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31 October 2010
by
Dave Clingman
Halloween
Tonight is Halloween, but so far (nearly 9 pm) no
one has visited our door. Because we live quite far off
the road, we don't expect many kids. Last year we had
only two or three families of kids, all of which live
here in the RV park.
Tomorrow is Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), which
is a holiday here in Mexico.
We'll visit a tianguis
(street market) that specializes in Dia de los Muertos
items. Also,
tomorrow night right here in our van, we'll
have our own little celebration of our loved ones who
are dead. We don't really have room to create an altar
in our van. (We barely have room to walk past our work
desk, and the couch is usually covered with stuff that
needs to be dealt with and/or stowed elsewhere.) Still,
we can share some food and talk about the ones we love
who are now in heaven and share some photos of them. I'm
looking forward to hearing about and seeing photos of
Andrew's grandmother and two grandfathers. (His mom's
mom is still alive and hiking all over New Zealand and
writing books of her adventures.)
A couple weeks ago we put up a hummingbird feeder
outside our van window, and I very much enjoy watching
the flitters. Since this is the wrong time of year, our
friend Larry is very surprised that we have four or five
different birds visiting several times each day. We can
tell the difference between them and have even named
them. During the summer, Larry has as many as fifteen or
eighteen at a time, but now he has only a few. We are
very pleased that we have birds eating from our little
feeder, and they bring a smile to my face as I pause
from my work or reading to watch them.
My shoulder has been fine for well over a month now.
Occasionally, it gives me a slight twinge, but it is
fine otherwise. Thank you all for praying and for asking
about it.
While in California last month, I bought a new computer,
this time a desktop. We had originally planned to buy
one of those small-box "desktop" computers, since space
is limited in our van, but we found such an amazing deal
on a quad-core (four computer brains inside the box)
that we skipped worrying about the space. This computer
box is huge, but it creates a new space behind the desk,
against the van window, above which we added a shelf to
move the filing boxes off the desk. Now, as I mentioned
earlier, it is difficult to walk between the desk and
the couch, but we make do, and the extra space on the
desk where both of us work is well worth it. I like how
fast this computer is. My old computer took about
fifteen minutes to start up and would always hesitate
when asking it to start a new program. This one starts
up in about a minute and a half and opens new programs
almost instantly.
In the Guadalajara Reporter newspaper, we both enjoy
reading a weekly column by a lady from the US. Two weeks
ago, she commented that she (and others) sometimes gets
depressed at this time of year. So, she writes up a list
of "simple pleasures" which reminds her how wonderful
day to day life is here in Mexico. We took up that same
challenge and wrote a list ourselves, mine in my head
and Andrew's on a computer file. It is amazing how many
things there are to enjoy and appreciate each day here.
I often mention one or two in each of these logs of
mine. We hope you are appreciating each day of your life
where you live, as well.
For the folks in NZ, we hope sunny and warm days are on
their way to you. For the North American guys, enjoy the
Halloween holiday and the last days of autumn, and for
those of you in Europe, we hope the weather isn't too
cold yet!
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26 October 2010
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