"you said goodbye...you slipped away...

you left this world a mournful day..." - words from a song i wrote.  it was march 23, 1985, 27 years ago, when zoot died.  "...with just your music, to tell me all the things you were..."

*****************

and today?  i played piano this morning at the red grand, which i will show you.  this is at the polo club.

now it's a very hot afternoon; i just spoke with my friend susan's husband, who told me she is getting very weak.  please pray with me that she does not "slip away" before i get back.

**********

i took karoul out to dinner last night as a thank you for all the driving around and entertaining she does for me.  a wonderful seafood place. she wants to hear some dance music tonight so we're off to sayulita, or cellulite, as i call the town.

my perfectly whorled thumb

likewise, peter pointer - perfect

el gato y el cangrejo

and lest anyone doubt the verdad - the truth - of my recent claims to spiritual advancement  ha ha,  i'll show you my perfect fingerprints - or two at least.  it takes too long to upload.  also a cat and crab on the sidewalk this morning.

obviously i haven't enough to do

and finally, me showing off my bit of tan...

"what a lovely day today...."

it was an italian movie, with giancarlo giannini and marcello mastroiano and a goil, but i can't remember the title.  no, i've got it: "a drama of jealousy and other things".  good film.  she was dancing.

so i checked the ten-day toronto weather forecast, and am revising the tentative idea i had to return a little earlier.  no like cold. 
it's spring here, as it no doubt is in toronto too - at least on the calendar - but here it actually is.  there was a parade this morning to celebrate with all the pre-schoolers in costumes - i'll put a couple of pictures up.
also got the photos of the baby sea turtles that i posted about way back, so i can show you some of them too.  don't know who the "you" includes, or if anyone reads this besides pancho canada, but it's there, for whomever has the time to follow my drivel.

the other morning i was alone on the beach when i arrived, so i had my exercise/meditation/walk/run in peace. i was becoming quite philosophical, watching the water come in and go out, thinking that each run onto the shore was like one life, when so many had been arriving there since time immemorial.  we wash in, get wiped out, then another one is there in seconds.  it's all relative, isn't it, in the zillions of years that the ocean has been pounding. so i was in a zen frame of mind.  but then the dogs - and owners - from hell arrived.  stupidos perros that came charging towards me, jumping up and all over me.  do i hate dogs like that!!  i was hollering "jesus christ!!!", and trying to knock them away, which just maybe translated my annoyance at these stupid people who won't keep their animals on a correa, a leash. 
the next morning i kept my keys, which are on a long lariat, handy in my hands to whap at the idiots if they reappeared.  how quickly serenity and love goes out the window, eh?  idiots.
this morning i was back, and standing in one spot, and espied, just turning my head ever so slightly, the jerks with their dogs now safely leashed.  my contribution to customer satisfaction.

baby sea turtles just before release

scrambling to the sea, where they will swim for 6 days to reach the current

the king of primavera taking a drink while the queen looks on

the zumba routine seems to be waning for me.  jumping about non-stop with no thought to stretching or my own body's needs, as opposed to those of the woman who runs it, just doesn't suit me.  i go, but i often end up by just doing my own thing along with the music.  just like my real life.

as for the "access consciousness" treatment i had - that throwback to the 60's hippies and gurus - i must be perfect already. well, i sort of knew that years ago, when another one of those 'spiritual guides' looked at the whorls of my fingerprints, and was astounded to see they were all "whole", - round and complete, - which is apparently very unusual.  I hate to brag, but....
in any case, i've been waiting for some super consciousness to arrive, but alas, i'm just 'xactly like  i was.  she had told me that all the points cleared, no problem.  i must be amazing. and I must introduce my head to my soul sometime.   will be massaging her, in return payment, this afternoon.

a few spring frogs dancing

let's all keep dancing.

ET LA MER EFFACE SUR LE SABLE.....

...les pas des amants desunis. - The sea wipes from the sand the footprints of separated lovers. - from the song "Les Feuilles Mortes", or in english - "Autumn Leaves".

