Thursday, February 29, 2024: Welcome to our February cocktail hour, on a leap day! Bienvenidos! Come inside where it’s dry and warm, por favor (I’m trying to practice my Spanish as we prepare to travel to Central and South America). I can offer you some chilled Cava or any wine of your choice. Or a Michelob Ultra or Hop Slam. We are still trying not to drink on any day except Wednesdays and on the weekends, although we haven’t been very successful at keeping to that schedule. I can also offer sodas or seltzer water of various flavors.
Luckily February has been a snow-free month (except for one night where it snowed and never accumulated), but we have had some sub-freezing temperatures. This week we’re having some unseasonably spring-like days, but still with scattered gloomy days. Soon, you’ll hear me complaining of the heat, as we are headed to Central and South America in March. It will be mostly tropical there, with temps in the 90s, although we’ll have some respite in Bogotá and Medellín, Colombia. I’ll write more about that upcoming trip in another post.
Now that we’re firmly into 2024, how is the year treating you? Have you read any good books, seen any good movies, binge-watched any television series? Have you learned anything new, taken any classes or just kept up with the news? Have you been planning your adventures for the year? Have you had any winter getaways? Have you sung along with any new songs? Have you dreamed any dreams? Gone to any exotic restaurants, cooked any new dishes? Have you undertaken any new exercise routines?
At the beginning of the month, Mike and I took a long walk along the C&O Canal in Maryland and enjoyed seeing the churning waters of the Potomac River at Great Falls.
I continued doing yoga once a week, rowing at The RowHouse once a week, and walking the rest of the time (weather permitting). I’m trying my best to stay fit as time marches onward.
LOVE sign in Vienna on one of my walks
I continued my obsession with scanning old family photos and sharing them on Google photos with the kids. I’m also splitting them up between the kids and getting them out of my house. The most surprising (& depressing!) thing was seeing all the horrible hairdos I’ve had over the years. I especially hated the ones of me in super short hair, and weirdly I seemed to have many short hair years. I also made the big mistake of getting a perm in 1989 and had to live with the consequences of having a Brillo-head for nearly a year! Here are a batch of them if you’d like a good laugh.
I also spent a lot of time this month booking all our accommodations for our trip to El Salvador, Nicaragua and Colombia. After I signed up for the Smart Traveler program, I got a number of warning messages from the U.S. State Department about going to those places. Crime, armed robberies, kidnappings, terrorist attacks: apparently nowhere is safe. I get stressed about traveling under normal circumstances, but I got myself super stressed with all these warnings and then started having mouth pain which I was convinced was a root canal gone bad. I went to see both the dentist and the endodontist, both of whom told me nothing was wrong. They must think I’m crazy as I’ve been to see them numerous times in the past before traveling, and most of the time, it is nothing but stress causing some nerves in my mouth to act up. What is wrong with me?! Yikes.
We went out to eat at some fabulous restaurants: Nanjing Bistro (the first time we’ve eaten Chinese food in ages), Woodlands (our favorite vegetarian Indian restaurant), Ariake Japanese for Valentine’s Day, and Seasons 52 after a shopping trip for Mike’s birthday at Tyson’s Corner.
On Saturday night, February 24, for Mike’s 70th birthday (which was Monday, the 26th), we went downtown to the Phillips Collection. He kept saying that because his 70th was during a leap year, he got to continue being 69 for another year (Sorry honey, but it doesn’t work that way!). We thought we were going to see a special exhibit on Pierre Bonnard, but we found when we got there it didn’t start until March 2. Oh, well, we enjoyed what was there, mostly Impressionist but also other paintings.
After the museum visit, we tried out a contemporary Mexican Restaurant in DuPont Circle that had been written up by The Washington Post, Amparo Fondita. We arrived early, sat at the bar and had drinks and Totopos with three salsas (one a delicious black garlic concoction), and then took our reserved table at 5:00 (I know, early, but it was the only reservation available). There we had delicious tacos and a delicious Tres Leches cake for the birthday boy.
On Sunday night, we extended the birthday celebration by going to Mazadar Restaurant with Mike’s older sister Barbara. Then we came home and enjoyed a “chocolate eruption” cake.
Mike finally applied to Social Security but he forgot to apply on my behalf for half of his income. Thus I had to go sit in the Social Security Administration office for 2 1/2 hours, only to be told I needed to wait until April 9 for my phone interview. Only AFTER the phone interview could I submit the required documentation of my marriage certificate, even though I had it with me at the time I was there. What inefficiency! I was so angry at having to waste so much time all for nothing.
I read 5 books out of my goal of 52 for the year, bringing me to 9/52. The best were An Artist of the Floating World by Kazuo Ishiguro and The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez, a Colombian author. I couldn’t believe how much I loved these two novels, which explored the guilt and moral dilemmas of the Japanese after World War II and the aftermath of the drug wars and cartels of Colombia, respectively.
