Lovely, lovely Mexico

This is a blog just about Mexico, so if you want to quit reading now, because you’re waiting for something about the Vineyard, stop here. I’ve now been in San Miguel de Allende for three weeks and have another five to go. Everyday I walk from my house into Centro, or the center of town. [...]

What we believe can happen

Last year, when I announced to my family and friends that I was going to Mexico for a couple of months, I was struck by the division in the reactions I got. The Vineyarders were alternatively thoughtful and envious.They asked all the right questions – Had I been there before? Was the food good? Did [...]

To doorbell or not to doorbell. Is that the question?

The Vineyard has very set rules about many things: You don’t honk at the tourists just to get them to move out of the cross walk faster. You don’t bad talk other people in a public place, since the people sitting next to you know people who know people. You don’t refer to the Vineyard [...]

We need one of these guys

I’ve never been one for avenging angels. But, I mean really, I keep thinking the Vineyard needs one of these. We could put it right at the ferry, with a sign warning folks they need to “treat the Vineyard gently – we’ll need to use it after you leave.” (I wish I could say this [...]

Things we love to death

  The Vineyard’s natural environment is highly threatened these days. Pollution regularly closes our ponds to shell fishing. Beaches last year were closed often in the summer. Treed areas have been wiped out by construction. Too many non-native plants have been brought in. These are all very legitimate problems, particularly since the Vineyard trades on [...]

My Mexican vacation

I have a confession: Yesterday, while you were shivering in your long underwear, I was walking around in shirt sleeves, sitting outside for lunch under a heavily-laden lemon tree, and eating avocado so perfectly ripe it was like eating butter. Welcome to my Mexican vacation. For the last two years, I’ve journeyed to San Miguel [...]

Do you live on an island?

My friend Rose from Toronto lives a very different life from mine. She lives in a high rise condominium in downtown Toronto with easy access (as the real estate ads would say) to all the big city amenities – restaurants that stay open past 9, more than two movie theaters, and a life that involves [...]

Honoring each other

  I often see an elderly man and woman walking on my street, and I see the kindnesses that my neighbors show when we pass them. The man – my son has always called him “Hats” because of his headwear – is now so feeble that he requires a caretaker to walk with him. His [...]