Today, just about everything i've tried to do has been wiped out, but before i get into that, here's what was going on over the weekend.
Actually, can't remember much of saturday - oh yes, it was nice for the morning walk/run, then enjoyable while i read and the mexican music was playing on the street, with the neighbour guy singing along very loudly.  sort of local colourish, you know?  but then another fiesta started to compete with their very loud music, and it was sort of like two boomer rap radio stations on those cars - where the bass reverberates right through you.  i got, how you say? - very enojada, which means pissed off, and was stomping off to the beach to escape, which was nice until the people down the way actually did start to play rap music.  why do they all have to play at top volume, i wonder?

fortunately, k came over and saved me - took me away in her car to her cool house, where we downed vodka and tonics - ( i think i could seriously start to drink here ) - and then we tucked into some chicken and roast potatoes before watching a funny film called "Hysteria".  i stayed over, and the next day we went to a few markets down the highway, before ending up at a new beach where we sat on lounge chairs, i swam in the ocean, and we drank and ate nachos.  altogether very pleasant, and i have some very lobsterish thighs to show for it.

also some pics:



a community building - san pancho

mango-on-a-stick vendor at sunday beach

my after-ocean-swim salty hair

leaving the sunday beach



san pancho beach - la mer effacing

sunday night sunset at san pancho beach, with runner

so nice, nice, very nice, but today - ho boy!  did the early morning run/walk, then after breakfast walked the fairly long distance to the polo club to get in my piano playing, which i hadn't done since friday.  it was closed!!, and that made me way too early for a nearby appointment, so i just sat on the kerb for a bit, then came home and read.  got to the appointment later, which was a session to have my consciousness accessed - good luck, there!! - no really, it's a kind of therapy which is called "access consciousness" - you can look it up online, i haven't yet.  basically just touching your head a lot, so i relaxed real good, but i think i would have relaxed just as much lying on my bed.  still, the results are supposed to be active over the next little while, so we'll see what my mind pukes up.

went home, ate more chicken and potatoes, read, then went out to the internet cafe.  walked right past it by accident, so back the block and a half, to find it closed - walked another 2 blocks and a half to another cafe, where the internet didn't work, so here i am  60 miles later at the first place, where the guy has returned, presumably from his dinner.

maybe i wasn't supposed to do anything today

the search continues

can't seem to find a keyboard; one guy who would have let me use his, loaned it to someone who trashed it.

meanwhile, sad to hear about aunt theresa.  if i had my list of contacts on email, i would write the merizzis, but cannot remember addresses.  may she fly the heavens in peace and joy.

and here on earth, it's pretty gorgeous today - full sun is back, after some cloudy, but still lovely days. i had been looking forward to this break i.e. the trip down here -  to give my brain a new wash; to open up new possibilities or directions for myself, but i don't seem to be getting anything from the universe, not right now.

yesterday, on my early morning walk/run on the beach, i sat down for a bit, waiting for inspiration on the shore.  the waves pounded and rolled and i listened for the secrets to be revealed, but - nada....Later that night i was on the beach again for the hopefully less damaging rays of the sun.  the waves had increased in size, and i watched a family that was nearby:  three small kids, and an older girl and boy.  they raced along the beach, back and forth, timed by the father:  "marka!  listo! corra!!", while the surf pounded and rolled some more.  it reminded me of being young, and the universality of children's play, so amazingly cleansing.  just freedom and happiness, and the whole rest of the world has no existence.  two adult men came along and joined in the runs, and the whole scene was laughter and brilliant light and roiling waters, and the sun about forty minutes from sinking down to thailand. 

i went home when it disappeared, and made my noodles with beetach (remember that, chris?) - beet leaves, which taste like spinach.  when you add a bit of real cheese and organic cilantro hummus, it improves kraft dinner (crap dinner, as i always call it), a lot.

heard that last weekend was unseasonably warm in toronto, and got to thinking about changing the flight back to be there for easter, but air canada wants a fortune for that, and besides, it's still too cold, so it's plan A, as before.

what i look up at every morning when i awaken

the beach on saturday morning

 from the town i didn't like, except for this building

today's photos.
agus go raibh an la padraig go maith.  which maybe, in my broken irish, means happy st. patrick's day.  tomorrow, that is. and i don't know how to say saint.  buicheas le Dia.  meaning thanks be to god, even if it doesn't make any sense. taim anois.  i'm going now.  yo me voy.

