HEALED

TOTALLY REPAIRED?

 

Below you will read that Mrs.T feels much better.  She will know better after she returns from scuba today, 29 December.  She was not really given clearance by Dr. Victor.  She is probably about 90%+ recovered.  She neglects to mention some other things we did:  the annual Posada at Mary Paz, a large puzzle with Judy, a fiesta for El Buzo, a bronze casting demo, and a visit to the Friday market to see the Aztec dancers.  A small sample of events is in the pictures at the end of the story.  But R is indeed feeling much better and ready to get back to her normal routines.  Plus she wants to add horse riding.  I may see her once in a while.

 

 

I am well.  Thanks in part to all the prayers and good wishes of all our friends my dislocated shoulder is recovered.  I had to wear the sling for three weeks and have ultrasound therapy for two weeks.  At first Dan had to help me dress and eat.  He took this good naturedly and almost seems a little disappointed that his help is longer needed.  (No comment  -dt)

 

When I was younger I took great pride in self-reliance.   But now, Emerson notwithstanding, it seems a lot less important.   Perhaps I no longer feel the need to prove my competence, such as it is, and now I lean towards Williams and am content to rely on the kindness of strangers. (Just wait; one more author reference to go.  –dt)

 

When I was wearing the sling I was amazed to find that all kinds of people took care of me.  One afternoon I was standing - looking perplexed, I am sure - at the light waiting to cross the highway.  The turning lanes in Mexico work differently and I have to think carefully to know when to cross.  "Are you lost, Lady?" A soft voiced Mexican man asked.  "No," I replied.  Are you hurt?" he asked.  "No."  "Do you want to go across the road?" he asked yet again.  "Yes," I replied shyly.  He gently took hold of my undamaged arm and helped me across.  I remembered when I was a Girl Scout you were supposed to do good turns and one of them was to help old ladies cross the road.  Am I an old lady now? (I will not answer that, but her gray hair gives her a certain stature.  –dt)

Another day I was riding the bus and the driver told two teenagers to get up and let me sit in the seat reserved for the disabled.  One time I went shopping with Judy.  We got off the bus at Walmart and were making our way slowly down the steep narrow path from the road.  "Do you need help, Lady?" a kind young man asked, "hold my hand."  "Yes, thank you", I replied and he walked below me holding his hand above  his head as I made my way down.  Men and women, boys and girls helped me on and off the bus.  They held my purchases and occasionally carried them.  "Be careful," they cautioned, "Take your time." 

 

One day I was crossing the road illegally - not at a crosswalk - and got stuck in the median.  A police car stopped and was flashing his lights.  "OH NO!!" I thought, "I'M GOING TO BE THROWN IN A MEXICAN JAIL FOR JAYWALKING!!"  But no, that nice policeman stopped traffic and gestured me to finish crossing with a polite little bow.

 

Well as I get older I seem to take myself less seriously.  If you can laugh at yourself maybe you can laugh at the world sometimes.  This past week I managed to do all my YOGA exercises sort of, if not well.  I will admit downward facing dog almost turned into downward falling Rebecca, but I managed. (Corpse Rest Pose is R's best yoga move.  -dt ) This week I hope to go diving!  Alex has promised to help me a lot to protect my shoulder.  Today I plan to start making my Buckeye candies.  They have to be ready for the big Ohio State football game on the first of the year. (GO BUCKS!  -dt) If you guys were here I would give you one.  (I will attempt to have some saved for those of you that are 'regulars'.  –dt) As you are not, I wish you the happiest of New Years.  "God Bless Us Every One."

 

Vignettes:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157649592528589/

 

Epilogue:  Rebecca returned from her first after-injury dive not too worn out and in good shape.

 

Prospero Anno,

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

Snafu

Flickr did a snafu and did not properly link to the photos in the last email.

I think this will work:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157649798166162/

dt

HAPPY HOLIDAYS

HELLO EVERYONE!

Today is Hanukkah (spelled several ways) and next week is Christmas.  We wish all of you the happiest of holidays including Kwanzaa and New Year as well.   

Especially for our artist friends:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157648598716571/

Snuggle and keep warm,

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Exciting Events

TV TIME

This installment of our newsletter has several parts.  We hope to send it on schedule – if we have such a thing – that is about the time of the events described.  But if it comes to you well after the events it is because we have been struggling with our internet connection.  About now you are noticing the style of writing is that of the editor, more journalist than storyteller.  The reason for that will unfold below.  And lots of photos.

 

In our last report there was a picture of Rebecca and friend Judy, a.k.a. Dr. Puzzle, working on the first puzzle of the season.  We noted that they were planning a shopping trip.  Indeed, they were not fooling around.  Soon they had bus tickets to Guadalajara and reservations at a hotel adjacent to the famous El Tianguis of Tonala.

 

Although Tonala is a city in its own right, it is known as the shopping mecca of Guadalajara.  The tianguis is a massive, sprawling market that opens on the sidewalks and streets Thursdays and Sundays, everyday leading up to the Christmas holidays.  It features seemingly endless stalls with many of the knick knacks and craft items that we can buy here in Bucerias but at greatly reduced prices because many are made there.  Everyone who stays in Bucerias for a few years makes at least one trip there.  And elsewhere in Tonala there are some really fine shops to buy furniture, lamps, vases, and other furnishings.  It pairs up with Tlaquepaque on the other side of GDL where fine arts abound.  We featured both towns in a story some years back.  So the ladies were off for an overnight shopping extravaganza.  (Ironically as they were completing plans for their trip, another yet-to-arrive shopping companion emailed suggesting the same thing for February.)

 

Meanwhile – actually beginning last year – Don, Judy's husband and one of Rebecca's boogie boarding posse, and a couple of his buddies were planning a deep-sea fishing trip.  They wanted to go out and catch the 'big ones'.  Don and Doug in particular are avid fishermen in their native Canada.  Like all good Canucks, they spend more time 'at the lake' than at home during the summer.  (Don is a catch-and-release person.)  The men did some comparison work and selected a company to take them out beyond the bay into the deep waters where occasionally there are trophy fish.  They got everything in order and were off to the boat early on the appointed morning.  It was no accident that shopping and fishing were scheduled for the same day.

