July 2019

The Zoo Bar is a local establishment that has been here since the '60s and regularly brings in nationally-known blues performers.  It's a total dive, but I think it's good to go there every year or so and enjoy the vibes.

Annette, Pete, Clayton, Susan, Rusty and me after happy hour at the Zoo Bar.

 After happy hour we went to The Gray Whale and had sushi.

Pete and Annette

On the 4th I did the Firecracker Ride in Seward, Ne with friends Karen and Gina.

My Just Cruisin' riding group does an annual bike ride along the Racoon River Valley Trail in the Des Moines area each year.  This year I joined them.

My riding friends

This is the start of the 94 mile trail.  All paved or asphalt, and mostly flat.

Perry, Iowa was a fun place to stop for lunch.

Rusty's quartet played a concert at the Foundation Gardens.

We had a week with heat indexes around 110.  Gretchen decided my hosta made a cooler place to hang out.

Despite the heat, my flowers seemed to hang in there pretty well.

The heat finally relented and we enjoyed dinner on the deck with our country-dwelling friends.

Karl, Lou, Dave, Sue, Rusty

Me with Meg, a Berni-Doodle

Work on the canoe is still progressing; Rusty puts in a lot of effort thinking about the process before we do something that can't be undone.  The following picture is all about the out-wale, which is the last major piece of the canoe.  This picture was taken from the back of the shop and looking forward into the garage.  We are about to send the white ash out-wale blank through the router to make a nice rounded outer edge.  The blank is almost 17 feet long and not something that can be purchased locally; this one came from Canada.  As it moves through the router, it cannot wiggle up, down, or sideways.  Rusty has constructed guides for the blank and attached them to sawhorses.  The sawhorses are tied down with weights so that they don't move.  Another arrangement of sawhorses is on the far end to receive the newly-shaped blank to keep it from wiggling.

"I don't know, Di, do you think it will work?"

We've now done three dry runs of attaching the out-wales to the canoe.  As soon as the silicone-brass screws arrive from Australia, we're ready to go.

Unfortunately I had a bike accident on July 16th.  A friend and I were on a gravel trail when she lost control and fell into me.  I was on the bottom of the pile with my bike, her bike, and her all on top of me.  It took the doc almost two hours to pick out all of the gravel and stitch me up, but thankfully I had no broken bones.  My bike is still under repair and needs work/replacement on handlebars, aero bars, shifter and deraileur.  :(


We celebrated Rusty's birthday with dinner at Shucks in Omaha.

Looking into the bright sun, it's not a good picture of Rusty.  The food, however, was delicious, especially the raw oysters!

I was about 12 years old when I first thought of my dream vacation.  It would have to involve warm ocean water, 85 degrees or more, plenty of sunshine, and a sandy beach.  I've been to both the Pacific and the Atlantic oceans, but the weather and water temperature never fulfilled my desires.  I decided it was time to make this dream vacation come true.  Darlene, Olivia and Felicia all joined me to make the trip beyond wonderful.
We gathered at the Cancun airport and (just like in the movies) our shuttle driver was standing there holding up a sign with our names on it.  It took about an hour an a half driving south to reach Akumal, a small village of about 1,300 people.  We drove through several "gates" with armed guards before reaching our condo in North Akumal.

On our way to Akumal!

Our Airbnb double-glass doors opened directly out to the pool and then the sand and then the ocean.

Because it was not high season, we had this place mostly to ourselves.

Our condo was located in North Akumal along the crescent moon bay.  It was shallow enough to stand up in and was perfect for snorkeling.

The breakers far behind us mark the outer edges of the bay.  

Olivia, Felicia and me--looking back towards the bay.

Ready for sunshine

Felicia relaxing in the hammock

Olivia on our white, sandy beach.

Lots of time just hanging out.

Enjoying the Swinging Bar.

Our beach was home to many of the famous turtle nests.  We counted over 60 just in our bay.  We went out one night hoping to see a turtle laying her eggs, but to no avail.

There is a hefty fine for disturbing the nests.

While having afternoon drinks at La Luna Restaurant we did observe a turtle hatch.

With jungle all around us, there were many animals not normally seen in Nebraska.

This band of coatis loved eating from the garbage bins.

Iguanas were a frequent sighting.

We had our own chefs for breakfast and dinner.

First coarse for breakfast was fresh fruit, juice, coffee and Mexican pastry.

The main breakfast course involved some type of scrambled eggs and meat.

Our lunches were simple, chips, fresh pico de gallo, and margaritas.

Chefs Jorge and Carlos prepared sumptuous dinners in the evening.

Each evening dinner was followed by dessert, such as flambe banana, flan, flambe mango, or birthday cake.

Following the advice of our maid (who cleaned our condo and made our beds daily) we hopped the local bus and went to the Mayan ruins in Tuluum.

Me and my girls!  It was hot, hot, hot in Tuluum.

The occasional ocean breeze helped with the heat.

It was a beautiful, relaxing vacation, especially with 3 of my favorite ladies!

Dream vacation has now been checked off my bucket list!

"The day of the sun is like the day of a king. It is a promenade in the morning, a sitting on the throne at noon, a pageant in the evening." ------Wallace Stevens