January 31, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. Arthur Koestler.

Michael Scummell wrote the latest biography of Arthur Koestler.  It is a tour de force of a book.  Arthur Koestler was famous in his life time but after his death in 1983,  his reputation  sunk like a stone, even though he wrote over 30 books, at least 5 considered to be superb.    Now I think people are beginning to re-think his works.   I thoroughly enjoyed reading about the life of this man, even though I did not like Mr. Koestler.

The question is always about productivity and creativity and this book tells a lot about the process.  Koestler was born Hungarian, published first in German, and finally wrote and lectured in English, the only author to have done such a feat.  He was clearly very very smart but he was also very very difficult.   I have never agreed  that clever productive people have a free ride on decency but I enjoyed the whole story of how all those works were written.  Creativity is a mystery to me.   Reading this biography gave me a bit of insight into how things get done.   "Koestler: The Literary and Political Odyssey of a 20th Century..." by Michael Scummell is worth reading.

January 30, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The Pharmacy.

It is right on the corner, just one block away from the Malecon.  The sign says that it is a Pharmacy.  Every time we are in Puerto Vallarta, we visit that store, so we have gotten friendly with the owner.  He is a pleasant and helpful man.  Ken always buys antibiotics from him.    He heard Ken cough and quickly opened a package of cough drops and gave two to Ken, saying, "This will ease your cough".  Ken just said thanks, but in truth, nothing will ease his cough as he has had it his whole life.  But this nice man tried to help.

The Pharmacy is in one small part of the store. The rest is full of objects for sale, mainly pewter and pottery.  Their pewter prices are the best in town.  Mexican pewter is beautiful so I often wish I would buy objects to take home as gifts.  We always take friends there, and normally something is purchased, but for many reasons I do not buy anything.  That is, until Saturday,  when I purchased the Nativity set for Molly.   Normally I just admire the objects for sale, so the nice man was surprised and pleased when he actually made money.

It is marked as a pharmacy but actually is a pewter and pottery store, something that is typically Mexican.   It is somewhat endearing  that the best prices in town can be found in the Pharmacy.  Who would have thought it?

Malecon

Sand

January 29, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. Puerto Vallarta.

A visit to this old town always provides opportunities to see Mexican culture.  We four visited on a Saturday, where no cruise ships were docked, so the town was not crowded.  Walking on the Malecon and around the narrow streets you had ample space to wander at your hearts content without losing your friends and family.

The Malecon is beautiful,  with even more statues and sand sculptures than before.  And the first street is now a pedestrian walk so you was look and stand and walk without being run down by the cars.  It is a huge addition to the town.  The Indians have installed a permanent pole to do their flying, so on a fixed schedule you can come and see them fly through the air, finally landing on the ground.  It is fantastic.

Lunch was lovely at The Island Cafe and we ambled up along the island to see all the shops.  Ken remembered the store selling pewter and he actually found it.  The store is really a pharmacy with lots of pewter and pottery for sale as well.  Ken bought medications while I bought a pewter nativity set for Molly.  We were both happy.

Puerto Vallarta is an old crowded town but is always interesting,  but we are always happy to be back at our home.

Flying

January 28, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The Bus Ride.

It was the highlight of the day.   The first bus was comfortable and quick.  We four walked down to the Mall to catch the bus and soon got onto the bus marked Wall Mart.  The driver was steady.   After getting off opposite Wall Mart  we headed right up to our next bus marked Centro, which would take us right along to the Malecon.

Now this second bus was not luxurious or even comfortable.  The seats were hard plastic and the bus driver was far from steady.  In fact he drove like a bat out of hell.  We passed all the other vehicles and screeched to a stop and rode very quickly over every bump.  You had to hold on tight with both hands in order to stay in your seat.  I sat forward the whole time to keep from bouncing my back on the hard plastic seat.

Fortunately, that bus was very cheap and it got us where we wanted to go.   That bus trip was memorable and a fitting start for our day in Puerto Vallarta.  We all four thought the whole thing a big lark.

