Another year and the adventure continues.

Greetings from Ricardo,

This has been a very challenging year to say the least but with an ending that was well worth the journey for us nomads. Let’s begin with the once in a life time event that unfortunately occurred to our home in beautiful Carrboro. You all must know that we had a flood that took everything but the physical structure of our home at 110 Riverbirch Point. So what was good about it.  I want to say something without sounding as a person in denial.  First of all after 3 weeks of mediation we sold the house and there is not much more to say here. On the same day the house was sold we started our trip north for our yearly family reunion with our new car,  a 2025 Camry hybrid.  Yes it was hard, very hard but the memory was thankfully short lived . I feel that we were the unlucky lucky ones moving forward quickly into our new life here at Twin Lakes Community.

Now we are at TLC, which is like an adult camp.  I have never felt so safe and cared for in my 71 times around our precious sun. We are focusing on getting back as much strength as possible with yoga, a physical trainer and many walks around our new neighborhood.  For the most part our lives haven’t changed that much.  Eating yummy food and watching shows most nights.

We are only 40 minutes from Carrboro/Chapel Hill so friends come here and we travel back on average of once a week. Yes TLC is different but for us who don’t have strong feelings of attachments the transition was doable.  Thankfully we had the Herculean help from Susan’s incredible and beautiful sister Nancy who helped getting us setup in our new home.

Richard and Mei Mei also traveled to spend a week with us which is always a joy.  We look forward to Alan and Marilyn when they stop here for time to share on their return trip from Florida. Sadly, I won’t have much repair work for Alan here as I don’t even change a light bulb! We've also had so many of our dear friends come to visit including a few of my men’s group crowd.

Sending love and wishing you all a blessed and fruitful year to come.
Ricardo

And from Susan...

Hello to our family and friends as we say goodbye to 2025 and approach the year 2026 with much gratitude. As usual for us, life has its ups and downs with unpredictable moments. Somehow, we get through each challenge hopefully a bit stronger (in attitude, if not for physical strength). As last year came to a close I was struggling to gain my strength to walk normally after my broken femur in Paris. This required many months of PT and OT. I am happy to say that I am walking well without aids.  

We then spent most of the next 6 months enjoying our home in Carrboro including a celebration for Ricardo's 70th birthday in February as well as seeing our friends and family and enjoying life. Little did we know that these would be the last months to enjoy that beautiful home. We had plans (as I mentioned last year) to move to a CCRC in Burlington, NC. (Continuing Care Retirement Community) so we were beginning to think about what we would bring from our home, and what not to bring. As many of our friends learned, this is a big challenge...letting go of one or more parts of life and starting another.

Now let's flash forward to the night of July 6, 2025. There had been some rain during the day, but nothing unusual. Richard looked out the front door at around 9:30 when we went to bed and there was no rain. As usual, one or the other of us (Richard in this case) got up at 11ish to pee and stepped into water over his knees. We were both up, walking around the house in three plus feet of water. Neighbors were all on their phones wondering what we should all do. Someone found out that the police department would be coming house to house to rescue us in a police boat. We were told to stand by our front door with a flashlight. They took us outside our neighborhood to dry land and then took us to the Hampton Inn in Carrboro for the night. There were 46 out of 56 homes in a similar situation in our neighborhood and 10 houses built high enough to miss this flood caused by Tropical Storm Chantal. Thankfully the rain stopped at about the same time as we were transported out of the neighborhood or the damages could have been even worse. Gratefully, no one was physically hurt but for many there was psychological and emotional pain which continues to this day for some. 

The following day brought us into reality as we all faced this scene and had to decide what to do. I was not physically well enough to go back to the house and face the mud and damage to all our belongings. Richard was amazing as he immediately contacted his friend Everado who came with his family and friends to our aid right away and began the job of cleaning up. He figured that everyone was going to be needing help and the key was speed to minimize moisture sitting in the house causing mold. They ripped out the walls (4 feet up). rugs, floor boards and started the big piles that were soon everywhere in front of all of the homes - of furniture, appliances, etc.