 

Both fishers and shoppers had a good time, but the fishers were probably more successful.  They bought back a good haul that has been filleted and frozen for future consumption.  They had plenty to share.  The shoppers did not come back empty-handed, but not with the bulging suitcases that could have been expected.  Here are a couple of pictures of the catch of the day and more of shopping:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157647159368004/

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157649497928575/

 

 

 

Meanwhile, this intrepid reporter was in downtown Bucerias for the Revolution Day parade.  Like all countries Mexico has its calendar of holidays.  But we rarely put one to waste – days off with parades are always in order.  Fireworks are usually in the program as well.  This year's Revolution Day parade was full of enthusiastic youngsters – girls dressed in the styles of a century ago and boys made up as mustachioed members of Villa's forces.  There were also representatives of many sports groups, schools, and other organizations.  And like all our parades there were a couple of bands and 'dancing' horses.  A few pictures tell the story; the parade made a loop so there may be some duplicates:

 

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157649413657832/

 

 

 

This year our television picture has been lousy, even worse than last year when it was just plain bad.  The picture often has moved in and out of focus and on the good days the 'snow' has been getting close to a white out.  We have been getting our TV service through the cable provider that has a virtual monopoly and made a few people quite wealthy. The signal has really degenerated.

 

The programming never has been spectacular, but it has been adequate.  As we have related in the past, we had channels in Spanish, in English – sometimes dubbed, sometimes with subtitles – a German channel, and movies sometimes in other foreign tongues.  And for a while we had several music stations. You notice the 'sometimes' because we never quite knew what we would be getting.  The 'TV Guide' that listed the programming was often not working and valueless when it did, only showing what was on at the moment,  There was no feature to see what was going to be shown more than an hour in advance.  To its credit, last year for some unknown reason the cable had the Big Ten Network and we saw numerous Ohio State basketball games.  We don't sit around watching television all day, but we needed to make a switch and started investigating alternatives.

 

Strange as it might seem, except to Canadians, for some oddball technological reason folks up north of the US are able to use one of their satellites to receive programming down here.  Many places have sprouted dishes that provide Canadian programming.  Our fellow owner Randy had installed such a dish and generously suggested that perhaps our solution would be to piggyback off his system.  And it happened that he had a spare unused receiver.  We just needed to contact the folks that installed his system and see what could be done.

 

Joannes, our condo administrator and another neighbor, gave us the number of the installation person.  We called and set up a date for him to come.  We have become accustomed to some schedule 'slippage' here – not unusual up north as well – and so we were not too shocked when the date and time for the tech's appearance had come and gone.  Another call, another time, and another no-show.  But wait, it is after sundown and we get a call that he is outside our closed door.  We let him in and he was ready to go to work in the dark.  We knew this was a bad idea. We explained what we wanted, Mrs.T doing much of the talking as his English was not up-to-speed.  Naturally he wanted to look at the dish.  Fortunately Randy was at home and could tell him where to look.  But we needed a key to gain access to the area where he could get on the roof.

 

And then the big crash happened.  As she was calling to see if Joannes was home and could lend a key, Rebecca stumbled in the dark and fell.  The tech tried to catch her but she went down in a heap, whacked her head, and dislocated a shoulder.  Pain.  When we got her on her feet, R's arm was hanging like a broken Raggedy Ann doll.  We got her to a chair and bound her arm to her body with a beach towel.  (The tv guy was able to get on the roof and determine that he could hook us up to the dish but that he would return in the daylight the next day.)

 

Time to telephone Dr. Victor.  Yes, he was at the clinic.  And yes we could come right over.  Randy was kind enough to provide transport and we were at Clinica Santa Rosa in a very few minutes.

 

Dr. Victor took an x-ray and confirmed the dislocation.  More importantly there were no fractures.  Having watched a few too many ER shows, Mrs.T thought he would just yank her arm back into place and we would be off.  But Dr. Victor thought it would be much better if she would be out cold so as to be relaxed.  Although his anesthesiologist was available, R had recently eaten so fixing it that night was not possible.  We would need to come back in the morning the next day before any eating or drinking.  Dr.Victor gave her some pain meds and bound her more professionally than the beach towel.  And he asked what date we had returned and why we had not come to say hello earlier.

 

So just before 6am we were in a taxi returning to the clinic where Dr. Victor was waiting.  The anesthesiologist came in shortly after our arrival and R was taken into the clinic's operating theater.  She was in there a bit but everything went fine.  She was a little dopy for a while but in much less pain.  In the pictures you will notice she also has quite a shiner; maybe I should have put some frozen fish on it.  Unfortunately she needs to wear the sling for about three weeks; it should be off in time for Rita's holiday visit.  SCUBA and boogie boarding are off limits for a while.

 

A couple of pictures of the injured one:

 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157649482849021/

 

 

 

After we returned home and one more call we got the cable tech to show up and wire us up.  With Randy's assistance and a stable internet connection we were able to contact the satellite folks and get our box up and running.  Now we have a wonderful picture, too many stations to list, and a guide that is actually useful.  We are going to be more Canadian than ever.

 

Many thanks to Randy for his help through these travails.  Thanks also to D&J for the roses.  Now if we can get the internet working.

 

 

Gobble, gobble and keep warm up north.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

Warm and Sunny

Ah, fresh tangerines and strawberries

 

As most of you know we have decamped from the north and have installed ourselves in The Winter Residence.  Turnaround took less than a week.  And it was not too long before Juan Carlos came by in his truck with fresh strawberries and tangerines.  The tangerines are simply splendid – sweet and juicy.  And we have already had fresh-squeezed oj from Mary Paz several times.

One of the first things we always do is purchase pesos for our phone; we have a cell specifically for Mexico.   Of course the first call was to Alex, R's dive buddy.  She has already been out with her fish friends and expects to go again next week.

Mrs. T gives a brief synopsis of the summer and our first few days south:

 

Now is the summer of our discontent made glorious by the sun of Mexico.

It was a pretty hard summer for me.  First I fell off a church pew.  (Those of you in a certain art organization will know where the pew is.  –dt) Then I was cured of bursitis in my shoulder by the longest needle in the world.   After that I fell off a horse.  (A previous installment -dt) Next I strained my other shoulder by overuse of my new chainsaw.  Finally, I had a rather large mass removed from my breast - not cancer, thank God.  (As The Voodoo Doctor had told her.  –dt)

After all that I am ready to relax lethargically in our Southern home.  (a.k.a. The  Winter Residence.  –dt) Most of our stuff has been arranged to its approximately correct locations.  We have bought a few basic supplies at Mary Paz.  I think Judy (Dual degrees in shopping and puzzling –dt) and I have created a monster because often when I want to buy something Dan says, "You and Judy can buy that at Sam's Club."  (Actually except for things in jumbo sizes I prefer shopping at the aforementioned Mary Paz, one of the best minisupers in town.  –dt) The thing is now he has broadened his sights.  He no longer wants large-sized mouthwash and toilet paper.  Now he wants a big screen TV. (Why not?  -dt) I guess I don't mind as long as we can take a taxi.  If he thinks I am lugging a 60 inch TV home on the bus he is seriously deluded.  Hurry Judy, Help!! Help!!

