Still here

In Port Orchard WA, Pacific NW. last month we went Tijuana and Then to Victoria, B.C.  This month we are going to Leavenworth. So we are still getting around, sort of. 

Manfred needs a walker, now. He is handling diabetes and heart failure ok. He still does all the driving and cooking. 

Just returned from SoCal

We finally got to visit Diane again. We spent 2 wonderful weeks, there.  We had reservations at Oceanside, but decided not to go.  We were so comfortable just hanging out in her lovely home. The weather was very hot, but the house is air conditioned, so, no sweat. 

Our next trip is just to Seattle for a couple nights’ stay at the Camlin. We were hoping that Karen and Richard could join us, but they needed to go to Hawaii for a friend and probably can’t get away again so soon. 

I doubt if anyone ever looks at this site, which is why I don’t usually put anything here, but I like to do it once in a while, just in case someone wants to know if we are still alive and kicking. 😌

Finally made it to TJ.

After 3 tries, we finally went on November 2, to get my cataract operation. I got the trifocal lenses, even though I may still need reading glasses due to ARMD. 

I enjoyed staying in the WorldMark condo in La Paloma, and the food was soooo gooood. The Mexican customs didn’t even look at us, going in. Coming back we bypassed the line and had no problem. 

There Diane picked us up with her friend, Ernesto.  He’s nice. They took us to Oceanside, where we had fish & chips and checked in. We stayed 2 nights, then took an Uber to the airport. We got free cheese & fruit plates on the plane. 

It’s amazing how much there is to see, now that I can see clearly now. Wish I had done it years ago. 

 

Still here...

We are still here, in Port Orchard WA, in case anyone is interested. We went to SoCal in February to see our friend, Diane, whose husband died on New Year’s Eve.  We will be going again in May (coronavirus permitting), because my cataracts suddenly got much worse and I need to get to TJ for an eye operation.  At present I’m scrambling to arrange the finances.

Being at the original epicenter of the c.virus was interesting. Isn’t that an old Chinese curse – “May you live in interesting times”?

Our lives have not been as much disrupted as most people, and there are silver linings.

I see that photos I put in earlier posts are visible only as empty frames. I don’t know what happened, but I’m not putting photos on, any more. It’s difficult to do.

Long time, no see

Haven’t been here for a while.
It got difficult to add posts, especially with images, so I just don’t bother.

Anyway, nothing much is happening. I have been working on our accounts, trying to pay off our credit card debt, which had gotten out of hand.

We finally joined Costco, which is fun but expensive, until we get the hang of it.

We are both ok, but can’t get around like we used to. If I’m on my feet for more than 15 minutes, I have to rest. Manfred has balance problems, so I try to go with him wherever he goes, to keep him from falling. His shoulder healed nicely, probably better than before.

Manfred has become borderline obsessed with cooking. He got an Instant Pot copy, an air fryer, a smaller food processor, and various kitchen gadgets and cookbooks. He watches a lot of cooking shows. I watch a lot of Netflix & Amazon Prime Video. We do a lot of our shopping online, especially Amazon. And I read a lot of books on Kindle, free with Amazon Prime, mostly mysteries.

We will go to Victoria during the last week of October, staying in a World Mark resort.

Broken shoulder is healing nicely.

Just a quick update. Without a cast, without being “set,” Manfred’s shoulder is healing quite well. He starts Physical Therapy tomorrow. He’s getting good at using his left hand and even the right hand. The xray on the right was taken 2 weeks ago.

Bill Jones came for a visit. It was so nice to see him again, it’s been too long. We had lunch with D, who is retiring from the Port Angeles Senoir Center.

It's broken!

This is taking up after Manfred's fall in the Ticson airport. After we left Tucson, flew to DFW, said goodbye to Richard & Karen and changed planes, we landed in SeaTac about 11 pm. We took a taxi to the Harborview Hospital emergency room in downtown Seattle to see if Manfred's shoulder was dislocated, if so, they could relocate it. There they kept us sitting and answering questions (always same questions, different questioners), until finally they took x-rays and found that the bone is broken. And broken in a place that cannot be set and put in a cast. It just has to heal as best it can, and he will lose much mobility in the arm. The right arm, that is!

So, after 5 hours, in which time we never got to see the x-rays or talk more than 5 minutes with a doctor, they gave us a sling and said goodbye, have a nice day. The sling was a very rinky-dink one, doing more harm than good.

