Nature keeps us in awe, we are replacing our palapa roof, and Luca is in trench heaven!
Nature, trenches, and roof work - the 3 things that have been our focus these past few days. We weren't sure how much money, time, + energy we wanted to put into this land/house as we aren't positive how much time we will spend here, if we will retire here and build more of a 'dream' house, or if we will actively pursue selling all/part in the near future. In any case, the roof was in pretty dire shape in places - one good storm could demolish it. And since we haven't invested in this place in 20 years, re-doing the roof seemed like a relatively tame expenditure in order to have a cozy dry place to hang a hammock or make up a bed. Luca, on the other hand, is giving his trenches his 100%, whether it's the one he hand dug in hard packed dirt, the ones on the beach, or the luxuriously machine excavated one. In the meantime, nature keeps reminding us to pause and be in awe.
Do you spy my little friend with her seed? I see birds coming and going from this hole in a cardón but they always see me coming and hide, no matter how quiet I think I am. I was ecstatic to capture a pic to show you.
This little one is not nearly as sneaky. In fact, one of them flew right into the trailer looking for food the other day!
Max always reminisces about the times we'd nap on our towels after playing in the waves and wake to find these crabs picking flotsam and jetsam our of our hair. I always reminisce about the very early days of photo editing when Max spent hours on a secret project which turned out to be photoshopping my head onto a crab body. I thought he was going to hurt himself laughing about how it was oh so perfect. I did not agree.
Old palm fronds from our beautiful roof.
Luca wanting to model with some of the fronds.
Luca wanting to set fire to the fronds and then do a little sunset dance with them.
Took the pups for a super fun beach walk!
Turns out the soft sand is quite challenging for digging a proper trench. We have to try again in the firmer section. And by 'we' I mean I will sit and read or knit and he will dig to his heart's content.
I am pretty sure he just flooped over to see what all the cave ins were like.
The naked porch roof. Fortunately, the vigas seem to be in fine shape and can stay.
I cannot, for the life of me, remember why we left that giant gap in the wall between the bedrooms, but it makes for a cool bare roof shot. Plus, LZ makes all photos more fun.
Checking out the repair work at sunrise, before the workers arrive to remove more of these rotten pine vigas.
Interestingly, this back bedroom seems to have suffered more in all the hurricanes + termite attacks.
Max spotted this old corrugated metal out in the middle of nowhere and scored it for Luca's trenches. Nice!
Luca's trench so far.
We couldn't go in the trailer for a few hours in the middle of the day yesterday, so Luca put shade over the trench and invited me into it.
We wondered what this vulture was doing there until it was joined by 13 more to dine on a rabbit in the lagoon area. (We call it a lagoon since it floods sometimes, but mostly it is a dry, cracked dustbowl. Also a group of vultures is appropriately called a wake and was quite amazing to watch.)
Toby sends his love. And suggests that if you come to Mexico you please bring kitty treats, as his humans are trying to get him to eat the mice that are invading the trailer kitchen and so are being a little stingy on the food extras.
I love all of these pictures. The sneaky little bird, the brazen one and even the scavenger ...great shots. The house looks so naked, oh my goodness. I seem to recall that the wall didn't reach the ceiling ;-) You guys look fantastic. Please tell Luca that i'm in awe of his trench skills...that takes such patience and manpower. Maybe he will facetime or send a video tour from down in it. If Toby is nothing else (mouser) he certainly is gorgeous. I wish Carol could read your blog and see his adventures!
ReplyDeleteI am cracking up that you mentioned the gap in the wall! Next I'll have to post photos of Shut Up Frank's. Oh my gosh, the times we all had - you Melvilles should really do another trip here - I think it would be even better now. And yes! Luca would love to give a tour of the trench and is excited to have wifi way down there. I somehow hope that there is a connection still and that Carol can feel how happy Toby is and how very much we love and adore him. I know that is silly, but at least we have this truly wonderful connection to her through this sweetheart.
DeleteFantastic!
ReplyDeleteThank you, Heather! I hear you are having spring there and I hope that nature is putting on her most beautiful show for you :)
Delete1) I love all the little birds and how they blend so perfectly into their surroundings! Nice job capturing the one peeping out of the hole!
ReplyDelete2) I can't wait to see the new roof and I am very curious about the process. We need a new roof too but it will be much less interesting.
3) There is nothing better than sitting on the beach while kids dig in the sand. Definitely looking forward to more photos of Luca's trenches!
4) Awww... my beautiful friend and her beautiful kitty. I don't know how you can deny him anything he wants! One look into those gorgeous eyes and I'm ready to pack a bag full of kitty treats and hit the road. Thanks for always including a Toby photo. I think he needs his own Instagram.
As always, I look forward to your comments as soon as I post! (I mean no pressure, but.... lol) 1) My next task is capturing this little brown one that I swear looks like it has the fuzziest bronze buzzcut all over its head - like you just want to pet its velvety little head as it tweets at you. I am glad you appreciated the pic of the on peaking out - it is one my favorites! 2) I wish that you could just have a palapa roof put on; we did the whole re-shingle thing in Raleigh years ago and it was painful. This probably costs at most a tenth of that. I think they have one more viga (beam) to replace a few more cross pieces of palo de arco (a bright and cheery plant that sports golden yellow flowers and whose branches are used for hundreds of things - furniture, cabinets, counters, fences, privacy screens, outhouses (okay maybe that was just us that did that)) and then they can start cinching everything down and tying the fronds on. (They use strips on leaves to tie them on, which is pretty cool. The rope they are using on the beams is made from twisted palm fronds as well!) 3) I really + truly need to make a time for that! Somehow I feel incredibly busy here. I mean - do I go for a beach walk with the pups or make mango salsa or help dig out the side of the driveway we forgot to get the excavator to do or give the cat attention - you see how swamped I am lol) 4) I truly can't deny him, tbh. He is such a sweetheart. Though, if you are ready to come here in order to rescue him I will swear to barely feeding him at all lol. For now I am off to do more laundry. It is an involved process - but I get to do it all in front of the ocean so I am not complaining in the least!
DeleteThank You Lynnie! I love you and Max ands I'm getting familiar with you most excellent and amazing son, Luca. Everything takes longer and costs more than you want it to. I didn't know you were thinking about "retiring" down there! It is so beautiful I'm sure building your dream house would amazing as well. I feel so happy for you, fixing up your house and making a future is so exciting.
ReplyDeleteQuestion- Is the bus still parked under the back of the house?
I hope that you're having fun and not working 24 hours a day. Love Love Love to you all!