Warmer Weather

Home Again at the Condo - 2022

Yes, we are back at the winter home, but not without some drama.  When we are about to head south we seem to have something arise, often a health issue with Rebecca, and this year was no exception.  The week before we were due to leave Mrs.T had a health situation that sent her to the hospital ER in Zanesville.  They did some tests, including a colonoscopy, all of which discovered: nothing.  Unfortunately, putting Rebecca under is always a problem; she has significant difficulty recovering from anesthesia.  Despite advising the doctors several times about this, it happened.  Her oxygen levels sunk too low for her to be released in time for our flight which we had to reschedule.  As we predicted her oxygen was back to normal after about two days at home.  And the condition for which she went in had not improved.  It disappeared on its own after we were at the condo for a couple of days.  This unfortunate episode needlessly cost us time and  money, and further undermined our faith in the US healthcare system.  Nice, well-meaning people, great technology, and a system that is - to be kind - in need of improvement. (The assistant editor cleaned up some language. -dt)

But we are back to warm sunshine in our most pleasant surroundings.  After about ten days we are completely at ease.  The larder is full and we are back to a routine.  Mrs.T is back with scuba and horses as she relates below.  And we already squeezed in a little event.

We are safely installed in Mexico.  Our pool is almost the right temperature.  I cautiously climbed in and found it a little cool.  "EEK" I squealed.   A little yellow bird sitting in the Norfolk Island Pine repeated "EEK".  I don't even get any respect from the local wildlife.  Brenda  says he was expressing sympathy but I am not too sure. 

I am still a little weak from the hospital but I can walk to Mary Paz and bring home a few abarrotes  - groceries.  I totter from one bench to the next; fortunately there is a bench on every block so I can pause to take a break.  (Good exercise. -dt)

Judy and I are working on a puzzle which is a picture of bugs.  It is quite intricate but kind of pretty. Rita got it for us. (First puzzle of the season in the pictures. -dt)

At night Dan says, "PUT ON YOUR NOSE!"  So I attach my CPAP and oxygen and crawl into bed.  Resistance is futile!  (It is for her own good. -dt)

Dan and I went to a local street party to celebrate the Day of the Dead.  My favorite part is the ALTOS - tall ones. These are puppets that are, on average, 10 feet tall.  There are altars with dead people's favorite things and lots of marigolds.  Evidently the dead people like bright colors and it helps them to find the way back.  Brenda and Phil, her son, walked down to the local cemetery but found it was not well maintained. Sigh!  I handed out halloween candy and had many enthusiastic kids in Day of the Dead costumes.

I had my first Spanish class and it went fairly well.  I am not too nervous around Jorge, the instructor,  but I do forget a lot of words.  (Actually Mrs.T is doing about as well in Spanish as English. -dt)

I have gone a couple of times to sit at Karen's and relax and watch the ocean while sipping a cold drink.  I love it.  One day I bought a little straw piggy from an Indian (Indigenous person -dt).  Brenda agreed that I really needed it.  Dan is so generous he did not complain but he did look a wee bit skeptical. Especially since I already have a straw piggy I bought last year.  "To market to market to to buy a fat pig. Home again home again. Jiggity, jig", I always say. (We really do not need more straw pigs. -dt)

I got my boots shined up and found my riding helmet and gloves and the step stool for mounting.  I am scheduled to ride on Thursday.  I am not sure if the horse will be Speedy Gonzales.  Dan said he was going to be sure to notify Edgar, our handy person, who thinks my mounting is the funniest thing.  In fact the whole neighborhood thinks it is quite entertaining. (Everyone waves when she goes by. -dt)  I will cling to the tatters of my dignity and ignore the scoffers.  Alas, Pablo was ill so no riding this week, but the lady promised he would be here next week.

I went SCUBA diving with Alex and his family and had a great time.  I saw lots of flora and fauna.  Rays, morays, fish of many sizes, shapes and colors.  I saw corals, sponges, shells, and other unfamiliar things which I could not identify.   We saw huge manta rays sailing above the ocean.  Alex's children caught about a dozen Spanish Marlin, two of which were cleaned and made into ceviche by Manuel while we were diving.  Eva, Alex's wife, made tortas of barbecued pork, and brought tamales, chips.  I brought cookies.  The whole family worked at dressing me in my scuba gear and retrieving my gear and helping me clamber tiredly aboard after diving.  I am sort of a family project with a picnic afterward.  And don't forget Alexandra who braided my hair while I slept.  I brought OSU tee shirts for everyone.  They think fondly of the Buckeyes because I bring them all Buckeye cookies every year.  It was good to be back.  (We are passing out real Buckeyes this year; we hope no one tries to eat them. -dt)

We had our official condo association meeting.  Dan has been president the last two years; next year it will be Glen.  I will not do it.  It requires too much patience and organization which are not my strong points. (Really not as demanding as in the US. -dt)

Here are a few pictures, including braids.  The interesting gizmo was a 'spy' in the hospital room to make sure Mrs.T did not get out of bed on her own.  https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAfpFn

Hope all of you up north are enjoying your early winter weather.  We are quite pleased with it here.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Sent from Outlook

Summer of repairs

MR. BROWN and Other Things

This has become a summer of repairs at the Philo residence.  As you have read in past issues of these newsletters, the storage shed was split in half by a falling tree.  And last year Mrs.T's chandelier fell down, shattering many of its elements and leaving glass all over her room.  And most recently the pond has been losing water copiously.  Time to call in the experts.

