🌱 Casa Serenidad 2024

[Christine]

Since I finally logged onto the forum I might as well go with the flow. . .

Lots going on around me these days even as I stand rather centered in stillness, all the while feeling the currents pulling me in multiple directions at the same time. Takes some nifty balance to not get swept away. It is looking like I am going to be able to construct another building on the property, been working on the design for a few days now. It's going to be built on a song and a prayer. I will be the architect, contractor, and overseer—part of me is super excited but the other part is thinking; omg! Are you actually going to do this again??


Casa Bella - Guest House: Two bedroom, one bath, with an open living area and wrap around porch.

I haven't measured the chosen plot yet but think I am in range. I stubbornly refuse to take down any native trees or cactus so am designing around them. I don't even like pruning which I seriously need to get over. I did top the two olive trees since they were looking especially scraggly, can tell they appreciated the care.

Meanwhile through the dreary winter months I have been doing a few gardening projects, they seem to take forever since I only have Jaime one day a week for seven hours. He certainly doesn't balk at hard work but I have to make sure I am checking or working with him. Here are a few recent photos from life at Casa Serenidad.


Front porch looking through the corner windows, potted plants from cuttings


Jaime taking down a dead tree, we pulled it over with his four wheeler after he hacked out the roots.


Back to glorious weather.The acacia tree went in the ground along with a willow.


Grey water pond, needed because the water outflow was water logging some trees—like the one that died.

It literally took months to design the pond, source the material, dig the hole, fill it in and plant the papyrus with the horsetail. Even so there must be a leak somewhere because the ground downhill is still wet. In the end it turns out for the good because I decided to plant a few trees that love wet ground all year round. That balance thing, go with the flow so that even mistakes turn out favorably.


Closing shot of the sunset a few nights ago.

The sun it out and the garden calls— water us please my new seedling call.

[Christine]

It's Sunday afternoon and I have come back indoors as the sun is high overhead. The plants are in need of extra watering and care this year since we've had weird weather and non-stop chem trailing for about two months. I am not alone in noting that whatever they are spraying is literally sucking the moisture out of the ground and plants. Even people, there is a prevalent feeling of being constantly dehydrated along with heat radiating from the bodies core. Of course the challenge will be met and overcome.

Meanwhile I thought I would share some recent photos because in spite of the challenges the garden is looking beautiful.


The Papyrus and Horsetail are loving the grey water pond.


The little patch of lawn is starting to come back, the house from the side to the back patio.The carved stone is part of a tiered water fountain that I hope to have running next weekend.


The small Plum tree that bore six fruit last year is full of plums this year.


First year my peach tree is bearing fruit, can't wait until they ripen.


I got thirteen girls in the ground, fingers are crossed that I got all the males out before they could pollinate. I love this plant even though I don't partake and from my last year's crop people have told me how good the smoke is... just so full of seeds that it wasn't top quality.

They sprayed heavy again today and as I look out my window the sky is now a dull silver grey, it took a couple of hours for the trails to spread out. We are called to be dauntless warriors in times like these. I fuel myself with laughter, good friends, the beauty of nature and a profound knowing that this will pass. Maybe not in my lifetime, that remains to be seen but on the opposite end of the spectrum there are a growing number of people waking to their spiritual being and working harmoniously with others. Love you all.

Before I run off ... Maxine and Angel doing their doggie thing. Best friends ever!

[Christine]

I know it's been this hot here before though I don't recall such a long spell. One slowly becomes accustomed to the intensity and I don't have the luxury to not get outside, plants need watering and the little projects go on. Yesterday Jaime laid a walkway from the lawn—what is left of it after so much heat and dogs who like to play and find a cool place to lay.


Jaime is a wonderful stone worker, he seems to take great pleasure in this work.

There is also the sense of accomplishment that comes from staying with an idea or inspiration long enough to see it take form. A few mornings back while waking to the dawning morning, still not completely awake a little movie played in my head, the shop, the land, the house, and the garden showed me just how much I had brought into manifestation—what struck me was that I had done this all on my own, it seemed rather miraculous. Of course I have had the help of others, from the workers to the beautiful friends who support me in more ways than I can enumerate. There is so much to be grateful for and I am.


This morning the fountain and newly planted lantana and other plants, it's like having a canvas to paint on in real life. The plums are so heavy on the branches that I had to prop them up with bamboo.



The Dude looking out the window, he's still wary of Maxine so exercises feline caution before leaping.



Maxine is now allowed inside on occasion though her instincts still drive her to case the cats from time to time. A cool corner on a hot afternoon.


All day long the sky was a grey tinged silver haze so I didn't expect to see the natural clouds at sunset. Just before I hit the submit button I remembered I had to shut off a water faucet so dashed outside to see this glory in the sky.

