Livingthedreamwithdiana.com

I have downloaded a new app to keep my brain from going to mush. It is called Impulse, and is full of brain games. This is what the app looks like, in case you want to download it also.

Here is an example of one of the puzzles that defeated me. Let me know if you know, or think, you know the answer. Once it was revealed to me, and I worked it backwards, it was obvious. Am guessing that is why it is called a puzzle.

Being in the middle of the rainy season, so I have been told, it is difficult to get out frequently without being soaked to the bone. The app has helped keep my brain active, whilst we take breaks from the cleaning, sorting, and, rearranging of all the stuff with which we still have to contend.

Speaking of that, we have, in the past two weeks, emptied and rearranged twelve more totes, designating quite a bit to going to LA; their outcomes to be determined. We have set aside several items, clothing, household items, and the like, for Jesús’s, and Lizbeth’s parents that we think they will like, but more importantly, be able to use, as we cannot.

Another idea just whipped past me; too bad I was unable to retrieve it. Ugh!

I have several things to do in the kitchen, so I am going to close this for today. I apologize for the lack of substance. It appears that sleep is an illusive dream of ours; mine, more so than his. Ivan is able to go back to bed, and sleep; alas, I am not. Some days my brain can tolerate this sleeplessness, other days, it rebels. Today, it is in the rebellious state.

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

We were at a picnic/cookout this past weekend, in a beautiful park, for no other reason than to get together, and, enjoy the family’s company during this difficult time.

We were in the southwest portion of Mexico City; about as close to the next state as is possible, having a wonderful day.

The sun was shining, through heavy rain-filled clouds, however. When it was out from under, is was about sixty five degrees Fahrenheit, eighteen degrees Celsius. When it was cloud covered, the temperature dropped about five degrees; easily.

Despite a light sweater, I was, at times, quite chilled. I opened the trunk of the car, and sat on the ledge, soaking up the few rays of sunshine available to me. Then, as I could no longer pretend to be warm, on went the fleece vest, and the windbreaker jacket. Finally, I had to admit, the sparse sunshine was not enough. In fact, I was downright cold.

The fire had been started, potato chips eaten, sodas drank. Then ….

We waited, patiently, for whatever would be served for dinner. It appeared, very pleasantly, we would be eating pork, and longaniza; my two favorite types of meat. And, there was plenty of each to be had.

Here, much unlike up North, there are almost no “sides”; no potato salads, no baked beans, no coleslaws, no macaroni salads; nothin, that is, to take up the very empty space in your stomach that is being reserved for the “all you could possibly eat” tacos. Yum.

Of course, someone had to cook all of this endless meat; two of Jesús’s cousins, Iris, and Isabel, plus his sister, Ana, were the cooks, for the most part. Others “helped”, but the meat, spring onions, cactus, and tortillas, were all prepped, and, cooked by “the girls”. And, the most inhospitable place it was.

This is what they had to contend with, all the while they were cooking.

While we waited, an enterprising young man, selling two types of cheese from Oaxaca, and a paste of blackberries frequently eaten together, made his daily quota; thanks, totally, to el Señor Ivan. Cheese, and paste, for all.

Not all of us sat around, relaxing, basking in the sunshine. The younger family members made there way to the other side of the park, to shoot paint balls at each other. Let me tell you what; those little buggers are hard, and hurt when not shot to explode on the helmet, or padded vest. Here is a photo of the warriors elite.

During the day, between the spurts of sunshine, it grew colder, windier, and darker. We got no rain until about two minutes outside the park. After that, torrents for the next twenty minutes or so.

Still, we laughed, watched the little ones run around, and, best of all, relaxed. What a glorious day.

Please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones; as we are.

Juan de Dios!!! Yay! We went over to Juan’s house, about five thirty, had a cup of coffee, with an obligatory piece of sweet bread, then, the three of us came home.

We gave Juan “the tour” of the apartment, taking our time with each space, then, sat at the table in the living room, and had a wonderful two hour conversation. He ate two small helpings of honeydew melon, took his evening meds, and is, at the moment, watching news clips with Ivan, in our bedroom.

We plan on walking at least once a day, hopefully twice, around the park. He was excited to see there is a park right outside our building! So are we. One of the many reasons we bought this place. Oh, I also showed him a few photos of the before, and “so far” in our remodeling. He was glad we made the changes we have. He, too, thought the apartment was too dark with the dark tile everywhere.