singing in san pancho

well, it is my blog.

so what`s been happening? you must know my routine by now.  beach, zumba, class if it's tues or wed, internet, piano, walk walk walk, and eat.  what else is there?  some reading time, and the occasional dinner out with karoul and her friends; maybe a movie - watched "hitchcock" last night.

i had word that i looked a little washed out in the last picture i posted of myself, so to rectify that, i have some more, including the one from last night.  there is a couple in town who own a huge studio in seattle, i believe - their kids run it now - they've recorded eric clapton and lionel ritchie, among others.  the guy had a gig last night, so we went, and he let me sing a couple of songs while he took his break.  i may get my own gig from that (this is different from the other place i mentioned), but comme toujours, the piano is missing.  so still working on that one.

me of course

my "sueno de amor" pillow - dream of love

lovely lilies and my teeny piano

street juggler taken from the van at a red light

a pic of the restaurant and me at the piano, -  and also some silly ones of me at home, then some from the trip i took today with elisabeth from vancouver to a little town north of here.  we went on the "collectivo", which is a van that picks up people till filled and charges $3. for the ride.  the town was not attractive at all, although they had a market - but since i'm running out of money, i only bought 4 beets.  i had gone to this place because they have a bank, and i wanted to cash an american express cheque, but didn't have my passport, so nada.

good food at that restaurant; hope i get a gig there.

can anybody ship my piano down here?

really, eh?  i need the piano in order to sing - i.e. perform anywhere.  and it seems at least one place would have me. as it is, i just go to the polo club and watch guys that look like prince charles swinging their batons on their horses out the window while i play on the somewhat sticky keys of the red grand.  there's a small possibility i may sing a couple of tunes with a guy who is playing at a restaurant tomorrow night.  k knows him and his wife, and he mentioned that maybe we could do that. if it happens, you'll be the first to know.
i'm learning some more spanish.  and de vez en cuando (once in a while) some phrases or words travel the forty-one years in my mind since i last spoke it - to just pop out.  the brain is an amazing thing if we could just shut up and let it work.

went to dinner last night with k and some women she knows - a lovely italian place in a town not far from san pancho.  muy bueno.  and molto buono too.  i took some pictures and stuffed myself with pesto pasta.
meanwhile on the beach it's still magnificent; the waves pounding endlessly.  did i mention they sound like overhead jets at night?  i see the occasional caballo too, with their american riders and the stalwart guide, who looks pretty bored.  lots of kids and dogs running and retirement couples walking along. and yesterday i saw a guy on a big machine - i swear he was mowing the sand.  could not figure out what his equipment was doing.

the roosters are still in good form too.  of course, they practice all day as well as all night.

getting to know the zumba routine better.  some guy was taking a picture this morning.  hope it doesn't end up on youtube, although i managed to stay out of his range anyway.  i'm sure there are some good examples of somebody's zumba class, for those of you who aren't acquainted.

did you notice the computer i'm on today has a much better keyboard - with keys that actually tell you the letters and symbols.  a luxury.

but now it's later, and i'm on the bad one again...
can't believe that as of today, i have only 3 weeks exactly left!!!

in case you're wondering about the water, it's back on, however now i have the fear of carnarvon in me, and have all the available vessels filled with water, just like i always have in haliburton.  plus ca change....

the little pueblo where is the restaurant

taken from the car on the way there

me and k waiting for our table

the wall opposite us

the wall outside-us on the grass below

lazy hazy sunday

and to be honest, i haven×t much to say - i wish the keyboards here had the normal places - can×t find the apostrophe - all the markings are wrong.
you×ll figure it out, i×m sure.

sorry you weren>t there when i called, chris - we-ll catch up during the week.

and belmarus - you+re on!!!, so keep checking that.

i÷m off to the beach, although it¨ll be in the shade.  i did that yesterday, but still got a pretty good burn.  and then dinner with karoul and a 007 movie - not my pick, but it-s what is playing at her house.

hi randy - hope you÷re well and enjoying this spring-like day too.  try to keep that good weather for when i get back.  don÷t want to see any snow -ever again.

more pics next time

non funziona

or something like that - i just tried to get into the gmail account, and it won´t let me, so to hell with them all.
sorry, this is the only way to communicate
a mas tarde......(talk to you later)

FOUND LEG; LOST WATER; LOST LEG and on.....

