Recent Galleries And Links

This week, besides watching the stock market doing aerial displays of falling leafs and low-level bombing, the real business of selling my house has begun. Now that the first potential buyer came by I feel that the process is begun, the die cast, the decision made irrevocably.

Check out the listing for the property as a B&B on the Mexico International site.

This agency feels the casita, the small house on the property that was for a worker-family and could be rental units or a pool house, is a selling point. They may be right and repairs continued today with a crew of masons patching, a good scrubbing begins tomorrow and the windows will soon be replaced and all the plumbing modernized for the two very small bathrooms.



Photo of the Medusa Nebula from APOD © Don Goldman at Astrodon.

NEW GALLERY SERIES: I began a new set of gallery pages called HPOD for Howard's Picture of the Day after NASA's APOD, the astronomical picture of the day -- one of the greatest websites on the Net.

The first two pages with one picture on each are of a sexy tuliapan flower and last night's When Tree Frogs Sing The Blues.



As the weather (even here in the tropics) begins to cool for winter, swimming becomes a bit harder, wet suits need to be worn, and the exercise becomes harder. There is walking where it is safe and practical and there is the home gym idea to keep the heart muscle pumping, the body in motion, the brain in gear.

Check out the ProForm site for fitness equipment. The site is straightforward and the equipment of high quality. It is sold on-line and from major retailers.

HPOD - Picture of the Day

Check out the first of my Pictures of the Day (20 Nov 2007) on a separate gallery page from 7 Color Lagoon.com. I will never actually mount one daily or even close. But it is a nice presentation and the workflow will get faster as times goes on.


Flowers
Gardens
Mexico

HPOD

Howard's Photo of the Day

Tuliapan, Bacalar, Mexico


Flowers
Mexico

The Reality And The Dream

Is the condo boom of South Florida real or a counterfeit version of life amid luxury in a tropical version of the American Dream? Photo ©Howard Dratch, 2007.

SOBE, South Beach, Miami Beach in what was once the tropical dream, Miami. Here the ship passes the southern tip of the barrier island that has become an urban playground, the center of the lure of the Sun Belt and the America-land theme park of the Caribbean, Central and South American worlds. Here is land's end, what was what was left of the island as island rather than urban development.

Here in Bacalar such things are beginning to happen albeit on a tiny level. This week a real, full-size Caterpillar bulldozer began its dozing across the cove on what had been a pretty piece of land with an abandoned house begun years ago with walls and roof, no floor or windows. The land is being leveled for a building site and rumor (chisme) along the coast road is that it will be "condos". Condos in Mexico could mean a skyscraper or four apartments. Bacalar is not Miami. It is not America.

Hopefully the mortgage crisis which has widened so far and begun to affect other industries and economies, will not stop the growth (the sale of my house is really what is on my mind) and prices of the last vestiges of Mexico's Caribbean coast. Mahajual on the Xcalak penisula near here is now called "The Costa Maya" and is rebuilding after Hurricane Dean's direct hit and devastation. The state government has earmarked large sums (really large in pesos) to rebuild a planned Mahajual as a tourist destination. Bacalar is considered part of this plan.



Sterling Silver version of a "Tiffany inspired" ring for $22 on-line.

Looking at condos and apartments, thinking of cities where I might live there is always the real and the dream and the lines are blurred. A designer jewelry on-line catalog caught my interest. They have many "designer" items that are designer inspired jewelry. Which is to say that they sell copies of luxuriously designed items which may be in less precious materials. ("Is it real - or is it Quanta Bella? Only you will know.......") The prices are highly attractive, as are some of the pieces. I was taken with this mesh ring of stainless steel mesh.

Taser Stories Continue

Disclosure: I have sold my stake in TASR. It is a strong company with a product in demand and is surely in a growth industry. At some point I may even buy one of their new consumer models (they come in colors) but it is also a potentially dangerous or deadly weapon in the wrong hands. Too often the police seem to be the ones who have the "wrong hands".

The Offer, The Hunt, The Big Steps

As selling my house on Laguna Bacalar in Mexico ( see the photo gallery on my site) begins to gather steam, my hunt to sell, perhaps then buy, real estate is somewhat different than the US equivalent. In the middle I shall have to move countries and that is no small decision nor chore. For now I continue to use real estate sites on the 'Net to get an idea of what is available to rent in the US or in Merida. The sites with the best pictures and most information win. It is almost like getting to visit -- almost -- when the pictures are used at least vaguely well.

Since Miami-Dade County is one greatest possibilities in the US, the sub-prime mortgage crisis and credit squeeze will be a blessing for me in either renting or buying. Miami is one of the bubbles that burst but remains a livable city with an aura of fun about it. Lower prices will help since living in America requires waking up in the American Dream just to survive.

In the US, Canada, Puerto Rico and, of all places, Portugal, GMAC real estate offers Premiere Service agents and offers its Elegant Homes like this California beauty for 3.5 million dollars -- not pesos.