Anyway, we will all be going to bed sometime in the near future, to rise, and shine, tomorrow morning. I cannot wait to fix Juan some breakfast, like I used to in Iowa.

Please, now, more than ever, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

There is not a lot to tell you today; we have not brought Juan home yet. There is still more to be done here before we can do that.

You really cannot imagine how much “stuff” we still have to go through, and how many totes we still need to get rid of. It is overwhelming most of the time. If we bring him over soon, we will have him sleep in the spare bedroom, until his room is finished. Should not be too long.

Most of the plants are surviving, in spite of the cool weather; not all of them, however. That is okay with me. I am going to try not to replace the dead plants, except with the occasional flowering plant, like orchids, or anthuriums. Both of those plant types seem to be doing well at the moment, and have such beautiful colors, that will be my next direction- color. The larger plants, the rubber tree, the large Marginata, and the Swiss cheese plants are all doing well, enjoying the sun coming in through the windows in the spare bedroom, soon to be renamed “the office”.

I am staying on top of the cleaning, and laundry, with Liz’s help. Two days a week will be such a blessing. Now, however, it is time to do a load, or two, of laundry. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Holy smokes. I have not cleaned this much since we moved down here.

We are not cleaning alone, however. As I have said, Lizbeth is helping me, and, Jesús is helping Ivan; we are almost ready for Juan. We are bringing him here Sunday afternoon, and, we cannot wait. He is looking forward to it as well. It has been over two years since he was with us. Too long; unavoidable, however.

We are combining this, and that, freeing up tote after tote, to see beautifully clean, white tile underneath. Everything is bright again, like when we first moved here, yet before the totes took over.

I have gotten the ice cold sourdough starter out of the fridge, and, am attempting to revive it, once again. I want Juan to help me knead the dough, if he wants. I believe it will give him some enjoyment to do that. I know it does for me. It is peaceful, and calming. And, to have a loaf, or two, of delish, homemade bread as a result? What is not to enjoy?

Anyway, I need to check on the washing machine. It is trying to spin a lightweight blanket I had it wash, but it sounds like it may be out of balance. I must say, though, that this Maytag machine, is pretty amazing. When it discovers that a load is unbalanced, it does a partial fill, and rinse cycle. Then, if, as it drains, it is still unbalanced, it does another partial fill, and swishes around, until it is balanced. It checks again, while it is draining, and, when it is balanced, spins to its hearts content! Lovely.

Gonna go. It sounds fine, but now it needs to go into the dryer. So, in the meantime, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones; now more than ever.

Here is a little surprise for you. I enjoy Snapchat!

Never, in my living memory, have I ever lived in a place where we can have all of the windows open any time we want.

This apartment is a cool sixty eight to seventy degrees Fahrenheit, (twenty to twenty one degrees Celsius), throughout the day, dropping into the lower sixties, upper fifties Fahrenheit, (mid teens Celsius), at night. This is the twenty third of July!

Yesterday, when we went to the store, (you know which one), it got up to seventy eight degrees outside, and was even warmer when we stopped by our cousin Juan’s house. But, when we got home, here, it was so cool, in comparison, we had to put on a sweater.

Speaking of Juan, my father in law that is, we talked with him yesterday, and explained that he is going to come live with us, again, in the apartment here. I am sure you cannot imagine what he said. He said he was ready. We told him that we would be walking around the park most days, that as long as we were careful, we will all be safe from the worsening virus invading this world.

The latest virus is being called Delta, and it is the most deadly adaptation, thus far, of the original CoVid 19 virus. PLEASE, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. WASH YOUR HANDS, COVER YOUR MOUTH, AND PROTECT YOUR LOVED ONES. PLEASE.

Not really a writers block per se, just not much to tell you.

This last week we have been rearranging all of the totes that we still have in the apartment. We are not finished with the remodel yet, as there is still one queen Murphy bed to come, plus at least two more dressers. We are also going to add a few small shelves, just on the right side of the closet, which will allow us to put the small felt “bins” I bought, to hold our clothes; well, mine, really.

I have tons of Lula Roe bottoms, and a ton of Pico bamboo tops, to go with the bottoms. They all fold/roll up to fit into probably two of the aforementioned bins. I do not really need a dresser as I have decreased the amount of clothes I have exponentially since moving.

I believe I had so many clothes in defense of having to go two flights down, and up, to wash all of them. Since the laundry area is a few feet from any room here, it seemed senseless to have all of those clothes. I have given away quite a bit, but have quite a bit more to go through, and “share”.

