Winter came in under cover of darkness. I didn't hear a thing, but I gather from Chantal that the waves pounded fiercely all last night. Today, Robin noted that the surf was still very high, and we both found our bicycle trip to the estuary delightfully cool. As the day progressed, we had occasional glimpses of sunshine, but mostly it was cloudy and cool and very windy.

I took Sadie, Caroline and Kim's dog, for a walk this afternoon. I'm going to be dog-sitting her in a few days, so we thought it best that she get used to walking with me. I think she was a bit baffled, but we both soldiered on, and everything worked out. The one tense moment came when I tried to get her to go up the steps, over the sea wall, and down the metal steps to the beach. Sadie wasn't having any of that. Finally, Roger and Blitzen went ahead of us, to show Sadie how it was done, and she followed, if reluctantly. We took pity on her on the return trip, and exited the beach via a little hole in the fence on the other side of the discotheque. Had I known about that hole, I wouldn't have made her climb the stairs in the first place. Caroline was very pleased that I had, though, and figures maybe Sadie will go up and down the stairs at home now. We wonder if she has a vision problem. Nobody is quite sure how old she is, but best guess is maybe eight or nine years old. She's probably a cross between a bearded collie and a Bouvier - or not.

Because I made curried chicken last night and we didn't eat it - we had had plenty of food at the Valentine's Day party - I only had to load the rice cooker, turn it on, and set the chicken to warm in a cazuela tonight. Such an easy dinner (at least the warming up part), and a great success. Better than the canned curry sauce, Robin said. High praise. Now I have to do curried prawns. I wish I had some coconut milk. And lime leaves. Maybe I'll grate a little lime zest into the sauce when I make it.

I forgot to tell you about Terry and the dentist. He had an appointment on Tuesday. It was supposed to be 2 1/2 hours long. I think the appointment was for 12:30. He left here before eleven in the morning, in case he had trouble finding the office again (He and Chantal and I had found it the week before, but Terry hadn't had to find it on his own). I figured he would be back between 3:00 and 3:30. About 4:30, Chantal asked me whether I had seen Terry. No - had he not come back? Nope. He turned up just after five o'clock. I asked Terry whether he had got lost. No, he had been in the dentist's chair all that time, and he was not happy. I guess his work was a little more complicated than the dentist had realized. He had another appointment yesterday, and he went, though I gather he would rather not have done so. I think he's had all the nasty stuff done now, and he just has to go back next week to get the permanent fixtures and have his teeth cleaned. I think he needs the week to recover. There haven't been any evening concerts for the last few days!

From time to time today, we've checked the tv weather reports. There's snow in southeastern Arizona at higher elevations, and rain in the lower places. Robin said it had snowed in San Diego, (California) but I haven't seen anything about that on the news. I shall not complain about our cool temperatures and wind.

So there you are. Another exciting day in Mexico.