Judy has come and we went on a major supplies expedition - no TV.  But, alas it was not an unqualified success.  In all fairness, Judy warned me that those hot dogs looked pretty small but they were so cheap I bought them anyway.  When we got them home it seemed as if they had shrunk even more.  They were the skinniest hot dogs I had ever seen.  Still we thought we might as well try them how bad could they be?  Well, REALLY, REALLY BAD.  I took one bite and chewed and chewed but the bite would not come off.  I think the casings are made of heavy plastic.  Dan was not to be defeated by a mere tube steak.  He got a serrated knife and chopped the durn things to bits.  He proceeded to eat them and pronounced them "not too bad."  Well good for him because I am not going to eat them.  I told him he didn't have to eat them either but now he has a plan to uncase them and cook them in a casserole or something.  Hmmm?  Not only that, but the potato chips I bought, because they were cheap, taste funny too.  Not as bad as the hot dogs, but neither greasy nor salty nor anything bad for you.  Just to tell you how bad they are we have had the bag for three days and it is still half full.  They are mostly tasteless. I think maybe I got zucchini chips by mistake. (The backstory here is that Mrs.T has been known to inhale a pound bag of chips in just one or two sittings. –dt) I guess the moral of this story is you get what you pay for or don't pay for, as the case may be.

Well the US elections are over and as usual lots of people I voted for lost.  Sigh.  The good thing is being in Mexico we are spared many of the obnoxious TV ads.  We saw a few for Connecticut and New York when Dan watched the New York channels.  I figure they were all the same anyway so you could just take out one local name and substitute another, e.g., "My opponent voted for gun control!"; "My opponent voted against gun control!!"; "My opponent has a nephew getting food stamps"; "My opponent is a Nazi, a communist, a Christian, a Jew, or all of the above.": "My opponent mooned his high school Latin teacher at a toga party!"; or whatever.  We didn't get many election ads from New Jersey; I believe that the block captain came around the week before the election and told you who you will vote for or else he will break your knees. (R has watched one too many episodes of the Sopranos.  –dt) I sent in an absentee ballot before we left for Mexico.  Vote early and often I always say.  Isn't democracy wonderful!?

 

Only a couple of pictures.  Although the ladies seemingly are doing a puzzle, they are actually planning a shopping trip to Tonala.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157648773771048/

Anyone know the orange fungus/mushroom/??

 

Hope you folks up north are enjoying the first visit of the Polar Vortex.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

Mrs.T's Latest Adventure

Rebecca Needs a Better Seat

 

In about a month we will be down at the Winter Residence.  The leaves are just beginning to change and we have been close to having frost on the pumpkins.  So departure is getting close.  I am almost packed and even Mrs.T has started to gather things.  The muse has not written anything lately because we have been busy with art events, she has been tending to her forest garden, and she has been riding through the forest in our UTV and her new chainsaw.  Additionally R has had a few minor injuries, one of which is described below – and others noted in a previous posting - that have set her back a bit.  Writing has been down on her list. 

 

The chainsaw is a big deal.  It has a longer bar and uses a 40v lithium battery which gives it more oompf and a quicker recharge.  Mrs.T feels almost like a full-fledged woodswoman now.  Recently, however, she overdid it and strained a shoulder.  She has had to admit that she is no longer a teen.  (I am not sure the picture of Mrs.T with her chainsaw will come through.  -dt)

  

The glass working season has been over for a bit.  Additionally our co-op studio Glass Axis, www.glassaxis.org, is in the process of relocating.  So Mrs.T felt the tug of a long-desired hobby to indulge in – riding horses.  Below she gives a thumbnail description of some of her exploits in that arena.  She has made quite a bit of progress and is definitely competent.  However, Mayor Mink need not fear that she will be assisting him anytime soon.  On to her story:

 

 

 

 

"Well, it was bound to happen," one of my friends told me.  And I suppose she was right.  I fell off the horse.  It was not Bet's fault.  I was not paying attention.

 

But to start from the beginning, I have been taking horseback riding lessons.  This is something I have wanted to do and when my puppet making class was canceled I decided now was the time.  Tori, an artist friend, has a small stable on her farm and gives lessons, even to fat old ladies.  Dan and I visited the barn to look the place over.  I brought carrots.  I was introduced to the horses and patted their noses.  Dan watched from a safe distance.  There were two very large horses -Belgians; their names were Jack and Jewel.  I gave them carrots and Jewel smiled at me.  There was a beautiful but excited horse named Hazel.  I gave her a carrot.  Tori is still training her.  There was a pretty little horse, whose name was Sassy.  After I gave him a carrot he bowed.  Then there was Bet; after I gave him his carrot he rang his bell.  Bet would be my training horse if he was willing.  "How do we know if he is willing?" I asked.  "Well since you are a little heavy it might be hard for a horse the size of Bet to carry you; if Bet is unhappy you will probably ride Jewel," Tori explained rather diplomatically.  "How will you know," I asked.  "Bet will give a big sigh and look at me with sad eyes," Tori replied.  I understood immediately - I have used the same method on Dan many times. (Yes, R is a master of the doe eyes technique.  –dt) Last we met Lena.  Lena really liked her carrot.

 

I was ready to start.  After I explained that I was not interested in showing or jumping but only in trail riding we set up my first lesson.  "How about you Dan, would you like to try it?" Tori inquired. The answer was a very definite NO.  (I bear no antipathy towards horses and I like Tori very much.  –dt)

 

So I started riding.  I rode Bet who did not complain about my weight.   Perhaps it had something to do with the carrots I brought every time. (Bribery works well even with animals.  –dt) Bet is a very smart horse.  He might not have complained about my size, but whenever I did something stupid he turned his head around and looked at me sarcastically.  I took to mumbling to him, "Am I doing this right?"  When he did not give me the LOOK I was usually okay.  I think Bet really likes me but he thinks I am rather slow.  There are three ways you can talk to a horse: you can use words, you can use your legs and feet, or you can use the reins.  Unfortunately when you are a beginner your reins may say one thing while your legs say something else.  Generally beginners tend to use the reins while good riders use their legs.  I think Bet is kind of like Dan, in that he knows what I mean most of the time, even if I don't say it right.  Dan often shouts at me, "That's not what you said!  Say what you mean!"  (This is probably an accurate statement, although the boldface is not necessary.  –dt) Perhaps it is just as well that Bet can't talk human.  Or maybe Dan thinks he is a training horse when in reality he is just --- but I digress.

