Finally got snow and cold

Not really too cold by Minnesota standards but the snow sure is welcomed.

Christmas

Martha hosted her annual Christmas Eve celebration. There was a big crowd this year. It was nice to have a younger generation present with Grace, Daniel and Elliott. The 'make a wish' tradition was especially good with three youthful contributors.

For some reason the tree was particularly beautiful this year. And Kelly is always a charmer.

Each to their own box

Finally Uno took possession of her own box.

Silver lining

Rose has a once a month medical appointment that JT and Linda graciously drive her to in St. Paul. After her appointment a group of us meet for breakfast/brunch at the Egg and I on Lyndale Ave. While having to go the doctor every month is not good, gathering with friends and laughing until tears (or till you have to spit out your coffee) is great.

Rose, Amy, Nancy, JT, Bunny, me, Linda

Crazy cat lady (and I am not referring to me)

This year's Christmas gift from Mom is these Christmas cat decorations. For those of you that know Frankie and Uno, you will recognize which is which.

So adorable but I think Frankie and Uno's grandma is the crazy cat lady without a cat. Ha!

No matter the size

The size of the box does not matter, Frankie love love loves to get in to a box.

Final run of the year

I was able to run this year's Reindeer Run sponsored by Minnesota Running Series because it was moved out a week. I am usually in Cozumel the weekend that this run has been scheduled. It was moved out a week to make further apart from the Turkey Trot sponsored by the same organization.

Trish came up with the theme of safety deer. I thought it was deer as hunter instead of hinted.

We had brunch at Morrissey's Irish Pub at Lake and Bryant. Awesome bloody marys. I had a potato pancake egg and rashers thing called boxtyvilla. It was really good.

Various things

Catching up on being back from vacation. I realize that my trips to Cozumel have become more about seeing the friendly faces of the people I have met on the island.

Snorkeling, swimming and eating fresh fish are still fun and important but I have met some really nice people in Cozumel and I enjoy seeing them. Granted nearly everyone I interact with is a staff of a restaurant or hotel but I am always greeted with a smile and asked how I am doing.

One thing about traveling that gets me though is how people dress while flying. I understand that people want to be comfortable but wearing pajamas, baggy sweat pants and looking unkempt go beyond comfort. People should put a little effort into looking like they care what others have to deal with.

Here are a few photos I either didn't have time to post or were on a device I didn't have access to.

The main plaza construction is complete. There is a very fancy fountain in the middle now.

I finally got a new mask. The scuba store had a mask that still fit my prescription lenses from 30 some years ago! 

I didn't have a chance to post the photo of the giant Thanksgiving cactus that started blooming on Thanksgiving.

Cozumel, rainy days

First off. Dave is doing much much better. The medicine the digestive specialist prescribed has been working. We are now back in the states at Charlotte airport waiting for flight to MSP.

It rained a good part of each day Wednesday, Thursday and Friday but we made the most of it.

Thursday we went into town and had late breakfast at the museum restaurant overlooking the ocean. Our waiter was very cute. He put the Santa hat on me.

We then went shopping before the rain started up in the afternoon.

Thursday evening we ate at a new place for us, La Perlita. They serve lion fish which is an invasive species in the Caribbean . There are promotions to encourage the consumption of lion fish to encourage fishermen to kill them. It is a very good tasting white fish.

Friday we rented a car and went to east coast where it was sunny and hot.

On the way back to west coast we stopped in El Cedral, a place I have never been. It is kind of a suburb of San Miguel and has a Mayan ruin. I paid $5 to get my photo taken with this handsome man in Mayan warrior costume.

The town is kind of eerie with lovely homes that don't appear to have any inhabitants

Friday night we ate at Casa Mission. One of our favorite places.


El Cedral ruin. There is just the one building.

Casa Mission Christmas tree

Cozumel Urgent Care

I figured the title would get people's attention. I was wondering what I would do yesterday, Wednesday, when the decision was made for me.

Dave had not been feeling well since Monday evening during dinner. He was having abdominal pain and not the intestinal kind that you generally associate with Mexico. Turns out my AT&T service plan applies in Mexico so I had him call his health insurance and nurse hotline. It was decided he should see a doctor and the insurance company recommended a clinic on the island.

We checked with the hotel concierge who call the hotel doctor. Dr. Piccolo (great name) said to meet him at the same clinic the insurance had recommended.

To make the story short, Dave had blood taken, an ultra sound, an x-ray and met with a digestive specialist along with Dr. Piccolo. Appendicitis was ruled out after the ultra sound. White blood cell count was high which indicated infection.

The specialist has prescribed some medications to help and said Dave should start feeling better nearly right away. As of this morning, he is a lot perkier. Will keep everyone posted but he seems to be on the mend. Dr. Piccolo and the staff at the urgent care were wonderful. There is lots more to the story to tell.

