February 18,2008. Mexico. This Modern World.

Do doubt about it.  This is a wonderful world.  One day this weekend, my son David was in Bethesda visiting Andrew and Christina and girls, after business in York Pa.  Especially he was visiting Molly, our new grandbaby.  My brother and sister-in-law,Dave and Irene, were in Florida with Pat and Mal Allington. My niece Marion and Gary from Hamilton, were in Texas at the lake house  and visiting with Suzanne and the girls in San Antonio. My friend Gill is spending a year in Cambridge,England auditing a class while she rows for the women's club team.  My friends Mary and Cliff are in California on vacation and Wendy and Claussen are at a family wedding in Florida. And of course we are carefully watching the 32 degree weather at the ranch while we enjoy the 75 degrees in Mexico.  This is a wonderful world.

Today was a light day for Ken after our outing last night.  We took the shuttle to the golf club for lunch, sitting on the outside balcony overlooking the 18th hole.  It's a great spot for lunch.Then on to the book store in our little mall so Ken could get some new books.  I bought two books on the history and culture of Mexico, so I will probably bore everyone with my new facts. I am reading 'A Forest for Calum' by Frank Macdonald, a first novel by a very good writer, also Canadian.  Tomorrow Ken is going to walk on the beach with the Joyce and Robbie, and I am having a massage.  Heaven.

I have been blessed in my life by my friends and family.  I miss my work friends too.  This Friday Ken will be 4 weeks post surgery and it is that time since I have seen or spoken to very few people.  Very unusual for me.  The good part was we survived and thrived and all did all my friends at work.  This is truly a wonderful world.

February 17,2008. Nuevo Vallarta. Care Givers.

The most difficult of being a care giver is a bit similar to being a parent.  When is the patient ready to start looking after themselves?  Ken is able to get around the apartment very well.  He has no shortness of breath when he walks to get a glass of water, he showers himself without help, he even makes the coffee.  So why I am asking him if he wants his medicine has more to do with habit than necessity.  Many years ago I caught myself tying Andrew's shoelace, well past the time he was able to tie his own.  Clearly I was in the habit of looking out for his care,although he was able to looking after himself.  Fortunately, Ken does not like to be fiddled with so he is ready to pick up his old roles.  But the habit of providing for and watching after is difficult to know when the role is over.  I guess the answer is to be sensitive and stop hovering.

Tonight we went to dinner at a new restaurant in Puerto Vallarta, 'El Arrayan', and it was a keeper.  No Texmex food  at all. Charming decor and wonderful food. We'll go there again.  Friends from Bethesda, Diedra and Tom Woods were there too.  They are good friends of Andrew and Christina, and they have been to the farm several times.  And I look up at the restaurant and there they are.  It's an amazing world we live in.

Ken went two long walks today and we did not take the wheelchair.  There's another first!!

 look up and in Mexico we see them.

February16,2008.Nuevo Vallarta,Mexico. House Guests.

Ken walked outside our complex for about 30 minutes this morning. Another first for him.  I push the wheelchair along side and then he takes a rest in the wheelchair when he is tired.  It's a system that works.

Today our friends from across the ranch, Joyce and Rob Mukleroy, are arriving.  They have heard of our descriptions of the place and decided to buy a time share at Paradise Village,  but we suggested they come and see the place.  This of course was all arranged before Ken's surgery, so our activities will be restricted, but they will be free to go on their own.  Suzanne Reynolds was a perfect house guest, helpful to both Ken and me.  She kept telling Ken how well he was doing, and she was happy to eat our peculiar meals.

Over the years we have had a lot of house guests.  We like having them and the reason is that we do not fuss  so they are no trouble to us.  We all eat dinner together and the rest of the time they are welcome to raid the refrigerator.  We keep a supply of information about the area and local transportation.  They then head out on their own.  I don't know if the guests like it or not but it works for us.  When we first moved to Washington we took our guests downtown to play tour guide, but that lasted about six months. After that, they were on their own.

Once upon a time many years ago we were visiting Gill in Toronto, at her old house on Hollywood Street.  We were in the kitchen preparing dinner.  I commented to Gill that we enjoyed visiting her because she didn't fuss.  Gill said to me "Ruth, what you don't know is that I am fussing."  "Oops", said I.  And I never made that mistake again and realized that reality is always specific to you, not to the other party.  The truth is I don't know if our friends and relatives who visit us think we are fussing over them or ignoring them.  But it doesn't really matter does it?

February 14,2008. Nuevo Vallarta, Mexico.

Bucerias is a small city just north of us here in Nuevo Vallarta.  The old part of the town is along the shore, as once upon a time it was a fishing village.  But it has grown and now it is a city,with all the good and bad aspects of a city.  When the modern era arrived, a freeway was built right through the center of town, with elevated walkways installed for the pedestrians.   The place is charming in spots and ugly in spots, probably like most cities.  Yesterday for our lunch time excursion we took a taxi to a restaurant of Ken's choosing in Nuevo Vallarta just near the main highway.  When we told the driver  the name of the restaurant he asked us if we had been there before.  We replied that Ken choose the restaurant from a list.  His nose wrinkled up and suggested to us that the restaurant was expensive.  And what was worse the food was just ordinary.  His suggestion was to go to Bucerias, where the food was super and the prices were reasonable.  He further told us that what we saved in food cost would off set the increase in taxi cost.  We three agreed to have him take us to a very nice restaurant on the water with reasonable prices.  And off we went.

The ride cost $11. The dinner sized lunch cost $44.  The long road to the restaurant would have never been discovered by us.  The setting was superb as we dined right beside the beach.  But the best part was the food.  Both Ken and Suzanne ate snapper and I shrimp.  We'll go there again.  That taxi driver was right and the next time I see him I'll hug his neck!

