The country count of readers jumped from 176 to 177 very quickly. This time, it is from Nicaragua. Surprisingly, I have had readers from Lesotho and Burundi – but never from Nicaragua. Also, it is the last Central American country left for me to visit. Maybe once I go there and make friends, I will have more readers!

Jay Jay is thrilled to bits – not because of the fresh vegetables – but that he gets to go to downtown Alpharetta early in the morning. I don’t think he has quite grasped the concept that bars like Chiringa do not open early in the morning!!

After three successive Saturday morning 10K runs, getting some confidence back in running longer distances.

Brought back a lot of memories of the two girls growing up with horses

Apparently, all my disgust after licking a bar of soap as a young toddler was misplaced. Sharmila and Parijat ordered a drink and after the drink was prepared, the bartender put a bubble on it!! Using a bubble maker and something called “edible soap”!!

Hmmm… seems like I need to try this at home!

(In case you were wondering, by the time I could take the picture, Sharmila’s bubble had burst. Literally speaking.)

Remember how I posted about gaining confidence in longer runs every Saturday? Well, that could not have been more misplaced! In a few hours, while trying to hit a volleyball in the Green in downtown Alpharetta, badly pulled the upper left calf muscle.

That should be a lesson for me to stretch before and after long runs and keep drinking water.

Hobbling fairly badly now, but can move myself from Point A to Point B. Stairs are also okay as long as I do not put weight on my left leg while it is straight.

Now, if I can put another long run on Saturday, then that will really, really get my confidence back.

This is Goldschläger and Champagne.

Goldschläger is a Swiss cinnamon schnapps with 43.5% alcohol by volume (ABV) and visible flakes of gold. The gold flakes are made from 24 carat gold that has been beaten into wafer-thin sheets by gold-leaf makers. A one-liter bottle contains around 13 milligrams (0.20 grains) of gold.

The gold flakes from Goldschläger and the bubbles from Champagne make quite a display!

After nearly weekly visit to this airport for 4 years (missed one year in between due to Covid), revisiting after one whole year!

Had a good time reminiscing the time spent together 2018-2023. Stories of the St. Kitts trip, Costa Rica trip, Puerto Rico trip, Dead Sea trip and the Myrtle Beach trip was enough to keep us busy thru the evening. There is a great story of how Chris showed up in this picture!!

Tracey, Deval, Katy, Chris, Mark, Venu.

Given my love for numbers, lately I have started reading a book on where do our senses for numbers come from? Do animals understand numbers? (They do – but not the way we think). Does a child of 2 months understand the difference between 2 and 3? (You will be surprised!!)

Now I am trying to figure out why is it that in most cultures, we write 2 by repeating 1 in some fashion. Same for 3. But when it gets to 4, we go a very different way. And all cultures have uniformly decided to take a fork while representing 4.

The Roman notation is the most unintuitive. After denoting 2 as nothing but two of 1 and 3 as three of 1, to denote 4, first it introduces 5 !!! And then the understanding of subtraction!!

Why did they do that?

By comparison, my cappuccino artwork is unbearable!

Had bought this during my trip there. This is Coban coffee from the north and central part of Guatemala. Usually grown in high lands, this is much darker and fuller bodied than the previous one (Huehue) I was having.