So we took an Über back to SeaTac just in time to get on the 4:30 bus to Port Orchard. We arrived at the bus stop at 5:30 and got home by taxi before 6 am. We had only been awake for 24 hours, but it seemed like soooo much longer.

Wonderful family get-together for the Fourth

We actually went to the town of Independence, Kansas, to celebrate the Fourth of July with Karen's family. There were about 40 people, coming and going. Lots of wonderful food and new people to meet. The temperature was above 90° every day, it seemed hotter than Georgia. We went to a concert and an art show in the town, and had lunch the next day with a sweet couple in a farmhouse that reminded me so much of the one I grew up in on Beaver Creek, CO.

We flew into Tulsa via DFW, where Rick and Karen were waiting with a rental car to drive 2 hours to Grand Lake OK, to stay in a WorldMark resort. Karen got a 3-bedroom unit because we were hoping Robin could join us, but he just started training for a new job with a security service guarding a wealthy family in San Francisco. Grand Lake is almost 2 hours' drive from Independance, and we stayed a week, so we went there 3 or 4 times. Grand Lake is nice, too.

Going home, we did the reverse, but Richard & Karen were on the same plane to DFW, Karen to go on to Hawaii (for a funeral) and Richard to return to Jacksonville. In the Tulsa airport, Manfred fell and hurt his shoulder, so we had a strange time, there the paramedics wanted him to go to a hospital, but we didn't want to lose our tickets, so we flew anyway. United Airlines was not at all helpful.

Update & upset

Seems that we just got back from a trip to the dentist in TJ and visit with
Charles & Diane in Oceanside, last April. Then, first my denture broke - some back teeth gone but I can live with it, for a while. Then Manfred's denture broke, lower front teeth, not so easy to live with, but usually doesn't show.

But we can't go to TJ now, because we are going to Kansas for a July 4th family reunion, so we get to get together with Richard & Karen, and, hopefully, Robin. We are so looking forward to meeting Karen's family. And having a real, traditional family Fourth, complete with bbq & fireworks.

Also, Charles & Diane will be in Guadalahara for a month, so we couldn't include a visit with them until late August.

Then, to top it off, Manfred fell down in a parking lot and it broke his nose. Hmmm... Broken teeth & nose. Couldn't have anthing to do with biting off nose to spite face???

Family reunion at the Reunion

We flew to Orlando on December 1st, rented a car and drove to the Reunion Resort near Disney World (our GPS got us there fine). #1 son, Richard and his wonderful wife, Karen, joined us there, from Jacksonville, in a spacious 3-bedroom, 3-bath condo. We shopped for groceries and games and talked storey. On December 3, #2 son, Robin, joined us from California. 👏👍💖.

On December 4, our good friends, Charles & Diane, arrived, and we moved with them into a 2nd condo next door. Spent the next day getting settled, getting acquainted, and planning for Epcot.

December 6, we all got to Epcot, in 2 cars, and we got 2 motorized wheelchairs, for Chuck & Diane and Manfred & me to share. We should have gotten 4, but at $50 each we thought we could take turns hoofing it. Epcot is a marvelous place, but we wanted to see the pavilions from other countries. Manfred headed straight for the German pavilion to get some German food, but it wasn't as good as he hoped. The highlight was the 360° movie at the Chinese pavilion. I still get tears in my eyes, just thinking about it. Us old fogeys didn't do all that well, and we couldn't have done it at all without "the kids" so we are very grateful for this chance. Robin flew back to California on the 7th.

We didn't feel up to another go at Epcot, so we went to the Animal Kingdom Lodge. It was even better than I remembered, with a giant Christmas tree, and baby giraffs. We went up to the roof to see the fireworks on the last day, but it was closed for a private party. But we did go to a jacuzzi, taking the shuttle.

On December 10, after such a marvelous and fun visit, we bid a fond farewell to Richard & Karen, returned the car at the airport, and took an uber to Port Canaveral to board our favorite cruise ship, Oasis of the Seas, for a 7-day Caribbean cruise with Charles & Diane.

Sickness out, good times in

I'm just getting over a horrendous bout with a horrible flue, and weaker than any kitten coul be. Manfred has not been feeling too well, either. But we are now looking forward to Bill Jones Thanksgiving visit (there will be turkey 🦃), and then we are off for 10 day visit with the kids in Orlando plus a Caribbean Cruise to show our fav ship to our fav friends.

