My Wedding

I am really very very happy to be married to my husband. My parents flew over from England for what was to be an intimate affair with less than 30 guests. We wanted our wedding to be special but did not want it to turn into a huge production so we decided to get married in a house my parents were to rent on the beach with only family and a few close friends.

The house was amazing and we got married right on the beach. There were some stressful things about organizing the wedding. Actually the fact that it was so small meant that most of the leg work was down to us, but in the end everything worked out perfectly.

My parents arrived on the Sunday before and we collected them from Cancun airport. My parents had met my husband before and already were very taken with him. The weather was unseasonably warm for April which was nice in a way - but a little difficult for my parents who prefer a good hike through the rain in the lake district in England than a day lounging on a tropical beach, dipping in and out of the water!!!! That said, my mother was very brave in the water and was looking very comfortable swimming in the Ocean at the feet of the house by the end of her stay. Next trip snorkeling, and perhaps the trip after scuba?

I'd ordered two sundresses from England back when I lived in New York, one in blue and the other in white. I remember thinking 'I can't wear the white one, it looks like a wedding dress'. I put the dress into a drawer and thought little more about it. As it turned out it worked perfectly for a beach wedding in Mexico, even the embroidery looked a little Mexican in style. Then last October, when I returned to England for a few weeks I bought a veil and a little gold hair grip:

My aunt Jude in England could not make it to the wedding but sent me a little box containing an old gold watch which belonged to my grandmother. I'd not seen the watch in years and holding it in my hand brought images of my grandmother flooding back. We were very close and It meant a lot to have her special watch on my arm on the day of my wedding. I know she would have loved to have been there, and in a way I think she was:

"SOMETHING OLD - my grandmother's watch, SOMETHING NEW - my veil, SOMETHING BORROWED - Allie lent me some diamond earrings, which I think had belonged to her grandmother, SOMETHING BLUE - a blue bead in my locket".

My husband wore a traditional guayabera shirt with a pink rose in its pocket:

A good friend here on the Island, Josie had asked if she could buy my bouquet as a wedding gift. I chose light pink roses and dark pink daisies. It worked perfectly with my dress.

Allie was my bridesmaid and thankfully stayed in Playa Del Carmen for the whole next week, which gave me some time to catch up with her properly and get to know her lovely son Griffin:

A friend Tanya is a wedding photographer and kindly took pictures of us as a wedding gift. She turned up an hour before the wedding and took pictures of us in the house and on the beach:

I walked onto the beach with my dad who handed me over gladly to my husband. I think my dad has been waiting to give me away for a very long time and he was very happy, especially since the bright sun gave him an excuse to wear a hat for the occasion (my dad likes to wear hats!).

My new nephews, Alex and Jesus gave readings from the Gospel of St John:

My yoga teacher, spiritual guide and friend Selene conducted part of the service with a beautiful meditation on love. This was a very special part of the wedding for me as I meditate in a group with Selene twice a week and these meditations and my yoga have been an integral part of my really finding myself since I came to Cozumel.

We were married a little after 6, by Fr. John Skivington, a priest from England who'd married my parents years ago, and we think christened me (but no one can really remember this). He gave us the cross in his hands as a gift (it will have pride of place on our terrace when the house is built!).

It was wonderful for me that my special friends Cat, Hans and Allie were able to make it to the wedding from Germany and the States as well as Sophia from Playa Del Carmen and Josie from the Island.

Another good friend on the Island, Monica gave us our cake as her wedding present. My mam had ordered beach wedding figures in outfits which matched mine and hubby's:

We were given lots of generous gifts from friends in the US, England and here on the Island. We're enjoying some beautiful cotton bedding, new glasses and plates and are looking forward to sleeping on a new mattress that we have ordered with all of the $$ gifts. Most of the money we received will go towards building our new home. Thank you all so much for your generosity - it was lovely to know that friends and family were thinking of us even though they could not make it to the wedding. I also wanted to say that it was very difficult limiting the number of people we invited. There were many people who we would have loved to have had there but the numbers would have gotten out of hand and our little intimate gathering would have turned into a crazy party. I hope no one is offended by their lack of invite, there were many of you who we would have loved to share our day with. That said, I found it difficult to speak to all of the people who did make it to the wedding and I have no idea how brides manage to pass the time with all of their guests when they invite 100's of people!

It was especially nice to have my parents and brother there for the whole week of our wedding as we were really able to spend time with them - I think it also allowed them to get a real sense of our feelings for each other which hopefully made them feel a little happier about the fact that their daughter was to marry a Mexican and settle on a continent some 8 hour flying distance from home.

How does it feel to be married - well pretty much the same as it felt just living together. I feel very loved and secure. He is one of the most honest and kind people I have ever met, he's my best friend and he brings out the best aspects of me. Our marriage brought about a subtle change, in that our bond feels a little tighter. Its nice to make vows to each other in front of family and friends. It also feels nice to wear his ring on my finger and see him wearing mine.

Circus in town

Once a year or so the circus visits Cozumel. I used to love the circus when I was a little girl and even in Mexico the circus smells and sounds the same. The sawdust, candy, animals, big top. I tend to have a bit of a fascination with circus folk. Mystics, wanderers, they all set my imagination alive. And the animals; I remember being thrilled at elephants, lions, tigers and miniature horses. Even now as an adult I can't help feeling a little bit of childlike excitement walking past the circus.

