J.D. Ware, Artesano

''Hecho A Mano''...... Made by hand.

There is just something about those three words that tells you that what you are looking at is something special. In Mexico, it can be something as simple and satisfying as a good cigar or as complex as a finely woven Yucatecan hammock. Here, a lot of things are ''Hecho A Mano''.

We first met Jeff Ware at the AANY Show last year in Mérida. He had a display of pocket knives, kitchen knives and hunting / camping knives that were beautiful, sturdy, functional and sharp. They were all made by him, by hand.

Before Fathers Day rolled around that year, I knew that I wanted to get my father something special. Something from Mexico, our new home. Something ''Hecho A Mano''.

I contacted Jeff and told him what I was thinking about. A single blade pocket knife with a wood handle, engraving on the blade, and of course the silver escutcheon pinned to the handle with nickel silver pins (hammered and polished 1920's silver 10 centavo pieces that Jeff finds locally). I mentioned that my father was 80 years old and that it was a Fathers Day gift.

A couple weeks later I went to Jeff's shop to pick up the knife. I was amazed at the craftsmanship, how sharp it was, and just the feel of it in my hand. The handle was made from local Dzalam wood. Jeff explained how he had made the handle a little more slender so that it would be comfortable to carry. Noting my fathers age, he made the spring a little thinner so that it would be easier to open, the thumb notch on the blade was a little bigger and easier to grasp. He gave me a tour of his workshop and showed me the tools that he uses to make his knives.
I was very pleased with his work and I'm sure my father was as well.


Fast forward almost a year........When Sara was constructing her kitchen in Casa Sur, I knew that I had to get Jeff to make her a set of kitchen knives. She is quite the cook and a good set of knives are important.

It is a lengthy process to make these knives and I couldn't begin to explain it but you can read about it here. It is an interesting and informative read.

Here are some pictures of the process:

Jeff has quite an interesting and inspirational story about how he came to be a knife maker in Mérida, learning from a matchete maker in the mountains of Oaxaca years ago. You can read his story here .

Our knives will see alot of use and we are very proud to own them, as will our grandkids someday.

Thanks Jeff.

Casa Sur – Phase 1

Usually when we make a post on our blog, Sara does the writing, we both decide on the pictures, and then I post it. However, I’ve talked her into letting me write this one.The reason I wanted to write it is because I wanted to say a few words about my wife.

We started the additions to the back of our house in April and it was finished in early September. That’s over 4 months through the hottest time of the year. Now…..Because of my job, I have to travel quite a lot so there were many days when I wasn’t there. Sara was there every day (except the few days that she went into hiding because of the jackhammer). At the start of the project she spoke very little to no Spanish.

She greeted the workers everyday with a buenos días, she told them hasta mañana every evening. She made sure every night that there were plastic containers filled with water and put in the freezer so they would have ice the next day. When she cooked more than we needed, the extra always went to the albañiles. She knows every one of their names, whether or not they are married, and how many kids they have. She knows what they like to do on their time off and what sports they enjoy. She has eaten with them, told them jokes, somehow gotten across her vision of how things should look, and when needed she scolded them. I’ve seen her laugh over this project and I’ve seen her cry. The one thing that remained constant (a rarity here in Mexico!) was the respect that she showed these men working on our home and their eagerness to return that respect and make her happy with their work. At the end of this post is a YouTube link for a video that Sara made about the construction, beginning to end. Sara had a cookout for the guys when the work was finished and presented each with a DVD of the video. You could see the pride in their eyes as they watched the video detailing the work that they had done, all by hand.

I could go on and on but I’ll stop here, I think you get the idea of how proud I am of her. And…..Her Spanish is coming along pretty darn good now.

So, without further adieu……..You might remember how the back of our home looked when we started the project:

And then, like Sara says, how it looks after we ‘’made it our own’’:

In typical Yucatan tradition, each albañili left his hand print

Sara with her albañiles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3MgpbetomA

We’ve Always Been Crazy

Our friends and family told us, we were crazy to move to Mexico, later we were told it was crazy to live in the house while it was under construction.  You know what, they were RIGHT!!!!!!! Waylon Jennings said it best, “I’ve always been crazy but it’s kept me from going insane”.

Everyday progress continued on the building project, every day we watched as our dream began to take shape. Twenty-five feet concrete beams created the bones of the roof, below was a network of tree trunk support braces. Cement blocks filled in the gaps between the beams and cement poured on top created the roof.

