5C's Que Pasa

For those of you who have Facebook, here is the link.

For those who are like me and don’t do social media here is the story.

Summer is in full swing. Photo and Text published at Noroeste Mazatlan July 22, 2013

Both the Spanish and English words follow.  A big thanks to Marty who also loves Mazatlan and the Isla for sending this to me.

REVIVEN A LA ISLA DE LA PIEDRA

Las vacaciones de verano simplemente revivieron la Isla de la Piedra.

Decenas de familias mazatlecas y turistas saturaron ayer las lanchas, llenaron restaurantes y generaron buenas ganancias a todos los comerciantes.

Desde los embarcaderos se percibe la afluencia, en cada viaje hubo filas esperando la siguiente lancha que los trasladara hasta el destino de playa.

Al menos 12 lancheros van y vienen cada hora.

En cada viaje, las familias llevan ceviche, bebidas, botanas y trajes de baño. Algunas hasta pasaron con sus perritos. Al llegar a la isla, unos corren directo en busca de un espacio dentro de los restaurantes, otros a la Isla Chivos.

Al fondo de algunas palapas toca la banda, hay familias, parejas, jóvenes todos han llenado las mesas.

Las familias mazatlecas no perdonan los ceviches y el aguachile, los turistas quieren pescados zarandeados y camarones en coctel. Para todos hay marisco fresco.

La Isla de la Piedra ayer prácticamente revivió, como cada año. Las familias recorren sus playas y disfrutan la comida sinaloense.

Foto y Texto publicados en Noroeste Mazatlán el 22 de Julio de 2013
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THE STONE ISLAND WAS REVIVED

The summer vacation just revived the Stone Island.

Dozens of families and tourists saturated the boats yesterday, filled the restaurants and generated good profits to all traders.

From the piers the affluence was perceived, on every trip there were rows waiting for the next boat that transferred everybody to the beach destination.

At least 12 boatmen come and go every hour.

On each trip, the families have ceviche, drinks, snacks and swimsuits. Some even came with their dogs. Upon reaching the island, some run directly in the search of a space in the restaurants, others go to the Goats Island.

At the bottom of some palapas the band plays, families, couples, young people have filled all the tables.

The families of Mazatlan can’t forgive the ceviches and aguachile, tourists want zarandeado fish and shrimp cocktail. To all there’s fresh seafood.

Yesterday The Stone Island virtually revived, like every year. Families walk its beaches and enjoy the food of Sinaloa.

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Needless to say this has got me excited.  October 27 is our departure day.

Tags: Isla de la Piedra, Mazatlan, Mexico, Stone Island, travel

I started having skin rashes last December.  After eliminating many things from my diet I decided mid March that I was possibly gluten intolerant and started eating accordingly.  I had blood taken on April 29th for a gluten test and it was negative.  I continued to watch my gluten intake and still kept having reactions.

You might remember that on June 13th I had some blood drawn for allergy testing.  Our health care paid for 5 tests and I had to pay for the other 3 tests at $21.00 each.  I was tested for cow’s milk, soybean, wheat, gluten, oat, yeast and cheese ( they chose cheddar).  They all came back negative.  I continued to eat gluten free and still had reactions, the last big one being around June 18th just before I went to Edmonton to see my Mom for the last time.

That is when Colin came up with the suggestion that I might be allergic to coffee.  I did a blog on that back in June.  I also included this article that supports caffeine intolerance.  For our anniversary earlier this month, we did a take out dinner rather than go out as I’m not so mobile right now and I ate wheat and had no reaction.  A week later I tried a small amount of wheat again with no reaction.  So far so good.  Back to eating gluten free.

This past weekend I decided to treat myself to one of my Maxwell House special coffees, Orange Cappuccino instant coffee mix.  I had one on Friday morning, two on Saturday morning and two again on Sunday morning.  By mid morning Saturday I started having a rash on my neck, chest area and in the inside folds of my elbows and by Saturday evening I was sneezing and sneezing which is another caffeine allergy symptom.  I sneezed all day Sunday and wondered if I was getting a cold.

I have not had caffeine since Sunday morning and have stopped sneezing and the rash is subsiding.  Very very interesting.  I do have formal allergy testing set up on August 22nd where I will be sure to have them check for caffeine.  I am still drinking decaf coffee at this time.

So I am willing to give up coffee as long as I can go back to my soy based meals and have flatbreads again.

UPDATED JULY 30TH

In reply to a comment and to clarify.  For years and years I have drunk these coffee mixes.  Last summer when I went back to Weight Watchers I decided to switch to black drip coffee in order to keep my calories down.  It was after 5 months of drinking drip coffee that I noticed my skin rash.  That is why I think it is caffeine related.

Tags: food, health

What a great morning.  I had a wonderful uninterrupted sleep for the first time in weeks.  So nice not to have to get up every hour.  Maybe that is too much information.  Maybe it’s my meds.  I am feeling much better.  Only 2 more days of the blood thinners plus I am already officially off the morphine.  I hardly take more one than one or two Tylenols per day.

