Small Number, Big Love

It's been a Party ever since!

Today I’m just going to load the dang thing up with pictures, as many as it’ll let me, because I think they’ll tell the story better than my words could.  But to get the ball rolling, 4 years ago today it was snowing in Atlanta, cancelling flights to the area and even closing the airport for a moment.  I remember this so vividly because my very good friend, Paul, cut short a trip to Hawaii to sit in the Phoenix airport and be told he couldn’t connect thru to ATL.  Lisa’s very dear friend Beth agreed to FLY to Atlanta, despite strong personal misgivings about air travel, and was foiled by the weather.  Both of these missed connections are important because both wanted to be in Atlanta for the same reason – The Wedding of Steve and Lisa, billed as the Love of the Century, but hell, it was only 2008.  Anybody who wants to top us is going to have to go some, though, because in the intervening four years we’ve changed countries of residence three times, had two Absolutely Adorable Daughters, and grown closer than ever.  I wanted to post today to celebrate finding other half of my heart, and tricking her into marrying me and thinking it was all her idea.

Sadly, I have no pictures of the Very Beginning, mostly because I had no idea it was the beginning of anything at all.  Lisa came to work where I worked in late 2003, and although we talked a bit, it was essentially professional and (I thought) I thought nothing of it.   Then I thought a little more of it, and then we were going to lunch together literally EVERY day she was there (she worked an odd schedule).  And when we were finally kind of dating, which probably dates to about June of 04, I told my good friend JoeHaney I was dating.  He was amazed, amused, appalled, and five other things, not all of which start with A.  He asked if it was an on-going thing, and I said Yeah, and he allowed as how he ought to know her name, then, and I said “Lisa.  I met her at work.”  To which he responded “Lisa from the Christmas Party??!!!??!!!” And I had no idea what he was talking about.  He said I talked her up very much after coming home (sober, even) from the company Christmas Party 6 months earlier.  JoeHaney is of course delusional, (he’s friends with me, after all) so I assumed he was inventing things.   Then I told our mutual friend Adam.  Who responded “Lisa??  Fron the Christmas Party???!!!”  So maybe Joe wasn’t making it up after all.  Or maybe they were in cahoots, to make me feel crazy.  Anyway, I took no pictures at the Christmas Party, because I’m apparently the only one who didn’t know I’d already fallen for her.  We did eventually get things going, though (boxes from a nearby liquor store, a borrowed truck from the above-mentioned Paul, and a sincere offer to help with a last-minute apartment move got me in the door), and that summer we took a weekend trip to Chattanooga, TN to see the aquarium and other cool things.  That I got a picture of.  This is from the See 7 States platform on Lookout Mountain, in Tennessee right across the GA line.

I hadn’t done a whole lot of traveling in my life up to that point, but Lisa had grown up with a love of travel that she got from her Most Amazing Aunt Mary, along with myriad other good traits.  I had been out of the country once, on a work trip to Switzerland, never been to California, crossed the Mississippi only twice, once on a work trip to Las Vegas and the other to Steamboat Springs with above-twice-mentioned Paul.

Yes, I was sweaty, fat, and had horrifying-looking glasses. Doesn't Lisa look nice, though?

We started kinda small, with a there-and-back day trip to Baltimore (my first glance at my future wife’s totally unhealthy obsession with IKEA) because Atlanta didn’t have an IKEA yet; no pics there, but I still have the orange Camden Yards hat we got on that trip.

We went to Chattanooga, where I learned that when confronted with vacation time in a new place with exciting things to do and places to see, Lisa’s favorite activity is sleeping late.

Then the next year we did the Meet The Family event; I met big sister Amy and her family, with big sister Christy, Dad, and big brother Ted, for a week at the beach in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, and brought Lisa along.  With enough forewarning that she was able to get SCUBA-certified, and join me on a pair of scuba trips off the Carolina coast.   She got to meet some of the family, and hear snarky stories about the rest of  ’em

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Family Dinner at Wrightsville Beach. We hid down at the far end of the table from Dad.