[Christine]

Those who read my latest blog will realize that Cristian came for a month long visit. Today I feel like sharing a few photos from his time here. The whole month we had really hot dry weather, something we learned to melt into since it wasn't abating. The ground was bone dry and watering was a daily chore. I've lived in this area for decades and the heat wave was like nothing I had ever experienced, in some ways it felt unnatural and many others talked about this too. For sure there was a lot of trails criss-crossing the sky daily and a fairly dense feeling along with the heat. I tend to notice but not focus on these antics though they are hard to miss.


Angel with his harness on and me on the couch, he goes absolutely crazy when I put his "fancy pants" on because walks are even better than chasing his ball


Maxine so quickly fell in love with Cristian and he with her, she's been missing him ever since he left.


Our shadows follow us down the road riding on ZaZoom, who sits waiting for someone to come back and drive her again.


The simple things that are appreciated, broken (messed up by a supposed plumber) hot water heater was repaired, painted and turned into a little art piece. So grateful.

Some of my friends will remember Bella our beloved calico cat—can't remember now if I wrote about her on the forum. A month before I moved to Casa Serenidad she was hit by a car and I found her in the street out my front door. There was something so dignified and beautiful about her even in death that while I grieved I also had the certainty that she was meant to pass over, it was her time.

A few days before Cristian was scheduled to leave I opened Facebook to see that a friend had rescued a young calico cat from the street. She was begging for someone to adopt her since she's got so many rescued cats and dogs that she couldn't take in another one. Within one minute I found myself writing her that I would take her, no hesitation because her energy so reminded me of Bella's. By the evening she was here at the house and within the hour had established her dominance (petite cat, big energy field) with not only the other cats but the dogs. She settled right in because she was home. Is she Bella returned? In so many ways I would say she is as there is the same superior energy around her, so we named her Bella.


Bella looking regal, she's already grown and is absolutely fearless in her explorations outside.

And then the rains came a few days after Cristian departed, I knew they would. It's been several weeks now and thankfully they haven't stopped. The folks in the country have planted their corn and beans—for us it was inconvenient to have such a long dry spell, for them rain is essential to have a harvest.


Storm clouds incoming, I love the drama of thunderstorms.

Life keeps me busy and sometimes with things I rather not have to deal with. I had promised to walk the dogs often and did my best but controlling two dogs who equal me in weight was a bit of a challenge, especially if we encountered other ranch dogs running loose. Angel especially, he's two years old now and not a puppy any longer, so was exercising his male aggression and with Maxine the wild dinga I had a couple of close encounters and had to wrestle them out of fights.

Also Max likes to run free so takes an opportunity to do so, when I crack open the gate so I can drive the Jeep in I am super careful to grab her collar so I can leash her to the trailer. I let Angel out because he always jumps into the car. Well it didn't go so well a few weeks ago. I saw the wild glint in Max's eye as she made her break out the gate and then Angel jumped out of the car and they were both out of sight before I could even call their names. I wasn't too worried since they've been on "outings" before so I leave the gate cracked open and know they will return for dinner. I went inside to prepare my supper while listening to the neighborhood dogs barking so I knew they were close by. My one neighbor has a pack of eight dogs we call the nemesis dogs, he recently repaired all his fences because they were getting out and had killed a couple of sheep. In a flash something intuitively moved me to go to the gate, the barking was a little too loud. Just as I got to the gate I heard a horrible yelping cry so I ran to find that Maxine had stuck her head through a small square opening in the neighbor's gate, the dogs were viciously upon her. I screamed which startled them and Max somehow was able to flip her body and pull out of the trap she had stupidly put herself into.

She was clearly shaken and at first I didn't think too badly damaged. She calmed down and fifteen minutes later I was able to inspect her neck to find one inch and half deep gash across her neck, too deep for home first aid so off to the vet as it was getting dark and fortunately a friend called so they waited for me. Once her neck was shaved it was apparent how many puncture wounds and other rips in flesh there were... almost an hour to stitch her up. What a lucky dog that they didn't get an artery or major vein. She's fine now, stitches are out and she's as wild as ever.


Max right after she freed herself from the jaws of death. Did she learn? Somehow I don't think so.


The beauty of life continues to show itself in an early morning rainbow a few days ago.

It's still a piece of heaven here but we all miss the extra joy that Cristian brings.

[Christine]

Since I end up sharing my life with so many folks remotely it would be easiest to make a forum post and link to share.

There are so many lessons that come from living in the countryside—it is a lot of hard work and not the idyllic life so many folks dream about. That said it is also rewarding in ways that those still immersed in matrix world of busy streets, Starbucks and Amazon will never realize. The last week for me was virtually and in reality so non-stop that this inner me was amazed that the outer me could handle it all. It was a very potent mix of incredible gifts and sudden challenges.