In the end, we lost all our furniture except 2 small end tables (made of metal and glass). We lost our car, all our appliances and all household goods and clothing that were up to 4' in the house. I remember seeing all my shoes floating by as we were walking around the house that night. Looking back now those first few days felt like a surrealistic dream. Several friends came to help cleanup the first few days and we scrambled to hire cleanup companies to start and finish the cleanup. Then there was the need for electrical work, HVAC, etc. Ricardo was remarkable in how he handled the whole process. Needless to say, it was a very stressful time. Thanks to Ricardo, we were the first home to be emptied and with big fans - dried out and ready to sell (obviously at a much lower price then would have been before the flood). We sold it on Aug 1st, only 3 weeks from the flood. Then we were able to move on. We followed our plan to head north to NY and MA to visit our families and attend our annual family reunion at Cape Cod.

Love my brothers and sister

the whole family in Brewster, MA

So....getting back to what I was writing about - letting go of stuff and preparing for a move to a CCRC or anywhere....Much of this decision making was made for us. We were able to move into our apartment in Twin Lakes at the end of Aug instead of the planned move at the end of October and we brought our dishes, pots and pans and most of our clothing. No need for a moving van or deciding which pieces of furniture! This was a major lesson in non attachment and letting go. I suppose our lifestyle for many years of minimalism was helpful and our life of moving from place to place in our travels and house sitting days in Mexico helped us prepare for this time in our lives. I am so grateful that we were safe and sound and have all we need now. It's funny about stuff....we can live with so much less than we think!

One of the lakes 

Now we are in our new lives. We felt like newlyweds moving into our first home as we had to buy all new furniture etc. My sister Nancy was my angel during the first week in helping us set up our home. There were so many details to take care of and she was instrumental in making it happen. We lost all the paperwork, both important and unimportant, as well as the photos that remained after we went through them during Covid. We had saved only the important ones in a small box on a shelf in our garage. Oh well...at least I have the blog posts and photos in that for memories. We still notice things missing as we need them.

Wittenberg

We are VERY happy here at Twin Lakes. There are so many activities and the people who live here and the staff are all friendly and helpful in so many ways. We are in an apartment building (Wittenberg) of 24 apartments on 3 floors. Everyone knows each other and there are many activites to do together. At the same time we all have our privacy and our own lives. Unlike many CCRCs, there is no food plan or dining hall for all. There is a small cafeteria and a regular restaurant on campus. This was important to us because I am so fussy with my food lifestyle and wouldn't want to have to eat one or more meal daily. We are still the "new kids on the block" and getting to know folks. 

Cousins Greg and Bryna helping
on move in day

One other change in our lives is that we have both given up our roles on the Board of Directors of Libros para Todos. I was the President and Ricardo was the Treasurer and we both felt that it was time to pass the baton to others. I am very proud of all that we have done to bring literacy to children in rural communities of Mexico. I will continue to provide support to Daniela Franco, the Director of the program when I can. Many of you who are reading this blog post have been faithful supporters of this program and I hope that you will continue your financial support.

Lastly I am doing the best that I can to accept my Parkinson's Disease. I continue to do exercise, including Rocksteady Boxing (a program of exercise for people with PD) which is available right here at Twin Lakes twice/week. We both have dedicated our first months here to yoga, strength training and lots of walking. 

That was a long winded blog post. Remember, I write much of it for ourselves to remember our year. 

As this year comes to an end we both wish you 

A  HAPPY HOLIDAY SEASON AND NEW YEAR.

Looking Back on 2024 - seeing the good from the bad

We both want to send our best wishes for this holiday season and for the year ahead. It has been an interesting year for both of us and here are a few thoughts we wish to remember for ourselves and share with you.

From Ricardo:

This year I have learned to embrace imperfection in all things big or small and to appreciate the littlest of things. Also to find inspiration in everyday life and to trust in a higher power living life one glorious day at a time, now more than ever before. I’m very thankful to have so many wonderful people who I call family in my life who have my back as I have theirs. I have come to realize that this kind of trust builds the best of connections and allows us all to breathe naturally and to be of good cheer.

