March 14, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. Home in Mississippi.

I like this house for reasons large and small. The shower is perfect with bars on all four walls. And there is a bar on the outside of the shower for getting in and out. The views from the living room and bedroom are spectacular, overlooking the reservoir and I can hear the geese honking to each other. The toilet seats are high. The size is perfect and I can function on one lever. The house is big enough to walk around but not so large that you get lost. I have good spots to get my work done. I read and eat breakfast in the corner of the living room. I sit on the couch in the living room with my iPad beside me and a charger plugged in by my side. My chair is comfortable in the small TV room where I eat my lunch and dinner. And there is a charger beside my chair in the TV room. So I am effecient while living here with everything in place when I need it. And then there is Kashina. She helps me with the big things . She drives me where I need to go. Tonight she will stay over night here in order to get me to my Pet scan at 7:30. And she will work on Wednesday to take me to two tests at the Cardiologist's office. She does the laundry and empties the dishwasher. And she puts out the trash to the street. She works three mornings a week, arriving at 8:00 and leaving 12 0r 1. I need her twice a week but she prefers to come three times for shorter times, which works fine with me. And she helps me with the small things too, tasks that I am not able to do. This morning she changed all the clocks. The clock beside my bed has such small instructions that it is impossible to see, so Kashina fixes it. Also she filled the automatic soap dispensers in my bathroom. I can not pour and hold the containers. I put the soup all over the counter. Ken bought these two sainless steel automatic soap dispensers for us years ago. When they arrived, I questioned why we needed those dispensers. Ken informed me that he could not hold the soap dispensers and also hold the walker so for him the automatic dispenser was essential to him. Whe I got home Thursday night the one beside Ken's sink would not work at all and mine gave me a dribble of soap. Now they both work perfectly, thanks to Kashina. Yesterday at lunch, I poured myself a glass of milk. Unfortunately I poured a lot of milk on the counter. My eyes failed me. If Kashina had been here she would have poured the milk for me. So she makes my life pleasant by helping me in my Mississippi house. The whole package works well and I like living in this house.

March 13, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. Puttering.

Bit by bit, I am getting things done. I have gotten smart. When I arrived Thursday night at 11:20, I did not do what I have done before, which is unloading all my bags, which leaves me very late going to bed. I merely removed the meds I needed before bed time. And I left everything else until the next day. So the first item of business was to put everything away from my cases. I travelled with a backpack, a rolling carryon full of medications and a checked bag with the books. So all three bags needed to be emptied and everything put away. Next I changed purses. I travel with a small purse so like to switch to my larger purse. And I put the Mexican money away, ready for next year. Late in the afternoon I started on the mail and opened the cards which I enjoyed. Today I was still puttering. My task today was to finish the sorting of the mail. Christina has already put the mail into categories so bit by bit I worked through the piles. I sorted while I watched the golf tournament which helps speed things along. And I sorted the magazines. I read Comentary, National Geography and The New Criterion. Now they are set beside my breakfast reading chair placed in reverse chronological order. My system is perverse but works for me. Now I must put away my own piles of things. And next week I must take the tax stuff to the CPA. Now I am ready to live here. I am almost completed the puttering. I even went for a walk in the neighborhood this afternoon. The Homeowners meeting is being held this week and I executed the proxi forms and gave them to my neighbor who is on the board. Whew. I had received two phone calls and one email reminding me to sign the forms immediately upon my return. Now I feel ready for anything that comes my way. Tomorrow I will have brunch with Christina and the girls at Sombra, a very good Mexican restaurant just across from the Renaissance. Monday I have a Pet scan very early. And Tuesday I have been invited to a birthday party for Virginia Mills who will be 13. The Mothers will drop off their girls and stay for cake and a visit while the girls will stay overnight. Life has come alive for me in Mississippi.

March 12, 2021. Madison, Mississippi. Flying.

This is certainly a good time to fly. The airline employees are pleasant and energetic. And they are delighted that you are flying with them and they let you know that fact. The planes fly on time. And they are clean. The airports are not crowded and the planes are not full. Now is the time to book a flight. Of course, people are still afraid to leave home so shelter at home. Too bad. This is a great time to booka trip on an airplane. Yesterday I watched carefully at the airport in Puerto Vallarta. I as taken to the gate by a nice young man who placed me in a chair looking directly at the gate. He left me the wheelchair in case I wanted to use it as a walker. And he said he would return to help mo on the plane. Insted of reading, I watched what was heppening at the work station. At first, no one as there, neither were many people waiting to board. I thought we might have a small number of passengers. Soon a young lady appeared wearing her American airlines uniform. She fiddled with machines and papers at the desk. Next appeared three young men with wheelchairs, waiting to take those needing help on the incoming flight. My fliht was to leave at 2:28. The time was 1:30 when the flight arrived and the people began walking down the hall, heading to the immigration. Their crew departed along with the three wheelchairs with passengers. Next several folks arrived and set up a table to check randomly selected hand packages. We were assembling more people to get my flight ready. Next came the next crew and got on the plane. My helper appeared a few minutes prior to boarding so I had him walk with me to the rest room, where he wathed over my bags while I went into the restroom. I decided it was a good idea for the future. My helper assisted me to my seat and put my bag in the overhead. I was set. Soon we were off. Yesterdays journey was as well orchestrated as any trip I have ever had. We left on time. The hundreds of people required to organize the trip all just appeared as if by magic. And we were off. I have never just watched carefully as the good folks went about their business. I did yesterday and was impressed. But i still arrived weary. Even though I arrived on time at 10:30, a Lyft driver came to pick me up to take me home after just a few minutes wait. He brought me right to the door, opened the lock and put my bags inside. Wonderful service from everyone from beginning to end on my jorney yesterday. I appreciated all their efforts.

