblestones, spinning tires, burning rubber.

In the evening, during a lull in the weather, we were enjoying an outdoor dinner at the neighbour's.

It started to pour again and blow into the terrace sideways. A table of five, under partial cover, was starting to get wet. Doug got up from the table and moved under cover just seconds before a huge pot containing a six foot palm tree fell from above and shattered in the spot where he had been sitting. Two minutes later another hundred pound pot was blown from the balcony above us. We huddled inside, closing windows and doors, grateful that no one was hurt. Winds raged, clouds opened and the power went out. Our neighbours scrambled for candles. The flashlight batteries were dead. We sat and waited until the lights flickered on again.

John ran back to the Quinta and discovered massive flooding. My paintings had been blown to the floor, cameras were wet. We had not closed any doors so the rain had blown in on all three levels. We had been optimistic when we left for dinner that the storm had passed. He mopped up and moved soggy cushions and wet chairs inside.

Later, we discovered that the sculpture standing guard at the pool, was laying decapitated at the bottom of the pool. With an ongoing display of lightning overhead, we decided that it would be wise to postpone the rescue of his metal body until the morning.

The PV news reported winds of up to 90km per hour during the storm. Locals have never seen weather like this at this time of year before!

Yesterday I decided to drop in on a writing course that was being offered in Puerto Vallarta. Dana Zeller-Alexis, a New York based actress, would lead the series of six classes. It sounded interesting.

Arriving early, I claimed a white plastic chair at the table. There were seats for ten participants around the table and a guarantee, when I registered, that the class would not exceed twelve people. In true Mexican style, they kept straggling in. By the time the class began, tables and chairs had been added to accommodate eighteen of us. One woman refused to move from her original seat, which was now in the centre of the grouping, until the instructor pleaded with her. Frowning, with arms folded across her chest, she finally relented. "It is the Mexican way to choose the right seat for yourself!" she stated with an American twang and a toss of her bleached hair.

We started in the usual way with introductions all around. I am never sure what this accomplishes because it is impossible to remember eighteen names. Then we did the circuit again, stating whether we were beginners or experienced writers, in the middle of drafts or published. Once again, I am never sure which category to place myself or why it would matter! The most interesting response came from one of the late arrivals who declared "I've tried everything else, so I thought that I would try writing."

There were four men in the group. One of them sat to my left and became my writing partner when the exercises began. It was simple. Write a sentence and pass the paper to your partner to write the next sentence, back and forth for three minutes. In my Salmon Arm writing group we have a gigglefest version of this exercise at the end of our meetings. Unfortunately, my partner did not see the humor in the exercise or in my first sentence "Myrtle ran from the raging bull." As a matter of fact, he seemed incapable of forming a second sentence. At the 2 1/2 minute mark, when the rest of the group had composed novels, he managed to write "She fell and broke her leg". Time was up!

Dana read several pages from a novel and a short story by Pablo Neruda to illustrate different styles of writing and forms of conflict. Our homework assignment is to create a scene with two characters in conflict, the antagonist and the protagonist, based on a personal experience from this week. As there is never conflict in my life, I am at a loss for words!

Rainy days

After looking at the weather forecast this morning, we decided to change our plans. The night time low in Guadalajara and Morelia was predicted to be around four degrees celsius! Salmon Arm is warmer than that. The next couple of days promise rain and more rain. Heavy rain in Puerto Vallarta but the temperatures remain warm. This is El Nino in Mexico!!