The rain continues

It's currently raining and 54°. Quite a difference from Saturday's blinding sun and 99°. Haven't had time to look at the news but I'd guess the fires are out, or at the very least under control by now.

I started the day with a cup of herbal tea. Trying to wean myself off caffeine, since it's not good for me on so many levels. But boy the headache! I have to admit I drank about 1/2 cup of Coke midway through the day after aspirin and migraine meds didn't even touch the pain. This might have to be a gradual process.

But my headache is nothing compared to what our poor son has endured ever since his wrist surgery the other day (bone graft and pin inserted). Excessive pain, and this from a guy who has a very HIGH pain threshold. He compared the pain to an auto accident ten years ago when he ended up getting a titanium rod from his hip to his knee. Appreciate your prayers for him.

I made it back to art class today after missing a couple weeks. Not sure if it was the rain or something else, but there were only 8-10 of us there today. Everyone was pretty quiet too. Very intent on, you know, making ART. Little of the usual chatter and gossip. Andrea is also taking the class and Marcela started her out with some exercises on perspective. I still don't have that lesson down pat yet, which is evident in my current work-in-progress. Also evident is my minimal gesso skills. But I'm just pretending it's "modern" art so it's all good.

One of the ladies in class told us about a restaurant in Cordoba that serves food very typical for this area. Not sure when we'll be getting into Cordoba next but we're going to see if we can find the restaurant next time we go.

Actually we need to go in soon and check on our I.D. cards. It's been over a year since we applied and we still haven't received them. A lot of things we'd like and/or need to do require them and those things are on hold meanwhile. No, they don't let you know when the cards are ready; you just have to keep checking back.

Yesterday afternoon Ivan made a mad dash into Cordoba after learning that a missionary friend there was heading to the U.S. because a close family member was having surgery. Ivan met our friend at the airport and gave him the old Vonage phone and computer battery and he'll mail it to our son for us. That's much safer than mailing it from here. I love how God works out even the littlest details for us!

While he was there, he stopped to see a friend whose son gave Ivan some tomato plants (as well as really good lettuce from his greenhouse). We learned last year that planting tomatoes along the back of the yard isn't a good idea because the wall provides too much shade. Instead we're using this big pot we can put over by the patio where it will get full sunlight. Ivan created a frame using bamboo poles so now the tomato plants will have something to climb on.

I can almost taste the tomatoes.

If the farmer's strikes goes on very long, we'll be very happy to have our own little vegetable garden come summer. Last year the strike lasted several months and disrupted food delivery all over the country. Meat and vegetables were hard to come by, and very expensive when they were available. This strike just started last Friday so we'll see how it goes.