January 27, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. A Busy Life.

One reason I so enjoy and appreciate our quiet life in Mexico is that Ken and I have spent a life  striving and working to achieve our goals.  To do that we were required to be busy.   First we had to  acquire the education to earn the funds to provide the life we wanted to live.  That sound easy but  is not.   Next comes the professional development along with taking care of the family.   Both Ken and I were busy hard working people and have been our whole life.

It is always difficult to balance the need to spend for enhance life now or save for the future, so we spent to keep from being bored and saved as well for our retirement.  But it was not an easy balance to make.

My parents were busy people.  Salvation Army Officers such as my parents are always organizing or managing something important.  I observed their behavior of accepting responsibilities without feeling obliged.  They did their duty and so did we.

I would not want to live my whole life here with no responsibilities but for a few months, it is a welcome respite from our busy life.

January 26, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. My Typical Day.

And old friend and retired manager has asked me how I manage my time.  It is a good question because many retired people are so busy they barely have time to breathe.  I am not in that camp.  I don't sew and I don't knit.  Perhaps I will,  but for the moment, I am content with my routine.

Obviously, every place we live has it's own pattern.  Here in Mexico,  our life is quiet, whether or not we have house guests.  My life would not work if I was alone but with Ken as my companion, we enjoy our routine.

Every day I read, sometimes all day and always all morning, while  Ken works on the computer.   Every day we walk or I swim.  And every evening we watch the sunset.  Often we take the trolley to walk across the canal, or we walk to the Hotel to Happy Hour at the bar.  Every so often we watch a part of a hockey game.  Or we read some more.

Late this morning we four walked down to the Hotel, stopping to see the shopping mall and the marina.  Then we took the shuttle to the golf club for lunch.  It is a lovely spot for lunch,  watching the 18th green and enjoying the warm outside air.

Our life here is not dramatic or fancy.  Some folks would say our life is boring, but with  books and computers and I Pads we are busy and happy.  Who could ask for anything more?

January 25, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The Nosebleed.

It always happens in the middle of the night.   Out of the blue, Ken's nose starts bleeding.  I awake at 2:00 am to find Ken with ice wrapped in a face cloth holding his nose.   With the other hand he is pressing a tissue on his nose to try to stop the bleeding.  Neither actions are working.   The ice was not in a plastic bag so the melting ice was making everything wet, and clearly, the held tissue was not stopping the bleeding.   He was in a mass.

I did think about waking Doreen, who is a nurse.

Instead, I threw away all the bloody dirty tissues from the table beside the bed.   Then I put new ice in a small plastic bag and wrapped a new dry face cloth around the ice.  I next gave Ken new clean tissues.   With the clean dry cloth over his forehead and clean tissues holding his nose,  Ken lay quietly, waiting for the bleeding to stop.

I,  on the other hand,  fell asleep!!

January 24, 2012, Playa Royale, Mexico. Don and Doreen.

They arrived today to visit us in Mexico.   It is an unusual event,   because most folks are fearful of coming to Mexico due to the violence.    Truth be told, most of the violence is associated with the drug business so in our part of Mexico, we feel safe.  We are delighted they are here  as they are friends of long standing.

Since they arrived this afternoon we have been talking non stop catching up on children and siblings and cousins and aunts, to say nothing of all our mutual friends.   We walked to the pool and beach so they could get the lay of the land, talking all the way.  And we ate pasta for dinner, made by me, sitting at our dining table.  It is always a pleasure being with old friends.

We were young together.  We started dating about the same time.   After Sunday night meeting we often ordered chinese food to Doreen's parents home for the four of us.  We married the same year.   And we have always been friends.  We are fortunate indeed.

January 23, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. People Watching.

She was dressed for winter, wearing heavy jeans, boots and a long sleeved shirt.  In addition, she had a sweater over her arm.  Ken and I were sitting at the Market waiting for the trolley, wearing shorts and shirt and sandals.  She walked up and sat beside me.  We must have looked very odd, if anyone cared to look.  Obviously, she is native to Mexico and felt cold.

