da tomāto

It was windy outside We started preparing for Hurricane Matthew on Wednesday. It was expected to hit us Thursday evening. It came in the wee hours Friday. I heard the wind howling outside. Thank goodness it passed quickly.

Dune Deck's Mimosa Cafe Corned beef hash plate and a mimosa for Sunday's brunch at Dune Deck's. So good. I like that they have fresh fruit too. Yum... Two of us shared this plate. I would not have finished it all by myself. Half of this was just right for me, I ate like a king which is what I like to do for breakfast. That night, we had dinner at another house and everything was delicious. I usually eat small portions at night but it could not be helped, I was so full when we left.

The powerchair after just 2 months One black plastic cap over a front wheel is lost, seat is squeaking, motor is tick-tick-ticking... Phew. It's been gate-checked at airports 4 times (airline staff here in the US are so used to it that it's great traveling now), strapped inside wheelchair-accessible cab (once) and shuttles (twice), wheeled through some small streets (even brick so it hurt my head because my chair does not have shock absorbers), disassembled to fit in an SUV full of groceries, wheeled through sand (tried to but failed - I got stuck and had to be pushed back to the cemented walkway - terrifying), through grass (never again - dirty and uneven ground), through wet ground (ick), drizzle of rain (ack - this is an electric wheelchair, you know)... What else? Point is, I can't keep it pristine, clean and all in one piece. At this point, I'm happy it's still working and I'm free to move around by myself - yipee!

Sunny afternoon in our corner of Florida Florida has unpredictable weather. It can be sunny and rainy and back in just 30 minutes. This afternoon, I plan to sort my clothes, add Stevia sweetener to my d-i-y mocha creamer mix, comb my hair (haha) and maybe grab a snack.

Food Street game app I'm wasting time on this game. Aaargh!

Golden literider ptc 162 model in red. I have a powerchair! Yay! The first picture is the salesman adjusting the metal plate to go up a notch for me. A powerchair was on top of my to-buy list while in Florida. We headed straight to the medical supplies store our first week in. I love my red chariot! Weeee!

From July 2016. Leftovers for breakfast. Just add a sunny side-up egg. Fresh cherries are yummy.

Drove up to Sunrise last week. The sky was beautiful on the way. We went to the local Ikea. I ate their famous Swedish meatballs for the first time. Delicious.

Yay! Find-it organizer/supply caddy was delivered in 2 days with amazon prime. It's well-made and the design is nice. My things fit and they're finally all in one place. Less clutter in my small space.

Maxwell House International Coffee - French Vanilla. Yummy instant dessert coffee mix. It's complete, just stir in hot water. Got this at Walmart for $3.++. I prefer using this as a creamer because the coffee taste is too weak for me by itself. Delicious.

we recently had a short but fun vacation. the weather in southeast florida was nice while we were there. i could sun-bathe any time and not break a sweat. i only did that three times though and yes, i quickly got a tan line and suffered a little sunburn. it was even cold out on several occasions, like when we went to this park in the middle of the afternoon. cold winds with warm sunshine felt good on the skin.

Traveling with a physical mobility issue is very challenging. When we made arrangements for international flights, one of the first things we made sure of was putting in a wheelchair request. Flying from Manila to Florida with two stop-overs (it was cheaper that way!) allowed me to assess how different airport assistance was in three countries. So, I'm just going to write those down now so I don't forget 'em next time we travel. MANILA to FLORIDA At NAIA, Manila, I had to walk from the drop-off area to the check-in counter inside because they said that the room where the chair was coming from was closed pa. Good thing we brought my walker/rollator too. A rep came with the wheels and when he saw us, he apologized. He said that it should have been taken out when we asked for one. Apparently, the guard outside didn't know how to follow up on that. The rep assisted us all the way to the boarding area. I was surprised to see a lot of travelers on wheels. It was assuring, in

We lost power last night at around midnight and it came back up an hour later. The winds were really strong and we saw rain fall like sheets from inside the house. The effects of Fay were worse in other parts of the state like in the Keys and the west side. There were news of twisters in some towns too. We also heard about a storm that's hitting Manila right now (we have TFC kasi). I guess we have the same storm season in Florida and the Philippines. I hope the weather will be fair when we come home from this hiatus. I helped a little (What's smaller than "a little"? That would be how much I helped!) with painting the family room and kitchen here. It's now a "sable hay" color with a maroon-like accent wall -- very nice. They put primer where they were going to put a much lighter new color so that the old color wouldn't affect the end result. I did some priming on one side of a wall, like a fourth of the wall to be exact. lol!

It's said to be a tropical storm as of now but so far, so... fair - the weather, that is. Yup, I've been here in Florida for a couple of months now and Fay is all over the local news today. It's forecasted to pass by tomorrow and over the next few days. Hope it doesn't evolve into a hurricane. There's no rain here right now but earlier this afternoon, there was some heavy rain, wind and thunder. News said that classes are good to go tomorrow... that's good to hear. We're pretty far from the Keys (where it's reported to hit first) so I hope it doesn't get too harsh here. The weekend's almost over and an important occasion's coming up this week -- my birthday! lol! Okay, I am excited but I highly doubt it that we'd be doing anything special. Okay, I'm going to watch the Olympics now...

Being awake at night and asleep till noon has made the dateline jump fairly manageable. It's been a couple of days now that I've gotten up at 8 or 9 am. Ah... I like it. Now, about the food... So far, all I've eaten is Filipino food. "When will I get to eat any other kind?!?" I thought. Well, last Sunday after church, I did get to eat American food - pizza. lol! Not that that's strange except that (it goes without saying that American cuisine is a "mix" of some sort but) there's one thing that - I think - sets it apart... the PORTIONS! Oh, and the portions are HUGE! I could be set for an entire day with a serving of pizza, a side dish and a soda. Well, I could put that to the test... not anytime soon, but later pa. lol! This hiatus of mine is set for three months so I've got plenty of time to do what I think I want to do. lol!