As 2024 draws to a close, I reflect on a year of profound transformations for us, realizing that we are aging and looking at taking responsibility for our future needs. We hope to be at Twin Lakes in Burlington, NC next year, which is a CCRC (Continuing Care Retirement Community) that we have come to like. We are waiting for a two bedroom villa which we saw last year. We do love our current home in Carrboro however the time to move is near.

It was a year of travel, to Mexico twice and then to France. We have pushed our boundaries in Paris due to an accident that occurred upon entering the country. From this experience we have discovered a different kind of strength within ourselves. Looking back now it is slowly becoming more of a distant memory.

It was a year of experiences forcing us to adapt and find new paths forward. Most importantly, it was a year of wisdom, teaching us the value of resilience, gratitude, and the power of pursuing life with gusto. We now have a deeper sense of ourselves and how we fit in to the greater world around us.

From Susan

There has been much to be grateful for in 2024. It's been a year since I have written and as usual, our time is full of adventure. We started our year continuing our time in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. There we have a great community of friends and catching up with them all is part of the fun of being there. Also we continue to support our not-for-profit organization Libros para Todos which has been successfully going on for 11 years. I would never have imagined what it would become and how we help so many children, mostly from rural communities to enjoy reading and other cultural experiences. 

For me, the highlights of this year were the visits of all my siblings and their partners. I am blessed to have a close relationship with all of them. First came Richard and Mei Mei to visit in San Miguel. We enjoyed the usual - walking around the beautiful town, eating in many restaurants, street vendors and being home. (We were house sitting once again at the same beautiful home that we have for many years). We returned to house sit another time in mid April to June 2. Mexico has been high on our list for living for so many years that it feels like home.

My sister Nancy and Tom came to visit us in North Carolina in early February. It was great to have them with us and we always have much to talk about and to laugh about. We played Scrabble many nights together and they returned to Massachusetts and bought their own set.

March brought my other brother Alan and Marilyn to North Carolina on their yearly trip north from Florida to upstate New York. Richard always has a long list of handyman jobs for Alan to work on. It is great to have someone who loves repairing and fixing things, With them as well the other sibs, there is always walking, talking and eating good food.

September brought Nancy back to NC (more on that in a moment) and Richard and Mei Mei visited again this month. Richard (brother) is a great cook and loves to make food for others. The rest of us love to eat his food. With them, we also played Scrabble every night.

We saw nearly the whole extended family of nieces, nephews and their children for another family reunion at Cape Cod. This has been a tradition for a very long time. How lucky I am to have the chance to be with my family with quality time together. I love you all very much.

Now for the bad. Most of you know that at the end of September I fell upon arrival in Paris and broke my hip (femur). It required surgery and I have 2 pins and a screw holding my femur bone together at the top. I spent 10 days in the hospital in Paris (with Richard staying at an AirBnB one hour away by Uber every day.) This was a big challenge for both of us. Thanks to good travel insurance we were flown back to NC with a nurse escort who took care of all the transportation details and me. After 2 days in the local hospital (UNC Hospital) I was sent home to start my rehabilitation with PT and OT. Unfortunately 3 days later I was rushed back to UNC Hospital with sepsis (from a UTI) and spent 5 days in ICU. I was then transferred to UNC - Hillsborough for a 10 day intense rehab program. So that was the first month. I made good progress and went home and have been recuperating ever since, I am now walking with a cane and here and there with no aid. I was not myself for the first month or so but now feel much better. Nancy came when we returned from Paris to help Richard and to help figure out what we should do once I came home. I am so thankful to her..

The good that came from the bad is the fact that I have such a great community of friends and family in many parts of the world that were rooting for me all the time. I felt all the love and I know it contributed to my healing. 

Also good was the hospital in France as far as the surgery and the nursing care and I have nothing negative to say about all the experiences at the UNC Hospital - both Chapel Hill and Hillsborough. Lastly my thanks go to my PT and OT people.

And the best I save for last - the love and care ALL the time from my darling husband Ricardo. Neither of us have experienced caregiving for an extended period of time but Ricardo showed that he was the best.

So, as the year comes to the end, I thank you all who are reading this post for your love and support and have so much gratitude as we continue on this adventure of life. May 2025 bring peace and tolerance in the world.