An older man held a conversation behind me, discussing the temperature  with a couple. They  just met on the trolley.  The 80 degrees came up and the man gave a short course on the difference between Celsius and Fahrenheit, although there was no request for the lecture.  He was a Canadian and pompously described the differences, as if the folks he was speaking to did not know already.  It was fascinating to hear the lecture go through temperature and distances and weights.  He never stopped to ask a question.  It was very unCanadian of him.  I kept silent but could have laughed out loud.   Before her finished his talk, the poor couple had to get off as they had reached their destination.

On the trolley ride home the sun was shining brightly, but it is winter here, so our favorite bus driver was wearing jeans and a long sleeved shirt and of course, boots.  Half way home, he pulled his woolen vest out of his pack and put it on, all while driving the trolley.   He was cold while I was going home to sit on the balcony and eat sunset food, wearing my shorts.  People are funny.

January 21, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. Gambling.

I have often been asked how my youth impacted my present life.  In other words, how did being brought up in a Salvation Army family made a difference in my present life?  It is a good question but difficult to answer accurately.  But several aspects of my life are with me now.  One is gambling.  I don't gamble.  I don't think anyone should gamble.  Of course, I am in the minority.  A new Casino is being opened just across the street from us here at Playa Royale and everyone here pleased it will be there.  But not me.

Ken and I gamble with real things like real estate and the stock market and we have been known to pull a handle in Las Vegas or Reno.  Both boys are comfortable playing poker or blackjack.  And my friend Sara Lou takes twenty dollars into the Casino and enjoys herself being entertained for several hours.  When her money runs out, she quits.  It is OK for her and the boys, but the attitude to gambling established in my family for gambling has stuck with me.

Now in my family we did not drink alcohol or smoked  cigarettes or cigars.  I am not sure exactly why some parts stick with me and some parts I ignore.  It is a puzzle and is not simple.  One thing I know full well, is that I do not gamble.  Maybe I am just cheap.

January 20, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The Australian Open.

I have a perfect set up.   If I chose, I can watch tennis on TV all day and evening, all the way from Melbourne, Australia.   We have a TV set in every bedroom, so I can watch the early games when I first wake up on one channel and other games on two other stations the rest of the day.   Last night I could watch two games by switching back and forth from one channel to the other.  I am in hog heaven.  Ken can watch TV in the living room if he wishes,  but today, I watched tennis at breakfast and dinner, sitting in my own bed.  I loved it.

Of course, two channels are in Spanish  but I always turn the sound down when the ladies play.  I hate to hear that Sharipova grunt so I push the mute button.  Ken does not really enjoy tennis on TV, so I have the clicker all to myself.  Of course, I can not sit and watch that much tennis but I enjoy an hour at a time throughout the day and evening.

I am looking forward to living in Canada in August when the London Olympics will be held. I will be able to watch the Canadian coverage plus the American feed, so perhaps I will be satisfied for once.   But right now in Mexico, with two Spanish stations and one American channel broadcasting the Australian Open several hours a day, I am able to watch as much tennis as I can stomach in a day.  I am living the high life for sure.

January 19, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. An Afternoon.

The house seems very empty when a friend has left for home, so rather than sit around in the quiet condo,  Ken and I took a walk.  We ambled down to the Hotel/Timeshare.  First we sat outside the Market and watched the people walk by, then went to see the boats coming into port after a day of fishing.  It always comes as a surprise at how many boats come in and out of the marina and today was no exception.  We only watched for fifteen minutes and I counted thirty boats come back to the dock   Our walk took us right along the water and the pools.  Before we headed home we again sat and watched the people.  

On the road back home we spotted the trolley and hopped on for a ride around the whole complex, which is always a pleasant drive.   We got off right in front of our apartment.  Even the unfriendly driver knows where we live.   By the time we got home, it was sunset.

We enjoyed our little jaunt around the neighborhood while Suzanne was flying home.    And we will be relieved when she is safely home.

January 18, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The Sunset.

