Yes, you guessed it, the crew of the late sailing ship “Pipe Dream” will attempt to bring you up to date with another action packed newsletter. Sorry about the 5 month lag between newsletters but we’re much too busy in retirement to write on a regular basis!
For those of you, who have not reached the age of dementia, bear with me while I give the other readers a recap of my last newsletter. In our last update Jutta and I sold Pipe Dream, and had just returned to Mexico after our Colombian exploration.
If you don’t recognize the names Ferdy, Jutta or Pipe Dream, remember this: Always start the morning with a baby aspirin and a fresh “Depends”, enema at three, and cocktail time is still at 5:00 PM.
Meanwhile, Jutta has taken up photography and I started painting acrylics (I’m thinking about cutting off an ear like that other guy, old what’s his name?). Our social life is busting at the seams and we still keep running out of time.
Over a gourmet dinner and several bottles of good wine at our friends’ Bruce and Alan’s home we made the
decision to take a trip to Puerto Vallarta.
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| Alan |
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| Bruce and Ferdy |
Remember, we had been gone from Mexico for six months and after two weeks back it was time to travel again! Go figure? Jutta and I spent lots of time in PV while we were on the boat but this time we played tourist and stayed at a nice hotel right above the surf. Bruce and Alan are a kick to travel with and we all had a splendid time.
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| View from our Hotel in Puerto Vallarta |
The party animals Katryn and Amanda arrived in June from Los Angeles. These two beautiful young women are slim and trim but they are eating machines. They can wipe out a refrigerator faster than a football team at an “all you can eat buffet”. The Beer and Tequila flowed like water that week, not just at our house but also at a few of our friends’ places!
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Kat and Amanda  |
Our next venture was a kitchen remodel. We demolished the kitchen, tore out walls, added new cabinets, new appliances, dragon red granite countertops and, of course, a large wine rack. Then we refinished all the saltillo tile floors downstairs, changed out the propane tank and replaced all the gas lines. We lived in the Casa de Polvo (house of dust) for six weeks. It was well worth it. We now have the most beautiful kitchen and we love it. Not bad for living in a third world country! Again, we had to scramble to finish because our next visitors were on the approach.
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Old Kitchen   |
In mid August Jutta’s sister Connie and her husband Otto came over from Germany for three weeks. After they recovered from a three-day bout of Montezuma’s Revenge, we fired up the “Yellow Bird”, our bright yellow Nissan X-Terra, and toured the states of Michoacan, Jalisco, and Colima.
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| "Dance of the Old Men" at the Plaza in Morelia |
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| Conny and Otto in Tlaquepaque |
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| Good local food at the Mercado in Patzcuaro - except our visitors wouldn't touch it! |
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| Pottery at the Mercado in Tzintzuntzan |
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| Hiking to the village demolished by the volcano Paricutin |
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| The Water Park in Uruapan |
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| Water everywhere at the Water Park in Uruapan |
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| Enjoying fresh Seafood in Barra de Navidad |
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| Barra de Navidad with Melaque in the distance |
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Finally, a cold Corona at the Beach! |
Mexico was quite a change for them coming from Europe. They left with a new perspective of Mexico.
Jutta and I had three days to clean up for our next visitors from Chicago. This visit brought some smiles to grandma because her son and daughter-in-law came with the two and only grandchildren. (I’m not old enough to have grandchildren!)
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Rachel, Travis, Jordan, and Brian   |
Brian, Rachel and the kids stayed for 10 days and the time just flew by. We really enjoyed their visit and Jordan and Travis were loads of fun. Their visit coincided with the two hundredth anniversary of Mexican Independence. There were parades, balloon races, and festivities of all kinds. We really missed them after they left, the house was far too quiet.
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| Rider at the Independence Day Festivities |
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| Balloon Fest |
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Rider at the Independence Day Parade  |
Our next adventure was a trip to Boston for the most incredible wedding we ever attended. Maggie, the daughter of Jutta’s old friends Pat and Carolyn got married. Initially, Jutta didn’t want to go because she needed to schedule a long needed bunion surgery on her foot. Fortunately, Carolyn convinced her to postpone the surgery.
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| Jutta and Carolyn |
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Maggie and her Dad Pat    |
We flew to Los Angeles to visit Brandon, Susan, and Katryn for a week, then flew on to Boston for the wedding. What a party it was! Jutta ignored her foot, donned a pair of flip-flops (the only type of shoes she could fin into) and we danced all night.
Things are pretty dull around here because Jutta had her foot surgery. It seems that she developed the foot problem after kicking me in the ass for the last ten years. It serves her right, you can’t teach an old goat new tricks. It looks like she will be hobbling around for the next month. It’s ok, that will give me some bonding time with my daughter Jody who arrives in three days for a week’s visit.
We are planning on renting out our house again between January and March next year because we want to travel through South East Asia.
With all these things going, you can see how finances can get very tight. If all of you receiving this newsletter would send money to the “Help Ferdy Keep the Party Going” charity, it would really help. Imagine what a wonderful thing it could be having a “little Ferdy” as a dependent and tax write-off! Maybe then, Jutta would stop kicking me! We miss you all!
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| Saludos from the Shores of Lake Chapala Rico Mondongo and Carlota Menudo |
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Musicians on a Puerto Vallarta Street |
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