 

As I improved Bet raised his standards.  He will no longer do what I want unless I tell him correctly.  In fact sometimes he just won't do what I tell him.  He knows I am easy.  "You have to make him do what you tell him. Hit him!" Tori said.  So I gave Bet a fairly hard pat; I didn't want to hurt him after all.  "He didn't even feel that; hit him with your whip," She said.  I got the whip and gave him a light tap.  Nothing.  "BET" Tori called warningly from the other side of the ring, he immediately started walking at a fairly fast speed.  How embarrassing!  About five minutes later Bet stopped again.  He turned his head around and smirked at me.  I was fed up!  I picked the whip- and gave him a smart crack on his rear.   Bet looked shocked.  "Well that got his attention," Tori exclaimed as Bet immediately moved out.  He behaved very well for the rest of our lesson.  (I firmly recommend that Mrs.T refrain from using the same method on the editor – although she undoubtedly would like to.  –dt)   

 

I have gotten a lot better.  I can make Bet go forward and backward, left, right and around in circles.  I even bounced around a lot in a trot.  I guess the trot bouncing was when Tori decided my seat needed some work.   Rather a personal comment don't you think?  So the next week I rode on a dressage saddle.  I usually ride on a western saddle which sort of surrounds you.  A dressage saddle is just a little lump of leather and you have to hold yourself on with your legs and your, ahem, seat.  Well I did it.  I stayed - or maybe I should say swayed - in the saddle in a more or less vertical position approximately on the center of the horse.  I was so proud – not to mention sore in the thighs.

 

The time came to dismount.  I had gotten pretty good at this. You stand on the left stirrup, hold on to the mane and, swing your right leg over the horse, pull your left leg out of the stirrup and jump down.  Simple - in a western saddle.  But I, you will recall, was not in a western saddle.  When you stand on the left stirrup in a dressage saddle, the saddle slides around the horse and you wind up lying on the ground.  A second later the horse puts his nose in your face in amazement - or you might think amusement - as if to say, "What are you doing down there?"  Well I wasn't much hurt except for an enormous bruise on my thigh and since purple is my favorite color that was not so bad.

 

I am back riding and having a great time too.  But I am keeping a wary eye on those dressage saddles.  (ST, I doubt R is ready to challenge you in the ring.  –dt)

 

 

Mrs.T failed to write about her most recent lesson.  She finally went on a trail ride and had a wonderful time.  However, Tori made the 'mistake' of asking something about wildflowers.  The lesson extended for another hour+, but Tori also enjoyed herself.

 

Here is a picture from the Lazy A Stables – of Blue Rock - Facebook page:  (use Ctrl+click)

 

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=579858648791451&set=a.292911737486145.61452.100003019638896&type=3&src=https%3A%2F%2Ffbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net%2Fhphotos-ak-xpa1%2Fv%2Ft1.0-9%2F10565033_579858648791451_5711723382169863190_n.jpg%3Foh%3Daa1144e54e6b86f7b6c4d483ec88f168%26oe%3D548F5FAD%26__gda__%3D1422291989_4ed955c28636eae0f57ab4a409e89802&size=960%2C960

 

 

We are excited about a visit from some friends from that great country up north from whence our cold weather comes.  We hope they are up to a ride through the forest on the UTV.

 

Best wishes to all,

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

Some Small Updates

SUMMER VIGNETTES 2014

 

The resident muse has been a bit remiss in much reportage this summer.  To a large extent this has been because we have settled into the routine of taking care of the Summer Estate; many things are normal and have been discussed before.  In June we concentrated upon several art happenings, especially the editor's photography show at the Z.A.A.P.  Gallery and a later lecture at the membership meeting.  It all went rather well.

Mrs.T also twisted each of her ankles and bruised other body parts.  Despite her youth – see below – she fell a couple of times and damaged herself a bit which slowed her down.

Below you will see a few vignettes from this summer that Mrs.T thought interesting.  She did not mention the 4^th of July celebration in Zanesville on the Muskingum River.  Not quite the Red, White, and Boom of Columbus, our event is nonetheless impressive for a small city.  And the Firemen's Festival in Philo is our really local annual event with a parade, fair food, and general fun.

One other item is to note that R has taken up horse riding.  Tori A is a fellow Z.A.A.P. artist and owner of Lazy A Stables down the road in Blue Rock, Ohio.  (We were wed at Blue Rock State Park. -dt)  Lazy A is a well-run little operation.  Tori is an excellent instructor, horse caretaker, and very selective about her students.  She says R is doing well.  Mrs.T has yet to mount the big Belgium however.

 

July and August are the months of fairs and festivals in Southeastern Ohio.  We have attended several and have some events you might not see too often elsewhere. 

For example, there is the cow kissing contest.  Dan encouraged me to enter but I declined.  I am a little unclear about exactly how this contest works.  Is it a timed contest to see who can kiss the most cows in three minutes?  Is it an expertise contest to see who is the best at kissing cows?  In this case would the cows be the judges?  How would that work?  (Mrs.T should have entered to find out. -dt)

A new event this year at two of the church festivals was The Big Shovel.  There was a big construction shovel and for only three tickets little kids got to sit in the cab of the big shovel. (It actually was a large backhoe I think. -dt) They sat on the man's lap and helped him pull the levers to pick up three humongous tractor tires and stack them up.  "ME! Me!  I WANT TO DO THAT!!"  I yelled.   I thought this was very exciting.  "No way  I am not going to let you sit on that man's lap and play with his machine!" Dan exclaimed quite forcefully.  (They both may have had too much fun. -dt)

The St. Nicholas Festival for our church wanted baked goods.  I did not really feel like making anything myself but I told Dan I could contribute a pie I bought at the Amish bake sale.  Dan vetoed this idea too.

I did have one glass sculpture in the contest at the Y-Bridge Art Festival but alas I won no ribbon.  (This annual festival in Zanesville is really quite good. –dt)

I am looking forward to seeing Tori's horses competing at the Muskingum County Fair.  I did not want to do this myself but some of her other students are.  At my lesson this week, sadly, my regular horse Bet was having foot problems.  Bet is 19 which is really rather elderly for a horse.  He is going to the vet to get a shot.  Kind of like me and bursitis, he has a foot thing with a big word and gets shots for it.  You might conclude I am rather elderly for a human but you are wrong.  At any rate I rode Lina who is a very nice horse but not quite so well trained.  We did quite well together except for me riding standing up in the stirrups; my thighs might be a little elderly after all.

