Finally, a nearly all-dry day (just a very brief passing shower during breakfast), and great easterly breeze, whisking the mosquitoes away and giving us a chance to turn off the A/C and open up. We started the day with a nice walk. Paisley got to do a bit of swimming to cool off in the hot sun (she's a natural), and discovered coconut meat for the first time.
Splash! Barry threw Paisley in for a cool-down.
A natural swimmer...
Hmmm, what have we here? And do dogs eat it?
Um, that would be a "yes".
After a quick dip in the pool and breakfast, we rode our bikes into town, as usual. We had a lot of places to go today, including the bank, GoNature health food store, Maria's fruit stand and Healthy Belize for produce, and Super Buy for a couple of other groceries. I also dropped off our bedroom curtains to be hemmed (they interfere with the dresser), and commissioned a simple valance for our living room window from Sew What.
Unfortunately, with all those stops, a very long wait at the bank, and getting a late start, we were riding home right at noon, when all the workers up north ride their bikes back into town on their lunch hour. In a few places, the sandy path along the beach is quite narrow, and I came upon a local going the other way on his bike in one of said places. I veered a bit into the soft sand to give him room, lost traction and went down on my left side. Fortunately, in the sand and at slow speed, this was a very minor spill. My basket and front stem were a little wonky afterwards, but aside from my left side being covered in sand, my body felt okay. It was only later in the day that my left knee started aching; I must have twisted it a bit or something. It felt better after the application of ice, so hopefully the injury is superficial and won't prevent me from doing any of the things I want to do here.
In the afternoon, I did some sweeping (lots of sand gets into the condo) and made a black bean, mango, and corn salad for our dinner. The mangoes we have been getting lately are huge, juicy, and delicious, and appear to be the same variety my "Papa" grew on his tree in Ft. Myer's, Florida. Major yum! I also did a little yoga and Pilates, and some reading.
Barry kept busy with home improvement projects. He got a hasp and lock installed on the doors to a storage area where we can keep our bikes, which allowed us to move them (and all the sand they bring in) out of our condo. This made me very happy! He then started working on installing a handle and latch for our screen door. Screen doors here do not come with this very essential part, as I guess they leave it up to the owner to install the hardware they prefer.
Unfortunately, he dropped a part of the latching mechanism on the tile floor, and it shattered. It was very poor quality. It's difficult to get good hardware here, and the selection is quite limited. There are hardware stores, but nothing like Home Depot or Lowe's back home, with their almost overwhelming array of choices. Hopefully he can find some small piece of hardware that will complete the installation without re-buying the whole mechanism again. Barry has got a good bit of McGuyver in him, so I'm betting on it!
Unfortunately, with all those stops, a very long wait at the bank, and getting a late start, we were riding home right at noon, when all the workers up north ride their bikes back into town on their lunch hour. In a few places, the sandy path along the beach is quite narrow, and I came upon a local going the other way on his bike in one of said places. I veered a bit into the soft sand to give him room, lost traction and went down on my left side. Fortunately, in the sand and at slow speed, this was a very minor spill. My basket and front stem were a little wonky afterwards, but aside from my left side being covered in sand, my body felt okay. It was only later in the day that my left knee started aching; I must have twisted it a bit or something. It felt better after the application of ice, so hopefully the injury is superficial and won't prevent me from doing any of the things I want to do here.
In the afternoon, I did some sweeping (lots of sand gets into the condo) and made a black bean, mango, and corn salad for our dinner. The mangoes we have been getting lately are huge, juicy, and delicious, and appear to be the same variety my "Papa" grew on his tree in Ft. Myer's, Florida. Major yum! I also did a little yoga and Pilates, and some reading.
Barry kept busy with home improvement projects. He got a hasp and lock installed on the doors to a storage area where we can keep our bikes, which allowed us to move them (and all the sand they bring in) out of our condo. This made me very happy! He then started working on installing a handle and latch for our screen door. Screen doors here do not come with this very essential part, as I guess they leave it up to the owner to install the hardware they prefer.
Unfortunately, he dropped a part of the latching mechanism on the tile floor, and it shattered. It was very poor quality. It's difficult to get good hardware here, and the selection is quite limited. There are hardware stores, but nothing like Home Depot or Lowe's back home, with their almost overwhelming array of choices. Hopefully he can find some small piece of hardware that will complete the installation without re-buying the whole mechanism again. Barry has got a good bit of McGuyver in him, so I'm betting on it!
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