At left is a photo of Georgie taken last year and before the health issues. That cat surely loved to sit outside on the terrace and enjoy the morning Costa Rica sun. Eyes closed and as close to being in heaven as he could get yet still be alive.

He was quite old…. fourteen plus… and had terrible and incurable kidney problems, common for old cats. In addition, he was nearly blind.  I feel terribly guilty as I probably waited too long and caused him too much suffering.  It was just too hard to let go.

If you wish… read on!

Georgie was a many time grand champion Abyssinian and the only animal who did not join the family as a kitten.  He was an old and experienced 2+ year old cat when my friend and Abby breeder Robin Sessler suggested that he needed a home other than her cattery.  I accepted, and Georgie came to live with me in about 1998. Shortly thereafter, one of his many offspring, great granddaughter Charlie, joined the clan, and off we went to live in Costa Rica. A true adventure for man and cats.

Georgie loved it here… no more cold Chicago winters… easy to find a sunspot nearly any day of the year, and someone always in the house to pay him some attention.  He could always find a welcome spot on anyone’s lap.

Helluva life I suppose and that memory makes me very happy.

Any of you who have pets know that they are so much more than just animals or birds or whatever.  They are the essence of family. Their loss is as painful to us as the loss of a dear friend and can be equal too or greater than the loss of some family members. I think I know why.

I have given this some thought and I have concluded that this is because our pets, unlike our friends or even family, are simply incapable of hurting us, intentionally or otherwise. They demand little.  They are, under normal circumstances, love machines, wanting so very little and giving so very much. No contracts, no expectations.  Georgie was a most special cat.  He loved and trusted everyone.  Those who slept in this house could be awakened (annoyingly, I grant you) by Georgie’s cold nose literally head butting them out of their sleep… motor running at full volume.

I do not know how I will survive without that cat….

Georgie and Charlie are famous in Costa Rica, at least amongst cat lovers!

After a few years of living here, I had the honor of taking George and Charlie to be exhibited at a pet show in Coronado.  There I had the pleasure of meeting Adelita Durán, president of la Asociación Ga-Ticos. This wonderful lady puts on cat shows almost every year (TICA sponsored).

She apparently then contacted Christine Bork, publisher of the pet magazine. Pets & Mas, (pets and more) who soon came to my home with a photo crew to do an article on Abyssinians in general and George and Charlie (pictured left) in particular! Not too many pet owners have the opportunity to have their special family entered into posterity in the best pet magazine in Central America! If any of you are inclined to read that issue, it is number 47 (Vol 1, Year 5, 2004) and can be ordered here.

I wish that I could say that I feel better after writing this.  I thought I would.  I simply do not.  I miss Georgie every minute of every day.  I believe that animals, like children, go directly to heaven, (no matter how you define “heaven”).  I believe it to be automatic and instant.

Logically, I know I will survive this…  I know that this too shall pass… But I hurt so damned much.

Rest in peace my Georgie.

I, of course, DO live on another planet called Costa Rica, so forgive me please for not being totally current. I feel old and out of date. I never heard of them.

For my kindred unwashed, flash mobs are groups of artists, singers and dancers mostly, sometimes professionals and sometimes just regular ol’ folks, who want to sing or dance or do other stuff… in public. They do this as a surprise or as a gift to those around them and for no other reason than to spread some joy.  All seem organized as they must be, but the effect is the same everywhere. Astonishment for the audience.

If this topic interests you… read on!

I remember some scenes from the movies Tap and Fame where the action moved to the street. Not sure if this is where the idea came from… likely not as I am sure some smart commenter will point out.

I am embarrassed to say that I never heard the word flash mob until today. My sister told me about some singers who “spontaneously” broke into song… Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus… at a mall in Florida.  So, I You-Tubed it… and found not only what I was looking for, but a large number of other flash mob videos. The earliest one that I found (I did not look too hard), was a 2007 video of about fifty people who simply did a freeze frame in a super market. Bizarre.

The Handel flash mob videos (see below) are in the spirit of Christmas but others are just entertainment like the Leonard Cohen’s Hallelujah flash mob (from the movie Shrek) or the exceptionally good one, Queen’s  I want to Ride my Bicycle, performed in a Brussels train station. That was a traffic stopper!

Anyway, it is Christmas in the world, and below are two beautiful renditions of Handel’s Hallelujah Chorus – flash mob style!

