SO OUT OF PRACTISE

I know I can do this.  I know I’ve done it before.  Multiple times even.  But man, am I ever rusty.

In the extreme distant future … well, it seems like it right now … we are going to Mexico for a week.

We’ve been there/done this a time or two.  It’s not hard, just get out your credit card, pick your resort and time and away you go.  This trip is even super easy because the date and destination have been chosen for us … next January at the Riu Vallarta.  There’s going to be a beach wedding and we are invited to join that party.  It’s going to be a fun family time.

What’s not to love about warmth and sunshine in January?  The luxury of wearing summer clothes and sandals all day?  Of walking along the beach, the waves rolling in and splashing against your ankles?  Searching for sea shells?

And the biggest luxury of all … not having to cook even once for a whole week!  I tell you, that part of travelling is coming back to me as clear as a bell. 

It’s all the painful business details leading up to the good part that are a struggle.  They say a person tends to block out the negative memories.  Maybe that’s what’s going on.

First of all, the travel agency wanted us to buy our travel insurance through them.  Oh yeah, I had forgotten about that.  We need travel insurance.  Once upon a time I decided that we didn’t need that and it was the one and only time (so far) that plans changed and we didn’t get to go.  That’s a couple thousand dollars I will never get back.  That’s NOT going to happen again.

Therefore, one needs cancellation and interruption insurance.  Anyone who participated in the Christmas break disaster this year can testify to that.  I only watched it on TV and want nothing to do with such a debacle, so I kind of gagged a little at the extra cost but knew I had to do it.  Thank goodness someone smarter (or with a better memory) than me said she was checking out what was automatically covered on her credit card.  Oh yeah, that’s a thing!  And now it’s a thing on my “Things To Do” list.

But, that’s only one kind of insurance we need.  It’s all coming back to me now. There’s that health insurance bit too.  That’s another phone call, and it will be a long one.  The last time we travelled was pre-Covid and only one of us was over 65.  They sure get interested in a person’s health after you reach that magic number.  In the intervening years I have passed that milestone as well, and my fellow traveller has made it into his 70s.  Maybe I can do this online?

But once those things are done (and nothing else I’ve forgotten comes up) all there will be left to do is stock up on sunscreen and  a) lose enough weight to fit into my pre-Covid clothes, or b) buy a whole new summer wardrobe.

Oh yeah, and find someone to babysit our dog.  Our usual dog sitter is going to the wedding also.  That’s the best part of this trip … the grandkids are coming too.  The plan is to bury Grandpa on the beach … you know, like pirate’s treasure.  It will keep them all busy and happy for days.  We may even dig him back up and bring him home again if he’s good.

This past week or so, with the temperatures down around the Siberia mark, I’ve had time to nail down these troublesome details and start looking forward to just getting there. 

That’s another part that I had forgotten – anticipation absolutley adds to the fun, but it’s so hard!  It’s cold outside!  Spring seems like a million years away!  I want to go to Mexico NOW.

 

IN THE TURNING LANE

It’s that time of year again.  It’s not spring by a long shot, but somewhere in the middle of one of these mild, just-barely-freezing nights we have turned a corner.

Well, maybe not turned a complete 90 degree corner, but we are wandering off in a slightly different direction.

This thought struck me as I emptied my washing machine this morning and had a sudden longing to go hang it all out on the line.  I glanced out across the backyard and managed to squelch the urge.  It would mean trudging through snowbanks higher than my boots and only having two feet of hanging space between the line and the snow, so not worth the effort.  I carried on with putting everything in the dryer, but now that the longing for the scent of clothes dried outside has been established it will only a matter of time until I’m out there tramping down snow to make it possible.

And, while I’m out there I will haul my shelving unit in and set it up in front of my big south-facing window in the living room and plant seeds and clippings.  I’m not ready for that round of mess and clutter yet, but we’re close.  We’re very close.

I’m not the only one feeling that the seasons are shifting.  The cat has decided that he would rather be out than in overnight.  I have no idea where he goes but it isn’t doing him any harm – he’s always back on the deck in the morning, looking for his breakfast.

It’s also the time of year when the resident farmer starts to critique Mother Nature’s distribution of snow for the winter.  Apparently for 2023 he thinks she should top it up a bit more before seeding. 

“But not too much.”

“And it should be a slow, steady melt so the moisture all seeps in.”

“And a warm, dry May.”

“And then timely rains in June to establish a good crop.”

Ending with “They should just put me in charge.”

I hear this every year, as predictable as dandelions.

There are other voices talking to me too.  My deep freeze keeps showing me how the garden’s crop failure last summer is affecting meal planning, and my bank account cries out in pain when I go to buy fresh vegetables.  I, too, hope Mother Nature is a bit more cooperative this summer.

The real clincher this afternoon, though, is that sunshine warming up my deck.  If I close my eyes and breathe in deeply I can smell the sweet peas or the fresh-mowed grass.  I can hear the bumble bees and hummingbirds. 

Best of all, I remember all those summer afternoons of friendly conversations over whatever beverage suits the day.  It’s a gorgeous Sunday afternoon and all the men will be watching football on TV.  What a shame to waste this moment just because it’s technically still February!

Okay.  Okay.  Maybe I have made a 90 degree turn after all.