When I visited Cuba in 1998 to cover the visit of Pope John Paul II for the Chicago Tribune I stumbled onto a few surprising branches of my family tree, including relatives I'd heard about but had never met and who appeared to be loyal and highly placed apparatchiks. They lived quite comfortably in an …
Tale of a nervous Good Samaritan
How are your abuelitos doing I asked Félix last week. His grandparents have been on my mind ever since Stew and I brought them a Christmas despensa, a holiday shopping bag of groceries containing flour for tortillas, corn husks for tamales, cooking oil, sugar and other Mexican staples that we supplemented with a couple of packages of …
A lousy spring for impatient pessimists
If my first and middle names reflected my gardening instincts they would be Impatient—how long do these damn seeds take to pop out of the dirt?—and Pessimist—alright, so they germinated but probably a late frost, worms, rabbits or the Hand of an Angry God is going to take care of the tender shoots, so let's …
A loud hurrah for a sober Stew
Of all the suffering connected with alcoholism, the secrecy and the loneliness have to be the most painful. There are many people, I'm sure, for whom drinking is a harmless way to celebrate friendship and family, to mark life's landmarks, to share a joy. Not for an alcoholic, whose life becomes ever more circumscribed and …
Birth of a Salesman
For all his laudable personal qualities—honesty, first-rate smarts and a willingness to work, among others—our gardener Félix' prospects in life are dampened by the fatalism that pervades most Mexicans in the campo or countryside. Life is but a torturous trek and you just pray something really awful doesn't happen along the way.It's not a worldview that …
Tiptoe through the Cactaceae
When our house was still in the dreaming phase, circa 2008, Stew and I envisioned an enclosed front yard that would hold a collection of subtropical plants somewhat in the style of an English walled garden. It would provide a lush break as one entered the house, between the semi-desertic outdoors and the indoors.It was …
The odd charm of a mini mutt
At roughly five months of age our fifth dog Felisa is staying relatively small. She is not going to be a miniature or a teacup anything, yet weighing just six kilos she is blissfully petite compared to our other dogs which start at nineteen kilos or roughly forty-two pounds. Even our two hefty cats weigh …
Mexico City a nibble at a time
Eight years after moving to Mexico its capital city remains an impenetrable riddle that Stew and I, who are both confirmed fans of big cities, have barely begun to decipher. Mexico City can be as grand as any European capital but also as chaotic and intimidating as any place you'd find deep in the Third …
The gift of a simple Christmas
Right in the middle of reports about disappointing Black Friday sales—will they ever be enough?—and how someone hacked Target's computers and stole credit information on 40 million customers; and did you hear that Beyoncé gave away $37,500 in gift cards to customers at a Massachusetts Walmart during a surprise visit; and Fox News continued its seasonal …
Miracle on Kilometer Five
Miracles, such as those performed by Jesus Christ, are pivotal beliefs of the Roman Catholic church. After His death the tradition of miracles flourished, even exploded, as the Church began canonizing deceased mortals deemed by the Pope to have entered heaven on account of their piety, good works or overall saintliness.One of the requirements for admission …
El Rancho Santa Clara 