I DIDN'T DIE...FELT LIKE IT...BUT I DIDN'T

 Finally!!!  I was sick for 12 days with a few lingery days at the end.  My throat is sore from super heavy duty coughing.  Jeez Louise!!!  I was trying to remember the last time I was really sick and I couldn't. Oh piddlyass things and I did have an uncomfortable covid for two days.  A very mild case...thank you vaccines.  But really sick for days and days?  I honestly don't remember.

I haven't been out of the house even once since getting home.  It is buck*uck ugly out there.  Rain snow wind...nope.  Not going out in that!

I made a recipe, a follow along recipe the other day.  It was pounded out chicken breasts, something I never ever buy...never have ever bought a breast.  I don't like chicken much to begin with but breasts?  Why?  Tasteless dense chewy meat.  I feel the same about pork loin.  Have never bought it.

I used a cast iron frying pan.  Best casserole dish ever...no matter what you are making.  First layer went down..seasoned chicken.  Second layer was equal parts cream of chicken soup and sour cream...only I used mushroom soup plus poultry seasoning.  Thick layer.  Third layer was a couple of boxes of stuffing with lots of butter and chicken broth.  I packed that on top and into a 375 oven for an hour or more.  I wanted the top crunchy.

  What I appreciated about this recipe was zero canned tomato of any kind and zero freaking cheese.  I like cheese just fine but holy moly when you read recipes online the vast majority  are either Mexican or buried in cheese. This one smelled delicious!!!

Ange:  ate it but didn't say much about it.  I don't think my cooking is totally to her liking.  She doesn't eat fat.  To me fat is where the max flavour is...any type of fat.  Poor thing..fat doesn't agree with her digestive system.

Monte:  Absolutely totally loved it.  He usually just eats and says thanks.  This time he immediately made yum noises then actually out loud told me how much he loved it.  I had put the extra one in the fridge and I saw the next morning it was gone!

Me:  hated it.  OMG!!!  I could only take two bites.  I hate chicken breast and I don't think I like sour cream in mixed dishes.  I will make it for Monte...maybe.

Now I am on the hunt for a new dish to make.  I want one with no tomato, no cheese, no pasta, very little starch, no sour cream and doesn't look like a dog's breakfast on a plate.  Sigh!  (shovel list). The possibilities are getting slimmer and slimmer.  In the meantime I shall just stick to my raw wieners, sliced up tomatoes in homemade mayo or thousand islands.

Well I think today is the day I get ou1t of the house. The sun is actually shining out there! Monte is sleeping at the moment and probably will be for a while yet.  He was awake most the night.  But when he gets up I will get him to drive me down to the bank.  The reason why I'm going will maybe be mentioned some other time.  Makes me tired thinking about the why.  It is a massive (shovel list). 

I think I am getting tired of running the whole show here without help from Bill.  Car insurance, property tax, income tax, busted kitchen sink, broken florescent light fixture in kitchen, filthy needs paint walls, front door lock not working (it locks just difficult and dead battery), dishwasher in desperate need of deep cleaning by expert, I also desperately need double pained windows, house insurance is due and it is outrageously expensive due to wild fire hazard in Port, hot water tank needs replacing,  microwave door broke, van isn't running, a mystery pool of water shows up in the middle of the downstairs bathroom now and then,  deck needs massive repairs and work.....etc.  I wish I was a renter or still married to a handyman!  I am not really fully enjoying widowhood or retirement. lol!!!  Other than just selling this house and moving I am not sure how to solve all that.

Well time to put some green on and clean the mile high pile of crap on the dining room table.  Thank goodness the kitchen is clean!!!!

Sorry for whining.  TFL&TTYL

HOME AGAIN HOME AGAIN JIGGITY JIG

 Home and sicker than a dog.  Wowza I haven't been sick like this in years.  This is way worse than the two days I had covid.  Coughing like a banshee..good thing my tonsils are gone...they would be stuck to my front room window by now...launched from my trusty dusty worn out chair.  And there is soooo much to do here and I can't move.  Whine.....