Meanwhile, I did go snorkeling on Tuesday afternoon. After drifting quite a ways up shore, I was thinking I wasn't going to be able to swim back against the current. Once I finally got close to shore I finally made progress. Ended up having quite the workout.

Happier times.

Jellyfish are fascinating.

This is the life.

Sunset under the umbrellas.

Cozumel, Mexico

I am back in Cozumel for my annual after Thanksgiving holiday. Arrived Saturday afternoon after a very early departure from Minneapolis. My friend Dave is with me again this year. This is trip three for him.

We connected via Miami. There were maybe 12 people on the flight! JT and Linda are also here again this year. They took United through Chicago and landed about an hour before us. They greeted us in the Coral Princess lobby.

Last year's  construction project is nearly complete. I say 'nearly' because they were installing the outdoor showers yesterday and this morning a jack hammer was tearing up something.

The WiFi is very sketchy. Everyone has a smartphone or other WiFi device so I think the system is just overloaded.

The Ironman competition was Sunday again. We watched and cheered on and off all day long. Dave and I got to see the lead competitors finish  the 112 mile bike leg and transition to the 26.2 mile run. The weather was hot and windy. These athletes are such an inspiration. It is also great to see the support that the local community provides to all the competitors.

new beach umbrellas

JT and Linda. And the palm tree wall.

Iguana for Alisha

Boat captains!

Thanksgiving

Roasted Cornish hens this year for Thanksgiving. Prepared them at my place to take over to Christine's for roasting. Also made cranberry-apple dressing and apple roses for dessert.

Christine made Brussels sprouts. Jan brought sweet potatoes. Kay brought pumpkin pie and acorn squash with a delicious mushroom stuffing.

I also had tomatoes from the garden!

The hens.

The meal

The biggest Thanksgiving plate

Happy Thanksgiving

Another Turkey Trot. This year 6 kilometers instead of 5. I am thankful for my Running For Brunch crew.

The moon!

Most of you know that I'm kind of a weather bug. I include the moon, sun and stars in my infatuation. The moon and sky have been beautifully dramatic lately.

My cameras don't normally take night or moon photos very well. But this one came out pretty good along with the help of some photo software.

The sky color with the refraction the clouds provided and the filter of the tree branches made the moon look magical.

Serendipity

ser·en·dip·i·ty

[ˌserənˈdipədē]

NOUN

1. the occurrence and development of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way:

   "a fortunate stroke of serendipity" ·

   [more]

   synonyms: (happy) chance · (happy) accident · fluke · luck ·

   [more]

Powered by Oxford Dictionaries · © Oxford University Press

 

I met Rose, JT and Linda for breakfast and found out that the bank where my safety deposit box is is closing. Rose has a safety deposit box there, too. She got a letter but I have not.

JT and Linda were taking Rose to the bank so she could close her safety deposit account. I went along to close mine out, too.

A banker opened our boxes and we took the contents. I went with that banker to do the closing paperwork. Rose went back upstairs to get another banker to do the closing paperwork.

It took a while to do my transaction because the account was under Jill's name...the original owner. The process required searching for my name using different spelling. I noticed that the baker's name was also Jeffrey...spelled the usual way.

Rose was done before me. As we left, she said goodbye to her banker, Rose, and I said goodbye to my banker, Jeff! Serendipity!

Brrrr. November has finally arrived

It was bound to happen. The cold has arrived in Minnesota. It has arrived with a fierce wind. Got below freezing this morning and is now crazy windy.

This has been a very warm fall. October was so nice and November has been warm and rainy. The past few days we've had rain with thunder. Supposedly it would have been over 10 inches of snow had the temperature been lower.

Tomato in November!

Not just November but November 15. I picked this ripening tomato from the garden. This is by far the latest I have ever kept the garden going.

It was a beautiful day here in Minnesota by the way. Folks out running (including me) and walking around the lakes.

Kathy's Dave and Busters birthday celebration

the right side of the table

the left side of the table

the dance machine. much harder than it looks.

four-way air hockey

the free dessert

Kathy invited a group of us to celebrate her double-nickel birthday at Dave and Busters in Southdale. D&B is a game and restaurant and bar extravaganza.

The restaurant service was horrendous to say the least. Because of the total food and drink fiasco, the manager comped everything and gave each of us a $15 game card.

I know I had a blast playing games with my friends. Thank you Kathy and happy birthday.

the air hockey game was so intense this puck ended up in my jacket pocket

Mom's birthday

Me, Jasmine, Lotus, Carol

 I flew to Virginia on Saturday and picked up my rental car.

Sunday morning my sister Carol came over to Mom's with her grandkids, Jasmine and Lotus. There isn't a lot of room in mom's apartment so the girls and I went for a walk and gathered fallen leaves.