This year has been a good year for birds.  We had a pair of blue birds raise two nests of babies in an unused newspaper part of a mailbox.  So with the parents and kids we had bluebirds all over for quite a spell. (We had more bluebirds than just these.-dt) Then we had summer tanagers for the first time.  (We also have had scarlet tanagers. –dt) These birds are wonderful in that they eat wasps.  We have always had a plethora of wasps for some reason so the summer tanagers were quite useful in addition to being colorful.  Alas when they had eaten all of our wasps they took off for parts unknown.  I hope these birds come back next year. (It would also be nice if they came earlier. –dt)

Someone remarked that, although my fairy tale about the turtles was entertaining, I had not written a story about Mr. Snake.  Well no.  Although I try to like all kinds of creatures, snakes, spiders, and mosquitoes just do not appeal.  I remember reading that Albert Schweitzer would not swat a mosquito because of his "reverence for life."  Well good for him; he is a saint, I am not. (Her time will come. –dt) The simple fact is I am afraid of snakes.  My Mother taught us to be afraid of snakes, and Mama was very seldom wrong.  (Those of you, especially SR and CIC, possessing even greater herpetophobia will understand this story. -dt)

This is the story of my meetings with Mr. Snake this year.  One day I was walking along around our pond admiring our flowers when, there he was, right in front of me, a BIG, FAT, SNAKE.  "EEK!!  A SNAKE!! "  I screamed.  This snake was about four feet long and quite chubby.  (The snake keeps growing upon retelling this story; soon it will be a full blown anaconda. -dt) He had a pattern of brown, yellow and black.  I looked at his tail, not a rattlesnake thank God.  I looked at his head, not a copperhead either.  As these are the only poisonous snakes in our neighborhood I was slightly relieved.  "They are more afraid of you than you are of them" people always say.  Although I never really believed this, the fact is that whenever I see a blacksnake it slithers away as fast as it can go.  I looked at the snake waiting for it to show any sign of anxiety.  The snake turned its head toward me, raised its snakey eyebrows and looked at me as if to say "Yes, I am a snake.  What are you going to do about it?"  "Not a thing," I replied, "Feet don't fail me now!"  I turned and ran up the hill and into the house and slammed the door.  When Dan returned I tried to convince him that it was his duty to kill the snake or at least to chase it away.  "Snakes are our friends." he said smugly.  What a crock! (R decorated a crock very nicely for an upcoming show. -dt)  I think maybe he is afraid of it too but won't admit it. (Quite untrue.  And I do not fear spiders either.  -dt)  I looked into my book of Ohio reptiles trying to determine what kind of snake was terrorizing me. I think it is a Common Eastern Water Snake.  The book said it was long and fat.  It described its pattern as containing some or all of the colors of brown, yellow, black, and red in different arrangements of stripes and other forms.  This was not at all helpful.  It also mentioned that the snake was aggressive, and though not poisonous had a painful bite.

The next time I met Mr. Snake I had gone down to clean some excess plants out of the pond.  I brought a rake so I would not have to wade in.  I looked down and there was Mr. Snake looking very aggressive indeed.  "EEK!!" I screamed.  I leaped up and backwards landing awkwardly and pulling a muscle in my leg.  But, somehow with some instinct of self-preservation I managed get the rake in front of me, between me and Mr. Snake.  I started to poke him with the rake but Mr. Snake impressed either by my gymnastics or the rake slid swiftly backwards and jumped into the pond and swam away.  Although I came out better in the second encounter, I wonder if Mama - who dispatched numerous snakes with a hoe - would have found this result less than satisfactory.  Since then Mr. Snake and I eye each other belligerently from afar.

Our land is something like 130 hilly, wooded acres that are crisscrossed with old logging roads.  So we recently bought a UTV.  This is a four- wheel/all-wheel drive ATV-type of thing.  The seat is a bench that holds two people and the back is a little truck bed that is just perfect for hauling around tools and things.  We are getting better at driving it.  I have not tipped it over at all. (Yet – fingers crossed.  -dt) Dan did say after one little trip that he was more Catholic than he has been for quite a while.  Hmm.

A few pictures:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157645832186257/

July has gone down as one of the coolest on record and the last few weeks have been rather dry; I call it nice winter weather.  We already have tickets for our flight to the Winter Residence.  Three more months to go.

Best wishes,

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Mother Nature's Representative

Goldifish and The Three Turtles

 

In a pond not so far away there lived three turtles.  These turtles were called map turtles because their shells had lines on them somewhat like a map does.  There was Papa turtle whose name was Yurtle and he was quite large.  There was Mama turtle whose name was Myrtle and she was medium sized.   There was a baby turtle who was rather small; his name was Shelly.  Shelly still had lots of time to grow.

Lots of other animals lived in the pond.  There were salamanders and frogs.  There were lots of tadpoles.  There were different kinds of insects who walked on top of the water.  And there were lots and lots of goldfish.

"Turtles," Papa explained to Shelly, "are morally superior because we are vegetarians!  We eat roots, and leaves, nuts, and twigs, and fruits and berries, but not other animals."  Papa was especially fond of berries although he seldom got any.

"Now, Dear," said Mama, "we must all live as we are made."  Mama did in fact find some of the eating habits of the fish absolutely disgusting, but the less said about that the better.

Shelly was greatly interested in just about everything and especially eating, but when a fish had dared him he found he was unable to eat a live insect.  So Papa explained that Shelly was an admirable turtle and should not compare himself with fish who were silly creatures and rather low.

Every morning about nine o'clock a Lady came out to visit the pond.  "Here Fishie, Here Fishie, Fish Food!" the Lady called.  The goldfish immediately swam to the top of the pond and began jumping around excitedly.  The Lady threw handfuls of fish food pellets into the pond where they floated enticingly.  The fish shoved each other about greedily to be the first to get the pellets although there were plenty for everyone.

"Here turtles, Here turtles," the Lady called.  The turtles who could hear quite well, resting snugly on the bottom of the pond, did not respond immediately.  "Here turtles. Where are my beautiful turtles?' the Lady called.

Eventually Papa swam up and stuck out his nose.  Papa turtle liked pellets when they were hard and crunchy.  The lady threw a handful near Papa who immediately began crunching on them.  "You are so beautiful!" the Lady said.  Papa turtle nodded agreeably; he knew he was beautiful.

A little while later Mama turtle swam up to check things out.  Mama liked her pellets firm but not so crunchy.  After they had been floating on the water for about five minutes they were just right for her.  "Well there you are," said the Lady.  "How are you this fine day?"

Mama did not reply.  Although she was grateful for the food pellets Mama turtle was not quite sure what to make of the Lady

.

Shelley waited another 10 minutes before he swam up to the surface.  He liked his pellets to be quite mushy.  Also Shelly knew that if he waited a little longer the Lady would leave.  Shelly was a little bit afraid of the Lady and besides that he was quite shy.

And they all lived happily ever after.

