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of wet dirt.

I cannot tell you how wonderful is the smell of freshly watered soil. It was the most motivating factor when tending my gardens back in the US.

Now, I have it here, in the living room.

The smell is, for me, ambrosia. Intoxicating. Sensual. Bewildering, all at the same time.

When I water the few plants that are left in the apartment, they give off the most precious, earthy, heady aroma of which I have never tired.

It is, in all actuality, an aroma, a smell that I find I cannot live without. It fulfills me. It makes me part of who I am.

It wasn’t until recently, while sitting in the living room, at my newest “office space”, having watered the plants only moments ago, that I noticed the scent of which I speak.

It is a scent that those, who have not gardened, in any form, do not know. It is a scent that I have come to love, and anticipate when it is time to water my plants here, in the apartment.

And when I do, my senses come alive. It is a smell, an aroma that can’t be imitated, or

Well, it’s probably why I kill all of my plants- from overwatering! Not funny, but probably true. Unfortunately for the plants, but so good for me.

Until next time, please, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Before the Christmas holidays, and as we were planning on spending said holidays in Los Altos, we bought 5 kilos of instant coffee, in bulk, obviously, to give out as presents. (They drink a lotta instant coffee.)

We got sick. We didn’t go to Los Altos. We still had 5 kilos of instant coffee to give out. Yikes.

I spent some time moving the coffee granules from a large, black plastic bag, into the small plastic bowl, into the smaller plastic containers. Lovely. (We’re going to distribute the Coffee Mate as well. I have to find some used jelly jars for that.)

There are plenty of neighbors here, in the condo, or the guards at the front door, or friends of the guards at the door, or family members of our neighbors that will take free coffee, of that I have little doubt.

We just have to get it downstairs, and into their hands. And out of our kitchen.

As I said in an earlier post, we are going to heavily downsize this year. I don’t care how we do it, but we are going to do it. Ivan is in complete agreement, as well. That’s always a good thing.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

This is one of the first copies, found in gastronomic history, of the original recipe for Indian Chicken Curry; 1747.

It is my mission to make this very recipe, maybe not exactly like the above, but as I’ve seen online, before I die.

I don’t even really know curry tastes like, but it seems to be such a well liked food, I want to try it.

The recipes I’ve seen, which are, actually, very similar to the above, don’t appear to be very complicated, and probably something I can make with moderate success.

Hope so. I’ll let you know.

YouTube videos.

I recently mentioned TrekTrendy, (I think), in one of my posts, and wanted you to know that I have successfully binge watched almost his entire list if vlogs. I didn’t spend much time on the originals as they are so different to the newer ones.

His name is Will Davis, and is someone who reviews luxury vacations, i.e. first class cruise ships, first class, and economy flights all over the world, and, more recently, train rides, again, all over the world.

He takes a flight on a particular airway one time, from, say London to New York, then gives an honest review; how much it costs normally, then how much it cost him. He also tells how he got the price he did, be it with air miles, buying extra miles, etc.

He eats different things from the menu to let you know what to expect when you fly this particular airline, going to this particular part of the world, what is included for the price you’re thinking of paying, and what isn’t.

If the airline is good, but the amenities are crap, he tells you so. If the plane is outstanding, the food the best he’s had in the air, but the bedding is hard to sleep on, he tells you.

It’s an addictive channel as he flies frequently, and I do mean that. He has hundreds of videos flying, sometimes, to, and from the same cities, but on different airlines, to show you what each airline has to offer, not to mention the difference frying this type of airplane, or that one.

The bulk of his vlogs are 10-20 minutes, 10 being more the norm, but he flies almost weekly, and the bulk of those are transcontinental. Those are the most costly flights, and if you’ve never flown that particular airline, or on that type of plane, you may not know what to expect.

He also finds out, especially flying first class, or business, what first class lounges you have available to you, included with your ticket. Not all airlines inform their clients of these features.

Anyway, it’s an amazing time, flying all around the world, in first class. Or taking a cruise, or train, all over the world. They are all places I doubt I will ever see, but can through this channel.

Give it a shot. Let me know what you think.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: it’s probably a difficult job but someone has to do it. 🙂

I realized, just recently, why a family member, who passed away a number of years ago, always had a box full of medications from México.

It’s because so many meds are sold over the counter, (which are only sold via a prescription in the US), that a pharmacist, or even a pharmacy assistant, never put their hands on except to put them in a bag, and ring them up at the register.

I would imagine that prescribed meds are put in actual bottles. If they are bought, as I indicated, OTC, they are left in the boxes in which they were received by the pharmacy, as in the above photo.

Each box of Ivan’s Metoprolol is enough for 20 days, and cost us $30MXN/box; the above 5ish month supply of his B/P meds costing us $240MXN, or $13.93USD. And, my 6 month supply of the Lisinopril, which I am just now finding in Walmart, was $438MXN, or $25.41USD.

This past October of 2023, I purchased 15 boxes of Hydrochlorothiazide, (sold in sets of 3 boxes for $89MXN) for a total of $445MXN, or $25.82USD, which will last us for just over 5 months. Not bad, heh?

I feel that the cost is so much less because no one is having to process the meds; you do it yourself, at home, when you open the boxes yourself. You buy what you need, you take it home, and you do with it whatever you wish. Cutting out all of the middle men keeps the cost to a minimum.

Not much else to impart tonite so I’ll see you again in a couple of days.

Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

So many changes have taken place for me in the past few weeks.

I have started wearing summer dresses with spaghetti straps that are just above the knee, 90% polyester, 10% spandex. They are so comfortable, lightweight, cool, nice sizing, and fairly inexpensive.

