Zach’s Jujitso Kata Contest, Feb. 21, 2009

Megan told us that Zach was having a Jujitso kata contest on Saturday.  A few years ago we were home for one of these contests and were able to attend.  The following is from the web “The word kata, coming from the Japanese meaning 'formal exercise' is basically a prescribed sequence of movements which demonstrate the techniques and principles of pre-defined martial arts moves.”

Here is Zach and his partner with his instructor or Sensei.

Here Zach is performing a  kata move with his partner.And here is the happy winner.  He received a two metals, one for 2nd place in his kata moves and a 1st place metal for his combative sequence.  He is one happy boy!!!  We are very proud of you Zachary.  Zach will be having a birthday this coming Thursday, he will be 10 years old.  We Love You!!

It was overcast all day today, so that usually means a spectacular sunset.

In this special moment in life…make some mistakes.

Mexican Dentists, Feb 18-21, 2009

Don’t you think it was time to wash the windshield?  Here it is partially washed-just hate that salt spray.  See the condo in the reflection.

Here I am washing the windshield, I like having the mirror to keep my balance.  Washing the windshield in the middle tests my balancing ability.  So far so good!

Here I am sitting in the office of a Mexican dentist.  The LG Dental Offices.  Today I am getting my teeth cleaned, they charged $60.

 

Well, these were my two front teeth.  They have crowns on them.  These crowns were put on about 12 years ago and my gum is receding, so you see a dark line above the crown. 

The need for all this dental work happened when I was a kid, I stepped on a mattock  and the handle flew up and hit me in the mouth.  I didn’t know it then, but that incident killed my front four bottom teeth and my top two teeth.  I now have a six teeth bridge on the bottom and the top front two are crowned. All this damage did not show up until after Bob and I were married.  Bob always jokes, he should have looked me over like you do a horse-you always check their teeth before you buy them.  

The dentist said they could replace the crowns with a porcelain over gold crowns and when my gums continue to recede there will be no dark edge as it is gold, a lighter color.  The crowns above are porcelain over a dark metal and it is the dark metal that you see in the above photo.  

So on Thursday (2/19) I went in to have the old crowns removed and molds taken for new ones.  They also made me some temporary front teeth.  Today, Saturday (2/21) I went back and had the new crowns fitted and cemented on.

Here they are, I  am happy!

They charged $375 for each one.  I had one crown done two years ago in Oregon and they charged me $1,000.

After the dentist we stopped at the produce market and Bob is looking for the best avocados, this is also where we get the huge papayas and juicy tomatoes.

Now, this is a bunch of green onions!!

Today we bought 4 big tomatoes, 1 large papaya, 2 tangerines, 3 avocados and this bunch of onions for 50.00 pesos($3.54).

Time Flies, Feb. 12-17, 2009

Boy, where does the time go.  We have been lazying around, going for daily walks on the beach, now we pick low tide to walk as there is more hard sand to walk on.

Now you are going to ask, what in the world is this photo of, well it is a Corelle plate that dropped, hit the tile floor and shattered.  Pieces went everywhere, but luckily neither of us were injured, just maybe Bob’s ego a little as he was the unlucky one to drop it.

We have been having some wonderful papayas.  This one had only one seed.  Also found the local produce market so we are getting lots of avocados and papaya for very little money.

One of my favorite Mexican foods is chili rellenos, so we bought these two from a local vendor who comes around selling them in the park, also bought some of the best flour tortillas.  The rellenos were $2.50 each and a dozen tortillas were $2.00.

Here is a photo of a kilo of corn tortillas ($0.46) we bought at the Super Ley store,  Bob checked out the web and he says they are owned by Safeway.  The tortillas were just hot off the press when we bought them.

This was dinner last night (Monday), bay scallops ($6/lb) in the bottom left and tomato cilantro, avocado with blue cheese salad and some maiz precocido (upper left) mixed with some cilantro and onion, it was what we think is hominy—pretty good but we will have to find more recipes for the hominy.

   Here I am this morning looking for just that perfect shell. 

This morning I also extended our space for three more weeks, leaving for Arizona on March 11.  We thought we were going to have to move spots, but the office personnel did some magic and cleared our site of future reservations so we don’t have to move.  Also we did not know until a few days ago that we can both send and receive mail here at Playa Bonita.  The park has a Lukeville AZ address and they allow their guests to use that PO Box as well.  They drive to Lukeville AZ three times a week, pick up the mail and then delivery it to us here at the park-not bad!!  So Zach, Justin, Lindsey and Abby, watch for a post card coming your way.

  In this special moment in life…Reach out