I have to admit, that picture of me with Tita on my head was taken a week or so ago, my face does not look like that. Think huge chipmunk cheeks and hanging jowls and tiny squeezed up mouth from the ginormous cheeks... it's gross. One side is getting smaller, oddly enough it is the side with 2 implants. The other side, the one that caused me such horrible pain and suffering, is really huge still.

I do love my dentist though, poor Dr Ruben, he felt so bad that he didn't push me harder to take the other shot and that I suffered like that. He came over to our house tonight to check on me. He's in Akumal for his daughter's birthday, stuck in a house with 15 teenage girls. So, maybe it wasn't such a hardship to come here :) Really though, he had them all sorted out for the evening and was at the local bar with his wife but called me and walked over to see how I was. Knowing most Mexican fathers, he probably had 3 guards on the door to feel safe leaving.

He says it looks OK. I have an appointment with him on Monday and he might have to put some more stitches in the 'good' side. They've fallen out and he wants it closed up for at least 4 months to heal. He said the 'bad' side looked a little red but that he thought it would be fine. Reassuring always, that's the only cultural difficulty I have down here. It's tough to get the bad news laid out for you so I never quite believe the good news.

I've been laying around for 2 days, sleeping 12 hours at a time, reading weird stuff on the internet and watching Manuela and Joaquin work. Joaquin has been refinishing wood for us, he sanded and varnished the front door and the wooden ledge. While we were in Merida, Manuela had him sand and varnish the huge coffee table in the living room. It looks great now.

What has happened with the wood furniture is that several hurricanes have dumped tons of water through the front rooms and the bottoms of all the wood has bleached out from water and salt. Even without hurricanes, wood has to be refurbished fairly frequently here. So, having found Joaquin who is a fantastic worker, we're getting a lot of it done.

Here's a before picture of the table and one of the chairs. You can see the bleached out foot of the chair and the dried out look of all the wood.

Here are 2 of the chairs afterwards. Joaquin sands them and then Manuela oils them with the ever present 'Aceite Rojo' or Red Oil. One of the first things she said when she returned was that we needed a lot more Aceite Rojo, I think we need to buy it by the case.

Mimi didn't want them varnished and they do look a lot better natural. I think I'm going to get some wax and see if I can convince Manuela to try that along with the Aceite Rojo. Change is not easy though, so it might not work. I'm happy either way, they look a lot better and the wood looks healthier and not all dried out.

I tried to find out from Joaquin what kind of wood they are. They are very heavy, they aren't pine but I don't think they are oak. We got them some 12+ years ago when we bought the condo, the previous owner left them. She may have brought them down with her from somewhere in the north but I doubt it. Joaquin said only that he thought the wood was from Chiapas, it was not a local wood. Chiapas has high mountain forests with lots of evergreens and definitely different woods than here in the tropics. We've had no termite problems with them and they are not light so they must be some kind of hardwood.

I think I'll show you all some of the wood here in the condo, this is all after Joaquin, Manuela and the Aceite Rojo.

Here's the coffee table, the legs used to be bleached white for the first few inches off the floor. Please ignore the sleeping dog, the clutter and all, I didn't clean up for you, consider yourselves family.



This is the inside of the front door. I would have gone out and taken a picture of the outside but the mosquitoes are all hiding out there for one thing and for another these silly people here put red lights on the landing - there are no turtles here on the inside of the building folks! So, you get the inside view. Joaquin did a great job on it, it shines, it is smooth, the white bottom is gone.



These are one of the bedroom closets - Mimi is asleep in the other one but they are about the same. This is a local hardwood, I love the grain and all our closets and cabinets and interior doors are made from it. I've had too many pain pills to remember the name now, it's Mayan... Katalosh? maybe... if Kathe reads this she will know.



See how everything gleams? That Manuela is a gem. Today, Mimi was going to make me some grits and scrambled eggs. I can't chew but I was craving something solid. Manuela saw her making the eggs and got really adamant that I could NOT have any eggs. She said eggs or beans or rice would cause infection and bad things in my mouth. She was really serious and she stood there kind of watching Mimi like she thought if she turned her back Mimi would give me the eggs. So, I had grits and Mimi had an egg sandwich and Manuela made sure she ate it all and didn't give me any. I wouldn't have eaten the eggs anyway, Manuela just knows things.