Big spenders

With the end of June, our cash situation improved a bit. The gazebo is out for now, but Barb was finally able to buy her BBQ. It is bigger than the one we had in Bedford. This one allows a special roaster to BBQ a whole chicken. She felt constrained in only having a fry pan and wok. With the BBQ she has more options. However, although the BBQ was delivered, they were out of the gas tanks. Today, when we went back, they had the tanks, but no gas. Monday they have promised to deliver the tank filled.

In addition, she wanted some large planters. We took the plunge and got 2 large, colourful, Mexican ceramic planters (see closeup of one above) and 2 good sized butterfly palms. These have a cluster of smaller trunks, rather than one big one. They told us that they are slow growing, but reach about 10 feet; they are about 6 feet now. She also bought 2 hibiscus shrubs; the latter were only 55 pesos (i.e, $5.50) each! She had the gardener transplant a couple of potted plants so she has at least one pot available for the hibiscus. One of the plants was a small lime tree. It is now planted in the yard so that in future years it can grow much bigger. She is in 2 minds about the gardener. On the one hand, she doesn’t mind having someone to dig holes for planting (I did that in Bedford). However, she likes planting things herself, but the gardener does that too. Anyway, the plants, BBQ, etc are transforming the courtyard and giving it a much more lived in look. Rosendo, the gardener seemed to think that the palms were too big for him alone, even if we helped (I think that he does not think we are capable of doing much). However, today Barb & I potted the smaller of the 2 palms (see the result in the left photo). It is quite big and in the middle, I wasn’t sure we would be able to finish. We persevered and finished. Rosendo is going to bring a friend to help him next week, but I think that he will be surprised when he finds that Barb & I did the one by ourselves.