We have slowly emptied the shed, moving its contents to the garage. The folks at J&M Construction, who built the old shed, came and took it away.  The new shed should come in a few weeks and then we will need to move things back.  During our efforts to clean the shed we encountered Mr. Brown who Rebecca describes below.  He is quite a thin fellow about four feet long, probably subsisting on bugs and worms, and was not happy about us invading his home.

Before we left for the condo last fall, we asked Aaron of St. Louisville Glass, an old friend of ours, if he would attempt to repair the chandelier.  He agreed and the results are splendid.  Version two of the chandelier is hardly any different from the original.  Many thanks!

We called in Art of Living Waters Pond Supplies, who has been servicing our pond for several years, to see what could be done about the rapid decline in the water level.  He discovered a hole and considerable slippage of the liner.  He built an impressive dam to hold up the liner and increase the depth.  Now we wait for sufficient rain to refill the pond.

Here is Mrs.T's description of events:

Dan and I were emptying out the old shed. "Don't you hiss at me!" I heard him say.  "Don't you stick out your tongue either!"  Who was he talking to?  I was afraid I knew but I had to ask.  "Who are you talking to?"  "My little friend, come and see", Dan replied. Very cautiously, because I knew what to expect I crept up and peered over his shoulder.  Dan was talking to a very skinny brown snake.  I quickly looked at the snake's head.  Not a copperhead and not a rattlesnake either, not a cottonmouth therefore not venomous.  "I think he might be a Brown snake," I told Dan.   "I can see that!" Dan replied obtusely.  "No, brown is the name of a kind of snake," I replied.  The little snake stuck out his tongue at me.  His tongue was black and forked at the end.  I believe snakes smell with their tongues. (They do. -dt)  Dan took out his phone to take a picture.  I began to back away. "Well he has to move so I can get to that box," Dan said.  'Yes', I said, and began backing further away.  Dan gently nudged the snake with a piece of cardboard and like magic the snake got longer and longer and longer; he turned and stuck his head under the box and it disappeared and slowly the rest of him followed until he disappeared altogether.  Cautiously we went back to work.

 

Dan and I worked together with good grace empting the shed mostly into the garage.  We took some of the contents to recycling; a few we threw away.  Every few days Mr. Brown, the snake, would turn up becoming more and more irritated that we were steadily dismantling his home.  I let Dan make the decisions about what to keep, although I am generally more ruthless except for my old paintings. (She has been giving those away to any good home. -dt)  I looked at some Google pictures and could not decide what kind of snake Mr. Brown was.  Sometimes Dan would open a box to check the contents and there was Mr. Brown.  Dan gave him a little nudge and Mr. Brown would unroll himself and slither grumpily away.  I tried to stay out of it.  Snakes make my hair stand on end; they just do! (As with many people, Mrs.T is frightened of snakes and spiders. -dt)  One day it happened, the thing I had been fearing,  Mr. Brown escaped our surveillance and came with us back to our garage.   Oh No!  This was the last thing I needed.  I grabbed a broom and tried to sweep him into the woods.  Mr. Brown did not want to go.  He wanted to go back to the boxes.  He finally crept under Dan's car and retreated.  After that we haven't seen Mr. Brown, which is fine by me.  If anyone would like free paintings or miscellaneous stuff please let me know. (Miscellaneous stuff?  We have lots of electronics. And paintings.  -dt)

We have been working on other projects this summer. One big one is that the pond needs to be fixed.  The pond leaks almost half way empty before it stops losing water.   Art, the pond guy, found two holes on one side which need to be patched.  The other end of the pond sank down and it needed a kind of a wall to prop it up.  Evidently it was overwhelmed by too many water lilies!  Dan and I measured it and it is about fifteen feet wide where it needs a wall; the pond is about forty feet long.  All of the goldfish are now crowded together in the deep end. (Art estimated that there were plenty. -dt)  We have not seen any of the turtles, who can vote with their feet.  This week Art and his assistant will start work on the pond repairs.  If anyone in the area would like free water lilies let me know.

Another project was rebuilding my chandelier.  About twenty years ago I built a beautiful little chandelier with the help of Sam Drumgoole. (Anyone know the whereabouts of Sam? -dt)    It hung about 3 1/2 feet with lots of transparent purple and blue pieces around a light casting colored shadows on the wall above my desk.  I loved it.  Eventually the chain broke and many of the pieces did not survive the fall.  Alas! Alas!!  Dan talked to Aaron about a commission to repair it.  I talked to Aaron explaining how it was put together.  Aaron thought he would make a new chandelier out of the surviving pieces and some new pieces of similar shape and color.  All last winter while we were in Mexico Aaron labored.  I was nervous but Dan consoled me.  Before the installation Aaron talked to me about how the chandelier had been made.  After much thought I remembered the knots that tied on the pieces and things like that.  So, although I didn't do much, I was kind of an advisor.  

Finally Aaron brought the old pieces and the new pieces he had made.  The colors matched perfectly.  Aaron and his new assistant Dominic assembled the new chandelier.  I gave them a little advice about how high the pieces should go and things like that.  Piece by piece it came together.  Slowly it grew and then suddenly I could see it.  My new chandelier.  It is not my old chandelier but it is itself. A blue and purple cloud of light that hovers gently above my desk sending down sweet thoughts.  I am replete.  

Here are a few pictures:  https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjA2EzH

By the time you read this except for the arrival of the new shed the above repairs will have been completed.  We have had a few light showers but not enough to refill the pond.  And another project is underway.  The various sea prints that Rebecca made at our workshop are being prepared for the condo; they will go in the 'fish' room.  Look for photos in a future newsletter.  

