Month: September 2021

We took the Garcia’s, with their enthusiastic permission, to be examined by our dentist; Dra. Priscila Solis.

Gabi, with Jesús holding him, was the first to be seen. At four years old, and this, being the first time he has gone to a dentist, he wanted no part of said exam. Eventually, after several minutes of crying sorrowfully, she asked Jesús to go out to the waiting room, leaving Gabi in there, with her; all by himself.

It took her only a very few minutes to get his attention, calm him down, then look at his teeth. When he came out to the waiting room, he brought a new friend; Ratón.

Next went Jesús. He survived his ordeal as well, then, Liz went in. She was in there for about fifteen minutes, all told. Their plans for her have to wait, however, until she is further along in her pregnancy, as doctor wants X-rays of both her teeth, and those of Jesús. His we can get this coming weekend, but hers will have to wait until at least December.

Not a bad morning, if you were not Gabi. His morning improved greatly, after meeting his new friend.

Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

There has been little going on these past few days; we went to the store, but that is not exciting.

I drowned my favorite plant, the Aeonium Kiwi. You knew I would so do not act so surprised.

I did, however, recover quite a few of the leaves, and am trying to see if they will reproduce. If not, well, then, I will have to beg an offshoot from one of the ladies to which I gave them earlier. Hopefully, one of them will take pity on me.

I am, also, acclimating all of the survivors to the changing temperature here by opening the windows, just a bit, when I first get up in the morning. At that hour, it is, usually, about fifty eight degrees, getting up to the low seventies by mid afternoon. It does not stay that warm for long, however; not in our apartment that is. About four o’clock in the afternoon, or five, it starts to cool down. Works for me.

Liz is definitely with child, and has gone with Jesús, and Gabi, for her first ultrasound. She is quite a bit bigger than her three months would indicate, but we shall see when they get back. We are praying all is going well this time.

I keep telling Liz that I am going to make a batch of white bread, but I keep putting it off. I cannot say why, because I do not know myself. I think I will say that it is because we bought a bag full of beautiful small homemade buns from Costco the other day. They smell divine, and taste as fresh as if they had just come from the oven.

You may be interested to know that I got quite a bit of sleep last night. How, you ask? Ibuprofen 400 mg.; that is how. We broke down, and bought a box at Costco. Kripes. It was about the same price as a pair of trainers I posted awhile ago. (I just realized that we bought Advil, not Ibuprofen. They did not have the generic, or, maybe I just did not see it.)

Not quite. That was a bit of an exaggeration. They are gel caps, because that was all they had, 400mg., and cost $11 for 40 of the buggers. Last month, I bought two big mega containers of 200mg Ibuprofen tablets, from Amazon in the US, that went to my SIL’s house, and are, hopefully, on their way here. The Tylenol just does not stop the jumpy legs like Ibuprofen.

Ibuprofen, and ten minutes of my back stretching, seems to be the magic combo. That video, from Daily OM, has made all of the difference in my legs relaxing, or not. I have used it enough times that I have the workout, short and sweet, memorized. Therefore, I no longer need to take my iPad out to the living room with me. Or find, and use, my ear buds. Yay. At least I can remember something. 😉

Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones. Please.

Here is the first photo of the new baby that belongs to the Garcia’s. They just returned from having their first ultrasound, and both said I could post it.

I am calling the baby “she” because it is wishful thinking. The baby that died was female, Lupita is her name, so I think they need to have another girl.

It was so cute. Jesús held up the ultrasound, and I took the photo, with the window covering in the background. I showed the photo to Gabi, and asked him if he knew what that was. He shook his head, so I told him it was a baby, in his mother’s belly. He looked at the photo, then went over to Liz, and put his hand on her belly, and smiled. The memory of it makes me smile, too.

Then, I told him it was either a new brother, or sister; which did he prefer? Of course, he wants a brother. The rest of us just want a healthy baby, born when he/she is supposed to be born, and with all of the requisites necessary for a long, and happy life; in the time of CoVid. *(note below)

Of course, I will keep you updated on their progress through the next months. I do not believe Liz had prenatal vitamins, and good prenatal care like she does now, so we are all praying that this will help with this baby’s development, and prognosis. More later.

Until then, continue to stay happy, and healthy, and safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

* This is a reference to the book, Love in the Time of Cholera (Spanish: El amor en los tiempos del cólera) a novel by Colombian Nobel prize winning author Gabriel García Márquez. The novel was first published in Spanish in 1985. Alfred A. Knopf published an English translation in 1988. I always thought the title interesting.

For the past few days, I have kept Liz from coming down to help me clean; she, and Gabi have a cough, and, I want them to rest, and not pass along their coughs to us.

That said, I have had to do all of the cleaning myself. That means, in case you could not figure that out for yourselves, I sweep, and mop as needed. Dusting, in my estimation, is not a necessary activity, especially while one is in quarantine. We have lived all of our adult lives, Ivan, and I, in the presence of dust; a bit more is not likely going to kill us.

