Melt the seal ... time is here

Oh my ... how time flies. It seems like only yesterday that it was Wednesday. The place looks like someone is leaving in a few days. The mattress in bedroom #2 has been tood up with the mattress cover side pointing out. The first two kitchen chairs are parked on the cement couch in the L/R. Dominique will ask Paty to drop in after the bridge game Saturday so we can discuss the idiosyncrasies of looking after our place until our return.

Doing the extended walk to the end of the canal path past Soris. We will pick up some shredded pork to make sandwiches for the flight(s) on Sunday. We are so close to the end of the line as far as getting the place ready. Other than the Fire TV sticks, the balance of the work involves moving stuff around and covering furniture. These will happen as late as possible on Saturday evening. Chicken for dinner tonight then the last two nights we will eat out. We have been very fastidious ensuring there is as little as possible left in the freezer by the evening before we leave.

I have been preparing the following top 10 events/adventures/experiences for some time now and the list is finally ready:

10 ➱ The many many times mi chica made her signature pasta dish to the absolute delight of carnivorous attendees.

  9 ➱ The amazing times we had with family and friends who stayed with us (Michael/Gail and Ben/Crem) as well as David/Javier who bunked at the Irma hotel and Patsy/Bernie at Ceba Studios.

  8 ➱ The support that we were able to give, alongside the likes of Ranae and Lynn, to our cleaner who was entering some challenging times with her health.

  7 ➱ My landing a weekly gig at Zihua Bay with the direct support of that amazing duo of ladies ... Dominique and Ranae.

  6 ➱ Finding whole raw chickens at Bodega for 55 pesos, that lasted us 2⅜ meals (or maybe 2⅗ meals). That's about $4.50 CAD.

  5 ➱ The walks we took together

  4 ➱ The one (and only one) experience we had when running errands that Dominique did not buy something. If she liked, for example, a top she saw, the raison d'être was something like I needed a top. Actually, the truth of this experience is that I adore looking at mi chica with her brand new digs. We have an agreement about when something turns from brand new to just new. It is brand new for 20 minutes, then can realistically only be referred to as new.

  3 ➱ The amount of opportunities we had to hablar español. I would estimate my vocabulary has improved more this time than in the past. And it gets even better ... of the vocabulary I picked up, most of it falls into words that are commonly used. For example ... fecha means date and cita can mean appointment. These words fall into day-to-day vocabulary not words like mijo for millet or autocaravana for camper van. Yes, these last two words have a time and a place, but somewhat farfetched compared to the first two.

  2 ➱ Getting all the little fixes done in our unit that preserve its value and, in the short and/or long run. increase its selling price when that time comes.

Drum roll ... and now the single best experience we experienced during our 189 day stay in Zihua from Oct 10 to April 14:

1 ➱ For me ... hanging out with Dominique ➪ for her ... hanging out with Ranae, sorry me (I hope).