Liz has started coming downstairs to help us with the cleaning. She, and Jesús, are cleaning wizards. Personally, it is a combination of youth, and vigor; neither of which we still possess.

Not only does she clean like a crazy woman, she helps me with my Spanish. I still have to refer to my Google Translate app, but not as much as I used to. Even Gaby, their four year old, helps me. We help each other, actually. Though, it is difficult for me to understand adult spoken Spanish at times, it is even more difficult to understand it when spoken by a four year old. Trust me.

We have gone through all of the bedding I bought, and used, from up North, and have given quite a bit of that away. It is embarrassing to have so much when others have so little.

We found, too, that quite a bit needs laundering, so, while I do that, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.

Post script: thank you to those that remembered my sixty sixth birthday the other day! It was a productive day.

Your choice.

I have been keeping the grow lights fully directed on the plants, from about seven thirty am, until ten o’clock pm; everyday. I noticed this evening, that most of the herbs are all drying up. What?

Ok. Simple. Check the soil with the water meter. No movement on the gauge! NOTHING! Not even a budge. So, duh! Ivan mentioned that he thought they were getting too much sunshine, so, I reprogrammed the timers to come on with the brighter sun in the morning, about eight am, and go off about six thirty pm. More like the real sun. We shall see what happens over the next few days. Hopefully, I have not killed everything.

It is affecting the herbs, for the most part. It is always something; too much water, now, not enough water. Good thing we do not have to depend on the herbs to feed us, or we would be dead. Humbling, definitely; let me just put that out there, right now.

Every time I start to think I have some control over what is happening around me, I am reminded that, nope, I sure do not. So, once again, I am going to do my best to learn from yet another lesson being shown to me.

Should have been common sense, really, but not when I am trying to guide things. I thought longer sunlight would help everything grow even better. Just dried every fragile thing up. Live, and learn. I intend to continue to learn.

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

I have not had much to tell you about these last few days, hence the absence of posts.

Today, still not much.

We have lost a few family members recently, due to one thing, or, another; my heart goes out to all of them. Two others, have had surgeries; one is recovering well, the other, I am unsure of.

Yesterday, we went to the store, and replenished our staples, so, today, I get to finish putting them away. I do not mind, really, as it allows me to see some of the many things for which we are thankful.

When I have time, usually at night, when I am not sleeping, giving myself time to think about the above, it, at times, overwhelms me. When that happens, I give yet another thanks to my Maker, and relax; knowing it as the blessing it is.

Not much else to tell you today. I am cleaning up all of the tote tops that have bits of dead plant pieces on them, as well as the dirt that has come from the pots of the plants that have not survived. At this rate, I will not have to buy dirt for quite some time. 😉

I absolutely can not keep rosemary, or, thyme alive to save me. Not good with dill, either. I do not know if it is still too cool in the morning when I open the living room window, or what; they are certainly not drowning anymore. But I am done trying for this season. If that changes, you will know.

I am, however, enjoying the few days I have had with the newly sprouted Genovese basil, as well as the dill, oregano, sage, and cilantro . We shall see what happens with all of them. Here is what they look like just now.

Amazing how, even as tiny as these are right now, if you know your herbs, you can tell, by the leaves, which is which.

That is enough for today. Stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones, will you?

Yesterday, my husband gave me his thirteen inch iPad Pro, complete with his portable keyboard.

He was not using it so he was kind enough to pass it along. Then, I passed along my iPad mini to a friend who needed a computer, so all is well.

Of course, his, (now my) iPad works so much better than the one I had been using, it feels brand new. Oh, wait! It is brand new. He got it a year, or two, ago, but has never used it. His loss, my gain. Gracias, mi amor.

It is smaller than a laptop, as it is only the thirteen inches, but is quite a bit bigger than my iPad Pro, which is eleven inches big. It may not seem like much, but to type on a normal sized keyboard is actually taking me a bit of getting used to. The other keyboards are quite a bit smaller in comparison, and I have been using them for quite a while now.

Enough about that! We are off, again, to LA, however, this is only a sleep over. We have to come back twenty four hours after leaving here. What a shame. We do so enjoy it there. Everything is so peaceful, and serene, as I have indicated dozens of times. It brings us joy to just know we are going; even if just overnight. The four hour drive, each direction, is well worth it.

We have a few more things to do before company comes, and we settle down for the night. Everyone, please, stay happy, stay healthy, stay safe. Wash your hands, cover your mouth, and protect your loved ones.