Domingo 23 -
Sábado 29 Mar 2014 Carmen wanted to go
to the Lebanese restaurant in Orizaba to celebrate her cumpleaños (birthday),
but for one reason or another we never did it until today, 4½ months later. Sunday is the day when they have their full buffet, and since we had talked about our positive experience there, Ania and Frank decided to dine with us. Oh so scrumptious! Authentic ethnic restaurants
here are few and far between. After overstuffing ourselves from the
buffet, the owner gave us some Lebanese special desserts that were not part of
the dessert table. On the way out, Ania spied some items to buy.
The one was a kilo-sized bag of semolina, which is rarely found in stores here. She shared
with us. Carmen had been longing for the taste of cream of wheat for a long time...
We received an
email from a friend who has been involved in rescue/recovery efforts, about the devastating mud slide very close to where we lived for many years in the US. Since then, we have been following the local news on the NWCN website. The landslide, a mile wide and pushing mud & debris about a mile from the hillside that gave way, covered 59 lots and about two dozen houses, and has blocked the state highway and clogged the Stillaguamish river betwen Oso & Darrington, in the state of Washington. The rain-soaked hillside north of the river, perhaps undercut by the flowing water, came down as a rush of mud, rocks, trees and undergrowth, crossing the river and covering the little group of houses that had been built in a flat ox-bow loop on the south side of the river. Rescure efforts were hampered as the mud was like quicksand, and due to constant rain it was feared that the hillside had not yet stabilzed. As of
saturday 18 bodies have been recovered and 30 are still missing and may never be found..
Another jigsaw
puzzle was started and finished. Only 1000 pieces, but harder than
the last. It is a golfing "Where's Waldo"-type scene, with hundreds of tiny people
golfing in the most unlikely situations. In trees, cars, trains,
planes, canoes, and over cliff edges.
Tuesday Dan finally
had his
examen ocular (eye exam). His experience was the opposite of Carmen's. Dan had Dr Ferrón, a male doctor instead of the woman
Carmen had. This fellow enjoyed talking with us and opinioned that Obama should take over Mexico and make it part of the US. He could not imagine any one leaving the US and moving here. He said
he would gladly trade our US house today for his. Dan's eyes
are in good shape, no changes since his last exam two years ago, and he was given some eyedrops in case he ever had need
of them.
Mangoes, guayabas, apples (at US$0.60 cents a pound), pepitas (pumpkin seeds), spinach
(two large bunches for US$0.14) and good looking pork chops were our
buy today. Strawberries fresh on a corner in downtown Fortín for US$0.35 a pound. These are easily as good as the berries grown in northwest Washington, and are not the huge, watery, weak-flavored berries that are shipped around the US from California. Yes, another shortcake! Apple pie soon too, with
MaryLou's recipe. Often our evening cena (dinner) is a half apple
and piece of cheese each.
Tuesday thru
wednesday we received a light steady rain. Posies perked up! Our
gorgeous hibiscus suddenly showed us that it is suffering with root
wilt. We followed survival info from the internet. Took it out of
the pot. Threw the dirt away. Rinsed the roots in chlorinated water.
Put it in new soil which we then watered with an anti-fungal
solution. Wondering if we have saved it. Probably not, but Ania says they are pretty resiliant. We also
have a couple other plants with a fungal problem. We have sprayed
and watered them with a sulfer-based fungicide. Apparently this fungal wilt was
the cruel killer of our goats foot pink orchid tree. We saved some pods from this tree, planted them after losing the tree, and so far eight have germinated. Also the
piece of our vanilla orchid which was accidentally broken off a year
ago, has started to grow again. Yea!
Gardi spotted a
butterfly (black with orange triangle and white spots around the
edge) on it's last legs. At least it was unable to fly. He did not
touch it, until it crawled upon his tail, at which time he gently
removed it and sat watching it, the last we saw. Smij is becoming
less fearful of her world. She even occasionally lets someone passing outside the fence actually see her, the least scary people it seems are mostly men with soft voices. She will study them before
dashing inside.
We presently have
copper-colored chrysanthemums on our dining table and red carnations of cream & deep
red petals in the living room. Our miniature roses are blooming: red,
white, peach and yellow. Think they will be small bushes. More
orchids blooming. Speaking of copper – the back portion of
Carmen's hair is rather copper-like – the front being light gray.
Weird for some one who formally lived with ash blonde.
Friday was not as
expected. We went to IMSS hospital to do a quick pick-up of papers at the clinic head's office to get Carmen's next eye appointment. The tonometer (machine for testing internal eye pressure) had been broken when Dr Vera had examined Carmen, so the
doctora had written up an order to send her to another hospital for the test. This is the same machine that tested Dan earlier in this week! Now, it seems that the clinic chief, understanding that the machine was fixed, wanted to avoid sending folks elsewhere for the testing. Apparently they had to wait for Dr Vera to personally check and OK the machine. Two
other ladies were there waiting for the same issue. Turns out that the
doctora never showed up for her shift and we are to return monday. This next
time we will not forget a book. We were there for four hours! While waiting, Dan's sore throat got
to the point where he was barely able to squeak sounds. Since we are
to take in a fecal occult test monday, we can take no vitamin C – which is
our favorite “get rid of colds and sore throat” treatment.
Mid-day temperatures went above
90ºF. Used our car airconditioner driving home from IMSS, for the first time since arriving in Mexico.
This evening a gray-haired lady rang our doorbell. She carried an old
five gallon bucket, and asked for some food. She gave us so many
blessings of thanks after we handed her a container of milk, that we
felt we should have given more. We are not the only house she will
stop at however. Some folks specifically ask for tortillas, which we
have only frozen. The younger folks get a juice box, and one really
starving elderly man also gets cookies or part of our recent meal.
A favorite tv
show at the moment is “The Renovators” from 4:30 til 6pm, five
days a week. Takes place in Australia and was filmed in 2011. We
had missed the first few shows, but luckily after the last show, the
series started again. It starts with 26 people and ends up with one, renovating six rundown houses around Sydney. Friday evening a strong wind storm, with giant rain drops, blew in from the northwest. Carmen had to fight with the strong
rachas (gusts), to get the windows closed. The floors and chairs on the north and west were soaked with driven rain. We have never before had forceful winds from the west, and we had not had rain blow inside since we put the plexiglas panels part way up outside our windows. The storm was relatively short – but soaking.
Our breakfast
bananas have gone squishy – banana muffin time. The neighborhood
gray sleek female cat can get thru our narrow barred gates.
Yesterday she was found sitting with Gardi under our car. No
fighting – merely enjoying the companionship! Probably Gardi will
invite her into our house some day. Then what?
No specific pictures illustrating the week's activities, so we have selected some images of our cactus & succulent collection to place here.
