Oh The Glories Of The Pig!

Woke up yesterday morning to eat nacatamales.  These came from my cousin´s house.  She lives in Santo Tomas and has chickens and pigs on her property.  Nice pig.  Nice pig.  She also sent us home with fresh chicharrones.  I can´t express enough how good they were. 

If you don´t eat meat or don´t indulge in swine, then you don´t really need to read this.  Anyway, the chicharrones were just recently fried in their own fat.  My dad and I ate a plate of them hot and with tortillas and chile.  Ena Frank, my cousin, served up a large plate of them and we all commented on how it was too much, and yet I dug into that plate with my dad and if she´d have brought more, I would have eaten them too.  They were slightly chewy, just made, but she put some in a bag to take home and they´ve become crispy.  They will not go to waste.

Actually, isn´t that really the concept of the pig?  Nothing goes to waste with it.  You eat everything but the squeal and I think that if there were a way to fry the squeal in it´s own squeaky grease we´d eat that too.

Anyway, I visted Ena Frank last year with my cousin Franco´s family and my Tia Ena and Tio Chico.  At the time, they were building the house and so you could see the layout of it with the concrete walls and nothing else.  Now, it´s a proper house with rooms and tile floors and stairs leading down to the lower level with an outdoor kitchen (perfect for laying out a just killed piggy about to be turned into nacatamales and chicharrones).  Her husband Alexis, cut a mahogany tree down for the doors. They wanted to also make the ceilings mahogany but there´s a limit as to how many precious-wood trees you can cut down.  The place is right off the highway, kind of lonesome with few neighbors, though all of Alexis´ family lives nearby.

Ena Frank has a business of piñateria.  Basically she imports party favors and sells them in a little store in the town.  She goes to Panama to buy piñatas, party favors, table cloths, napkins, centerpieces, etc.  Alexis is a rancher, thus the proliferation of chickens and lovely pigs.

Later that evening, we partook of some of the chicharrones with my Tia Mireya and Tio Felipe.  People cannot resist these tasty morsels of pig fat.  Mmmmm.

Gambling

We went to Montelimar resort.  This is the resort that was once Somoza´s private beach property.  At the Casona (Big House) there is a casino.  This is where one can see evidence of my mother´s vice.  She likes to gamble.  The truth of the matter is that she´s quite lucky.  My dad gets jealous of her because she has luck in picking winning numbers, yet she doesn´t play the lottery (he does).

Once when my dad was working at Rheem Manufacturing, they had a betting pool.  My dad used to bet on certain numbers, but he never won.  My ma had a dream that my dad´s numbers won, but that they never quite saw the money.  Weeks passed and my dad forgot to play his numbers, and they won!

Anyway, she couldn´t wait for the evening for us to go to the casino so she could play the slot machines.  Dad gave us 400 cordobas (around 20 dollars).  We got two cups of one cordoba coins and played for hours.  Finally, my mom won 400 cordobas so we had my dad change them, so we could pay him back and play the rest.   The second evening, my mother announced that she would double the money, perhaps a moment of hubris on her part.  We did not.  But my dad managed to win!  He usually never plays.  I have photographic evidence of his playing.  The funny thing about him, it´s hard to tell if he´s having any fun.  He was sitting at a slot machine with a mermaid theme and I´m not sure if he understood what he needed to get to win, because everytime he pressed the spin button he took a while looking at the machine as if he was reading it.  He didn´t get excited by the process like my mother.  She was sitting at a machine that had a double winnings theme, though that did not happen.  I was at a Winning Streak machine which my mother liked because it was loud and if you got three Winning Streaks in a row it went into a digital bonus round with lots of fanfare and musica.

Now we´re getting ready for Christmas Eve.  I made the rounds with my mom to visit her old ladies, who she gives communion to.  They all know about me (of course) and all ask about my dad.  Two old lady sisters in particular were kind of fun, because they seem mischievous.  They had a table set with a Christmas table cloth and we stood around it for the prayers and the readings.  Off to the side in their dirt yard, a dog was resting.  My eyes kept wandering over to him, until I noticed that he had a missing paw.  The paw had been missing for a while, because he didn´t seem wounded at all. 

