Padrino and madrina of many...

This week was full of summer activities.  We attended two graduations for neighborhood kids.  We are godparents to several children from different families.  That equates to a lifetime of honors and responsibilities including first communions, quincenaras, weddings, new babies, graduations, sicknesses and funerals. The custom of padrinos and madrinas is very strong here.  It is the way people share their milestones, people their parties and pay  the cost of their celebrations.  If there were threads of different colors that mapped the connections between people in this system it would be a tight and colorful weave.  It is why connections here are both far-reaching and intimate.

Mexicans celebrate with gusto.  Everything is over-the top compared to the US. We atteThis was a kindergarten graduation with exotic dancing, deafening music (louder is happier) handmade decorations on top of decorations, children in snow-white ironed uniforms with elaborate hair and their guests dressed in their best - women in high-styling heels and lots of cleavage, men in their best boots and cowboy hats.

Every family brings an abundance of food and beer to feed their padrinos and madrinas and family.  And we bring brightly wrapped presents with giant bows - packages too pretty to open -
it's present-ation more important than what is inside.

A joyous time was had by all - lots of good food, laughter and people-watching.

My neighbor asked me about graduation ceremonies in Japan.  I described something more solemn and she was disappointed.  She said Mexicans never do anything without music and dancing - I think it's true.

Secondary school graduation celebration

Enjoying the fruit of dreams come true...

With well over 100 varieties of fruit trees there is always fruit for the picking.  Today's pick was guanabana, avocados, and a pineapple.  I also picked passion fruit, juanitos and guava after I took this photo.  In the evening I browse and munch while I walk with the dogs.  They browse and munch too.

As a boy, Wally dreamed of never worrying about having enough food.  His solution was to grow up and plant every type of fruit tree he could.

The big green spiky fruit is a guanabana.  It is from the same family as pawpaw for those of you who know that fruit.  Inside the flesh is white and it's seeds are shiny-black.  it makes the most delicious sorbets.  How can I describe its taste?  It is a fruity flavor combination of pineapple, guava and banana - sweetly sour.  It smells like a fruit smoothie.

The pineapple is a small, very sweet variety - the perfect size for the 2.  We have a pineapple plot under the shade of a breadfruit tree.

There are so many tropical tastes unique to our part of the world and with every season they change.  I never dreamed that the beauty of fruit would become such a delight and joy!

Meet Rickie...

Rickie Nichol is the 3rd of 4 children of Herman and 

Evelyne Black. Their dad passed away in 1981 and 

later Evelyne married Ken Fletcher, my dad. 

Ted and Rickie Nichol and their 2 sons, David and Matt,

and their families live in the Tri-cities of Pasco, 

Kennewick and Richland, WA.  They enjoy the semi-

arid climate with its abundant water sports, camping, 

and fishing within driving distance of their home.   Ted 

enjoys computers, riding his Gold Wing and model 

railroading.  Rickie enjoys family history,  quilting, 

machine embroidery, and all kinds of crafting. 

We hope you enjoy the photos of the globes Rickie recently made.  

Welcome to my rainy day kitchen ...

This is the view from my kitchen window

It is an overcast and rainy day.  Me and the dogs are keeping busy inside.  As you can see I have plenty of kitchen help. 

That view of the hills and mangos above is what I see from my kitchen sink... not a bad view from a scullery, heh?  I can wash dishes and lose myself in the beauty of the day.

My kitchen is on the 3rd floor - a long way to carry groceries but worth it. Wally built me an electric lift for the really heavy loads.











This is where we eat.  The veranda is open to the outside with lots of plants and herbs, a thoroughfare for butterflies and hummingbirds and always a breeze from the mountains behind us or the ocean in front.

It's like living in a tree-top only on a day like today it's nice and dry. 





Wally built the house after we married. Mostly my job was to take care of him while he worked.  The kitchen moved from room to room until we got to the roof and that's where we wanted it to stay.  It has a panoramic view of mountains and the Pacific.  He gave me to the best kitchen ever - a kitchen I hate to leave.  Pretty smart guy. 

Front view from the veranda - the village of Aticama and the Bay of Matanchen.

Meet Kevin...

Okay, it's not a common name for a dog.  And it's not a name that ends in "-ie" like ALL our other rescued dogs.  And this makes 8...  NOW my son says I've got a problem... I know, I know.  He can't reconcile the mom with white furniture to the mom with a crazy amount of dogs.