And Rebecca will have had another endoscopy to check on her cancer situation.  We expect that the biopsy will show that she still is cancer free.  We hope that she can have fewer of these exams.

Like much of the country, it has been warmer than usual in Philo.  Rain has come in spurts.  Flowers bloomed nicely and perhaps a second wave is coming.

Stay cool.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Sent from Outlook

Summer fun

IT HAS BEEN A BUSY SPRING AND SUMMER

As mentioned in the last newsletter, visits with medical professionals, including another endoscopy for Rebecca, just about ate up all of April.  Thankfully Mrs. T is still cancer free and most of our collective parts are functioning about as would be expected for folks of our age. But a busy April was just the beginning of a projected busy summer.  Some things had been rescheduled to this summer due to COVID.  We have just passed the Fourth of July festivities and Mrs.T brings you up-to-date on what we have been doing the last couple of months:

In May we had a three week sojourn in the west.  The first week was the Glass Art Society Conference.  It had been canceled for two years because of COVID.  We decided to attend  because  of the cancellations and also because of the nearness of family.  We found the GAS conference somewhat diminished but still fun. We saw some old friends, especially Yilmaz and Nimet, and enjoyed some very fine demos.  One was when they made a humongous shark.  Actually the body was already made; what they did was add all of the fins and tail. (About a two hour job. -dt) Another demo was when they made a Saturn kind of thing.  The thing is, when you have some of the best glassblowers in the world, like Dante Marioni and Preston Singletary as your assistants, how hard can it be to do fantastic work.  

We enjoyed visiting the Museum of Glass in Tacoma and one of the local studios. Area 253, (Much like old Glass Axis at the Belmont building. -dt).  We rode on the downtown trolley.  We visited the vendors and saw the student show.  We bought a very nice marble at the silent auction.  There was a lot more to see and do but we are kind of old and were tired.  We remembered those who were no longer there.  There were magnificent others past and the new ones coming on, the gift and curse of age.  And so we left and went to visit relatives. 

After the glass conference we went to Seattle to visit Dan's brother John and his wife Suzy.  Suzy has the loveliest garden; she lavishes it with love and every kind of special care.  In the moist climate it flourishes.  I am in awe.(Actually it is more like three connected gardens. -dt) After a brief stop we went to visit their River House across the mountains in the Metlow Valley in Twisp, Washington. (Five/six hours from Seattle. -dt) Twisp is named for an Indian word for the sound that bees make, evidently it has always been a buzzy place (He! He!).  Their home is on the edge of a mountain river which runs down from the Cascades carrying the melting snow to the valley below.  Suzy and John bought their river house so they could live near their grandchildren.  Twisp is a creative little place (About the size of Philo. -dt) with lots of artists and historians and librarians.  In the summers people come there to hike and in the winter people come to ski.  

The first day we were there I saw a merganser duck family paddling down the swift river in a line, with the ducklings following their mother.  I was enchanted.  On the far side of the river - the river isn't very wide - a family of otters live and with binoculars you can watch them cavorting.  In the evenings the deer walk quietly down to rest in the shadow of the breezeway of the house.  One evening I looked out and saw a great dark shape.  A bear, I thought!  But no, it was a huge black dog of a neighbor. The dog  liked to walk along the river in the evening.  The neighbor came to fetch him eventually.  During the days we visited the little craft stores, ate at the bakery, and were introduced to the grandchildren's chickens.   

The chickens were quite friendly, rushing up to take bugs and worms from the children's hands.  In fact one of the chickens was trained to walk on a leash.  Although they have a very fancy chicken coop I guess the chickens tended to lay eggs wherever the fancy struck them.  About half of the chickens were retirees.  Everyone was horrified when I inquired if they were destined for the pot.  Everyone, but especially the children, lives an idyllic life in Twisp where the father is a building painter and the mother is a nurse and the grandparents live just down the street.  (Check out Suzy's wonderful almost daily blog, sue-feathersandflowers.blogspot.com/, for more about Twisp, gardens,  and other things. -dt) After a few days' visit we returned through the mountain pass to Seattle where we caught a plane to Idaho to visit my sister Rita.

We sat in the airport for several hours.  That was not the plan, but we did.  (Getting through SEATAC is not fun, similar to DFW. -dt) Finally we got in the air and headed East.  It was a little bumpy but at this point I did not care.  In a short while we were in Boise.  The next day there was a big barbeque at Sarah's house. (Nice work Chris! -dt)  Sarah is Rita's younger daughter.  She has a husband, Chris, and two young daughters (Sage and Nora -dt) and of course Sammy.  Sammy is, well there is no getting around the fact, a corn snake.  Sarah explained that Sammy was the perfect pet.  You only have to feed her once a month.  She only poops once a month.  You can leave her alone in a cage with a bowl of water for 2 or 3 weeks.  While I saw Sarah's point I did not rush right out to buy my own snake.  The children enjoyed walking around with Sammy coiled around their necks.  I explained that I admired Sammy better from afar.  Chris had planted lots of fruit trees and when they all produce they make pies, applesauce, and cider. (Some of it of the hard variety. -dt)

The next day we went out to the ranch now owned by Kate, Rita's elder daughter, and her husband Jeremy. (A real cowboy -dt) (They have two sons, Drew and Dre -dt) They had three colts which were curious and cute and still a bit fuzzy.  They would come up to be petted and scratched.  Then they would jump away in sheer exuberance of just being alive.  The mares are a mixture of pride and patience, gently calming and comforting the excited little ones.  After visiting the horses, we ate a delicious homemade pie (Great job Drew! -dt) and conversed while their little dog talked to me. (The cats also seemed contented. -dt)

Rita took us to a mystery challenge about trying to find the bell in grandma's curio cabinet.  And we went to see "Much Ado About Nothing"  at Shakespeare in the Park.  It was quite amusing and very well done.  It was nice to share Rita's life for a little bit but time to get home to Ohio.  