Now though, as with so many things as an adult, I also see the badness in the circus, and in particular the way these magnificent animals are treated. In England and also I think America now the use of exotic animals in traveling circuses is prohibited. If it were not I would boycott them in the same way I boycott Sea World and the two dolphin discovery parks here in Mexico.

Sadly here in Mexico there is no such protection for big exotic animals. The circus travels in grueling heat with, from what I could make out, 20 tigers, 5 or 6 lions, jaguars, leopards, cougars, monkeys, camels, horses - well over 100 animals kept in tiny cages. I've never been to the circus as an adult, but on Sunday we were parking to go to the supermarket when BF noticed the animals cages at the end of the parking lot. We wondered over to see what was going on and found truck loads of animals packed in metal cages, on trucks, parked out in the blistering sun. I was overheated on the street and I was wearing a little sundress - imagine this heat in a fur coat. I'm always armed with a camera on Sundays to catalog the house progress so I snapped a few shots of what we saw.

These lions were collapsed on the floor of their 10' x 4' cage. The big guy's mane was all matted with sweat and the tiger, below, was lying on his back with his tong out, panting like crazy in an effort to cool down. In fairness they were all given water and seemed in fair health (in that their fur seemed healthy and they were not skin and bone). But how sad to see such grand animals trapped in such meagre conditions.

Despite being saddened by their plight, I must admit that it was amazing to see these animals so close up. The lions reminded me of my cats Bigsy and Bets snuggled up together and this tiger looks like he's waiting for a belly rub. I guess its this cuteness, together with the thrill of the fact that they are actually quite powerful killing machines which is such a crowd puller. I'm not sure what can be done to stop this. I'm sure there are animal rights organizations here in Mexico, and hopefully the world will continue to wake up to the fact that we should treat animals with respect. In the meantime I will continue to boycott such places and to air my view on animal captivity whenever I think I might be in a position to dissuade someone from swimming with dolphins.

The foundations are underway...

Well its over 3 months since we finished our wall and that is pretty much the time it has taken to get planning permission and water connected to the land. Last week though, we were eventually able to make a start on the foundations. The rectangle you can see will be our downstairs bathroom. Between that and the front wall will be the living room and small study. The photo was taken from what will be the kitchen. A few months could see a lot of progress on the ground floor of the house. One of our favorite topics of conversations is how we will finish each room. We get ideas for decorating everywhere we go.

BF's brother has made good progress on the doors he's making for the front of the property. He's just finished the walk in gate and added a black iron mesh to the windows in the top of the car port gates.

The water Meter has been connected

All systems go (provided someone does not manage to steal it before we get a Iron mesh over the meter hole this weekend).

I have a pretty highly developed patience level. I account this to years of working with a colorful crew, teaching scuba diving and a genuine effort on my part to be more chilled. Lately though, my patience has been resembling despair when it comes to the commencement of building work on our house. We finished the wall around our property in 2009 and it has taken a full 3 months to get the water connected so that we can start building our house.

Anyway it is looking like the builder will be able to get started on our foundations next week. I am very cautiously excited about being able to see the outline of our ground floor soon!!!!

House Updates

BF's brother is making a really good job of our doors. This picture is of one of the car port doors. They are 7' tall. Tonight he was adding an iron lattice to the windows at the top and we're going to paint them this weekend.

The saga with the water company continues. After months of waiting we were eventually connected, but that very same day our meter was stolen. We've had to pay for a new meter to replace this BUT that still has not been put on. Its very frustrating because this is the only thing stopping us from going ahead with our foundation. Hopefully things will be resolved by next week. We are also going to fit some iron bars over the water meter cubby hole so that it can't be stolen.

Some progress at last!!!!!

So for the first time this year things are moving again on the house building front. BF's brother is a carpenter and has been building doors for the front of our property. He's made two frames for the car port gate. I think the frames must be the most difficult part. All that needs to be done now is fill the bottom half of the gate with solid wood and the top with iron lattice work. Obviously we'll then be finishing the doors well. On sunday we tried them for size against the wall. There are some parts of the gates which will need to be shaved and other parts of the wall which will need to be chipped back, but we should end up with nice solid doors which reach within an inch of the ground and arch of the car port.

I like the way the gates are coming along. BF designed them and I think his brother has done a really nice job. The rocks that you see piled on the land are what the builders will be using to start the foundations of the house. We are still waiting for the water company to hook us up to the mains. We need water for the builders to mix their cement. 'Other people' have just used water from the mains without a contract to mix their cement but some have been fined for this and we don't want to risk that. Hopefully we should have water within the week and the foundations can begin. This will be exciting as we will really be able to see how the house is going to feel.

We have planning permission!!!!!

We received planning permission from City Hall to start building our house last week. Rocks for the foundations will be delivered this week and I'm told that our Valentines Day will be spent carrying all of these boulders inside of the property:) I guess our builder will start to dig the foundations next week and then we'll really be able to get a feel for the size of the house. All Very Exciting. Pictures to follow...