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My little flower house.
When we first moved into our little rental house there was very little hope for the garden at all. It had been totally thrashed by the previous tenants and much to the dismay of our very sweet landlord. we began to work hard to fix up the garden. I tried to grow all sorts of peppers and tomatoes but nothing took.
Ruben built me these great beds out of cinder block. They do a great job. Well, we had sort of given up n planting anything for food- so we started just collecting plants from friends and from my old work. Along walks we would find offshoot papayas growing along the back road to the super. Well, those are now over 10 feet tall and hold over 10 papaya.- the pic at the right was taken MONTHS ago.I am not sure if these papayas will ever get color but some of them are huge! But it has been a few months now and still nothing. But then again, I do not know anything about papayas. But I have learned that certain birds really love them and while they are beautiful- I wish they would stop eyeing our papayas.
The rest of the garden boarder bed is filled with elephant ear plants that grow pretty big but block of our fence to the street. I like that. We also have a few of your palms that cover the fence. I have also acquired a little collection of Pole de Marco plants. These are very cool plants that grow low. They are green on top and purple on the bottom and I love them. I learned about them when I was a tour guide in the jungles. They are great for making a tea that settles your stomach and heals stomach pain. I have used it and it totally works. I give it to the kids too with a bit of honey. Lena loves it.
We also have the aloe plants that we first bought. They are huge and have produced several other aloe plants that are in the garden. Aloe is great for just about everything. Yes there is the staple skin- face hair stuff. But also internally. Aloe juice is really amazing for you and said to have killer health benefits. I do not drink it much but I have and can imagine that I am just a little bit healthier on the inside for it. jaja.
But my favorite thing in our garden in my little flower house. This idea bloomed out of my childhood dream as a little girl to have a gazebo covered with flowers in our garden where I could go and play.by myself. I had 3 brothers- 2 of the m older and they were not as interested in playing dolls and store as football and harass the little sister.
We planted the bougainvillea in the corner of the yard and Ruben made a simple wood frame structure that we hoped would one day hold the plant. WOW did that happen fast. In only a few months we were bending a winding. As Ruben added the "2nd story" to the fence the plant really grabs hold.
The great thing about bougainvillea is that it has thorns- BIG ones and the longer a branch is left to grow these things turn into small hard tree trunks and the thorns with them. They are great to use as a fencing on a larger property because no one is going to try to climb these things. Plus they are beautiful - full of color, attract butterflies--- they are cool pants. I love that as the offshoots happen and I need to cut them off- a few small branches look great in a vase for a week.
It did not bloom after its initial flowers for almost a year and a half. We were starting to worry. But all is well. It took off just like a friend of mine said it would and in the past 2 months has spurted flowers all over the place. Just the other day the kids took us out there so we could have a picnic in the flower house.
And I have the best seat of all. In the morning just after the kids have gone to school-- it is in the shade- the light is perfect and I get to sit and relax in my hammock with my coffee and my computer and just be. I must admit- the computer does not always make it. hahah
Day of the Dead and thinking of family
This past week we celebrated the Mexican tradition of the day of the dead. I love this holiday. It is a day when our loved ones that have died get to come back enjoy the pleasures of earth for a day. Those of us that our alive set up altars and clean gravestones and have a big party with all of the favorite foods and drinks of our loved ones. This was my first year setting up an altar. We gathered some stuff from around the house and created a very nice space. We put some flowers from our garden which my grandpa Jim would have loved. He was a big gardener. We put out some candles and that created a beautiful light in the evening. We set out some limes for some color and a photo of my grandparents. It was really nice. You usually set out some favorite foods so we put out a cup of coffee for my grandma. You might remember my visits with my grandma like this one. http://rosas-standring.blogspot.com/2009/04/visit-with-my-grandma.html . She was very special to me and I to her. We would sit for many hours and drink coffee and she would gossip about her neighbors. She also loved to drink wine. It was horrible wine- but whatever. It was that bottle of Chablis with the tiny loop handle. But hey. I put out a little wine for her. For my grandpa I put out a snickers bar and a shot of vodka.
My grandpa loved snickers so much that he was buried with 1 in his shirt pocket. haha. In his younger days my grandpa was regrettably an alcoholic and did not always act the best. By the time that my and m brothers came around he had not had a drink in many years. But he always had a glass of diet 7up. That was his deterrent to drinking and it totally worked. I remember my grandpa as being a fun and wonderful man. He was always with us when we would go water skiing. The first run of the day was at 8 so we had to be in the boat at 7:30 so the 1st skier could be in the water ready to hit is at 8- so you get the best water. Grandpa was on that and every other run for the whole day. So I figured that since he did such a great job of controlling his addiction when he was alive- that this was his chance to enjoy it for a day.
