January 15, 2008

Dear Dad,

On Sunday Celiece picked me up at home and after we stopped to rent some movies she took me to her house for a slumber party. Who were the invited guests? Just the two of us.

Celiece had stopped at the grocery store and the car was full of groceries so all we had to do was stop for the movies.

Celiece has not been home since Dec 29, 2007 when she left with a group on a tour.

We were greeted by her two dogs, a Weimaraner and a Cocker Spaniel and her two orange (yellow cats they are called here – but they are really orange in color) one short hair and one long and fluffy that came running out of the pine tree forest to greet ¨their mom¨.

Marlon is on a tour now and I thought it would be a lot of fun to spend the night together.

Still in place were all her Christmas decorations. She did a lovely job. There were little Christmas fairies hanging from a door or the light above the dining room table or on a shelf. The balcony was decorated with bows and boughs of green with crystals and gold stars. We have similar tastes. Her maid even made a nice floral decoration for the dining room table.

It is not unusual to have cooler weather this time of the year. We are getting the cold winds that blow into here from the North. Because Celiece and Marlon’s house is about another 1000 feet higher than ours, the weather is a lot cooler.

I was happy I packed my sweats and socks and I sat under a light blanket watching movies with Celiece until it got dark and then Celiece brought out the heavier blanket. Even a kitty sleeping on my lap was not enough to keep me warm.

The view from the living room is incredible. So far up on top of a mountain it was possible to see most of downtown and more. It is amazing to see all the lights at night

and the tiny looking buildings so far away.

You would not believe the violets she has blooming. Grandma would be proud. I have trouble keeping my maid from over watering and it has been a long time since any of my plants have bloomed; but Celiece has 6 gorgeous blooming plants on her windowsill above the kitchen sink that would win a blue ribbon in a contest.

We had chips and salsa, not ordinary chips but rice cakes. Celiece is very careful with what she eats. She worked hard to lose a lot of weight and keeps working to keep it off

with a strict diet and exercise. You should see her bi-ceps.

We would have walked to the top of her garden and sit on her tiny deck but the roof blew off during the first week of January when we had really windy weather. Instead we washed clothes to get her ready for the next tour – leaving on Saturday and brushed the cats and spent the rest of the time talking. 

After Celiece and Marlon were married, I gave them the furniture from Casa Calypso and included was the four poster bed that David had made our first year of living here. It was fun to sleep in my old bed, under two down quilts and another blanket to keep warm; next to my daughter. Celiece doesn’t move at all in bed and I do. She also accused me of sleeping at an angle, which is how I sleep and this is because I always have a cat sleeping at the foot of the bed. It was a real slumber party.

My old bed, now Celiece and Marlon`s bed, is very comfortable especially since we gave them some memory foam to put on top of the mattress to make it softer. I was so comfortable, cozy and warm and like her bed better than mine.

I was surprised at the noise however. Her house sits on a hill above the street and the noise of the motorcycles and cars going by were loud to me because I am not used to it. Also, at my house there is no noise. In spite of the sounds, I slept well and woke with the morning sun and bird sounds coming from a tree outside the bedroom window.

After spending Sunday watching movies and chatting, we un-decorated her house and packed away all her decorations on Monday. She is very neat and had plastic containers to put everything in.

I know how big a job it is to pack all the fairies and lights and boughs away because I did it myself. Both of us were glad that she didn’t have a tree this year and taking down everything and packing it all away and then storing it in a little cubby - hole she had made when the house was built to use for storage. We had her two cats to help.

Once on top of the mountain, they only way into town is by car. I didn’t want Celiece to take me to the office because she hardly gets to be at home, so I played sick and we spent another wonderful day together. Celiece fixed a nice pita bread sandwich filled with pesto, sun dried tomatoes, turkey slices, feta cheese, and then toasted the whole thing for lunch and we watched the last of the movies we rented. David drove up in the afternoon to get me and I was home again by 7:00pm I want to do it again

Lots to do.

This is the news for the week.

Besitos, Cecs

P.S. I forgot to mail this before we left for the beach, but I will mail it today.