12/16/2018 and 1/16/2019 and 1/28/2019 Sorry, not sorry. I started this a month + ago and then didn’t want to post it. Now, because of laziness I will add to it and then hopefully post it online sometime this month.
12/16/2018 After 3 months of limping I finally went to a surgeon in Tegus (Dec. 3rd) and had an operation on my big toe. He said there were bone fragments (no clue from where) in the joint. I had amazing people taking care of me there, especially the surgeons daughter who is in Dublin Ireland going to medical school. She was awesome. The only negative was the bill. Even though it was nothing like the states I still feel I was overcharged for a one night stay by about $1500.00. My stitches come out tomorrow (thanks to Wendy) and hopefully I will be walking normally again soon.
We are in the tail end of a norther. The wind was 40 MPH yesterday and last night brought rain and more wind. When I woke this morning I couldn’t see either shore but it cleared up for awhile. It is now getting gloomy and gray and the horizon is vanishing again. ‘Tis the season for these storms.
You wouldn’t know it was Christmas, I don’t have one single decoration out and I really have no interest in doing so, nor do I have any interest in Christmas parties, except for the ones Nidia and I are doing for the kids on the island. This year my friends David and Gretta will be Mr. and Mrs. Claus. They are looking forward to giving the island kids a good Christmas. We have two days of parties planned, the 20th and the 22nd. The 22nd will be in Juticalpa and that will be a big party with face painting and Santa. It will be the first time we’ve done a Christmas party there.
I was fortunate to have two different high school friends visit Roatan just a few days apart from each other. Mac and Phyllis from Florida came with some friends. I gave them an island tour of the east end, we came here, met the dogs then went to Cal’s for lunch. A few days after that Ginny and Gary from PA came to visit. We did the same things but didn’t do lunch at Cal’s. Both of them brought a lot of things for the kids, school supplies, candy and clothes. My downstairs was looking like a store. I had school supplies from: John and Lizeth, Dave and Kerry, Mac and Ginny and Julie and Brian. I also had the stuff that was dropped at Daniel Johnson’s Sloth and Monkey farm for Because We Care. I feel blessed that people are so willing to help Nidia and I do what we do. Nidia and Franklin came last week and picked up most of it to store until school starts in February.
A while ago I joined Instagram and I really love it as it’s not all the mundane posts that are on FB. Most of it is beautiful photos taken around the world. One of my favorite people to follow is Kimi_Swimmy. I knew nothing about her until I found her on IG. I looked at her website and saw that she was featured in the Netflix show called Fishpeople. If you have access to Netflix, check it out.
I have always been a Lady Gaga fan and was lucky enough to see her in Vancouver, BC a few years ago with some friends. It was amazing and only solidified her (in my eyes) as one of the best performers, musicians of my time. When I found out there was a Netflix documentary on her, I was all over it. The show is called Five Foot Two and it’s awesome, just like Gaga. Last night I watched A Star is Born with Gaga and Bradley Cooper. I cried through most of the movie, pretty much non stop. The movie was so so so good and damn, Bradley Cooper has some gorgeous blue eyes. They both gave stellar performances, I’m looking forward to watching it again, probably today, since the weather is forcing me to stay inside.
While in the states this summer I bought 3 boxes of Black Box Pinot Grigio wine. Each box holds 3 Liters of wine. I drank two boxes, not in one night, honest, and was “saving” the last one for a special occasion. The night I came back from having foot surgery was deemed as special enough. Bill opened the box and poured me a glass. I was eating a Chicken Caesar salad from Cal’s at the time. The wine tasted funny so I chalked it up to the salad. Later on I drank some more and it tasted terrible. I called Bill into the bedroom and had him taste it. Yep, bad. It had fermented in the box and tasted like bad wine vinegar. I googled it, secretly hoping for a remedy so I didn’t have to throw out 3 bottles of wine (that’s what the box held). No such luck. Wine will get bad in a box but not a bottle. If the box had been opened and sat that long it would have been OK also. It took a few days before I could admit that we had to pour the box down the drain.
We have been eating at Cal’s quite a bit, I ate there 3 times (once was take out) the week of my surgery and have been there a few times this past week. It really is the only restaurant on the island that I will go to more than once a week, it’s that good, plus I love Reynaldo the waiter. Always fun to see him.
Most of you know we are dog people. We have 5 island rescue dogs and they are not just lawn ornaments in our home. They are a huge part of the family. I’ve gotten a little obsessed with them and prefer to be with them instead of going out. Maybe it’s because they don’t talk and I am fine with that. I can even put up with the shedding most of the time, however these guys have decided they are not outdoor dogs, they prefer to be inside with us. Of course, if we are outside they are right beside us too. The past 3 months I have spent a lot of time in bed reading (since I can’t drive or walk normally) and the boys have been by my side the whole time. Bill and I were talking the other night and wondered what it was that has so firmly attached us to the dogs, especially the 3 brothers. I know for me it was the fact that I was with them from birth and devoted 6 weeks of my life to keeping them fed and clean, however it also has something to do with the personalities of these guys. They are really good dogs and have given back to us way more than we could ever give them. I get kind of sappy thinking about them and when I’m not home they are constantly on my mind.
