20080803

2008 08 03

La doctora at our local clinic has served her time, and was released this Thursday.  We have established the Wednesday Evening English Discussion, Roxana and I, and the Doctor and the Nurse have been attending.  I think for the tequila, but that is a different matter. This Wednesday, we had a little going-away celebration, with many kinds of tequila, and Roxana's brother made shrimp ceviche.  The clinic closes around 18:00 (six), so they were planning on being here soon thereafter.  The clouds started to really build up around 17:00 (an hour earlier than closing), and by 18:30 (half-hour past closing), it was raining so hard I couldn't see the driveway from the pasillo. All the rain that hadn't fallen in the previous three days fell in the course of an hour or so.  We had a good time anyway, until 02:00 (8 hours past closing) but managed to speak absolutely no English.  I keep having trouble with the endings, all those verbs changing all the time really seems to twist my tongue.  Our arithmetic is impeccable, though.

We have enough youth, how about a fountain of smart?

Friday evening, we all went to a concert by a quartet called, I think, Treintanos, in Zamora, in rain almost as ferocious as Wednesday's. The Doctor's boyfriend and a friend of his, whose name translates as 'Cross', the which he looked, performed a set in the middle of the concert.  Music from many South and Central American countries was performed, and I really enjoyed most of it.  I don't much care for the sound of wooden pipes, which featured in many songs, but particularly enjoyed the songs from Chile.  I didn't, claro, understand the joke song let alone a lot of the intervening palaver, but the rest of the crowd had a good laugh.  We met more of the Doctor's friends, both of whom are utterly charming, if unilingual.  Well, Paul (accent on the 'u' which I can't find – Odin I loathe Miscreant-osoft Word!) speaks French and Italian, but, as I've become utterly unspeakable lately, we restricted ourselves to Spanish.  I found out later that this was the first ever performance of the Boyfriend and Cross, which could explain why Cruz looked a little sombre. They were all very talented, and the Boyfriend has lips to die for.

Damn, it's the Richard Claydermann hour on the PA again.

The next day, Paul and two-thirds of the WEEDs (no Nurse) drove to Uruapan where Paul was to conduct some exotic-sounding seminar.  Well, exotic to me because I didn't quite translate some of the words. Uruapan is a million-and-a-half people, thereabouts, built in the bottom of a steep valley.  It is very old, with narrow streets and

some very interesting buildings.  We had coffee in a building which would have been quite usual in Tudor England.  Unfortunately, the city has Los Angeles' air, so one doesn't particularly want to spend a long time there.  It has a beautiful national park within the urban gloom, flora and fauna allowed to behave as though humans didn't exist.

There is an awful lot of water running in channels and rivers and creeks everywhere, including a quite spectacular waterfall.  The air is cool and fresh because of it, and there are many beautiful trees and flowers.  Unfortunately, it is also very, very popular, so there were hordes of cameras with people attached everywhere one looked. Our route to Uruapan included many old, and in some cases incredibly ugly, towns and villages with spectacular vistas into the surrounding mountains.  It also seemed to be through the corn-producing region of Mexico, as everywhere one looked was corn in various stages of growth. I do mean everywhere, by the way.  On our return, we stopped in a town (Pachuco??)  which seems to be the centre of the guitar-producing region of the state.  A festival was/is in progress, and there is a museum of guitars that is simple but fascinating.  Around and in the

plaza were many booths of traditional hand-made products, from clay jars and plates to guitars and wooden jewellery to extremely intricate needlework and cut-work.  I love the colours in the traditional pallette, and there was a guitar I'd love to have made from the most beautiful of woods.  An exhausting but very satisfying trip,

especially as we'd all had about three hours of sleep the night before.

The livestock are all well and happy, bounding or flapping according to physiology around the place in evidently high spirits.  The chicklet is feathered except for her head.  Adam and Eve regularly ingest a bit of grain from my hand.  Miss Kate is still being a good candidate for stewing.  The other avian populations have shrunk drastically, although many restful minutes have been spent watching various members in the bird-bath.  I haven't managed to replace the lawnmower blade yet, but Adam and Eve are doing a credible job of keeping a lot of it under control.  The neighbours have been ignoring me, except for the little hoodlums who come by demanding water.  I usually acquiesce, but I occasionally enjoy the look of shock on their faces when I refuse.  Don't they have homes?  mothers? water of their own?  The cute goatherd has been less in evidence as various otherwise useless boy-children have been herding the flock up to the pasture. Various equines and bovines have produced off-spring, who are very charming and inquisitive on their sojourns up and down the street. Encounters with blood-sucking parasites have abated somewhat, and other forms of uninvited guests have been appearing less, as well.  It

ain't 'cause it's drier and colder, let me tell you.  Paul told a long joke about satellite television and various nationalities, but I didn't understand the punch-line.  There are scrabbly footsteps in my bathroom roof, so one wonders what creature is producing them.  I'm sure-as-hell not going up there to find out.  I saw what appeared to

be a fat, hairy tail-less squirrel scurry across the drive the other day; fortunately or un-, the Canine Contingent were tethered so that I could leave.  The lizards are everywhere and growing bigger but not slower.  There are many trumpet-vine type flowers around in many pastel colours, and some very vibrant morning glories are  crawling up the other vines near the east pasillo.   I have seven or so tomatoes thriving in a pot; everything that went into the ground has croaked. The peppers that resurrected themselves in one of the 'empty' pots are looking quite edible.  A light-bulb in an unused fixture high up in the kitchen committed suicide just now with a resounding crash.

An elderly man and his wife were dining at a restaurant. After the man received his food, he carefully cut his portion in half, and poured exactly half of his drink into another cup. Then he gave these to his wife. Their waitress noticed that the old lady was not eating her half and said, "That's so sweet that you share the meal, but why aren't you eating?" The old lady said:  "I'm waiting for the teeth!"

And that's about it for this week!   Have a good one, everyone.

R