Back in Ohio at the beginning of June, I mowed the yard and Dan washed our vacation clothes when we had the first thunderstorm.  We were listening to the rain which pounded our roof like horses hoofs - I always wanted to say that - when Kaboom! Our house shook.  We walked through the house, checked the garage, peered out all of the windows but we couldn't see a thing.  Obviously a very large tree had fallen.  The next morning we saw it.  A huge tree had fallen and split our storage shed completely in two.  A disaster for everyone except for the squirrels who were running excitedly back and forth through the large hole in the roof.

Well Dan was quite busy on the phone, calling the insurance, getting guys to cut down the tree and put a tarp over the roof.  Finding out costs and how to get rid of the old shed.  We had discussions about what to do with the junk in the shed.  I was for chucking it all out except for a bunch of my old paintings.  This conundrum is not yet settled. (We will be sorting through things as much of it is moved to the garage temporarily. -dt) Fortunately we got the tree cut and pitched over the hill and a tarp over the roof  before the next disaster came on Wednesday in mid-June after the storm.  It was an area-wide heat wave which overloaded the power grid causing it to go down.  

Dan called it in and got a recording that said in effect,  "We know your power is out and so is 800 other people's.  We do not know when it will be back on."  (Note the editor is the one who handles the phone calls. -dt) We had already had breakfast and lunch so we lay around reading books and napping.  It was very hot.  Every couple of hours we called the electric company.  At first it stayed around 800 but then it went up to 1200.  We went out to supper at an air conditioned fast food place.  The number of people affected kept rising which was not encouraging.  We lazed about until it got dark.  Fortunately Dan had bought these little electric lanterns which we placed strategically before we lay down.  

The next couple of days were more of the same.  We kept hoping the power would come back on but it did not.  We worried about the food in the refrigerator and freezer which we did not open.  We flushed with water from the hot tub.(No electricity means no water pump from the cistern. -dt)  Finally on the third night we checked into a hotel for a nice shower and a cool night's sleep.  (By then the hot tub was a tepid tub. -dt) We returned home the next day. Saturday, so I could mow the grass and we could pack for our trip to Pennsylvania.  I was mowing away when Dan came out and was waving frantically.  After almost three days the power had finally come back on.  The refrigerator was beeping angrily.

We were already packed to leave the next morning.  We decided to leave the fridge to its own devices. We left and went to our art workshop.  We had a wonderful time at Touchstone Center for Crafts.(Our fifth visit there. -dt) We both took a class in large scale print making. (Dyeing, screen and block printing. -dt) Dan's prints were probably more artistic than mine. Actually my prints were a little bit of group projects; I had a lot  of help from the teacher and other students.  And they came out okay.  I made seascapes.  I made a boo boo using dye instead of ink.  But I covered it up and pretended it was an artistic statement.  Thanks April!(A classmate -dt)  Our intern Terra helped me cut out my blocks because my hands were not strong enough and my classmate Linda lent me her silver ink.  But I was happy with my work.  Dan's were more his own.  The class was exhausting for both of us.  (We enjoyed everyone: Linda, Jane, April, Hanna, Gretchen, and Terra -dt)  But we are glad to be back in Philo with the fridge which had fixed itself in our absence. (Just about everything in the fridge seemed okay. -dt)

Well, that brings you just about up-to-date as promised.  Another meeting/workshop we were scheduled to attend - the Nature Printing Society annual conference in Maine - was sadly canceled due to concerns about COVID.  Rebecca is in rehab trying to work out problems related to her strokes; she is thrilled to be relearning how to swim.  Other medical visits are in the offing as well as routine maintenance around the house.  Next events are the Y-Bridge arts festival and Muskingum County fair.  Looks like more fun for us.

Here are a few pictures of the latest adventures; the Phoebes have returned:  https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzWTPo

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzWTPo

Feel free to share our newsletter.  We hope you enjoy it.  Let us know if you wish to be dropped from our distribution list. Or let us know of anyone who wishes to be added.

Best wishes for a wonderful summer.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Sent from Outlook

Transiting

GETTING HOME IS THE FUN - NOT

Well, we have been back in Philo for about two weeks.  This newsletter has taken a while to get prepared because we have been consumed by appointments with the medical profession - ten appointments in less than those two weeks, including another endoscopy for Mrs.T.  And that is just round one.  Follow ups are coming with cardiology, pulmonology, orthopedics, etc.  To our Canadian friends:  Don't complain.

Time for an editorial.  As Rebecca partially describes below, airports are just short of torture in the US.  We have traveled a bit, but still not as much as many folks we know.  But we can say with high confidence that other countries do a better job at the airports.  Even the relatively small airport at Puerto Vallarta has better systems in place to move passengers through the terminals.  Maybe it works because it is small.  But we think it is more a matter of organization and attitude. We often go through DFW because it is about halfway between Columbus and PV.  Going south generally has not been a problem.  But returning ?*&^%#@

Immigration has about thirty stations but generally only about ten are in actual use.  The line of entrants snakes out and down the hall towards the concourse at times.  We are sure the agency has difficulty finding people.  But we find it reprehensible that when the shift is over some of the officers just leave no matter how many hundreds are in line.  Probably some overtime rules.  WE DON'T CARE.  Something should be revised to expeditiously process entrants.  It is not a surprise that some folks miss their connecting flights.  We wish Secretary Buttigieg could come through incognito and see how bad it is.  

