C.E. Flores's Blog, page 57

Birthday Boy

My son turned 16 in May. We opted to invite some of the family over for a cookout.  It went better than I expected. As you’ll see, Mexico does its own thing when it comes to birthdays.

In the morning, just at dawn, my husband and I crept into my son’s room to “dar el remojo” (give the soaking). Instead of birthday spankings, water is dumped on the birthday boy or girl. Way before the Catholic church arrived to baptize the indigenous people, rain was the blessing given by the gods. El cumpleaños (anniversary of completing years rather than the day you were born) deserves some liberal blessing libations, don’t you think? Of course, my son sputtered and flopped about like a drenched chicken, but a little water never hurt anyone (except the Wicked Witch of the West but she isn’t known here in Mexico).

In the afternoon, after we ate all the tacos we could eat, it was time for the cake. Instead of singing “Happy Birthday” the traditional song is “Las Mañanitas” which is also sung on Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day, the Virgin of Guadalupe’s day and saints’ days. It’s a pretty song used for serenading. Typically, only the first verse is sung at birthdays followed by a coro (cheer) “A la bim, a la bam, a la bim bom bam, (name of the person, name of the person) Ra, ra, ra.” As it’s all nonsense, no translation is needed. Remember, in Mexico, more often than not, your birthday and the day to honor the Saint for which you were named are the same day, thus “el dia de tu santo” (your saint’s day) in the song still applies although it is sometimes altered to “tu cumpleaños.”

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[image error]After the singing, the chant begins “Que le sople. Que le sople.” encouraging the birthday boy or girl to blow out the candle. The next step is “Que le muerda. Que le muerda.”  The birthday boy/girl is instructed to take a bite out of the cake which inevitably results in a face plant when someone attacks from behind. Then the chant changes to “Que le parta. Que le parta.” indicating it is time for the cake to be cut and served. 

Breaking a piñata at a birthday party is typically only found at parties for the very young, and well-to-do families, or so says my husband.  Considering he came from a family with 11 children, it really wouldn’t have been affordable to have a piñata for every child’s birthday, so I can see his point. We have had piñatas in the past, but not this year. For the same reason, giving birthday gifts isn’t one of my husband’s family’s traditions. Thus, this was my son’s lone b-day present all decked out in Spiderman, for old times sake.

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So there you have it–the low-key event marking my son’s 16th birthday.

 

More Lil’uns

Mama Hen wasn’t satisfied with hatching out el ejército this year.  She went for the second esquadron. While she was busy incubating, our other broody hen, that only managed to hatch 1 lone soldier (albeit special forces fuzzy feet) took over command of el ejército.  

 

Our upstairs cat Licky, so named because she prefers to eat her dinner upstairs on the back porch tried to get one of those roaming chicken nuggets one day.  She wasn’t successful however now whenever our downstairs cat Kitty, that looks nearly identical to Licky, is out back, she is subject to hysterical henpecking.  She’s taken refuge in a pile of sticks, sort of like a fort and won’t come out unless I’m down there on the steps.

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Kitty during the Zombie Chicken apocalypse.

Then one day, my son was playing his guitar in his room and suddenly heard some whimpering from outside his window.  It was a scruffy yellow puppy and he looked to us for salvation. After asking the neighbors, we pieced together his story. We think he had been abandoned at the top of La Yacata and spent the day wandering hither and yon through the hostile terrain until he heard signs of civilization and made his way to the shade by my son’s window.  He was full of fleas. It took quite a bit of effort to clear that infestation up. He’s a bit of a scamp.

[image error]Puppy doesn’t seem to mind Lil’pup but has become a little sullen and maybe even a little depressed.  Any new addition to the family is bound to upset the older brother. We have been trying to pay extra attention to Puppy so that he knows he is still loved.

[image error]Now, all we need are kittens….

A Day in the Life

A day in the life of Emily!

adventure

Wednesday, May 30, 2018

6:10 AM: Alarm goes off. I purposely set my alarm to give me just enough time to get ready so that I can’t hit snooze. I wash my face, drink 2 glasses of water, and turn on my computer to review what I’m teaching today.

6:30 AM: My first class starts. For the past 6 months, I’ve been working for a company called VIPKID. I teach 25-minute online English classes to kids in China, from the comfort of my living room! It took a few months to get a steady stream of classes, but now I’m trying to teach 3 or 4 classes a day, 4 days a week. Today, I teach Rita, Joe, and TIM (yes, he spells his name with all caps). I feel ridiculous singing a song called “I am Happy” to the tune of “Are You Sleeping?” with TIM, but he loves…

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2018 Mid-year Goal Updates

Can you believe that we are at the mid-point for 2018? Where did all the time go? If you remember, back in January I made a short list of goals for this year. Here’s how they have been going.

My word for 2018 was CREATE.

