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This post is for Contessa who asked to see the results of a purchase I made a while back, but I thought others might enjoy seeing how I continue to make my wonderful house my home.

As way of background, I started collecting wall art about 10 years ago. When I moved into Miranda, so did my most precious pieces and those pieces came to Mexico with me. I hung them up when I moved in last year, but they didn’t make a dent in the amount of blank wall space I have in this mini mansion! So I’ve been keeping my eye out for things and have bought a few new pieces by local artists that were well within my budget. But again, they didn’t make a dent in the blank wall space here.

So when a neighbour just up the street posted to our neighbourhood Facebook group five colourful commercial prints for just $100 total (20 pesos each), I promptly swooped in and asked if I could have a closer look. They were not good quality and the frames were cheap, but I loved the images and the bright colours. They would not be “forever” pieces for me, but absolutely perfect for this in-between time of renting.

Before I could hang them, I needed to buy “hooky-things” for them as they didn’t have anything to slide onto a nail in the wall. Finally made it to Home Depot today and they had exactly what I needed, and in a six-pack when I had five pictures, for less than 20 pesos!

First up is this street scene that reminds me of Kotor, Montenegro. Click on all pictures to embiggen to see details!

On the other side of the wall, in the dining room, is my favourite of the five and the one I would have bought if I’d misunderstood and the pictures were $100 each.

This bowl of local fruits definitely has the best colour of the five!

My least favourite of the five has really grown on me. I don’t like the bland background, but those apples are gorgeous!

The final one is pretty but doesn’t evoke an emotional attachment, so I stuck it in the guest bedroom. 🙂

Here are other pieces I’ve hung up.

I traded my lawn mower at Haven for this painting by my neighbour and friend there. I can’t believe that it’s in Mérida after seeing it on her Facebook page and falling in love so hard!

I bought these next two back in March and they finally have homes!

The flamingo was up in my bedroom for a bit, but migrated down to my office where I get to enjoy it all day as my work station faces it. 🙂

The dragonfly required a lot of measuring to hang just right.

Bonus dog pic

I was standing at the front door when I took that picture. Notice that you can see the whole picture when you walk in the door and it’s not blocked by the beam or the hand rail?

Next up are these two dollar-store frames that I picked up in Campbell River way back yonder just to cover holes in my RV walls. I really like them and while they don’t pack as much of a punch again beige walls as they did green, I’m glad I grabbed them when I was at Haven in September. Yep, that’s another dragonfly.

I also hung up this card my best friend Bast sent me when my dad died and which posits a lovely theory.

Perhaps life is but a journey leading to the perfect home

Finally, here’s a macaw parrot I painted with watercolours in 1993!

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I can’t believe I’ve had Bonita eight months already!!!!

Having her here has been a blessing. She was exactly what I needed. And I think I was what she needed too.

We’ve made such strides in our time together. It’s taken this long for her to start to come to me for pets and snuggles and playtime. After all, she’s learning how to be a person’s dog for the first time at twelve. So you can teach an old dog new tricks, but you have to be patient and let it set the pace. I don’t think I’ll ever have a lapdog or one that fetches a ball. But I do have one that’s happy to spend a workday literally curled around my feet, one of hers pressed again my left one, and who wanted pets and cuddles on the couch after my work day more than she wants her supper. Best of all, when I get up in the morning there is someone eager to throw herself into my arms and kiss me and let me know just how much she missed me overnight. My heart is so full and I never expected I would fall in love this hard.

My little administrative assistant.

I wasn’t interested in a dog that was going to be a lot of work — I wanted a companion, not a child. Bonita came to me housebroken, gentle, and non-destructive. All I had to do was teach her that she’s safe here, that she can trust me, that any hurt I cause her is to make her feel better. Just as I took a chance on her, she took a chance on me, and it means so much to me that she’s accepted me as her human.

With her having been an outdoors dog her whole life, she’s perfectly happy being outside if I’m out for the day as she has shelter, water, and a soft place to snooze. So I never have to “run home and let the dog out,” the way that I’d have to with an indoor dog. Therefore, she really doesn’t particularly run my daily schedule. She does make it trickier to get away for longer periods of time, but that was really the whole point of getting a dog, to motivate me to sit still for a bit and not take too much time off work.

With the way business has been the last few years and how my life has stabilised, I am a mere 15 to 18 months away from being debt-free again, as long as I stay the course and, well, stay home and work, at which point so many more options will open up to me. As we say in my mother tongue, c’est un coup à donner. I had never thought I’d have a dog at this stage of my life and it’s turned out to be the stage where momhood of a senior dog makes absolute sense. She’s about 99% the dog I dreamed of and I know that I’m just about exactly the mom the refuge was hoping against hope would come for her. There is such a thing as fate.