My great grandpa Willet loved to grow tomatoes and cantaloupes. He was always so proud of them and he did grow huge tomatoes. This was always a little funny because he did so in a trailer park. But they were great. It is a well known fact and joke about grandpa greats love obsession with tomatoes. So I also put out some tomatoes. Ruben unfortunately does not have any photos of his family that has past. he did however get to be in Guanajuato when his grandfather was within hours of passing and that was really special to him. He had not been back to Mexico in almost 12 years so it was remarkable that he was there at that time.
Dia de los Muertos is such a happy occasion. I sort of think of it as Thanksgiving for the dead. A time when everyone gets together and enjoys their families. That is why you see so many of the skeletons with festive cloths and bright colors. We are all here for a party- dead or alive. Ruben is getting a beautiful tattoo that has the front gate of the cemetery in his town with a party going on just behind all with day of the dead figures. I think that it is going to be really amazing.
I did get my tattoo on my back touched up. It was a little light and now it is much stronger. It looks really good. I am so glad that my friend is doing my tattoos as an exchange. There is certainly not enough money for something like tattoos but luckily our website provides us with a good exchange opportunity. Olmo is also adding some green to my back tattoo that has my kids names- well the initials and 4 roses for "Rosas" which means roses in Spanish. He is also doing a sweet little arm band that will be nice and delicate but the one I am most excited about is my owl. The owl was my grandma's animal. It was her symbol for her sorority and was part of her life forever. She was always given owl oriented gifts and loved owl decorations. I am getting an owl on my left foot. My grandma is one of the people that showed me that your strongest foot might not always lead you down the right path. Sometimes things are supposed to be hard. The other person who taught me this is my momma. But I am not sure what tattoo to get for her. haha.
Anyway... Happy Day of the Dead everyone- a little late but whatever. We have all come down with Pinkeye so we have not been doing much lately. Just sitting watching movies- well listening to movies more like.
Halloween
This Halloween was great. I busted out my sewing machine and started threading away. I was making a mermaid costume and I was really excited about it. I had these great shells that I was making the top out of. and I had looked up some great ideas on the skirt. Lena and Akilean were both punk vampires. Their costumes where made up of stuff from around the house and they looked so cute.
On Friday night I grabbed the kids and headed up to Puerto Morelos to see our friend that lives there. They were doing their towns celebration in the main square on Friday so we all headed over there. It was a lot of fun. One of the best parts was that one of my all time favorite Tulum bands was up there and playing. It is the same band that Ruben had booked for my birthday. It was awesome. We listened to the music-0 danced around the square and like a pinata announcing the end of a party- the rain started to drizzle and everyone headed home. It was so much fun.
The next day I drove all over town looking for vampire teeth for the kids. It is amazing how much surplus of everything there is in the | From The Rosas-Standring Family |
On Saturday after we had gotten back to Tulum we had some friends come over and headed into town to hear our friends band play. It was a really good time. For this first night Ruben dressed up like a fisherman and I the mermaid- We looked really cute. Not to crazy of a night- we were home early and ready to have a killer Halloween.
For the actual Halloween it was awesome. We got our costumes all ready and headed to the beach for a few hours. It was a great day on the beach. As soon as I got there I had a guy walk up to me and say. "hey You are Tulum Living right?" I follow your page and love your info on Tulum." He had just moved here from Belize and was just getting settled in Tulum. It was very cool. He was very nice and I told him that I was sure that we would see him around. Tulum is a very small town and you run into everyone here eventually.
We had all of our friends meet at my house before trick or treating. We set up our Dia de los Muertos altar and some fun things around the house. It looked great. I did a Mohawk on a Akilean and it was so cute. The first night was a frizzy crazy one and Halloween it was going to be a liberty spike- but I could not get it to stand all the way. His hair has gotten very long and I would have needed more product then was worth it for him. But he did look so cute. He said he wants to wear it in a Mohawk more often- Looks like we will have to get up a little earlier for school. 
Ruben and I headed out to town and had a great night with a bunch of our friends at Bar 307. Ruben and I have such fun when we get the chance to go out. It is not very often we get to go out on the late night party up nights- Between babysitters- school- family - life and little money- it is not that often- which is fine but defiantly fun when we do get to do it.
We had such fun and we looked great. A number of our good friends were there and we had a great time dancing- laughing and hanging out. The kids were at the house the by 11 and Ruben made a great 
pancake and bacon breakfast and we just watched movies all day.
pancake and bacon breakfast and we just watched movies all day. Today however is Dia de los Muertos so we are going to get the house all set up and head to some great festivities in town. There are some wonderful celebrations and ceremonies both in the cemetery and in town. It is going to be a good day.
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