Canadians in the Pool, or What in the World Are Gooeyducks?

The community clubhouse, gym, and pool for Riviera Alta are only about half a block away.  Since the weather has warmed up considerably, so has the pool--which is heated also by solar panels, currently at the temperature of 91 F, just the way I like it!  Anyway, we've taken advantage of the facility recently.  Bob has been using the stationary recumbent bike to strengthen his leg muscles, then joining me by the pool where he swims a couple of laps, increasing every day. (Yay, Bob!)

Yesterday while Bob was biking inside, I relaxed under an umbrella by the pool to read a little.  A young couple were there with their very young children (maybe 3 and &).  Daddy was in pool in giving very loud directions and encouragement to the kids.  Then another couple who were sunning climbed into the pool to cool off and swim.  Conversation ensued (again, quite loud) and they exchanged where they were from--the young couple from Vancouver (which they pronounce something like "Vancyouver, " the other couple from Ontario (where I think 9 out of 10 Canadians down here are from; sometimes they say more specifically "Trano," translated to the city most of know as Toronto.)  Anyway, the strangest conversation ensued as they played the game of who do you know in Vancouver:

 "Oh, my brother lives there."
"Oh, yah? Where?"
"Surrey."
"Oh, we have lots of friends who live there. They like it, eh? What does he do?
"Oh, he's a "gooey-duck" diver."
"Oh, yah? I know somebody who does blah-blah-blah....." also related to :gooey-ducks.

So, by now, I've given up reading because the loud voices are so distracting and I'm amusing myself listening to the accents so like the ones that people imitate and make fun of.  But at the word "gooey-duck," I began to pay closer attention.  What in the world are gooey-ducks and why do you have to dive for them? They mentioned growing vegetation on the ocean floor to improve their habitat.  I'm thinking, that makes sense, but ducks don't dive that deep, why do humans have to?

Thoroughly mystified, I recounted the bits of conversation I had overheard when Bob came out to join me.  We joked a bit about the Canadian stereotypes, and I puzzled over how I would look these ducks up since I only had a phonetic spelling in my mind.  Nevertheless, as soon as we got home, I went straight to my buddy Google and typed in

What is a gooey-duck?

Be my guest.  Hint: it doesn't have web feet and go "Quack, Quack."

Baby Steps

Things are looking up today! I drove all by myself somewhere. Freedom!

I hadn't really missed driving.  In fact, I didn't know it made a difference until I was out on the carretera, having successfully navigated the left turn across traffic at the bottom of the hill.  I was on my way to my first yoga class all by myself. And as I settled into the (relatively) easy Mexican road, I realized that the radio was on, tuned in to SiriusXM to one of my favorite stations.  Wow--instant happiness boost!

Later, as I was prepping pico de gallo for our dinner of black beans and rice, it occurred to me that since Bob has unraveled the mysteries of streaming Roku etc. out of the US, maybe we could get Pandora streaming on the TV as well.  Yes! So (of course you'll never guess my cooking dinner station), I happily chopped away.  The rice is ready, the pico de gallo is ready.  All I have to do is heat the beans.  And even more daring, I'm going to have a Corona with dinner, maybe the whole bottle.  Too soon to say.

Bob is reading with his feet up and we have plans to watch last night's Downton Abbey and maybe the James Bond Spectre we've been saving--pirated copy from the market.

And I think I'm going to create a Dean Martin station for our Pandora. Even more happiness. The power of music.

(Somebody please comment so I know you're out there??)

Super Bowl Sunday: A Cloudy Day

Not that one has anything to do with the other, but for some reason I had the blues today: missing my own home where I know where (most) everything is and if I need something I know where to go shopping to find it.  Most of all, I'm missing the kids and friends--all y'all, including Susannah and John who aren't where "home" is, but it feels different here somehow even though we communicate the same way--at a distance.  As the day wore on, that feeling of displacement, dislocation, whatever it was just hung over me like the overcast skies today--the first cloudy day since we got here about 18 days ago.  We got to talk to everybody which helped a lot.  But I really found my own personal cloud lifting when I started cooking tonight's dinner--risotto and shrimp.  Maybe the familiar movements, having everything I needed at hand, doing something productive, but it helped a lot.

Super Bowl? Only the background to my cooking. Time to eat dinner.