Shiny Mo’ Bettah, Travel Plans, Stealth Birthday

[Note: this is another blog based on my weekly emails to my family on the mainland.]

7/17/21

A few things to report this week, nothing earth-shattering but thankfully that’s my life these days.

Got nearly all of my bathtub metal replaced in the two guest bathrooms.  After 35 or more years of corrosion and pitting, the old cover plates and handles were looking pretty bad, despite the fact that they don’t get that much use.  The new chrome makes a big difference visually, which is the kind of project I like – you can actually see that you accomplished something.  Of course, to other people it just looks like it should, rather than a problem standing out.  I still have a couple of tweaks I might do – replacing the shower heads might be nice and should be fairly easy (oops, never say that out loud – you’re bound to jinx it).

We’ve made progress on our fall travel plans to Mexico. We heard back from the travel company we contacted last week with a couple of options that sounded good.  We urged them to go ahead and send a detailed itinerary and cost, which they did.  We were impressed – both options fit our interests very well and the price was reasonable, considering this will be a custom tour just for the two of us (you may recall we’ve traveled this way before, for example in Peru, the Middle East, and in South Africa).  We’ve decided on an itinerary which will start in Mexico City and then go south through the state of Puebla visiting small towns, archeological sites, and nature preserves for 6 nights before arriving in Oaxaca for 8 nights. We'll use Oaxaca as a base for exploring the many sights in the surrounding area.  We’re going to add on 3-4 nights in Mexico City on our own at the beginning.  We spent time there decades ago and it will be interesting to see the changes, as well as visit places we didn’t take in before, like the Frida Kahlo Museum.  Frankly, we’re getting kind of pumped for this trip – it sounds like just the kind of trip we like: historic, full of rich culture, art, architecture, natural beauty, unique flora & fauna, and of course *food.* I’ve read the craft beer movement has even established itself there, and I’ll be eager to exercise my beer snobbery.  Of course, Covid is the wild card that could ruin our plans.  This spring and early summer have been very good in the areas we will be visiting, but there has been a recent uptick of cases that may lead to restrictions that could make enjoying things much more difficult.  We’re not worried for ourselves but the vaccination rate there is quite low and a new variant of the virus could really take off.  We have to put a deposit down for the tour soon, but the balance isn’t due until right before the start.

On Thursday I had another #@!*^  birthday anniversary.  Unlike the others we’ve been celebrating

recently, this one isn’t all that joyous.  In this case it is a sobering reminder that life is a terminal condition – so enjoy it while you can. I wanted to keep the day low key and self-indulgent, so it was a simple agenda of working out at the gym, having my favorite Vietnamese sandwich at the shore, a nice nap in the afternoon, and then a tasty New York strip steak which I barbecued to my own liking, accompanied by a good craft beer and a glass of Merlot. The side dishes were all favorites: angel hair pasta with olive oil, anchovy, and parmesan, a fig salad with goat cheese, and some fresh sauteed asparagus spears.  Oh, and my favorite home-made chocolate chip oatmeal cookies for desert.  Good meal and a good day, considering!

Off to market.  Take care everyone. Be safe. Be cool. Be healthy. Be happy!