July 2023

Don Beaudreau has lived at Lakeside with his husband Juan Rivera for 10 years. They share their home with 7 dogs, 2 cats, and a white lab mouse. He is a retired Unitarian Universalist minister, and a retired English and music teacher. A professional jazz and ragtime pianist, Don has raised money for numerous social […]

Allow me to introduce my great friend and former associate Carol Gremli. It is she who has written the article that accompanies this introduction.  Carol writes…… “After a career in performing, then teaching, then directing and choreographing, I enjoy full-time freedom here in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Here, the music, the theater, and the dance, be it

The first successful cooperative was founded approximately 175 years ago in Lancashire, England, at a time when industrial towns were sinking under poor conditions and poverty and the price of basic food was beyond reach. A group of 28 men decided to change their world. They did it by raising funds to set up a

Trivia and Other Useful Information You’ve Pondered Too Long Did you know . . . A SHOT OF WHISKEY – In the Old West, a .45 cartridge for a six-gun cost 12 cents; so did a glass of whiskey. If a cowhand was low on cash, he would often give the bartender a cartridge in exchange

Before moving to Mexico in 2005, I lived for ten years at Virginia Beach, Virginia, only one block from the powerful Atlantic Ocean. Many happy hours were spent strolling among the highs and lows of gentle currents, knowing all the while that the pull of moon and tides could spell danger. Would I get caught

Tapas in Sanskrit refers to austere disciplines one undertakes to facilitate spiritual development—growth through suffering. The severe trials or tapas encountered by Frida Kahlo in the course of her life profoundly influenced her personal and artistic evolution. Some would argue, though, that the vast commercialization of Kahlo’s image has blurred the reality of her life

Intuitive Gardening Now that the rains have started and our garden watering chores are lessening, perhaps we could all relax a bit by spending more time watching, listening to, and enjoying our gardens. Let’s start at the ground level with the soil. Soil has been around for hundreds of millions of years. It has figured

I thought I had been invited to a class in Nahuatl, the ancient language of the indigenous peoples of this part of Mexico, the Aztecs. But the actual name of the language is Mechica, or Mexica. Nahuatl is a Mechica word for harmony.  What? Harmony? The Aztecs? Those bloodthirsty tyrants who dominated all the smaller

“In all these places the confused night remains bright with confounding light, the day remains dim, harder to remember than a chalk board one particular day in first grade, harder to remember than the first taste of water.” —James Tipton “In Towns Made of Steel” On rare summer nights when I was a boy, the

Don Beaudreau Email: wbeaudreau@aol.com July 2023 The Lake Chapala Society hosts Open Circle every Sunday at 10:30 am, a popular community gathering in Ajijic. Enjoy a range of presentations. Entrance by the side gate on Ramón Corona, opens at 9:30 am. We recommend bringing a hat and bottled water. Check the website for upcoming presentations, make