My brother Spade came over, too. Mom, Spade and I met my friends Judy, Lance and Tony at IHOP for brunch. We spent a few hours catching up and sharing stories.

Sunday evening Mom and I went to the church service at her apartment. The pastor, Nellie, is also a docent at the US Capitol. I had not been to the capitol since I was a congressional intern in the 1970's and mom had never been. Nellie said she would give us a tour on Monday if mom wanted to do that for her birthday.

Nellie holding up the dome.

Mom and Nellie in front of the casting for the statue at the top of the US capitol dome.

 We were able to get a parking space less than a block and half from the visitor center entrance. Nellie met us right outside of security and had us with a small group of college students from Honduras. With our small group we were able to take the elevator to the rotund. Nellie had it all planned for mom.

We toured the rotunda shrouded in fabric and scaffolding during the restoration of the dome and hall of statues (former house of representatives) then went down one level to the crypt and to the old Supreme Court Chamber.

On the way back to the Visitor's Center, Nellie told the students that the elderly woman with them was celebrating her 91st birthday. All of them spontaneously started singing Happy Birthday right there in the Capitol Building!

 After the students departed, Nellie took us back to see the Old Senate Chamber and the Visitor's Center Museum. It was truly a special tour and special event for mom's birthday.

We drove out of downtown D.C. during rush hour to make our way to Waldorf, MD to have dinner with my sister Lea and brother-in-law Tim. It was a long day but so worth it.

The trip home on Tuesday was okay. It was raining in DC but the flight left on time. The flight out of O'Hare was not so uneventful. There wasn't even a plane until almost two hours after we were supposed to have departed.

I used the two hours to eat familiar Chicago food. Tri-flavored popcorn and nuts from Nuts on Clark and a Chicago-style hot dog from the secret place on the L concourse.

Christmas? cactus

Hmmm...this guy looked close to blooming when I left for Denver but I wasn't expecting this...fully bloomed.

Business (contractor) trip - Denver

I wasn't expecting to travel on this contract but testing started with the users and it was decided to work all together. It did not go so well but not really a surprise given the history of this project.

I don't have any photos. Most time was spent inside and with sun set at 5pm, there isn't any light after work.

There is snow on the central mountain range already but the temperature got to 75 in the city on Tuesday! By Thursday the forecast was for snow. That's Denver.

Pumpkin carving, Halloween costumes, running and partying

The Taylors hosted their annual pumpkin carving party two weekends ago. I had bowling that night so could only stay for a short time. The outcome is pictured to the left.

Amy had the most interestingly shaped pumpkin. It looked like a skull before it was even carved.

The food was great. The company was even better.

The Monster Dash was the second run for Running For Brunch this month. This is a very popular race...especially the 5K. So this year we graduated to the 10 miler and a skeleton-themed costume. I was the torso and Michelle and Abby were the arms.

It was a cold and rainy day. I thought there would be fewer runners in the 10 miler. There were but still 3500 plus 4500 doing the half-marathon. Crazy that so many people are willing to get in costume and run through St. Paul.

Dave invited me to attend his friends Kent and Don's annual Halloween party in Minnetonka. There home is beautiful and fantastically decorated with Halloween chakas.

Dave and I were the Village People, cowboy and construction worker.

Changing of the guard (shoes)

That time of year has arrived. It was cold and rainy yesterday so I broke out the hiking boots and am ready to put the sandals away for the season. So sad.

There still hasn't been a killing frost or freeze so I'm not giving up nor getting out the heavy outer-wear.

Frankie's favorite part of the powder room project

The cardboard boxes.

Anyone who owns a cat knows that boxes are like cat magnets. Even this flat box provided fun and comfort. Before Frankie passed out on the cardboard, he was running  on to it at full speed to make it slide across the floor. He had a blast.

Frankie really likes contractor visitors because they usually have tool boxes full of great surprises. The powder room project provided many contractor visitors.

Uno, on the other hand, does not like visitors of any kind.

Powder Room (final update)

The powder room project is officially finished. I was waiting for my Shutterfly project to arrive. I could not be more pleased with the art work and the whole powder room.

It may be small but the new configuration works wonderfully. There is room in front and even around the toilet. And you can actually stand comfortably in front of the sink.

Other features that are special:

• the wall treatment behind the radiator (I used self-stick vinyl floor tiles that look like dark marble
• the mirror is a charger plate
• the shelving is a corner stand hung on the wall to serve as counter and towel rack
• the back splash is a vinyl wall sticker from Wallmonkeys (see previous post) 

The photo art work is a photograph of a burned out area in the Boundary Waters from our 2013 trip. It is rendered on metal.

with camera flash

without camera flash (chandelier light)

day light

back splash and mirror