The new cabana at InHisWill

3 BR - 1 Bath - Sleeps 6-10

 

All treated lumber and steel roof/siding - - low maint!

Hand crafted septic tank - READY TO GO!!!!





Another Day at Los Tambos - - -

Lunch at the Miranda's

Central American Soup - Lots of veggies I can't identify??

What the heck is CHO-CHO?????

 

 

 

 

                                                 How 'bout this guy - he will eat anything -

                                                               THIS IS REALLY GOOD!!!!



 I ate the cho-cho and still don't have a clue??

 

 

 

                                                   Felix' new baby - 4 months old today!!

 

 



The old suspension bridge needed a repair job

With some help from the boys at the school - - -

It's ready for a few more years of fun!!!!!!

A gift from someone special to someone special............

This is Mrs. Lima, we have known she and her family for several years.
She has two sons, one graduated a couple years ago, the other will
be graduating this year. Their daughter Adis attended the sewing classes and the
father pulled our van out of the mud a few years back. So you see we have a
little history.
Mrs. Lima loves to sew and has sewn for many years but a couple years ago
she had to have her leg removed because of diabetes.
In the past she used a treadle machine so for a couple of years she hasn't been able to sew.
An anonymous donor gave us money and asked us to use it as we saw fit.
We found a brand new portable Brother - straight stitch and zigzag machine for
her and now she is back in business.

As they say "a picture is worth a thousand words".





 

21 quilts all finished! Good Job ladies! This was a great thing to witness.
All the work and how all of the ladies helped each other. One of the
students had a child that was ill and missed a couple classes
so the other ladies worked on her quilt so she would get finished
with the others.
We had two students who started their quilts later and needed extra help
 so some of the other ladies jumped on it and helped
catch them up.
There was a lot of hooting, hollaring and enjoying the time
together.

    



Our 2013 graduating class! Along with a few extra children including
Joe.
Look at all those babies! I think we had seven total plus the toddlers.

 Here are two of our younger students checking out the fabric samples.

 This little one is enjoying her momma's quilt. It sure beats that hard
concrete floor.

I thought I would take a break with the kids. I thought if I joined the
baby corner no one would find me.

Here is yet another little one enjoying the comforts of a quilt made
by Gladys Tastad and her husband Larry.

 Now isn't this little guy just the cutest thing you've ever seen!? Love the hat!!!
He wore it all day. Whew........I was sweating and he had a hat
on suited for the North Pole.

 Sweet, sweet babies. The mothers took care of each others children as needed.

 Now here we are having a banana party! As you can see they are just
hanging out.....not bothering anyone.

This little one lived next door and kept popping in from time to time.
He probably wondered what all the noise was about or just came for the
bananas.

This little one had the biggest most beautiful eyes. Always dressed up
like she was going to a party. Her mother is in the background working
on her quilt.
 

                                         Gonzalez's house on Thursday evening after supper. Clear the table
                                         and set up the machine and we are ready to roll. This is the only
                                         machine we took with us. It was donated and in route it took a hit.
                                         Broke the pulley for the belt. Deitrich our sewing machine repair
                                         man fixed it.
                                         Ms Thomisita has two daughters that were also eager to learn to sew.
                                         Each of them made a smaller quilt of their own.

                                         Lunch on Saturday........Chicken, rice and beans a plate so full it could
                                         feed an army. Suyapa is a very good cook. Makes the best corn
                                         cake! And she does a good job of sewing too. Suyapa has a
                                         treadle machine unfortunately she was using a piece of elastic for the
                                         belt. Once again our man Deitrich came to the rescue.

                                         Yara, Alba and Blanco are helping Ms Rosa with
                                         her quilt. Who by the way did an outstanding job
                                         on her quilt. I think she's done quilting before.

                                         Ms. Maribel.........so happy to be in the final stages of finishing.
                                         We ended up borrowing machines to help expidite the process so
                                         we could finish. Most quilts are all hand work on the front. The border
                                         finish and the back were sewn together with the machine.

                                         The last step............making ties to hold the front of the quilt to
                                         the back of the quilt. AND fellowship

                                         Suyapa as she finished her quilt. Happy!!! then she
                                         went on to make pillow shams to match!

Lots of happy ladies........................more later

Back home safe - We arrived at McGee - Tyson at 7:30pm. this evening.  Back in town..............it could be a little warmer but it's home sweet home.
I am looking forward to posting pictures tomorrow. We were able to finish all 21 quilts. I have many pictures and a lot of awesome memories from teaching that class.

Sewing classes - When we were planning the sewing classes we said we would limit the class to 15.......well ......21 is close to 15.....right? We have 21 ladies with 19 quilts to finish before we come home on Wednesday. Most of them are in the finishing stages so most will finish tomorrow. It has been an awesome experience.  Suyapa Gonzales (Rosalinda's Mother) was one who joined the class on Friday.  I had picked up some additonal sewing supplies so everyone would have at least what they needed. When we handed her a pair of scissors and told her they were her's to keep the expression on her face was priceless. All of the ladies are so grateful for the opportunity to take the classes and we have had great attendance everyday. All of the ladies have stayed all day long.

The Gonzales ranch - Thursday night and Friday night - we are able to get additional sewing lessons for Ms Thomosita and her daughters in the evenings. All of this has been quiet an experience. Tomorrow evening we will work with Mrs. Miranda to help her with machine maintenance.

Thursday..............................Sunday.....so much has happened too little time to blog.

                                     The cabana that Joe has been working on

                                             Ladies hard at work - the first day

                                                One of the MANY babies that joined our class
                                                Sleeping on a quilt that Joe's aunt had made.

                                            Young and old turned out to have fun.

                                            These three were the trouble makers in the class
                                             they were always having way to much fun.

                                          I made the mistake of saying I liked coconut water so
                                          Joe brought 26 coconuts for refreshments

Another little one enjoying one of the quilts that

Joe's aunt made and sent.

 

So many things have happened in the last few days. Not enough time to share it all. I hope the pictures tell some of the story.

We don't know if we will get to blog again before we leave on Wednesday but we will be having

dinner at Hodie's on Tuesday night and then again to the Cayo Twist, Whoo hooo!

Joe's entry - - -
Linda has kept you informed of most of her activities and some of what I have been doing - but I thought I would add to it - - - -

Most of the first week was occupied doing work on the new cabana - steel siding, cutting in and framimg windows, building beds, rough-in plumbing and the most fun of all was building a septic tank (8x8x5) and drain field.  I don't think I want to do another one for a few days.

I was not much help when it came to the sewing classes so I found other things to do in Los Tambos. The Ganzales family had some runaway sheep so we spent one day moving a fence.  The 100 yards of fence would not have been bad but this was the only day that got into the 90's.  Another day we spent helping one of the village guys add steel siding ot his new house. Another new experience - none of the siding was new or straight!!!!

As always there were things to do around the school too! The chain bridge in the playground needed a major overhaul.  Windows and doors needed the usual repairs as well.  And just so Tom McD doesn't feel left out - I did repairs to about a dozen desks  - - - - but there will be more when you get here.

More later  and we will post some photos of some of the work we did.  OH YES - - - - almost forgot about the the mountain lion that took one of the Ganzalez sheep during one of the nights we spent at their house.  Good thing Linda did not hear about that until a couple days later - - -

Dinner at Miranda's tomorrow evening and while the ladies are doing their lunch at sewing class I hope to go to the Montano's and meet the Mr. for lunch.

As usual, the time is going fast and our stay is almost over!