Forbes recently listed so many places hit worst by the mortgage debacle that are now more affordable choices for retirees. We shall see how long I remain here, how long it takes to sell and how easy it is to move countries yet again.

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Some Jewels To Adorn

In reality my use of jewelry is small and my use of it the same. But for many it is something of beauty, a statement of character and appeal as well as the diversification of wealth. Here in Mexico, considering the great trust earned by the banking system, gold jewelry is far more than adornment. It is the bank account that is pretty and worn, protected on your person from the insecurity of the financial systems.

For some it is the deposit of value for the very rainy day, the one when the financial system has failed, when the revolution has come and swept away all your possessions and accounts.



I chose a titanium bracelet for the illustration because titanium is on my mind this week. It is a pretty metal, not so precious, that is a necessity in more and more technological products and is growing its appeal as jewelry as well. On a financial note I recently invested in a Titanium production company, TIE which looked great in its numbers -- and still does -- but showed flat earnings for the quarter, took my little investment in its shares and fell dramatically. It has begun to recover and my choice was probably good, my timing lousy. We shall see what the volatile future in the Market brings this season.

Staying Home While Traveling

A condo vacation rental from Lowery's Vacation Rentals, www.moremouse.com

It is twice now that I have sublet apartments in Miami while traveling there for medical visits and procedures. The two condos I rented for 2 weeks (in January) and a month this past September were totally different but both served their purpose.

The first purpose was, of course, to save money. Hotels are for a day, weekend, week. Past that point they are expensive and I would be paying for things that would have begun to annoy me. The restaurant in the lobby of most of the hotels in my price range can be wonderful on a dark and rainy night when I am too tired to leave the hotel but are usually on the Howard Johnsons gourmet scale. Exception: The Biscaya at the Ritz-Carlton in Coconut Grove -- one of my favorite restaurants in the world. Good to delicious, simple foods available (grilled salmon with perfect asparagus, perfectly colorful salad and the world's best fruit sorbet), gentle classical music to sooth the savage beast waiting for dinner, and perfect service.

My last apartment gave me a relatively comfortable refuge following a difficult surgery where I had stored food-stuff and drinks, had a separate bedroom in which to curse surgeons and a nice kitchen to keep myself fed at minimal cost.

The same factors would be relevant for the vacationing family group. Why pay for multiple rooms or suffer the indignities of sharing with children when a condo or house fully fitted out is waiting to give you refuge at less cost than the confines of a hotel room or rooms. Spread out, relax, make yourself at home, then vacation.

Visitors to Florida, especially those family groups with children tend to head for Orlando and the world of the mouse. For them there would be an Orlando rental home.

On The Road To Malibu

It was more than 20 years ago we decided to check out living in LA, re-settling my photography work where things happen more quickly than in the older world of the East. Or so I thought. Photography went well enough for me at the time and it looked to be a place where work would come in. But a little Rodeo Drive and the cost of housing made it clear that the Hudson Valley would be where we would land again -- and did.

Malibu and Santa Monica, Venice beach and Harry who was the Rasta-man in white robes on skates who we hung with were my memories of LA. Malibu and it canyons and the Pacific looking beautiful we ended up living in Laguna Beach for a time but Laguna is not the City, not L.A. and not quite real. Also expensive!



You can do, in L.A. in Malibu drug rehabs in the L.A., Malibu, Rodeo Drive style. Get over the craving (or the giving in to it) while being surrounded by beauty with the Pacific in the distance and surroundings that hardly seem like a gritty movie about wild-eyed addicts. This is the stuff of therapy in style, reinforcement in surroundings that are fitting for recoveries.

Tickets To Big Ball Games

If your tastes run to football games in the fall and you like the Cowboys tickets-- they are playing at the Texas Stadium in Irving, Texas; have I got a web site for you. NFL, MLB, NBA,Hockey, NCAA Football, NASCAR Racing (even I can enjoy car racing), tennis and even wrestling tickets are waiting. There is even an email newsletter to sign up for that will deliver news about your favorite team regularly.

There was the trip last January to the US, to Miami, when I neglected to look up when and where the Superbowl would be. Yes! That piece of ignorance gave me troubles since it turned out the whole world was coming to Miami just when I needed a place to stay until my apartment was ready. All of a sudden all rooms were booked, blocks of rooms, loads of fans. Travelers should stay aware of everything scheduled for their destination and itinerary.

Ten years ago as we left my old home town of Tampa towards the west or south west or Mexico or wherever we ended up, the stretche into New Orleans became clogged with cars waving team penants, drunk college students and fan hordes and, again, New Orleans was full up, the choice of hotels limited by reservations by fans of the Sugar Bowl. Another piece of ignorance. I never take the extreme interest of many in ball games and the effect it can have. In reverse the fans have to fight for their tickets and travel plans. This site helps with the tickets part.