2023 Another wonderful year

Ricardo's thoughts on 2023.

I’m writing from Mexico, wondering what is important and not about this past year.  Of course I continue to feel lucky with our continued adventures as we travel  together. I must admit that I have come to the conclusion that no place is the best however being healthy and of good cheer keeps me centered and free from many of the everyday problems.

San Miguel decorated for the holidays

For me, not feeling too attached to my possessions, which I have some, allows me to worry less. People ask me where I prefer, Mexico or the United States. This is a hard question to answer since they are both different in so many ways yet they both give me joy and comfort.

 Let me explain simply.

My home in North Carolina is very comfortable and a very easy place to live.  It’s ours that we have created together and filled it with our many memories and memorabilia. We have many close friends there as well as our UU church community which is not to shabby. When I’m not there I miss mostly my friends and my community.

My place here in Mexico is a home that we are house sitting again for friends who like to travel for months at a time. They have often invited us to care for this beautiful place. Being a house sitter is great opportunity for us, but I know that this kind of experience here in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico will sometime come to an end.

We are seeing ourselves in a window now for our future travels and still have a bucket list that we hope to fill.  Like up north, we have many dear friends here and we continue to be involved with our not for profit organization that Susan started 10 years ago, called Libros para Todos. This time here being a direct part of LpT was a very rewarding part of our time. The organization has grown much since its inception. I’m so proud of the staff and the many volunteers.

I am thinking about life’s ups and down that we all experience. For me being a part of a community, is essential and both up North as well as here in Mexico gives me the chance to be of service to others and I know that someday I will be needing help from others. This is what makes a community so important. We are lucky to be part of two communities.

Wishing you a happy New Year and another year around our life giving sun. Sending you all love and health.

Ricardo

And thoughts from Susan....

As another year comes to an end, it is a good time to reflect on all our lives. I love that we have a way to revisit our many activities and travels over the years together. As December 30th is also our anniversary (33 years) we have much to be grateful for.

This year I will focus on several gratitudes.

Family and friends

This holiday year finds us once again in San Miguel de Allende, Mx with friends and family (brother Richard and Mei Mei are joining us on Jan 1st). Truly it is our friends and families that are our most important gifts. When we are in Mx we miss our peeps in the USA and vice versa. We have accumulated many friends all over the world and through this blog and technology we manage to stay connected to most of you. As Richard mentioned above, we are so very lucky to be a part of two communities with many good friends in El Norte as well as Mexico.

The family at Eli and Sabrina's wedding

Health 

As I mentioned last year, I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease just over 3 years ago and I am very grateful to report that I am no different than last year which I attribute to my medication which works well and the active lifestyle I try to keep up with as much as possible. This includes Rocksteady Boxing and strength, balance and coordination exercises. Many of our friends are experiencing issues relating to  aging and it is a time to reflect on all the experiences that we have had over the years that have taught us so much. My reflections on all our many adventures in life give me much to be grateful for.  Many of us are in "La tercera edad" which is the Spanish words for "The third stage" of life and each day is a new opportunity for adventure and growth as we try to accept our changing limitations.

Travel

We continue to enjoy traveling and happy to be able to continue traveling with our base now in North Carolina. You can read my blog posts of our trip to Spain last Spring for 5 weeks including one week with our good friends from England; Dan, Fiona, Aidan and Will. 

Our travels in the USA by car was to New York and Massachusetts this summer to see family and friends. This has been a tradition for so many years. The trip culminated with the wedding of my nephew Eli and his bride Sabrina in MA. What fun to be together for such a joyous occasion.

We returned to Mexico on Oct 1st and here until January 18. Once again we are house sitting for one of our favorite homes and so grateful to reconnect with so many of our friends. 

