Life's a Beach!

The other night I felt particularity appreciative about our choice of location to live in. Not only am I finally settling into this house with the arrival of our last kitchen cabinets ( the kitchen as anyone knows is the heart of a home) but I'm also enjoying the day to day rhythm of life at/near the beach.

I felt so moved that I posted a photo on my facebook page and went on waxing poetic about my feelings. Here's that same photo and what I said.

"To see forever! I love my never ending always changing water view. At night I can see the lights of ships in the distance. I love seeing storms approaching and how the water takes on different color hues. This photo is a combo of blue and tan with a bird on a wire taking it all in like me.

Every morning, Wally bless his heart, goes outside and opens all the shutters so I can awaken to a full blown view of the water. Even the cat gets to enjoy the view on his new granite window seat perch (much to Wally's dismay, since it's in the kitchen)

 The only problem with such a gorgeous, easily attainable water view is that, I never have to leave the house to enjoy it. I watch people walking and playing on the beach while not actually being there myself!

Yesterday, was such a spectacularly warm, sunny, clear day that It fairly "shouted" out to me to "Come outside"! ,"Leave your house" and physically, not just mentally be a part of the beach! So I got my flip flops on and ventured out of my nest. As I was walking down my driveway, I started to smell that water/sea breeze you get at the beach, I also started to kick myself for not taking advantage more often of the 3 minute walk to the actual sand and waves. I literally said to myself "We (thinking of Wally still inside, not the royal WE) are the stupidest people in the world for not going down to the water everyday and enjoying it in person!" I started to feel great, I was about to be part of the beach scene.

  Going down the beach path, I took off my thongs, zorries or flipflops depending on what part of the USA you're from and what you call them. I saw people swimming in the water and others fishing. All the while thinking "I'm finally smart, joining them". Then I started to notice something else! At first it was a slow nagging at the back of my brain "What was that SMELL!" Then I SAW IT! Hundreds of DEAD fish lining the coast as far as I could see! I saw a man setting up his fishing pole kicking several dead fish out of his way to make a place for himself! I saw people stepping over dead fish and children making sand castles nearby them! All the while my  North America  sensibilities were now, shouting to me to "Leave" "Run back home","This sinks, literally!" Okay, so now I'm thinking maybe I'm NOT the stupidest person in the world nor Wally (still back home, INSIDE, being smart).

I now think, learning to appreciate what you enjoy at any given moment and not over thinking it or wishing for more is the smartest choice of all. Obviously the people still down at the beach with all those dead fish were enjoying themselves on their Sunday afternoon! They weren't BBQ ing with friends or hiking instead, so who am I to judge!

Now, I enjoy my never ending always changing water view from inside the comfort of my house and make no apologies for that. By the way, did I ever mention that I have jasmine in bloom, growing outside my back window? I'm keeping that window open surrounding myself with perfumed air inside my house, while keeping the front water side operable windows firmly closed! 

I did venture outside again, back down to the beach to take pictures of the Dead fish and ask, ¿Por qué? pointing to all the dead fish. That was all I could say, as I promptly forgot whether fish were male or female due to the stench and realizing that the word "ALL" or todos would have to change to todas or todos depending on the fishes' sex and also the word Muerto for dead could become muerta or  stay muerto depending on fish being a male or feminine word. Amid the stench I didn't feel like forming two different questions to cover my lack of gender knowledge of fish! ¿Por qué, todos los peces muertos?  However when fish are out of the water they are called pescado, so since these were out of the water being DEAD I perhaps would have had to say ¿Por qué todos los pecados muertos? or  thanks to Mauro for commenting I now know that ¿Por qué todas pescas muertas? is wrong for two reasons #1 because fish are Boys!!! (generally), #2 The word Pesca, means fishing not fish! For some reason I thought that was the word for fish? So now you know why just pointing and asking WHY? goes a long way, welcome to my world!

All I do know is that Life's a Beach!

