I didn't even look at the blog to see how long it's been since the last post. Endless intentions to write often, endless failures. BUT as they said in some song or some Shakespearean play, "if you don't succeed, try, try again.
I haven't been doing nothing. I finished our taxes yesterday (late, but not as late as they might be). I have been reading and reading. One of the most interesting people whose stuff I've been reading is Vamik Volkan, a psychiatrist interested (very much interested) in why people in groups think the way they do. That's too simplistic, of course. But he is concerned about the interplay of history with groups and is the first person I've read who really deals with issues about why we identify with groups and their craziness to the point that we can't see other ways of seeing things. I am thrilled that there is somebody who sees the relationship of history to identity. NOT social science generalities but the effects of specific historical trauma on contemporary groups. There will be more later.
I continue to plough through stuff on GMOs and Mexico and the rest of us.
Now it is Monday.
Last night the neighbor kids whom we hadn't seen for awhile came by for a visit. Graciela, Claudia and Jesús and their amazing nephew Vladimir. We have watched Graciela grow from a beanpole into a swan. Claudia is on her way there. Jesús is a bit younger and of course Vladimir is the youngest. He's barely three. I think he will be able to play US football when he's six. He's tall and sturdy and totally winsome. Knowing kids in the neighborhood has a lot to do with making this place our home. Especially when they just come by. I am, bu the way, one of Graciela's madrinas, or godmothers. There are two boys with bikes who stop by for Jim to help with bike adjustments and repairs. A teenager up the street is the owner of a dog named Chapo. Chapo looks pretty much like a bona fide beagle. The boy is cousins with Estebán and Carmen, across the street from us. He'd kind of lent Chapo to the couple, why I'm not sure, but Chapo developed some problems. So we called Mauricio, the Xico vet to have a look. Mauricio does home visits which is kind of nice especially since most people around here don't have cars to transport their animals in.The diagnosis: parasitos in sufficient quantity to threaten to starve Chapo even though Chapo did get fed fairly regularly. Uff! The teen's name escapes me. I'm sure I'll remember as soon as I post this. ANYWAY, Chapo went back home where his friend the horse lives and is doing much better.
Mauricio is a tall, handsome man from Mexico City who has, with his wife, Valeria, studied in Spain, among other things. Estebán's grandmother has a dog named Sombra (shadow) who looks like a black lab mix. She loves Sombra and when the dog developed some oozing from the very old surgery scar from her esterillización and had in fact lump near it, we called Mauricio to the rescue. He came and picked Sombra up. Jim and I brought her home. Aside from a little (and I do mean little) problem with infection, Sombra is also doing well.
I am now charging my smartphone (I do not get along with my smartphone and use it mostly to take pictures) so that I can take some pics of our garden's bounty. Especially I want to take photos of our carrots. They look a bit like cartoon characters. Guillermo is the total master of the garden. Although the carrots look odd, they are definitely edible and crunchy. And we have or have had this spring radishes (rabano), chard (acelga) cilantro (cilantro) and peppery lettuce which I let go to seed because it seeds itself and because the small yellow flowers are so delicate and pretty. They grow in bouquets at the ends of slender branches. We also have an interesting version of spinach. Photos are definitely in order.
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