It was a miracle - the little leg of the ring girl (see past blog) could have been anywhere between toronto and this little pueblo, but there it was, in my bed, one day when i actually looked between the sheets.  i´d been sleeping on her poor limb.  so i re-attached it and she was once again whole, but it didn´t last - this morning as i walked on the beach, i looked and there it was - gone again.  i think it was swept out to sea, may she have good fortune on her trip...
the other night the turtle hatchery released about 50 baby sea turtles into the ocean; they nurse them until they´re ready and then we watch as they all scramble to the water.  once there, they have to swim for about 6 days, till they reach the current, then who knows.  they may return 11 years later, if they don´t get eaten. i didn´t have my camera, but someone on the beach said they would email me theirs, so maybe later.....
then the other morning my strange luck with water caught up with me, in spite of the distance i´d traveled.  as those who know me know, i have lousy times keeping the water working right, and so here in san pancho there´s no water.  ha ha.  that´s fun in the heat and dust.  good thing i´m accusomed to living like a peasant.
the hotmail still stupid, but i might be able to use a gmail account here.  belmarus, check it just in case.  otherwise, this blog is it, and i´ll try to make it every couple of days.
morgan, jack and phoebe - have a great trip down here.  too bad we can´t connect.



this reminds  me of the burnley toilet i have planted at carnarvon

taken on a walk

this is where we do the zumba

inside mi casa-the window behind me is the big one from outside in the picture below



same walk

 

here are some photos - the stupid computer won´t  change the photos from the lousy tone.  except for the one of my place - pink square above the peachy house below - that´s the only clear one. never mind, it looks ok on the preview

meanwhile, still trying to get a gig - i´ve been playing the piano at the polo club, but i need someone to accompany me if i want to perform. 

 

going to get some bread - real homemade bread with no sugar or chemicals, which i´ve had to do without for a week.  karoul found a woman who bakes it.  however, did have some potato wedgies the other night.
you can see how exciting my life is here.

Once More with Feeling

going to try with the movie again...but again, if it`s not there.....it`s not there
que pasa amigos y amigas?  i`m exhausted.  getting used to the noise at night (and the cold - i wear my toronto hat to bed). Yesterday`s schedule:  for the first time i did my beach run before 8AM.  before that i was waiting till 11AM, but that`s too hot. back home for cereal before the zumba class - after which i had to have a recovery session on a park bench - my own stretches, etc.  then home again for my real breakfast before running off to the spanish conversation class.  then a swim at the nice lady`s house who is letting me use her pool. went home; did a little music, then ate again, and fell asleep for a bit before karoul arrived. we watched the sunset, then talked to a cafe owner who is interested in having me sing (pay in food only)  then had some pizza and listened to a music group.  the guitarist looked like a leftover from 1967, and the music wasn`t great, but it was free.  as i went to bed a local street band was playing somewhere, and the dogs were just getting into barking form.
never got a bike - the shop closed a while back.
today was pretty much the same except i`ve arranged with a woman here to trade treatments next week - she does some head work - she`s from the montreal area originally, but lives here now.  also went to the polo club, where they said i could play their grand piano tomorrow.  thatsa good.
and tonight karoul and i are going to hear some music on the beach and maybe visit with some friends of hers.
finally got some books to read.
chris, i`ll try to call again friday.
david, could you contact jay the drummer and see if he`s available for april 6 at the dawes gig? i meant to do that before i left but forgot.
still no %&/·)(/!=(·!!  hot mail, but i`m going to try something new.
hope everyone is well
besos por todos

