Janet Lowe

Home to Oregon and then Philly

I had an unexpected call from my sister Sunday saying that my father (photo above of Mom and Dad a year ago) was not doing very well.  He had been in hospital for several days with congestive heart failure, but the doctors got that under control. His 87th birthday is Wednesday, so I am making this trip to help my Mom and sister.  I  plan to stay a couple weeks with them, then join Jim in Philadelphia where he has annual doctor appointments.

Vegetable paintings

What I really needed was practice painting, so I began this series of vegetable and fruit paintings. They were set up as still lifes in a corner of my studio where the horizontal window panes cast shadows onto the table. These were fun, quick studies, usually finished in a single sitting. They are oil on watercolor paper, about 11″ X 14″. As my confidence built I painted more complex images, slightly larger and one actually on canvas. 

Each photo can be enlarged by clicking once on it, then again to make it larger.

Peanut Pet Shelter in Playa del Carmen, Mexico

Andy and Jenn, a British couple, have established a pet shelter at their home across the highway in Playa del Carmen called the Peanut Pet Shelter. They take in dogs that have been abandoned on the streets, rescue dogs from situations where they are being mistreated, and accept unwanted puppies. Adoptions are free, inoculations are up to date, and most dogs have been neutered. There are often almost 50 dogs there, ranging from large to small, pure-bred to mutt, and everything in between. 

A new kennel is under construction on the property next door which they have leased. This will include covered shelters, a run for the dogs, and an area for the puppies where school children will be invited to visit. The project is expected to cost $10,000 - $12,000 US. Donations are always welcome and generous donors will be commemorated on the front wall. The website is: www.playadelcarmenpets.com.

A talent show fundraiser for the shelter is planned for the end of July. It will be held at Bad Boys Bar on the beach between Calle 2 and 4. Any person or group can enter an act including singing, dancing, playing an instrument, a funny skit, magic, lip syncing, stand-up comedy, juggling, or strip-tease. Each person or group needs at least 500 pesos ($50) in sponsorship. A DVD will be made of the evening and will be available for sale. Also, a T-shirt is planned with something like: “I did it for the dogs.”  All proceeds will go to the Pet Shelter.

Every Saturday afternoon the shelter welcomes volunteers for dog washing. A tub is permanently installed in the yard where two or three dogs at a time are washed with flea and tick repellant shampoos, handed to a person for drying, then released to shake, run and often roll in the dirt and wood chips of the yard. Sometimes there are children present, tourists stop in who have read about the shelter on the web, and many faithful ex-patriots and Mexican citizens arrive for an afternoon of dog loving.

This is Freddie, an 8 or 9 year old cocker spaniel that Jim and I adopted from the shelter in March. He doesn’t see very well, but he does love to dig in the garden. Jim fell in love with him on his first visit to the shelter and three days later he was ours. We love him and have truly found man’s best friend.

Grocery Shopping in Mexico

We have just returned from grocery shopping, a semi-weekly event, walking together to the market and lugging home plastic bags that cut off the circulation to our fingers.  I wanted to share the prices with those of you in the North:

Zanahorias (6 carrots)          $.26

Mangoes 2                           $.62

Bananas  4                           $.60

Zuccini squash 6                  $.52

Limes  6                               $.18

Watermelon half                 $2.01

Lettuce                                $.62

Garlic 4 bulbs                     $. 88

Fish fillets 2                       $2.75

Chorizo sausages  6          $2.97

Canned tuna                       $.88

Fresh bakery rolls and bread     $2.70

Cheese    215 g                $2.30

Mole sauce  500 ml          $1.07

Pineapple juice  1 litre      $1.09

Milk   1 litre                      $1.16

Huevos (dozen eggs)        $1.58

Xpu Ha for music, the beach and Tai Chi

Sunday, June 8, with a very, very grey sky, we took a colectivo south about 20 minutes from Playa del Carmen to Xpu Ha. None of the six of us had been there before, so when the driver dropped us on the highway at the Xpu Ha Palace Hotel we thought we had arrived. The hotel is an all inclusive resort so we were not allowed in without a bracelet. The guard said the road we wanted was 700 meters down the highway so we started walking. Part of the party decided this was not good and got a taxi to take them directly to the beach, but Jim and I found a private road we walked down that ended at a deserted mini golf course and the beach. There were several dogs throughly enjoying the beach, a couple swimmers, and several fishing boats anchored off a beautiful stretch of white sand. We walked to the only restaurant and asked if this was where there would be music. They assured us the band was arriving and would begin in half an hour. My Tai Chi teacher, Joseph, plays the steel drum with the band, and hearing him was part of my incentive to go there. We found the rest of our party already seated at the restaurant and all settled down to lunch. A little later we were joined by Susan and Adrianna, fellow members of the Tai Chi class, who had driven down. If one comes by the “marked” road, each person pays 25 pesos and receives a wrist band which can be cashed in for face value at the restaurant. I ordered Nachos con Camarones (shrimp with corn chips, refried beans, cheese, jalapeno peppers and salsa on the side) and Jim got a hamburger. Then…. the music began.

