Another Winter becomes History

We are quickly to the end of my 5th and Janice's 7th winter in Mazatlan. Usually, we spend six months, but this year it will end up be just over five months as we are going to work on finishing
up the remodeling of our Spokane bungalow.

On the first of April we will check into The Riu, an all inclusive resort to pamper ourselves before
we drive the five day, four night drive to Spokane. We will spend two days at the Riu.  Beside stopping for breakfast with Daryl and Linda Miller in Arizona, we will drive straight through.

Both of us have been healthy with the exception for Janice having problems with foot pain. She will go back to the dr. upon our return to check again on this.  It has been ongoing for over 2 years now with no relief.  Walking for more then 10 minutes or being on her feet longer then 15 minutes and she needs to sit down. 

On March 20, the biggest part of this post is that Joel had an unexpected medical change. Since his stroke from August 2011, he has had no feeling on his right and arm and leg. Luckily, it didn't affect movement. On March 20th, Joel was lifting weights in the gym when he noticed a pain in his right elbow. It took a couple of minutes to process that this was different. After testing the rest of his arm and his leg, he found that feeling had returned to his right side! Wow, 31 months without feeling and it all returned at once. Regeneration of nerves continues to happen.

Again, we have enjoyed the company of our friends from the US, Canada, other parts of the world
and of course, our Mexican hosts. we enjoyed visits from friends from both sides of the state of
Washington along with our nephew and girlfriend. He was the first member of the Bruce Whitaker
branch of the family to visit Mazatlan. Bothers Steve and Joel have represented the family in
Mazatlan until then.

When we came down to Mazatlan the end of October, we had planned on not returning to Mazatlan,
but trying some other place to spend our winter. It only took a few weeks for us to realize that
we enjoy our friends and the city of Mazatlan. We changed our minds and decided to remain in
Mazatlan. Also, after two years enjoying our wonderful view on the Malecon, we will be
moving to Centro, to be in the heart of the action. Our new place is a beautiful place just down the street from The Angela Peralta Theatre. We will have an open courtyard between our kitchen and
our living room. Janice will be able to walk to the Plazuela Machado, the Mercado, and
Olas Altas to meet friends, listen to music, etc. Joel will enjoy the new location as it is two block
from the Pau, Pau, for afternoon discussions of male culture over cold cerveza. It is also close
to the library, another Joel hangout.

Again, if you visit Mazatlan, our families and friends are invited to spend a few days with us and if you want longer there are great places to rent on a longer basis. As we will be right in the middle of Centro we will not drive to Mazatlan, but will fly back in the fall. Inexpensive taxis and buses, make
a vehicle unnecessary and many of our friends spend the winter without one.

Well, the winter of 2013-2014 has been a wonderful time to be watching the cold and snow
up north in our short sleeve shirts and shorts. We are looking forward to our summer in Spokane
and then our return to Mazatlan in mid-late October. Until our next posting, adios amigos and amigas.

Our Final 2 Weeks In Mazatlan For Our 7th Season

These last two weeks were our next to the last purging of our belongings here in Mazatlan.  Since we are, as of this year, going to be spending half of our time in Spokane and half of our time in Mazatlan, we have sold, given, bartered, donated and thrown away 2/3 of our possessions.  The rest is being sorted into 3 more piles.  One guest room is being used for everything we plan on packing into our van for our return trip to Spokane.  The main bedroom is now being used for gathering everything we are going to take to the new house we'll be renting 6 months a year (winter months of course).  And finally, another trash area. Neither of us are pack rats. Especially not Joel.  He is a true minimalist in every since of the word.  Me on the other hand must have every gadget for the kitchen, every seasoning I might need for cooking, along with plenty of art supplies, cleaning supplies, toiletries that we might need.  Well, I am using the 1 year rule. If I haven't used it in 1 year, out it goes.
We'll spend the next two weeks finishing our organizing process, bringing our Mazatlan belongings over to the house we will start renting the middle/end of October.  We'll also enjoy some time with great friends we have here in Mazatlan.  I have a couple more art classes to go to and Joel has another visit or two to Pau Pau's and Hermanidad's de Frijoles Y Cervesa.  Brotherhood of Beans and Beer. 
We'll take several days to drive home and we've already been making our reservations for the hotels along the way. 
While we have been here in Mazatlan, the bungalow in Spokane has been having a few items done to it.  New windows, exterior doors, opening between kitchen and living-room and some repairs on the kitchen ceiling and painting the ceiling. This summer will be another season of updates to the bungalow.  We'll post pictures along the way.  One of the first things we are planning is to work on our back yard.  We'll put flagstone down for our patio, perhaps an arbor above the patio, enlarge our vegetable garden, plant berries; blue, raspberry and blackberry.  And then of course, some flowering plants for color.  We are both looking forward to getting back up to Spokane.  We have new neighbors of ours we got to know and looking forward to getting to know them better.
We are also looking forward to seeing all of the grandchildren and "kids".  We know they will be bigger and smarter than when we saw them in October.  We've been remiss in our blogs this year but hopefully will have more "down" time and let you know how this 6-month on and off is going for us.
La Vida Es Buena! - Life is Good!