You may be interested to know that, while I was unable to sleep the other night, I started on the repotting of most of the still-living plants, here in the apartment. Yes, we still have living plants. Do not be cruel.

Yesterday was the culmination of said repotting. I spent most of five hours, slowly repotting the small succulents that still needed permanent homes. I found the little pots with attached saucers that I had purchased months ago, as well as the smaller terracotta pots, and had at it. Here are the results.

Ivan happened to find an old friend, who is now keeping his flippers on their plastic container, sitting guard. I was going to say he was keeping his eyes on them, but he is looking up at the shelf above him. Silly frog.

Clockwise, from the back, tall spiky plant, which is a Zebra Haworthia, next is a String of Pearls; in front, is, what I believe to be a Greene’s Liveforever. Around the corner, is the Aeonium Haworthii “Kiwi”, (it came away from the parent plant, the one in the back bedroom, while repotting it,) and the back left, is some type of Kalanchoe.

In the photo below, are the recently repotted, 1) Aeonium Hawarthii “Kiwi”; 2) the Orbea Variegata; 3) Anacampseros Retusa; 4) Escheveria Ronyonii (Topsy turvy); 5) I believe this may be a Sedum Morganianum, or Donkey’s Tail. It is a sedum of some sort.

The other neat thing I did was to divide all of the Sansevieria offshoots from their parent plants, and repot them all. The three pots on the left are all of the offshoots.

In the above photo, the tallest plants, in the back pink pot, will be transplanted as soon as I can gather the energy to do so. Not right now.

Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Would it be alright with you folks if I got a few hours of sleep?

Tried to get some sleep last night, but, no! My back, and legs were having none of it. Let me show you how I spent the wee hours this morning.

After two RedBulls™, beginning at about eight thirty this morning, I was able to get some work done.

Let me say that the living room is becoming the living room we both envisioned, more, or less, when we bought this place, a year ago. It sure seems like two, but, not so.

I was sitting here, just a few minutes ago, listening to a gentle rain, outside the open living room window. This is the latest view I have from the dining table. Awesome.

I am going to go watch some more episodes of Supernatural, season thirteen, take a Benadryl, and hopefully, get some sleep.

Now, I am not sure how I am going to go about getting said sleep, unless I indulge in another Benadryl. Not set against it; it just has consequences days from now.

Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: You may be interested to know that, at about twelve thirty this morning, I was able to do my ten minute Daily OM myofascial back stretches, took the Benadryl, and slept all night. The end.

What is a person supposed to do when sleep will not come?

Hang fresh herbs. That is what I did the other morning; early morning, around one thirty. Neither of us could sleep, so I decided to dry the fresh rosemary, and some cilantro we just bought at the store. Here is what it looked like when I finished. I just wonder how many will still be hanging up later this morning. (Follow up: all of them). 😉

It kind of takes the “edge” off all of the knives. Right? Makes them look a bit less lethal, I think.

We had stopped at Soriana, after our monthly visit to Costco the other day, and, there, on the fresh herb shelf was all of that amazing rosemary. Further down the shelf, the cilantro. Both looked so fresh, and smelled Heavenly, so I had to have some. Bought some basil, too, but it spoiled practically before we got it home.

On the same shelf, as the basil, cilantro, and rosemary, are about a dozen and a half of other types of herb bunches; camomile, parsley, thyme, no sage, alas. There are too many to name, mostly, because I cannot remember them all. And some are unfamiliar to me at present. I hope that will not be so much longer, going forward.

Anyway, the kitchen smells amazing, and now, looks a bit more homey. Drying herbs like this has been done for hundreds of years, and, I have read, concentrates the oils in the leaves. Cannot wait to need some of either. I had to hang them in the kitchen because the pantry area gets too humid from the dryer, and too dirty, and dusty from the open window. Yuck.

Going to try going back to bed. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

I think I will make a loaf of focaccia bread, and top it with some of the rosemary, and sliced, purple onions. Yum. Watch for photos.

Wow. We worked so hard today, it is hard to believe.

We have changed another half dozen totes; large to small, and vice versa. The living room is looking pretty good; the West half anyway. 😉

Things have been moved hither, thither, and yon. Unfortunately, there is still too much hither, and not enough yon.

Yes, I know the peace lily is drooping, in the middle of the table; tomorrow, I hope, it is going to get divided, and transplanted. That should help things immensely. There are four flowers on it, tiny, but trying to bloom. Without the needed nutrients, from some added soil, they are only getting water. We shall see what happens after the above transformation.

The large plants have all been sent outside the apartment; just into the foyer on our floor, outside our front door. Hopefully they will all survive better outside, than they have done inside.

I can hear thunder in the distance, and it feels like it is cooling off. Must go close the windows in anticipation of more rain.

That said, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Repotting day is at hand. I have been putting it off for some time now. I can do that no longer.

The peace lily is requiring watering every other day, and has been for the past few weeks. That tells me it needs a slightly bigger home, and more soil nutrients. Ok. Message received.