That was the longest journey away from the apartment for Ken, but he did well.  Later in the day he walked down to the pool and read outdoors for an hour, while Suzanne and I drank a mangorina, a fancy drink with lots of stuff in it along with ice cream.  We drank dessert while we drank our before dinner drink.  We still drank a beer while watching the sunset.  And can you believe it, but we saw a green/blue flash last night too.  Soon I will believe in the forces of the vortex.

february 13,2008. Nueavo Vallarta. Green Flash.

We saw it!!  We three saw it!  While sitting on the balcony watching the sunset we actually saw the green flash, just as the sun dropped beneath the horizon, just as we have been told.  This green flash has been described to me for many years and for years while in the tropics we have watched for this green flash.  But I never saw it.  I assumed that the good folks doing the telling had previously drank too much rum, then saw the green flash, so I was very sceptical of ever seeing the green flash.  But I kept looking.  Ken has previously seen a picture of the green flash, so I did have some faith..but not much.  And then it happened.

We three are in the habit of having a drink while watching the sunset.  Suzanne and I having a beer and Ken a glass of cranberry grape, so at least one of us was cold sober.  I have binoculars to my eyes, Ken and Suzanne watching the sun setting, the sun just coming past a thin layer of clouds, and it happened.  Right at the top of the sun was a thin layer of green, visible with the naked eye but spectacular with the binoculars.  We all exclaimed with glee. But we saw it.  We really saw it.  And I was such a sceptic.

For the past three days we have seen whales from our balcony. Lots of whales. Spouts big and small and bodies rolling over the top of the water are a wonderful sight to see. Today the whales are off to another spot on the bay.  Too bad.

February12,2008, Puerta Vallarta

We are actually in the new section of Puerto Vallarto, Nueva Vallarta. in a resort called Paradise Village.  Our complex is Playa Royale, made up of five towers of apartments with a central courtyard of pools and foliage, all fronting the Pacific Ocean.  Ken loves the trees and bushes and flowers, non of which he has to maintain.  The larger picture includes a very large time share complex called the hotel, plus a golf course and club house, a separate sports club with fitness center, tennis courts, pools, children's play area and of course a bar and cafe.  So the place we live here is very quiet. Everyone owns their own apartment, with four floors only of people like us who have fractional ownership.  We own 10 weeks of our apartment and so far we have not made it here for the 10 weeks. But we like it here.  You must have a life of your own in your mind, have access to the internet,bring lots of books and be fit and able to investigate the town and country.

For the first time since surgery Ken went to a restaurant for lunch.  He has been walking but only on our outside corridor but yesterday He ventured down to the closest restaurant, and we lunched on the beach under cover at the Beach Party.  We three were very festive.  Fortunately we take the wheelchair when we venture forth.

Old habits die hard.  After dinner last night in the apartment Suzanne and I were beginning to clean up I immediately excused myself to go to the restroom.  I chuckled to myself because even if I am solely responsible for doing the dishes I always have to go to the restroom.  When a girl, my sister and I always cleaned up the kitchen, did the dishes and made everything neat and tidy.  I discovered that when I went to the bathroom in the beginning, my father would help out with Carol, my sister.  It took a long time for both Carol and my Father to realize I had a pattern that  let me out of my chores.  But by then my pattern was set and now I always go to the bathroom before I do the dishes.  Every so often I chuckle.

 

 

February 10, 2008. Puerto Vallarta. We made it.

We made it to Mexico.  Two airplanes and one change of planes in Houston, one taxi ride in Mexico and we were here.  The air is warm and clean, and our apartment is comfortable and we are ready for the next two weeks.  Ken was apprehensive before the trip, but he was determined to get there.  And we did.  Suzanne Reynolds from work came with us. She is a nurse and is a very helpful person so our trip was smooth.  The wheelchairs were a godsend and the airline,Continental, was unfailingly gracious, so we were able to arrive in style.  Ken was pleased. It wasn't until he sat down and rested that he realized how tired he was.  We all went to bed at nine o'clock.

Ken and I share one quality in common.  We both like to go.  When Ken was a medical

 student and I was a teacher, our summers were free to work.  So we got jobs in some place in the country we wanted to travel and then in between work we travelled in that area.  We worked at Salvation Army summer camps, the first year outside of Boston and the next year outside Tucson.  We drove our Volkswagen bug, brought our tenting gear and we were ready to go.  It is hard to believe, but we saved up enough money through the school year for tuition, so the income from our camp jobs just needed to fund our summers.  Our summers were great and we went places and saw sights that we have never been able to see, once our professional and family life took over.

We were upset with our last summer.  Our choice was to go to the far north in Canada.  A family friend was the Minister of Northern Affairs in Canada, Walter Dinsdale, and we spoke to him.  He told us what to do, and assured us that Ken would be hired for the summer and that I would be able to accompany him.  So in a very short time Ken received his letter accepting him into the Medical Service of Canada.  We were thrilled.  His placing would be given to him in early June, to begin to work June 15.  When the letter came we were devastated to discover he was to begin to work at Toronto's Malton Airport, which became Toronto International Airport.  The powers that be tried to make it easy on us, not knowing that we wanted to go up north.  We didn't even know that this was part of Walter Dinslale's responsibilities.  But here we were, ten days away from a job but not wanting it.  It worked out for us though.  I took a well paid job teaching swimming for the Toronto School for six weeks, Ken reported to duty every day and in the middle of August we left Toronto and travelled in the Maritime provinces and Quebec.  That was in 1962 and we had never been back since that summer.  Just think of what could have happened had we not visited beautiful Nova Scotia in 1962.