the bundle buggy lady

We had ventured out this morning, on a brunch-Sayal Electronics-Lee Valley tools expedition. It was bright out, but too full of that mid-January-no-fun snow, and we saw more snow starting as we got home.


While enjoying the wintry neighborhood view from the porch, I glimpsed the bundle buggy lady trudging into the wind in the corner of the landscape. Dressed in a beet red coat, she was slowly pushing a buggy of groceries and carrying a cane up the snowy sidewalk. She made slow but sure and steady progress, sometimes taking a moment or two to navigate a challenging patch of sludge or ice. I was happy for her when she discovered that pulling is easier than pushing, and I felt guilty about our own sidewalk. When we got home from our vacation we found it had snowed in our absence, and then apparently rained. We'd cleared as much as we could but...


By the time I had gotten dressed to go out she was nowhere in sight. Too bad. I love winter, and I'm certain the experience would have been worth the effort.

home from vacation

We returned from Puerto Vallarta recently, where we spent a relaxed week in the sun. We were in the old part of the city which had lovely cobblestone roads. It also has very hilly streets, which makes navigating the very tall sidewalks a an exciting challenge in some parts of town.

We spent some good time with Declan and Yujung, who came from Korea for a month to visit Declan's family. Yujung and her capable helper Declan cooked dinner for a bunch of us, and it was a nice start to our trip. We also ate at an all-you-can-eat Brazilian Steakhouse, which everyone should do at least once in their life. I asked Byron to go on a banana boat ride with me, to which he good naturedly agreed. It was an exhilirating ride but left us sore and battered, and required a day's worth of therapeutic naps and Mexican television to recover from.

We ate some local junk food and tried to find a lucha libre match to watch. We declined invitations to see bull fighting, a fiesta and time share meetings. Some whales surfaced just off the beach one afternoon while we were enjoying drinks along the Malecon one day, and a few nights we stopped by the stage in the square to watch local entertainment. A mime, a clown, some jugglers. This place drew lots of people, and I enjoyed the atmosphere.

I've recently been ok'd to resume my regular composting and gym activities, which is exciting news. I've missed the tranquility of the compost yard, and think I'm ready for another run at becoming healthier. I'm crafting myself some composting gear and we seem to have found a solution to our tiny fly problems, all in all, 2009 has been pretty good!