Revenge of the Ponce Chronicles
| |

A couple of months ago, I wrote of our two-week trip to Puerto Rico, where we labored like lunatic worker bees to complete extensive repairs and renovations to the home in Ponce that was built by Allysen’s parents back around … Read More

The Ponce Chronicles (Part 18)
| |

Emerging, blinking, from an alternate dimension.   I do not sleep a wink on the plane from Ponce to Orlando. We land a half hour late in Orlando; our connection to Boston will be tight. Exiting the jetway, I ask the … Read More

The Ponce Chronicles (Part 17)
| |

Wheels up, Ponce.   The pace on our last day is no different. Freddie and Heri are hard at work. Ricardo has given his exhausted crew of electricians the day off, but comes by himself to do a walk-through review … Read More

The Ponce Chronicles (Part 16)
| |

National Ferret Area. This is the day we would have arrived back home, if not for the storm up north. The place is strangely quiet. It’s raining, and the mountains are wreathed in fog. The clean, freshly filled pool sparkles … Read More

The Ponce Chronicles (Part 15)
| |

Cash, cash, wonderful cash! As I type this, my efforts are accompanied by Heri whanging on a stone chisel shaping a large brick (loud), Michael cutting up a fallen tree trunk with a chain saw (really loud), and the quiet … Read More

The Ponce Chronicles (Part 14)
| |

You thought you were going home? Keep thinking. Our two weeks in Puerto Rico are drawing to a close—or so we once believed. Winter Storm Jonas is slamming the eastern seaboard with snow and ice, crippling more than one major … Read More

The Ponce Chronicles (Part 13)
| |

Running out of time!   We have been in Ponce for almost two weeks now, and there is still so much to do. Is it raining outside the open dining area? Nope, that’s Estevan power washing the concrete roof (for … Read More

The Ponce Chronicles (Part 12)
| |

Tax Man. Allysen again: Next bureaucratic stop, CRIM, home of the tax man—to pay the property tax and get copies of 5 years’ of tax records for my mother.  I’ve been putting it off—who wants another celebration of paperwork?  Finally … Read More

The Ponce Chronicles (Part 11)
| |

Bucket brigade! The level of swamp water in the swimming pool has been dropping slowly but steadily as the sump pump grinds on. Eventually the pump becomes too gunked up with congealed algae and leaves in the shallow water, and … Read More

1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9