The first is in that food court in a Florida mall.  The second was filmed in a Macy’s department store in Philadelphia with a group of singers from many local groups – 650 people strong. Check out the faces in the crowd on both videos… especially the kids! Perhaps there is hope yet….

Enjoy!

Click here to view the embedded video.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Comments of course are welcome… except from that asinine group of idiots who want to get rid of the word Christmas and all references to Jesus Christ.  I am not a religious nut… but I do believe in free speech and in religious freedom, so don’t even try to rain on my Christmas parade.  The music is beautiful and ageless, and I believe everyone needs to believe in something/someone larger than themselves.

Enjoy!

Lately, however, I see people who are just so unhappy living in the USA that their questions are not so much asking about my views as asking about if things will be better living here. Recently I wrote something about how I felt the USA was broken and needed repair. That was less a political statement than my observations from afar. Saying that, I guess if readers really want to know about life here, will it be better than living in the USA, will their life issues resolve themselves by moving here, maybe it is not a bad idea to address this.

So… if my personal opinions and politics are of interest, read on!

First, let me say I dearly love the USA. Not everything of course… but I have traveled this world and I have not yet seen a better country. Second, let me say in no uncertain terms, that moving to any country because you do not like the current administration, politics, social environment etc. will not change anything in your life. You cannot run away from yourself. It is the dumbest reason to pack up and leave. Moving here because you are seeking a “more simple lifestyle” is the number two stupid reason for leaving your country. Nothing is simple here as many come to find. Costa Rica is not better. It is just different. Whomever you blame for your current situation, I can assure you it is not George Bush, Bill Clinton nor any other US leader and leaving your country because of any politician is just silly.

So why move at all? There are many good reasons. Although Costa Rica is getting more and more expensive every day, it is still cheaper to live here than just about anywhere in the USA. A lot of 55-65 years olds are now discovering that they will not be able to sustain a post retirement lifestyle if all they have is their social security. This is sad, but when FDR set up social security and ever since, it was NEVER intended to be the sole source of income after retirement. So moving here because of financial necessity is certainly a valid reason for considering an expat lifestyle.

Another good reason is, I guess, the desire to live and learn a different culture.

Me? I made the mistake of reading a lot of Hemmingway when I was in my teens, and ever since, I had this desire to live like the characters in his novels, all expats living in France or Spain… drinking coffee in cool Bohemian haunts… you get the idea. Well it is NOT like that I promise… but for me, it is fun!

Regardless of your reasons for wanting to live elsewhere, I would urge you not to just sell the farm and move here. One of the largest movers of people from the USA to Costa Rica said the other day that he is now moving more than half of his customers back to the USA within a year. It seems to be a lot harder for women to adjust to the expat life… especially those with children and grandkids. They think they can adjust to not being there for graduations, proms, and the zillion daily events in the lives of their families, but many simply cannot live without family and friends.

Politics

To explain how I feel about the coming presidential election, it is best just to write about my thought processes. I am sure some will concur an others will not agree. I do not care. I have voted both Democrat and Republican over the years and I find no one party capable of producing anything special. For many years now, my choice was based on who I thought would do the least damage while in office. Sad.

One of my pet peeves is those boneheads who vote for a person based solely on one issue e.g. abortion, immigration, death penalty… whatever. The job of president entails so much more and to eliminate a good person from consideration because of his belief on one issue is just not intelligent. I am personally for gun control, against abortion, for tough (but fair) immigration, strongly against the death penalty (not in principle but because there are just too many screwups in the system sending innocent persons to death row), and for most environmental issues. Those are just a few and of course there are others.

Now saying that, for the first time, I will be voting almost entirely based on one issue. Guess that makes me a hypocrite! So be it.

Here is how I view this years offerings:

Obama

I think he is generally a decent man. His push for change hits a chord in many people. I question seriously his general experience, his total lack of knowledge on international affairs, and most importantly, his judgment. His recent difficuties relating to the racist hate monger, Jeremiah Wright, a man he states was and is one of the leading persons of influence in his life. He continued and continues to maintain a relationship with the good pastor. As a sitting US senator, his should have done everything in his power to confront this animal and failing that, completely disassociate himself from him and his hate mongering. Can you imagine if any white presidential candidate (or for that matter any white person with a modicum of moral and ethical beliefs) attended services where attacks against the US were supported and racism against Blacks was preached regularly? I can not. Most people would instantly stand up and leave! Obama should have done that. As a senator, he simply can NOT tolerate racism, regardless of the source.

