Thanksgiving weekend

This weekend was so much fun. Another delicious Thanksgiving dinner for an intimate (?) group of 44 people at the home of our friends, Dick and Gwen. Two 25# turkeys and all the fixin's. Yum! Then a few nights in Playa Del Carmen for the annual jazz festival on the white sand beach. Playa is a kick with a several mile-long walking mall lined with a variety of typical tourist fare as well as the funky shops("jellyfish" hanging lamps made out of dried gourds and sea glass)and the beautifully handwoven crafts from Chiapas. In just over 20 years, the town has grown from a one butcher shop village (we remember seeing a cow tied up in front of it on the lonely sandy road into town) to a bustling city complete with Asian Fusion and Thai fare. The powdery white sand beach that was dotted with a few palapas and tents here and there is now lined with hotels of every variety.



We found a small hotel on the walking mall just a few blocks away from Mamita's Beach where the jazz festival was in the evenings. So much fun to stroll down there a little before 7:00 and lay our blanket on the beach after molding sand supports for our backs. Our favorite group was Spyro Gira. Each of the musicians in the band were unbelievable but the drummer, Bonny B was our favorite. He did a 15-18 minute solo at the end of the set that was mesmorizing. His laughter and energy were infectious. We talked with him the next day on the beach. He was watching "his man", Al Jarreau test his sound equipment. Bonny is a sweet, soft spoken and humble man from Trinidad/Tobago. Other musicians we saw included Sacbe, Sergio Mendez (still stuck in the 70's), quitarist Pat Martino, and Herbie Hancock.



We came back to Cozumel midday yesterday and were greeted by clapping and cheering. It took us some time to realize the applause was for the Ironman competitors not us! Ironman. What an amazing example of mind over matter. Two thousand people entered the sea in the morning, swimming 2 1/2 miles (1/2 of it against a pretty stiff current), biking 112 miles around the island several times and then running a 26 mile marathon. We stood close to the finish line at 8 PM last night watching as competitors were either waved on to the finish line or motioned that one more lap was yet needed to complete their marathon. The mental and physical strength that is required to do yet 8 more miles after working so hard for over 11 or 12 (or more!) hours is mind boggling. We watched as several competitors crossed the finish with their kids in their arms or trailing behind. Other exhausted runners held their arms over their heads and reveled in the knowledge that they had done it! "You, too, are an Ironman! You've conquered the island!" blared the sound system as each crossed the finish line. What can we say? We were awestruck!

We volunteered (selling stuff) at the Red Cross booth and the winner (a Belgian) and the second place finisher (from Ukraine) had their photos taken there. We got in the pictures! Ironman groupies are born!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving Day

We are taking Bev Wilson's lead in giving thanks today. Bev is the wife of our good friend, Dave. Although Dave passed away on Monday night, Bev is giving thanks for the six good years they had together. Dave got us into so many fun things when we moved to Cedaredge -things like volunteering for the Forest Service up on the Mesa and at Powderhorn Ski Resort. Dave loved the Grand Mesa and was its main cheerleader for years. He spent every spare minute up there hiking and organizing fun things to do there. Whatever he did, he did with a passion that was contagious. We'll miss our evenings together solving the world's problems over wine but we ARE so thankful to have had his friendship. We hope that Bev will come see us this year as she and Dave were planning last year. Dave would like that and so would we.

We're backtracking already!

We managed to get this family protrait of the Galyons as we were leaving. Recognize Alex's dress from her blog- the one where Eric has 9 or 10 photos of her running in a circle? Notice, too, that Jamie is "showing". Maybe Eric a bit, too! Cody really doesn't fish all of the time. Being a good country boy, he rides horses, too! The horse seems so big and Cody seems so small!

Ellie was always on the move while we were there, so we didn't get photos of her! Gaga was was pretty busy, as well, playing on the floor with Ellie! But, here's a favorite of ours from their Halloween: Ellie as Minnie Mouse and Charlie as a pea in a pod.

We had so much fun seeing grandkids before we left the country. Alex, age 3, in Broomfield was getting so excited about their upcoming trip Disney World (see their blog, Galyonfamily.blogspot.com). She loves her twice weekly preschool and all of the fun outings that Jamie’s network of moms plans. Alex has lots to say to her animals during what should be nap time and she melts our hearts with her sweet ways. She will be a big helper when her little sister arrives in March.
Cody, age 6, is the fisherman supreme. He and Grandpa went fishing together in the Hempstead Baxter pond. Cody, on his first 2 casts, caught 2 big bass that he and his dad transplanted there from the lake across the road. Grandpa ? Nada! Cody is loving school and came home with straight A’s on his report card. He does his homework first thing when he gets home. Then, FISHING and maybe bed before 10!
We were amazed to see how big Miss Ellie (almost 2) and Master Charlie (almost 3 months) are in Dallas (see ellieandcharlie.blogspot.com). Gaga has to do sort of a Fosbury Flop to get Ellie into her crib and Adrienne found Gaga asking Ellie if she could jump to get into her car seat in their Yukon. You see, Ellie weighs over 30 pounds- a healthy, beautiful little girl. She is a dynamo of action and talking up a storm. Charlie is cooing, grinning and endearing himself to his sleep-deprived mom and dad. We know that they will be a hit with their UK family when they travel there next week.

