Sunday, August 24, 2008

The right place at the right time



It is not unusual to encounter moments of breathtaking beauty here, and we were lucky to come across one this afternoon. This baby iguana posed just inside our front gate atop a blooming bird of paradise...what a wonder he is, with his long, delicate fingers and long, subtly-ringed tail. With luck, he'll grow up to be a 4-5 foot long adult, like the ones we enjoy watching in our big mimosa tree, and who herald both the sunset and the dawn with their whistling...

Friday, August 01, 2008

Puff Earns Her Wings.....

When we came to Mexico, we brought our two cats, Puff and Polo. They endured 12 hours in their carriers, and when they were finally released, they found a whole new world. They loved their new world, especially Puff. She developed an uncanny facility for tracking down and catching the enormous cockroaches that lived around the condo we rented in Vallarta. And when we moved to Bucerias, her hunting prowess extended to little field mice and lizards. She had a wonderful life, enjoying the warmth of Mexico.

Puff's Mexican adventure has come to an end. She was (we think) about 15 years old, and for the past few months, her age had begun to show. She was having trouble eating, and Dr. Wenceslao carefully cleaned her teeth and removed the few that were abscessed. He discovered a small bony growth on her jaw that he suspected was a tumor, and it grew rapidly. Finally, she could barely open her mouth, and I had to feed her by hand. It was time to say goodbye.

Her passage was gentle, thanks to Wenceslao. When it was done, we asked him "how much?" and he shook his head, tears in his eyes. "No charge for Puff."

The picture above is a tribute to brave Puff, as a merkitty, watching over her brothers and ready to rescue Polo from the giant squid.