We also watched some fabulous movies this month, especially the intense German movie, The Teacher’s Lounge, and The Monk and the Gun, which was set in Bhutan. Besides that, we finally finished watching the last of 208 episodes of How I Met Your Mother (2005-2014) and the final episodes of The Crown (2016-2023).
Sadly one of our neighbors, Adele, who is only a bit older than we are, passed away unexpectedly. She had been having problems seeing out of the bottom of her eyes since May, and slowly she deteriorated so that she couldn’t walk, was falling down, and finally was on oxygen because she couldn’t get her CO2 levels right. The worst thing was that no one could give her a diagnosis or treatment. It was some kind of mystery illness, which is scary for all of us. We went to her funeral service on the last day of February.
Lucky for me, Darina notified me that she will be flying into the airport near my house, Washington Dulles International, to begin a program through the U.S. Embassy in Slovakia where a group of teachers will visit ESL-teaching schools in the U.S. So I will get a chance to see her on March 2 for a night when we pick her up from the airport, have dinner together, and deliver her to D.C. 🙂
I hope you’ll share how the new year is panning out for you, and what plans you have for 2024. 
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The highs and the lows of life, hey Cathy! That’s a great collection of old photos. I ought to start on mine but I know how much time it will usurp. Worse than the Social Security office but a lot more enjoyable. Glad Mike enjoyed his birthday celebrations. 26th was my Dad’s birthday too. I raised a glass, but we really do drink too much these days. Rowing sounds strenuous, Cathy!
You read such interesting books. I’m a slowcoach at reading. Traveling plans- Leeds at the end of March, just for a week and hopefully an English Spring Easter break. Then Ronda and the white villages in May. Nantes in Brittany in June to visit friends. That needs a lot of sorting because we have transport issues. Valencia with James and family at the end of July, and that’s as far as I’ve got (though I’m scheming for August and our 35 years anniversary). Life is mostly busy and I don’t spend enough time in planning, but you have to live for the day.
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I have hundreds of these scanned photos now, Jo, and it took forever. I intended to spend an hour each day, but as it turned out I was like a demon possessed and couldn’t stop doing it until all the loose photos were done. I still have albums to do, but those are more difficult. It definitely usurps a LOT of time! And yes, a lot more enjoyable than the Social Security office. At least you get to take a trip down memory lane while you’re doing it.
Interesting that your father’s birthday was also on Feb. 26. Happy heavenly birthday to him. I’m sure you feel heartbreak but also happy memories when his birthday comes around.
As for reading, I love to read. Now I have 6 books going at once, and not one of them has me intrigued as these two favorites I mention above plus my favorite for January, At the End of the Matinee. I hope the ones I’m reading will get better at some point.
You have so many travel plans ahead. I know you’ll love the Leeds trip and spending time with family. I adore Ronda and the south of Spain. Brittany sounds great too. Valencia with the family will be wonderful (& hot) at the end of July. It’s so hard to plan trips. I love to dream of them, but I really try to avoid until the last minute the nitty-gritty of planning. Now I’m a week away from a month-long trip and I still have so much to do. Ugh. Once I’m on the plane, I’m home free.
We also plan to go to Bali and back to Japan in September-October. And Atlanta for a week in May. I need to meet Sarah for a weekend for her 40th birthday as she now lives in Virginia Beach with her dad and stepmother while she’s working at as a paralegal in a law firm there.
Enjoy all your travels. 🙂
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🤗🩷
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A very full month! Belated happy 70th to Mike. I loved your old photos, I agree you suit longer hair better. I had long hair when I was young. I used to argue with my mother because she liked it kept short when I was a child, then when I was about 13 I just refused to get it cut. Now I like short hair because it is easy and I can’t face the horrendous growing out phase. Mum was quite triumphant about this!
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Mike thanks you for the good wishes, but he insists he’s still 69. Some people just won’t accept the truth! lol.
For sure, my face is way too square and mannish to have such a short haircut. I can’t believe I kept it like that for so many years. I think I thought once I started having kids I needed to look more like my parents, and that meant having short hair! It looks like your mom did win out in the end, because in most pictures I’ve seen, you have short hair. It suits you better than me, and for sure, it’s easier to take care of. The one thing I do to keep mine in better control is straightening it every 4 months. Otherwise, it’s a big frizzy mop!
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There’s nothing better than an extended birthday. Go Mike! You had another busy month. February was pretty quiet for us, it’s been nice to be home in between trips.
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We do like to stretch out our birthdays here, Carol. I find getting older lets you do whatever you darn well please! It’s fun. 🙂
You have been traveling a lot so I’m sure you enjoyed a rest time. We got back home around the end of October from our last trip and leave next week for our next month-long journey, so we will have had 4 1/2 months at home. Once we get home from that trip, we’ll have 5 months till our next big trip to Bali and Japan. 🙂 So a lot of down time this year.
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