Faces of Mexico

We met so many warm and wonderful people in Mexico. Here are a few.

These little girls were helping their mother at the Mercado 28 Market in Cancun. I fell in love with them!

This gentleman sat next to my friend, Jo, on the local bus and began to serenade us. First song he sang (without knowing where we were from): "Sweet Caroline", the Red Sox Anthem. Small World!

This little guy was being carried through the market by his Mom . . . in the traditional way.


Meet Victor. He and his two friends sang for us at lunch one day. Although we may have been their first "Gig" in quite a few years (we recruited them from a park bench) , they were fantastic!

Packing for Mexico

Hola!  I can't believe it's finally here . . . the long-awaited "Girls' Getaway" to Cancun, Mexico.

 

Except for one, "the girls" are all educators in our 50's and 60's who have been getting together for years as part of our infamous "Gourmet Group".

My carry on is stuffed with plastic leis to shower on the "girls" at Logan airport, flamingo straws and cocktail napkins for our Margaritas, and plenty of books and snacks for the flight.

"The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up"

I love to organize and declutter so when I heard about a new book called The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, I had to run right out and buy it. 

Translated from Japanese, Marie Kondo's little book is already #1 on the New York Times Bestseller list for non-fiction. This is pretty exciting stuff for compulsive organizers like me. As a woman who is teased by one and all for keeping my spices in alphabetical order, I was skeptical. Maybe this book would be just another "how to" repetition of the same old techniques. 

Not!
The "KonMari method" is the polar opposite of what we've been taught. Ms. Kondo tells us to take each item in our homes in our hands individually and ask, "Does this spark joy?"
If it does, keep it.
If it does not, discard it.
It's that simple. 

On Folly Beach

Desperately needing a break from the snow, we snuck off for a couple of weeks in South Carolina.

I never get tired of Charleston.

I feel so at home in the area that I sometimes wonder if maybe I lived there in a past life!

 

When we got home, some of the snow had actually melted here in Maine.

It's beginning to feel as if Spring might be around the corner.