I've Had Better Days...

All dressed up!

Chaises in the pool... cool, huh?

I know you don't want to hear me moan and groan and since that's my inclination today, I'll make this blog very short...
Bless the two RMT's that Lisa connected with . One of them taped my knee and swollen ankle yesterday. Feels much better. And can you imagine the lovely tan pattern I'm going to have when the taping comes off!

How to get a fancy tan!
Margaritas by the pool delivered with a smile and getting the staff's attention is not at all difficult. This is my first experience with margaritas. Whether plain or strawberry, they slide right down with no effort.

My saving RMT had a birthday yesterday. Lisa & I dressed for the occasion and enjoyed a festive Italian meal at a table for 10.  Bit noisy for my taste but no one else seemed to mind.
The pics today are not where they were intended to be. I beg your indulgence and will be back on track tomorrow.
No ruins at Tulum for me today. After this morning's seminar session, I plan to sleep. Hoping (and planning) for restoration of body, mind & spirit for tomorrow.
Hola´

The Seminar Begins...

Just a few of those who attended the cocktail reception

I love to travel. I love to learn. I love to meet new people. What then could be better than a trip to warmth, sun and sand coupled with 3-4 hour morning seminars on a topic that interests me (why else would I be attending?) and in the company of about 500 like-minded people? Fabulous, just fabulous!
After each morning's session, we are free for the rest of the day. For me, 'free' means go lie in the sun but there are many off-site excursions one can do (Lisa & I will go to the Mayan ruins at Tulum  tomorrow).
I tried to walk across the beach to the ocean on Wednesday but kept my shoes on which was a mistake. yesterday I went barefoot and was able to make the short trip across white powdery sand and stand ankle-deep in the cool ocean. The waves are big and powerful so I was content to watch others leaping gleefully in the breaking surf. Another fall is not in my plans!
Y'know what's so incredibly neat about this? The entire resort is filled with people who came to attend the Abraham/Hicks seminar. Where ever I am, whatever I'm doing strangers speak to me, and I to them...not just in the buffet lineup but when I'm lying in the sun, in the pool, in the elevator, at dinner... everywhere. We all speak to one another as though we all know one another. Name tags provide not only names but hometown and so far I've talked to people from London, England, Toronto, Calgary, Switzerland, Colorado, Oregon...
I think  the unifying factor is our commonality of purpose. It sure is cool. Last evening we gathered around the pools for a cocktail party where it would have been super easy to eat enough bits & bites to call it dinner. There was such freedom in knowing that whomever I spoke to would respond, and not just with a "Yes, lovely here, isn't it?"  A conversation would begin.
When you have to wait for a table at dinner they give you a black disc and tell you it will beep when your table is ready so you can go wherever you like while you wait.
 Sure enough, it not only beeps, but a series of little red lights starts flashing. Very Star Trek. Very freeing.

The freedom beeper.

What's not to like?

Despite nearly 24 hours of travel and nearly no sleep, it was impossible not to be impressed by this first sight when we walked  out through the lobby doors.

Not long after, Lisa headed off to the beach and I collapsed onto the very wide comfy chaise on our 3rd floor balcony.

When eventually we met up again, Lisa seemed only mildly perturbed that the surf had taken her nearly-new glasses... and it has not returned them!

It's fun to be in a place where all the guests came for the same reason. Everyone speaks to everyone else; in fact, while waiting to be shown to our table last evening, the man behind us asked us if he could join us. He, too, is a Canadian whose wife had made an early night of it after what sounded like a super fun and busy day for them. Perhaps we'll meet her today.

It seems I forgot that this travel and time change ( not to mention my improving-but-still-unreliable knee) would knock me down a bit and I'm looking forward to an interesting day today where I actually enjoy talking to people. Yesterday, I just wanted to sleep. Perhaps that's why I was in bed by 9; Lisa? Can't say when she showed up.

I'm so gald we have 10 days here. It is beautiful; the staff friendly and exceedingly helpful; the pool water is warm; the ocean, playful and my first Margarita slid down ever so smoothly.

All is well. Holá!

Day 1

On the Move Again...

Attempt #2
Wrote the first blog of this series on the ferry and it all disappeared into cyberspace, so... here we go again.
The gypsy has a really truly skirt this time complete wit beads and bells.

The Gypsy's new skirt!

 It's packed and when it comes out at the other end of this flight, I'll be ready to dance. Well, that's the truth only in wishful thinking as I have left home wearing a knee brace... so fashionable!
 During Sunday's Puppy Antics  at The Dog House, a pair of 40 lb. puppies slammed into the side of my knee. Ouch!

Tiny little puppies...not!