 

And then, we finally left the country – for a minute.  In December of 2005 we went on what was my first real cruise – I’d gone to Freeport, Grand Bahama from Miami when I was in college, but it was a leave-in-the-morning, return-in-the-late-evening deal, with no meals.  On a really old and crappy ship.  This was much nicer- we cruised with Celebrity, on the Zenith, which was their oldest and most decrepit ship at the time, but still really nice.  We sailed past Cuba, and were apparently greeted by gunboats as we approached, but Lisa and I slept thru that part.  We stopped in Georgetown, Grand Cayman Island, where we did some more scuba diving, and it was fantastic, if exhausting.  Then we came back to Florida via Key West, where Lisa and I wanted to do the typical touristy thing and get our picture taken in front of the Southernmost Point marker…. which was being repainted at the time, so it’s all unkempt-looking – you can even see the fancy 3M blue masking tape on it:

New sweetie-pie, new coat of paint on the Southernmost marker.

Bill and Amy got their picture made in the same spot a few years later, and it was cool to see the marker all finished, and with the masking tape removed.  We enjoyed that cruise so much we repeated it again 366 days later, but did a 7-night, 4 stop, 3-country cruise this time.  I’d taken a picture of another cruise ship anchored next to ours in Grand Cayman on the Zenith cruise, and it was Royal Caribbean’s Legend of the Seas.  366 days later, that was the ship we were on for our second.

We enjoyed that one so much that we did it one more time, but this one was our honeymoon, two weeks after the Glorious Dance Party that we threw in lieu of a traditional wedding.  It’s hard to believe it’s been only four years, but we’ve squeezed some life out of those years – and some miles!   Lisa joined the US State Department’s Foreign Service in May of 2008, and we shipped out to Manila in the Philippines for 2 years in September.  Living in the tropics was awesome; we’re both anxious to do it again sometime, if that’s how things work out.

In very small print, that second red line says "your life just changed, forever... and for the better."

The Philippine Islands are amazing – lush, and tropical, and absolutely beautiful, and extraordinarily bio-diverse.  And in December of 2008, we learned that they were about to get diverse-er.  That’s Lisa over there, on the 7th of December (a Good Day To Get Bombed – thanks Dad!) showing me a foul-smelling little plastic stick that changed our lives forever.  40 weeks later we were joined, quietly and peaceably, by a beautiful daughter.  Our naming discussion lasted about 20 seconds:

ME:  ”Well, I have some ideas for boy names, but I’m not married to any of ‘em.  If it’s a girl, I’d very much like to name her Virginia Rose, after my Momma.”

LISA: “I like that very much, it’s a beautiful name!   And if it’s a boy, I’d like to name him Ross Heflin, after my grandfather.”

ME:  (long silence)  ”I’m pretty sure it’s a girl.”

LISA:  ”You just don’t like the name Heflin.”

But it all worked out, and we were joined by The Fabulous GinnyBoo in August of 09.  Every day since has been a treat – Ginny grows (larger and) more endearing and loveable literally every single day.  Here are a couple of favorites from the Philippines:

Balayan Bay, Eagle Point Resort, Anilao, Luzon, Philippines

Verde Island Passage, Mindoro/Luzon, Philippines

In the airport on the way to Boracay Island.

When we’d been in Manila one year, the State Department asked Lisa to name some places she might like to work next, and if things worked out they might send us to one of them, or they might send us somewhere else entirely.  One of the job requirements is that Lisa become fluent in at least one other language besides English, and the State Department accepts the teaching responsibility – they’ve got a little impromptu State Department college set up in Arlington VA.  So we named a bunch of spanish-speaking posts, from Hermosillo Mexico to Havana Cuba to Bogota Colombia, and they chose Mexico City for us .  So we finished out the two years in Manila, came to DC for 9 months, and started thinking about how only children can sometimes be really weird.  Lisa’s an only child.  My Dad’s an only child.  Need I say more?  ;-)  Weird’s not bad, per se, it’s just… well, it’s weird.    So we began discussing a possible second daughter, decided it was a good idea, and turned up pregnant some time in January of 2011.  We moved to Mexico in June of 2011, after learning to hablar a little español, and welcomed Ripley Ann to the family in October!

I know it’s been only four years, but we’ve packed the living into them, and they’ve been a joy.  Today we start Year Number Five – I wonder what it holds in store??

Thanks to all for reading my ramblings – I wanted to take time to let folks know what a joyful ride these four years have been, and how much I’m looking forward to four more, and four more, and four more, and….

Noche Buena, estilo D.F.

Twas the night before Christmas, and all thru the land,

the people were happy and gay,

At least I assume so, they’re all speaking Spanish,

And I can’t understand what they say!!!

¡Feliz Navidad!