To start with something so sweet, Angel forever surprising me with his intelligence has been left at home with Maxine almost all week. With the constant rains the property has turned into an above ground stream, basically there is water running down hill that is seeping up from beneath the ground, quite a change from the dessert it was turning into during the six weeks long heat wave.

Therefore; muddy paws and wet fur going to the shop with me became out of the question, it's enough work just keeping my floors at home somewhat clean. So a few days back when I went to open the front gate to drive the Jeep out, the custom is that the dogs come running and I can tether them to the trailer so they don't run off. Max, ever cool just stayed on the porch looking at me and Angel was nowhere to be seen nor did he come when I called him, so walking back to the Jeep sloshing through thick mud and running water I went to find the Goof Ball (affectionately written) sitting on the hood of the Jeep. He be like: "You are taking me with you no matter what!"

I felt obligated but couldn't take him as I had a dinner date with my sixteen year old granddaughter that evening.


Angel at his adorable best.


Madeline, at sixteen, is more aware and articulate than most adults.

The plan was for me to have Maddie stay with me over the weekend and we did manage one night but a big challenge presented that I had to put a lot of attention on. When I turned on the tap to run a bath Thursday morning, alas no water. I went to inspect the cistern and saw that it had moved out of place and jammed up into the cement covering, no matter how much force I applied I couldn't get the lid off to see what was happening inside.

A beautiful aspect to life lived fully and never one to be discouraged for long, even though that takes a lot of inward focus I reached out to Fernando who I can't say enough good things about, he's worked for me for many years and was who installed the cistern over five years ago. He came out driving his motorcycle in the rain, was able to get the cistern open and this is what was discovered.


Imploded? or WTF happened?

Obviously I wasn't going to have running water until we got to the bottom of the issue and replaced or fixed the cistern. And with plans for Maddie's visit I was momentarily feeling overwhelmed. No running water meant no showers, no washing dishes, and a lot of extra work hauling water inside with buckets from the above ground holding tank. In this moment I let out a long deep sigh ———— and realize that just doing what needed to be done was no big deal. This is something that modern folk have forgotten, to just deal with what presents without fighting it or grumbling, or complaining, or blaming. Liberation!

My mind wanders back in time when people were explorers, frontiersmen, pioneers, trekkers and tough. So much has been lost by our modern expectations that life needs to be convenient and comfortable all the time.

Fernando agreed to work on Saturday knowing I needed the cistern issue resolved as soon as possible, plus Jaime works at the house on Saturday and at least two men were needed to get the cistern out of the hole.


Fernando and Jaime get to work breaking the cement cover apart.

I made them both a strong coffee and went back and forth to check on progress, also trying to help figure out how the cistern could be lifted out. Until it was we weren't really going to know what caused the damage.


Uncovered with lid off, removing the sumergible pump and piping.


Plan A: was rigging a tripod with pulley, it didn't work and I think we all knew it wouldn't put it was worth a try.


Plan B: leverage. It was working but the cistern kept jamming if it tilted even slightly.


Progress is made though this is way over an hour later.

I am so awestruck by both Fernando and Jaime, the determination and ingeniousness of these too Mexican men. One of the things that rankles me is how many gringos and gringas are constantly complaining about Mexico and Mexicans. This idea of forcing a whole culture to comply with how it is done in Amerika; the fireworks!!, the noise, the dogs barking, the constant parades, traffic snarls, and the worst of all, Mexicans are stupid. On and on they grumble. Maddie and I talked about this a lot last night, she is equally discouraged by the lack of respect for her culture, not just lack of respect for it is deeper than that—basically it is a shadow elitism unseen by those who want their comfort before any depth of introspection as to why they are here in this land of chaos and magic.

That said, people are allowed to give vent at times to stupidity in general as it is so rampant in all cultures, no more so than in the good ol' incorporated USofA. I will write a separate post about my talks with Maddie, she attending an elite high school in a DC suburb and her observations are so acute that I want to share them.


Yay!! They did it!! And Angel looks on proudly feeling he is part of the crew.


Angel inspecting how much water is in the hole, I think part of him wanted to jump in for a swim.

It becomes obvious to us all that the cistern was low on water and with all the ground seepage the enclosure had filled with water pushing the cistern up against the cement covering thereby causing it to collapse inwardly. There have been years of equal or much more rain and this never happened so it didn't seem likely but there it was, the proof is in the pudding, so they say.


Cistern straightened out as much as possible, a few minor cracks that can be repaired and happy dogs!

Thus on a Sunday morning with some time on my hands I will end here for the moment. Life is beautiful because of challenges met with laughter, wonder, and gratitude.


Rainbows bearing good omen every day now. #Beauty