Saturday, January 5, 2019

It's A Wrap

I think before I completely forget what I did and where we went in Cozumel, I will go ahead right now and post some of the pictures I took which I want to remember. It's a chilly morning in Lloyd and the chickens are busy scratching in the yard looking for bugs because they went through fifty pounds of food in two weeks and we're out. I gave them their corn scratch this morning which they devoured like the little dinosaurs they are. Do you realize that I have nineteen chickens now? This is crazy! And eight of them are growing teenagers! Mr. Moon has gone to town to try and contact a few customers and come to think of it, I'm alone for the first time in forever. I have not finished unpacking yet and there is still a small mountain of laundry waiting to be done but all of that will wait. I had thought it was going to be sunny today and that I would be able to hang clothes outside but instead, it's as gray as the inside of a pewter bowl.
So. Here we go.


Mr. Moon from New Year's Eve. We ate at a little restaurant which was on the second story of a building downtown and we could watch the people passing by below us. 



Perhaps these people were divers lined up in front of a dive shop. Or...who knows?


They made their own pasta at this restaurant. It was delicious. 


Such a pretty restaurant. 


The decorations downtown.


One of the gardener's little rooting places. Even those were pretty. 


One of his hibiscus.


And a tiny-petaled orchid. 

On our last full day we finally made it to the cemetery. Here are just a few of the shots I took. I love this place. It is like a small village of the dead. Mr. Moon never feels quite comfortable here but I do. It seems to me such a lovely thing to have this place to come to if your family is interned here. Keeping the mausoleum clean and tidy and painted seems like such a nice way to feel close to those who have gone on. To still tend to them and their needs. Or perceived needs, at least. 




Here's a smaller family place, but pretty.


Some of the altars are simple.


Some a great deal more complex. 


Here is one I always visit and reread what is written on it. The stonework is very typical of Cozumel. 


It is the resting place of a woman named Mary who lived and died in Cozumel back some time ago although she was born in the US. I always cry when I read the words her family chose to put here. They are about loving her as a mother, as a wife, as a grandmother and about how much she loved the island which she had chosen to call home. Her husband rests there with her. 


A darling baby girl who was eating beside us that day. I asked for permission to take her picture. "Of course!" said her mother and great-grandmother who later proudly told me that the little girl's grandmother (her daughter) was a police officer! Which reminds me of another thing I love about Cozumel- the way the women carry themselves there. They are so strong in their bearing and sure of themselves, too. When you see a mother and a father and children, the father is as apt to be carrying the youngest as the mother is. Perhaps more so.


Ixchel. They have moved her statue and somehow she has lost some fingers. Statues get moved all the time. I have no idea why. I love her, even without those fingers.


In a fight between Mr. Clean and Mr. Musculo, who do you think would win? 


Our last visit to Playa Corona. 


The last sunset we watched. 


And finally, Bagheera letting Mr. Moon give her some love. She only lets a few people even touch her so this is rather huge. She lets me (the one who feeds her!) scratch her head and belly but she never once sat in my lap. 

And well, I guess that's about it. It is time to wrap up our journey, as sad as it makes me. 
I have my own little world here and it needs tending more than my memories. I've been to the post office and picked up all the mail that accumulated while we were gone. I HAVE to go to the grocery store. And I'm picking August up to spend the night. Next weekend Mr. Moon is taking Owen up to Georgia for a weekend doing man things at the hunting camp and I believe that I'll have Maggie and Gibson over one night while they're off galavanting in the wilds. 

I kissed my husband good-bye when he left this morning and we looked at each other and both of us knew what the other was thinking- how different it is to be going off on our different ways now when for the past two weeks we had been together almost every moment, with neither one of us responsible for anything beyond each other. 
And that was good. 
But this is too. 
Balance, I suppose. Life can't be a continual holiday. 
Supposedly. And it all makes everything sweeter, the going away together and the coming back to this life we lead in Lloyd.

Ah. Looks like the sun may be coming out. I think I'll risk hanging some clothes out. 

Love...Ms. Moon




18 comments:

  1. I hope you get a bit of sun for the drying.Your photos are lovely.

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  2. Beautiful images from your trip - the photos and the words. Thanks for the comment on my blog. I will be searching out that turtle book.

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    1. I love that book. The author is a quirky guy but fascinating.

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  3. The photo of your toes in the sunset is definitely frameable. It tells me a story.

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    1. The story of my every-night in Cozumel. Such pleasure!

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  4. Beautiful. My father's family and my mother used to visit Mexico a lot back in the 1960s and 1970s. I never got to go, but the way they talked about the places they visited is like you talk about Cozumel.

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    1. It can grab your heart. I have a friend who throughout her life has traveled all over this world and where has she chosen to retire and live?
      San Miguel Allende, in Mexico.

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  5. Balance indeed. Holidays are wonderful, an escape from obligations, but even better, they make you miss home.

    Love the photos.

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    1. I think I missed my family more than home although yes, of course, I did. I do love my home but the responsibility of it all can be so overwhelming sometimes and vacation means no responsibility or at least, not much.
      The Yin and the Yang.

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  6. That little brown eyed girl wins, hands down.

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    1. She had the most perfect little white teeth in that smile. She was precious.

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  7. thank you for sharing your trip as always. i feel the same when tony goes back to work- we had our time together but the apart times are important too, they make the times together so much sweeter. xxalainaxx

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  8. Mr. Musculo! LOL! I love it. And that baby is adorable! I love visiting cemeteries and reading tombstones (as you know) but I'm surprised Mary doesn't hit a little close to home for you. I really, REALLY want a picture of all nineteen of those chickens together, if such a thing is at all possible.

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  9. Oh, Mary in the cemetery DOES hit home for me. I distinctly remember seeing it in 1987 and crying then and wondering why in hell I was so moved. And every time I go back and visit again, it hits me harder.

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Tell me, sweeties. Tell me what you think.