And later, resting

Bob got a little annoyed with me because of all the pictures I was taking, although he didn't actually tell me that until the last day. I started getting the "low battery" light on the camera while I was documenting the beach for the last time--I had taken over 300 pictures, after all, but he very sweetly found me a working outlet off the hotel lobby so I could at least charge the battery long enough to review the pictures that were in the camera.

I could hardly stand not taking any pictures in the Puerto Vallarta airport, but I thought it probably wouldn't be a good idea--I was just slightly intimidated by being in an airport in a foreign country--and we were warned that we wouldn't be allowed to take any pictures in the immigration area of the Kansas City airport, either, and, in fact, cameras and cell phones were in danger of being confiscated if we used them, or failed to turn them off.

Of course, I did turn mine off, but I was fairly twitching to pull out the phone and take a picture, or call someone . . .

Bob and I on El Malecon, the boardwalk in Puerto Vallarta:

A sunset at the beach:

A night view of the pool complex -- so much more mysterious at night!

Bob, John and Craig went deep sea fishing one day, while the girls and I lazed away the day alternately lying by the pool and playing cards. John took these pictures of Bob fighting for his fish:

And with the fish he landed:

And later, resting:

The kitties were very glad to see us! Bob's dad came over every day to check on them, and sometimes twice a day, I believe. He said that every day when he came over, they would be in the basement on the bed, and Dinah never did come up and visit, but Pyewacket would, once he came to the basement door and called her. He said that he didn't see Dinah at all until Wednesday, but she finally showed her face.

She's been following me around like a puppy dog since we got home, lying on my lap if I'm in a chair, lying on the back of the sofa if I'm watching television, lying pressed up against me when I'm in bed. And if I'm not at home, and Bob is, she's demanding cuddle time with him, even if Pyewacket is already on his lap. Not quite as independent as she would like you to believe, apparently.

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Home again, home again

What a lovely week! We had an absolutely perfect week in Puerto Vallarta, spent every day outside in the sun and fresh air, and just had a blast. So relaxing.

Flying in over Mexico was absolutely beautiful. When we came down last time, in 2002, it was the middle of the night, so I couldn't see anything. So flying in in daylight and seeing the mountains was breathtaking. I didn't dig out the camera and try to take any pictures, because I figured I'd probably get reflection from the glass anyway, but I tried to burn it into my memory, because it was so amazing.

We stayed at Canto del Sol in Puerto Vallarta, an all-inclusive resort. We were with Bob's best friend John and his wife Leslie, and John's cousin Craig and his wife Kelly.

Tres amigos (John, Bob, and Craig):

This was taken right after we arrived--or it might even have been at the airport. Bob has his travel documents holder around his neck. This one (Kelly, Leslie, and Willa):

was taken much later in the week, probably Thursday, after I'd gotten sunburned and we'd spent the week drinking and relaxing.

The pool was lovely. This was my view for most of the week:

This was the baby pool, just a few inches deep, on the shady side. I thought I was being very careful, and I stayed in this shady spot most of the time, but in the afternoon we would move over to the tables by the snackbar and play cards, and while I was careful to stay under the shade of the umbrellas, they apparently weren't really shading me. You could see the sun through little holes in the mesh of the umbrellas, and I guess the sun came through them because I got a pretty bad sunburn on Wednesday. Not so bad that it made me sick, but bad enough that it made me feel really stupid.

On Thursday we went downtown and ate in a restaurant, but every other meal we ate at the resort. I thought the food was pretty good; it's always kind of a gamble, and always kind of strange, but I was pretty careful what I ate, and no one got sick. Leslie got sick, but it seemed to be the flu, and not from the water or anything that she had eaten.

There were a lot of pigeons around the snackbar area of the pool, and we noticed one pretty little brown pigeon whose leg was swollen. It wouldn't have occurred to me to try to do anything about it, but one afternoon Bob and John captured her and took a look at her leg. John said it looked like her leg had been broken, and there was gauze wrapped around it that wasn't going to come off by itself.

So Bob held her while John clipped the gauze off with a nail clipper. We saw her later in the week, and she was limping a little, but her leg was no longer swollen--if they hadn't intervened, she probably would have lost it. We saw a couple of other birds who had gotten caught in fishing line, but they couldn't save them all.

More later.

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Off on an adventure

We leave for Puerto Vallarta in the morning. I've been packing tonight; I know I'm taking way too many clothes, but I guess I'd rather have too much than too little. Several swimsuits, shorts and t-shirts, a couple of long sundresses, a couple of sarongs . . . I'm very excited to be heading for a week in the sun! I just wish I was able to pack lighter. Every time I think I'll be able to do it, but I just can't. I guess it's my obsessive-compulsive disorder. Not that I've ever actually been diagnosed with that, and not that I really think I have it in any major way, but I do, a little.

