Hot 'n Cold.

What a gorgeous day it was today. It snowed last night, a massive amount, must have been close to a foot. It was the light and fluffy kind, not too hard to walk in. I went for a walk up to Idlewild Park, and I was the first one there today...it was so silent and peaceful.
     The snow on the branches was just starting to get too heavy and the trees were dropping loads of snow, it was a pretty amazing thing to watch...one tree would start to lose all the snow and I could hear a grainy sounding "whooooooosh" and then the next tree would start and so on, like a domino effect.

I'll see if I can upload a little video clip of it.

After hiking through the snow, which was almost to my knee, I was somewhat exhausted...it's tough walking through snow, even the fluffy kind. Anyhow, it was now close to lunch time and I was getting a bit peckish, as my Mom used to say, so I scurried home and made some tasty grilled cheese sandwiches...Laughing Cow Jalapano cheese, cappicola, black forest ham and fresh whole wheat bread. Mmmm....nice and warm after a cold winter walk. Ahhhhhh...retired life....worth the wait....

New Puppy

My neighbours are getting a new puppy. "Just a baby" they have informed me. The little one was telling me that they had to wait to get the puppy until she wasn't drinking from her mama anymore, and was able to eat puppy food from a dish. That steered the conversation to animals in general, and how they ate.

 He told me that all 'aminals' drink milk from their mothers. He then proceeded to stare me up and down, asking "I know how it works with 'aminals', but how does it work with people?"
 
I lost all courage and told him that he should probably ask his mom about that...she'd know the answer.
 
*sigh*

Cranky

What Makes a Person Cranky?
Well, I guess lately what makes me cranky is time. Time marching by way too quickly; not having enough time. It's truly amazing how time does seem to go by more and more quickly the older you get. The other thing that's making me cranky lately is that there seem to be so many things that one has to do, even if you don't want to do them. Not that these observations are new or unique. I think everyone probably has the same observations at some point. It's just that it makes me cranky.

Mexico Christmas Eve

What to do on Christmas Eve? The resort was having a turkey dinner for all the guests, all the theme restaurants and the two huge buffets were serving the same meal, and while it probably would be sort of fun to have a turkey dinner in Mexico, the idea of Mexican staff cooking turkey and all the trimmings for some three or four thousand people, all to be served at pretty much the same time...well, we were all a bit hesitant as to how good it would actually be. Plus, the resort had given everyone "appointment times" for dinner...meet in the lobby at 7:30 and they'll tell you where your dinner is at.....meh, I'm too cranky for that sort of thing.

"Besides" as everyone said, "Besides, we can have turkey any time."

"Well" I muttered under my breath "Yeah.. if I make it you can...did it occur to anyone that maybe I might want someone else to cook me a turkey dinner?"

And then I laughed, because it's a well known fact in our house that I'll go out for a bag of chips if someone else is opening it....I am a good cook, but I can't say that I enjoy cooking.  Actually, that's not quite true...I don't mind the cooking part, but I despise trying to decide what to cook and then the grocery buying aspect of it all is equally repugnant to me. If I ever win a big lottery, that would be one of the things I'd do...hire a planner to make my menus and buy all the ingredients. I'd happily cook, and I don't even mind the clean-up. Just tell me what to do.

But, as they say, I digress.

Scott had asked our concierge for another suggestion and was told that we had to try ALUX, pronounced "aloosh". She said it was in a cave, and we thought that sounded interesting, so we got our taxi fellas to take us there. It's a little off the beaten path, a few blocks off the main tourist street, but in a kind of dicey area...not sure I'd want to walk there at night.

But what a treat it was...a really large cavern, complete with stalactites and stalagmites and pools of water. When you enter, you go down small flight of stairs and a large-ish dining area and bar are there, which is where we ate. But, after dinner we walked around and there are all sorts of small 'private' dining areas, a tiny disco and  little rooms tucked into small nooks and crannies...it was like something from Star Wars, or a Hobbit movie.

The food was amazing as well, I think the bill for 5 of us, appetizers, dinner and drinks(one person had steak & lobster...) was about $50 Cdn each, that included a decent tip, so while it wasn't cheap, it wasn't horribly pricey.\

After our dinner, we decided to stroll down 5th Ave again, about half of the  places were closed, being Christmas Eve and all, but  there was still enough open shops to browse through, and pick up a few more souvenirs.

 I always wanted to try one of these 'fish spas", but I chickened out...who knows what might be in that tank?

More Festive decorations!

We eventually headed back to the resort, and before bed I had a few "flat" presents for everyone that I had packed, bookmarks, lotto tickets and some gift certificates, as well as a little tree that I had tucked in my suitcase as well. We opened our gifts, and then hit the sack. Tomorrow we were heading home.
I left the doily and tree, along with an envelope with a nice tip (and a Feliz Navidad card) for the fellow who had taken care of our room for us...he was a funny little man who hugged us whenever he saw us, and tried to learn some English phrases as well.