 

We had a lovely Noche Buena here tonight, just the family.  We’ve now got a new two-year traditional Christmas meal going; Ednalyn made her slowly-becoming famous Zacatecas-style Stuffed Roasted Chicken, which was served at our Christmas Party in VA last year.  I roasted some winter vegetables, and Lisa made her WorldBeating Pecan Pie, and the girls were just barely behaved enough that we were able to eat it with some leisure, and much pleasure.

Christmas Eve Dinner

The veggies were easy and delicious; just fingerling potatoes, carrots, red onion, and brussels sprouts drizzled with garlic-and-thyme-flavored olive oil and roasted in the oven for an hour.  The cheese is a local gorgonzola, a delightfully stinky spanish-style blue cheese.  It’s on the table because of that last unidentified thing – the rectangular yellowish lump that looks kind of like a slab of butter you’d be wise to throw in the trash.   It’s actually an English Fruitcake.   Lisa participates every year in a Christmas Ornament Exchange program with some “invisible friends” that co-inhabit a web chat/sharing site.   You get assigned a person to send an ornament to, and some other person gets assigned to send one to you.  We’ve gotten some neat things thru the years, and given some neat ones too.  Some of the folks feel inclined to send some other stuff along too, especially if they’re from OTUS (Outside the US).   This person is living in the UK, so in addition to the nifty reindeer ornaments she added 4 traditional British Christmas Crackers, which we’ll open tomorrow, and the pictured fruitcake, with a very funny letter accompanying the whole package.  The fruitcake is covered with marzipan, which is why it looks funny, but UKgirl said it’s good with Stilton cheese.  That not being available, we got the gorgonzola, and she was right – a good combo.

The pie caused a bit of consternation:  We wanted to wait a bit after dinner before having the pie; so we did.  In the meantime, Ginny ran off with YaYa to have her bath, and came back out, to watch her favorite song videos with Daddy, which is a distraction for getting her teeth brushed.  Teeth well-brushed, she entertained herself with toys and stuff prior to bedtime.  ’Til DumDum Daddy broke out the pie –  before Ginny went to bed, but AFTER she’d had her teeth brushed – and refused to give her any, cuz of the teeth thing.   That didn’t go over so good.  Probably should have waited til she went to bed.  My dreams shall be haunted by Ginny’s voice wheedling “Moh?  Moh??”    Moh = More.  As in, More Pie.  LOTS More Pie.  Sometime tomorrow, that little girl is getting a big ol’ piece of pecan pie.

Tomorrow morning should be fun – Ginny still doesn’t fully grok Christmas, but she gets into the spirit of things a bit, and I know she’ll enjoy some of the things she’ll open tomorrow.  Next year I think will be the Big Deal, when we can really sell the Santa Claus thing, and the cookies and milk and all that stuff.

Happy Christmas to all, and to all a Good Night!

I Like Weird Stuff

OK, I’m not the most adventurous guy in the world, but I love to eat. And if people somewhere eat something, and it gets a reputation for being good, I’m not usually going to stick my tongue out and say, “Eeeew, that’s gross” without giving it a try.  OK, OK, I found the boiled fertilized duck egg in the Philippines, balut, to be revolting, but at least I got all the way to the vendor before backing down.  Here in Mexico in the southern states, they have apparently billions and billions of grasshoppers.  I guess they traditionally destroyed a number of crops, so the locals decided, “Dang, if y’all are gonna eat my wheat, I’ll just have to eat y’all!!”  And so they do.  They’re called chapulines here in Mexico; other Spanish-speaking countries eat ‘em, too, but they call ‘em saltamontes, the Spanish word for grasshopper.  The Mexican name comes not from Spanish but from Nahuat, the language of the Aztecs who settled here before Cortez and his merry band arrived.  Hence Mexico’s version of Central Park, called the Bosque de Chapultepec, or “the forest on grasshopper hill.”

Anyway, I get an AWFUL lot of help around the apartment and the city from our building’s super, Chucho.  I wouldn’t be getting along around here half as well if it weren’t for Chucho.  Today, Chucho arrived back at work from his “weekend” (he works Monday thru Saturday, and lives many hours outside of Mexico City, so he doesn’t get home til Sunday morning,   His weekend is one day with the wife and kids, during the week he stays with a relative here in DF) bearing gifts:  guavas for Ednalyn, our beloved YaYa; granadas de moco for our neighbor upstairs (a story in itself) and chapulines for me!  Here is a stock photo of some chapulines in a market; they sell ‘em by the 100 grams, and they’re very light, so 100 gr is a hot mess of grasshoppers.  II was a bit nervous at first, of course, but Chucho told me they’re best if you re-fry ‘em a bit, to make sure there’s no gushy parts (eew), and so they’ll be hot.  These were flavored with limón and salt, so all I did was dip ‘em in hot vegetable oil for 30 seconds, and they were ready to go, as you see here:

So, how were they?  Well, not nearly as revolting as the balut, that’s for sure… and honestly, they tasted like something fried with lime and salt.  essentially no different than a very thin and insubstantial fried pork rind.  The inside is totally hollowed out by the cooking process, so what you see, the outside, is all you’re eating.  It’s very thin, and gets super-crispy, and pretty much dissolves away in your mouth after you crunch it.   Yeah, you’re eating bugs, but I guess if my cereal crops were devastated by locusts, I could be convinced to eat the locusts in turn.   In all, a worthwhile experience, and I’ll probably fry up and finish the rest of the bag.  I want to see if Ginny will try one, and Lisa has expressed an interest too.  Ednalyn and I both tried ‘em yesterday, and were unanimous in saying “eeeeh – they’re all right.”

  Yum Yum Grasshoppers!!

OK, so on the other gift – the granadas de moco.  Did anybody look up the spanish?  No?  Then you missed out.  Yes, granada is the spanish word for pomegranate, a very important fruit and culinary ingredient in Mexican culture; but it’s also the word for grenade.  I don’t know if pomegranate is granada because it resembled a grenade to somebody, or if grenade is granada because it resembled a pomegranate to someone, but the fact remains, two meanings, one word.  And moco means “snot” or “booger.”  So yeah,  I’ve been given a fruit colloquially known as a booger grenade.  As it turns out, it is vaguely like a pomegranate inside, in that you don’t so much peel or slice it as crack it open, to reveal a mess (and I do mean mess) of lemon-seed-sized seeds coated in what looks like semi-clear mucus.

 Granada de mocho:  The “booger grenade”, or “snot pomegranate”

In truth, the fruit is more widely known in Latin America as either the granadilla or granada de china, and is a close relative of the passionfruit, whose taste it resembles, though a bit less sweet.

So two new tidbits to add to my worldly experience!  It’s a bit mind-blowing to consider all that’s happened in my life recently.  In 2003 I was 42 years old, had traveled to Las Vegas via Denver once, and other than that never been across the Mississippi river; I’d been out of the country twice; a day trip  on a Spring-Break cruise to Freeport, Grand Bahama in college, and a 10-day trip to Switzerland in 1988.  I was never getting married, never-ever-ever having kids, and hoping to grow old in peace, in one place, probably in that house in Roswell as it rotted around me.  Then I met Lisa, and she didn’t steal my heart, she invented it.  She had a travelin’ jones, so we left the country, together, on a cruise ship.  It was fun, so we did it again the next year, and the year after that.  Her jones was not satisfied, so she took a job that involves heavy travel.   I made it to San Francisco, and had lunch with the sea lions and ate sourdough bread and Ghirardelli chocolates at Fishermans Wharf;  I flew to the Philippines – The Philippines, for Pete’s Sake!!!!!! – and lived for two years in the most crowded metropolitan area on the planet.  I traveled to 10 or 12 of the 7,107 islands that make up that amazing country, and made a side-trip to Singapore, where they do not spit.  I got Platinum Status on Delta for all the miles I’d racked up!  I had a daughter, and my life was ruined.  I had children – no more late nights with the boys, no more spur-of-the-moment trips, no more fun.  Oh, woe is me.  And then, the daughter turned into the Fabulous GinnyBoo, who’s more fun to spend time with than all of the wonderful people I’ve ever sat in a bar with on a Friday night.  We moved back to the US briefly, and some very brave and persistent people taught me very well, to speak Spanish very poorly.   I saw my beloved niece Katie get married (OK, there was a ton of traffic on 295, and I was late, so I actually missed the ceremony – but I watched her get tipsy and dance with my Dad, and her new husband).    My nephew David met the girl of his dreams, and threw a party in Paradise to celebrate – I went to the glorious island of St. Lucia to watch him and Stephanie tie the knot, dodging rain-drops, cruise-ships, and free-ranging beach chickens all at the same time.    I moved to Mexico!!  Holy Cow!  Americans moving to Mexico!  Is that backwards, or WHAT?   I’ve learned to functionally speak and understand spanish, the key to which has been the mastering and early use of the phrase “por favor, digame como yo tenga tres años.”     The Ned, my remarkable, exasperating, and utterly unique father, passed away after a full life of 94 years, peacefully in his sleep for no reason other than the fact that he’d lived long enough.   The calm, cool and collected Adam joined our extended family by marrying my equally-beloved-niece Melanie.   And now, I have a second daughter!!  Very different than the Fabulous, but lovable too, is the Formidable Ripley Ann.  I’m looking forward to getting to know her, and spending the next 18 months here in Mexico, and learning the answer to my new favorite question, replacing “How Does It Work?”:   WHAT HAPPENS NEXT??