Both of the flaming lilies need repotting, as well. When I water them, the water flows, either right through the pot, or over the edge, not into the pot.

Yesterday, or maybe it was the day before, (I am so busy I cannot remember what I do from one day from the next,) I made nine quarts of chicken bone broth. When we were in Perote last time, I bought two kilos of chicken feet, and put them in the freezer, just for this occasion.

Also in the freezer were several zippered bags of chicken parts, from previous meals, both cooked, and raw. I took all of that out of the freezer, and got busy. It takes about two full days to boil down all of those parts, plus reducing the liquid a bit for more concentrated flavor, but it so worth the time, and effort.

I do not salt my broth until I use it, making it amenable to however I choose to use it. If it is salted while you are making the broth, you have no way to change that when it comes time to use it. Nope. That is not for me.

I have a large caldron that I use, so, to begin with, it started out almost full of chicken parts, and water. As I was cleaning out the freezer at the same time, and vacuum sealing different things, like the asparagus we bought at Costco recently, I cut off the bottoms of the asparagus and threw them in the broth. Then I added some dried spices, (less is more here), a bit of peppercorns, some onion, and let that simmer for a total of about twelve, or so, hours.

After that, I scooped out the chicken, et. al., and proceeded to put the resulting broth in quart mason jars. After cooling on the counter for a time, they all went into the fridge. Since then, most of the broth has become gelatinous, as it is supposed to do, from the cartilage in the bones, and feet.

I also wanted to show you an interesting thing; natural baby food. In LA, when they start babies eating strained fruits, and vegetables, they take, say, a half an apple, and use a spoon to gently scrape out a bit of the fruit for baby to eat. No need for jarred baby food. Just take it from nature.

One last thing before I go; can anyone tell me what kind of mushroom this is? I saw it at the store the other day, and had to take a photo of it. The stuff in the upper part of the photo is the famous, (in Mexican cuisine, that is ), cuitlacoche, or corn fungus. I am assuming the mushroom is edible, or it would not be in the store. Just curious.

Speaking of cuitlacoche, you cannot find it the US fresh, because of the pesticides used on the growing corn. Here, however, if cooked correctly, it is quite a delicacy; not to everyone’s taste, however. I have eaten it, exactly twice, and found it distinctly different, each time. The first time I had it, it was amazing; the second time, not so much. It was worth trying, and I am sure I will try it again, in the future.

Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Consider one’s natural immunity to the ravaging virus before you get on a bandwagon, denying people their personal freedoms.

Not new, really, just revised.

You saw the photos the other day; the ones of the new shelving over the top of the new cabinet. Well, I spent several hours, the next day, and completely rearranged the entire pantry.

Liz helped me clean off the metal shelving we have had since we moved in. We put everything into three totes; one that had all of the things I use most frequently, and two that have things I do not use very often. Those last two will go to LA, to be kept in “storage”. A lot of good stuff, in those two totes. I do not want to give everything away. I want them to be available when we need them.

This is quite a bit smaller than the metal cart we were using, however, I think, this is one of the best pieces of furniture we have had made thus far. There are a few more pieces coming, so this is not the end of the remodel. We are probably looking at next summer before we finish. Who knows?

In the photo of the first open cabinets, I have about fifty pounds of different kinds of wheat. There are four five- pound bags of Einkorn wheat berries, four five-pound bags of Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose organic unbleached flour, eight kilos of bread flour, and three kilos of whole wheat flour.

Instead of them all being in boxes, on the floor, I decided to put them up in the cupboard; hopefully, all of the humidity from the dryer will not affect the flour, now that they are out of the boxes. They are sealed in plastic bags, however. All good.

Anyway, that whole rearrangement took about six hours, and I am pooped. Did laundry on the side, but still have about four loads to do tomorrow. Cannot wait.

Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Remember those new succulents we bought a few weeks ago? I want to show you some of them. They are amazing.

This Eschevería is called a Topsy Turvy, because its leaves appear upside down, while curling upwards. Amazing, is it not?

This one, one of my favorites, is called an Aeonium Kiwi, and requires almost no water, even in its growing season. I will really have to watch out with this one.

We have a couple of different varieties of this, but this one, in particular, is called Pale Stonecrop. This is a more mature plant, like the piece I reallocated from the neighbors storage unit last month. For fifty cents, you cannot beat it.

This one is sometimes called a starfish plant, starfish cactus, or carrion cactus, and has small star shaped flowers that send off some sort of smell to attract insects that will help pollinate it. I found it absolutely intriguing. Do you see the flower getting ready to bloom, on the left? I will show you what the flower may look like.

The flowers are not as attractive as the Flamingo lily, that is for sure, but they are only there to attract insects for pollination. Evidently, they are the perfect color, and design for them.

I will continue to record the progress of any plants that survive my machinations, as well as those that do not. For now, however, the stairs are calling me. I. Must. Go.

Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.