It was wonderful! Soon Susan and I were up dancing with a group of people from Chetumal who simply could not remain seated. They were having way too much fun, so we joined them for some very energetic movements and lots of smiles and high fives. The band took a break and went swimming in the sea, while the three of us Tai Chi students practiced this fine art of movement on the beach. A good time was had by all.

Hand Paintings

In September, 2007 I really began missing working clay with my hands and started this series about my hands and how important they are. These paintings are larger, 22″ X 14″, also oil on gessoed water color paper.  By then I had begun studying Spanish in ernest and was beginning to think in Spanish, so there is language on each of them. My hands wanted texture, so there is lots of scratching through the paint.

Gallery of Early Paintings in Mexico

I am a little humble about showing my fledgling paintings done during the first few weeks here in Mexico last summer, but here goes. I started with impressions of the lush foliage that is almost everywhere. These are all oil on gessoed water color paper, about 11″ X 14″.

Yoga and Tai Chi in Paradise

Just before we went back to Philly for New Years, I met a Canadian woman, Susan. She is about my age and told me she was practicing yoga and Tai Chi here in Playa del Carmen. When I returned, I attended a class with her at Palapa Suuk, a large, open, palapa covered room on the third floor of a hotel located on Calle 46 and Ave. 5. The young woman who instructs, Melanie, is from Texas, living here now and teaching yoga in the morning and English in the afternoon. She is inspired. I have never had two classes alike, yet I have stretched every muscle in my body (even eyeballs). Sometimes the classes are in Spanish which is also helpful. The price is right: $50 US a month for unlimited class attendance, of which her sessions are only a few on the extensive schedule.

For the Spring Solstice there was a celebration at Palapa Suuk with 80 or 100 people doing a series of postures called Sun Salutations. We were led by the four teachers from the center and attempted to finish 108 of these series of postures. There were people of all sizes and shapes, various ages, and multiple nationalities. I must admit I stopped somewhere in the middle to rest, but continued on and finished with sweat dripping from my nose.

I first saw Tai Chi in Geneva, Switzerland on a trip around Europe. The bus pulled in early in the morning and passed a shaded park where at least 30 people were practicing in unison the magic of Tai Chi. I have thought often of that image and when the opportunity arose here, I jumped at it. Our teacher, Joseph, is a musician and martial arts instructor. There are often only 3 or 4 of us in class. We begin with more than half the class time spent stretching in exercises of patience and endurance. Then the moves begin. I have been pleasantly surprised that the moves do flow. Remembering sequence has been a challenge, but we go slowly adding just a few new moves every week.

Together, these practices have opened not only the tightness of my muscles, but also my heart.

Mayan Ceremony

It has finally begun to rain here. Having grown up on the Oregon coast, where it rained almost continually, I never thought I would be so happy to feel rain on my face. The parks were parched, the streets had begun to smell, the air was hot and humid, but now we can breathe freely. I spent a couple hours today on the beach celebrating an enactment of a Mayan ritual in praise of Ix Chel, goddess of the moon, the tides and fertility. This tradition, which disapperared with the arrival of the Spanish, was recreated this weekend after 500 years. 

The enactment was manifest by rituals in Xcaret, Cozumel and finally Playa del Carmen and linked by dug out canoes, paddled across the sea from site to site. Only three of the 30 canoes arrived in the rough sea of Playa from about 12:30 - 1:30 pm. One held six men, the other two held two women and two men each. The wind was blowing hard and rain was falling. Five women in flowing burnt orange dresses stood on the beach awaiting the arrivals. Tents had been erected for the families of those handling the canoes. Behind, further up the beach, was an area prepared for the ritual. 

The ceremony began with flute music accompanying male dancers with long hair and gourds atop their heads. The crowd of perhaps 50 canoe paddlers crouched before them. Soon they were joined by young men and women with mud dried on their faces. Ritualistic dances continued and were joined by drumming. The canoe people were welcomed and filtered through palapa huts constructed behind. Finally a very pregnant woman in a blue dress was brought forward. A few if the young women climbed on the shoulders of the young men and water was poured from gourds in front of the pregnant woman.

It was all rather wonderful, but by 2:00 pm I was soaking wet. Several friends were still present, but I decided to make my way home about four blocks from the beach.