On to Mrs.T's commentary:

I wandered lonely as a cloud  - and I was pretty chilly too - gazing at my daffodils.  It is good to be back in Ohio.  I saw an enormous bunny tearing around the corner of our house.  I waited to see a bobcat or a coyote or at least a dog chasing after it, but nothing occurred. (A coyote has since come by. -dt)  I don't know what that was all about.  I saw some silly squirrels digging around in the dirt trying to recall where they  buried some nuts last fall. "I know I put them here somewhere, Mildred!"   Dan and I watched some big black birds. I thought they might be baby buzzards just learning to fly - they weren't very good at it - but they flapped clumsily away.  (Buzzards - turkey vultures - are great soarers but do not flap well. -dt) And at night I see more stars and a huge moon peeking over the top of the hills.  A pink moon they call it, I forget why.  When it is warm we hear the spring peepers.  But tonight it is cold and they are snuggled up in their long johns.  We watched a pair of wood ducks sizing up our little pond.  Alas it did not meet their needs. (Possibly because the net is still over the pond.  -dt) They have such beautiful colors.  The last I heard they are rare but not endangered.  Those naughty deer have eaten the first five feet of some of their favorite evergreens. They were some of my favorites too, alas!  The remainders look like popsicles, just the trunk and then a pathetic lump of branches at the top.

The Lenten roses are blooming like crazy as well they should, it being Lent.  Many of the spring ephemerals, the violets, the trilliums, the blood root, the cut leaf toothwort, the lungwort, and so on are blooming everywhere I look.  I have a yellow flower I haven't identified yet.  (Since identified as a yellow dogtooth violet  -dt)  Dan's big leaf magnolia which bloomed last year for the first time left us with two seed pods which I intend to plant in pots.  (She put out a dozen pots. -dt)  Quite a few violets are blooming in my labyrinth but I have not yet gotten around to cleaning it up.  And I have a lot of lilies in my lily bed.  The flowering quinces are flowering enthusiastically..  We again have phoebies in the nest on our front porch and I do not have the heart to evict them although they make a dreadful mess.  It is spring in Ohio.

Getting home was quite an ordeal.  Of course we had the nose stick thingy to get on the plane.  The seats seem to get closer together every time we fly.  (Perhaps we are getting wider. -dt)  I don"t think the seats reclined at all, you just sort of climbed over each other.  The real problems started when you tried to change planes.  Dan and I get wheelchairs.  There is no possible way we could get through the international terminal at Dallas / Fort Worth.  They never have enough 'pushers'. (Our name for the folks that push the wheelchairs. -dt) We shared a pusher with four other wheelchairs.  Unfortunately we were the last in the group of six.  So the guy would push forward two chairs then push another two chairs and then us.  Then he would go back and push the front two again.  This worked fairly well until we got to immigration. The holdup at immigration was such that by the time we were processed the first four chairs were very far behind.  The pusher hustled them forward.  "I'll be back for you", he shouted over his shoulder and was never seen again. We waited and waited.  I had to use the bathroom in the worst way.  No one came and then we waited some more.  I finally begged and pleaded and the immigration lady let me use their bathroom. (We hope she did not get in trouble. -dt)  They said someone was coming for us.  No one came. We waited and waited, FINALLY someone came.  (Fortunately the travel agent leaves a lot of time between flights. -dt)

At the baggage claim one of our suitcases was off to one side because it waited for us too long. We got all of our stuff checked back in and settled down at our gate to wait.  I was very thirsty and went to get a drink.  I  knew that Dan would complain bitterly about the cost - and he would be right - but I did not care.   At a little food stand I found a bottle of lemonade.  Just what I needed.  I opened my purse to pull out lots of money.  "We do not take cash!"  the man said,  "only credit cards."  Oh Dear!  Dan had reorganized my purse and put all the credit cards where he thought they should go.  I could not find anything. (Mrs.T put them where she thought she could find them. -dt) I sighed and prepared to return the lemonade to the shelf.  The man gave me a sweet little smile and said, "This one is on me."  He handed me back the bottle.  "Would you like a cookie to go with it?"  Well I was tempted.  "How about a brownie?" he suggested.  He was gone only a minute and I was tottering away clutching my lemonade and brownie after having thanked him a lot.  "How much did all this cost us?" Dan asked.  "Not a thing", I replied, "A nice man gave it to me."  After we sat down and shared the nice man's generosity, and Dan admonished me for not knowing where he had stashed my cards, we relaxed a bit at our FIRST gate.

A while later Dan got a text message saying they had changed our gate.  We looked around.  There were no wheelchair pushers.  There were no gate agents.  There was no little golf cart.  Dan said he was sure we could do it; it was only two gates away.  Yes, it was only two numbers but that didn't count a whole lot of restaurants and stores.  I took the portable oxygen in one hand, the backpack on the other shoulder, hung my purse around my neck and wandered grumpily away.  I made Dan take the pills and stuff which was the heaviest bag.  Huffing and puffing we finally arrived.  I should mention here Dan says there is something wrong with my lungs.  Well, can you blame me?   I might also mention that Dan urges me to learn to use text but you will notice that no one sent me any bad news.  Score one for the Luddites!  We waited for an hour or more at our SECOND gate.  Then Dan got another text message telling us they had changed our plane to another gate.  The  THIRD gate was not near enough for us to walk to.  Dan set off to find us help.  Dan can be quite assertive.  I was sure he  would find somebody.

