Catching up before signing off

First and most important -- Larry has his life back! He drove into Puerto Vallarta on his motorcycle this past Tuesday for check up appointments with those who were involved with all that surgery he had about a month ago. Everyone very happy. And I might mention that he made that drive on the motorcycle after four days full of activity: a kayak paddle to the island and back, two several-hour surf sessions in waves with nine foot faces, and on the fourth day, he and a friend dropped the transmission in our jeep to insert two "indispensible" bolts that the people in the auto repair shop in Lubbock failed to put back last August. Can't believe he drove that thing all the way down here. "Hmmm," he says. "I was wondering what that rattle was." But anyway, he's b-a-a-a-ck. And making me feel like a slug.

So while he was in Puerto Vallarta doing the check up thing, I went with friend Ann and her friend Paul to Tepic and sat in Samantha Bejar's office for two and a half hours. We weren't going to leave until the job was done. Samantha is the attorney that so many people down here have used for their real estate transactions, a busy mom, a competent attorney -- just a little lax on follow up details. Sigh. I'm afraid I can relate. But then, I'm not getting paid for following up on details. (This is a special note to our new CPA in Ajijic -- Marian, I will answer your tax questions. Promise, promise, promise. I hate that stuff!)

I know, I know, swallow a frog first thing every morning and get it out of the way. Well, it's Mexico. Isn't a frog once a week good enough? I swallowed a big one in Tepic. So did Ann. We both feel better for having done it. Ann bought her house from her friend Paul, and they have had unresolved issues with paper work for three years. It wasn't a big deal between the two of them, but now Ann has resold the house and she's HAD to get those issues cleared up so she can get her money. As far as Larry and I are concerned, when we went to pay our bank trust fee this year, a sharp-eyed clerk noticed that the trust had never been transferred to our name! Sure the property was in our name, according to the documents, and we have been paying the yearly fee, but officially, the trust is still in the name of the previous owners. Paperwork never received from the attorney. As Pooh Bear says, "Oh, Bother." Well, we've got the paperwork NOW, and I'll hand carry it into Bancomer tomorrow morning, along with Paul and Ann when we go to PV for the weekend. Frog swallowing accomplished!

Now comes the good part --

Reason for going to Vallarta: A FREE CONCERT ON THE MALECON!!!! Alejandro Fernandez and 20 other singers are giving two huge concerts over the next two weekends, one here on the coast, and the other in Guadalajara, to give a boost to Mexican tourism. Some of the other singers are Enrique Iglesias, Paula Rubino, and Gloria Estefan, though no one is sure who is showing up where. But the music starts at 8 on Saturday night and ends at one in the morning. A group of us have reservations in a restaurant overlooking the place where it's going to be held, and Roberto has borrowed a condo from a friend in Conchas Chinas, so we don't have to be out on the road late at night. Hooray! Viva Mexico!

And VIVA la lluvia! At last we had rain. Blessed and blessing big fat drops that have cooled the air, washed the dust off, and tempered the rays of the sun. Glorious wonderful rain!

Did I mention I'm signing off here? Ah, yes. It's in the title. I think it's time to officially move to Virgin Territory, the blog I've begun to support my book of the same name. It was getting responses from faithful readers of Now, Voyager -- Once More saying, "You should write a book," that planted the idea of writing the book in the first place. The manuscript is not yet complete, but it has an eight chapter start, I know what goes in the next four, and I know how it ends. Now all I have to do is write it! My goal is to have a completed working document by the time I turn 60. That's July 21, only weeks away. If I keep saying that publically, I'll have people holding my feet to the fire. That's YOUR job!

"Platform is everything," say those in-the-know in the publishing world. Well YOU are an integral plank in my platform, if you follow this blog. I'm so grateful for your comments and encouragement. Please keep at it. But let's just move over a notch and give ourselves an official name. From now on, I'll be posting on Virgin Territory. Come join me there!