HOT

Here it is, almost Christmas, and we are wilting under really hot, humid days and nights.  We have the fans going non-stop but it is very uncomfortable.  I checked back in the blog over the past couple of years and at this time we were having cool, rainy days and nights.  But this is ridiculous!  I get out of the shower and, after drying off, I'm as wet as before.  This, too, will pass but right now it's no fun.

We finally got our Christmas lights up (I'll take a pix tonight) and things are looking almost festive.  I bought some noche buena plants at the Monday market to get myself in the mood.  And some red/white flowers with lots of greenery for an added touch.  Still, when it's 82º with 85% humidity it's hard to be very jolly.

Mr. C has gone off to Armeria for a hair cut and it's time for me to bustle around and red up the place.  It's still quiet in town; crowds won't start until Thursday evening.  I think there is a disco at the north end of the malecón (we're at the south end) for some entertainment over the weekend.  The city fathers have encouraged everyone to clean up around properties (they do that twice a year; Christmas and Easter) so there's a lot of weed hacking and tree trimming going on.  The beach is still a sorry sight; I played dominoes at Chuy's yesterday and took a good look at the destruction wrought on his puesto.  Almost half of the front is completely gone.  But little by little the owners are getting things back in order to welcome (they hope) next week's vacationers.

Other than the above mundane news, it's life as usual here at the beach.

Reading a splendid book, the biography of Benjamin Franklin by Walter Isaacson.  An excellent read, especially in this time of political buffoonery.  What a remarkable gentleman he was; wise, witty, crafty, temperate in all things, a very compelling personality.  Isaacson does a wonderful job of making him come alive and seem almost contemporary.  What the book tells me, among other things, that society hasn't changed much in 300 years.