I waited a long time.  I drank the last of the lemonade.  I wondered if Dan had gotten arrested for shouting at someone.  I did not see anybody to ask.  I  waited some more.  Finally Dan arrived triumphantly on a little cart. We got our belongings on board and set off. We had not gotten very far when two ladies rushed up.  "Are you going to Gate 33?  We were looking for you.  We are going to help you", they announced.  Well better late than never I thought.  

The ladies jumped on the front of the cart.  "You drive, we will clear the way", they shouted to the startled driver. "Make way for the cart! Move to the right!' they screamed." People in front of us scuttled to one side and we were off. The little cart careened forward.  "Make way for the cart, cart coming through!" the ladies screamed. "MOVE TO YOUR RIGHT!" I didn't think they could actually scream louder. A lady in front of us jumped out of our way.  "Cart coming through!" they hollered. We sped through an open space and the ladies got their breath.   "Cart coming through!" the ladies bellowed as we snaked around, between two groups of people.  I was beginning to get into the mood of the thing, and so was the driver.  I looked at Dan, his usually serene face looked rather fierce.  His black eyes were glowing.   "Move to your right."  I was beginning to resent all of those people holding us up.   "Cart coming through"  I had not had this much fun since taking the kids on the water slide at Disney World.  "Make way" the ladies shouted one last time as we slid to a halt in front of gate 33. 

 "There you see the plane for Tulsa isn't even boarding yet" one lady shouted.  "But we aren't going to Tulsa," I said.  We all looked at the board.  There was a flight to Tulsa boarding in a few minutes and then our flight to Columbus. "Well we gotta find them", one lady said to the other and they rushed off.  Dan graciously told the gate agent how much we had appreciated the ride to our new gate.  Well we aim to please she replied a trifle sarcastically.

Well, such was our adventure to finally get to the flight for  Columbus eventually.  There was a two-hour weather delay for some very fierce storms.  And the flight was so bumpy we did not even receive the meager rations they pass out these days.

Given all the appointments mentioned above, it is a credit to Rebecca managed to put together this newsletter.  Events in Philo are more or less normal, awaiting the second round of follow ups with the medicoes.   A busy summer is ahead with an art conference / workshop on each coast and another one closer to home for good measure.  By Labor Day we should have some nice work to share.

Only a single photo:  httphttps://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzNtXws://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzNtXw

Hope you are staying dry.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Sent from Outlook

Dearest Rebecca

FANS and FRIENDS of REBECCA

Like most of the world we have been following the sad events in the Ukraine.  Some of our Canadian friends have relatives there, safe the last time they heard.  We have friends in Europe for whom we are concerned.  Mrs.T, who tends to obsess over such situations, is particularly depressed.  There is much worry that it could explode into an even worse conflict.  Pray hard.

Being residents for about six months, we are part and parcel of the fabric of the community here.  We are fairly well-known by the locals from our neighborhood taxis to our minisuper, Mary Paz, and even at the post office.  Of course everyone likes Rebecca; she has a 'nice person' aura surrounding her.  As you will read, many even have affectionately nicknamed her.

The three R's managed to convene for a rare two-week pow wow.  They all had a good time.  The editor's siblings may try for a similar meeting next season.  It should be fun.

Rebecca provides a bit of local color and discusses our visitors and current activities.

Calling me Rebeccacita is as accurate as calling the horse I ride Speedy Gonzales.  But so I am affectionately known in Bucerias.  Cita is a Spanish diminutive ending meaning little.  Alas it has been quite a while since I could accurately be called little Rebecca.  (Ahem. -dt) When in the distant past Speedy last lived up to his name I cannot say.  But be that as it may, when I walk down the street I am hailed as Rebeccacita by the taxistas.  I am quite fond of the taxistas and they of me.  (They all know Mrs.T at the taxi stand. -dt) I think they have an interesting job and admire their efforts to speak English.  Some of them are quite fluent, often as a result of living for some time in the US.  I try to speak Spanish to them and they are quite complimentary.  "Entiendo?" I ask incorrectly.  I have asked do I understand when I meant to say, 'Do you understand'.  "Si, Si", they respond, "Your Spanish is quite good".  "Tu eres amable," I responded - 'You are being kind'.  And we both giggle.  (Chortle perhaps; I cannot imagine a taxi giggle. -dt) After my stroke I find it hard to think of words in Spanish or English.  One day I got into a taxi and suddenly my mind went blank.  I could not remember the Spanish words for my address.  I was starting to panic, pointing toward the direction of our condo when the taxista said calmly, "A casa, Rebeccacita?" - 'Home, Rebecca?'; I nodded hopelessly.  "You live at Jacarandas, Rebeccacita".  Yes that was the lost word and then everything was okay.  

Ruth and Rita, my sisters, both have visited recently at the same time. This is nice because we seldom all three get to the same place at the same time.  We spent a fair amount of time on the beach getting massages while listening to the waves and emitting little moans.  (Ruth went multiple times. -dt) After that we spent some time at Karen's drinking juice, my favorite was mixed berry, and chatting about this and that.  Then we returned to the condo to read our favorite books.  Later Dan made supper.  Rita's favorite was pasta with Dan's homemade sauce.  Dan has been taking cooking classes at Sandrina's.  My favorites have been the Greek dishes.  A little later we had desserts from  the cafe at the corner.  I think Ruth liked the cheesecake with berry topping.  