But, my excuses are you have to live here to understand.  It's a harsh world.  Also, I have a husband who will NOT turn away from suffering no matter how inconvenient or gross or what variety of life form.  He is my shining hero. I just follow  -  mostly fearfully and reluctantly.  I want to turn my face away but then I watch him and I want to help and that's how it happens that we take home another ragamuffin... named Kevin.  

I never regret it.

Another hero, Joan Chittister says, "Everyday the suffering of the world look to the secure of the world to save them from even more disaster. It is not our job to work miracles but it is our task to try."  

Another start...

Well, it's been a year since we last blogged and like many areas where one lags the best thing to do is just start again.

I feel inspired to pick up on the blog because my sister and I spent the first week of June with my dad's wife and her family...our crazy, fun family! I really love and enjoy these folks and I want to keep growing up along side them. This is one way I hope to do that.

There are other folks who are important to us in addition to our families. There are friends, some who may not realize how much a part of our ordinary days they are, how alive they are in our thoughts, how affection can keep growing despite the time and distance.

It's important to maintain these connections because in the REAL economy it is people and a shared history that make us live richly.  The reason for slow living is to savor and nurture what is truly important and learn from it.

I had a realization while I was with my family:  they knew a different man than I knew most of my life.  The one they knew was a happy man. I think that Dad was able to become more of himself with Evelyne, his wife.  I can recognize that because it's true for me with Wally.  Love and acceptance is a powerful and liberating force and it can bring out the best in us so we can grow.  Evelyne is abundant in that department and so it is like good medicine to be around her.  Her kids, my sisters and brother and their mates are made of the same generous open-hearted material.  We had fun doing everything together, teasing and laughing the whole time and when it was over I came home with a brimming-to-the-top heart.  That's how my dad enjoyed his years and thrived with them and lucky for me I got to witness it and be a part of it.


So, it is with a big, fat, thankful heart that we blog again...

midnight rambler

It's election time again in Mexico, lots of loudspeakers blaring all the good reasons to vote for one candidate or the other.  One of the candidates for governor had a pretty nice pitch.  He offered a free outdoor movie with equally free popcorn and soft drinks.  I'd vote for him if I could.

We're busy getting ready for the rainy season.  Tomorrow we'll peel 7 years of plasticized roof coating off the cono and see what kind of a creative solution we can come up with.  I'm picking up Raul from San Blas at 9.  He's a wizard at sealing things up.  He has these wonderful mixes of white cement, sealer, ground marble and eye of newt.  It works.

It's been the usual balancing act with water.  Things get hot and dry just before the rain and it's a full time job keeping all the plants watered up.  Just got to get them to the rainy season.  Everyone is predicting around the 25th.  There are some whistling bugs that always start up just before the rain and they're whistling away.  Another good sign is the return of the lightening bugs.  I don't know where they go but they're faithful to show up every year.  I imagine they are calling to me to keep on just a little bit longer.

I've been working on the chicken houses.  Got lots of new Costa Rican babies and we have to house them somewhere safe until they're big enough to fend for themselves.  They're tasty little snacks for lots of night creatures.   One momma wants to perch outside on a branch with her 7 babies packed together under her wings.  I want her and the babies to sleep in the safe house I just built them.  At first I tried rounding them up while it was still light enough to see them.  It was pure comedy.   I'd get a few in the house and before I got back with more they had popped the door opened and escaped.  I'd eventually get them but what a job.  One night I got back after dark and went out to put them to bed.  They were perched on a branch under mom.  I had my 52-LED headlamp on and they calmly sat there as I scooped a handful of momma and four babies.  Nothing to it.  I put them to bed and went back for the other 3 who waited patiently for me.  It's as easy as picking mangoes.  They don't struggle at all.  I can see how the possums have an easy time of picking them off.

Next week Moochie Poochie is going in to have his pride and joys removed.  Our females are neutered but the vets left the ovaries so they still come in heat.  Big problem.  Coming down the stairs the other evening, Moochie and Winky got into it.  Fur was flying.  Amaranth was in the middle of it and got bit by one or both of her beloved babies when she tried to break it up.  I showed up with a big voice and everyone went to their corners.  Amaranth is a little sore but alright and the doggies are properly chaste.

We've had a bumper crop of lychees this year.  Imagine being able to eat all you want freshly picked drom the tree.  For those of you who don't know lychees, they're a tropical fruit the size of a small hens egg.  You peel off the bumpy, bright red shell and inside it's like a peeled grape with a seed in the middle.  You can't stop eating them.  Luckily we have 5 trees to keep us supplied.

Well, it's a couple minutes before midnight.  Better hit the hay.  5 o'clock comes soon enough.