Click here to view the embedded video.

I can now see why Obama’s wife made her recent comments about forever being ashamed of the USA. She and Obama have been exposed to racial hatred (both Black AND White) for years, and neither, despite the obvious blessings both received from “white America” can have escaped the lessons taught my this “most influential figure in my life”.

Wright preaches racial hatred and separation to Black adults and children, and now comes Obama looking to make change and bring the country together. Huh? I see no way a man who supports an anti-white hate monger can possibly have the ability to resolve the many racial issues still facing the US. He should have years ago dealt with this man. He did not. Silence to me, is a form of support or concurrence.

Clinton

So now comes Hillary Clinton telling all who will listen that SHE has the experience to run the country. As far as I have ever been able to see, her experience is pretty much limited to sleeping with Bill (at times) while HE was president. Other than that, her only attempt at accomplishing anything while passing the years in the White House, related to her dismal attempt to establish a national health care plan, a total fiasco, even though Clinton’s popularity was at a high. As a matter of fact, she pissed off everyone! Even her personal staff hated her. So she is the one to pull the country together? She does not get along with people. Can you imagine Hillary as president working hand-in-hand with U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, another person who alienates a LOT of people?? Oh yeah, I can imagine getting a LOT done.

Both of these people make enemies more often than my wife makes coffee.

The Clinton’s usual process is to change position on everything. Bill did it. Now Hillary is too. I recall early in the campaign her comments that she did not really care about the Michigan and Florida primary votes not counting. I HEARD the interview. She was most clear. Of course, at the time, she was far ahead of Obama and I suppose in her mind, there was just no way she could lose the nomination.

Well now, Obama has waxed her beans and HE has the lead! Now she want the Michigan and Florida votes. Says she always did! She does not want all those poor Dems to be disenfranchised! I bet she doesn’t! Oddly, she was the only candidate to campaign in Michigan as the other candidates honored the Democratic Nacional Committee’s warning about the early primary. Cool huh? So Hillary, knowing Obama did not even campaign in Michigan, now wants those votes for herself. How typically 100% Clinton. Nothing changes. The Clintons are good at this stuff, and I do not like it. I guess I also figure Bill had his presidency, and I cannot imagine what he would be doing if Hillary wins. Somehow, I do not see him on the golf course every day. I picture him spending a LOT of time hanging around the Oval Office and one time, for any president, is enough. No replays.

McCain

What an odd duck is John McCain.

He sure is not a Republican, at least not in the sense many have defined Republicans. He crosses party lines whenever he choses. He pisses off the “real” conservatives which may be his undoing. He is like the Republican version of Joe Lieberman, (one of my favorite politicians! I would have voted for him in 2000.). He makes enormously unpopular statements like “We’ll be in Iraq for 100 years”. Inflammatory surely, but probably 100% correct as we NEVER leave a country after a conflict. Hell, we are STILL in South Korea after 50+ years!

McCain seems to me to at least take a position even though unpopular. He supports our position in Iraq. NOT a popular position. I personally hate that we are there and wish we had not invaded, but we did. SO now, Obama and Clinton want us out NOW. Looks right on paper. Sorta like communism looks good but does not work in reality. However, neither Obama nor Clinton EVER address the major issue of what happens if we just pull out! Can you imagine the massacres? It would certainly rival the 600,000 South Vietnamese killed after we left Saigon. Further, can you imagine Osama and Al-Qaeda with those oil revenues that they would most certainly receive should we leave? Just what I want! A well-funded Al-Qaeda!

As Pakistan is very unstable and chuck full of Al-Qaeda (and Pakistan has the bomb, BTW), I now see Al-Qaeda with a ton of money and the bomb. Swell!

McCain is older than dirt… hell – he is older than ME. While not a huge issue, it certainly will be important who McCain selects as his running mate. How interesting would be a McCain/Lieberman ticket! Lieberman endorsed McCain last year and that to me meant something because of my respect for Lieberman. Never happen I suppose, but fun to think about.

So have you figured out MY one issue? National Security.

Hate or love Bush, the one thing most important to me is that there has not been a repeat of 9-11 in 7 years.

I have children and grandkids living in Chicago, certainly a potential target city for Al-Qaeda and other terrorists groups, so this year, I will vote for the person who I feel will keep them safest. My only concern.