Today, the government gave out free toys and pinatas for Christmas.  There´s a carnival with rides at the centro.  There will be loads of fireworks tonight.  The firemen (bomberos) were on the news talking about the safety measures they´re involved in regarding the fireworks (polvora).  They´re only allowed to sell fireworks in certain spaces.  They´ve given safety measures to people who transport the fireworks.  Now they urge the populace to use common sense and not allow children to set off fireworks, saying that only adults should use them and with caution (meaning--not drunk!), talking about how a burn lasts forever and they want to avoid that.  Further talk of avoiding burns...while people are getting ready for their Christmas dinner...making nacatamales or cooking their chicken dinners, el bombero (the fireman) acknowledged that many people are cooking on open fires and are perhaps preoccupied with making a big dinner and the children are playing near the fire and that could be an avoidable tragedy...

Other news...el Diputado Valle is a rich dude who donates his paycheck from the Assembly every month.  This month, his paycheck went to the taxistas.  There was a line of them on TV getting money to fill up their cabs with gas and to spend on Christmas. 

Have your bets paid off this year?  What will you put your money on next year?  Thoughts people?  I´m going to do my best not to waste $$.  That´s the plan.  Save save save.  Be resourceful  in all ways...

Note:  she gambles rarely, but when she does, she enjoys it.

Hope yours is a lovely one.
Signing off for this evening, ya´ll.

Deep Thoughts: Relationships...

So I couldn´t resist the SNL reference, what with my inspirational quotes poster-like pics.
But I am thinking about relationships lately.
Look at this cute couple!

Can you believe that they´ve been together for 42 years!  I´m thinking about them, because they are such opposites, and because I´m somehow like both of them.

Mom is ultra-dynamic.  She´s always in motion.  She´s vibrant and fun and very very cheerful.  Sometimes too cheerful.  She´s also very bossy. 

Then there´s the daughter version...dynamic?  Sometimes.  In motion?  Sometimes.  Vibrant?  Fun? Cheerful?  I have my moments.  Bossy?  I´m a teacher for God´s sake.  Yes.

Dad is reserved. Often curmudgeonly.  Quite the storyteller.  Could care less what other people think of him.  Is prone to surprising displays of humor.

Daughter version:  Reserved? Sometimes.  Curmudgeonly.  Definitely.  Try to talk to me on a Monday morning.  Storyteller?  I´d like to think so. Could care less what other people think?  I have my moments.

So, I´m uncertain what makes things work between these two.  Magic fairy dust, perhaps?

As for this daughter riding off into the sunset with Prince Charming...who knows.  But here´s a pretty Nicaraguan sunset nonetheless.

Eclipse in Nicaragua

The new blog header pic is from the parental back yard.  Nice, no?

First day in Nicaragua is surreal.  Wake up and have banana and papaya for breakfast.  Shower.  Go to the dentist to get teeth cleaned for twenty bucks.  Come back for lunch.  Read through a stack of student work.  Take a few pics of the flora in the back yard.  Stalk a hummingbird.  Make a mental note:  will try to get a pic of a hummingbird, but this will be an ultimate challenge.

Watch parental units in their natural habitat and wonder how is it that Dad has stopped aging?  Somewhere along the line, he just stopped.

Observe parental units in their natural dynamic.  Mom talk, talk, talking.  Plan, plan, planning.  Dad saying, Nay.  No.  Uh-uh.  Somehow it works.  Think about relationships and the whole opposites attract thing.

Read more student work.

Take a break.  Go with Mom to a carne asada joint on the highway.  La Diabla.  Risk life and limb to get said carne asada.  (No real parking.  So you pull up along the shoulder and look for a safe moment to jump out of the car.)  It´s worth it.  Share gallopinto and carne asada and platanos maduros fritos and cabbage salad and pico de gallo with Mom and Dad.

Finish reading student work.  Enter grades.

Look at part of the eclipse.  Watch the corner of the moon dissappear.

Think about the coming new year and all the stuff that´s happened this year.  Wonder, have I learned enough?  Wonder what´s next?  Wonder what it must have felt like many moons ago to look up and see the moon begin to dissappear; eaten by some invisible monster; erased by an invisible hand?  Have faith that the moon will return. 

