Category: Calendar

How is everyone doing this gray morning? The highlight of this day so far has been watching my kitty Bogie creep up to his elevated food bowl and cautiously dip one foot into the soggy mess, dig around a bit until he snags a chunk of whateverthemeatis and carefully pop it into his mouth. Most…

I am being lulled by Fall. It seems drier in the air: we haven’t had any rain for three days. The river is still high, and after walking home last night from La Catrina Cantina, it occurred to me while unlocking my front door that I was not sweating. Yay! These small idiosyncrasies keep us…

What a jam-packed October this will be with the opening of The Palm and Coco Cabarets, mid-month, Halloween, of course, just after my baby sister arrives for six or seven weeks. Today is our monthly Scrabble Tournament. I will have a chance to wear that crown once again as the current Scrabble Quine is on…

My sister, Patrice, arrives for her winter vacay exactly four weeks from today. And here we are still dripping wet from summer heat and torrential rains. Temperatures in Southern Alberta are already in single digits, although it felt that cool to me at the end of July! Yesterday, I sat down with my daytimer and…

My sister, Patrice, and I spent a couple of weeks in northern Europe this summer, mostly in Sweden, for the wedding of our niece Evelyn. Whatever city we were in, we walked for miles and miles. We rarely had a destination in mind, but roamed wherever our feet wanted to take us. We got lost…

The last weekend of September, as we roll inexorably into the days preceding Vallarta’s Tourist Season, which traditionally begins on the first Sunday following American Thanksgiving and runs until the Sunday following Easter Sunday. Or, in real time, this Season starts November 30, 2025, and concludes April 12, 2026. We LOVE those tourists the best…

More than 50 people, friends and family, filled Georgia Darehshori’s living room at Avida condo, for ‘Libations and Love Songs,’ another in the Summer Concert Season Series, usually held at Casa Karma. It was also a preliminary memorial to singer Patrick Henry Murray, who should have joined the headliner for the evening, Jason Darion Mathis.…

Mitchell Rivadeneyra has hung up his sequined gowns, strappy high-heeled sandals, and has put Karma the Bitch to rest. While sounding slightly less offensive in Spanish – Karma La Perra – sounds kinda sweet, doesn’t it? Her persona was the antithesis of Mitchell’s personality, and that takes its toll after years of playacting. Unlike most…

A week ago, Maestro Bing Young was sitting right behind Patrick Henry Murray as Will Walker announced that Patrick would be joining Jason Mathis in concert at the second in the Summer Concert series to be held at Georgia Darehshori’s condo at Avida, rather than at Casa Karma. Bing told me that Patrick was very…

Welcome to the first full day of Fall. I was going to leap into my column this morning, but saw I had a message from Petru. He had forwarded a lovely video made about his partner and my friend Jean-Guy Comeau. I have shared it on Facebook. Seeing the year he was born, 1958, gave…

Did you get your copy of the Rearview Mirror this morning at 7? If you are scratching your head or don’t know what the hell that is, I’ll tell you! Besides this column, Vallarta Mirror’s content is contributed by a number of writers who cover a wide range of topics, including deep sea fishing, herbal…

Game day yesterday…hours of Scrabble followed by hours of bingo. I had the pleasure of playing both with Carmen Griggs, a new member of our tiny Scrabble club, who also joined me at Nacho Daddy for Colina Spay and Neuter Clinic bingo. Our first Scrabble game dragged on, with the last five turns spent deciding…

Scrabble and doggie Bingo today, but first a look at what’s coming up at The Palm and Coco Cabarets, starting next month. I sat down with Mark Rome, who oversees scheduling for both entertainment venues, over smoothies at the Vallarta Factory. It would be a nightmare job for most people and sometimes for Mark when…

Happy Birthday/Independent Mexico! Last night’s festivities on the Malecon were soggy and quieter than I have ever experienced before, but the show must go on, right? And it did. A very good band was set up at the opposite end of the Malecon, next to the lighthouse. They kept the wet crowd dancing and happy.…

¡Viva, Mexico! ¡Viva! Practicing for tonight’s Grito at the Presidencia at 11 pm! To me, this celebration is the single most defining Mexican ritual that I can think of. It brings together all age groups and occupations, singles, couples, and entire families, joining as one voice to shout their love and deep respect for their…

Yesterday, Vallarta received such a gift from Francesca Bavaro/Effie Passero at La Catrina Cantina. In the past five years, we have anxiously awaited her return from wherever, following her updates on Facebook, which we would check day by day and sometimes for months on end. She returned from this latest journey to Mykynos in Greece…

La Catrina Cantina is hopping these days with free, live entertainment, freezing cold air conditioning, delightful wait staff, fabulous popcorn (easily the best in Vallarta), a good, reasonably priced menu, and even a big covered terrace for those who still smoke. It is the most welcoming atmosphere in Vallarta, where you will find lots of…

Time for Scrabble and chit chat with Sharon Gerber Scherer this afternoon at Qulture, then, this evening is a fundraiser at La Catrina Cantina to help Angeloo, Vallarta’s 12-year-old singing wunderkind, win the Voz de Zapopan. A full report on those goodies in the morning. My luck has turned from indifferent to wretched back to…

Heavy rain this morning; odd timing, but whatever it takes to fill our rivers and aquifers. I wish we could (would) capture it and use it later. Last weekend, a downpour didn’t deter friends from attending the City of Vallarta’s public recognition of Pata Salada painter Javier Niño Close to a hundred of us flanked…

I have been watching Gloria Fiona since the day she appeared in the now (sadly) defunct Voice of Vallarta. Over the 12 years since placing second in that contest, she has grown exponentially more integral into the fabric of entertainment in Vallarta. She arrived from Italy on vacation, and that thing, that bewitchment that Vallarta…