Zoo

My niece Camille

Camille's tongue after eating Dipping Dots.

Elephants taking a drink.

The rhino finally came out of hiding.

Penguins

Lion

My favorite animal, the giraffe.

I like how the bear is spitting out water.

Elephant and her baby

Zuri , the baby elephant

I have not been to the zoo in years and this summer I went not only once but twice. Once with my cousin JJ and her family and then again a week later with my mom and Camille. Both times I had a great time. Mainly for the family time but also because the zoo has had a lot of babies recently. They have two baby elephants, a baby tiger cub, a baby orangutan, and a baby penguin. The baby elephants were so cute. They were so young, they were learning how to eat and take a drink of water. The eating was comical because she just couldn't seem to get the food from her trunk to her mouth. Then when it was time to go inside, she had trouble getting up an embankment. She tried with all of her might. Then her mom came over and took her trunk and gave her the little nudge she needed. It was oh so cute.

Pictures from Vermont

Lake Champlain at Sunset

Lake Champlain

Pictures from Mexico

A town we met Sergio for the day.

Chandeliar at the basilica

I love this picture. Here is my mother-in-law Ana all calm and there is Sergio Jr. climbing the fountain.
The Town we met Sergio for the day

Sebastian

Ana, Sergio and Jaime

Sergio Jr.

The Beggar Man

'I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink'...Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink?...'Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.' Matthew 25:35, 37, 40

I have been meaning to write this particular blog since coming home from Mexico. In Mexico, there are many that beg on the street. Everytime I encounter a beggar, I always think of this passage from Matthew. I wrestle with giving money or not. I think that they may use it for alcohol, drugs, etc. I think will they really use it for food. Then I think, turning my back on the beggar is like turning my back on God. Sometimes I give and but most times I don't and when I don't I always whisper "Sorry God", hoping the next person is more compassionate than I am. Well, one evening we were in Acapulco enjoying our ice cream watching the street performer. A beggar man walks up to us. It was as if the whole world stopped and was motionless as this man asked if we could spare some change so he could eat today. In that moment, we could look into his eyes and see the desperation. There was no sparkle, no light, no happiness in this man. Ana, my mother-in-law, almost always gives. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a peso. I was so moved by this man I pulled out money. My husband and my father-in-law who are jaded urban people never give went into their pockets and pulled out money. The man voice no stronger than a whisper said thank you. Then he said "Can you help me write a sign?" My heart broke. Mexico has a very high literacy rate, about 90-95% of the people can read and write. So we wrote a sign for him, taking a great deal of care about how it should be written. It had a tremendous impact on me. I have always tried to treat people with dignity. You might not want to give to the beggar on the street but they deserve to be treated nicely. Even if I don't give I try to make eye contact and give them a smile to let them someone thinks of they are part of this world and not invisible. If you don't give or if you do please say a prayer for them.

Summer Continued

Okay - more hecticness. Sorry I haven't been able to blog as much lately. Summer has been mighty busy. So anyway where was I. Oh yeah. We go back from my sister's and had a few days before something else took me away. My Great Uncle Herbie passed away. He had been in a nursing home for along time. He wish was that he just be buried no eulogy no viewing. He was an intensely private man who didn't want attention coming his way. I suppose even in his death but just before he pasted he decided it would be alright if the hospice minister would say a few words. It was the most moving eulogy. The minister seemed to capture exactly who he was. For a man, who didn't want fanfare, he received a beautiful eulogy. Now the hard part for my grandma because she visited him nearly everyday since he went to the nursing home. She needs something to occupy herself. It has been especially hard month for her. Losing her son and then her brother in only a matter of weeks of each other. As much as I would love to live to be 100, I think it would be hard to keep losing loved ones and outliving friends. Luckily in a few days, we are going to celebrate her 95th birthday. The Forringer family is getting together on the 9th for picnic and games. I can't wait to see my cousins. It should be a good time. After the funeral I spent a few days with my parents. My mom and I went shopping and got pedicures &manicures. It was so much fun. We always have fun shopping together. The last day, I went with her to lunch with her friends from the old neighborhood(really my neighborhood). Almost everyone has moved away, either downsizing or moving in with their daughter. It was great to see them because they are all like second moms to me. The next week, brought more sadness. One of my dear friends, Lois, her husband passed away. He had cancer. She retire early when she found out she had cancer. They had one year together. Luckily they were able to do a little traveling. She loves to take cruises. Her daughter is expecting her first baby. So Lois has that to look forward to. She was a librarian/gifted ed. teacher like me. She and I had a good time together. After meetings we would call each other and say " Can you believe that?" or call each other about things were going on and ask each other advice. I really missed having that last year but we went out for lunch a couple of times. So other than that I have golfed a couple of times, went to flea markets with Jimmy (I was able to get about 100 books for the library.), weeded my garden, read a few books, and most of all tried to relax. Tomorrow we are going to the zoo with my cousin JJ and her family. Can't wait. Hopefully I can get to the movies on of these days.
Got to run again. Have to clean the kitchen and the bathroom.

