a very quiet week

It's been a very quiet week here in the Mexican tropics.  We took our car in for a spa week last Friday so have been keeping very local.  The van needed to have a few nicks and scrapes repainted and repaired and it's a whole lot cheaper to do it here than at home.  Mr. C has spent his time puttering in his garden, checking on the progress of his Mexican Sunflower and tomato plants.

 He has a lot better luck growing them in pots than in the ground.  They are so bright and cheerful.  He planted several tomato plants but only two came up and one of them isn't looking so hot.  But this one, now about 4' tall,  is a cherry tomato with, so far, 5 little fruits that just may survive and ripen.

Monday I went to the tiangues with Mrs. Neighbor Nelson.  The mangoes were again in great, golden piles and I bought several.

They are as sweet as can be, deliciously firm, the perfect texture for Mango Chutney.  Among the other treats were these beautiful berenjenas, each carefully wrapped and displayed.  I bought a small one to make a tian with zucchini, onions and tomatoes.  Probably tomorrow night.

 A big box of beautiful, not-too-ripe bananas was selling for 2 pesos each.  Couldn't resist.

I've been swimming every morning around 11 am when it's not too hot.  Pool is a perfect 84º.  Then lunch.  Then an afternoon of quiet reading (just finished The Master Butchers Singing Club by Louise Erdrich and am now deep into Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton) and napping.  It's sort of nice not having a car and being tempted to tear off somewhere.  Instead, if we want/need anything we stroll up to one of the little markets in town and make do with what we can find.

We think the car will be ready tomorrow but, if not, by Monday.  That afternoon I am going over to the local gringo library, Biblioteca Las Palmas to clear off some old, badly rusted metal shelves to make room for nice, new wooden ones built by a couple of the local gents who (got) volunteered for the job.  Tuesday the two of them with help from others will assemble  the shelves in the library space, and Wednesday all us bibliophiles will return to  restock the shelves and clean up the place.  This little library is such a great resource for all to use without cost or much oversight.  It's all on the honor system and, after almost ten years, it's still going strong.

Opera tomorrow is Verdi's Don Carlo with Ramon Vargas in the title role.  It starts at 11 AM in New York, 10 AM here, and 8 AM on the West Coast.  That's w-a-a-a-y to early for opera, but I have my opera shrimp from tonight's Dago dinner just in case I decide to tune in.