We sisters went out on the boat with Alex.  Alex and I went scuba diving.  Rita went snorkeling with Alexandra, Alex's daughter. Ruth stayed on the boat with Eva, Alex's wife; neither one is a water person.  That day we saw whales from the boat.  When we got on the boat we had elote, corn, tamales.  After the dive we had tuna tortas and mandarinas and cookies. Eva is a very good cook.  And so is Alexandra who cooks for us when Eva is with her mother. When we got back to the pier we saw the big iguanas who live there.  Then we came home.  It was a good day.  

We went shopping.  Shopping with my sisters is more fun than shopping with Dan.  He just can't quite get the hang of it.  Ruth bought more bobble heads, and Rita bought clay birds and a tin pelican.  I bought two small leather purses.  I think that other things were bought too numerous to mention.  We had to take the detour because they tore down the Kissing Bridge.  It still isn't up but they are working on it.  Think of all those lost kisses; sigh!  I hope they let us paint on it.  We were tired so we stopped and drank licuados.  We took a taxi home.  (Ruth and Rebecca have difficulties walking. -dt)

After visiting us Rita went to Isla Mujeres off the eastern coast of Mexico.  She was signed up for a snorkeling tour.  Rita was incensed to find that they expected her to sit quietly observing with two elderly Dutch ladies while everybody else went snorkeling.  She pitched a fit and they sent her out with her own guide which ended up being very nice.  Growing old graciously - I think not!!  Rita and I may be growing old, although we don't like to admit it, but graciousness has little to do with it.  About Ruth I am not quite sure.  But when she is not reading she does have a tendency to get her own way.  (The oldest -dt)

The Canadians have started leaving and so far I have inherited hibiscus petals.  So I brewed some jamaica.  It came out pretty well.  As we are some of the last to leave we tend to inherit leftover groceries from our friends.  It is always interesting to see what we get.  

They have totally gutted Helechos.  It is going to be a Japanese sushi restaurant. There is a great diversity of opinions about this.  I do not mind sushi but I hate that they painted over the hummingbird mural on the outside.  I will miss Jesus; he has been there forever.  (He still lives there and we see him on the street.  -dt) And I will miss the squash blossom soup and his magic tricks.  Sweet memories!  He was a favorite of Dad's.  (The editor's father. -dt) I don't know where Dennis will find liver and onions now. I don't know why anyone likes liver and onions either, but there is no accounting for taste.  People say Leo's is going to close.  Sigh!  Sunday we are going out to Delicias Mexicanas to celebrate Judy's birthday (Dr. Puzzle -dt); she is very young. (We all had good food and a good time. -dt)

Diving this week there was a lot of surge where the waves push you first one way and then the other. I felt good about my ability to handle this.  We saw the little orange seahorse again.  We saw loads and loads of fish of every color, size, and type, many were familiar, some I did not recognize.  I asked Alex later if they were there because of the surge but he did not think so; perhaps it was because the ocean is still cold.  That may be the reason we still are seeing a lot of whales this year.   We did see four very large flounders.  They were lying on the bottom hiding under a thin layer of sand.  I thought if I could slowly place my hand under one I could grab him by the tail. (Mrs.T probably thought she could imitate what Alex did with a ray on a previous dive. -dt) Then I would put him in our collecting bag.   Well - NO!  The flounder was a lot faster than I expected and was gone with an insulting flip of his tail.  Alex said later that he saw what I was trying to do and was quite sure it would never work.  Sigh!  Well life is full of wonderful things but some of them just don't work out.

As Mrs.T alludes to, construction is moving apace.  Yet another corner close by - formerly the location of Las Vegas and other things - has been leveled to be developed into condominiums.  This one will supposedly have three / four towers.  Fortunately we will not see the twenty-storey buildings they have in Vallarta.  Nonetheless, we will be surrounded on all sides by taller structures.  Bucerias is a Vallarta exurb now, not a small town on the outskirts.

Here are some pictures, including an unusual daytime visitor:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzEZum

We should be back in Philo mid-April.  Hopefully some of Rebecca's flowers will be in bloom and the weather will be pleasant.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com 

Sent from Outlook

A normal week

WEEKLY ROUTINE

Apparently it has arrived here - COVID.  It seems we are having an Omicron wave.  Several reported cases around town, although the numbers are still suspect.  Most illnesses appear to be fairly mild.  We are not ruling out the possibility of 'false positive' tests.  We are concerned but not alarmed and continue to take precautions as before.  We are not letting it scuttle our routines too much.  We were already fairly much home-bodies.

The urbanization of Bucerias continues apace.  As mentioned in our last edition, we are no longer a sleepy little town where the tourists from Puerto Vallarta come to see 'real' Mexico.  Nope.  We firmly have become an exurb of PV with uncounted condos going up.  Just last week a new tower unexpectedly began construction right across the street; the sounds make concentration difficult.  And the air has been filled with more dust as the previous building is deconstructed.  Apparently there are many people seeking places close to the ocean, probably for retirement, with a balmy climate.  Or there is a lot of investment money.  In any case, the culture of the town is shifting. 

We don't think we would trade for the weather up north.  Rebecca composed this as the big winter storm crossed the US, particularly in the east.  Freezing temperatures as far south as Florida do not encourage us to be in Philo, probably about 5 inches (12cm) of snow at the house.  No thank you.