March 11, 2021. Playa Royale, Mexico. Travel Day.

Today is the day I travel to Mississippi. My flight leaves Puerto Vallarta for Dallas at 2:30. After a few hours in Dallas I take the shorter flight to Jackson. Next I take a Lyft home. Christina will have left the lights on in the house so it will seem that I am being welcomed home, which of course I am. Coming home is always a great pleasure, even if it will be almost midnight. I always hope for all parts of a journey to go well but I fully expect problems. But no matter what, eventually I will get home. During my time on the way I will enjoy myself by watching the funny people. And I will observe all the hundreds of competent workers in action and hope the whole package makes up a well oiled machine. My stay at Playa has been very pleasant. I stayed safe and warm, which was the whole purpose of the visit. I return to a more normal Mississippi. So here I go.

March 10, 2021. Playa Royale. CuriositySteam.com

CuriosityStream is a new streaming system, developed by the same man who started the Discovery channel. CuriosityStream is one of the channels on the TV in Mexico. I only found it a month or so ago. The channel is wonderful. They carry nature shows, science topics, history information, and everything else you might be curious about. Since I discover how good they are, I switch back and forth to the hockey games. I have especilly been grateful with Curiosity Stream since PBS was raising money, which they are still doing. This evening during dinner I watched a beautiful hour on the Alps in winter. The photographs were beautiful and the dialogue was all about the survival of the animals and birds that survive the season. Now when I get home in Mississippi I will see if the CuriosityStream will be a channel on my system. And I will find out all abou their streaming operation. I do not know if the channel is on TV to encourage people to sign up to their streaming programs. I know nothing about them but I will soon find out. But here in Mexico I have certainly enjoyed watching their programs. I also do not know if the channel is brand new or if I just missed it when I was checking out the channels when I first arrived. No matter. I found it eventually and enjoyed the shows. A few nights ago I watched three fifteen minutes films on three different deep sea creatures all unknown to me. It was fascinating. Informative and quick. I certainly hope I can find CuriositySteam in Mississippi. That channel was a good find.

March 9, 2021. Playa Royale, Mexico. Kindness.

Anna has cleaned my condo every Monday morning since I arrived. She is bright and energetic and does a geat job of keeping the place clean. She is also unusual in that she speaks English, so we have chatted a bit. For the first 5 years of her life she lived in Los Angeles but she has lived in Puerto Vallarta ever since. She tells me that she likes cleaning for a living. "I start work at 9:00 and when I am finished my work I have no responsibilities until the next day," she said. Monday she asked me about my Covid test. She knew I was leaving on Thursday and she knew I needed a negative test in order to enter the US. So I told her that I had an appointment on Tuesday at 8:00 at the hospital across the street. I must look pathetic because she wanted to know who was accompaning me. When I told her that I intended to walk over by myself she would not hear of it. "I will come at 7:45 and take you," she said. I was surprised with her offer but I must admit I had been a bit anxious about getting across the road all by myself. I have not left Playa Royale property since my arrival so crossing that busy road would have been a challenge. I was relieved with her ofer of help. Anna was on time and I was ready to go. We walked over with no difficulty and the hospital was well organized. I checked in and paid the bill, waited five minutes to get the test, then walked home. We were home by 8:45, just in time for her to go to work. Their email arrived on my iPad this afternoon with a certificate, which Marlin will print for me tomorrow. I have always been impressed with the number of people who show me deeds of kindness, with no requst on my part. She was a big help to me and I appreciated her help. Tomorrow she is coming to say goodbye. I did give her pesos which she did not really want to accept. But fair is fair. I certainly appreciated her kindness to me.

March 8, 2021. Playa Royale, Mexico. The Children at Lunch.

When eating by myself at the beach restaurant I do my best to listen in on other peoples conversation. The day was beautiful and as I watched the sparkling of the sea, I listened. I got lucky. Five people sat down only two tables away from me. They were on a lower level so they could not see me. Their group was made up of a Mother, a grandmother and grandfather and two little girls, perhaps 3 and 5 years old. Unfortunately I could not hear the adults so well, but the children with their high pitched voices were clear to me. First they discussed what they were going to eat. The little one said she only wanted french fries. And she wanted a big plate of french fries. The Mother instructed her to select something else too. "You eat french fries along with something else", said the Mother. But the little girl did not agree. After much discussion, she selected a hot dog, along with her big plate of french fries. All was well. The older girl noticed the red flag which was on a post four feet high on the beach, just in front of the restaurant. She evidently had never noticed it before. She asked what it was. So the grandfather gave a short lecture about the flags: red means danger and stay out, yellow go in with caution and green all clear and safe. It took awhile to figure it out but eventually she asked her grandfather this question. "Why did we go into the water when the red flag was flying?" I did laugh to myself but I suspect the adult response was unsatisfactory. Civil disobedience just started in that little girl.