Libros para Todos

From the opera for LpT

I am very happy to say that we have just celebrated our tenth anniversary of Libros para Todos and I am so grateful and proud of all of the work that we have done to support reading in some of the rural communities of Mexico. Our volunteer team has grown to include all Spanish speakers and we continue with our programs which include 2 big reads/year, 3 week long summer camps, creating small libraries in 2 communities this year and working weekly with 3 rural communities in schools with personalized instruction to help with reading and writing skills. Many students were unable to keep up with their coursework over the several years of the pandemic so this has become a very important part of our work. Richard and I are still on the Board of Directors and are grateful for our 3+ months here this year supporting this program in person. Many thanks go to all of you, our family and friends who have supported this program for the 10 years since its inception. 

Some of our volunteers

So we end this post with good wishes for peace and health in the world and a happy new year for all.

Last week in Spain...Historic Cuenca

We're winding down after five weeks in Spain. Since we changed our plans and skipped Paris, we headed to Cuenca which is halfway between the coast and Madrid.

Cuenca is an ancient city built on a mountain between two rivers and named a world heritage site because of its landscape and architecture from the 12th to the 18th century. So many of its buildings are built into the mountain and some (Casas Colgadas) are hanging off the cliffs. The city's history goes back to the 700's when the Moors came to the area. We stayed in a newer (but still old) section of town at the level of the river which meant walking up the mountain about 20 minutes everyday to see museums and sites. We got lots of walking and steps in everyday. The best of the city to me was the many views and photo opportunities of this ancient city. 

We are back to our slower pace after the week with our family friends in Alicante which means back to our meditation and tai chi in the mornings, our cup of decaf latte/americano and then heading up to the old city center.

Spanish is spoken here almost exclusively and again we have not seen nor heard any Americans for the whole week. We started the week with a tour of the history and main buildings. We observed and understood some of the stories but our Spanish did not allow us to get every detail. There were no guides in English. Throughout the rest of the week we went daily to one or more of the museums and sites.

Cathedral of Santa Maria de Gracia - Gothic architecture and very large church built where the original Moslem Mosque was located. 

Museum de Ciencias (Science) - an interesting museum of the past, present and future with respect to many areas of science, geology, space, etc. There were many interactive exhibits and we experienced the simulation of a 9.2 earthquake which shook me up for several hours afterwards. My whole body was in shock after just a few seconds. I would never like to experience such an event again. As many of the buildings in the center of town, there were incredible views to be had.

Art collection of Roberto Polo - modern art collection

Puente de San Pablo to the Convento of San Pablo - bridge over the river to the building that is now a Parador of Turismo (hotels in historic settings).

Museo de Arte Abstracto, situated in one of the hanging houses. The city has many collections of modern Spanish artists.

Museum of Cuenca - told the history of Cuenca

A special day included a walk along the two rivers that surround the town giving us a better understanding of the geography of the area.

Tomorrow we are off to Madrid for our flight home on Saturday.

I have much gratitude to be back to traveling again and that we were able to do so many physical days of walking miles and many up and down stairs and hills. After these several years of not having our traveling days we were so happy to be back to it. Traveling to different cultures allows us to experience different worlds and learn about different lifestyles. We are so glad to have you all traveling with us.

And from Ricardo...

I have no regrets for traveling to Cuenca. It has much to offer but with a few caveats. First, you will need some command of the Spanish language and second, good legs to walk up and down the mountain to the museums and other attractions  unless you live up at the top.  We chose to live in a newer part of the city, on the flats. This is a very old city built on a mountain. On top is a very famous church in the same location that the mosque used to be along with many interesting museums.

Cuenca is 3000 feet high with a population of 55,000 that has seen its growth change over the years. Like many places in the world, there is difficulty finding workers to support this mainly tourist industry so most of this type of labor has been brought in from South America, very interesting indeed. They speak Castellano Spanish here with no other regional dialect.

There are two rivers running down from the higher peaks which flow around this old city and then join at the end to become one river. It is very picturesque and unlike other parts of southern Spain there is a forest and many green spaces, Cuenca has water which is very drinkable but I still purchased bottle water out of habit.

We are now one hour from Madrid, which we will be flying from on Saturday morning. I’m not going to recommend this place unless seeing a very old city fits your kind if travel. For us it’s been a great place to be as we wind down our time in Spain. Thanks for traveling with us.

Sending love,
Ricardo

Two weeks in Alicante....living the good life.