MUCHAS PICADURAS Y NINGUNO HOTMAIL

which means lots of bites and no hotmail.  hotmail is making me loco and won´t let me in, so take note, David in Oshawa, i can´t send anything but these blogs.  chris, if you can contact peachey, can you pass on the blog address?  gracias.
so there´s no post office. karoul told me a very funny story;  - she has many and is a mimic - about how the mail works here. a woman who is deaf has a bike with a wheelbarrow attached and goes through the town to track down people.  it takes a month for anything to arrive, so no mail.
last night we started to watch  les miz at karoul´s, but hated it, so switched to a noel coward-type romp with colin firth.  she loaned me her small dvd player and 2 movies for later (argo is one).
lucy you´ll be glad to hear the zumba class is in the park next door to me.  had my first free class this morning - will continue if i can still walk.
hoping to eventually do some music in town, but meanwhile k. loaned me a small guitar; i amuse myself with that and my 2-octave teeny piano.
the ocean is very wild; i won´t go in, and was despairing of swimming, but today a friend of k´s said i could use her pool any time.  que fortuna para me!!

the photos (and 2 very short videos) are:  la guitarra pequeña; a palm hut on the beach that someone made; my rings: approx. 3 seconds of my balcony so you can hear the stupid rooster; my talking shadow on the beach, and some ocean roar.
i bought the little clown one at a yard sale in toronto, but never wore it because the movale arms, legs, and head catch on everything.  right away she lost her right leg - i didn´t notice when- but i decided she might well become a 4-way amputee by trip´s end.  she´ll turn into the guy in the monty python movie - "it´s just a flesh wound!!" - and so keep me laughing.
laugh, eat, and sing - those are my goals.
got some lovely fresh fish from my landlord below my apartment. it was fabulous.
entonces......es todo por hoy.  that´s all folks

hasta luego.   this computer is taking forever to upload an 8-second and a 30-second video.  if they´re not visible, it means i gave up waiting  - and paying for the time.

LOS PERROS LADRAN TODA LA NOCHE

The dogs bark all night long.  But here´s the story so far

4pm local time thursday (5 toronto), and i am finally through customs - 3 separate lineups.  i see karoul waving madly through the glass.  my shoulders are dying, carrying what i thought was not much baggage, but which now is giving me permanent muscle damage. into the car, and all the way from the airport to san pancho i do a slow strip, the layers of winter coming off quickly.
karoul´s house is phenomenal - she had it designed and built when her english aunt left her some money, and she lives in colourful and floral splendour.  i met karoul in haliburton, but as we talked thurs. night, we found out we were both born in the unknown st. mary´s hospital, formerly of toronto, now demolished (their best work done).
i stayed over, in fact, never even saw my own place till about 2pm on friday.  the local "entre amigos" centre is celebrating with functions all weekend, which we have to attend.  then sat. there was the organic food market in nearby Sayulita.  karoul knows everyone in mexico, so we stop every two minutes while she kisses and catches up.  she taught kindergarten a while back, so all the children love her too.
my place is great - and surprisingly open-air.  it´s a "palapa" - a straw-covered area with bathroom and kitchen enclosed, (well, fabric for a bathroom door), but the living room north wall is entirely open and the partition between it and my bedroom is just that, so basically i am sleeping outside - although it´s safely upstairs above a fish shop, and the balcony has no access.
my first sleep there was friday, and i thought there was a huge huricane-type windstorm coming up, but the trees were motionless when i looked; it was the mighty ocean, a block away.  that, and the roosters all over town (including the ones on the roof right outside my windows), plus the dogs, which kept me awake all night at karoul's, provided the sound track to my (non) sleeping time.  i guess i`ll get used to it.  the pitches are all varied, of course, and the timing is sporadic, but the symphony never stops.  and there`s one rooster on my roof who can`t seem to get through a whole cock-a-doodle-do.  he starts with caa-caaaaah, as if he`s being choked, and never quite makes it.
i`ve given up being annoyed.  i`m like the guy in that TV commercial who keeps laughing every time something bad happens.

me in karoul`s front hall



karoul in her room; we couldn´t get on hotmail




a tiny portion of karoul,s roof




my bed, partition, living room wall, bit of roof & kitchen




 south view from living room -al fresco- & divan


have to pay for internet, so the updates won´t be everyday and besides, it takes 15 minutes to get through - no high speed.
mucho amor to everyone.  going looking for a bike.