We have color!

It's pretty amazing to see the gray concrete I'm used to turn into rich color. Can you believe I was worried that Henry would want colors that were too tame? I'm really thrilled.

Most of the house is still white primer but this wall is starting to turn a deep adobe color and the beams are turning the blue violet color picked for them and the wall above the hall pond.

Still, I think there is a long ways to go before I'm moving into this house. I'm trying to be patient and not get anxious but truthfully, the waiting is killing me. I now think that we will be lucky to be in by Christmas. Local friends say "hey, it hasn't been a year yet" and they are right but I hate hearing it.

Things are happening, I'm not complaining about that. Terrance showed us the cabinet doors he's completed and says he could start installing some of them by this Friday. The wood is gorgeous. I'm really, really happy with it. It has a deep finish with red tones and the grain looks like you could stick your finger down into it.

What isn't finished is a long list though. Besides an enormous amount of painting, there's the installation of appliances, fans, and light fixtures. There is no front door or garage door, they have blocked the garage with boards and the old door and the old front door is leaning against the opening with sand bags holding it in place.

One of the guys is now sleeping there in a hammock in the living room. We went by on Sunday and he was napping. We knew he was there and called out when we came in but I don't think he heard us. When he came out of the room he was all fuzzy and had bed-head.

He was really nice though, he ran and got the hose and filled the hall pond and turned it on for us and then when we came down from upstairs he was putting oil on the kitchen doors. Come on, it was Sunday! His only day off. I told him he should be resting but he just gave me a sheepish smile.

I know those of you up in the north get sick of us down here complaining about the cold. I have to say though, we are freezing! My blood has thinned even more than last year and this norte that is here now is really chilling. If I look at the numbers it's ridiculous, I think it is 65°f right now at midnight and the high today was probably 75°f. I see people talking about living where the weather is "perfect" and spring-like all year... about like this, what they mean by spring is friggin' freezing to me.

I'm sitting here in my sweatpants, sweatshirt, Ugs on my feet, and I'm still cold. Mimi and I keep looking at each other and saying 'what the fuck are we going to do in that big stone house when it is cold?' We have no heat there, none, zip, zero, nada. I'm starting to think about rugs and electric blankets. Really, what are we going to do?

The RV is small and carpeted and there are 3 dogs, 2 humans and a kitten in here warming it but it's not enough.

Concrete floors, stone walls and high ceilings - it will be like an old house in England in the winter. Perhaps huge wall hangings are the answer with scenes of hounds and horses and all. Maybe I should have gone for that fireplace I saw and thought was so funny here. I will try to never make jokes again about the down jackets and long underwear that appear in the stores this time of year. I might even buy some of it.

We were standing in our new bathroom the other day when it was cold and gray and I had many second thoughts about having no wall on the shower, it's open to the patio and the freezing heavens above. The idea of getting in it in that cold was not a good one. I hope the hot water heater is big enough because it's going to take a lot of hot water to get warm enough to get out of the shower onto the cold concrete floor.

I took all these pics with my iPhone and it's not great in low light. This last one is a pic of the guy painting the stripes on the wall by hand. It amazes me! He has a pencil line that he measured but no tape, no roller, just an artists paintbrush and a steady hand. It's the colonial way, a band of color around the door with a small space and then a small stripe of the same color, hand painted. I love the way it looks, there are small irregularities and it does not have a machine look to it. It still amazes me that there is so much handcrafting done here.

Mimi took the bus to Playa today, Rod picked her up and she is in Akumal tonight. She has a dentist appointment tomorrow for a deep cleaning, the kind where they peel your gums back. She's staying tomorrow night and then taking the bus back on Thursday.

I texted Manuela that Mimi was coming over and asked if everything was ok and if she needed anything to stop and tell Mimi. She answered 'sí, gracias' and that was all. Mimi called me tonight and said that Manuela had called Rod and told him her husband had been bitten by a snake and was in the hospital in Cancun. Holy Shit! That was worth a couple text lines, ya think? She wanted Rod to tell Mimi she was really sorry that she hadn't come by to clean before her arrival. The place is clean, no one has been there. Nothing I could do would make her not feel bad about it though. Of course, now I feel sorry that he is in the hospital and she's dealing with all this. She's a hell of a woman, I wish she had a twin that lived in Mérida.