Winding down 2012 in Guanajuato on our anniversary

Colorful Guanajuato

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY to us (22 years married and 25 together!) and greetings and happy new year to all. I realized that 5ive months have passed since I updated my blog - surely not because we have not had things to do - just because we are now living a "kind-of-regular life" in San Miguel and so most of the pictures have been seen before. Many of you have been kept up on facebook but here you will find it all in a nutshell. I am reviewing the last few months, mostly for myself and for Ricardo so when we want to remember what we did when, I can find it somewhere.

Now I am writing from a little casita in the city of Guanajuato which is the capitol of the state of Guanajuato where SMA is located. We had visited many times before, but never over night. It is a lively, bustling city (small) with many very colorful buildings. We are glad to be here and now it is on our list for a month sometime in the future.

The nearby Presa - only 10 min walk
from our casita in GTO (Guanajuato)

Visits from our NC friends Howard and Lily
who are in SMA for two months and came to
GTO yesterday...fun to explore new places

Sunset at Playa Blanca

Two young ladies at Casa Hogar - Santa Julia
where Ricardo and I volunteered with these girls
to make printed greeting cards for Christmas.

Sunrise on the camino

Our shadows on the Camino

I  

Hay bales on the camino 

Tolantogo - amigos

The pools at Tolantogo

The river at Tolantogo

Me - in my acting debut

Vegetarian Paella - after our trip to Spain

Reunion with old friends in July
 - Mary Jane Hall - Long Island, NY

Good friend Janet Walerstein
in July, NY

Joan Fenton - my mother's BEST friend
when they were 10 years old in NYC - and
her daughter Suzy Bond - our cousin.
My mother introduced Joan to her cousin Karl
and they were married. Such a wonderful
time to be together at Cape Cod and hear
good stories about our mother when
she was a young lady.

We spent the week before Christmas at the beach - Playa Blanca which is just south of Zihuataneo (near Barra de Potosi). It was a very relaxing beach holiday with ocean, pool, walks on the beach and hanging with our friends - Barbara/David and Cindy/Ravi.

Richard and I continue to do many volunteer activities and one very special one was working with the young girls at the local orphanage in SMA teaching them stencil printing - to make holiday cards to sell.
I have been attending a painting class at the Casa de Cultura which is for Mexicans and at the moment (when my friend Marcia is not here) I am the only "gringa". I have worked on a series of 5 paintings of my memories (from photos) of the Camino de Santiago and here are 3 for you to see. I hope to be able to take classes again in the new year.

In October we went to Tolantongo with Barbara and David - fantastic hot springs and aqua blue river about 4 hours from SMA. Again, a great place to relax. We keep discovering that Mexico has so many special places to visit.

August and September were spent getting back into the SMA life - entertaining, Spanish classes, yoga and for me - acting classes. It was a year to attempt a new creative endeavor but not sure that it is for me. I enjoyed a pantomime class and hope to take a series of them in 2013 but the memorizing part of acting is not for me - a little too stressful. I figure if I am going to spend time memorizing - I might as well do it in Spanish for now. I am glad I gave it a try.

Our summer was spent visiting our many friends and family from NC to NY to MA and the usual Vogel gathering at Cape Cod. Since our last gathering in 2012 we have two new family members - Ethan Ginsburg and Hudson Henry Wu. I cannot wait to meet them in July of 2013. I also had a chance to visit with some of my great ol' girlfriends who are living on LI. I love that each year we have a few folks that we have not seen that we can connect with.

As we go forward to 2013 may I take this time to thank all of you who are part of our lives. We are enriched by each person we know and are grateful to travel this life together with you. With love from Ricardo and I.