Greetings Friends!

I hope that life as we know it is treating you very well. Here in the Riviera Maya, the seasons have been a little strange. We had many months of partly cloudy and rainy weather from September through February. Cool, but not the usual relative cold in January. Great for the plants, but not so good for solar energy. Luckily there were no hurricanes though. Now it is finally drier with plenty of sun, so more flowers are out (f01 f02 f03 f04), and the all year garden needs to be watered more often.

I and my gardener have been clearing a larger sunny space for a new garden because the trees and palms (p01 p02 p03 p04) are growing fast in the lower area, leaving little direct sunlight. I have started a few orchids (or01 or02) in the shady zone and am studying that topic for types to add in there. Now I am preparing a raised bed garden over the new area using the "square foot garden" idea. I will try out self watering containers too. The ground is mosly limestone rock here, with very little soil. So now the effort is on making compost (g01 g02). We're using what we can find locally: soil, leaves, wood chips, seaweed, kitchen waste, cow and poultry manure, charcoal, and volcanic gravel. It sounds good, and soon we will see how well it works here.

Last fall a neighbor gave me a young terrier he was not able to keep. Her name is Xquiq (shqueek), a maya mother godess (xq01 xq02 xq03 xq04 xq05 xq06 xq07 xq08 xq09). Now my intruder alarm system is back in balance. Young and alert Xquiq gives the early warning, and old Solo Vino handles those who don't take her seriously (so01 so02 so03). They are both friendly enough to familiar visitors though.

The pizza activity remains about the same, occasional creative recipe workshops with small groups of friends. I have made one recent addition in the direction of the restaurant plan. My builder added a nice firewood shed using hardwood I cut several years ago (s01 s02 s03 s04 s05 s06 s07). Now I won't have to worry about having dry fuel for the fire.

That is the status of things in my little Mexican village. How about you? Please keep in touch, and don't forget that the Caribbean beaches are here waiting for you.

Hasta la proxima,
Bill Barton