Trying to placate Osama and his crew would be about as useful as was placating Hitler before WW2. Didn’t work. Won’t work. Whoever is in the Oval Office has got to be ruthless on defense of the United States. At this point, Obama and Clinton want nothing more than to pander to those who want out of Iraq, but fail to present solutions to what happens if we depart. In fact, over the years, the Democrats have generally NOT been strong on military issues (except another favorite, Harry Truman), choosing instead to place more money in social programs, a generally good idea, but that, like Communism, seldom works in reality (unless you live in Costa Rica, a non-target for everyone!).

At this point, it will likely be McCain.

Intelligent comments welcome!

Like many of you, I have been watching closely the unfolding events surrounding the mysterious death of Anna Nicole, Ex Playboy Bunny, alleged (and successful if true) gold digger, and TV personality, whose estimated net worth is around half a billion dollars.

Of course, my thoughts are mostly with our daughter and heir to those big bucks, Dannielynn. Yes, that is not a misprint. OUR daughter.

Time to confess. I know this will come as a shock to my readers (all 12 of you), to my family and friends, but most of all to my dear wife. But I must now “come clean”. With the death of Anna, I am now released from my promise to keep mum about our brief time together and the love child we created on the white sand beaches of Costa Rica.

I feel I must now come forth and accept my paternal responsibility (AND of course my responsibility to handle the financial affairs of our child!).

Who wudda thunk that Anna Nicole was a fan of Blog’s and more important, had been following my writing since 2002. Amazing, but true!

I was so surprised to receive her email almost two years ago. She was almost shy in her approach, but clearly, she felt “connected” to the man writing about his life in Costa Rica. “We HAVE to meet!”, I could almost hear her breathlessly saying those words. My heart raced faster.

“But I am taken” sez I. “I am happily married to a beautiful Tica whom I adore”.

“I KNOW” sez she. “It was your love expressed in words that drew me to you. I want to meet you, embrace you. I cannot imagine living without you. I am planning a trip to Costa Rica, and I want you to be my personal guide”.

Well to make a long story short, we DID meet and spent a long weekend together at her deluxe hotel in Guanacaste passing much of the time on the steamy hot beach. The passion never ceased!

Sadly, we had to part. She had her life and I had mine. Two worlds that were never to be one. Some weeks later, I received the news. She was pregnant with our love child. Of course I offered to do “the right thing”, but she broke gently the news that our love could never be… that she did not want to be the person who broke up another woman’s marriage. I was crushed.

Now, I must fess up to Maria Luisa. I am fairly sure she will forgive my indiscretion, especially when she hears about the cool 500 million bucks!

Please, dear readers… wish me well.

anna nicole

In her hand, she is holding a cloth and it appears to be moving without assistance. In fact it is wiggling!

Maria makes me nervous. She is a country girl and loves any living thing. While I have known many people who loved “any living thing”, almost all of them drew the line at things that had more than four legs. Many drew the line at two… but I digress.

She flops down on the bed to unwrap my surprise. “Rolando!” “Se llama Rolando!”. She has found a bug… technically a scarab (I think), she has named it Rolando, and it is now heading in my direction.

“Does it bite?” sez I.

“No, sez she, but it has claws and it can hold tight!”.

“Swell”, thinks I as Roland approaches, (and I am running out of bed as I retreat).

Those of you who have read this blog with any regularity know that while I am not exactly afraid of bugs… OK… I am a little afraid of bugs but not a lot… I DO have bug boundaries, though for sure I never knew I would need a bug boundary in my bed. It turns out I do.

Ever since the famous flying cockroach affair, ML has has taken delight in tormenting me with tales of the plethora of creepy crawly things common to Costa Rica.

“Get the camera!” sez she! You don’t have to ask ME twice! In fact I am thinking of the early hollywood movies where the actor sez, “Come on feet, don’t fail me now!” I head to my office to get the camera all the time wondering “If I just keep going, would that cause a rift in our relationship?” I decide it would, so I return with the camera.

Rolando is now apparently 1. Happy and 2. Active. I find that it is very hard to photograph a moving bug, especially when the bug is moving towards ME and looks REALLY big in the viewfinder. I snap off maybe 217 photos in hopes of one decent one. Sort of bracketing to the extreme!

Maria is ecstatic! She has her photos and can now takes Rolando to the garden where he can busily find other bugs of his specie and make another zillion little Rolandos.