Go to bed.  Tomorrow, the beach!

Shabby Apple All That Jazz Dress Guest Giveaway

Shabby Apple All That Jazz Dress Guest Giveaway

So this was on Grosgrain, which is a sewing blog I've been following. She claims that the time period emulated in these photos was a time "when dressing was easy". I would say NOT. However, I would say the dressing was CLASSY as all get out. And smoky. And va-va-voom.

Click on the link above for the snazzy outfits in the smoky room with the vixens and the vamps.

I think, when I teach opposites I always try to work in an example of an opposite you grudgingly admire.  I always give the example of the femme fatale.  Well there's several examples of what I'm talking about in this photo-shoot wearing lovely outfits.

Johnny Joo-man was a Huevo

One of my father’s favorite stories about his son,William, involved a television show about a cowboy named Johnny Joo-man. The story involved my dad singing the television theme song as his son did and then as himself. I’ve heard the beginning of this song so many times that it holds a special place in my heart even though I did not grow up watching the TV show. Once, I went to some underground comic film fest and in the midst of some older television snippets they played a few seconds of the song and my ears perked up and my whole body strained to capture it all in my head. I felt this sense of recognition that made me nostalgic for something I never experienced first hand from the source. But the clip was short and the effect was fleeting.

Now with the wonder of the Internet, I have seen the opening credits of the show and some episodes on YouTube. But I didn’t find it right away because I didn’t know how to spell Johnny Joo-man. It certainly couldn’t be spelled how it sounded. There never was a Hollywood cowboy called Jew-man spelled J-E-W-M-A-N, was there? Or J-O-O-M-A-N? After a couple of searches I found it and as with many little things involving my father’s stories, it made sense. The show was called Johnny Yuma, Y-U-M-A and the theme song was sung by Johnny Cash.

The way my dad tells it, William, his second born son, liked to watch that show. He’d be decked out like a little cowboy with his hat on and his holster around his hips with the toy guns. (It was the tale end of the 50’s. But I was born in 69 and even though I was obviously a girl there is a picture of me at around age 3 bare-chested with a cowboy hat on and a holster and gun set sitting on a rocking horse. Yea dad.)Anyway, according to dad, William was very skinny; so skinny that his holster would slide down his hips and onto the floor. Remembering this would make my father laugh and shake his head at skinny little William.

So dad punches a hole in the holster so it can fit snug so William could be a proper cowboy.

One day William began loudly singing the theme song. “Johnny Joo-man was a huevo!”

My dad started cracking up. He interrupted the singing. “Johnny Joo-man was not a huevo. Johnny Joo-man was a rrebol.” William, ornery cowboy that he was, got annoyed. “Joo feo, daddy.” was his very clever retort.

But when the song came on for the show, William was obviously listening more carefully, because this time he heard Johnny Cash sing clearly, “Johnny Yuma was a rebel,” and he turned around stunned and said, “Joo right, daddy.” So I know the moment when my brother learned the difference between the English word rebel and the Spanish word for egg.

Super Aikido Girl

Super Aikido Girl begins the day in meditation aligning all the energies of the universe within herself.  The time taken to do this is a worthy investment because it makes the world clearer.  The colors are sharper.  Her eyes and ears are more observant.  In turn, the universe  offers many gifts.  She catches sights of great acrobatic squirrels in the tree outside of her apartment.  She notices the surprised smile of the CTA worker at the train station when she nods a hello.  People make space for her on the train platform.  When you make space for the universe, the universe makes space for you.  Ahhh, yes, young grasshopper

But it is not all sweetness and light, because I did say she has aligned all the energies that are darker, murkier than others.

She can see pain.  The woman with the scrunched up face on the train.  She looks constipated.  No, she looks wretched.  Super Aikido Girl, acknowledges the wretchedness--there's no worse thing to do that to deny wretchedness.  Whatever you deny will present itself over and over again, louder and bolder and more forcefully until you acknowledge it.  So she does.  And she imagines a smoothing out of the lines on the woman's face.  A release of weight....