Pictures

Flowers blooming in Barbara and Terry's flat on Dec. 19, 2010

The full moon through the trees in their back yard at around 10:30 p.m. on Dec. 20, 2010

The eclipse beginning, magnified as much as my digital can

A bit later

And later

As late as I went.  The sky was clouding over and so were my eyes, and I was losing interest in the programme about Christianity, Islam and Judaism that I had been watching to keep me awake.

The Great Outdoors

I’ve just returned to mom and dad’s apartment after walking along the ocean into the village of Oak Bay.  The wind and salt spray were exhilarating.  I’m known for being forgetful and speaking hyperbolically, so take that into consideration when I say that it was one of the 2 wildest winds I’ve ever walked in. The other was also on Vancouver Island a few years ago when Jim and I went with mom and dad on a brief holiday up the west coast of the island.  In Courtney it was blowing so hard Jim could hardly open the car door.  Mom and dad stayed inside and we walked along the municipal dock in a gale that almost ripped the hair off our heads.  It was the same wind today.  I had to wash the salt off my glasses when I got back and my cheeks and ears are still tingling.  I love wild weather, and I’m glad that I have such short hair now it looks better the more it’s blown around. 

Speaking of hair reminds me of Jay.  I talked with him on Skype this morning at 6:00 a.m. as always.  I mentioned that his hair looked good, and he laughed and said that the kids were starting to call him grandma because his hair gets curly as it grows long and in Korea the only people with curly hair are women of a certain age who get perms.  So now I look like a 20 something Korean man, because they often have hair my length and dyed slightly red like mine, and he looks like a Korean grandma.  I was glad to hear that the South Koreans are staying calm throughout this period of tension.  Their war games with the U.S. were delayed by fog, which Jay said was very thick in the morning, but they are going on now.  The North has finally declared that they aren’t going to retaliate.  The fact that their big Chinese ally is less than eager to back them might have something to do with that. 

The wind continues to whip around the yard and the sky remains grey, so I don’t think we’ll see the eclipse of the moon on this night before the winter solstice.  I had hoped we would.  It was very windy and cloudy early yesterday afternoon but by about 3:30 it had calmed down and the sun came out.  I was walking by the ocean when it cleared.  Half a rainbow touched the horizon and Mount Baker was suddenly there, bright white across the water with a round cloud moon rising on its left.  It was spectacular.  But it doesn’t look as if that will happen today.

Tomorrow, a new latch will be installed on the hatch back, and the Mazda will be ready for the road again.  WD 40 turned out to be a temporary solution only.

It’s almost 10 p.m., I’m back at Barbara and Terry’s and the sky has cleared.  I’m going to post this blog and try to think of something else to keep me awake until midnight because the sky is clear at the moment and I’m hoping to watch the eclipse.  

On the ferry

It's a grey day with a dark and white capped sea, and I'm happy to be inside at a computer terminal.  All systems are working except Skype which says I am not connected to the internet, but I am because I just downloaded an enormous photo file from Paula.  The girl's got talent; she managed to get at least 2 pictures of me, Bill, mom and dad in which we all look like people you might want to meet.

I left Bert and Peg's at 9:03 and felt proud of the fact that I was on time and firing on all 6 cylinders.  But I soon reverted to my default position.  I decided that I would do what I always do to get myself going on a kind of big move, take the line of least resistance to begin with.  That involved going to the Tim Horton's that I know best and is closest to Bert's, filling up my going away mug and buying a multigrain, egg, bacon and cheese bagel.  I didn't even risk parking in the Tim's lot which was crowded with caffeine starved late workers.  I left my car nearby and enjoyed the walk.  I stood in line and stared into space.  I heard the man in front of me order pancakes and thought that I had never heard of pancakes at a Tim's.  I looked up and saw a big yellow M, except more rounded, and slowly clued in that I was in MacDonald's.  I left and wandered a bit farther down the line of generic buildings to the real Tim Horton's, picked up my order and returned to the car knowing that things weren't looking good for the success of the trip.  But all went well.  There was a blanket of low cloud over the lanky snow-laden conifers as I approached the highest point on the 97 connector between Kelowna and Merritt, so I decided to pull in behind a transport that I had been watching.  It seemed to be either deadheading or lightly laden because it was going up hills quite quickly.  It was good I did that because very soon after the cover became a duvet and we were driving blind through it. I just stayed behind my big buddy  and made it through the section around the Brendon Mine without a hitch.  By the time we got to Merritt, the sky was clear and the highway dry.  The road after that had some sandy slushy parts, and I now have the dirtiest car on the ferry, but all went well until I made a wrong turn off Hwy.10 and on toHwy. 99 just before the ferry dock.  I got off  99 as quickly as I could.  I was in  a Mercedes dealership in White Rock.  A nice young man got me back on track, and I was parked in the ferry line by 2:30.  Now I'm on the 3:00 p.m. ferry to Victoria.  The rest should be smooth sailing, and I'm feeling pretty confident about getting around the city this time.

