Last month I joined the Lake Chapala Garden Club. This is a really cool organization. For only $100 MXN pesos a year (or about $6 USD), I get to tour a beautiful new property every month. Afterwards, we meet at La Nueva Posada to have lunch and learn about gardening. The drinks (though not all) are two-for-one and the pear salad is especially good.
Last month, I was thrilled to win a wind sock from a lucky raffle ticket. I ran home (after my two sangrías) trailing it behind me like a kite. This month was even better! The topic was topiary and I charged into the live auction and won an adorable little bear that was sculpted on site by the presenter. I named him “Chewy.” Not only is he shaped like a gummy bear, but Chewy is a pretty popular name down here so it seemed to fit.
I also made two new friends named Judy and Myrna, and lucky for me, Myrna offered to drive me and “Chewy” home. He’s planted in a nice clay pot which was a little too heavy to carry a couple of miles. It was a wonderful day! Thank you Lake Chapala Garden Club and my new friend Myrna. Hard to beat.
Below are a couple of the locations I’ve gotten to visit this year. As you can see, the properties are pretty impressive. Every month I look forward to seeing a new property and learning about flowers and plants. It’s definitely one of the best clubs I’ve ever joined!
1) This property is only a few blocks away and Ryan and I walk past it all the time. I was thrilled to get to go inside and see what was hiding behind the gates. It was gorgeous!
2) This property was almost downtown and you never would have known how big it was from the outside.
3) So, we don’t generally get to do inside the homes, but on this occasion we did. This is my DREAM house. (You can tell I was a little more interested in the house than the gardens…)
4) This one had all kinds of fun stuff to find! It had a wonderful homey feeling and the people who owned it were especially nice.
5) By a lucky coincidence I’d already gotten to see this property. Judy invited me to stop by after one of our Garden Club meetings while she was house-sitting. It was even more beautiful the second time!