I'm also taking the laptop, plus a tote bag with my knitting (socks) and a book (Windfall, and a notebook and pen, and a Minnie Mouse baseball cap, and God knows what else.

There's more yarn (another ball of sock yarn) and books in the suitcase: Stephen King's newest, Cell, a Joanna Trollope I got for a dollar on the clearance table, The Spanish Lover, and a mystery that I can't remember the name of at the moment. I plan to spend a lot of time sitting by the pool reading. At least this time I'm not being overly optimistic about the amount of knitting I'll get done. If I finish a pair of socks, I'll be lucky.

It's 1:00 a.m.; we're leaving for the airport at noon, so I guess I should try to get some sleep. Bob's taking me out to breakfast in the morning. He went out and picked up Chinese for our dinner tonight--spring rolls and fried rice. He said it might be the best meal we get all week--these all inclusive resorts aren't known for their food. But then, that's not why we go.

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Another Sunday morning

I spent yesterday morning and most of the evening cleaning out my closet. And it isn't finished yet. What a job! It had gotten way out of hand, and I'd had a landslide last week, so I knew most of this weekend was going to be devoted to taking care of it. I got everything up off the floor and dumped it on the bed and started weeding out what to keep, and what to give away (or throw away). I ended up with ten trashbags full of stuff to give away, and still too much stuff to fit into the closet. I'm not sure what I'm going to do. Probably let it rest for awhile and do another purge in a few weeks.

I found a few things that I had absolutely no memory of, a few things that I had thought lost forever, and best of all, a couple of pairs of jeans that I had obviously abandoned because they were too small, but I can wear them now, so that's cool. Especially since I spent last weekend looking for jeans!

I needed jeans desperately, and I'd been putting it off. I had bought a couple of pairs when I first lost weight, and I'd practically worn them out. They're stretch denim, so they don't last as long as regular jeans, and I wasn't crazy about them, so I didn't want to buy more. Every time I'd be out shopping, I'd kind of take a cursory look, but just wasn't in the mood to try them on, since I knew I'd have to try on a bazillion pair.

But when I was resorting to wearing the old ones that were too big for me, because the others were just too shabby, I knew it was time. So I went to Kohl's and tried on about a dozen pair, and nothing fit right. The "rise," of course, is the problem--they're almost all "low rise" now, and even if I had the body for it, they're not comfortable at ALL. So I sucked it up and went to the mall. I went to Penney's, where I'd bought jeans in the past, hoping to find the same style, but no luck, of course. So I picked up a half dozen pair and went to try them on.

And wonder of wonders, I found a pair! Perfect (medium?) rise, perfect length (short), no gap at the back waistband, a little room in the legs ("relaxed" fit). And of course, it was the only pair in the store. And to top it all off, they didn't have a regular tag on them, just a handwritten one, like someone had bought them, torn off the tags, and returned them. So I don't know what style they are or anything, so I can find them again somewhere else. I can't tell for sure--sure enough to buy them online, for instance.

So it's back to the drawing board the next time I feel up to subjecting myself to the mall. But I do have one good pair now, and two from the back of the closet, so I should be okay for a little while.

Sunday afernoon

Today we went out and drove around, looking for a Salvation Army donation box or something. We found one placed by Planet Aid, and filled it up! It was a relief--I'd been worried what we were going to do with all of the clothes that I wanted to get rid of. I'd had bad luck in the past with calling places to come pick it up; I've called and had them not show up, and end up carting the stuff back inside--I know there are several more bags in the basement that I need to get rid of. Now that I know where the box is, I'll take them some more stuff soon.

Then we went to Sam's Club and bought shorts for Bob, and nuts, and Stephen King's latest, Cell, then we went to On the Border and had Margaritas and guacamole, then Bob poured me into the car and took me home, where I passed out for about three hours. What do they put in those things??

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Sunday morning

When I woke up this morning, I went downstairs and got the laptop and brought it back up to bed with me, and checked email and read some blogs, and just kind of hung out with the kitties.

They have their own sides of the bed--Dinah stays on my side most of the time, and Pye stays on Bob's, and never the twain shall meet. Or almost never. This morning Dinah went over and snuggled up to Pye, and wonder of wonders, Pye let her. There was a bath involved shortly after this, and some play-fighting, and I took a video, but I'll have to figure out how to post it. It's awfully large. But I was just happy to document the fact that they do at least tolerate each other most of the time.

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