Thank you very much for your kind words Elisabeth and yes I agree the history of that immigration of Canary Islanders to Texas is interesting. Reading about the descendants who are living in Texas today I recognize common Canary Island surnames. I wonder if that restaurant you noticed, Las Canarias, served gofio (toasted cereals eaten as a dough). I bet they may have heard about it as it was the staple food that kept many Islanders alive in hard times. It is still eaten today and is even I've just started writing a photo blog about life in the Islands, but it is currently in very early stages. There are still many little add-ons I want to put in the side panels. Photos of local nature and flora, with emphasis on tropical plants, will be included, along with accounts of excursions, fiestas and interesting local customs as I have seen them. Earlier entries are at the bottom of the page, under Older Posts. (Please excuse my rusty English....been living in a Spanish-speaking country for 40 years, but I hope it will improve as I go along!) LOL. You are most welcome to have a look here. SharonCb

My ears aren't pierced but I'd like to explain my wifes experience for many years ago. She had her ears pierced in 1974 at which time ear piercing was not very popular, she had been thinking about it for a while and around the time of her 16th birthday, her mum suggested that if she went and had her ears pierced, her mum, would buy her some earrings. That decided it so she went to the local jeweller in Greenford, West of London and had to make an appointment to go back the following week to be pierced, that seems so strange now with ear piercing being immediately available. the man used a device called the Simplicity Ear Piercer which effectively pushed a needle through her lobes and then inserted hinged sleeper hoops into the holes. She had to keep the sleepers in for 6 weeks weeks turning them daily. After 6 weeks she took the sleepers out and tied to get in the earrings her mum had bought her. After half an hour of prodding and poking they would not go in and so she put the sleepers back for another two weeks and went and some some studs instead. Fast forward nearly ten years and I asked her one night if she still had her sleepers - to which she said no as they had broken, but asked me why i liked them particularly. I said because wearing them would make her look like she had just had her ears pierced. No more was said, and we went on holiday a few weeks later, having arrived at the resort she handed me a little brown envelope - and said 'present for you'. Inside was a new pair of hinged sleepers which she immediately let me put in her ears and wore them for the rest of the holiday. Wow. I have asked on a few occasions if she thought about having her ears re-pierced but she always said no, one hole was enough. So I got some spring loaded silver hoops and one night when i put these on her she said she would have another hole done. So far still only the one hole, but she did wear the spring hoops in public the other week and did look so good. Not sure where the earring/piercing fascination comes from as my mum did not have pierced ears and I did not have a sister, but just wanted to share this story

I do have hearing aids but seldom wear them because I hate them. This is concerning as there is evidence that untreated hearing loss is associated with increased risk of depression, anxiety and dementia. Further there is evidence that it affects how the brain processes what is being heard and the effort required to process that speech which can impact memory and other neural functioning as well as speech comprehension. Mom was really unhappy and rarely wore her hearing aids when she had the kind that filled her ear. She hated how, when she ate, all she could hear was chewing. She also hated how it amplified ambient sound in a noisy area, but she still couldn't hear conversation. But then she switched to the open air model which, with computer control, allowed her to adjust it to reduce background noise and didn't fill her ear for a more natural feel and she was much happier and wore them more often. We've not needed them yet, but everyone tells me the best place to buy aids is Costco....

@Sally T how exciting! share pics of your reno! it really is SO much work - I had no idea at the onset of this! you bring up great points and one of the few things we won't do is move the window - this reno wasn't planned (our house flooded unfortunately) so we're taking advantage of the opportunity to start from scratch but window moving wasn't part of the plan. If we do change something, we'll turn the windows in the living room into slider patio doors. Honestly our house gets a TON of light - except the kitchen and I'm kind of ok with that. Even the window that's there doesn't get light like the rest of the house b/c of the direction it's facing. And let's totally talk sinks in island! I hear you on no sink in island - and I know most of my friends feel the same...BUT functionally, I love the sink in the island. It allows me to have the function of the dishwasher and trash right next to it and tucked away so you don't have to see them. The only pain in the behind is it's not as pretty to have a faucet emerging from the island. But I'm willing to compromise on the day to day function and hope that a beautiful brass faucet with Blanco sink won't be an eyesore at a party!