75 - SOCIAL CALENDAR HEATS UP
I met a man Monday evening at a cocktail and book reading event at the casa of a mutual friend who is the author. When the stranger saw me, he exclaimed, “Marion!”. I didn’t know him. How did he know me?
I looked questioningly at him, as he introduced himself, saying that he is an avid reader of my blog. His name registered with me because he had sent me a nice comment recently. He said he knew me immediately when I arrived because of the pictures he sees in these weekly episodes. How ironic that we should meet for the first time at a book reading!
The balance of the week is almost a blur of activities, greeting friends as they arrive in Mexico almost daily now, and meeting new people at various events.
Aquafit started Wednesday morning in the second pool in Eureka and will continue three days a week until the end of the winter season. I hate to admit I missed the first class because I completely forgot what day it was – the days ran into one another this week. What a delightful problem to have – a fun activity happening every day - and some days even two.
Maureen arrived Wednesday afternoon, but her two bags took a trip in the opposite direction to her, according to the trackers in the bags. American Airlines have only two flights a week to Manzanillo, so they may show up at the week’s end.
Meantime, we went to Happy Hour at Oasis, filled with friends. Then four of us, the Becketts, Maureen and me, had dinner at the Oasis restaurant to welcome her back.
The following morning, we four had breakfast at La Posada at the most southerly end of Las Brises, Manzanilla - a half hour's drive from Club Santiago. Happily Keith has a car that he enjoys driving anywhere we want to go.
The history of this small inn and the development of the area over the years is humourously told in a book “Innkeeper”, written by Bart Varelmann. IN 1966 Bart bought what was almost a derelict built on a rock
and slowly return it to life. The book is a treasure of the inn's revival and of happenings in the area over the years. Unfortunately the book is very difficult to find today.
La Posada is undergoing another major renovation by its new owner. After our breakfast, Gerhard, the construction manager gave us a tour of the rooms built into the rock which is a featured wall in each of those rooms, including in the shower of one of the bathrooms .
The restaurant is open for brunch only, operated by Paco, an experienced and highly regarded restauranteur. The food is excellent, as is the service, and the view from the deck part of the restaurant overlooking the pool and the ocean is terrific. (This is not an advertisement for La Posada – just my experience.)
Shopping for clothes is somewhat limited in Manzanillo but we bravely set out next to try to clothe Maureen for Saturday night’s bash. We lucked out, then went home, to find both bags delivered from American Airline an hour later. The shopping spree wasn’t necessary after all, but, what the heck, it was fun anyway and I was able to add another outfit to my own limited wardrobe.
Thursday I was invited to an invitation-only event held at Crazy Wings, which has moved from its original closet-sized restaurant across the street to a much bigger location with a large courtyard. 130 people enjoyed wings, fries and drinks to a very good (although very loud!) band. The music was toe-tapping and I had to get up and dance. Dick Van Dyke at 99 has nothing on me – I can still dance too!
More shopping Saturday morning at the Saturday morning market. No raspberries, sadly, but my bag filled with a runner for my outdoor dining table, a lightweight dress, a sterling silver pendant for my necklace, two eggplants for a gluten-free lasagna (instead of pasta – delicious), and a sterling silver opal studded bracelet to complete my outfit for tonight’s birthday party. My companion, Val, and I went home delighted with our treasures.
That night’s party, held at a stunning, open air casa on a cliff-like location overlooking the Pacific was supposed to be the end of the evening but Maureen and I just had to have a nightcap at her casa.
It was almost midnight when I decided it was time to go to bed. Maureen came out to the corner to watch me safely home across the street. As we stood on the corner to say goodnight, we saw the lights were still on at the Oasis. “A sexy coffee, Maureen?” slipped out of my mouth jokingly, thinking of that one we had last winter. She looked at the lights still on at the restaurant, saying “Should we?” My response “Get your purse!” and off we went, not knowing if they would even let us in - it was past closing time.
Fortunately we are well known there, so they took us to a table. Too late for a sexy coffee because of all the preparation required, but the waiter said we could have White Russians. Why not? For almost an hour, we sat sipping our drinks, enjoying the view of the ocean and the last full moon of the year. Tired but happy, we’d finished off a great week royally!
Addendum:
In my blog “70 – I’M BACK” I mentioned stopping my blood pressure medications that had been prescribed by my Canadian doctors because the miserable side effects weren’t worth the potential life prolonging I might get by taking them. Speaking to a couple of friends while bobbing in the pool last week, they commented that they did the same as me for the same reason and felt so much better without the medications.
Well, almost as if Big Brother is watching you, last week Epoch Times published an article “Cutting Back Blood Pressure Drugs Doesn’t Raise Heart-related Risk”. If this is of any interest to you for any reason, a link to the article is here: https://www.theepochtimes.com/health/cutting-back-blood-pressure-drugs-doesnt-raise-heart-related-risk-study-finds-5767803?utm_source=ref_share&src_src=ref_share&utm_campaign=mb-cc&src_cmp=mb-cc