This is a video of the dogs eating. I had to buy Barrio and Gringo special slow feeder bowls, they’re like a maze. Previously they would inhale the food in 15 seconds, now it takes them as long as the others to eat. And then there is Lola, the only girl. She will not eat until the boys are done and come looking for her food. She starts to eat then and growls the whole time to keep them away. It’s got to be a domineering personality trait. Click HERE for the video.
Jan 16, 2019 This was the first Christmas without my Mother and I really don’t have my Father anymore. Physically he is excellent for almost 98 but mentally there is nobody there. He and I used to chat on the phone for an hour weekly, now I’m lucky if I get 3 minutes from him and none of it makes any sense. He has become a little “frisky” with ladies in the memory care center where he lives. My sister was with him at a Veterans Day get together and he asked his lady friend if she wanted to go to bed with him. She said NO. He will be 98 Feb 17th. I guess this has been happening quite often so he was put on meds to reduce his libido. 98!! He also thinks my younger sister is my Mother. He can’t quite understand why she isn’t living with him but he forgets soon after he questions her. The last few times I spoke with him he said he was driving and was down by my place and he wanted to stop in and say hello but he had other people with him. He has told me this twice now. It makes me sad.
The Christmas parties went off without any weather problems. I rode with David and Gretta to Mudhole. This is an area of Roatan near the awful dump. There are lots of families with children who live out that way. Nidia had her 2 kids helping and my friend Judy helped out too. We made 4 stops along the road at designated places where families were waiting. Mr and Mrs Claus were a huge hit!
I can’t believe I am blogging about Christmas and it’s mid January, obviously I’m not too into blogging any more.
We have started a visitor calendar again for this year, looks like it may be a busy one guest wise. Bill has a friend from Williamsport and his wife coming in March. My friend Tammy from Washington and her husband are coming in May and Chance is coming in August. I think I’m going to try to make a trip back to Maryland in April, waiting to hear from my sister on dates that work for her.
We (Bill) has many projects that need to be done before the first guests come, unfortunately Bill and I are not on the same page with that. That being said, he did get the living room / kitchen painted, however, now we (he) realized that the ceiling must be painted white, it looks nasty. That’s next and then the roof top pergola. Slowly but surely.
My car has been in the shop for 4 weeks, it’s getting all scraped down to bare metal and repainted. They originally said 2 weeks but, island time, it will be a month at least.
It’s OK that I am without wheels because I still have a lot of pain in my ankle when walking. The doc said to get a metatarsal pad for my foot so I ordered some and my friend brought them down last Wed. They ripped already, totally not worth the money I spent on them. Further update, I’ve decided to see a doc when I am in the states, I just don’t know whether to see a podiatrist or an orthopedic doc. Big decisions. All of the pain is in my foot close to my toes and I have no flexibility in my ankle, it’s swollen, my toes and my foot below my toes are all swollen. Suggestions? Maybe I’ll take a poll, or better yet, cut off my feet and get a tail, as in Mermaid.
I have been watching (obsessed) with home reno project shows on TV. I was watching one called Desert Flipper. It was a couple in Palm Springs who bought homes in need of repair and fixed them and sold them. In one episode there was a big black scorpion, probably 10″ long on the porch of one of the homes. I am NOT a scorpion fan. The same night I was closing the back door and saw a BIG 3″ dark scorpion crawling along the floor by the wall, IN THE HOUSE. I pushed the dogs back and screamed for Bill. I couldn’t find it with the big flashlight but when I opened the pantry, there it was. First it met the broom handle and then it had a burial at sea. I won’t kill a tarantula, scorpions are different. I immediately wanted Bill to call the scorpion exterminators or Ghost Busters or someone. I slept with a can of raid in my hand.
I finally bought tickets to go see my Dad. On United for me to fly to DCA (Ronald Reagan) in DC it’s $370.00 RT. Same day, same flight leaving Roatan but flying into Baltimore it is $1032.00 RT. That is flipping insane and ridiculous. It’s the same distance to my sisters house from either airport, only reason I would ever fly to BWI is because I know the airport but DCA is so much cheaper and it’s a small airport with rental cars on the grounds. I have a mouth and am not afraid to use it to ask questions if I am unsure. So it’s DCA for me.
My friend back in the states received a piece of mail for me the other day. I used her address for my WA state drivers license and she messaged me that I was summoned to jury duty. HAHAHA. I called them and told them I didn’t live in the country and they didn’t question me at all, just said OK, I’ll mark you as not available. So easy, I thought it would be 50 questions and proof like my residency card or something. Nada.
To be honest, the only reason I am even posting this is because Rosemarie messaged me and asked when I would be posting another blog. Then she told me she got me something and sent a photo, mermaid socks!! I am so excited. So Rosemarie, this is for you.
Mermaid on a Raft 