I spent two nights in the hotel with Mr. Man.  He was busy visiting his friend and going to Anton's for dinner...only the most amazing pasta palace.  I honestly do not remember what I did in that room....I got sick and I think my brain left to go elsewhere in a happier place.

Yesterday we left and drove straight home.  Although I will admit to dragging my sorry ass out of the car on the ferry and went up and got a bowl of their clam chowder, the most addictive stuff ever.  Then I skedaddled back down to the car to cough my lungs up in peace.  I hold my eyes in with my fingers when I super cough like that and I try not to do that part in public.  

Thats it.  All I got.  I can't think.  I shall catch up later when my legs are straighter, as my Billy used to  ALWAYS say.  TFL&TTYL

THE GANG ALL WAITING FOR A SUNSET 

I AM JUST PROVING I AM THE WORST SELFIE TAKER EVER

WE WENT FOR A WALK DOWN AT THE WATERFRONT

PARTY IN THE FRONT....NOT SO MUCH IN THE BACK

I GOT TO CUDDLE MY GREAT NEPHEW!!  

SMOOTH SAILING

The trip home was amazing for me...thanks to my incredible sister.  She had arranged on her phone a day or two before for a wheelchair to meet us as soon as we were about to line up for baggage check and then again in Calgary.

Now I will admit it was somewhat humbling.  That was the first time I had to admit to not being up to normal walking.  And after blowing out my knee one year on a cruise, Bill had to push me around Singapore in a rickety noisy wheelchair and it wore him out.  I was worried about poor Kathy pushing big old me through ridiculously loooong airports.  She kept saying she was fine but if pushing me could tax a huge tough man I knew that pushing me wasn't easy.  

At one point we came across a fairly long uphill ramp.  I was about to hop out and walk up, no way would she be able to push me up that hill, when a lovely looking pilot came along and told her to drag his luggage up the ramp and he would push me.  Which he did!!!  During this whole experience I was overwhelmed by the kindness of people.

We landed in a very snowy Calgary.  It was nine at night.  In the end we spent longer sitting around on a traffic jammed airport tarmac than we were in the air flying to Kamloops.  But we finally got to the Kamloops Airport by around three in the morning.  And there was Kerry, a very welcome sight, all ready to take us home.

I want to mention Jackie here.  She was one of the ladies on the trip.  Her dad and Bill signed up for the RCMP at the same time.  And way back when her dad was a teen they moved right beside my mom's parents in Kelowna.  What a coincidence!

The reason I mention her is she is the one that had the kutzpa to go to the lobby about the lack of decent stairs in the pool.  And down below I have put a picture to show what her smarts caused!!!  We were all so very proud of her!!!

I had one day at Kathy's before catching the bus to Vancouver.  I called Anne and made arrangements for her to pick me up.  She invited me to a lunch across town.  It was in the back of a thrift shop, run by a Catholic Church.  I am not sure if it's everyday or not but they serve seniors a free lunch made by a variety of people from the congregation.  And it being the first weekend lunch or something it was borscht and perogie day!!!  Now this is not something I would normally feel comfortable just showing up at but she was really wanting me to meet some of the people there.  So I agreed.

Well let me tell ya, it was fantastic.  Homemade pirogies and sour cream and the best borscht I have ever had.  And there were lots of seniors there.  I got talking to one lady across from me only to find out we went to Norkam together and knew all the same people.  What a head psyche that was!!!   She filled me in on how many and who are dead.  Yikes.  I feel a bit lucky to be alive. Overall what an awesome experience it was.  I am so glad I did the trip and did the lunch.  

I think over the last seven years since moving to Port I have become people and experience shy.  No one visits me on the island (I don't blame them) and I have lost interest in making friends.  I think I will revisit joining the senior club in Port.  They have about 65 different things I can join.  

Well this is getting long and a little diary ish.  Til next post TFL&TTYL

WHILST IN THE THRIFT SHOP I CAME ACROSS THIS GEM.  I WOULD GIVE MY RIGHT YOU KNOW WHAT TO HAVE THESE IN MY LIVING ROOM AT HOME.  WAAAAHHHHH!!!!!