Summer

Whoa! Summer is flying by. I have been busy from start to finish. We started with two weeks in Mexico. I had not been there for four years. I really missed it. It was a whirlwind of visiting family, seeing friends, quick trip to Acapulco, and eating all the things I love from Mexico, namely chicken in Acapulco, coconut ice cream, drink Yoli, and eat Girabaldi sweet rolls(the bakeries in Mexico are thanks in part from when France occcupied Mexico for a few years. The one benefit was they learned to make pastries. The Girabaldi is a cupcake looking thing with a lemony glaze over top and then covered with those little non-pareil white dot things - delicious.) In the evening, mainly because it is not safe to go out after dark, we played with the small pool table we took down. We had so much fun. Everyone was amazed at how well Ana was at it. Now Ana and Jaime have nightly competitions. During the visit, I learned that my Uncle John passed away. I was very saddened by the news because he was a wonderful person. I had hoped to make at least the burial ceremony in Clarion. The funeral was in New York and then he was buried in Clarion. Unfornately, United decided that otherwise when we didn't arrive home until 5:00 in the morning when we should have been home at 11:00 the night before. Delay upon delay- oh the joys of flight travel. Needless to say at that point I was almost incoherent. I heard words coming out of my mouth but they didn't make any sense to what I thought I was going to say. So we went straight to bed and didn't wake up until sometime in the afternoon. We had a nice fourth of July or should I say fifth because that is when we celebrated with my parents, grandma, and Uncle Paul. Four days later we were off again for our trip to Montreal, Vermont, and New Jersey/New York City. We spent a three days in each place. We had a grand time with Luis and Claudia. We went to a museum, Old Montreal and sat around drink coffee and chatting up a storm. Then from there we went to Vermont. Jimmy and I both love Vermont. The people are so friendly. It seems as if no one is any rush and even if they are working they don't think twice about having a ten to fifteen minute conversation with a perfect stranger. You leave feeling like you just made a friend. Unlike here where they won't be able to pick you out of a line up five minutes later. Anyway, we picked up all kinds of pamplets and brochures deciding what to do. I saw a Tea place and was intrigued. So Saturday we hopped in the car and drove the back ways to Waterbury. We found the place. The man that owned the store couldn't have been nicer. We chatted about Pittsburgh( he had been there on business before he opened the Tea store) He knew Shadyside, Squirrel Hill and Homestead. He had grown up in Gary, IN and told us the horror of when the steel mills had shut down there. We asked him if there was anything he would could recommend seeing. So he mapped out a beautiful drive that had covered bridges, waterfalls, streams, stops for walking in the woods, Wildfloor gardens, and had we timed it a little better we could have gone to American Flatbread's original location. Everyone we talked to recommended American Flatbread. Sunday, we took another drive, not quite as impressive but very lovely. We capped off the day with dinner at a French bistro. It was wonderful and I can proudly say I have eated snails. After Vermont, we went to New Jersey to visit my sister and her family. The other reason was to celebrate my sister and I's fifth anniversary of the transplant. The transplant is one of those things that you can never show enough gratitude for such a selfless gift. I am happy to be doing so well but also try to eat well to take care of this priceless gift I was given. We went into New York City to the MOMA(incredible -loved seeing so many famous paintings and tasting the vanilla gelato that my niece got -highly recommend it.) We had dinner at a Belgian restaurant as our celebration. Mussels is the special dish. Although I like mussels I wasn't interested in the all you can eat so I got Hangar steak instead. It was delicious. I have more to say about my summer but I think that you will have to wait for the next installment because I have go do some errands.

Mexico

School is out for the summer (not really - half day tomorrow and curriculum writing on Monday). The kids are all gone and the teachers of Northway had their annual luncheon. Lots of good eats. Anyway, next week we are going to Mexico. I am finally going after 4 years of not going. So I am very excited. I can't wait. I love the busyness of the Mexico City. Everyone is very friendly and I love to watch the people selling things. It is so totally different from the U.S. They try to get your attention, taste their food or look at their things and get you to buy. I think it is funny when they yell to me "Hey Blondie". There is not a blonde hair on my head. Maybe lots of gray ones but not blonde. I hope we go to Acapulco. So, I can sit on the beach and have people bring me Yoli all day. At night we can go to our favorite restaurant and eat our most favorite chicken. You can take me to the fanciest restaurants around the world and I would still say this is the best place in the World to eat. Then we got see the Cliff Divers and eat Coconut ice cream. Life is good.