PS;The reason the coast was littered with dead fish today was due to a change in the salt content in the water or as the people said Cuando el agua dulce cambio con el agua sal los peces muertos.  What looks like an ocean to us, is actually still considered the Rio de la Plata, a fresh water muddy river that flows out of it's source along the coast and leads to the true Ocean the Atlantic. Reports from people up and down the coast in various cities reported seeing the dead fish strung out in line along the coast.

Taking It for Granite

Well, I am tired of writing, thinking and wondering about the kitchen. After almost 2 years, it is a boring, boring, boring subject. But, that having been said, we got the final piece of our cabinetry, today- the granite countertop for our bar area. It is beautiful and provides a wonderful work area, as well as a nice place to sit and watch me work (Denise never tires of that).

The weather has started to get nice. We are still about a month away from official summer weather, but some days it is warm enough for swim trunks.

When I get up in the morning and unlock the shutters, to let in the light, I just marvel that we somehow found this place out of all the places we could have ended up. Far from perfect, but perfect for us.

This coming week we will plan on going to Hecho Aca, the yearly crafts show in Montevideo. Perhaps we will find some little pieces of tile for behind the sink and stove, or some bar stools, or who knows what. It is a fun trip, whether we find anything or not.

This weekend, besides anything else is "work on the VW" time. I just can't seem to find out why it is not running correctly, and none of the mechanics that I have I have used are calling me back (sound familiar). So I decided that rather than wait a year for the car to be fixed that I would roll up my sleeves and dig in. Some people do this as a hobby. We'll see how it turns out. Right now, I am supporting a local parts supplier, by replacing items one at a time. Nothing has improved it so far, but I got a lot of nice new parts. Naturally, it will be the last part I change....  Isn't it always that way?

Back to School

You would think that giving talks before an audience for over 40 years, and sometimes before crowds over a thousand, that presenting a 5 minute talk on a subject that you are thoroughly familiar with would be no problem. But then imagine you are giving it in a foreign language. Yes, that tends to add a little concern.

But, Denise, ever the trooper, gave her first Spanish talk in the Theocratic Ministry School (TMS), this evening, to the applause of the audience. It must be admitted that everyone who gives their first talk in the school always gets applause, but her talk was worthy of it.

The TMS has been around for well over 60 years, and is a weekly event at our meetings. Talks range from Bible reading highlights, a Bible reading, talks given between women (as in Denise's case) or talks delivered from a platform to the audience. It is a way of preparing Witnesses to talk to others about their faith. But it can be a scary moment. We are always told that the audience is not a critic. And this is very true. The audience, tonight, was rooting for Denise and thrilled that she completed her assignment with flying colors.

She was given material to work with, but developed the setting and dialogue on her own. And with very few corrections by her householder (Carolina), she was happy to be able to write the talk, herself. Normally, a new student is assigned to be a householder, without having the burden of writing and directing the talk. But, apparently, they felt Denise was up to the challenge and she was.

Next week, I will have my first talk. It is a Bible reading. Compared to Denise's part, it is a snap. All I have to do is read the Bible, with no comments. And even this makes me nervous. As far back as 1972, I conducted the TMS. Over the years I have done so in various congregations. Now, I am nervous about a Bible reading (a talk often given to students as young as 8 or 9 years old). Go figure. I won't be posting any video of my reading (it would be anticlimactic), but I do post Denise's talk, for your enjoyment.

The video starts out with us walking to the Kingdom Hall. Yes, the "Krispy Kreme" is broken, again, so we are on foot. We were met on the way first by one sister who lives nearby, and then later by another walking, as well, so we enjoyed our trip to the hall in the company of friends. The parking attendant in front of the hall (wearing the safety vest) is a Uruguayan tradition. We pay 20 pesos per meeting and they help us park and watch the cars. He actually lives nearby our house. We are pleased to have found a house near fellow Witnesses and also within walking distance to the Kingdom Hall. Makes it kinda handy when mechanical difficulties arise.

As Good As It Gets

Well, the cabinets have finally arrived. After almost a year and a half, the job is finished. And as expected, it is rather anticlimactic. It just looks and works like a kitchen ought to. The quality, is OK - not great. However, there is much to be said for it being done, at all. Angles not square, scratches and dents in some of the finishes, miters not flush.... the list goes on and on. But- it is done.