JUST A LITTLE NACHOS WHILE WAITING FOR THE SHUTTLE TO THE AIRPORT

THERE SHE IS!!!  JACKIE, STANDING ON THE VERY STAIRS SHE TOLD THEM THEY NEEDED.  HOW POWERFUL IS THAT????!!!!

 

DISCLAIMER: THIS IS ABSOLUTELY NOT A COMPLAINT

 I am dead serious. This is NOT a complaint.  I am about to point out all the ridiculous anomalies of this four and a half star resort.  Everything, and I mean everything, is just a little off.  It's like they put together a great idea that slid just a bit as it was completed.  But without a doubt this has been by far the most interesting!!!

I am sitting right now at a small pedestal type table outside of their coffee shop.  I have to keep a foot on one of the feet to keep the table from seriously wobbling every time I press a laptop key.  I tested each table before sitting and they all wobbled..some much worse than the one I chose. 

 On one of the tables is a public use jenga game.  Seriously.  It isn't possible to play jenga on a wobbly table.

Most of the hard chairs for sitting, whether at a restaurant venue or at these tables are supremely uncomfortable because they are missing most of their backs.  It is possible they are designed to keep us moving but jeez...we need some time to gorf down our food or finish our Nine hole Golf game or crib game.

All over the resort property there are stairs and ramps and without notice..different levels of floors.  The level changes are very small and not noticeable from five to six feet above.  Suddenly you are a couple inches lower or higher.  Very off putting.  And the stairs down to the small crowded beach are old rickety wooden ones that are totally uneven.  Other cement stairs here don't have railings..not good for some of us tippy or drinky people!

And speaking of stairs, the one pool for the three nine story buildings has a wee set of stairs attached to the wall of the pool and are very very hurtfully narrow.  Painful!!!  And if statistics are correct sixty percent of us have diabetes of some sort.  This means we have very neuropathic feet...again, painful!!! 

 One of our crew who shall remain nameless, bless her, had the ovaries to go to the lobby and give them what for and told them they need to put proper stairs in and out of the pool!!!  I was so very impressed with her!!!  In fact we have made suggestions to her about other things she should go to the lobby about!!!

The beds...oh the beds.  They are big and very comfy.  The bedding fresh, beautifully white.  The pillows are plentiful  various sizes for our comfort.  These lovely beds are placed on large sticky outy wooden platforms.  I now have a gouged leg and so does Kathy from rounding the corners of those beds and taking  chunks out of our shins.  The last time I did it, and of course at exactly the same spot it had already happened once or twice, I swore like a seasoned sailor and proceeded to walk over every inch of the room, bleeding the whole way then climbed into that pristine white bed.  And it's clear that due to our age in that room it wasn't.....well you know.  It was from an injury dammit!!!

The food is all Mexican...which is lovely.  But after a while it becomes monotonous.  Every meal is basically the same stuff.  But...their soups are unbelievably delicious.  Nothing even slightly off about them!!!  The salsas are also great except you can't tell if they are perfect or blistering hot.  You have to ask and sometimes they don't even know. 

 Today at lunch I asked a lovely Mexican waiter which of the ten bowls of rainbow coloured salsa was safe to eat.  He didn't know.  So he took each spoon and dropped a glob on the palm of his hand and licked it up!!!  hahahaha!!!!  He eventually found the right ones.  That is definitely taking one for the team!!  Then he told me he didn't like hot ones!!!!

This morning I came down for breakfast and there was a line up out the door.  I went past it to the girl signing everyone in and she said it would be a half hour wait.  Now so far we have been able to get a table but honestly I wasn't surprised.  That buffet dining room is so small..at least small for three nine story buildings.  I was mad.  Half an hour later it was not so busy but still....just a little off.

Lastly, well there is more but you get the drift.  I left the bedroom this morning and guess what?  The elevator isn't working.  Sigh.  I can walk down from the fifth floor but I am not sure my fat ass would make it back up before our stay here is over.  I found a person that works here and she got someone who finally fixed one of them.  Always just a little something...keeps it interesting!!!

