Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace. 1 Peter 4:8-10

Shortly after Dave and I had eaten our breakfast, Ken and Dave W. arrived. The four of us were going golfing this morning. Dave W. hadn’t brought clubs along so he was going to borrow MaryLou’s carry-bag and augment her selection of clubs by borrowing from Dave D. We checked in at the pro-shop and to see what the non-member rate for a single game was. Dave W. paid 1200 pesos (about $85 CAD) and we were off.

It was a warm morning, but not too hot for golf. Dave W. said he hadn’t golfed for quite a few years, but right from the first tee, he hit the ball well and played a good game. We all had a very good time — so good that I forgot all about taking a photo of the four of us. The two Daves were occasionally sidetracked a bit when they heard or spotted a bird — Dave W. is a birder and Dave D. is a wannabe birder. Dave D. had a birdie on the 12th hole. The goal is to see if by the end of our stay here he can birdie every hole. I’ve been marking the score but unfortunately I’ve not kept all our scorecards, but I’ll start keeping track now.

After the game we sat in the shade of the clubhouse patio and had hotdogs and beers. The wives were off on their own adventure today — they’d signed up for a ‘food tour’ where they went to a market to buy the supplies for a meal they would prepare and have for dinner. So the boys were on their own for a while.

Dave W. and Ken went home after lunch. Dave D. and I sat around in our place. At around 3 o’clock, the gardener who takes care of the yard across the lane from our place knocked on the door. He is a friendly young man who greets me with a smile and a wave whenever I see him. He introduced himself. I managed to figure out that what Angel was saying to me in Spanish was that Mario, our landlord, had asked him to come mop our floors for us. MaryLou had complained to Mario that we didn’t have a mop and pail and couldn’t clean our floors, so instead of providing us with the tools, Mario had arranged for this man to clean our floors for us. Okay.

While Dave and I drank G&Ts on the balcony, Angel mopped the whole house with some kind of strong-smelling cleaner. Dave and I were looking online to see if there was a movie playing at one of the many nearby Cinemexes that would interest us and play at a time that worked with our schedule. We decided on “The Mule”, a Clint Eastwood movie that we actually can watch on our fancy ‘Rocket’ TV. I’m not a Clint Eastwood fan either, but we really wanted to see a movie in a Merida theatre, and this one was playing at the brand new (and nearby) La Isla Merida mall.

Our Uber delivered us to the mall about 15 minutes after the listed start time for the movie, but with all the previews they played before the actual movie began, we missed about 5 minutes — and we figured we could see what we’d missed on our TV when we got home. The movie was okay, better than I expected. It was in English with Spanish subtitles, which worked out good except for when the Mexican drug smugglers were speaking, which was NOT translated with subtitles for the audience, but left us wondering what they were saying. Well, probably nothing nice — they were the ‘bad guys’ after all.

After the movie Dave realized he’d missed a call from MaryLou. He called her back. She was home. Earlier than we’d expected. Had had a great time. Had shopped, prepared, and eaten a fine Mexican meal. Well WE hadn’t eaten yet. We went to the big (but mostly empty of customers — this is a very new mall!) food court and ordered Pad Thai from one of the booths and complemented that with fine IPA craft beers from another booth. When we’d eaten we went to the Telmex phone shop to see why I couldn’t call my mother with my phone. Our $15 cell phone plans include unlimited calling to anywhere in North America. I had tried calling home a few times, but always got a Spanish recorded message before the phone disconnected. The clerk at the store, who also spoke very little English, finally concluded that I was not dialing enough zeroes in front of the country code — problem solved! I dialed 001 and Mom’s number and got — a busy signal! Well, at least I THINK the problem is solved.

Dave bought three doughnuts from the Krispy Kreme shop and we took an Uber back to our place. We got a little update from MaryLou and ate our desserts before Dave queued up tonight’s Netflix episode of “The Kaminsky Method”. I ran upstairs and tried calling Mom again — and Voila! The phone works. All good at home. Lots of snow. The ladies in the ‘big room’ are working on another puzzle. Brother Walter has arrived in Colombia for a month-long adventure there while his wife Angie is looking after the chickens and playing with their new dog. Dad is enjoying the daily ‘entertainment’ at the personal care home. Good to talk to you. Goodnight.

We watched TWO half-hour episodes tonight. The show is well-written and quite entertaining, but that’s all we could stay awake for tonight. Off to bed.