On the way to the garden, she cheerfully explains that in her home town near the Caribbean coast, these bugs grow to at least 3-5 times larger in size. I am thrilled.

I also wonder how she knew to name it Rolando and not… ummm maybe… Betty.

Naw. I don’t wanna know.

So Costa Rica decided to send the dispute to the International Court, and THAT has royally torqued off Nicaragua’s foreign minister, Normal Caldera, who is now saying that his country will ask that Costa Rica give back Guanacaste. I can’t WAIT to hear what Marriott says about that!

Sooo… Nicaragua claims that Guanacaste belongs to it and was seized illegally by Costa Rica back in 1825. I guess it has taken the Nicas about 180 years to realize 1. they don’t have Guanacaste any more and 2. they got screwed. Sorta like the American Indians on that Manhatten deal.

Caldera now sez that his country is analyzing the possibility of reclaiming Guanacaste from Costa Rica.

Costa Rica agrees that the river belongs to Nicaragua and has never made a claim for it. Thank goodness! All CR wants is for their patrol boats to be able to be armed… IMHO not an unreasonable request as the peace loving folks on the other side most likely are carrying heavy.

Costa Rica’s president, (not so very) Abel Pacheco, said that he won’t do diddly squat as because, quote, “it is out of place”.

Diplomacy…

Oh… and although this story IS 100% actually factual, don’t get all panicky about an attack from the North. This will probably all get resolved as soon as the Nicas cool down about one of their local felons getting eaten the other night by a Rottweiler as he was visiting a bodega in the middle of the night…. to visit his girlfriend. And if it doesn’t, we’ll just call George!

Gracias Señor
en él encontré la comprensión
y el amor que siempre busqué,
hoy que bendices nuestro amor
me permita que sea la esposa a
que él desea

and mine…

Gracias Señor
por poner en mi camino la mujer
ideal que siempre anhelé para
formar un hogar donde viene la
felicidad, el amor, y la tranquilidad.

There is a lot of terrorism news about suicide bombers these days which got me to thinking about this whole virgin thing.

It is my understanding that those who recruit and train the suicide bombers promise them 72 virgins when they enter heaven. I guess these are wifey type virgins, but I am unclear on this. I mean the term ‘slutty virgin’ sorta seems like an oxymoron.

I guess before I start… I’d sorta like to know what’s up with this virgin thing anyway? I mean yeah… maybe your ‘her first’, but most virgins suck in bed (maybe not literally) and need extensive training. Give me a hot 35 year old woman with some experience just about anytime… well maybe not NOW as ML would surely kill me… but we were discussing virgins, right?


Sadly, there have been a pretty huge number of these bomber idiots blowing themselves up over the past decade or three, which begs the question about the “virgin pool”. I mean, just how many virgins are available in this pool? First, if you eliminate the under age virgins 0-17 (to be street legal), you must be looking at a fairly small number. Then there is the fact that they had to die as virgins. This would sort of eliminate a lot of high schoolers I knew. Anyway…

Freshly blown up? That brings up another question. OK… you blow yourself up. Do you get maybe like reassembled before you meet the virgins? I am not going to dwell on this much, but if you ever read The Monkey’s Paw… you sorta get my drift.

OK… back to the virgin pool. I am guessing that if I am a devote Islamic boy, eager to enter heaven and claim my virgins, I would want my virgins to be devote Islamic virgins right? Now really… how big is THAT pool? Maybe they just get the next virgins on the list. Pretty funny if the Islamic bomber person found himself stuck with 72 Jewish virgins! I mean can you commit suicide twice?

And what happens if you are an Islamic suicide bomber in an Islamic country like Iraq and you blow up a bunch of virgin Islamic girls. Then you get them right back! I mean OK… they were virgins and all and maybe all very good Islamic women, but might they not be sorta pissed that you blew them up? I sure would be.

Virgins rights!

This is the 21st century. There just about HAS to be a National Organization of Virgins (NOV). What if the bomber, even if properly reassembled, if really ummm.. disgusting? Stinky breath? Foul balls? Can’t hold a job. Can these virgins maybe back out of the deal? Are there virgins rights or is this kinda like an arranged marriage thing? I am sorta thinking that Islamic boys may treat their virgins as cattle. I doubt modern day virgins would put up with that! Do the female virgins get the same pay as male virgins?

