Aging can be a beautiful thing......or not?

Aging can be a beautiful thing....if we keep our clothes on

I have never really worried too much about looking old, I have thought about getting old and how I will function, Will I be healthy, will I be mobile, how will my eyes and hearing be, will I remain sane, I have thought of all these things but never too much about how I will look. Until now. When you live on the beach you tend to see a lot of people uncovered, many uncovered people, people that should never be uncovered are shedding their clothes on the beach. You would be surprised at who is walking around in a 2 piece bathing suit. For a few years I just thought "if she is comfortable walking around looking like that who am I to judge"........not that I am judging I am just noticing, but lately it has made me ask myself a few things, do I look like that? Will I look like that soon? Is she sick or unhealthy or is that normal to look like that at her age? Age...when people are uncovered it is even harder to tell how old they really are because almost everyone looks terrible when they are uncovered...seriously. Undress your self and jump up and down in front of the mirror a if playing volleyball.....how young do you look?
There are a few things contributing to this unpleasantness from what I can see. One is skin that does not fit. There are people that are clearly not wearing the right size skin, this effects all sizes of people. What causes this? I did some research (Google it) This is caused by the skin losing it's elastic over time, it starts happening at the age of 30.Oh dear.
Another thing that contributes to this unpleasant look is skin that looks like hamburger,  have you seen that red and white bumpy skin. It's a combination of sun damaged skin and cellulite. Not pretty. Cellulite also starts at age 30.
So how do we prevent this from happening?
As always it comes down to our eating habits. It's really very simple. A diet of fresh fruits and vegetables and plenty of water and less sun exposure, and using natural oils as moisturizers like Olive oil, coconut oil and almond oil, and as little sugar as possible and daily exercise. (the jury is still out on which exercise is best) In order for the skin to keep it's elastic it needs live enzymes, any food that's processed has no live enzymes in it anymore, we need to consume more raw fruit and vegetables or you can buy enzymes tablets in a health food store but I say why not just eat the food, it is so much tastier.
Smoking causes the elastic to snap as well and forms the winkles around your mouth, I did quit smoking 10 years ago but I can see some damage has been done. Massaging oil onto the wrinkles and lines is suppose to minimize them, so I will be trying that.
Sun damage is also a factor, I am not convinced that the sun causes Cancer but I know it can make your skin look like a worn out old leather shoe. I am also not convinced that sunscreen isn't one of the causes of cancer so I would say (but what do I know) just to cover up during the hot times of the day, which happens to be 11am - 2 pm here. A simple hat and a long sleeve thin t-shirt or light gauzy weight blouse would do.
Another thing that could be making you look old and ugly is the fact that you have next to no clothes on....put some clothes on and you will immediately look younger.

A case of the wrong size skin and not enough clothes

Too much sun......and not enough clothes



It always comes down to the food we eat......love the fruits and vegetables

By the way, I did not take these pictures I don't sneak photos of people on the beach, I'd rather other people do that and then I can copy and paste off the internet.
Where I got my information
http://factoidz.com/how-to-tighten-sagging-skin-naturally/
http://www.healthlady.com/articles/12-ways-to-get-rid-of-cellulite-naturally/

A miracle at Casa Damasco

Casa Damasco has come a long way since I was here last winter. Some of you recall me writing about it during my times here the last 2 years. I wrote about how dirty it was and how small it was, and how I felt that every person should be able to live and die with dignity and how that wasn’t happening at Casa Damasco. I am not and was not then blaming anyone, everyone that was involved did the best they could with what they had at the time. What was needed was a miracle and that is just what they got last March. I visited them last Sunday in their new facility and I was so overwhelmed at this miracle before me that I actually cried, I stood there and cried, not full out crying but tears running down my face. What has happened there is unbelievable.  They have a huge facility, with a huge lot; they have a huge dorm like room. Each person has his/her own bed with a chest of draws for their own things and clothes, they are no longer sleeping on the floor, there is no longer a pile of clothes in a corner where they would just wear whatever they grabbed that day.  Each bed has a ceiling fan above it (this room has a very very high ceiling), there are windows and big sliding doors at each end of the room also with sliding screens. There are a couple of smaller rooms in case someone needs to be contained or quarantined. There is a bathroom (an actual room, not just a toilet in a corner) with a big shower with hot water. They have a laundry room with a brand new washing machine. There is a separate building for the ladies, with a kitchen and bathroom and a washing machine as well. The main kitchen is on a nice tiled patio, with a juice bar like counter and a walk in pantry, there is lots of room for long tables and moving wheelchairs around, this patio also has 3 ceiling fans. And here is the biggy.......they have 3 paid staff members that live on the premises and the place is clean, very clean. The floors were gleaming and shining (is gleaming and shining the same thing?) anyway, the place was clean. The yard is huge, with 2 patio tents set up for shade. There are no plants or tress but there is certainly room for a big garden and many trees. There are plans to do some landscaping yet (I would love to be involved) the people can now move around if they are mobile, they are comfortable and can now live and die in dignity that they deserve. The moral of the place seems to have changed too, before there were a few people that would just sit with their heads down and just never look up, this was not the case on Sunday, every person that I greeted had something to say to me, I of course didn’t understand it all. Nobody looked lost and forlorn. A few people have been transferred to different facilities where they can receive specialized treatment. Anyone that has ever donated and is still donating needs to know that they had a part in making this happen. This is an example of how one should never feel that you can’t make a difference even when the situation seems hopeless. When you leave room for God there is always hope  The financial situation hasn't changed a lot, they are still paying rent there and they are still relying on donations for all expenses. I would also like to point out that this move had nothing to do with us North Americans that are and have been volunteering there, there was local people that stepped in and made that happen. This  just goes to show that we can lend a helping hand, minister to the people, show the people we care, we can even put money to the problem, (like pouring water into a bucket with a hole in it) we can buy tea towels and spoons (remember how I was disgusted with the tea towels last year) and we can create awareness about the problem but in the end it is the local people that need to step in in order to fix the hole in bucket. The hole in Casa Damsco's bucket has been fixed and now we North Americans can keep loving these people and help in keeping the bucket full.