We three were all set to watch the last sunset.  Suzanne must leave for home tomorrow,  so this afternoon after eating a leisurely lunch at the golf course and walking on the beach for an hour, we all assembled in our respective places on the balcony with our beer and wine.   Everything was set in place.   The sunset food consisted of cheese and fresh Mexican bread.  The weather was warm and not breezy.    We three were primed to enjoy another beautiful sunset looking over the Pacific Ocean.

The only difficult was that the sunset never appeared.  Not a sign of pink or orange could be seen in the sky or on the horizon.  The sun went down behind a very large cloud, then nothing happened.    The clouds in the sky did not brighter into pinks and purples.  Everything just got dark.  It was very anticlimactic.    All this fuss and palaver and then nothing to see,  except the bread and cheese.    We can never again tell people about the guaranteed sunsets.  Sometimes, the sun just goes away.

January 17, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The Riviera Grill.

It is our closest good restaurant, The Riviera Grill.   Tonight Suzanne took us there for dinner.    The food is always good and the service pleasant.   Ken and I chose the restaurant because it is so easy.   We walk for five minutes, cross the street, and you are there.  The older I get the less I like complications, so easy is good.

Tonight they had a  musician, singing and playing Mexican music.  Even when he was singing American tunes he sang in Spanish, which I thought was interesting.  Most of the customers were Canadian or American.  The place was full so the restaurant must be doing well.  Next time we probably won't get seated unless we have made a reservation, which will be irritating because we knew them when we were the only diners.  But we enjoy watching success bloom so we are pleased for their progress.

We three enjoyed our dinner at The Riviera Grill.  Wonderful food and excellent music makes for a lovely evening.

January 16, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. Punta Mita.

it is the most expensive real estate in the state of Nayarit, which is impressive all by itself.  It all stated with the construction of The Four Seasons Resort and Golf Club.  At on time, Punta Mita was a sleepy little fishing village right at the end of Bandares Bay, but after the announcement that The Four Seasons was coming to town, the purchasers flocked in and built condominiums and resorts and restaurants.  Now you still have the fishing village along with the surfers and the millionaires.  It is quite charming.

Ken and Suzanne and I took the bus to Punta Mita along with the students and the workers.  The bus stopped right across from our condominium and took us to the highway, when we were required to cross the highway and take second  bus.  The bus was jammed with people which makes life more interesting for us who never take the bus at home.  This bus driver drove very fast.  I wanted him to slow down but finally a car driving modestly fast stayed in front of us so our driver was required to slow down, which was a great blessing to me.

We wandered around town and finally settled on lunch on the beach.  Then back home on another bus and another bus and finally, home by 5:00.  Suzanne and I loved the bus journeys and Ken survived.   Punta Mita is an interesting town,  but I would not want to live there.

January 15, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. An Easy Day.

Suzanne went by herself to downtown Puerto Vallarta and walked along the Malecon and wandered around the shops.  In addition, she took the bus both there and back.  Ken and I stayed at home and watched part of the football games.  It was very nice to be lazy while your guest is off exploring on her own, especially when the guest is perfectly happy to do things by yourself .

 When she came home, we took a trolley ride all around the resort, followed by a walk down to the Hotel to change dollars into pesos.  It would not do to by pass the Happy Hour at the bar, so we three stopped for a drink or two.  After a leisurely walk around the hotel we asked the shuttle driver to take us home, which he did.  It took us five minutes to prepare our dinner of left over chicken and left over steak, served with good Mexican bread and tomatoes and cucumber.  All three put out the food and all three enjoyed eating this simple meal.

It was an interesting but easy day, enjoyed by all.

The Hopeful Hunters

January 14, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. Suzanne.

It is the same Suzanne who accompanied us to Mexico after Ken's heart surgery, although a four years older edition, according to Ken.  Suzanne was a nurse and as Ken had the  the operation two weeks prior and needed stitches removed, Suzanne offered to play nurse.  I especially appreciated her presence with me on the trip.  Between the two of us, we pushed Ken through all the lines, in fact we went to the head of the line most times.    Disability has rewards, as we discovered on that trip.  She was a good sport back then and she is a good sport now, at the moment cleaning up the kitchen after dinner.