Now that brings up marriage. Does the bomber have to marry these virgins? All of them? Can he just marry one and fool around with the others? Do these virgins all live in the same house with the bomber? I once read that women who live together for some length of time will eventually all get their periods at the same time each month. I have no idea if that is true, and as my daughter is not here to tell me that is stupid and I am a pig, I will presume that this is true. OK… 72 women in the same house with PMS? That’s heaven?

The Virgin Conversion Plan

Not to be to graphic here, but after the bomber has “had his way” with the 72, they are clearly no longer eligible to be called virgins. One time… pop… no more virgin! So can he replace them? Maybe go back to the online virgin chat line, or virgins-on-line web site and hook up with the next 72? What happens to the old (now ex) virgins? If there are not enough virgins after being blown up, does that bomber get a pre-owned virgin that is almost “like new”. Do these recently converted ex-virgins have to resign from NOV?

Finally, let’s say there IS this huge pools of virgins. THAT would imply there might be a huge group of mothers. OK… you got 72 wives… and NOW you have 72 mothers-in law. Holy Moly.

Ya know? The more I ponder this, the more sure I am this is not covered in Islamic bomber school.

For instance, let’s discuss what I call the pizza incident last night.

This occurred when we (read SHE) invited a few family members over to decorate the Christmas tree. In Costa Rica, when you are involved with a (Costa Rican) woman, your involvement extends to her family as well. Actually, I like this!.
Some definitions!

As this is a good Catholic country, this “extension of family” translates into roughly 732 family members who show up (announced or not) for all functions.

“Function” is broadly defined as just about anything that is not done in the bed with the lights off or in the bathroom involving the toilet. I say this as tooth brushing can be an acceptable event (as can be flossing). The act of taking out the garbage qualifies as an event. In reality though, that event seldom attracts more than a half dozen or so persons. Decorating a tree is certainly higher up on the function list.

A tree decorating event, which really IS a function as defined in the US Culture of Acceptable Events & Functions, vol 3, may easily draw 90 folks who thoughtlessly expect to be fed and given something to drink.
Something to drink means something with alcohol.

I have mixed feelings on this.
When I lived in the US, only the closest family members arrived to decorate the tree. We ate a few cookies. Drank some eggnog, decorated a bit. Drank some more nog. Listened to the carols and drank some nog. Sang some carols. Downed some more nog. It was a fine time.

So last night, we decorated our tree. I do not have a body count, but the expression “shitpot fulla people” may give you an idea of how many arrived. There was merriment and fun. Music and dancing….and PIZZA. A LOT of pizza.

Remember the olde expression “Many hands make light work”? The tree was decorated in perhaps 6 minutes. Now… the tree looked great… until the lights were turned on. We had a problem.
When I was a young person, I was taught early to hang the lights first, test them to be sure they were distributed properly, THEN add the rest of the stuff.

Well, apparently, it is done differently here. Everything is done at once. However, when the lights were turned on, there were roughly 392 lights in the top third of the tree and perhaps 9 to cover the middle and the bottom.
As you may imagine, this gave the tree a somewhat unbalanced look. With the lights off though, it looks first rate!
My suggestion that we un-decorate the tree and re-do the lights brought forth a veritable blast of laughter, so the tree remained as it was.

An amazing amount of pizza and beverages were consumed and finally her family went back to their homes. Happily, there was left over pizza! I went to my bed dreaming of the next morning when I could rush to the kitchen to eat COLD pizza preferable washed down with Coca Cola (Diet is OK) to sorta cut through the grease if you catch my drift. Certainly cold pizza is an item very high on the list of “the foods of the Gods”.

I am never clear if eating cold pizza is a guy thing. I certainly know of no man in my life who ever warmed up pizza before consuming. IN fact, many of the women in my life enjoyed cold pizza the next day…

Sadly, my dream was to be dashed.

I made grave error. On my way the kitchen this morning, I stopped to check my email. The next thing I know, my wonderful sweetie is bringing me WARMED UP PIZZA and COFFEE. Oh the pain!

I have discussed the fact that many Americans LIKE cold food and will happily munch away on leftovers fresh from the fridge. She cannot fathom this! In fact, when first I mentioned this, her reaction was akin to mentioning I had a penchant for cooking and eating small children. She was horrified and told me eating cold food could kill me. She believes this! Argh.

But I have aged and know the value of a wonderful near-perfect relationship. I ate the pizza and washed it down with coffee. I also promised to get my ass outta bed earlier when there was cold pizza awaiting. One must adjust to life in the tropics….