Poking from the manicured colonial skyline of San Miguel, with its weathered domes and steeples, we now have a new, shiny and fairly gigantic goose.At first it looks like one of those inflatable creatures car dealers rent to promote a sale, made of fabric and kept constantly wobbling by a fan underneath.But from the high …
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Looking for a (good) Mexican clip job
Some people may say that as guys get older haircuts become less important because the luxuriance of one's mane is inversely related to age. I'd argue the opposite and not just because, at 64, a fair amount of my follicles are still merrily fornicating and reproducing on my scalp.If anything, as you get older regular trips …
Tacos and chilis, with a dash of fumes
Paris has its very Left Bank sidewalk cafe Les Deux Magots, on Place Saint Germain de Prés, where the likes of Jean-Paul Sartre and Albert Camus sat for hours noodling their own depressing thoughts about the Human Condition, over one sip of espresso after another. San Miguel has a famous roadside eatery too--Alex Tacos--a here-now-gone-in-three-hours …
The Flying Zucchini Brothers
After many zigs and zags earlier in the year, which left several types of vegetables shriveled, withered or otherwise dead on the ground, I'm now approaching that point so familiar to many home gardeners: the late-August glut.This chaotic explosion of produce is an occurrence as predictable as the phases of the moon yet one that …
You call that a garden?
Midlife crises evoke dreams of a new career and in my case, about fifteen years ago, of becoming a landscape designer. After a few night courses at the Chicago Botanic Garden, a tentative verdict about my abilities came back from the teachers: I had a good eye for plant combinations but needed to double down …
Not easy being brown
Breakfast in Mexico brings the first of many disconnects from reality. A slinky model, her belly taut as a snare drum, stares at you seductively from the box of Lala skim milk, her skin and other features so fine--so Caucasian--she could be the spokesmodel for the Norwegian Lutefisk Council. Sorry, you have to buy a …
Long live the Queen
Their labors, right outside one of our bedroom windows, went on for about two years but during the initial two or three months the nest never grew much larger than a golf ball-sized lump of mud, neatly and firmly stuck under the wooden lintel. The paper wasps kept working right through eight seasonal changes, though, their …
Speaking in tongues
Engl-ish Mexican-ish Cuban-ishTray Charola BandejaBus …
Bee Bob Buzzes By
Yesterday, San Miguel's roving apiculture ambassadors, Bee Bob and his ten-pound mutt, Pepper, buzzed by the ranch for an emergency consultation. The actual emergency occurred about two weeks ago when Stew once again try to answer that perennial question, "What is going on with the bees?"Honey? Buzz off, we're not in the mood. He had donned …
Waiting for Stephanie
The subject of anyone's sleeping arrangements is a delicate one, but we couldn't help but wonder about Felix's. He and his family--wife and their healthy three-year-old girl and nine-month-old boy--live in a one-room house with no indoor bathroom facilities.Moreover, the entire family slept on one double-size bed. Never mind how can anyone sleep in such …
El Rancho Santa Clara 