Friday, June 21, 2013

Horses sweat, men perspire, ladies glow

Offshore fishing near Isla Mujeres and glowing!
“I’m soaked with sweat!”  

My dad peered over the top of his reading glasses, leveling his gaze at his naïve teenage daughter: “No,” he admonished, “Horses sweat.  Men perspire.  Ladies glow.”

I guess I was born a horse.  

I am about 99.5% certain that my very proper, very stern and very formidable grandmother, Nellie Blanche Lyons Gobert, taught my father that expression.  She passed away when I was about seven, but I still remember her upright bearing, and impeccable manners.  She was a school principal, one of the first female school principals in Canada.  One did not mess with our grandmother!

Nellie Blanche Lyons Gobert about 1915
Me, well, I glow, like an out-of-control nuclear reactor.  

Starting about now, June, I usually change my clothing two to three times per day.  From the skin out – everything!  

Normally both Lawrie and I putter around the house, fixing this, polishing that, applying a coat of paint to a scuffed wall.  Doing little tasks.  Tinkering.  

He manages to maintain his cool, barely breaking a sweat.  Pardon me, I meant to say - barely perspiring.  I, on the other hand, have a nice bright pink face, and a good healthy pore-cleansing glow going on. 



Working on our Summerland house entrance 2006
In Canada if we were doing a major project like tiling the bathroom, or renovating the front entrance I could work up a really good glow.  Living in the tropics it occurs more frequently.  

Today I fiddled around with painting one short wall on our upper street-side deck.  By the time I had finished I was soaked through.   





Angel, one of three young guys replacing the netting over our palapas, looked at me with a silly who-me grin on his face, innocently asking: “Tienes mucho calor amiga?”

Si!  You bet your sweet bippy!  Mucho calor!

The cool dude!  It's May and he's comfy in a thick shirt.
The upside is that mosquitoes can easily locate me.  I have a heat-signature that is like a flashing red neon sign.  Free!  All-you-can-eat-buffet.  They bypass Lawrie preferring to swarm my overheated follicles.  If mosquitoes had lips, they would smack them together in anticipation of a feast.  I am certain the local mosquito population is very appreciative of my contribution to their well-being.





Summerland BC - entrance all done!
And to ensure the lovely little mosquitoes don’t over-indulge on my DNA, I spray every bit of my exposed skin with Off Family repelente de insectos.  In Canada, Lawrie pampered me with nice expensive perfumes.  They were always a much appreciated birthday or Christmas gift.  Somehow insect repellant doesn’t have quite the same cache, and isn’t nearly as romantic when received as a gift. 



On some level I think my grandmother would have been proud of me, remembering that ladies glow, apparently we don’t sweat.  But one thing puzzles me.  How did she manage to remain lady-like raising three active children in the early part of the 1900’s when women wore long, hot, cumbersome dresses every day, all day?

Just thinking about that, makes me glow.  I think I’ll go and have another refreshing swim in our pool. 

 
One small wall - and I'm glowing!

Hasta Luego          

Lynda and Lawrie

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lynda - you need to try Badger Balm - I found it on the web - only thing that will keep the WI mosquitos away from my son and I. Does not smell like deet (although I would not consider it perfume) - check it out -

Anonymous said...

My father said the same expression and I try to keep that in mind when I go through periods of what I call thermal combustion. ( I am at that age!)
As for mosquitos. We tried some Vitamin B1 patches while camping. They worked really well last 36 hours and no toxic chemicals.
The only downside is your "glow" smells of vitamin B and eventually your clothes and bedding too. I get eaten alive normally. The mosquitos kinda hovered and then took off

Lynda & Lawrie said...

I hadn't heard about Vitamin B1 patches .... probably not available here anyway. Thanks for the tip though. Cheers L

Peddling my butt around town!

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