We're baaack! home, that is

We just returned from our fantastic trip to SoCal and TJ. After spending 3 days in the very nice WM condo, La Paloma in Rosarito, we went with Chuck and Diane to Indio for 5 days. It was very hot, but the apartment was on the shady side, so the balcony was nice mornings and evenings. Then we spent 3 days at Fitz's house. Altogether, it was much fun and lots of good eating and talking.

Having a great time, wish you were ...

We just finished doing the dentist thing in Tijuana, Mexico. Manfred got temporary dentures and will go back in 6 months for the permanent ones. We stayed 4 nights in the WorldMark condo, La Palamo, in Rosarito. Very nice place. We are now with Chuck & Diane in Encinitas, leaving tomorrow for a week in Indio, WorldMark condo. 😬

This is was an unexpected expense. One of Manfred's implants failed, and the denture couldn't stay still, so he could not chew anything, only swallow food whole.
We are still going on the cruise in December, but that makes it difficult to pay for this. Luckily, our lottery win is undoubtedly just around the corner. ☺️

Blogger app is kaput?

The Blogger app on my new ipad stopped working - just crashed every time i started to type. The one on my old iPad works, but that won't last. I want to sell it. The app is no longer for sale on the App Store, which is bad news.
So I got one called Blogo. It's free.
I liked Blogger because it was so simple, if you are not fussy about how it looks. Poke the app to open, type, add photos, post. As easy as vJournal for Evernote (another lost app). This Blogo might be better, but is it as easy? So far, so good. We will see.

This picture is just to see how the app works for images. 

Some of my ColorTherapy colorings.

The eclipse was fine.

We did not go to Oregon to see the totality - too far, too crowded. It was a great show, different in every city it passed. We had 92%, which is close, but no cigar. . 

 Manfred is showing the crescent eclipse projections on our deck. 

Lovely visit, great trip

We just said goodbye to best friends, Chuck & Diane. They came on May 29 to visit. We stayed around home for 3 days and then went to Victoria, via Port Angeles and the Coho ferry. We had a marvelous WorldMark condo there - a 2-bedroom 2-bath Penthouse with our own hot tub on the balcony overlooking Fishermans Wharf. 

We drove around quite a bit, seeing all the Victoria area sights: Parliament, Empress & Craigdorroch. We drove the circle route to Port Renfrew-Lake Cowichan-Duncan. It was too long and too bumpy, but we had lunch with Bill, who is recovering from surgery. 

After 6 days, we took the scenic route - Nanaimo/ Horshoe Bay - to Vancouver to stay in a RCI condo "at the Park." It was very nice, 2-bed 2-bath, but had some drawbacks. We were there 3 nights, visiting Stanley Park, and the Capilano Bridge Park. What an experience!  

We came back to Port Orchard, via Tswassan-Victoria-Port Angeles just the day before they were to leave. 

Bill Jones was here

Bill has just left after spending a few days with us. A most enjoyable visit, which included seeing (again) Beauty and the Beast. It was even better the 2nd time. 

I was trying to help him with his iPad, but it was too slow to even be usable. All our iPads are getting old and slow. So we took him and his ailing iPad to the Apple Store and got it wiped back to factory settings, which seems to have helped. Manfred's iPad needs that, too. I've saved up my so-generous gift $ from Karen & Richard so I'm going to get myself a new-ish one. 

Now we are looking forward to a visit from our dear friends, Charles & Diane Fitzgerald and a stay in the WorldMark in Victoria. 

 

Spring has sprung & the flowers are fab

Every spring we get this wondrous display, so lovely. 

 

Fabulous family reunion.

What a great time we had with "the kids" in CA. First we went to Angels Camp, in the mountains east of San Francisco. It was a gold mining town in the old west, like Central City CO where I grew up. The World Mark condo that Karen got was very nice. Kind of like Leavenworth. We rented a car and drove to nearby towns for food and fun. Robin drove up and joined us for a few days. 

 

Then we went to San Francisco for a week. The World Mark hotel is close to China Town, near Union Square. We had 3 separate rooms, as they are quite small. We kept eating the most fabulous food. And we got more exercise than we wanted, walking up and down the way-too-steep streets. 

Hotel lobby. 

Getting ready to go

We are looking forward to a get-together with "the kids" --  #1 Son Richard, & his Better ½ Karen, are financing a real family reunion, in California, near #2 Son Robin. We will spend 1 week in the mountains, in Angels Camp, and 1 week in San Francisco, using WorldMark timeshares. It's gonna be sooo great. 

We hope you all had a wonderful Christmas and a fun New Year. Bill Jones joined us for Cheistmas. 

And the Space Needle outdid itself for New Years Eve fireworks.