Oh, when the locals reorganized and moved them into their new facility they also changed the name, it is now called "Una gota an el oceano" which means "One drop in the ocean" I am not sure what the reason was or how that came about but I think it's nice, it shows that they have taken ownership. 

The dorm room

The separate unit for the ladies, right now there are only 2 ladies

In the ladies unit they even have separate bedrooms, this is the sitting area

The yard, they have a nice tent for shade. As you can see the ground is rock and not great for wheelchairs but there are plans for some landscaping

And there are some puppies for entertainment ...yes he is wearing a sweater

and some rabbits...2 of them hummmm

and a bird......there is something for everybody 

The dining area with the kitchen in the back, check out the ceiling fan and the shiny floor

Let me tell you about soup......

For some years now I have been making my own chicken broth, actually most of the time I use turkey. If I use the turkey bones from Christmas and Easter dinner I usually have enough for the year. I had a pretty easy method that I thought was working for me. I just put the bones in a large stock pot and added some carrots, potato peel, a few onions and a lot of garlic, some parsley or/and oregano and maybe a bay leaf or 6. I let this concoction simmer for about 4 hours and then pour it through a sieve and put in container and freeze. I always thought I was so clever by using my broth instead of the store stuff with all it's sodium and preservatives in it, it even made me feel healthy when I was eating it in my soups, stews, and stir frys........and then I find out I did it all wrong. Just before I had my surgery I researched (goggled) on how to prepare my body so that it would heal quicker....because you know I am always in a hurry and have no time for slow healing....things to do and places to go. So, I read that chicken broth is the amazing healer but.....here is where I was wrong. The chicken needs to simmer for at least 12 hours to get the nutrients out of the bone, the bone has every nutrient under the sun in it. Seriously you can read about it here. http://nourishedkitchen.com/the-benefits-of-bone-broth/ and here http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0ISW/is_259-260/ai_n10299306/?tag=content;col1
And, you need to add some vinegar to extract the stuff from the bones, didn't do that either. Turns out I was missing all the goodness of homemade broth all these years. But, I know better now and will put up a new batch right after Easter when I get back, a healing batch that will protect me from any germ, bacteria, virus or any ailment on earth.....by the sounds of it. This is why chicken noodles soup was always said to be the healing soup for a cold, and it used to be, way back when, when women had time to tend to a pot on the stove for 12 hours, but then life changed, it got faster or maybe we got faster...something got faster and then the soup lost it;s integrity all together and it became just a filler, like most of our other fast food.
Now let me tell you about the Caldo sauce here in Mexico. Caldo is served with Tostadas and is more of a broth than sauce, it is a tomato base and I love it so much,  I could drink it by the cupfuls. I have over the last few years tried to recreate it at home and here and have not been successful. I have gotten recipes from a few different people and they have varied from one person to the next. A week ago I ordered Tostadas again and I asked the cook again for his recipe, the man told me chicken, carrots, salt, garlic, onion and oregano, this is what I have tried over and over again. The as I am talking to him his wife comes and says "not chicken, just the bones" Cook the bones for 12 hours and, here is the secret ingredient that I have missed all these years, Tomato Consume cubes. Now adding these cubes make my soup what I call "unclean" meaning they have loads of sodium and other stuff that is not "real food" stuff that I am trying to avoid.....but I tell you it adds that missing flavor that I have been missing and it is so good....drink it by the cupfuls good. Seriously, it's amazing. Then I made tortilla soup with that broth and oh my.....spoon lickin good it was. I ate it so fast I didn't even take a picture for you. My suitcase will be full of Tomato Consume cubes coming home. A friend of mine told me that she just puts a cube in a cup and adds hot water and drinks it just like that, I won't go that far but I will be brewing up batches and batches of broth.....save your chicken bones people, save the bones and it will save you..haha  just made that up. Seriously do not buy chicken broth from the store anymore ....ever. And if you are really nice to me I might share my Tomato Consume cubes with me, I wonder how many customs will let me bring until they start thinking I'm a dealer and start charging me duty.

These are Tostadas and that little cup is Caldo, you pour it on your tostada and pick it up and eat it with the sauce dripping through your fingers and running all the way down your arm and dripping of your elbows.....it's so good. The Mexican napkin is just not designed to deal with this you have to lick your fingers and elbows...kidding about the elbows. It is a sloppy mess and as you can see it doesn't photograph very well either.

These are the tomato consume cubes