We are still around
You may have thought we fell off the planet as we have not posted anything in quite a bit. But we are doing well at our winter home, mostly normal activities. We watched the Olympics and enjoyed the Gold Medal by the USA Men's Curling - sorry Canadian friends. As Mrs. T discusses below, the Terrible Airbnb was in full swing at the beginning of 2018. We had a great time hosting and we think our visitors enjoyed a relaxing time becoming expert lollers. The annual festival was held but seemed a bit down in attendance this time. There are a few pictures from the last peregrination; be sure to watch the short video. And the puzzlers have been at it in full tilt; they even completed one in about 24 hours. However, they rebelled at a particularly difficult one of butterflies labelled 'Impossible'. Not to be deterred, Dr..Puzzle took it to her place and did it on her own; that is why Judy is the puzzle doctor.
Festival and few other things: https://www.flickr.com/gp/9151458@N07/o59sQ9
Puzzles: https://www.flickr.com/gp/9151458@N07/Q7me1Q
On a more serious note, normalcy was interrupted by illness. Rebecca had some intestinal hemorrhaging from ruptured diverticulars. She had not been previously diagnosed - or we had not been told - about her having diverticulosis. We are familiar with the symptoms of infection as the editor has had the condition for several decades. But this was a different situation. She went to the hospital and was scoped from end to end. She healed up on her own rather quickly. But her energy was diminished by her blood loss and the two night stay at VMC. Right now - mid-March - she seems to have recovered quite a bit; a blood test later this week will tell if her iron levels are back to normal.
I persuaded Mrs.T to put together a little story as we have been in the dark for a while. I think too much lolling lead to the somewhat morose initial thoughts.
Some of you have inquired what is or was wrong with me. That, of course, is a rather involved subject. However recently I developed a rather severe case of diverticulitis which involved significant internal bleeding and landed me in the hospital for a couple of days. I emerged weak, grumpy, and anemic. (But no infection -dt) The doctors suggested I eat lots of beans, spinach, broccoli, that sort of thing. (I love this good stuff. -dt) I suggested steak and hot fudge sundaes.(Midwest farm girl -dt) I lost!! I was also temporarily forbidden such activities as SCUBA, horseback riding, and boogie boarding. This accounts for the grumpy part.
I think perhaps I have to admit it: I am growing old. One question is how I should go about it. One problem is hair. I had decided to let my hair grow. (See the current Prince Valiant look -dt) In the south for no reason I know of your hair grows a lot faster. But another odd thing is that here for the first time my hair curls. My friend Judy explained it is because of the humidity. At any rate because of all my pool lolling my hair was turning a particularly unattractive brown grey. (More yellow than brown -dt) I was told the answer was to wash my hair with purple shampoo. I know this sounds silly but it turns out it is true. If you do it properly your hair turns out a lovely silver. Of course if you overdo it you end up with blue hair. (She had been warned -dt) As many of you know I have never been one to do things with a subtle touch. "Is your hair blue?" Dan asked in amazement, unable, I suppose, to quite believe his eyes. "Well, yes," I answered and then I explained. (Where the hair length is going is anybody's guess -dt)
Another problem with growing old is the creaking. When I move around I sometimes sound like the Tin Man from The Wizard of OZ. This does not really hurt but it seems as if my bones are jumping around and rearranging themselves at will. I don't know what to do about this. (The editor sounds like a box of cereal. -dt)
In Mexico almost everyone has a tan. (We can tell newbies by their paleness -dt) This works well in covering those unsightly blue veins and brown spots which appear with age. Then there is toenail polish. Since all the old ladies around here wear either sandals or flip flops nail polish works well to distract from unfortunate foot variations that develop with age. Luckily pedicures in Mexico are quite reasonably priced. Colors currently in style include almost anything. Today I am wearing dark purple. (No surprise there -dt)
A serious problem with increasing maturity, as it were, is memory problems and mental acuity. In terms of memory I remember just about as much as I ever did. (Correct -dt) It just takes me longer to recall something. Perhaps it is because I have to go through so much remembered stuff before I get to the thing I am trying to recollect. Quite often I will be walking down the street and will turn to Dan and say "Jeanine" or some such thing. He will respond, "Of course that was her name." He knows immediately I am talking of a name I was trying to remember in a conversation we had three days earlier. When we are watching Jeopardy I still know a lot of the answers, but most of them I merely recognise (Probably the Brit spelling; see below -dt) after a contestant says it. A totally different problem is short term memory.
