GRANDMA'S WORLD

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Thursday, June 10, 2004

CALDO DE POLLO for the Crashed and Burning

I was just watching the lovely and melodic video by that charismatic and personable feminist Petey Pablo, I believe his name was, singing his top hit and catchy little tune, "Freek-a-Leak". And, of course, he kidnapped my feeble old mind, driving it once again into the past down a fast freeway and into the quiet little American towns of the 1910’s. I saw little girls in white pinafores, men and women in hats and neighborhood dogs running around free and leashless, pooping and peeing everywhere... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, June 8, 2004

Gathering Centavos to Make Pesos in Old Mexico

She was only eleven years old, living with relatives in Mazatlan, Mexico, who had taken her and her older sisters into their home when their parents died, when a well known older man came to ask for her hand in marriage. Her relatives insisted and she packed her favorite dolls into her suitcase, tearfully kissed her sisters good-bye and climbed into his big expensive car for the drive to her new home in Guadalajara. On the way, the car stopped at a small church in a small village and, after a... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, June 7, 2004

Knee Deep in June, Souvenirs from the Desert

I used to sit in the bottom roasting dirt of the broiling desert sun, sifting it, looking for sand rubies. My right hand picked up a small amount of dirt, my left hand searched through it, my eyes honing in on the one dark and blood red spot, another sand ruby. They were always the size coarsely ground pepper corns and difficult to amass. I, optimistically, had a large empty mayonnaise jar to hold my collection. There was a desert child legend, what you would call an urban myth today, that the... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, May 26, 2004

Love Letter to a Long Lost and Hiding Father, an Open Door To Walk Thru

I don’t really know how to begin this story, except to say that I have done this before, so I had some experience. I watched an Oprah show about ten years ago, a show about standing and forming an open door with your words, a door for a fearful stranger to walk through, confidently. Because I had done it before and succeeded, I knew that the words to write down had to be powerful and welcoming, but had also to include a small sense of urgency, to allow the stranger to act quickly, to walk... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, May 24, 2004

Living Dangerously in an Arid and Waterless Desert Land

I was a breezy 99 degrees Fahrenheit here today, just lovely. I filled the bird feeder, fed the dogs, showered and put on some lovely African clothing from Bissau. I put on some makeup that finally matches my fabulous red spiked hair style. I placed a necklace around my neck, it’s made of fifty strands of tiny red coral beads; I bought it in Puerto Vallarta last year. Yummy. Then I put on a pair of carnation flower sized, Hindu made earrings that match it for some reason. The outfit has over... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, May 23, 2004

Roomate in a Closet, I thought that I was Scared, but NO, she was.

Her face was acne scarred and she wore heavy make up to hide it as best she could. Her hair was a fabulously expensive Sassoon cut brunette bob and her clothing was expensive. She said that her name was Phaedra and we called her that all semester long. She didn't talk much, did her nails every day in a new color of nail polish, sometimes did them twice a day, using drying agents and electronic thingamajiggies to dry them even more quickly. She went out daily and came back with another new color... Sign in to see full entry.

University Dorm Mates and Revolutionary Gifts of Love

She was the Queen of Destiny Planning and I watched her, in awe of her and of what she got done and of how she went about it. I was an alienated teen, abandoned to college dorms and to a country that I no longer identified with as a native citizen, cut off from family for the first time rudderless, depressed and fearful. She swept into the dorm and made it her own home, gathered people around her and focused their attention upon her, without trying to do this, without any apparent effort. She... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, May 20, 2004

Sweet Silver Hippie Memories of Youth

I worked at a Travel Agency downtown and was dressed in a very mini dress, a soft, long sleeved, light grey, turtle necked, cashmere dress that clung to me. (God I miss that dress and that body). I wore nylon stockings and grey high heels. I had a small grey purse and wore pearls on my neck and earlobes. It was a part time morning job and now it was after noon and I had just arrived on campus for my Portuguese seminar on Eca de Queiroz. (I have no cedilha on my keyboard, so that letter ‘c’ shows... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, May 17, 2004

Wanton Rum Tasting Boy Kisses on a Moonless Rio Night

There were four boys that I had wanted to kiss for over two years. I had longed for their kisses, dreamed of their kisses, hoped to someday taste their kisses in ‘real time’. This night, I would kiss them all. I would also kiss just about every boy in my high school class. Somehow, I’ll call him Le Marquis d’Ecole, had convinced me to stand under a street light and kiss all of the boys at the Canto e Melo twin’s party, kiss all that wanted to go down that street, enter that light filled area and... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, May 16, 2004

Nurse Jane Fuzzy Wuzzy and the Smoking Area

My highschool in Rio actually had a Smoking Area. A student needed written permission to use it, but we went in and smoked anyway, permissed or not. Teachers periodically yelled out of upper story windows at those without permission, so we'd go to the side of the building without windows overlooking the area. I smoked Continental ( cohn-chee-nen-TAO), ( could be pronounced at the end there as 'towel', maybe) it's a Rio pronunciation thing, the cigaretttes of the taxi drivers and bus drivers and... Sign in to see full entry.

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About this Blog

When your immediate family has people from just about every race and religion and political belief, a world view becomes the only one open and available to you or your brain melts, your heart explodes and you develop a tic in one eye while you stutter about America First and Best and Only.It's a big and human being filled world out there. I'm only one temporary inhabitant of it.

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