 

Pictures of Our Lady of the Pond: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157644586009000/

(You may need to copy and paste the above link.)

 

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

MAY I PLEASE HAVE YOUR ATTENTION

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT

Some of you may recall that a few years back Mrs.T was the featured artist at one of our local art cooperatives, The Zanesville Appalachian Art Project.  Not surprising the show was TREES and featured some of her paintings and glasswork evoking one of her favorite topics.  The show was very well received and an overall success.

Well, now I have been 'recruited' to be the artist for the month of June.  My show, Nod to Noir, will mostly feature black and white photographs.  There will also be some ink prints, a medium I have just begun to explore.  The show is described in a bit more detail below.  It will open 6 June about 7pm and run for the month in the Z.A.A.P. gallery on Main Street in Zanesville.

Now I do not expect many of you will have the opportunity or ability to attend the show, especially not the opening.  Of course you are invited and welcome.  But I realize Zanesville is out of the way for most of you.  To make it easy for you to view the show from afar, follow this link: 

https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157644051085137/

and you can look at photographs in the show at your leisure.  I hope you enjoy them.

Thank you,

Dan 

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

NOD to NOIR

I am a fan of film noir; I could discuss that art form at length.  But we will skip that discussion.  Suffice it to say that most of the classic films in that genre were in black and white; light and shadow were part of the narrative.  Intrinsically shadows can be indistinct, not well-defined, subtle and fuzzy.  And shadows can be difficult to capture with a camera – I did not say 'get on film' because in today's world most of us are using digital cameras, often one with a phone attached to it.

There are essentially three ways we can capture black and white images:  The subject matter is already essentially black and white; with even an inexpensive camera one can change the setting to b&w, classic, or something similar; or one can do some computer manipulation.  There have not been any computer - today's darkroom - adjustments to the images in this show.  All photographs were made using only adjustments on the camera at the time the pictures were taken.

I call this show a Nod to Noir because the images are mostly black and white although some have a touch of color.  You will see an emphasis upon shadows, some geometric and some rather natural.  Some images emphasize texture.  None of the photos was actually staged; mostly I just happened to be at the right spot at an opportune time.

Rest of Cruise Summary

SICK at SEA

We have been back at the Summer Estate for almost three weeks.  We have things up and running, and are mostly back to our normal routine.  The hot tub is hot; the water filters replaced; the waterfall hooked up (most important!); and our pantry and freezer are being replenished.  Mrs. T has been planting more things - spreading mulch, manure, and topsoil.  And the whip-poor-will has returned with its incessant calling at dawn and dusk.  (Listen here:  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/eastern_whip-poor-will/sounds) So all is well done here in the holler.

In our last posting we had traversed the Panama Canal and were heading up the west coast of Central America.  I asked the muse if she was ready to post another story about some of our stops and she said, "No."  She is 'storied-out'.  Seems her creative fire is smoldering embers at the moment.  Maybe it was the Tuesday snow we had, the grey skies, or the lack of green in our forest.  In any case, she delegated the story authority to the editor.  So I will cover a bit more of our cruise adventure.

Although, as you may recall, I thought the doctor from Colombia was well worth a visit, I really did not intend to be a patient.  But as it happened I did get sick.  I am almost positive it was an allergic reaction to something.  I had a bit of congestion and some difficulty breathing.  I took a generic antihistamine tab of diphenhydramine - you probably know it by its brand name starting with "B" - which we had brought with us.  I thought we would possibly need it for a bug bite or sting encountered on one of the excursions, always a possibility for R who is a mosquito magnet.

The pill worked.  I cleared right up and felt fine.  Except, as normally happens with this drug, I was dried out like a prune.  I thought it was a onetime thing and I did not need to do anything else.  Wrong.  The next day I was again congested, perhaps even worse, but I thought it would pass.  But I got worse and worse to the point I had severe problems breathing.  Obviously I had a significant bronchial problem.  When I could not make it to the elevators to go to dinner, Mrs.T insisted I go see the medical staff.  With all the stories about cruise ship illnesses it seemed the prudent thing to do.

The infirmary was actually around the corner from our stateroom.  It was a very modern and clean facility, very similar to Clinica Santa Rosa.  But I did not see an operating room.  I wanted to take some pictures, at least of the staff, but Dr. Colombia would not let me; she did not want me to take pictures of the equipment.  Hmm.

I was diagnosed with a case of acute bronchitis and some pneumonia.  I underwent treatments similar to what Mrs.T had in January.  But I was not in quite as severe a condition.  I was given some antibiotics and needed to come back another day for some additional breathing treatments and followup.  The very competent Dr. Colombia was assisted by as equally qualified Dr. Pretoria and a couple of nurses.  The trip to the infirmary was definitely a good idea.  I improved significantly and finished the cruise with few problems, although a bit weaker perhaps.

But we made a mistake.  For this trip we had purchased insurance.  We thought it was just for trip interruption or cancellation should we have a problem or the cruise line have some difficulties.  As it turned out the insurance also covered illnesses.  We wish we had remembered the insurance while we were on the ship.  Instead we needed to file a claim when we returned.  We hope we will be reimbursed for at least some of the cost of treatment. Oh well.

Once through the canal we made stops in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and then Mexico.  We scheduled excursions in most of the stops.  Rebecca took a suspended cable car excursion through the rainforest in Costa Rica and a visit to a botanical garden in Nicaragua.  As you know, Mrs.T is the plant woman.  And while I like flowers and plants very much, I took a pass on those two side trips - a bit too much plant overload for me.  And the idea of being several hundred feet over the jungle canopy did not play well with my phobias about high places.  I might have enjoyed the serpentarium she visited.  Rebecca took a lot of photos in those two places.  Here is a pared down group of them:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157644336963205/

But we took a trip together to a restored sugar cane plantation hacienda in Guatemala.  (Cane is first refined to sugar, then molasses, and finally to rum where the real money is made.)  As always, the rich people lived quite well.  The house was large and well-furnished by the standards of those times.  It had a well-tended garden with several species of flowers and plants that interested R.  Now it is being restored to its former glory by a doctor who lives in the capital.  He feels it is important to preserve the history of the country.

Here are some pictures:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157644336324594/

Our guide was quite good and knowledgeable.  It was a bit of a bus ride to the site but that provided one of the highlights:  We saw a couple of active volcanoes, one of which was smoking at the time.  Another excursion had offered a trip up to the top of one of them.  But as it was listed as a strenuous five-hour trek, we both decided that we could skip that.  So being able to actually see the same volcano, albeit from a distance, was a nice bonus.  Our bus driver is to be given extra kudos for being able to back up a narrow alley to the hacienda entrance.