I have bought several in pretty, bright colors, and patterns, and wear one every day. They allow me to get plenty of sunshine while walking daily. I have also been walking twice a day, most days. I walk, usually, when I can get the most amount of sun, for now. It’s only April.

Here are 2 examples of the dresses I’m wearing this summer. I have 3 more coming. They are similar in touch to a nice tee shirt. Very soft!

I have also restarted exercising, however now I am doing something morning, as well as evening. I am stretching more, especially in the morning, so I am able to walk with a bit less discomfort, and, hopefully, a bit longer. Even after the very first exercise revisit, I felt better having done it.

Having sat in front of my computer for 2 years, using CoVid as an excuse for not going outside, I have become caged in my hips, and lower back. When walking, my lower back muscles feel like they have become rocks. I have to stop, and stretch about every 500 ft. It helps, but this will be better.

Well, that’s all I have to report for now. Kombucha is going well, sourdough starter is sleeping in the fridge, the freezer is full of meat, and the fridge is full of fruits, and veg. All’s right with our world.

Hope yours is too. Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

The other night, we were each watching different things on our computers, Ivan in the big spare bedroom across the hall, (I call it “your room”), and me in our bedroom.

Now, mind you, I have been blowing my runny nose about a gazillion times a day for the past century, when, out of the blue he calls over to me, “is your nose running”?

“Of course”, I said.

“Well, you’d better go get it”, he said.

We both laughed for about 5 minutes.

When was the last time you asked someone that?

Do it when they least expect it. See their reaction.

For me, it was completely unexpected. For us, it was hilarious.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: I retired 5 years ago, as of yesterday. Best decision made that year. Best decision EVER; other than marrying a man my parents didn’t like. Hahaha.

Have you ever heard of such a thing?

My iPhone started acting up the other day, the screen hopping around, changing from one page to another without me doing anything.

I even called my SIL without touching a button. (Fortunately she was able to talk for a few minutes, and, I hope, didn’t think I was too crazed.)

When I Googled “my iPhone is possessed”, low, and behold, up came hundreds of different results regarding possessed phones, and what to do about them.

Evidently, one of the main causes of phones that are demonically possessed is not charging your phone with sanctioned Apple charging equipment, and next is your screen protector.

I restarted my phone, twice; nothing. The ghost lives.

I took off the screen protector; better, but still twitchy. Still changing pages on me without being requested to do so.

After that, I did a quick systems update, and am waiting for that to finish.

Removing the screen protector, for whatever reason, seemed to make a significant difference.

I’ll let you know if the update plays any part.

Until then, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.

Post script: same day.

Conclusion: The ghost is gone for now. The phone is fully charged on the sanctioned Apple charging equipment that I always use, but I have not replaced the screen protector yet. There have been no changing pages, or ghostly phone calls to the US, so thank you Google responses.

Post post script: WRONG. The phone is no longer of any use. The ghost is alive, and well. Now I have to save up a few hundred dollars for a new phone. This one of Ivan’s is too old to perform as needed. No snobbery, just that it has to be efficient enough to be my mobile office.

Yes, I’ve been walking since I was a child, but recently, I’ve started walking in the park again.

The first few days, (I started around the 19th of March), I had to wear my abdominal binder because I couldn’t walk very far without it, as it supports my big belly, and my lower back.

But now, however, the 28th of March, I’ve been 2 days without it, and am walking 1.86 km, or twice around the park, twice a day.

It feels so good to get outside, smell the fresh air, have the sun on my very white skin. So many of the plants along my path are in bloom, and I’ll show you some of those today as well.

I’ve not lost any significant weight yet, but am getting more limber, as I have to do some hefty stretching in order to walk without the brace. And that’s ok with me. I can even get in, and out of the car without my hip flexors giving me much static. Win, win.

Without further ado, let me show you some of the glory I get to witness on these adventures.

Ok. That’s enough for today. I’m walking, and enjoying every minute of it, though I wish it would rain a bit. We’ve been without much rain this year, and the plants in the park are showing some distress. I wish I could give them all a good soaking.

Until next time, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect (I almost typed “repeat”) yourselves.

Recently, I made one of the worst pizza’s ever.

I ate a couple of small bites, hoping (against reality), that it might not be as bad as I was tasting it to be.

Nope. It was that bad.

It started out looking like it was going to be a winner, but, alas, it ended up in the organic bin. With our blessings.

Here’s how it started.

I had added oregano, dried basil, onion, and garlic powders, to no avail. This was straight up AP flour, no sourdough discard, or anything special.

It came out flat(ter) than a pancake, and tasted like cardboard. I couldn’t even take a photo of it, it was that bad. So,

The very same day, I found another recipe, online of course, and made another small pizza. These both had only homemade pizza sauce, which was outstanding, mozzarella, and Parmesan cheeses on them, because that’s all I had available at the time. Like I told Ivan, there was no point in wasting good products on a bad pizza, so I wasn’t going to add anything tasty until I got the crust the way I wanted it.

So, here’s pizza #2.

This little beauty had the softest, fairly flavorless crust I’ve ever made, so I still need to do some tweaking to it to give it some flavor.

I have a few ideas such as Barley Malt syrup, (it’s what they put in our Harris pizzas back home to give them their signature flavor), maybe more olive oil, oregano, and basil, to start. I’ll keep you posted when I do. It’s the closest I’ve ever come to a decent pizza crust. If you have a good crust, please, let me know, will you?

Suffice it to say the second pizza met with his one thumb up, so it was gone within the hour.

Until next we meet, stay happy, healthy, and safe. Wash, cover, and protect yourselves.