Gimme A Break

I've been taking a lot of flak lately for not posting every day...or often enough to suit some people. Give me a break. I have faithfully been at this for over 4.5 years and have posted almost 1100 posts. And all that from or about a tiny island that is only 5 miles long and 1/2 mile wide at its' widest point. Sometimes I struggle and even wonder if there is anything left to say from here.

Plus I write a second blog about my travels in and around Mexico. But I'll admit, I'm a bit behind in updating that one. Even though there is a lot more to say and show you on it. I'll try to focus my attention a bit more on it and bring it up to date.

I find that I can no longer get excited about all of the fishing tournaments held here and various civic events. They all just seem to be the same old thing to me. Perhaps not to you, but it is difficult to get a new angle on the same old same old.

And, believe it or not, I do have a life that doesn't include writing here everyday. Not much of one, but still. Right now is the busiest time of year for us; keeping the rental property in order and tenants happy and visiting with friends that we only see once a year takes up a lot of time. Plus we have the new dog that is demanding a lot of attention. Never a boring moment!

I do have a trip planned that is fast approaching. Carneval (Mardi Gras) is in early March this year and I will be spending it in Merida. I have wanted to see the carneval there for a long time and I am really looking forward to it. We have box seats for both the opening night and closing night parades. I am hoping to get some good pictures from that.

So keep checking back. I have not abandoned the blog by any means. I'm just refreshing my batteries for awhile.

He's Finally Here!

He took his sweet time getting here, but I would like to introduce you all to....


Carlos Santiago Canche Gomez







Born on February 1. One week old today. He was 1.5 days old in these pictures.





Carlos Santiago, or Charlie, is the son of our good friends, Carlos and Andrea. As you will recall, we were witnesses for Carlos at their wedding in Izamal last July.

Charlie is a baby that is going to be fussed over a lot. He is the first boy child born on Andrea's side of the family for three generations. That is a lot of girls! The only men in the family have married into it. Her side of the family are already clamoring for a look.

Besides that, Charlie has two Gringo "Uncles" to help watch over him and take care of him. Probably spoil him just a bit also! Carlos and Andrea reminded us many times that we will always be referred to as Tio with Charlie. As they have told us, we are Uncles of the heart and love. That one almost brought me to tears.

Of course, I have never had a baby but I thought if awfully strange, rude and maybe a bit dangerous that Andrea had the baby in Cancun at 2:15 pm and they sent her home the same day! In fact, she was on the 10:30 pm ferry back to the island, baby in arms. So all of 8 hours in the hospital.

Charlie is doing fine and getting all the care and attention he can handle right now. I wonder how long before he starts talking?

Sucked Into Facebook

Faithful readers will remember that I resisted Facebook (FB) for a long, long time. Like many others, I felt that it was a competition to blogging and was going to ruin the blogosphere. And, in truth, I think it has a bit. I just couldn't see the sense in reading, or posting, stuff like "Ms X woke up with a smile on her face this morning!" or "Mr X had oatmeal for breakfast today".



I think that as time has progressed and people have learned better how to use FB, the posts have gotten better. Even more meaningful. Even educational at times. Sure, there are still the occasional posts like I mentioned, hell, I even do it once in awhile. But on the whole, I am enjoying FB and think that it has enriched my life. To a point.



I have gradually become sucked into the games side of Facebook. Oh, the games. Although I thoroughly enjoy them, they are a tremendous eater of time. But, then, I am retired. What else do I have but time?



I started out with Nightclub City. Build a nightclub, staff it, serve drinks, spin music, decorate it. Make money. (all references to money are purely gaming money, not real money) I have built and maximized out two different clubs now. I am working on two more.



Then I discovered Cityville. Now this was something I could get into. Challenging and rewarding. Put in those roads. Build those businesses and housing units. Plant crops, supply your businesses. Send out ships to faraway ports to bring back goods. Fun stuff but sometimes frustrating as everything is run on a combination of money and energy. Run out of either and you are dead in the road for awhile.



Then came Frontierville. Kind of a cross between CV and Farmville. Takes place in the pioneering era and one is beset with bears, gophers, snakes and other varmints trying to ruin what you have accomplished. All the characters are done as old fashioned settlers and come from hardy stock.



And then the Grand Daddy of them all....Farmville. Man, I resisted that with all my being. I have heard horror stories of that game eating up people's lives as they became slaves to their crop harvest times. But, recently, I spent some time visiting a friend and she is an avid FV player. She convinced me to just give it a try. That's all it took. I have some other friends who play FV also so between them, they referred quite a few friends to me to become instant neighbors. I should mention, all of these games require neighbors in order to make any progress. After just one day, I was hooked. And it is not the black hole of time sucking that I thought it would be.

I have to say, there is one thing that stands out to me about these games more than anything else. And that is how absolutely nice, caring, thoughtful and generous everybody is to everybody else. It has totally astounded me and warmed my heart to interact with people such as these. Even though many of these people are nothing more than names to me, I feel like we are friends and have each other's backs. Nice.

So, if any of you readers out there play Frontierville, Cityville, or Farmville, give me a shout. I would be pleased and proud to be your neighbors.