Welcome, Ripley Ann!

I Love Babies!! Isn't that WEIRD?

OK, so the rule is, the person making the post gets to pick the picture, so here’s our latest (and last) addition to the Family, Ripley Ann, posing beautifully with her oh-so-proud and happy Dad.

First, the name:  Many of you know we were struggling with a name for this one, to the point that we were referring to her as Agnes as kind of a joke; after doing so for 8 months or so, we got kind of hooked on the name, but we stopped short of saddling the poor thing with what I still think of as a mean old lady/mean old Catholic nun name.  We tried on several options, but it wasn’t until late September that we finally seriously considered Ripley, after Lisa’s Dad.  We wanted to honor Lisa’s side of the family with this one, as The Fabulous Ginny Boo is named after my mother, so I suggested Ripley, Lisa’s Dad’s middle name.  We both liked it a lot, but agreed there needed to be a distinctly female, girly, middle name to counteract the genderlessness of it.  I suggested Ripley Elaine, and Lisa quickly countered “Ripley Ann.”  I thought, and said, “that’s nice, but Ann’s kind of plain, right?  How about Anne?”   A word to those of you who go thru this in the future: don’t forget your wife’s middle name when discussing kid’s names.   Oops.  Lisa Ann didn’t think Ann was plain at all.  And so here she is, the Remarkable Ripley Ann!

BORN:         10 October, 2011  (10/10/11, except in Mexico, where it’s 10/10/11)

TIME:          0951 hrs.

PLACE:        Hospital Español, Polanco, Delegación Miguel Hidalgo, Mexico, D.F.

LENGTH:    50 cm = 19 & 3/4 inches

WEIGHT:    3405 grams = 7 lbs, 8 oz

APGAR:      9,9   Doc said a little darkness in the hands kept her from a perfect 10, and at high altitude, nobody gets the full 2 points for extremities coloration.  So adjusted for altitude, she’s perfect!

She was born with what I think of as the Hines Birth Hair, that fine, dark, kind of greasy almost-black temporary hair that a lot of kids have.  It falls out to be replaced by her “real hair” after a month or two.  Ginny had that hair all over – she was very hairy on arms, legs, back and face.  This one’s just got it where hair goes, on her head.  But it doesn’t grow in nice patterns like the permanent (HAH!) hair… but the nurses in the nursery insisted on combing it anyway.  If you can explain the following picture to me, you understand Mexican nurses a lot better than I do:

The Mohawk Baby

The Hospital Experience was very nice.  The Hospital Español is kind of old, but the Maternity/Obstetrics section is actually housed in a separate, small building, very recently renovated.  Beautifully rustic and old-timey on the outside, fully modern and professional on the inside.  We were whisked inside after a 3 minute check-in, and set up in a room for a few minutes, before Lisa was wheeled away for some prep.  During this time I was sent to the Principal’s Office for more check-in; this took just 15 minutes more, including a little wait time.  I was pleased with how quickly and smoothly everything went, but we were the first check- in of the day, so maybe things bog down later.

Lisa was taken away from me around 8:30, and the nurses set me up with our extended-stay room and help me schlepp our belongings in there, and then took me to change clothes and mask up and join the docs and Lisa in the operating room – it was a scheduled C-Section, so involved an operating room rather than a birthing room.  At 9:51, Doctor Villalobos pulled a red and squalling Ripley Ann from Mama’s insides, and away we go!

We stayed in the hospital from Monday thru Thursday morning, and brought little Rippy home Thursday afternoon.  Ginny came by the hospital Wednesday to meet her little sister;  I thought the meeting went very well.  Since then, Ripley does almost nothing but sleep with brief interruptions to eat, followed by loud, flatulent pooping, and back to the Land of Nod.

