Santa's on his way

According to NORAD, Santa is, at this moment, on the coast of Canada. He will soon be near my house soon. Merry Christmas!

Selections for my memorial service

Must instruct I. I have lots of time, I think. Still, I want La Vida es un Carnaval, Gracias a la Vida and finally No Llores at my memorial service. And I want the music by Celia, Mercedes Sosa and Gloria Estefan.

Might as well go out in style. I'm entitled to one of those bagpipe services, but, not being Irish, I want celebratory music relevant to my heritage — music I love.

The compliment that made my year

An acquaintance of mine in San Diego emailed me to say that Catherine Deneuve in "A Christmas Tale" physically reminded him of me. (He made a point to write that her character was not attractive emotionally and that was not what he saw.)

Wow! Well, I looked on IMDB and, modesty way aside, I have to say that, in some of the stills, Mme. Deneuve and I do look quite alike. Of course I cannot match her beauty, but the style, dress and even hairdos are similar. I asked I., he looked at the stills below and, startled, said this is spot on.

Thank you, P., for a compliment that will carry me through every time I am having a tough day. Regardez, s'il vous plaît.

Birthday outing

Well, what a birthday!

L. flew in for the day: we went to see The Colbert Report (the day's show and a preview of his Christmas special). After that, we went to Bar Boulud.

Menu

white wine

pâté grand-père
coarse country pâté
foie gras, truffle juice and port

chocolat noisette
paillete feuilletine, chocolate foam
chocolate-vanilla ice cream

I got home to beautiful gifts from I. He gave me a bouquet of lilies and an iPod. Very extravagant!



I have been spoiled to pieces! What a lucky woman I am.

V — Kudos, you made it through a heart attack

V., a true hero, had a heart attack last Thursday. He bravely bore up through this, as he does through virtually everything.




Heart attack
n.
Sudden interruption or insufficiency of the supply of blood to the heart, typically resulting from occlusion or obstruction of a coronary artery and often characterized by severe chest pain. Also called myocardial infarction.

The diagram below, from the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, shows what occurs in an infarction.

Figure A is an overview of a heart and coronary artery showing damage (dead heart muscle) caused by a heart attack. Figure B is a cross-section of the coronary artery with plaque buildup and a blood clot.

V. was treated in New York. After a catheritization, he was fixed with two stents in a procedure that can be seen in a media presentation by clicking on this link. The figure below also shows a stent and its placement in a coronary artery.

The illustration shows the placement of a stent in a coronary artery with plaque buildup. Figure A shows the deflated balloon catheter and closed stent inserted into the narrowed coronary artery. The inset image on figure A shows a cross-section of the artery with the inserted balloon catheter and closed stent. In figure B, the balloon is inflated, expanding the stent and compressing the plaque to restore the size of the artery. Figure C shows the stent-widened artery. The inset image on figure C shows a cross-section of the compressed plaque and stent-widened artery.


V. will be at home, recovering, over the next weeks and months. My hope is that from now on, he will play dominoes and swim, which is what he deserves. My other hope is that I will be of some help to him.

Summer vacation

We're off to Cape Cod for a much deserved vacation! Good for us!! I'll be posting as soon as we get back. (Mitschka is staying home; she'll be fed and cared for by our neighbor Santiago.)

Feeling homesick

I love Mexico so much. As I watched this, I salivated for some elotes. I'm having either tacos or sopes for breakfast tomorrow.



Now... for some Jorge Negrete and Pedro Infante — classic


Lola Beltran ... Lola la Grande — Paloma Negra & Cucurrucucu Paloma


Lola — El Sinaloense


Y ahi le va compadre ... desde Nabolato vengo
dicen que naci en el Roble ... me dicen que soy arriero
por que le chiflo y se para ... si les aviento el sombrero
ya veran como repara ... Ay, ay, ay ... ay mamá por Dios

CORO
Por Dios que borracho vengo ... que me sigan los Morales
que me toquen el "Quelite" ... despues el "Niño Perdido"
y por ultimo el "Torito" ... pa' que vean como me pinto
Ay, ay, ay ... ay mamá por Dios

