Just My Luck...

Today is the day before I leave for my trip down South and of course the crazy California weather is at it again.  It started raining about 2 hours ago and hasn't stopped.  I will be packing the truck when I get home for work.  The good thing is that the condos where I live have covered parking and our parking space is right in front of our condo door.

At this point I will need to dry the inside of the back of the truck and I should be good to go.  I washed her yesterday and was complaining this morning about a little bird poop on the windshield.  Ha! Little did I know then that would be the least of my problems.  I need to stop being so delicada. 

Tootlz for now hopefully we'll get some sunshine soon.

-Trinidad

Hot, Hot, Hot

Summer has finally arrived here in California and now I've been struggling through the nights to get some sleep!  We have central air but it wasn't working by the end of last summer.  Since summer was over we put off getting it fixed, until now that is.  No fan and no air = no sleep.

Yesterday was the first pleasant night's sleep.  I have not seen  the floor of my room for about 5 days now as I got to packing everything and then it got really hot and I just left everything where it was.  Each time I come home I don't even want to be in my room so I'll sit downstairs until I'm forced to go to bed.  I have one week left and time's a tickin to get things wrapped up at home for my journey South.  Since yesterday was exceptionally hot I couldn't resist the urge to take my two nieces swimming at our communal pool.  Everybody was out and having a great time.  It's amazing how refreshed you can feel after a quick dip in the pool.

As I was going through all the boxes of junk stuff I have, I came across two microcasette tapes.  Curious to see what was on them, I took them to work to listen to their contents (we have microcassette players at work for when the attorneys do dictation....yes they still do that lol).  One had a recording of my late Abuelita Aurelia.  I was so happy to hear her voice again she was such a sweetheart and I miss her so much. 

The other tape had recordings of me tickling the ivories.  Wow, I completely forgot I had recorded myself playing the piano.  I also played Heart 'n' Soul, a duet, with somebody and now I don't remember who!  I'm going to be thinking about it all day until I remember.  Listening to the recording made me want to sit at the piano and practice for hours like I used to. 

Have any of you recently come across something that you just completely forgot exsisted? I love it when you find things that mean so much to you years later, you get to take a trip down memory lane.

The little ones I leave behind...

My apologies as I have been on a dry spell lately, most likely because of the anticipated journey south.  I can't seem to sleep these days and so I have been really tired, thus taking me away from my blogging duties.

The past weekend got me thinking about my four little indians. 

I became an aunt at the age of 8 and was an aunt to 4 by the age of 16.  I will never forget the time wita (my mom) and mom (my sister) took off from the house and left me with all four kids ages 7, 4, 18 mo. and 3 mo.  I don't remember what they left for but it was suppose to be only for a minute and it felt more like an hour.  Somehow I managed to watch them without any major disasters.

Left to Right: Tati, Rigo, Chito & Nellie

As many of you already know, June is the month of graduation from kindergarten, middle school, high school and even college. This year my family and I attended my nephew Angel's (Chito) graduation from high school and we were all very happy; especially because the family endured many difficult times these past couple of years.

Despite the difficulties the kids faced they continued to strive in school.  Chito graduated, Rigo is involved in an academic program for aspiring engineers, Nellie is going to the 8th grade and doing well, and Natalia (Tati) is moving on to middle school and is also doing well.

All of this good work deserves a fiesta and so on Saturday the 18th we will be celebrating Chito's graduation.  On the following day at 1400 hours he will be shipped out to Marine boot camp down in San Diego.  We wish him all of the best and know he will be just fine, but to even think of it now brings tears to my eyes as we are all a little emotional that he will be going away. 

July 13th is his 18th birthday and he will be spending it in boot camp.  I hope to send out thank you notes to all who attend our little celebration on Saturday and ask if they can take a moment of their time to send him a birthday card or note.  I hear that those in boot camp really look forward to mail call as they are not permitted to phone home or see their family for 3 months.

I will miss the kids so much when I am away and hope that they will contact me whenever they need anything.

Ok I think I've done enough sad sapping, I must now look forward to the fiesta and family gathering this weekend.  No more tears only smiles :) 



Left to Right: Rigo, Chito, Tati (tinkerbell shirt), & Nellie



Mystery Fruit

I read an excellent post about pitayas, a "delicious cactus fruit" as Leslie a fellow blogger put it, which reminded me of a cactus fruit that I love. (Leslie I hope you don't mind the link, if so please yell at me and I will remove it immediately).

Years ago while visiting my grandmother's ranchito Cosalima Zacatecas, I climbed up a nearby hill and came across a cactus with little purple balls growing on it.  They looked a little like a cross between grapes and cherries.

I was told these little fruits were delicious and that I should try one.  They turned out to be very tasty and I vowed to not forget the name because I was curious if anybody else knew about them.  In Zacatecas they are called garambuyos however they may have a different name in other regions of Mexico. 

Has anybody ever tried these before or something similar?