I woke up thinking that today is the halfway mark.  We have been home for 3 months and we leave in 3 months give or take a day here and there.  The last 3 months have been beyond hectic yet no where near as bad as they were last year when we sold our home and built this one.  I was rereading some of my posts from last summer.  Amazing that I survived and never killed any of those trades people.  I still get furious with the ‘cement guys’ each time I look at the poor job they did here on the patio.  But it is what it is.  I know the next few months are going to be jam packed and I have no idea how it will get done but I will just take one day at a time.  I see a few trips fro me to Edmonton to see my Dad once I can fly again and Colin will be flying to Winnipeg to see his Mom who turns 99 in October.

So que pasa?  For those new readers, why is this blog called the 5C’s Que Pasa?  It simply means, what is up, what is happening, what is going on the lives of the 5C’s.  Who are the 5C’s?  All of our names start with a C, Contessa, Colin, Carmeh, Caeli, even our two dogs who have passed, Cloii and Channel.  But who is the 5th C?  Several years ago while wintering in Acapulco Colin rescued a baby parrot and brought it home.  Our plan was to eventually release it but its wing had been clipped back too far.  So we ended up bringing the bird back to Canada with us and she become the 5th C, Cheikka. The photo in the right hand column of the blog is of the 5C’s in Acapulco.

Chiekka

Sadly, three years ago yesterday, there was a traumatic event in my life ( which I still can not tell you about ) and we had to give Cheikka away as we could no longer care for her properly.  Last winter in Mazatlan we got another bird who we called Chiquito but he really wanted to be free and so we had that arranged through an animal rescue group in Mazatlan.  There will always be room for a 5th C in our lives.

Chiquito

Colin had a busy day yesterday.  He started out at 7:00AM to do people/action photography at Predator Ridge Golf  Resort and ended the day at the Mission Hill Winery covering the Gipsy Kings concert, prices start at $110.00 and go up to $245.00.  There was much media on site but Colin was hired directly by the winery and had full access including being right on the stage.

The music was so great that everyone was dancing in place.

Meanwhile I decided to have a night on the town right in my own yard. I planned several fun appetizers  and two different wines to enjoy.  My friend Inger came over and we spent a very fun four hours together.  It was a great way to get over the memory of the trauma of three years ago.  Sadly the photos I took ( maybe it was the wine ) must not be published in order to preserve the friendship   😳

….and that was yesterday’s que pasa!

Tags: CJPS, Family, Kelowna, music, Wine

At a recent business event Colin put his card into the usual draw and won.  He won a 10 inch solar tube made by Solatube.  We already had two 12 inch solar tubes installed in our new home last summer, one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom.  We love them.  They add so much natural light that we still keep reaching for the switch to shut the lights off.  So now we had the opportunity to install yet a third tube at no cost to us whatsoever.  There was just one spot in the hallway that could use a bit more light so that was our choice of location.

Randy arrived and checked for electrical wires, studs, etc. Fortunately Colin had taken extensive photos during the construction of this house and we knew where it was safe to make a hole in the ceiling. Randy didn't think so but we insisted on the location of our choice. Colin tried to keep up with the dry wall dust.

Our choice of location proved perfect. Despite all the beeping from his sensors the spot was clear of everything except insulation.

A hole also had to be cut through the roof.

The final product. This shot doesn't show it but because the glass diffuser is a prism we have many little rainbows all over.

This is a good and quick one page description of the system.  I am so glad we now have much more light.

Tags: 319, CJPS, construction

We awoke to smoke and haze this morning but thankfully all is going to be alright.  Colin considered it a drill last night, getting ready to leave just in case.  Just in case the winds picked up as they did the year of the big Kelowna fires in 2003.  Many evacuated that year as we did.  This fire was serious enough that they did shut down the Kelowna International Airport for a few hours.

Since then Holiday Park has put some fire evacuation rules into place and one of them is no vehicles are to be driven out of the park.  There are too many vehicles and just the one road out with two exits.  Bikes and golf carts are alright.  Fortunately we have a golf cart because there is no way I could have walked down the road to the exit.

We are the blue dot above the ‘E’ in Lake at the bottom of the shot and the exits are the 2 top blue dots. The fire area is the part blue dot to the  bottom right of the screen.

Colin's shot.

My shot taken over the neighbors roof.

I took this at the beginning of the fire before the red helicopter arrived.

The red helicopter did as much as it could sucking up the lake water and making pass after pass before it had to refuel.  Finally a few fire bombers from Kamloops arrived on scene as well as a second helicopter.

Needless to say everyone was outside with eyes skyward. Colin's shot.

The fire was likely human caused but Mother Nature played a huge role in keeping it under control.  The winds had been gusting to 32km/h as the fire was spotted but died right down preventing a major event.  The fire has been downgraded to a Rank 1 today but it is still burning although contained.  Thankfully a crew of fire fighters worked all night.  Here is the link to the latest news update along with a few of Colin’s shots.

Fire crews were late getting to the fire because they were dealing yet another incident.

Just a few miles from here a motorhome was pushed off the road by a speeding driver. Fortunately the trees kept it from falling into Wood Lake.

We are really hoping for a calm and quiet day today.  However winds are forecast to pick up to 30km/h this afternoon:(

Tags: Duck Lake, emergency, Holiday Park