This afternoon Suzanne went for a walk on the beach.  She left at 2:00.  I ambled down to the pool at 3:00 expecting Suzanne to appear at any time, thinking that an hour walk is sufficient.  Ken came down at 4:00 bringing three cans of beer but Suzanne still did not appear.  By then I had been swimming and had graduated to the hot tub when finally she appeared at 5:00.  She walked almost to Bucerias, looking at everything on the way and back.   I was not looking forward to that phone call to Bethesda saying that Suzanne had not returned.  But I had forgotten that once Suzanne heads north along the beach she stays away a long time,  but she always returns!!

Sunset Food

Pat, Tom, Ruth and Ken

January 13 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. A Lucky Day.

Friday the thirteenth is a lucky day indeed.  Today at noon, at the appointed time and place, Pat and Tom met up with Ken and me.   And we all recognized each other.  The luncheon was delightful, sharing ideas of places and birds and people.  We arranged another date for next Friday when they will come and check out Nuevo Vallarta.

Pat and Tom are putting us to shame.  They have already visited the Vallarta Botanical Gardens, a lovely spot south of Puerto Vallarta, that we have talked about visiting for years.  But here they go and stay a month and have already visited the hot spot while we just think about it.  We must be getting old.

This afternoon, my friend Suzanne arrived to stay with us a week.  She has been here before and we enjoy her company.  So the lucky thirteen was indeed lucky today.  Everything worked according to plan!!

January 12, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. A Date.

Tomorrow at lunch Ken and I have a date with Pat and Tom.  They are from Toronto and will be in Puerto Vallarta, renting a condo for a month.  They are good friends of Gill, and at one time were neighbors.   Years ago, we would meet Tom and Pat when we visited Gill and the boys in Toronto but it wasn't until Alan died that I saw Pat every day, when Mary and I flew up from Bethesda to help.  But that was over thirty years ago.

After they were organized in their condo, Pat and I e mailed back and forth and decided to have lunch tomorrow at  noon.  The plan is to meet at the lighthouse at Vallarta Marina, then find a place for lunch.  The problem with the plan is that we don't really know if there are two lighthouses so we have given them our cell phone numbers although they have no phones  themselves.  So we will start out tomorrow, hoping we will meet some folks that we will probably not recognize.  Such fun.   I figure out that the worst thing that will happen is to have lunch, together Ken and me, without Pat and Tom who will still be looking for us.  The best thing will be to have a lovely lunch with delightful people, who are good friends with our friend Gill.

January 11, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. Getting Old.

She walked into the Mall and from a distance she looked quite young, except for the limp and the cane.   Her dress was sleeveless and in a bright orange color, ending mid thigh.    Her hair style was designed for someone in her mid twenties and was some color of red.  I watched her as she approached the tables and sat down.  With every step she made, coming across the floor of the shopping mall, it was apparent that this old lady just wanted to look young, but it reality, she merely looked totally ridiculous.

Now I am sure she is a nice lady.  She smiled pleasantly to several people while she was sitting waiting.  But why does she not want to look her age?  Pretending she is young when she is  not young  accentuates the fact that she was old, and probably looked older than she actually was.  It is a mystery to me.  Perhaps she looks good in pictures!!

January 10, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. Brown Pelicans.

Today I spotted fifty pelicans cruising along the water, just close to the lip of the waves.  They fly in a row.  From a distance, they appear to touch the water but when we went walking along the beach this morning you could see space between the birds and the water.  Last evening I saw twenty five pelicans floating and gliding high over our heads.  They are just wonderful birds to watch  because it seems effortless even though you know the birds are big.

Up until now, I have seen only one or two pelicans but not any more.  They have arrived.   Now we will watch for their flypast, when they start well north along the shore and very high up in the sky, and fly all along to the south.  It is an impressive sight.  These are brown pelicans.  As far as I know, we do not have white pelicans here, but I am not sure.  I do know I love to watch these brown pelicans fly especially when they fly right along the tip of the waves.  As they would say in Nova Scotia, "It is some pretty".