I think a lot of what passes for difficulties with short-term memory is actually hearing problems. Both Dan and I do not hear as well as we once did. The difference is I admit it but then I know Dan cannot hear either. (My tests come back normal -dt) (I think he cheated rt) We often adopt the smile-and-nod response method. Sometimes we get caught and our confusion might be attributed to short-term memory loss when in fact we never heard about the thing in the first place.
This winter we had lots of family visitors. These are very precious to us as the family of our youth diminishes. Dan's sisters, Rachel and Janice, were our first visitors. As they had visited before they enjoyed going out on their own where they shopped and beachcomed. I went with them to Destiladeras where we boogie boarded and saw lots of whales. (There have been quite a lot of whales this year; the beach at D. is a favorite spot to boogie board -dt) A lot of the time we puzzled and lolled about. I think they both are honorary pool princesses.
Our son Nick was our next visitor, He went horseback riding with me. He said he enjoyed it but did not go a second time. (He rode when he was growing up -dt) Nick and I went to Destiladeras and saw whales. We walked on the beach and picked up shells. Nick and I painted together. I painted a blue tree and red sun under a tangerine sky. It is odd but I like it. (Definitely nice -dt) Everyone wants me to paint again and perhaps I will. Nick puzzled a bit and was a definite loller. (But generally not in the water -dt) He gave Dan some kind of computer advice. Alas poor Nick is the only visitor still working full time so we encouraged him to loll.
Our last visitors were my sisters Ruth and Rita. The three Rs ride again. Shortly after my birth our aunt Genie - Genevieve Swingle - dubbed us Reading Ruth, 'Riting Rita, and little 'Rithmetic Sue in a poem about the Three Rs. Do any of you remember? (Only a few of you will understand the references -dt) I am not sure about Rita and I but Ruth is still reading with great gusto. (All three read quite a bit -dt) On Valentine's Day Dan gave us good chocolate candies and took us out to our lovely French restaurant the Bistro. What a prince! (Just timing; Rebecca and I go there every year -dt) The three of us went to Destiladeras where Rita and I boogie boarded to Ruth's entertainment. We walked on the beach and munched on beach food. Ritta and I SCUBA dived while Ruth rode in the boat. Alas, I then got ill (Not from the food -dt) but Ruth and Rita soldiered on without me, going shopping and visiting our beach. They left plenty of time for cosseting me. Ruth and Rita went horseback riding in my absence and had a great time. And of course we all lolled around the pool and did puzzles.
Both Dan's family and mine are games players and we played with all of our guests. Janice played enthusiastically and Rachel carefully, Dan always plays to win. I want to do well and have a lot of fun. We mostly played word games. Dan and his sisters had an advantage in that they spell very well. I on the other hand am creative and make up words that none have spelled before. Anyway everyone won some and that was good. Nick played with us and sometimes won without having the methods of either of his parents. (Super Big Boggle was a favorite -dt)
With my sisters, Rita found lots of words quickly and usually accurately. Ruth was the best speller of us all. I don't think one of Ruth's words was ever disqualified. Dan played intensely and usually accurately but when he could not find words would sometimes make them up. (Rarely, especially when compared to Mrs.T. See following -dt) When I played, spelling was not an issue because everybody knows that I cannot spell. However sometimes I saw letters that spelled what I thought must be a word so I wrote it down. Sometimes I was right, sometimes not. (Still she managed to win with outstanding scores sometimes -dt) I still maintain that if we were playing with the Oxford English Dictionary (The gold standard for many -dt) of my words would have counted. (Only in ancient Norse -dt) What all this says about my, and for that matter everybody else's, brain power with advancing age I do not know. But if I figure it out and remember in two or three days I'll let you know. He! He! He!
A glimpse at our visitors: https://www.flickr.com/gp/9151458@N07/8fq6Cz (Thanks Brenda for the picture of the painters -dt)
Well that was a summary of what has transpired since the last post. As you can see we have been a bit busy. Now we are glancing at the calendar and noting that return to Philo is not far in the offing. However it will then be only a short time until we depart for vacation in Italy.
Stay warm and dry. See some of you in about a month.
Dan and Rebecca
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com
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