One last word...one more thing.  This one is not a little off.  This one is perfection.  And that is the employees here.  Whether it's the restaurant staff or the cleaning crews or the bartenders....the men and women who work here are absolutely amazing incredible people.  They are so attentive, friendly, kind, no judging people.  I love them.  It is amazing how you can make friends with them so quickly and so memorable.  I will remember Filipe from the dining room forever.

Next I will write about the seven people I am here with.  Hahahaha!!!  Just kidding!!!  I would never do that.  Let it suffice for me to say that this is an amazing awesome group to be friends with.  I don't feel worthy.  TFL&TTYL

AWKWARD POOL AREA

WHERE I WAS SITTING OUTSIDE THE CAFE BLOGGING THIS POST

NOTE THERE IS NO USA FLAG!!!!

JUST A WEE BIT OF  PIXELATED EYE CANDY

RAMPS AND STAIRS AND RAMPS AND STAIRS

A LOVELY ECHOY LOBBY

ANOTHER LOBBY, STORE AND BAR.COFFEE SHOP AT THE FAR END.

OUT THE LOBBY WINDOW

NO, THAT IS NOT MARSHMALLOW SALAD IT IS TONS OF DELICIOUS CIVICHE

SO WHO LOST AND WHO IS GLOATING AND WHO DOESN'T CARE AND WHO IS THAT???

DRINKING AT THE BEACH FROM FAT LADY CUPS

AWESOME HOLIDAY!!!!

What makes an awesome holiday?  Fantastic people in your group, relaxation, laughter, perfect (for me) digs, awesome bed and I love my roommate to pieces.  What more could one want?  Maybe the food could be a little less monotonous but if thats the only complaint then it's all a win win.

I have only two complaints about the room.  No balcony (that would keep me from coming back here) and the type of frame the bed sits on.  The platform corners stick way out and before we got purposely careful I stupidly didn't watch and twice, in the same spot, took chunks out of my leg.  The second time it bled and I was so flipping mad I just let it bleed...all over the room and in the bed.  I feel bad about that now but...hmmm...maybe not.  Stupid beds.

I am sitting in my bed as I write now.  The US and Canada hockey is on.  Everyone has gone over to one of our crew's upgraded suite to watch.  We go there each evening and gather for drinks before dinner.  So kind of them to share their beautiful room.  They actually get both a sunset and a sunrise in the room!!!

These seven people we are with are the most wonderful people.  Funny, kind, intelligent (that is important!) and interesting.  Even if I was willing to write a negative about them I wouldn't be able to.

  And they don't force me to always join them.  Due to certain issues I shan't describe here (you should be grateful about that!} and my balance and falling problem I don't go down to the beach much.  I have a real problem with getting out of those chairs down there and its kind of scary navigating the steps and ramps to get there.  Plus it's too dangerously far from the facilities.  But I am totally happy wandering around the safer parts of the place and I am very busy in my room writing and reading.  I hope they understand.

Each night Kathy and I are in bed by around nine.  And then we watch Bridgerton.  It is so fun.  But we are all caught up now and will have to find something else.  This morning it's hockey.  I am not much of a fan anymore...unless the Detroit Red Wings are involved...which of course they almost never are.  So I decided to stay here in the room and post on the blog.

I am putting a few pics at the bottom.  They aren't all mine.  In fact my fave fave fave one was taken by Marian.  It is the most beautiful picture. I may get it blown up and frame it for my wall in my bedroom at home.  It is beautiful

So before signing off I am going to mention the food.  I am pretty experienced with buffets due to cruising.  Some of the those buffets we visited for three weeks in a row and I have to say they were radically different every night and delicious.  Not so much here.

They are all some form of sauce with lumps of things in it...chicken pieces, beef pieces, lots of pork, the trifecta.onion, bell peppers and carrots, bananas, corn combos etc.  Then there are salads, coleslaws and some fruit and veg ones.  At the back of the food area is a giant hot slab of steel grill.  A night or two ago they wrapped wieners in something and fried them.  One day they had a donair type rotisserie meat thing.  Lots of pork dishes.  But all the same in sloppy sauces which taste the samish. I have a similar observation about restaurant Indian food.  Pans and pans of sauces with different lumps in it.  But the difference there is each one has its own delightful flavour.  Each bite with naan or roti makes its own dish.  Not so much here! 