I'm happy to be mobile . The knee is improving and where better to be to effect a restful healing than poolside in Mexico having every whim catered to!
 Couldn't manage the luggage on public transportation this time so opted for the luxury of a cab to YVR. $70. versus the $2.50 for public transportation. Ah, well. Sometimes you just gotta do what you gotta do!
Meeting daughter Lisa in Toronto in the very early a.m. tomorrow and then it's on to the sun, sand and seminars in Cancun.
 Stay tuned...
 Gypsy Butterfly Me is on the move again.

Home again, home again...

Bye by, Poods!

Jiggety-jig!
Breakfast in Amsterdam. Afternoon coffee in Horseshoe Bay, BC. Is this not a wondrous age we live in!
The fact that my body has no idea where it is at this moment  (I've been up since 5 a.m.) is irrelevant. It will all sort itself in a day or two.

Wondrous mouth-watering cheeses

I'd never been to Holland before, so even if my visit there was literally a flying one (16 hours, I think), I got to experience a cheese shop where I ordered whatever cheese I wanted on whichever bread I liked with the usual add-ons. Like a pared down Subway, if you will, but no sauces to meddle with the flavour of the cheese. And the cheeses...shelves of them stacked to the ceiling and everywhere little dishes of samplers. I really didn't need to buy anything. Like the old woman in purple I could have "gobbled up the samples in shops". Gotta say, the coffee didn't do it for me...too small a cup, too strong.
 9 hours and 50 minutes is a long time to be a sardine and my observation is that the days of lucking into an adjacent empty seat are long gone. Packed to the ceiling, literally, considering what now gets put in those overhead bins. I do hope those locks are super-strong! KLM did a fine job of seeing that we were constantly fed and watered and afternoon ice cream snack was a first for me. Do I ever stop talking about food?
I have busted up my lower back. (it's temporary) so an anonymous thank you is in order  to all my heroes yesterday who hefted my suitcase. I couldn't have made it without you!

Ahhh...

A Starbucks treat while waiting for the delayed ferry, the warm welcome my family greeted me with, my own bed and the thoughtful gift of my morning starter fluid, orange juice, underlines for me that there really is no place like HOME!
My wings are folded, gypsy skirts and tinkling bells tucked away for now, but just for now.
I'll let you know when I'm on the move again.

Poised for take-off...

An English walk

Today's the day...
 I leave early afternoon for an overnight in Amsterdam and home tomorrow.
 I will be very happy to get home although, that said, I have had the most amazing month here in this lovely village with its friendly people, my 100 Acre Wood, and the company of my new friend, Ian.
 People have been amazing. I don't think I told you that a policeman, (I think he is a policeman), in Derby gave me a ride from the bus station to the train station on Friday. Yesterday, I ended up in a lengthy one-sided conversation with yet another old codger who relived his time in Canada during World War 2. (Should I feel flattered that the old codgers are attracted to me or am I in denial of my own age!!!)
 Having spent my coin on a sandwich at the previous transfer point, I had only a £20. note with which to pay a £1. fare. Old codger quickly whips out a handful of coin and pays my fare, refusing my proffered coin in return. Such a lovely gesture! I must have nodded at all the right places in his monologue but to tell the truth, his dialect was so strong I probably only got one word in twenty!
Santu, my host here in Rolleston, cooked a fabulous authentic curry for dinner and together with Ian, we were a congenial company at dinner last evening.
I am a very fortunate and grateful woman!

Definitely worth the trip!

I didn't see the Sheriff!

 Foot, bus, train & car...yesterday's story. At the end of the train ride, the marvellous Marlow met me in Norwich and we (she ) drove madly off to Saffron Walden where after a quick cuppa at one of the local tea shops, I went off to have a psychic reading with her friend, Alison.  It was a most agreeable reading. I could even go so far as to say inspirational and uplifting.

Jaimie Oliver buys his meat here.

Marlow pointed out the pretty villages we drove through in the dark.
 Although she & I knew one another on the Coast, we realized we really didn't 'know' one another so the conversation of discovery lasted until way past my bedtime! We laughed, we chatted, we agreed, I learned. It was a great evening!
A 'lie-in' was in order this morning... no dogs to let out, no bus to catch.
Eventually, we mustered  the oomph to walk along the river into town. The highlight of the market was the game seller with the still-feathered partridge and pigeons hanging on his stall.

Birds in a feather

Lavenham was to have been the next stop but fatigue won the day and a much-needed nap has partially restored my energy. It will be a low key and early-to-bed evening for me while Marlow goes to celebrate Embolc with her circle.Transportation in reverse order tomorrow when I return to Rolleston for the last supper.
I leave for home on Monday.