Back behind the wheel

Tomorrow just after 9:00 a. m. I will pull out of Bert and Pegs' garage and head to Victoria for Christmas with mom and dad and Barbara and Terry.  So far the roads here look a lot better than the ones around Sarnia that I saw on the news last night.  Heavy fog on the highway that connects Kelowna to Merritt seems to be the only foreseeable road problem.  Just in case, I'm going to be prepared as never before with sleeping bag, water, food, candles, matches, flashlight and even a cell phone.  I filled the gas tank and washed the car, a pre trip ritual with Jim, and it was then that I discovered the only possible spanner in the works.  The little red light indicating that a door is open is constantly illuminated.  I shut and re shut all the doors before phoning Mazda to see if that little light might run down the battery overnight.  The guy in the Service Department was thorough and only slightly patronizing, recounting how his wife had a similar problem but an inside light was on as well as the dash indicator light and the battery did die.  So when we get home from dinner with Jules and Carol I will check to make sure that no interior lights are on.  When I get to Victoria I will make an appointment with the Mazda dealer there; they did the 16,000 km checkup and put on the winter tires, so I know the place.  I hope I don't have to get to know them any more intimately.

I don't have a Mastercard to leave home with because mine was 'compromised' when I was shopping in Calgary with Jo.  They sent a new one which arrived by Canada Post courier today but nobody was home so now it is going back to the post office and I will have to pick it up when I get back from Victoria.  I've become quite addicted to it, but I can cope, I hope.  I'm getting better at that.

Time has elapsed since I began this blog, and I am now praising Bert and WD40.  He came by, and I told him about the door problem.  After a squirt of WD40 and one small panic on my part about how the hatch opens, all is well.  The dash light is off and now we leave for dinner with Jules and Carol.

More anon

Pictures

The hotel I stayed in and my shadow on the beach at sunrise

Another resident at the hotel, an agoutis eating a child's dropped ice cream cone

The Mayan Bill Couch explains some interesting differences between the bloodless Mayan ball game and the gory Aztec one

Here he drums with the musicians in the Mayan house/shop

Here he stands in front of a Mayan house beside the traditional log bee hives and makes one of his many arguments for Mayan pacifism, even the bees don't have stingers

The pyramid at Coba.  