Mexico Day 7.

Off to Tulum once more...this time Scott stayed at the resort for massages, and Shane and Linnea came along. This day started out on a catamaran...a 2 and a half hour cruise in the ocean, with all the free drinks you could drink. Thank goodness there was water and fresh fruit juice as well, I certainly don't mind a drink now and then, but pina coladas at 9:00 AM are a thing of my past.

We were lucky to have a small group, lots of room to lay in the sun

The water was directly below the netting, all the splash kept them cool.

I thought, at first, that the bathroom was directly right there because I could just see the top of a woman's head, and I was wondering what would happen if someone walked by and peered down. I thought that perhaps this was how catamarans worked and that everyone just went pee almost in public and that was the way it was...like when you go to hot springs and everyone is naked. I was quite relieved when I realized that the actual bathroom is to the left, and the woman I could see was just standing and waiting for her turn. *whew* I mean, "When in Rome" and all that...but I still don't want to pee in public.





 

The unisex toilet.

The weather was hot, hot, hot and the water was pretty calm. It was very enjoyable, and when one of the crew set up a couple of fishing rods, Steven's eyes lit up. All he wanted to do on this trip was to go fishing, and none of the rest of us wanted to. He asked the crew member who the rods were for, and the fellow said "Anyone who sees them move, feel free to grab on." Steven plunked himself beside one, and sat there for 2 hours....this picture might look romantic, but I think he was whispering in my ear: "If the rod bends...make sure you grab it!"

Well, you know how Fate works, Steven decided to get up and grab a beer, and sure enough...the rod bends, a crew member runs over and grabs it and hollers: "Fish! Who wants the rod?" Steven stood there, looking horrified and I took the bull by the horns, so to speak and hollered right back :"Here!" and shoved him towards the rod. I'm not sure how many other people wanted it, maybe none, but a few looked interested and I just knew that he'd let someone else take it, and always regret it. So he got to fish in the ocean in Mexico. It took a long time to reel it in, and it was just a small bonito, about 8-10 pounds, but the crew cheered him on and chanted his name and fed him beer and gave him a moment to remember. Although, the look on his his face when he saw how small it was, compared to the size he had hoped it would be, is my moment to remember.

Look at the woman behind, Hahahaha, I don't think she's ever seen anyone catch a fish before...the look of disgust on her face is priceless! (remember, you can click on the picture to make it larger, and to really get a look at the woman's face, also the man behind Steven looks pretty awestruck too!)

After that bit of excitement, the boat anchored at a reef, the second largest coral reef after the Great Barrier Reef in Australia and everyone got to snorkel out there, or, for those of us that didn't want to, we could jump off the boat and swim in the water, or even just hang out on the boat and relax. The water was so warm, and the waves were just big enough to 'bob' you around. It was pretty wonderful.

 The colour of the water was so gorgeous, even in the middle of the ocean it was so clear and blue.

After the snorkeling, we clambered back on the boat and had a nice lunch..chicken breasts, Caesar salad, nachos and salsa and guacamole and fresh fruit. Mmmm...tasty. We then took a little tender to the shore, had a bit of time to relax on the beach and then boarded a small van and went to the ruins at Tulum once more.

It was just as nice to see the ruins a second time, and since we had had "the tour" earlier, this time we just wandered by ourselves without a guide. The weather was hot and humid, and we were tired from all the fresh air on the boat, and the swimming, so it was enjoyable to be able to just meander slowly and to sit in the shady corners that you come across every now and then, and not have to keep up with the crowd. It was a fun day, and when we got back to the resort, we decided to shower off all the salt, have a rest, and head to the Mediterranean restaurant on the resort grounds for dinner. I have to admit, it was awful. Well, not awful, but not impressive. We all ordered a different dish, but we all basically got the same thing...fish in a red sauce...some had a bit of pasta tossed in, some had veggies, some had a bit more seafood (ie) a clam or a mussel, depending on what you had ordered. We ended up filling up with the salad bar, and more corn chips, nachos, salsa and guacamole...and that I could have lived on...it was everywhere, at every snack bar, buffet and restaurant, but the best and freshest I have ever had....mmmmm.....I've tried to replicate it at home, but it's just not meant to be.

We took a stroll after, found a nice outdoor coffee bar, had some cappuchino and called it a day. Slept like a log. Even the skittering of la cucaracha didn't wake me, nor the coatimundi who helped himself to the room service dish in the hallway....

One little sighting of a cockroach didn't bother me...I've seen far worse (as far as creatures in a hotel room go).