Thursday, July 26, 2007

Forgive us Father, for we have sinned. We're going to H*LL.

We're going to Córdoba, Spain ... where it is as HOT as H*LL in August. When I tell people that we are going to Córdoba, they wonder what sin we committed. The Spanish people make the hand gesture of disbelief, shaking one of their hands like people do in public restrooms when there's no paper toweling or when the "no touch" hand dryer requires that they keep their hands within a milimeter of the sensor.


Córdoba. Margarita, Gabriel, and Nico (my sister-in-law and nephews) will be there and we decided "h*ll or high-water," we're going to see them. So, I guess it is h*ll. Margarita told me that while they were waiting for a bus the other day, she saw a temperature reading on a bank marquee of 50 degrees Celsius (that's about 122 degrees Fahrenheit). Oooh.

Thursday, July 19, 2007

"It has been a month, why haven't you written?"

A few people have asked, "It has been a month, why haven't you written for a while?"

Those who know me well, know that I'm most creative and productive at night ... in the middle of the night. (Sometimes I do need a boost with Red Bull and/or Michael Jackson.) But, in Spain, late night is considered "afternoon" and is when many events begin. (In Spanish, the word for afternoon, tarde, is the same word for late, tarde ... so, basically afternoon means late.) So, if I manage to stay awake late, we're usually going somewhere.

Also, I have found a little bit of time to write though I haven't published what I wrote. I didn't want to hog the whole blog to myself. I wanted to share the joy with my family.

I was hoping ... no, I was fantasizing that I would spend quality time with my children and husband and together we would document our thoughts, feelings, and experiences - our impressions (and depressions) - our many, many meaningful perspectives of a myriad of mundane topics.

I considered "strongly encouraging" the kids to write something (or ... be grounded for a week). But the result would be something like ... "Spain is fun. School is fun. I'm having fun." I thought maybe one or more of them would feel inspired to write on their own.

Nope. They would rather jumprope, play cards or ... pierce themselves in the eyeball with a fork.