living in place

"Where are you off to now?"

It was a Canadian friend I had not seen for almost a year. He had just arrived in Barra de Navidad and was convinced that I must have some exotic trip planned. Winter is usually when I leave Mexico to explore new places.

But not this year. With the exception of two more trips to Oregon in the next three months to help Mom and a Vancouver to Tokyo cruise planned for September, my dance card is empty.

He was surprised to hear that I had grounded myself. Or, rather, that the virus had. 

When he asked if that bothered me, I thought for a moment and honestly answered: "No. I have plenty to keep me amused staying around this area of Mexico. I spend most of my time in my house on the patio or in the pool."

I thought about that conversation this morning while eating breakfast and reading the newspaper on the patio. As much as I enjoy travel, I have come to appreciate the simple pleasures of my life here.

I bought the house with no name almost exclusively because I liked its Barragánesque design. Simplicity. Introverted. And those glorious straight lines that create the myth that life is more ordered than it is. With my green tea and those lines highlighted in the morning light, I could almost imagine myself in Tokyo -- or Madrid.

If the current vaccine program turns out to be as effective as the scientists are predicting and the public is hoping, it is not unlikely that I will be sailing from the shores of Vancouver to Hokkaido in just over nine months.

Until then, I can (and will) be content with the simple pleasures of my patio.