January 9, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The New Criterion.

I am just now reading an issue of The New Criterion.  It is a wonderful magazine of culture and history along with events current to the world of today.  It brings to my brain discussions I have never experienced in the past.  I was not classically educated.  I was educated in order to teach.  I have been trying play catch up ever since.  Thus the reading of The New Criterion.

This issue is all about the decline or not of The United States and is the result of a symposium held in New York earlier this year, so the articles are the papers given at that event.  Earlier this year, Commentary also asked or their writers "Are you optimistic or Pessimistic about America?"  For two issues we the readers read why not and their reasons for their answers.  This is more of the same, couched in a different manner.

This issue of The New Criterion gives ample food for thought along with masses of statistics  to back up the ideas.   Whichever side you are backing, you could certainly find agreement from someone in those papers.  I enjoy reading The New Criterion but this January issue is worth the price of the whole annual subscription.

January 8, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. Football.

It was the most unusual event, watching the Denver Broncos beat the Pittsburgh Steelers.   I foolishly assumed that the Steelers would beat the Broncos easily, but I was wrong.  It is actually fun to watch although I was rooting for Pittsburgh.  Since we moved away from the Washington area, we have lost our allegiance to the Redskins.   Our friends at the farm always cheer for the Steelers so for all those years, we have cheered for Pittsburgh, unless the Redskins were not involved.  So we switched our main cheering for the Steelers.

It is fascinating to watch the connection people have with the sports teams.    The Chicago Cubs have fans all over the country, even folks who have never lived there.  And college teams stay with everyone who attended that university.  It is one of the aspects of life in the US that brings people together.

January 7, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The Four Seasons.

It is captivating.  My friend Wendy told me about this book and she was right to recommend it. The full title is The Four Seasons: A Novel of Vivaldi by Laurel Corona.  it is her first book of fiction but I suspect more will be published as she is a good writer.  I had not noticed when the book was published in 2008.  In fact, Wendy tells me that few people have read it, but I enjoyed it very much.

No wonder Venice fell on hard times.  Their society was ridiculous.   In the book you learn how things were run, and the customs of the day.  And of course, even though the main characters are two sisters, Vivaldi is a large presence in the book.   i wanted to be listening to Vivaldi music when I was reading.  It is one of those books that you  want to know what will happen to these people so you just keep reading until it is over.  Then you want to know what was going to happen next.  It is a good book and I enjoyed it.

January 6, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. Shopping.

When we leave Mexico at the end of February, we will spend two weeks in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.   It is not a pleasure trip.   Our task is to purchase all the belongings damaged or ruined in the fire of the Carriage House, so the new Guest House will be ready to be used come July.   Yesterday I reviewed all the insurance lists and made three other charts;  one for items to be purchased at the hardware store and another for Sears, and yet another for the antique stores.  I also have a list of items to bring from the farm.  so now I will be ready to complete our shopping in an efficient manner when we get to Nova Scotia.

The Insurance Company has been wonderful to work with and we have had no complaints at all about them,  but their rule is that all receipts for compensation must be submitted within one year of the incident, which is June 2nd.   This is a problem for us so now we must fly up for two weeks, when it is still cold and snowy, and complete our purchases, and submit our receipts.  We will be ready come the end of June to put everything in place..

January 5, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. Colds.

All my life I have pretended to ignore my colds.  I just took an aspirin or two every four hours and continued on with my work.   Also I drank tons of water and just kept going.  In a few days, I discovered that my cold had disappeared.  I knew it had gone when I no longer needed the aspirins.

Now that I am retired and have nothing real that needs to be done on a daily basis, my colds seem much worse.  I find myself paying attention to my cold along with my sniffles and sneezing and coughing.  In the past,  I paid no attention and never admitted that I, in truth, had a cold.