Finally we got close to home when we anchored at Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa is southern Mexico.  We sometimes refer to this as the 'real' Ixtapa because this is the one most tourists think about.  There are literally hundreds of towns named Ixtapa throughout Mexico; we even have one near Bucerias.  It is like the name Springfield in the US.  But the Ixtapa in southern Mexico was designed from the ground - or rather beach - up to be a resort town to bring in some extra pesos to this part of the country.  

I passed on a chance to visit another botanical garden.  Rebecca actually hired a taxi to drive her to an archeological site and the botanical garden, both of which were somewhat out of town.  Although the beach was busy, the pyramid and museum were essentially empty.  Mrs.T has a personally guided tour by the people responsible for the area.  They were hoping to get more funding to do additional digging and restorations.  The garden was closed when she arrived although someone at dinner said they had gone there earlier in the day.

Here are some of R's pictures:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157644325771921/

Next stop was home for a couple of weeks before our trip north.  Now we are hoping spring will finally arrive.

Warmth to all of you,

Dan and Rebecca

It looks like the links did not come through properly so you may need to copy and paste them.

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Traversing the Canal

THE CANAL

 

The Muse has been really inspired and has quickly cranked out another episode about our recent vacation.  This posting covers our actual time at the canal.  The pictures will give some idea of the enormity of this monument to engineering.  It was the largest concrete structure ever constructed until the Hoover Dam, a.k.a Boulder Dam, was built about 20 years later.  In the last posting we mentioned that the canal runs basically north and south; also interestingly when entering from the north one goes west to east.  Here is Mrs.T's story:

 

When Dan first said he would like to see the Panama Canal I was not too enthused.  I thought when you have seen one canal you have seen then all. (She was probably thinking of the lock on the Muskingum River in our town of Philo. –dt) They are basically a ditch full of water with gates.  But I was wrong.  While on the ship we saw a movie made for NOVA about the making of the canal. ("A Man, A Plan, A Canal: Panama" narrated by noted historian David McCullough who wrote a book on the subject.  –dt) We also attended the first of a series of lectures about the canal, but alas, I slept though most of this (That was a really bad lecture and we did not attend any others. –dt.).  The first thing about the canal is it is very big.  There are three locks to take you uppity, up, up.  Then you go across a large lake.  There are three more locks and you go downitty, down, down.  Getting across is pretty simple now if you have a ton of cash to pay the toll.  But when you consider that the toll saves literally 8,000 miles and lots of expensive travel time maybe it is not so outrageous. (and avoid Cape Horn –dt)

 

The much simplified history goes something like this:

When the Spaniards were conquering the New World they needed a way to get their loot from the West Coast of South America to the East Coast.  They discussed building a canal across Panama but nothing came of it.  Three hundred years later the French thought they would do it.   After all they had built the Suez Canal.  Of course building a canal through a rocky mountainous jungle was not the same as building a canal across the desert but they could deal with the differences.  Well, not exactly!

 

The French canal venture was a private company with political connections.  They had a lot of investors and they kept running out of money.  They did a lot of surveys to determine the best route.  Where there is now a lake was then a river valley.  The plan was to connect the cut on the eastern side to the river.  Then they would enlarge and dredge the river to make it more navigable.  There were two problems.  The first was that tropical diseases such as malaria and yellow fever killed about 75% of their workforce within their first six months on the job.  At this time no one knew the connection between mosquitoes and the illnesses.  In spite of this, work commenced on the eastern cut.  The cut through the mountains was a lot harder than they expected.  Money was running short.  The French then discovered a fatal flaw in their plan.  The area was subject to sudden unpredictable tropical storms, or should I say deluges.  The height of the river would rise 10 or 20 feet within a couple of hours.  This made planning a sea level connection to the cut impossible because no one knew what the water level would be, not to mention the actual location of the river which shifted as the water rose.  Finally after several years the French effort went bust.  The investors lost everything and many adventuresome builders lost their lives.

 

The Americans took over the effort.  President Teddy Roosevelt was the front man for the effort. (an example of his 'big stick' –dt) The first fortunate thing was that someone discovered the link between the mosquitoes and malaria and yellow fever. (including Dr. Walter Reed –dt) Do you remember them burying the 'yellow fever' victims in the basement in Arsenic and Old Lace?  The company made a tremendous effort to eradicate mosquitoes.  They also installed window screens on the worker housing.  This did not solve the disease problem but it helped a lot.  (They also used bigger equipment, much of it built in Ohio.  –dt)

 

In a revised plan instead of using the river the Americans decided to build a lake on top of the river. (one of the largest manmade lakes in the world  –dt) By spreading out the space the change in water level would be a lot less.  Surrounded by huge dams the lake is about 90 feet higher than the oceans on either side.  That is why when you enter the canal from either side you go up to the lake.  Then on the other side you go down to the ocean.  In fact the sea level of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans are within a few inches of each other.  I can't remember which one is higher or why.

 

The canal has been reconditioned a couple of times but it still uses the same general route.  The Canal is very big but then so are the ships.  When our ship went through the canal was just inches from its sides.  I understand that most of these ships were built just small enough to fit through the canal. (Panamax ships –dt) To pass through the canal you need a reservation made months in advance.  You pay a huge toll; the one for our ship was around $360,000.  They said the smallest toll was $.76 for someone who swam through.  In spite of the high fees ships were lined up for their turns.  Mostly we saw the big ships, which go through during the day, two side by side.  At night small boats go through in bunches.  (The canal also runs one direction during the day and the other during the night.  –dt) (A parallel system of locks is currently under construction and should be operational in 2015 to accommodate larger ships. –dt)

 

Our ship like most was guided through the locks by large gleaming silver electric locomotives, which are called "mules".  You remember "I got a mule and her name is Sal, Fifteen years on the Erie Canal…."? (http://www.eriecanalvillage.net/pages/song.html , one of many on the web. –dt)  So from the decks and through our stateroom window we watched the whole process.  We were lifted up through three locks, steamed across the lake and were lowered down three locks.  In one day we traveled from the Atlantic to the Pacific, although it is about a century old it was still amazing.  And then we headed for home.

 

Here are some pictures:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157643066387424/

 

On the Pacific side of the canal we stopped in Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Guatemala, and southern Mexico.  Perhaps Rebecca will be writing about some of the other excursions during our return to the condo.