Ya, y arriba Sinaloa, Sonora ...
Me dicen enamorado ... pero de eso nada tengo
todos me dicen El Vale ... un vale pero con suerte
por que si me salta un gallo ... no me le rajo a la muerte
Ay, ay, ay ... ay mamá por Dios

Soy del mero Sinaloa ... donde se rompen las olas
y busco una que ande sola ... y que no tenga marido
pa' no estar comprometido ... cuando resulte la boda
Ay, ay, ay ... ay mamá por Dios

SG - A very good person

I took a chance today and called a former boyfriend to ask him for advice in speaking to one of my doctors. In truth, I did not expect anything more than the most perfunctory of answers; instead, this gentleman (and he is, in every sense of the word), offered to look at my records and call my doctor himself.

He was very nice when I knew him a million years ago and is very, very decent today.

I was glad to learn that he is now happily married, with a stepson, and my hope is that his life is a good one.

After our break-up years ago, I spent many months just being thankful for the many good things he represented and brought into my life. Knowing him was one of the great privileges of my life. Now I have more reason for gratitude.

An Outing to Jon Stewart

My friend L. scored two tickets to The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and kindly gave them to me. So, today was the day.

My husband and I went together and, boy, did we have fun. Neither of us had never been to a live taping: Stewart's show runs about 35 minutes including breaks for commercials: just about the exact time the show runs; I had expected it to run longer and then be edited.

L., honey, you rock. Thanks for sending us to this truly delightful show.

View the video of the show we saw by clicking here.

Images of my childhood

Mexico City was lovely when I was a little girl. I miss the beauty, the plurality, and the ancient buildings. I miss the volcanoes and the mountains. Feast your eyes: this is what surrounded me when I was a child.

Sources for the pictures: igougo.com, mexicocity.gob.mx, OurLadyOfGuadalupe.org, es.geocities.com/ciudaddelaesperanza, cetlalic.org.mx, mantruc.com.

B. - A beautiful memory

I remember you with gratitude and awe for you became the light in the dark passage of my life







Now, on the other hand, your abrupt departure from my life left a hole in my heart.

Why did you give no hint that night
That quickly after the morrow's dawn,
And calmly, as if indifferent quite,
You would close your term here, up and be gone
Where I could not follow
With wing of swallow
To gain one glimpse of you ever anon!

Never to bid good-bye
Or lip me the softest call,
Or utter a wish for a word, while I
Saw morning harden upon the wall,
Unmoved, unknowing
That your great going
Had place that moment, and altered all.

Why do you make me leave the house
And think for a breath it is you I see
At the end of the alley of bending boughs
Where so often at dusk you used to be;
Till in darkening dankness
The yawning blankness
Of the perspective sickens me!

You were she who abode
By those red-veined rocks far West,
You were the swan-necked one who rode
Along the beetling Beeny Crest,
And, reining nigh me,
Would muse and eye me,
While Life unrolled us its very best.

Why, then, latterly did we not speak,
Did we not think of those days long dead,
And ere your vanishing strive to seek
That time's renewal? We might have said,
"In this bright spring weather
We'll visit together
Those places that once we visited."

Well, well! All's past amend,
Unchangeable. It must go.
I seem but a dead man held on end
To sink down soon. . . . O you could not know
That such swift fleeing
No soul foreseeing--
Not even I--would undo me so!

— From The Going by Thomas Hardy

Happy Father's Day

Happy Birthday

For his birthday, I let my husband take me to see the new Indiana Jones film. Oh, I do love that man, for why else would I sit through that? Cate Blanchett, shame on you for appearing in this piece of inanity. (Is that even a word?)

Henry Moore

Today, I. and I went to see the Moore in America exhibit at the New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx. Unfortunately, the place was packed, and we were unable to properly enjoy the monumental sculptures, which I first saw as a teenager in Mexico City thirty years ago. We will be returning — several times — throughout the show's run. This link to Moore at Kew has fantastic pictures and information.

The image above is of Seated Woman from Moore at the Kew, a website with great photos and an interactive guide, about the show at Kew Gardens, where the sculptures were shown just before they came to New York. I highly recommend the site for its photography.

I feel truly privileged to have the opportunity to see these marvels twice in my lifetime.