Lisa is doing very well; the recovery from surgery this time is a bit harder and more painful than last, but it gets better every day, and she’s feeling mostly human by now.  Ripley is sleeping like a champion, in 3- and even 4-or-more-hour stretches   – during the day.  At night, it’s two hours and “Feed Me!”  But we’re getting the rest in, and sleep dep hasn’t hit us very hard yet.  Of course, we have all the help in the world, in our amazing nanny, Ednalyn.  She’s made it easy going so far, and we’re enjoying our newly and fully expanded family.

Hope all is well with y’all; it’s late in one of Rip’s sleep cycles right now, and I wanna get in bed before she wakes demanding food.

Sweetness, Multiplied

Ripley, the latest love of my life

I know, it looks like I dug up an old photo of Ginny and stubbed it in here, doesn’t it?  That’s partly exacerbated by the fact that that’s the blanket Ginny was wrapped in the day she was born.  We brought it with us from the Philippines for sentimental reasons, and I thought it’d be cool to have her little sister wrapped in it too.  The staff in the nursery just thought we were cheap, though, as most of the mommies provided fancy-schmancy fleecy blankets for their babies.

Anyway, Code Name Agnes has finally arrived, and we’ve been using the codename so long we’re having trouble switching, but her name is Ripley.  Before y’all get all “Oh, like the Sigourney Weaver character in Alien!!!” on me, understand that it’s a family name from Lisa’s side – her Dad’s middle name is Ripley, and we thought combined with a girly middle name it’d be pretty cool.  We’re pleased with how it sounds, and she’s as darling and captivating as her big sister.  We’re looking forward to introducing the two girls to each other, maybe tomorrow.

For now, baby and Mama are resting comfortably, and Dad’s so jazzed he’s staying up all night typing on the computer.

Love to y’all, from the now fully-expanded family!!

Countdown!

I know it’s been a little while, but I have two excuses:

1.  We’ve all been sick.

2.  We’re havin’ a Baby!!!

We’ve been kind of preoccupied with taking care of the GinnyBoo and getting ready for child number two, who will arrive on Monday.  I understand the hospital has internet, so we’ll try the day-of-birth announcement with picture electronically, like we did with Ginny; and we’ll be sure to let everyone know how Mom, baby, and Big Sister are doing.

Say some prayers or think good thoughts in our direction, and we’ll let y’all know more as it develops!

¡Viva Mexico!

¡Viva la Independencia!

Today, September the 16th, is the 201st anniversary of Mexican Independence.  Well, sort of.  Or maybe September the 27th is the 190th anniversary of Mexican Independence. Confused?  OK, here’s the story:   In the evening of the 15th of September in 1810, Father Miguel Hidalgo, with some supporters including Ignacio Allende, released some folks being held prisoner for actions in favor of revolution and independence. They succeeded, and around 6 am on the morning of the 16th, they rang the church bells in the small town of Dolores, and issued the Cry For Independence, or El Grito de la Independencia, calling for Mexicans to support the effort for independence from Spain.  For the next 11 years Mexico would engage in warfare and conflict, before finally succeeding in gaining independence in September of 1821.   And if any of y’all thought the 1976 fireworks on the Mall in Washington DC were a big patriotic deal, come down to Mexico for September 16th some year.  Wow!  This is like their 4th of July, but these people get BEHIND their national holiday.  The fancy mustachioed hat and little Mexican flag (later stolen, by the way) were just two of the many hundreds of kitschy items for sale to celebrate El Grito, and we saw at least a few people sporting every single one of the available options.  Folks get dressed up in authentic period dress, or they wear silly red-white-and-green sombreros and giant fake mustaches (“bigotes”) to symbolize the involvement of the grass roots of Mexico in the effort for independence.   A guy had this totally awesome headpiece that was bright red, clean white, and bright green fake hair.  I was SO jealous.  But I did get the opportunity to sport my Mexican Flag do-rag, and believe me the Big Gringo got some looks.   Living in the heart of the city has many advantages, and today we were able to walk about 3 blocks to El Paseo de la Reforma, one of the main drags in this part of Mexico City, and watch the National Military Parade.  We had a ball, and learned that Ginny’s unhealthy fascination for men with tatoos and men on motorcycles also extends to men in uniform – but only the really dangerous-looking ones.  The clean-cut Navy and AirForce dudes got a smile, but when the special forces Army dudes came marching by in their combat fatigues and green and black facepaint, she went nuts, blowing kisses and laughing and pointing at all the young men.   Troubling.

