Cactus and jacaronda
The highlight of the week was yesterday’s trip to the country house of two of our co-workers, Nati and Ricardo. Unfortunately, they are moving from Guadalajara, so this was a despidido (good-bye) for them.
With Ricardo and Nati
We met at the church in the town square of Zapotlanejo. The town is small but is known for clothing, so there are thousands of clothing stores. People come from all over to shop. Many of the stores have live models:
After a few hours of admiring the church and shopping, we headed to their farm, a lovely place not far from town with an incredibly large tree as its focal point. We had lunch in their large outdoor patio, made to host large family events. They served the local specialty – large tortillas (about a foot long) covered with pork, cheese, slaw, and beans. Delish! And, of course, cold beer.
The highlight of the trip for me was the tour of the farm. There were several dogs running around: Jack Russells and Australian shepherds – and tiny furry baby puppies. And sheep! And goats! They raise milking goats – we watched them get milked about a dozen at a time. And the babies! There were lots of little kids – we even saw one being born, and several others that were born less then an hour before we were there. And I got to hold one that was about a week old – I tried to get John to let me bring it home, but no dice.
We came home pooped, but slept like logs after all the walking and great fresh air.
The rest of the week was pretty good. Somehow, I won the office basketball pool for the NCAA college tournament – yay! And on Friday after work, I went to a co-worker’s downtown apartment for an office happy hour.
I’ve talked to Mom a few times this week. The hospice nurse says she is doing “fair” – about the same. One of the caregivers took her in her wheelchair to visit Aunt Bonnie, and she’s been able to sit outside on the back porch some, too. Cousin Alison cleaned and filled up the hummingbird feeders, so she’s been enjoying them. And Bonnie’s granddaughter Debbi came to visit from Maryland and was able to visit with Mom, too. She enjoys the visitors.