But there are two things that are absolutely perfect and that is their cream soups and their bread.  Their soups are unbelievable...cream of cauliflower, cream of potato and leek, cream of carrot etc...  Desserts are ho hum but now and then they put something new in there that isn't moussey, gelified and/or creamified and those are good.

Last night we went to the Asian specialty restaurant on the property here.  It was fantastic and we are planning to go back!  We were kind of blind ordering from an enormous menu.  Kathy ended up with a delightful dish of ribs...but way too spicy for her.  I ended up with a delicious beef in a sweet Korean sauce.  She doesn't tolerate really spicy stuff and I love it so we switched.  The meal was awesome.

So thats it for today.  I am going to finish the game here, shower and head downstairs in time for lunch!  More delicious cream soup and dunking brown bread.

TFL&TTYL

THIS WAS TAKEN BY MARIAN, MY ALL TIME FAVE PIC.  I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS PICTURE

OUR BREAKFAST IN OUR ROOM

KATHY TOOK THIS! I THINK SHE IS PLANNING TO SEND IT TO KERRY TO SHOW HIM WHAT HE IS MISSING.  OUT OF PROPORTION GIANT FAT HAUNCHES IS WHAT I SEE.

 

THE FOOD TROUGH!

JUST CHILLIN' ON THE BEACH...A VERY BADLY TAKEN SELFIE.  I AM NOT GOOD AT IT!

THREE OF THE LOVELY LADIES IN OUR GROUP!  JACKIE, MARIAN AND SUE

OUT OUR WINDOW WHICH TURNS EVERYTHING BLUE

OH MY ACHING BONES!!!

 It's wheelchair travel for me now on!!!  Holy cow!!!  My step counter on my phone pegs me at an average of five thousand steps a day since leaving.  As you loyal readers may remember my average steps are fifty or less.  I now know what the meaning of 'my whatever was screaming at me' means.  My whatever was my hip, tailbone and back.  I really didn't think I was going to get to my destination yesterday after we landed in Cancun.  But a good night's sleep fixed it up nicely and today I am purposely taking it easy.

Our first flight out of Kamloops was delayed by six hours due to weather in Calgary.  So when we did land there our plane to Cancun was long gone.  We then walked a million miles to the end of the earth, I mean the airport, to a bistro to get supper.  By then we were all starving.  Somehow a package of teeny delicious pretzels didn't cut it.  Dinner at the bistro was absolutely delicious...and not just because we were hungry.  Off to a lovely hotel for the night.  

Calgary was under a fair amount of snow...not the most I have ever seen but lots.  And as we shuttled to the hotel it was pretty funny to see so many vehicles stuck in the snow.  So it isn't just lower mainland people that can't drive in snowy conditions!!!  Calgarians should know how to drive in snow.  A lot of them clearly don't!!!

Up at 4:30 in the morning and off to the airport for our final plane trip to Cancun.  So braving the thirty below temps and blowing wind outside, we were off to the airport.  We all got onto the plane no problem and then we were told the water line for the plane (it was a biggun') froze.  So another hour to unfreeze it and we were finally off, a day late but oh well.  Alls well that ends well.

I am currently sitting in the room Kathy and I are in.  This place, compared to other ones we have been in, isn't quite as nice.  No balcony, a pretty bare room, not many amenities in room.  But the bed is super comfortable, a nice big tv, coffee makings, beer and water in the fridge and a fantastic bathroom. This place suits me to a tee.  I love it.

Last night we went straight in to the dining room and the eight of us sat at a table.  They are the nicest group of people.  Honestly I am so so lucky to be with this group.  We had dinner.  Kathy and I both noticed though that the serving utensils at the buffet didn't have a spot to put them down after using them.  You had to rest the handle on the side of the pan of food.  They slide off into the food constantly.  People's hands are not necessarily washed.  It doesn't overly bother me but I have the constitution of a horse...some of them don't.  At least a couple in our group are immunity compromised for whatever reason and it can be a little worrying for them.  I know on cruise ships they either dish you up or they have utensil resting spots.