 Chipped and smoothed by hand we soon had the arches we had longed for. With a hand designed and cut out metal jig, Julio artistically applied the arch moldings.

The mamposteria pool walls now smooth with concrete soon became a sparkling blue tiled swimming pool with a gurgling fountain.

 A combination of Ticul stone and white concrete created the floor around the pool and terraza. We decided we needed an outdoor cooking / grilling area because……well, you just do. And,that pool pump / filter equipment of course needed its own little house out in the yard.  

Our pool equipment / pump house

    

The forest of tree trunk braces came down revealing a large living area, the perfect place to dip your toes in the pool and enjoy a glass of wine. Paint, ceiling fans, chandeliers, all of the details began to come together! Soon we were roasting hot dogs for the albaniles on the grill under the French tiled roof. The day we had anxiously awaited arrived and the albaniles packed up their few tools, said Hasta Luego as they walked out the door.   

We moved around the new environment taking it all in, not believing it could actually be complete. Reflecting back on the dust, the noise, the lack of privacy, we really had lived through the process!  I relate it to having a baby; during labor, you think survival is impossible, then you smile at the little bundle placed in your arms and the pain of delivery is miraculously erased from your memory. It was worth it!

Oh, the pictures that go with this last part..........well, that's to be continued (real soon).................

Just Like Camping, Only Better

We started our life in Mérida with the few belongings we could cram into our midsize SUV. We each had a duffle bag stuffed with clothes and personal items. Ty found out after we arrived that what he thought was another medium size suitcase of clothes was actually stuffed full of knitting and needlepoint supplies, I do have my priorities! We brought Adie’s stuff; her wire crate, her portable crate, her car seat, her stroller, her life jacket, 3 bags of food (just in case we couldn’t find her brand) a case of canned mixed vegetables (Adie loves veggies on top of her dog food), her soft bed for napping and her airplane carrier filled with toys. We brought laptops, surge protectors, cameras and an iPod docking station and one set of high thread count sheets. Ty brought a suitcase filled with miscellaneous stuff, which he would then use for his trips back and forth to work.

The month we stayed at the beach was a simple time and we hardly even unpacked, same for the Casa Renta. When we bought our house, we were grateful the previous owners included some furnishings with the house.

They would be leaving the stove and refrigerator, a small simple Mexican bed, a breakfast table and chairs, a patio table with chairs, a loveseat, a chair, a rocking chair, 3 lamps, a small computer desk, one ropero (a piece of furniture made to hang clothes), 2 night tables a television and 3 bookcases.

We needed to buy dishes, pans, trashcans, towels, glasses, silverware and utensils, not to mention a coffee maker; you know the essentials of living.

We bought another ropero and ordered a king size bed which would take at least six weeks to arrive. We bought two fold up bag chairs for comfortable sitting and two Yucatecan hammocks. We could “get by” until we completed the restyling of our house, had a pool and patio built and shipped our belongings from the States.

It has been a simple existence, preparing simple meals. I am a true nester so I have tried to create a comfortable area to live in, in spite of our lack of STUFF. We gave some of the furniture we did not need to the albaniles. While Jerrie was visiting, we slept in one air-conditioned room, her on the small bed and Adie and I on a hammock, and we watched the ongoing construction from the comfort of the fold up bag chairs.

Siesta time

I grew up in an outdoor loving family, fishing and camping trips were often and fun. Ty camped with his Boy Scout Troop, in the mountains of New Mexico summer and winter. When we married, maybe because we loved it, or maybe we were too broke to do anything else our family vacations were mostly camping trips to rivers and lakes. We would go to the Texas Hill Country and lazily tube the Frio River and camp.

In the beginning, we cooked on an open fire, slept on the ground and had only a flashlight for light. As time passed our gear mimicked our life and soon we could easily fill up the back of a pickup truck and a ski boat with all the necessities for a few nights stay at the lake, we even had monogrammed drink koozies.

In retrospect, we needed more stuff to camp for a couple of nights than many of my neighbors in Mexico need to live their simple lives on a daily basis. Since I am a nester, I would bring along tablecloths, my special camping dishes (I really dislike eating on a paper plate) and the kids and I picked flowers to grace our camp table.

As our family grew, our kids married and had kids; we still camped even though money was not as much an issue, it just seemed like good family fun. Our grown children and grandkids have expressed that some of their fondest memories are from our many camping trips.

Our first nine months of living in Mexico has been………….well, it’s been like camping, only better.