Back in Mexico - Day 1

We’ve arrived! After Packing Master Ed’s superb job of packing (each bag weighed about 49.5 pounds!), the trip went perfectly. We crept out of the sleeping Hirst home at 3:45 AM taking the Super Shuttle to DFW. Cozumel’s version of the Super Shuttle, Henry (Rita’s Radar O’Reilly), came screaming up, parking Rita’s pickup in a place where no gringo would dare, leaving the doors wide open and sweeping our luggage onto his 5’5” frame and off we went! Before Henry made his entrance, we talked to our old friend Oscar, the timeshare salesman at the airport. In the decade that we’ve known Oscar, he has not been successful in getting us to see a presentation. You just gotta love him; he never gives up. When we walked away he hollered “ Hey, when you going to …….”. You never know though maybe one of these days……. Not!


We drove up to a beautifully clean house and thriving garden. Henry and his sister had been busy right up until our return, cleaning and even doing the windows and laundering drapes. Before we knew it our internet guy was here setting up our mast and antenna and hooking us up. And, it worked! Communication with the outside world! After doing a few very important things like finding our shorts and setting up a hammock, we went with Rita to Chilango’s (the pink home around the corner where they serve lunch at communal tables in their living room). When we were pleasantly full of our shredded chicken (pollo tinga) and squash with goat cheese (calabacitas) meals, we took a little siesta. Later, we went to Chedraui (the closest grocery store) for staples like beer and wine. A huge, deep night’s sleep under the ceiling fan that night. Ahhhhh.

To Belize or not

Our friends, Dick and Gwen, asked us as we were finishing our time at Rita's to join them on a trip to Belize this weekend. After feeling tied to her business and house for a while, we jumped at the chance. Road trip - yeah baby! Well we packed our little bags and were waiting at our gate when they picked us up this morning. We had taken a bike ride earlier and were a little shocked by the ferocity of the wind. It was coming out of the east so we didn't think too much about it. We just thought that we'd get to Playa Del Carmen via the car ferry more quickly with the wind at our back. We were a little disappointed to find that the ferry was cancelled. We didn't pout for long though. As always seems to happen here, the day developed quite nicely. Rita came over as we were mulling over our options with Dick and Gwen. Rita brought some chilled Chardonnay from South Africa and some pistachios and pound cake. After polishing that off, we went to lunch a great Cuban place and then to a movie (Knowing with Nicholas Cage). We had read mixed reviews on the movie. The NY Times thought it was laughable and Roger Ebert thought it was wonderful (we are really confused that he is still doing reviews after he died). We're thinking that there is something to be said for listening to reviews by live people as we sided with the NY Times. Still, though, always a fun experience to go to the movies here. We like trying to read the Spanish subtitles - very often they bear little resemblance to what is being said in English. The popcorn is always good, too.

How did the time slip by?

Can't believe it's been two weeks since we made an entry. We do have an excuse, though. Our friend, Rita, who runs a fishing and diving charter company took a very well deserved vacation to South Africa for almost two weeks. She honored and also scared the heck out of us by entrusting her company, her dogs and her house to us. When Rita first thought about taking a vacation, her business had about 4 trips total booked for the 12 days. By the time she returned, the number had ballooned to over 20. Yikes! We always thought we knew that Rita worked hard and kept ridiculous hours but we really had no clue. Our days normally began between 5 and 5:30 AM and pretty consistently went to 6 or 7 PM. Her employees, especially her Radar O'Reilly of MASH (Henry) and her divemaster/boat captain/mate/communicator (Edwin) were great. They had a lot of patience for our clumsiness with the business and the language. There were only a few times that Henry and I just looked at each other and pulled at our hair in frustration because we couldn't get our point across. The end result was good - no boats sunk, no customers drowned, no boat captains in jail and Rita came home to some money. And we came home to our sweet, uncomplicated life and felt new appreciation for it.

Our last day of fun with Alex

We were so happy that the resident turtles at Rita's house were out on Alex's last day in Mexico. Turtles tend to show up in Rita's yard during hurricanes. So, naturally, the turtles are all given hurricane names. Stan and Phyllis are the oldest and biggest ones. They like bananas, tomatoes and, it looks to us, that little girls may be okay too.

Alex woke up from several naps saying that she wanted to go swimming. How lucky are we to be able to accommodate those wishes in Rita's pool. Aside from being stylin', Alex's goggles provide UV protection. How great is that? A far cry from zinc oxide on our noses when we were young.

We sure hope that this is the first of many visits. It sure is heaven to wake up to a little one's voice added to the songs of the birds in the morning.