"Es lo que hay" is a common phrase in Uruguay- "That's the way it is..." and it was never truer. Still, and I hope that I make it clear, I am not complaining. The old me (the one who expected things to be done right and on time) would be tearing his hair out (yes I know it probably looks like I already did that). But the new me, who is retired and not all that concerned about things, is satisfied.

We were pleased to be able to find an "artsy" glass for the inset on one of our cabinets. It matches the pattern in the glass block set on each side of the stove. I spent last night and this morning unloading the last of the boxes that have been lying around waiting for space. I think I can safely say that we have a comfortable kitchen, and utilitarian. And despite minor imperfections here and there, the warm wood colors and dark granite tops more than make up for the wait.

This week we will receive the granite top for the bar and except for some minor touches (tile backsplash over the sink and behind the stove), we will be completely finished in the kitchen and moving on to our vegetable garden.

Vaudeville Uruguay

We were invited to attend a night of entertainment Sunday evening. I was still feeling a little under the weather, so I sent Denise on without me. The fusca isn't working well, so we couldn't use it anyway, but the little community center, Club Albatros, where the event was to be held was only a short walk into Salinas. The invitation said the evening would be unforgettable and that proved to be true.

Not knowing what to expect, she was pleasantly surprised that the community center was nicely laid out. It has a basketball court and a complete stage. At about 6 in the evening, they presented an hour long program, that reminded her of "Almost Live", a local skit-based show in Seattle, modeled off of Saturday Night Live. After the show, they moved the chairs to the wall and danced the night away.

A group of youngsters spinning about the stage to a lively song, drew attention to the stage. The program really started with an announcer introducing the scene and then the curtain opened on someone sleeping, a rooster wakes him up and finally the radio began it's 4 daily programs. Each one of the programs had a different format. A lot of writing and acting went into this little production, and it was amazing to see how well they pulled it off. It was quite like a little vaudeville show with sight gags and things being thrown around the stage at will. It is Uruguayans making fun of themselves, attitudes and local customs.

WARNING   The videos that we are posting were taken with a little still camera in video mode. The
quality is limited, not the best sound and when the camera zoomed, the sound dropped out. Normally I would edit these down to a single clip, but really the 4 full clips (about 13 minutes each) were just too good to miss. If you don't speak Spanish, it will not be very interesting. If you do, it will still be hard to understand. But it is truly classic. When Denise played these for me, I just loved them. I hope you look at a few minutes of the show.

Scene One- Wakeup to the Morning Show

Scene Two- The Music Show

Scene Three- The Interview Show

Scene Four- The Inspirational Show

Flying Pigs

Well, you had better be on the lookout for flying pigs during the next week. I say this because we had a visit from the cabinetmaker who started the kitchen job a year and 3 months ago. We have been waiting for the balance of the cabinets for all that time. And faithfully, he has been promising to finish the job, each time we called.

He actually came by the house and told us that the cabinets are finished and they will be installed. And I am sure that it will happen. Do you know why? Because he said he will be over on Monday. For the past year, he has been assuring us that the cabinets will be installed on Saturday. Each week, when we called, he said he would be over that Saturday. At least a dozen times or more, he has told us that the job will be finished on Saturday. Never once has he mentioned Monday. So, unless Monday is the new Saturday- we will have a finished kitchen some time next week. Look out for flying pigs.

Making Headway

We finally made a little headway on our kitchen project. No, don't get excited. The upper cabinets have not yet been installed. After a year and 3 months, we are beginning (?) to wonder. We have given our old cabinetmaker, who did a wonderful job, this next weekend to finish the job, or we will get them from another carpintero.

But we did have a bar made and it was installed today. We will have a granite top, ordered from our local marmoleria, we have always been satisfied with their work (they come to your home and measure).  The quality of this new bar is err "acceptable" and the price is well, too high (the job cost $800 US), but it is finished and installed all within 14 days! So you gotta love that. And after everything is said and done, having anything completed is almost a miracle.

The weather is really starting to turn deliciously warm, during the days. We can now sit out on the front patio and read or study, while the newly installed fountain bubbles away. Life is good!