Making Limónes Into Limónada

There we were, having a perfectly lovely time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, swanning around in our gorgeous rented hacienda, enjoying lovely Judith who came every day to lavish us with laughs and luscious lunches.  Our evenings were  spent with entertaining friends and our days filled with stimulating writing in our sunny private spaces.  We had been gone from San Miguel de Allende, Mexico for so long that our pals were actually thrilled to see us and we them.

Our garden was fragrant and peaceful and  the weather was beginning to warm up so the thick walls of the house were holding some heat.  That meant no more huddling in serapes in the evening.  In other words, things were damned near perfect.

Then – WHAM!  Our usually charmed lives took a rotten turn.  Tim started feeling terrible.  At first we thought it was altitude, but as his energy and outlook declined we realized that we were still dealing with a complicated medication adjustment problem which we thought had been solved before we left California.

We made plans quickly to return to our docs who were already on the case.  Our “evacuation” was different from those who have a  home base because we had to secure a spot to land once we got “home.”  Thanks to friends who found a vacation rental for us and to our HomeAway owner in Mexico who generously helped us recoup some of our prepaid two months rent, we were ensconced in a nice vacation rental in California and setting up doc appointments within a few days.  It pays to have pals, doesn’t it?

So although we’d managed to catch up with some of our friends, dine in a few very nice restaurants, and revel in the pleasure of just being in San Miguel de Allende, we didn’t have time to make many photos.  I wanted so much to share the beauty of the town with you that I asked our darling friend, artist Brian Care, if he would stroll around town and snap some of the lovely sights for us.  He obliged and I’m thrilled to show you the gorgeous scenes. A pal saves the day one more time!

We’re sad that we missed so much of our trip but grateful to everyone who helped us and especially thankful that Tim is feeling much better. We don’t anticipate any more trouble on the medical front, and even though the experience was a  unsettling, we were happy that when our plan for such an emergency worked well.  We were home in no time and got the care we needed quickly.

In some ways our hurried departure was a blessing.  Since we got home earlier than expected, we were able to begin working on our newest project even sooner – building our California vacation rental in the gorgeous Central Coast.  I think that qualifies as turning Limón into Limónada, don’t you?

For the next few months I’ll keep you up to date as our little house in the country grows.  For now, here’s a peek at the start of it all.  I do believe we’ll put in a lime tree once we’re finished so we’ll always remember how lucky we are!