27 D 17

As Christmas slowly disappears in the rearview mirror, things appear to be improving exponentially on the front side and for this we, more pacifically I (BOLD, CAP, ITAL & UNDERSCORED) could not me happier. Or better stated, DELIGHTED.

A Mittwoch, cold, overcast & sluggish. This is the height & epitome of ‘hibernation’. The mid-point of the Dead week at years end.

I find myself struggling to stay warm, watching a ‘special program’ on Ancient Civilizations at the end of the dvd (blu-ray) about the Maya. This is actually the third time thru and

WHAT ??

YOU NEVER WATCH REPEATS OF MOVIES, TV OR ANYTHING …

Well, this one is different.

HOW SO ?

Do I have to stop in my tracks, hi-jack the train of thought to explain the minutia for a NON-Paid up member such as yourself ?

Very well. I mean afterall I do have a minute.

The first time last night it was late & I fell asleep a couple of times so I watched this more focused part again last night making sure I could, would & DID stay awake. It was a chore & tough but that’s how I am.

Anyway, it was good so I decided to watch it again and this being three (3) it is good. An impressive handling of this incredible ancient civilization. Well-written and the scenes & actual sites are some I have visited on my own travels to the Yucatan. The graphics & artist’s renditions are very cool like right out of NatGeo magazines.

The late Linda Schele gave a brief take on the Mayan calendar and how the Mayas used it. Get this.

The different days of the week (there were 13) had unique characters associated and some activities would not be done on some days because it was considered ‘against’ the current (think 'FLOW') while other days would be ‘with’ the current.

I am interpreting this as on some days they did something because it was ‘right’. Other days it was simply ‘wrong’ to do something like mow the lawn. Perhaps.

Isn’t this an interesting take ?

I think so. I might just borrow it for my next calendar revision.

There is a city in Belize I MUST now or next investigate. Lamanai was a very successful coastal trade center for well over 2000 years and contains some of the highest structures in the empire. So the radar is up. Perhaps next opportunity I will dig out the travel books and research the site. You can see why this segment was well-worth the third look. A fourth may not be out of the question IDK.

Now Don Pablo is repairing the roof on his house, a palapa, with palm fronds. Amazing watching the process from collecting the materials and patching the hole.

It says that the Maya were ‘people of the corn.’ I thought those people were from Nebraska. You see, you LEARN something new every day.

So earlier this morning I walked up to the mail drop to send the last Christmas card overseas. Emma, the hard-card is on the way. Let me know when it arrives so next year I can get it in the mail to arrive in a more timely fashion.

I would like to make a trip to some of the more remote Mayan sites such as Tikal, Palenque & Caracol however they are so remote that I would need to either a) be fluent, VERY FLUENT, in Spanish OR b) take a better translator than previous trips otherwise the risk & danger would be too high and unacceptable. The first tc was trusted and we got there, thru & back OK but it was a fairly benign adventure by design.

The second tc/translator was certainly more experienced, the itinerary more rigorous or robust. This tc had formal Spanish language schooling (four (4) years in HS), and they were an experienced ‘world traveler. However, there were a couple of situations that developed where they slipped, stumbled & fell to the point where I jumped in as a more effective ‘communicator’ than a ‘language speaker.’

But that is all history.

Going that deep in-country to visit those sites to lower the risk I am not certain if I could trust just anyone else OR find another person ready & willing to the risks make such an adventure.

My student started a painting class yesterday with a two (2) hour session. Another long session is scheduled for tomorrow. We made some good progress and will continue to eight (8) hours.

There is a ‘high maintenance’ fire in the fireplace. I had to turn on the heat yesterday as it was much too chilly inside for my student-guest. Back to ‘normal’ today and will fire up Ayatolliah again tomorrow for session.

After this dvd ends, I will have a choice to make. I have an audiobook State of Fear by Michael Crichton or a travel blu-ray Cruising the Greek Islands. I am leaning towards the Greek Island getaway at the moment. ANYWHERE WARM right about now.

Today’s image is from the cocina or lab here at the cloud. It is a brand new cocktail called 'the screwed up sunrise'. The free version briefly, Three (3) ice cubes, 1 shot house vodka, 1-2 shots coconut flavored rum (Captain Morgan, Parrot Bay, 90 proof ), top with fresh squeezed orange juice and drizzle in from the top side pomegranate tequila. Garnish with fresh mint because it's there.

Since I have some ‘free time I should spend some time updating the website especially the Gallery tab getting it more heavily populated with more current & up-to-date work. I mean there is so much to update. Not just images as in this case but short essays on shorebirds, decoys & tropical fish.

That’s it. I am done.

Time to move along.