Mrs.T writes about her weekly routine.  She does scuba on Tuesdays, horse riding on Thursdays.  Spanish classes Mondays and Fridays.  She needs recovery time on Wednesdays and Fridays.  And puzzling fills much of the remaining time.  She has great fun with fish and horse friends.  These activities promote her ongoing stroke recovery and rehabilitation.  We received several encouraging comments on our last post about Rebecca's challenges.  (Thanks AH especially.)  On to this installment:

I was riding Speedy Gonzales up the dried river bed.   Every week I ride further before the first trickles and small puddles appear. The first week there were hordes of butterflies and dragonflies of every shape, size, color, and hue.  We rode through a magic tapestry of color and movement; I was entranced.  The horses splashed through the shallow stream the way a five-year old in boots splashes through mud puddles.  I suppose the water drew the butterflies.  Now the butterflies are here and there; the dragonflies are rare. As we travel further up the valley we pass the place where a farmer piped water from the river to irrigate his chiles; dry now, the pump gone.  The horses and cows, animals who need a lot of water, are nowhere to be seen.  Moved to near water tanks I suppose.  Occasionally a horse, nearby but unseen, hears us and calls out and Speedy answers, The little pigs wallow elsewhere. The fields beside the river now hold sheep and goats,  We travel through a dry, thirsty land. 

Mexico, in general, can grow three crops a year if there is enough water

But we are in a dry season and not expecting rain for months.  This is great if you are a tourist and want to lounge on the beach.  In the North which is the breadbasket of Mexico there is a drought and the price of fruits and vegetables is up or they are not available. (Many things grown in the north are for export. -dt) But Speedy and I have come at last to a place where the river creeps slowly down from the mountains.  It is time for us to turn around and amble back.  I will stop at the fruteria to buy some mandarinas - tangerines - for us and Pablo's, the horsemaster, familia, and some manzanas - apples - for Speedy and Pinto, Pablo's horse.  Speedy is quite fond of apples and I am quite fond of mandarinas.  I remember when I was a child we had tangerines (Oranges? -dt) in our stockings at Christmas; what a treat!  And now I have them every day, and still I love them.

Nick is here and he and I go down and look at the ocean every day or so.  We have always been beachcombers, he and I.  Marla loved to play in the waves with me.  Dan used to build sand castles with Marla and Nick.  Nick and I would wander up and down the shore picking up tiny pink shells, watching the glass crabs, digging up the tiny holes to find the creatures hiding underneath.  Dan does not like to go to the beach these days. (I go when asked. -dt)  Too much sand, he says.  Sigh!  (And I am chastised for what I observe there.  -dt)

I cannot really swim since my stroke, except for elementary backstroke, in that I go sort of sideways.  However I kick around a bit in the pool to get in shape for scuba.  If you wonder how I scuba, Alex holds my hand and tugs me in the appropriate direction while I kick.  It can be a little contentious when Alex sees an eel in one direction and I see a ray in another, but we manage to work it out.  

One day when we were diving we saw a seahorse; this was quite exciting because we don't see them often.  It was bright orange. Another time we saw two absolutely huge flounders.  Flounders are not unusual but these were by far the biggest I had ever seen.  Alex said that because the water was so cold they had come up from the deep. (Tasty meal for Alex if he had had his spear gun. -dt)  Then we saw a really big blue speckled puffer.  Perhaps my favorite was the grumpy fish.  He sat on his two front fins and looked up at me and gave me the evil fish eye.  He was about 8 inches long and dappled blue and green with large transparent fins.  That fish had an attitude!  (They have seen dolphins and whales also. -dt)

The most difficult part is climbing back in the boat, but with Alex shoving from behind and someone on the boat tugging I manage. I might actually do better with a little less help but it is well meant.  (There is some similarity to her getting in the saddle. -dt)

  

Today is the day for the maid so I retreat to the palapa to let her clean.  We have a new maid, Ete; Estella has retired.  Eta cleans very vigorously and cheerfully.  She doesn't know much English, but she likes to do puzzles.  Ete is a luxury for us.  She changes the sheets, makes the beds, cleans the bathrooms, and mops the floors all in one morning. (And much more -dt) Of course we spend an hour or so cleaning up before she comes. There is something wrong with cleaning up for the maid but that is what we do.  I never had a maid when I really needed one when I was working and the kids little.  Dan forbad it.  I don't know why. ($$ -dt) I have tried using Amish girls since we retired but they don't seem to work out; the fault I think is mine.  I didn't give good enough instructions.

Our condo is full of dust and noise.  They are tearing down the house across the street and building new condos behind us.  I hate it.   Most of the new buildings they are building are straight white box-like without the interesting curves and columns of the traditional Mexican architecture they are destroying.  I would think about moving but it is the same everywhere.  Sigh!  The jackhammer sounds like the drill of a monstrous dentist.  But there was a refreshing moment when someone dropped a steel plate or some such thing and it peeled like a bell.  (Taco Bell commercial? -dt)  We treasure the times on Saturday afternoon and Sunday when there is no work and we have quiet. But just when the dust has settled it is Monday and we start again.

Here are just a few photos.  We hope you can watch the videos:

https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjzzdfz  (Thank you, Ellie and Alexandra - dt)

Some commentary on the photos is appropriate.  Mrs.T did not mention her vacation.  She took a short trip to Monterey, California, to meet with Rita to visit the monarchs that migrate there and other sites in the area.  They visited the aquarium - Rebecca liked the octopus - and drove along the coast in the Big Sur area.  The ladies had a good time.

A major news item for us was the big conflagration that destroyed the Masonic Temple in Zanesville.  It was the tallest building in the city and housed galleries and studios for nearly sixty artists, many of whom we know.  We wish them all recovery from this major disaster.  We know that the MCCF, ZAAP, and ArtCoz will do their best to assist.

More visitors ahead.  Shortly after Nick departs we will be hosting sisters Ruth and Rita.  Rita visits routinely but it has been a while since Ruth came here.  It will be a full condo.

Hope you all are well and warm.

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Sent from Outlook