Golfito

Last weekend, Patty expressed a desire to check out the ecotianguis.  I had been curious about it for awhile, as I haven´t visited it since it changed locations to the Biblioparque Norte.

So off we went.  The ecotianguis feels much more at home in their new space.  I´ll take pictures and post another week.  But, as we had never been to the Biblioparque Norte (I believe it just opened earlier this year), we wandered a bit.  They´ve got basketball courts, soccer fields with beautiful fake grass, tennis courts, and a baseball field.  Being that it´s the BIBLIOparque, they´re supposed to have a library.  Perhaps they do, but we went late enough on Saturday that the building was closed.  Looking through the windows, I spied shelves.  But they were empty.  Nice try, Biblioparque.

But really, I´ll get there during the week and get a better feel for the place.  They do offer yoga classes, tennis lessons, etc.  But what called our attention this last week was the miniature golf course.

I know I haven´t seen miniature golf in Saltillo--heck, in all of Mexico, now that I think of it.  But we now have a sweet, little course in Saltillo.  And it´s FREE.

So we had to play a round.

Saltillo has its ups and downs, but it sure puts some effort into its city parks.  Thanks, Biblioparque Norte!  I´ll be back!

The park must have once been a factory and this colossal tower must have been too big to remove.  Thank God Coahuila is not near ANY earthquake-prone areas!

The girl rocks out golf on the wii, so she was psyched to try it out in real life. 

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Where is the Biblioparque Norte?

Just north of the intersection of Isidro Lopez Zertuche and Colosio.  (By the Quinta Real.)  Look for a large but simple blue and white structure (sculpture?) on the south-bound side of the road.  That´s the entrance.  Plenty of parking.

Sniffy

I have a number of friends who regularly take in street dogs until they can find a good home for them.  I have other friends who just have a number of dogs from taking in so many.

It was merely a matter of time before one of those little critters took up residence in our cochera.

And last Tuesday, it happened.

This guy followed us home from school.  I gave him some turkey.  Let him into our cochera.  He has dug up some of our plants.  I´m still letting him stay in the cochera.

We bought him a collar, a leash, dog food, a vet visit.  Unless someone comes looking for him, he´s here to stay.

At first, it seemed like the right thing to do.  And, now that I´m getting familiar with this dog´s personality, I´m really liking him and think he´s a great dog for us.

But sometimes I wonder, is it really fair of me to keep him?  Are we doing him any favors?  Sure, he gets fresh water and regular meals and isn´t bothered by scary dogs a lot bigger than him on the street.  He no longer has to worry about getting run over by cars.  He gets petted and played with and a walk or two a day.

But would he rather be on the street?  Clearly, I´ve seen Lady and the Tramp too many times.  That, and he was pretty reluctant to get back in the cochera after our walk this evening.  But maybe that was because he was reprimanded from digging up my plants AGAIN this afternoon.  (The plants will be moved to the patio tomorrow.)

Am I keeping him around just to be a big toy for myself and my kids or is it really in his best interest to live in our cochera?

I´ve never had a dog before, so these questions are bothering me a bit.  I realize that they aren´t questions that necessarily have right or wrong answers.

My original reasons for inviting the dog to live with us?

      1) To scare away my schizophrenic neighbor who throws bags of nearly rotten food into our cochera because he thinks his mother lives with us (yes, that´s a whole other story).  And it didn´t work.  The dog just eats whatever David gives him.

      2) My kids are every bit as terrified of dogs as I was as a kid.  If there´s any way for them to get over this fear, I´d love to help them through it.  Keeping a dog seems to be a logical step.  Even though Joey keeps a death grip on my shorts each time we step into the cochera, we seem to be making huge strides in this area this week.  After awhile, Joey will let go of my shorts, maybe even pet the puppy, and often hop on his tricycle (which I think makes him feel bigger and braver).  Clara has blossomed marvelously and likes to feed him, give him toys, pet him, boss him around . . .

So despite my nagging doubts, I am glad we´ve got him.  I even just like playing with him myself.  And since this is a long-haul project, I´m sure the answers will get clearer over time.

It´s all just a little overwhelming now, as I week ago I didn´t have the slightest idea that we´d be ¨dog people¨.

Vintage 2011

At our house, we like wine.  A lot.

Whenever I´m in the US, I spend far too much time dallying in the wine aisles of the grocery stores, in awe of the sheer volume and selection and countries and varietals represented on most large grocery stores´ shelves.  It´s overwhelming, and often I can barely make a selection.  Or, when I do, it´s pretty much because I played eeiny, miney, moe.

Here in Mexico, our wine options are a bit more limited.  Wine aisles in the grocery stores here have come a long way in the last decade (at least, in the fancy-pants grocery stores).  The limited selection does make choosing a wine much easier.

But, as the town of Parras is a mere two hours from Saltillo, we make our wine purchases even easier and get almost all our wine from Casa Madero.  It´s the oldest vineyard and winery in North America, and, I believe, the second-largest.  Despite its size, it pumps out some pretty awesome wine.  Let me state for the record here that I´m no wine connoisseur.  However, a few of Casa Madero´s wines (merlot and chardonnay) have made me step back for a second, give them a second look-over and say, ¨Wow--that´s GOOD!¨

Thanks to us getting almost all our wine from the same place, I´m getting better at guessing what we´re drinking without looking at the label on the bottle.  So, last week, as we were eating, I was a bit stumped to what we were drinking, gave up guessing, and had to ask Mario which wine he choose.  It was a cabernet suavingnon--what I usually think of as standard, red wine.

¨But this is so . . . fruity!¨ (For lack of a better word.)  Forgive me for trying to sound all wine critic-y, but I usually think of fruity wines as wines that are a bit young, and sweeter than cabernet suavingon.  That´s not what I meant by calling that cab fruity.  Cabernet usually bites back a little.  This one didn´t.  It tasted all . . . balanced.  Smooth.  All those irritating adjectives for wine that really give one no sense what it actually tasted like, except that it was good.  Think of Tim Allen growling, ¨gooood¨ here.

Mario´s response?  ¨Yeah--that´s what a cabernet sauvingon should taste like.¨

Huh.  Really.  Well, I´ve liked all the apparent cabernet flops that I´ve tasted, but this one?  Yeah, it stands out.

Now, we´ve drank what must be a few gallons of Casa Madero´s cabernet sauvingon in the last 5 years.  Why on earth was this one be so exceptionally different?

The clue on the tag told us that this wine was from 2011.  A-ha!  Why was 2011 such a stand out year?

It was the worst drought in the last 70 years.

Whatever grapes survived that drought, they had to fight hard for their survival.  Grapes that have to work extra hard tend to make kick-ass wines.

And that philosophy kind of translates to people, too.  When I´m together with friends and we´re discussing life, we often wonder why life has to be so hard.  Why do bad things happen to good people?  And, of course, there´s not really any good answer to that question.  At least not one that I´m fully satisfied with that doesn´t sound trite.

But it seems to be a general pattern that when we do go through hard times, and we manage to come through those tough times with our souls intact, our caracters do not come out unscathed.  We´re often transformed, more compassionate.  Just like with the drought affected the grapes and made a more flavorful wine, our characters can be made more beautiful by tough times.

Now, I´m not one to romanticize suffering.  No way.  If I can somehow get through life with less than my fair share of suffering, I won´t complain.  But when I do go through those times, here´s hoping that I, too, get more beautiful on the inside.




And not just shrivel up and die, as I bet a lot of grapes did in 2011.