She doesn't like to wear hats, but it was for a good cause.

Today was of course a national holiday, so the whole city had the day off, including the U.S. Embassy, so Lisa got to sleep in a bit.  We had a great morning looking at all the pomp and circumstance surrounding the parade, then Ginny came home for lunch and a short nap.  Lisa and I are thinking about going out to dinner after G-Boo is in bed, and all in all it’s been a really fun day.

Lisa’s been feeling about as OK as can be expected for the final four weeks of pregnancy; she was able to get out and about today to enjoy some of the festivities.   She’s looking forward to being able to take some deep breaths again, I’m looking forward to having her home for several weeks, and we’re all looking forward to expanding the family to Mom and Dad and TWO little girls!  We’re not expecting anything fancy for the rest of the weekend; we’re hoping to have a visit with some local friends and just spend the weekend relaxing as much as possible.   If we manage to get out for dinner tonight, we’ll get to see if the El Grito weekend translates into wild times all weekend.  We didn’t get a chance to go out last night, but I understand that’s the Big Deal part – folks gather around the Zocalo, the Central Square of downtown Mexico City, and the President has the Palace Bells rung, and leads the people in a Grito Mexicano, kind of a repeat of the Grito – Viva Mexico, Viva los Heroes, viva Hidalgo y Allende y all those other famous dead guys, and the crowd bellows it back at him with great, potentially beer-fueled, enthusiasm and patriotic passion.

We’re having a blast in Mexico, and can’t wait to see what comes next!

Lisa con Numero Dos!

Happy Birthday to the Original

When my wife and I learned we were having a baby, two Novembers ago, we talked for about thirty seconds about names.

ME:   “If it’s a girl, I’d very much like to name her Virginia Rose, after my mother.”

LISA:  ”OK, that’ll be nice.  It’s a beautiful name.”

And it is, and I’m very proud to be Virginia Rose’s son, and Virginia Rose Hines’s Daddy.  Mom would have been 90 today, had she had any interest at all in living that long, which she most vehemently did not.   Happy Birthday, Mom!

A Journey into the Past

Well, Eleven weeks after arrival in Mexico, we finally made a little trip!  This past Saturday morning, we got up a little early, had a nice breakfast, packed two cameras, some water, and a nice lunch in the car, and headed out northeast of Mexico City about 30 miles, to the ruins of Teotihuacán.  This is a pretty amazing place.  It’s referred to here as “The Pyramids” or “Las Pirámides”  though in fact there are many other sites fairly close to DF that have pre-columbian pyramid structures.  This one’s pretty well-known, though, and it’s just about 30 miles outside the city, so pretty easy to get to if you leave early in the morning.  It contains the well-known Pyramid of the Sun and the Pyramid of the Moon.  El Pirámide del Sol is the second-largest pyramid in the Western Hemisphere, behind the Great Pyramid of Cholula, but that one’s really in ruins, and this one in Teotihuacán is maintained/restored pretty well.  The site is way more than just two big pyramids; there are dozens, maybe hundreds, of other structures there too and the site is about 2.5 km long south-to-north, and maybe 3/4 of a kilometer wide, east-to-west.  Both of the big Pyramids are in the northern-most half-kilometer or so, and the most common drop-off point is all the way at the southern end, so it’s a day of serious walking if you plan to view the whole site.   We took precautions to make sure it was a day that could be enjoyable for a pregnant woman and a two-year lazy little girl , so we found a way up to the smaller parking lot close to the Luna, and spent our morning traipsing between Luna and Sol.   El Pirámide de la Luna is the northern anchor of the site, and the main drag of the old civilization, Calzado de los Muertos, or The Avenue of the Dead, runs due south from Luna, past the Pyramid of the Sun, and on down past lots of other structures, ending near the Pyramid or Temple of Quetzalcoatl.  We only waked about a fifth of the distance, and we found that was plenty for a family-outing morning.  We came home pretty early, leaving the site before 11:30, so it didn’t disrupt Ginny’s (or Lisa’s) day too much.

