The rainy summer season is slinking away without the landscape reaching its peak kelly-green hue: We've had only half the amount of rain we normally get. I gauge rainfall by the amount of water collected in our cistern and it's only half-full. No reason to panic though: As I write this, dark clouds hover auspiciously …
Continue reading Constabulary notes from here, there and yon
Yesterday, growing a bit restless at the ranch despite the spectacular weather, Stew and I drove to Querétaro, to check what the hubbub surrounding the grand opening of an HEB supermarket was all about.And a hubbub it was. HEB's extra large parking lot was packed, and there were at least a dozen cars waiting to …
The main San Antonio Public Library is hard to miss even among the mid- and high-rise buildings sprouting downtown.This striking building, built in 1995, is visible from one of the expressways that slice and dice San Antonio's downtown and it first strikes you as a not particularly welcoming concrete box.But despite being squat, the library …
Many San Miguel expats, including Stew and I, travel north of the border and make shopping one of the main events of our visits. When it's 102 degrees outside in San Antonio, what better place to be that in an air-conditioned store or a movie house?We continue to be dazzled by Walmarts so large you …
Continue reading Our share of the blame for the trade gap with China
When we visit other towns for more than a fast flyby, Stew and I often make two stops, one at an A.A. meeting and the other at a Unitarian Church, if nothing else just to have some face time with the locals, shake a few hands, not feel like complete outsiders.And so for the past …
SAN ANTONIO, Texas—Two weeks ago today, we came here for Stew to have spinal surgery. Our sojourn has delivered unexpected encounters too with the uncertainties that lie ahead as we both age; a brush with the notorious opioid oxycodone; reminders of what it would be like to live back in the U.S., and the wonders …
Continue reading An encounter with old age, opioids and Berniecare
Initially my interest in succulents and cacti (the latter a subset the succulent family) was mostly practical. The soil around here is very poor and rain comes only during a narrow, three- or four-month window; the rest of the year the landscape is bone-dry. Succulents seemed custom made for such harsh conditions, though I quickly …
Sosnabar, the hardscrabble rancho where Félix and his family live, doesn't have any landmarks except for a white church with a lonely dissonant bell that clangs on special occasions when the blue crosses atop its three domes also light up at night.Felix' youngest, Jessica. Last Friday was one of those special times, when the town shook off …
Continue reading A day for goat tacos, pozole and adorable kids
Rainbow visions. Compared to the last we attended, in 2016, the crowds at this year's Gay Pride Parade in Mexico City were far larger, and certainly more jubilant. The one constant was the oh-so-Mexican lack of any visible organization. It wasn't so much an organized parade but a multitude of people, probably in the hundreds of …
Continue reading A very gay time at Mexico City's Pride Parade
These are nerve-racking times that can rattle the soul of even the most equanimous American.Relations between the U.S. and Iran are on a roller coaster. After initially threatening to bomb Iran, President Trump reconsidered, one of those rare occasions when his volatility has worked to the advantage of the country. Iran then responded by calling …
El Rancho Santa Clara 