In the olden days, in three days, the cold was gone.  Now that I am 74, it seems to take longer.  Perhaps it is because Ken got his cold sooner and his colds always last longer than mine.  Or perhaps my immune system is not as good as in the past.   Who knows but I only know that I don't like colds and I am never getting one again!!

January 4, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The Sunset.

Every day the sun comes up and every day the sun goes down..  You would think that if you saw the sunset every evening it would be boring.  Just the big  round red ball sinking down below the edge of the Pacific Ocean.   But there are several things that make it  not boring.

The first thing to notice is that every time the sun goes down,  the scene is different.  The clouds are in a different position and the winds are too,  so the picture you see, every evening, is not the same one you saw yesterday.  It is like looking at another painting, every evening.

The next aspect that makes the scene interesting is the facts involved.  It looks as if the sun is leaving us but in truth, we are leaving the sun.  And today, the sun is in just a tad different position than yesterday or last week, so we must figure out what is really happening out there in space.

And  finally,  the sunset food prepared by Ken and brought out to the balcony is always different,  nourishing and interesting.  Sometimes, the food is the best part of the sunset.

January 3, 2012 Playa Royale, Mexico. Burma.

It is a story that needs to be told so I was pleased to read it.  But this book by Emma Larkin was badly in need of a good editor.  The title is  "Everything is Broken: A Tale of catastrophe in Burma" tells you everything you are going to read throughout the whole book.  But it is poorly organized, badly written and forgets it is not an historical novel but a piece of non-fiction.  Most readers would never persevere to complete the reading.

Burma is a terrible place, run by a military dictator who changed the name a few years ago.  After reading this book, one does not get the feeling that things will get better for the people.  The story needs to be told but I wish a good editor had organized the material and cut out half the stories.  This is the country that refused any aid right after the Cyclone.  Who knows why.  But I did read the book to the bitter end.  Now I know I never want to travel to Burma.

January 2, 2012. Playa Rpyale, Mexico. The Society of Friends.

The protagonist in the book The Voyageurs is a member of The Society of Friends, commonly called The Quakers.  I know very little about the Quakers but what I do know,  I learned 53 years ago when I served on a panel  organized by the Quakers in Toronto.   The only part I recall was a conversation with an older lady.  I was 21 so perhaps she only seemed old, but what I learned from her became helpful to me my whole professional career.

I asked her at lunch what a person must believe in order to be a Quaker.  She told me that different groups have different policies, but that one belief was critical, which was that a Quakers task in life is to find the good in every person.  They felt that there is good in everone and it was up to each to find that good.  Now I was a teacher, with a group of 42 second grade children.  I helped all the children and some kids I really did not like much, but when I returned to my class, I started to try to find something that was good about every child.  Amazing things happened both to the children and to me.

I have never been critical of others, but this approach had a wholly different approach, and I was able to keep it up in every career.  Many people have asked me how I could work with this person or that person, and my answer is always the same.  The old lady  told me something that has  stuck with me and has been helpful to me.  I don't even know that the Quakers still preach it!!

January 1, 2012. Playa Royale, Mexico. The New Year.

A clean slate is always wonderful, I always thought.  A new week, a new month and now a whole new year to fill in the pages of my calendar.   It is a childish thought I know but it still gives me great pleasure to contemplate the brand new year.  It never crosses my mind that the year might bring difficulties.  I just assume that we will continue on the path of having good health and proceed along with my life.

My life consists of going from place to place,  enjoying my family and friends.  My new years resolution is to spend more time with my granddaughters and I hope we have scheduled our time properly to account for that resolution.   At the moment we will spend over a month this Spring with both Texas and Mississippi.  Kate and Mary Frances will drive with us to the farm and will stay several weeks before we drive them to Maine on our way to Nova Scotia.  Both boys and their families will visit Nova Scotia this summer.  And finally, we will all spend a week at an all inclusive resort in Mexico called Aventura Cova, south of Cancun.  We will be together this year, God willing, on several occasions.

Now we begin the new year, looking forward to having a good time!!

The sun still sets over the Pacific