Pyramid of the Sun, taken from halfway up the Pyramid of the Moon

I had a really great time.  I wanted to climb to the top of one of the pyramids, but nobody else in the group was able to do that, so I’ll save that for another trip, which I hope to make soon.  This is the kind of thing that I really really like – I can wander around a place like this for hours, trying to imagine what living here was like, what the uses of the different buildings could have been, how it looked before a millenium of wear and tear busted it up, etc.  This place has kind of an extra layer of interest for me – the place names are all from Nauhatl, the language of the Mexica people, a portion of whom became the Aztecs.  The Spanish names that exist here are just translations of the old Nauhatl names, and nobody knows the names used when the city was in use.  The civilization that created the place was long gone by the time the Mexica came to this valley, but the Mexica were captivated by the grandeur and scope of the place, and started attaching religious and social significance to the structures they found here.  They guessed right in some cases, like the Sun and Moon structures, but less so in others – the main drag is called the Avenue of the Dead because the Mexica thought that the structures lining the road were sarcophogi or tombs.  In reality they were base structures that held temples and church-like buildings.

We were able to keep the trip short enough that nobody got too hot or tired or sunburned or anything else, and that made for a very successful outing.  The sun there was absolutely brutal.  It was a clear, bright day, and we were about 8000 feet above sea level, so even though it wasn’t super hot, the sun had some force to it.  We were smart enough, for once, to heavily lather up with sunscreen and all wore hats and protective clothing, so nobody has any sunburn, which seems like a miracle.  Ginny had a good time, although her favorite feature of the joint appeared to be the individual rocks in the gravel lining the Calzado, rather than any of the meso-american stuff.  Here she is enjoying landfall on the ancient grounds.

History, shmistory, but these rocks sure are cool!

Lisa and I have lamented a bit about the fact that we just didn’t get out and about when we lived in Manila for two years.  I know, I know, we hatched out the GinnyBean, and that put a little damper on travel, but we had friends there who were gone nearly every weekend, either for a short trip near Manila, or if time permitted, to the other islands or other countries of southeast Asia.  We’re determined to do a better job of traveling and seeing this country, and there appears to be much that very much deserves to be seen.  So we’re trying to make good on the threat with an early start.  We went to the Pyramids this weekend;we’ve also got trips planned for Acapulco and Las Estacas, a river/springs area in the next state south of the capital here.

Hope everybody’s getting back in to reading the page; I’m determined to keep it up to date with enough new stuff to be worth regular visits.  Spread the word among family and friends!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See how the shape of the pyramid echoes the shape of the mountain in the distance? I thought that was very cool.

Sleeping Legends

Just wanted to explain to those who notice the picture change -  I found a prettier image of Mexico City, taken from a vantage point very close to where we live, and including two of the famous landmarks of this part of Mexico.  The photo is taken from the Polanco district of el D.F., which is where we live, and the mountains in the background are the second- and third-tallest peaks in Mexico.  A quick explanation – not everything in Mexico is Spanish.  Many words and place names come from the many cultures that existed before Cortes and his happy band of thugs came along in 1520, and some of the most common are from a jaw-breaking language called Nahuatl.  The Nahuat were the forerunners of the Aztecs.  So that’s Iztaccihuatl (Eeesh-tock-chee-waddle) on the left, or “the White Lady;”  Popocatepetl, “the Smoking Mountain” is on the right.  Nauhat and Aztec legends say that Popoca was a great warrior of ancient Tenochtitlan (Mexico City, long ago); he was in love with the King’s daughter, Izta.  The king sent Popo off to war in Oaxaca with the promise that when he returned victorious he would be granted Izta as his bride.  The king expected Popoca to die in battle, and reported to Izta that he had done so.  Izta was stricken with grief and died.  Popoca then returned, and finding his love dead, carried her body to the southeast, laid her down, and sat beside her, raging and fuming at the cruelty of the world.  The gods covered them both with a white blanket and there they rest for eternity.  Popo was so viscerally pissed off that he steams and smokes to this very day.

The scientific view differs slightly from the Aztec legend and has more stuff about fault lines, geothermal energy, and plate tectonics, but it’s a cool story, and a pretty view.  The national park that encompasses Izta and Popo is about 45 miles to the southeast of Mexico City, and about 25 miles west of Puebla, the next big city in these parts.  Mark knows of Puebla, because it’s where they make the Volkswagens.  Hi Mark!    The picture above was taken very early in the morning, in the winter, to get a clear enough sky to see the mountains before DF’s pollution haze obscured them.  But one need only go 30 minutes or so east or southeast to see them clearly on a reasonable day.  We haven’t done much traveling yet, but we’ll get to the mouth-numbing Parque Nacional Iztaccihuatl-Popocatepetl eventually.

In the meantime, enjoy the pretty picture, and think kind thoughts for the 17-thousand foot high star-crossed lovers.