The view from the top across the flat Yucatan

The cenote

A sandpiper's track by a small shell on the beach

Ina and Ted at lunch with me in their hotel

The Mayans are a peaceful people, unlike the Aztecs

I've returned neither with my sword nor on it.  I had no need of either on the Mayan Riviera; the Mayans are a peaceful people, unlike the Aztecs. That was the leitmotif, at times more heavy than light, of our guide on the trip to Coba, the site of Mayan ruins, including a pretty high pyramid.  Everyone I talked with on the tour agreed that he was the best guide we had ever had.  Only I knew; however, that he was the Mayan Bill Couch.  There must be an ideal Couch, and I have now met 2 of the shadows walking the earth at this moment in time.  He looked like Bill, the same Buddha body but with skin a bit darker than Bill's when he's really tanned; taught like Bill, committed to his subject and full of information, funny at times, a bit long winded at others but impossible to ignore and acted like Bill, jumping in to drum with the musicians in the Mayan house and serve with the waiters at the restaurant where we ate the Mayan chicken that he had described so enthusiastically at 9:30a.m. and we didn't sit down to until 3:00p.m.  It was such a crazy experience that I finally had to tell him how much he made me think of my husband's friend.  He just squinted up his eyes and gave me an expression I'm sure I've seen on Bill's face.  Then he went on to repeat that the Mayans are a peaceful people whose whole culture is based on water and corn, not like the warrior Aztecs whose rituals all revolve around blood.  It was a great tour that took all day and involved visiting a Mayan village; swimming in a cenote, a limestone cave full of fresh water,  and climbing a pyramid.  If I had had eyes in the back of my head, I never would have done the latter, but I don't.  I went right up without looking back.  I was a bit hot and winded when I got to the top, but what took my breath away and made my legs wobble was turning around.  I had to sit down for a full 5 minutes to regain my composure.  I took some pictures just to prove I had done it and then carefully approached the edge and went all the way down on my bum.

That was the only tour I took.  For the rest of the time I rented bikes and rode around the area and into the town of Playa del Carmen.  The girl in charge of bikes, if you can imagine anyone being in charge of such a sorry collection, was a hoot.  She was made up as if she were going to a cotillion, with eyelashes so curled and mascaraed they looked painful, but she was helpful and funny.  She called them 'bicicletas mexicanas, feas,' and did her best to help me find the least ugly of the bunch.  It was hard to do because  every part that should have been chrome was rust.  And of course they had no gears, but the Yucatan is as flat as Holland.  Perhaps that explains why there were so many Dutch people both on my plane down and at the hotel.

One of the most pleasant couples I met all week was partly Dutch.  Their table was beside mine in the buffet restaurant on the first night.  Being 'sola', I was doing what I'm getting better at I hope, looking composed and appearing to be quite happy to be alone while listening to and watching everyone within the range of my senses.  He looked Oriental but he sounded Dutch.  I knew that throaty guttural sound; I'd been listening to it since before our plane took off in Calgary.  Finally, I just leaned over a bit and said, " May I ask a stupid question?"  "Are you Dutch?"  He laughed and said, "Yes."  And so began our first conversation.  He was born in Korea but knows nothing about it because he was orphaned and almost immediately adopted by a Dutch couple.  He has lived all his life in Holland.  His wife is Italian.  They met while travelling, married and now have a son, Noel, who was born just before Christmas last year.  They both spoke English, she better than he, so we met and talked quite a few times after that, about Jay's teaching in Korea; travelling; the tensions between the two Koreas at the moment; juggling jobs and kids and about having a child rather late in life, they were both 35, about the same age Jim and I were when we had Jay,which seemed old to us at the time but looks young now.  I had my last dinner at the hotel with them and another couple that we both knew.  This couple also shared a Korean connection.  They live in  Sparwood, B.C. and their son married a Korean woman, so they have a grandson that looks a lot like Noel.

In the evenings, I usually went to the bar to sip a white Russian, and there I talked with a pretty hard drinking couple from Calgary who were travelling with their four children, ranging in age from sixteen to ten.  The gang was often all there and the bartender was a really funny guy who kept us all entertained with tricks and concocted for the kids some of the sweetest drinks using chocolate, red syrup and whipped cream that I have ever seen.  He made pretty good white Russians too, and sometimes I took a second one back to my room to drink as I watched CNN en espanol.

 I spent much of the time on my own, swimming in the ocean, reading, watching CNN en espanole, riding Mexican bikes and walking.  I walked in to Playa del Carmen twice to have lunch with Ina and Ted.  It was really good to know at least 2 people in the area.  On my second last day, after lunch, Ina and I went shopping.  She's as good as Jim used to be at pointing out things that might look good on me but that I would have walked right by in an effort to get back out on the street.  We had fun and got some real deals.

Getting together with Joanne in Calgary to sip wine, eat and have a chat was a very good way of beginning and ending the trip.  Bert met me at the airport when I arrived in Kelowna last night, and he and Peg and I had wine, dinner and a talk.  I'm now at home in their place 'putting the ducks in order', as Jim used to say and preparing to drive to Victoria next Thursday for Christmas with mom and dad and Barbara and Terry.