Happy travelers

What more can I say about this jewel of a town called Alicante, Spain.  From my perspective and that of my friend’s, the Holland/Rhodes and their two children (young adults) who are with us, there is something here for everyone to enjoy. Our flow here starts with a good night’s sleep, leave the apartment about 10 AM for coffee and a croissant, visit one of the great museums, then a walk around town or up to a castle/fort, take a delightful nap, go to the beach for swim and sun, home or out for dinner and play some games before bed. This is just perfect for me.

Castillo de Santa Barbara

This little city of about 350,000 sits right on the Mediterranean Sea with its white sand beach and blue green water and it’s hundreds of coffee spots, tapas bars and restaurants with food that will never stop satisfying a hungry traveler. Also for us are the many excellent museums which are free here. I highly recommend this as a perfect weeks’ vacation with great weather and ample sunshine almost all year around. A caution I will give is that the summers here could be a bit on the hot side especially if you like to walk. Alicante has a few hills going up from the sea with the two Moorish castles or forts, which give the visitors a perfect view of the cities and its beach.  We ate out twice to enjoy the paella of the region and a forkful wasn’t left behind. Lastly let me not forget the ice cream and gelato places especially if ice cream is your passion which is one of mine.

Dragon Fruit

Thank you for traveling with us again in Spain.

Sending love,
Ricardo

Were winding down our two weeks in Alicante. We spent the first week on our own and the second with our good friends from Buxton, England...Dan, Fiona, Aidan and Will. How fun to travel with a family and enjoy good times together. We stayed in two different locations in this small beach city and will leave here feeling that we have a good sense of this place.

It is a tourist destination and we were here during Semana Santa and Easter Sunday which is a busy time with many religious events. Our weather was perfect - no rain (though they need it badly) and for the Brits, it was a lovely warm getaway.

Esplanada de Espana

Once again I will list our various activities to keep our memory alive. As usual, we started our trip with the City history walking tour with guide Jose. He was fun and full of knowledge and the city has a long history with several rebuilds after destruction during wars. It is on the Costa Brava which is along the Mediterranean and has a lovely beach within walking distance of both of our airBnB's.

700 + year old ficus tree

Playa del Postiguet

Santa Cruz neighborhood

Alicante is another great walkable city and we’ve explored most areas during our time here. The backdrop to the city is the mountain with ruins of the Castillo de Santa Barbara on one side and the Castle de San Fernando on the other. We walked up both giving us fantastic views of the city and the beach. Another walking tour included legends and the less touristy neighborhoods of Carmen and Santa Cruz.

We enjoyed some of the many museums all over town. First the Museo de Contemporary Art, and then Bellas Artes Fine Arts museum. The Ocean Race Museum, right on the harbor, tells the story of the big sailing race that goes around the world and leaves from Alicante every 3 years. It is modern and with many exhibits giving a real feel for what these talented sailors go through in this grueling race.

The Water museum gives the history of water in the city and shows the original wells used to store water until it began to be piped into the city in 1898.

We visited the Hogueras Museum which explores the festival of large sculptures similar to Las Falles in Valencia which I already wrote about in the last post.

Terracotta Warrior

We saved the best for last – the Archaeological Museum. We happened upon the unique exhibition of China’s renowned Terracotta Warriors. The Terracotta Army is one of the most famous attractions in China and is considered to be one of the greatest archaeological sites in the world and one of the greatest discoveries of the 20^th century.

Most of our days included time walking along the beach and enjoying the Spanish very laid-back lifestyle. Lots of eating – tapas of papas bravas, padron peppers and of course the paella. The rice and spices are a bit different in Alicante than Valencia but mostly to my taste it was the nearly the same.

Building sand castles

On our last day, today, we traveled out of the city to Elche (a smaller city 30 min away) with a large botanical garden and big Palm Garden.

Showing off for the camera

Palm Garden in Elche

We have changed our final week's plan. Because of the unrest in Paris, we have changed our return flights and now will return from Madrid. We will spend our last week in Cuenca, Spain which is new for us. I will let you know what we see and do next week.

Thanks to all for traveling with us. We are grateful for your many comments.