 

See many of you soon.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Winter Vacation 2014

THE PANAMA CANAL

 

Rebecca and I have discussed the possibility of taking a cruise for a vacation while down here at the Winter Residence.  We have thought about going either north or south.  Or perhaps even taking a ship instead of a plane to get here.  Cruise ships routinely stop in Puerto Vallarta.  Unfortunately one can only get off and not on.  A trip through the Panama Canal seemed to be a logical way.  I have always thought the Panama Canal would be a wonder to see.  And so we investigated what was available, making sure the itinerary included a stop in P.V. and that we could indeed disembark there, and booked our passage on the Celebrity Century, one of the smaller cruise ships of the major lines by today's standards.

Unfortunately nearly all cruises originate in Florida, either Ft. Lauderdale as did ours, or Miami.  So we needed to book a flight and hotel room in Ft. Lauderdale.  We had to go to Mexico City and then Atlanta before finally reaching Florida.  Things went rather smoothly except for a small glitch for some immigration papers to get us back into Mexico.  And our hotel had shuttles from the airport and to the port.  However, it was a fifteen-hour travel day.

Boarding the ship was straightforward; the port authority folks have the system down.  There were people from many countries, all anxious to get going.  Most prominent were Germans; as we would later hear most of the on-board announcements in English and German.  There were a smattering of Japanese and other Asians.  And we heard other languages – Swedish, Italian, French, etc. – during the cruise

.

Below Mrs.T reviews our first stop, Cartagena, Colombia, which was our only stop on the Atlantic side of the canal.  As are several of the places we stopped, Cartagena is a major seaport for cargo.  Most of the shipping these days is containerized and we were to see them stacked and being moved about during our times in ports; Maersk, the company of Captain Phillips, was noticeable.  As a note, even though the Panama Canal connects the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, the canal itself goes north and south.

 

As some of you know, Dan and I went on a cruise through the Panama Canal.  The cruise was on a very big ship.  Dan who seems to have a natural sense of direction immediately figured out where everything was.  With 12 different decks I think it is understandable that I sometimes became confused.  Fortunately they had little 'You Are Here' maps by each elevator. (There were three banks of elevators. –dt) The ship had 5 or 6 each of lounges, bars, restaurants, and stores - also a theater, a cinema, a medical clinic, and a customer service area, not to mention cabins for 1800 passengers and 900 crew.

On the first night at the traditional toast held in the theater, the captain introduced the main officers only one of whom was a woman, the ship's doctor.  She was from Columbia and quite nice looking.  Dan commented that he wouldn't mind her taking care of him. (Maybe that will be another part of the report.  –dt) Sigh!  We settled into our cabin which was snug but had a very nice window.

The passengers were people in our age range who evidently liked to eat.   There were about 4 or 5 passengers on the skinny side but most were either average or shall we say well-rounded; we fit right in the demographic.  And eat we did!  We had breakfast, we had a midmorning snack, we had brunch, we had lunch, we had a midafternoon snack,  we had tea, we had dinner, we had a postprandial tidbit, and then of course a snack before bed.  Well we did not eat at all of these times, but passengers did munch their way through the days.  Actually Dan and I pretty much restrained our gluttony to breakfast, lunch, dinner and a snack before bed.  But the food was very good in both quality and quantity.  One person I met stationed herself by the ice cream bar and whenever they brought out a new flavor rushed over to investigate.  She could not understand how she gained 15 pounds.  I will admit I personally consumed substantial amounts of bread pudding and many different exotic chocolate desserts.  It is disconcerting to think that we took this tour during Lent but all I can figure out is that we gave up healthy eating and abased ourselves in decadence.  

Of course we worked off a lot of these extra calories with strenuous on board activities such as reading; watching movies - Dan saw Captain Phillips and found it good; shows - we went to one but Dan fell asleep; lectures - we went to one but I fell asleep (It really was bad.  –dt); trivia contests, I won twice; chess games - Dan lost twice which made him grumpy (I hung some rooks. –dt); and sitting in the lounges listening to music.

 

The third night was the first "formal" dinner.  A couple of people were a little late arriving.  "They probably did not have someone bullying them into what to wear!" explained Terry, the other male at our table, who looked very nice in a dinner jacket.  Dan growled in agreement.  It was the first time I had seen Dan in a tie in many years.  (We had a very nice group of six table mates; we enjoyed meeting all of you.  –dt)

Our first stop was at Cartagena, Columbia.  Even though it was Sunday and also Election Day, the locals were ready for us.  When we disembarked we walked around a little park at the base of the fort (Castillo San Felipe de Barajas  -dt).  We were surrounded by street vendors.  There were ladies dressed up like Chiquita Banana (Actually probably Carmen Miranda even though she was from Brasil.  –dt) who wanted money to take their picture with you. (You will see me warning her in one photo.  –dt) I made the mistake of buying a couple of tee shirts and was mobbed by vendors throwing articles of clothing and jewelry on me.  (Our vendors in Bucerias are sedate by comparison. –dt) Finally I was rescued by the guide – we were last on the bus - and we went on to our excursion. 

We had scheduled a shore excursion that featured a tour of the city in a horse drawn carriage. The horse was fine; I think he had memorized the route and would have placidly taken us around with no driver whatsoever.  The carriage was fine, picturesque and well kept, it seated four of us.  The tour part, however, left a bit to be desired.  It was in fact non-existent.  After we had covered a couple of blocks I said to Dan, "I wish he would tell us about these buildings."  The driver who evidently understood English quite well asked me in Spanish, "Do you speak Spanish?"  "Yes, some," I admitted.  He then proceeded to give us a very nice tour in Spanish which I translated for the other three.  The only problem was when he gave dates - which was quite often as this was a historical kind of tour - I could not keep up.  Dan who is good with numbers in any language took to translating the dates and then we did fine.  The buildings were from three to five hundred years old and included a lot of churches and convents not to mention the fort and city wall.  There were many statues; my favorite was fat saint somebody or other.  I do not make this up, they really do have a statue of a fat saint; I just can't remember her name.  (Not really a saint, although the locals may call her that.  It is the bronze Mujer Reclinada by Fernando Bortero.  From another's post:  https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Cy3bgafPA6STMJnRoioI4Bf1bRGfAiytkKNUqXeQXV39AKhidffInhv52z9fM1jkT6NyOaGFRBQssKLK4iinyRKe9kIItHBRjtsN6xv65EK2C9WF7OAZgrdzkeUGMkin01mE0D8DfE_h/s640/IMG_7100.JPG  -dt) I had a little problem with Dan because when the tour was over he thought I should get a cut of the tips.   We went on to a local market where things were a lot more subdued.  Here I was able after a bit of haggling to buy a little puzzle to take back to our group in Bucerias.

Here are a few photos of this stop:  http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157642876659795/

I expect Mrs.T will provide us with some additional stories about the trip.  But soon we return to the Summer Estate and need to prepare for that.  Will spring be there when we return?

 

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com