JW Marriott Cancun: My Birthday Day

Rainy weather did not hamper my 70th. When you have your friends with you, your art supplies and a spa a few floors away, your day is going to be filled with sunshine.

While I did a drawing-a-day in Puerto Villarta, on this trip to Mexico, I did a drawing over a few days, much like I paint: Did a little one day, went back to it on another, and another. The drawing above, I started the morning of my birthday. It began as a marker test. I wanted to see what colors my new set offered. As the days passed, it grew into something more. What the hell it is, I haven't a clue--but it needs some white highlights...



Most of the time, I photographed what interested me. I took over 170 pictures--more than I ever took before--Don't worry, I'm not going to show them all. Not every one is a keeper. But this one was. In spite of the howling winds, dark storm clouds and scattered rain squalls, there was a spot of blue, a spot of hope. Can you see it? It's small--just a speck, but it's there, a sneak peak at the future.



I spotted that blue while drawing and chatting in Club Room 91, a special feature at the JW. Friends from Florida had joined us and didn't mind at all as I drew and popped up and down to take photos of the clouds lifting. The spots in the bottom of the photo are a reflection of the chandelier behind me--no matter where I stood I couldn't shake it--and I couldn't expand it to get a clearer reflection of it and me in the glass, which I thought would be cool--if you can't get rid of it, use it, push it.


While the red flags and more hearty souls than I were whipped by the winds on the beach, We hung out in the Club Room meeting other folks from around the world who were also making the best of iffy January weather in Cancun. We had great fun sharing stories, eating and drinking. Occasionally, someone would run off to treadmill away the calories consumed, but mostly everybody partied and chowed down holiday style. Well, almost everybody.

One couple came from Orlando, Florida to have their teeth fixed in Mexico. Can you imagine? She was getting four crowns and a root canal. He was getting three crowns and a couple of root canals. Dental work,they told me, is a lot less expensive than in the US--even when there's a hotel bill attached to it. All that work for a couple thousand dollars. They arrived on Saturday and were leaving the following Saturday. The work on their teeth was going to be intensive, an everyday thing. I worried about the pain involved with their mouths wide open hour after hour. But they assured me, they were getting excellent treatment for a lot less money. I thought okay, you bet, that's a thought, but I'll pass. I left and went to the spa for a pain-free birthday massage.

I don't know why I wait till I go on vacation to get massages? They are very therapeutic and uplifting. Your mind goes blank and your body goes limp as the masseuse works out all the stress. Muscles relax, wrinkles melt away, skin softens and pupils widen with pleasure. You feel ten years younger and ready for whatever the new decade will bring.