It’s been pretty quiet narco-wise and crime-wise for the last few days, ever since the narcobloqueo in Guadalajara where all the streets were blockaded and buses burned as a sort of commentary and communiqué from the cartel guys on the capture of one of their big capos a few days ago. They even left apology letters around town, sorry for the horrific traffic mess and the burned buses and all, we just wanted you folks out there to know how we felt about this whole arrest-of-our-leader thing. One could just laugh except that two people died, including one of the drivers of the municipal buses they burned. It’s pretty surreal.

But after staying close to home for a couple of days “just in case” something weird happened in our neck of the woods, an hour away from the city, I poked my head out of my paranoid shell long enough to realize that it is breathtakingly beautiful here now, our garden is resplendent and Carlos, the gardener, has planted a bunch of new seedlings that have “taken” which of course they never would have back in our old life in Santa Fe. I had thrown some tomato peels into our compost pile – I guess there were stray seeds in them – because now we have two or three strapping, healthy tomato plants growing! In fact reports are that Santa Fe is still very windy and cold. Our biggest debate here is whether or not we should sleep with both bedroom windows open or just one of them. Rosa and I folded up the winter blanket and stored it in its box till the fall. Happy equinox!

Arnold has survived his skin cancer surgery – the biopsies came back negative gracias a dios – and it looks like his forehead is going to heal up very nicely; America is back in her ballet classes again after a short break; Sofia got over the awful flu she had and is back in school.  I reorganized my bathroom drawers so all my makeup is easier to find, put the winter clothes in the back of the closet and found the box where the bathing suits are. Somehow life is going on despite the two big elephants in the room; the ongoing drug wars and the ever-closer presence of the narcos to our little paradise here; and the steady decline of my poor mother, who just fails ever-so-slightly every week with no end in sight. We are taking turns traveling now because one of us probably needs to be here in case we get “the call” – so I am heading up to Los Angeles next week for a bit of a break, to be with my sister and have some retail therapy and other fun with the family and friends. Arnold will stay here and hold down the fort with Reina and the kitties till I get back.

A big tradition here for is “Primavera” – Spring – where the schools all put on festivals and the little kids all dress up as animals, bugs, flowers, bees. Just adorable. Carlos’ pre-school is putting on their festival this Friday and he is going to be a sheep. How cute will that be? The little girls are all going to be cows, or so we have been told, and the older kids will be farmers. They are all busy working on their costumes. As part of the festivities each child was asked by the teacher to give a report on what his/her favorite animal was. Gaby (Rosa’s middle daughter and Carlos’ mom) asked him which animal he was going to pick – Kitten?  Doggie? No, said Carlos, “la girafa” – the giraffe. Where he got that idea no one knows but he is looking for pictures of giraffes and is working on his report. We think we should make a plan to take him to the Guadalajara zoo so he can see a REAL giraffe, one of these days.

We went out tonight with friends and the restaurant fixed a bathtub-sized margarita which I could barely lift, let alone drink! And I was REALLY BAD and ate a tortilla, on top of the margarita. Oh well! You can’t be perfect all the time. Can a margarita and one tortilla make you regain seventy pounds?