So now here we are after a great nights sleep.  All the others are out on the beach but I opted to come back up to the room to shower and unpack.  Crap!!!  I am sitting on the bed and I see I have bled on the bedspread.  White one no less.  I banged my shin on the sticking out bed platform corner.  I didn't realize it bled.  Jeez between falling down the stairs at Kathy's and taking my knee out on the brick fireplace hearth and banging the other leg up here I look like I have a problem.  Lol!!!

Well now I can either take a nap or go eat another meal, after all it has been a whole hour since eating a massive breakfast.  I shall sign off here and I shall post again when something happens!!!  TFL & TTYL

AS USUAL ALL OUT OF ORDER.  KATHY AT THE BREAKFAST SPOT

OUT THE WINDOW.  I THINK KATHY TOOK THIS ONE

DRINK NUMBER ONE IN OUR ROOM

OUT A DIRTY ROOM WINDOW.  OUR FIRST SUNSET.

IN OUR CALGARY ROOM.  I THINK WE WERE DOING OUR LAST FREE AND EASY COMMUNICATIONS WITH OUR NEAREST AND DEAREST!

UP UP AND AWAY

 Today is our last day to get ready and cover all our bases before setting off at four in the morning for first Calgary and then Cancun!!! 

I have had an amazing time with the Kathy family the last few days.  All three of her girls were here plus new wee Gordon.  What a special time.  He is one gorgeous baby!!!  And Emily and Drew are turning out to be almost perfect parents.  I would say perfect but...well nothing is actually perfect!  But I can't think of one thing they do wrong or wonky.  And Emily is just so relaxed and so comfy with sharing her baby with all of us.  And I can honestly say I wish I had had a Drew when I had all my babies.  He is actually one dad that is a dad...not a 'babysitter'.  He is such a natural with Gordon.  It has been a real family time...which I have super been needing.  I don't see family very often.

I also saw Anne a couple of times.  Her gorgeous nineteen year old grandson is living with her while he attends the university here.  I have known him since he was born.  But I only get to see him once in a blue moon.

The first day I was there we decided to order Chinese food to celebrate Anne's 81st birthday.  We could have gone out but I really wanted to see Max.  So we ordered enough food to sink a ship.  They ate the leftovers for two more days and then some!  It was awesome and of course Anne and I talked a blue streak!  One time when we were a little younger we talked for 17 hours straight!!!  I kid you not!!!

So now it is time to seriously put some personal filters in place.  I go months and months not seeing people and it's clear I have regressed on my conversational skills.  I am too loud, too strong in opinion, too ready to share my research knowledge, too too too.  It's kinda like the thoughts dammed up in my head suddenly burst through.  

I can't talk to Monte.  He just takes over and I don't get a chance to say anything for the next hour.  Although what he says is totally interesting.  And I don't see Ange anymore.  She has taken over the bathroom downstairs so she has no need to come upstairs. When she used to I would have things to share and I think she felt trapped and totally uninterested in my musings.  She was very polite and patient about it!!!

Both Monte and Ange are loners.  They seem quite happy with absolutely no one in their lives and no interest in changing that.  I am not like that.  I love visiting and learning about people and who they are and their histories.  Those two clearly do not.  Sigh.

  But I do talk with the girls by text and I get to talk to all you lovely folks!!!  Thank goodness.  And you always have the option of not reading this thing and I would never know.  hahaha!!!  Not like poor Ange sliding down the stairs trying to get away while I am finishing a story.  Or Monte just flat out saying 'I have to go'.  I shall practice with all the people going with us to Mexico.  I think almost all of them used our Maui condo occasionally.

I remembered at the last minute I needed to update and buy health insurance for this trip.  By the time we were through it was 330 bucks.  Kathy had a great suggestion of using Costco.  They were probably cheaper but the thought of reading out to them all the  names of all the unpronounceable pills and their amounts etc...was too daunting.  Easier to just pay and trust that BCAA, who has the list already, isn't all that much more.

So now I must go and finish cleaning up this lovely little suite downstairs here in preparation of leaving in the middle of the night.  What a treat this place is!  I will have wifi and my laptop in Mexico so I shall be posting and probably sharing inappropriate pictures!!!  TFL & TTYL