Here’s what I have created so far:

Featured guest posts for:

Charities and Non-Profit Organizations: The Border Rights Clinic

Inspiring Authors in Mexico: Don Karp

Blogs About Mexico Worth Reading: Ventanas Mexico, Letters From Mexico, Saltillo Expats,

Small Businesses in Mexico: Pets, Plants and Porches, Illustrations by Clau Guzes, SMA Walking Tours by Joseph Toone, Tortilleria

Individuals Braving Mexico:  A Day in the Life in Owl Valley, A Day in the Life in San Circo de Acosta

Herbal Lore: Nispero leaf tea, Guayaba Leaf Tea

Each of these categories should have more posts by the end of the year. At least that’s what I’m planning on.

I also participated in the A to Z April Blog challenge along with my SOTB Blogging group which was one of my secondary goals. You can find the full list here.

And finally, Not only did I finish Wascally Wabbits and Zombies Babies but I also finished La Yacata Revolution and A to Z Reasons why La Yacata is the Place to Be in Any Disaster.

I am currently working on a book designed specifically for women moving to Mexico and have the outline for my homesteading in Mexico book.  Enough about what I did so far, back to more creating!

A Day in the Life in Mérida

Geneva, who writes the monthly series Southern Comfort Food Mexican Style, shares her daily life in Mérida, Yucatan. 

What is an ordinary day? A day in the life of any human being should never be ordinary, for every breath is precious, every moment is valuable.

My daily routine looks a lot like that of any other work at home wife.  We wake up, have coffee, maybe have breakfast, do a few chores around the house. He goes to work and I go to work on the computer. I do a few more household chores. At the end of our workday, we have dinner, read, check social media, sometimes watch a movie. Sounds pretty normal, right?  

Early morning has always been my favorite part of the day. I love sitting in a rocking chair on the front porch, drinking a hot cup of coffee in the cool of the day while it’s quiet before the rest of the world wakes. We are both very early risers, waking usually between 4:00am and 5:00am with no alarm clock. In fact, I can’t remember the last time we used an alarm clock. So, our schedule is very different from most of the people we know, many of whom are getting ready to go out for dinner about the time we are going to bed.

But it’s our household chores which stand out as being different from the chores we did in the states. Twice a week, we start laundry by 6:00am so it has the best chance to dry on the clothesline before afternoon rains.  We have had the rains surprise us and we wound up with a full load of laundry laying in the mud twice, so the earlier the better. My husband runs a garden hose from the kitchen faucet to the washing machine so that it fills faster, time being of the essence and all.

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After breakfast, I wash all the countertops with soapy water and spray a vinegar/baking soda mix around the window ledges and baseboards to discourage ants, and my husband mops the floor. This is the tropics, and insects are a part of life, so these practices are necessary. Fortunately, most creatures prefer to live outside, like termites, snakes, scorpions, cockroaches, and iguanas. On the other hand, ants live in the walls and the electrical systems so they can visit us any time they like.

 

Twice a month, my countertop becomes a high school science lab slash cocktail party for ants.  I whip up treats for my little friends. The key ingredient is boric acid, which when eaten by the ants, will kill them. Unfortunately, they can be a little picky.  So, I mix boric acid with a little flour for my bread loving ants and add a few drops of milk to part of it so that I have both wet and dry bait on each piece of cardboard. The worker ants eat the dry food and take dry food to the other workers, so the dry food is always popular. The wet food is carried to and fed to the larvae, which produce the food for the queen.

After a couple of applications, we noticed a huge reduction in the number of ants, but we continue treatments for prevention sake.  I do variations for different ants, peanut butter for the protein-loving ants, and soggy cardboard for my cellulose loving ants. At the same time the bait is out, I treat all my wooden furniture with orange oil, which I also distilled myself.  

As with all things, what one becomes accustomed to is what seems normal, so this routine feels quite normal to me, and I’d much rather do this every few weeks than spray harsh chemicals in my home, especially in my kitchen.  But I hope that even this routine never becomes ordinary, even in an ordinary-seeming day.

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Herbs & Essential Oils Super Bundle

You know I love these ebook bundles! So much stuff at a reasonable price.  Well, I am so pleased to share the Herbs and Essential Oils bundle today!

Price: $29.97
Value: 34 products worth $567.48
Contents: 22 eBooks, 4 ecourses, 6 printable packs, & 2 membership sites
Recipe & Printable Count: 444 recipes, 184 printables
Bonuses

FREE pair of leather diffuser earrings from The Oil Collection ($19.95)
FREE 2 oz. bottle of select supplements from TriLight Health ($12.95)
FREE citrus lotion & bug block sticks from MadeOn Skin Care ($16.80)
FREE 2-pack of soap from Puro Co ($15.00)

Get your copy here! Here’s just a sampling of what you’ll find–

 

 

 

Unfortunately, these amazing herbal resources are only available as a bundle for a few days.  Make sure to get your copy here!

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Herbal Academy’s Botany and Wildcrafting Course

I love wildcrafting. I’ve shared some of the local medicinal plant information here before. (See Natural Healing) However, I’m extremely limited in what I wildcraft.  So as not to poison anyone (especially myself) I have only made concoctions from plants that I can positively identify. Then I go further and double check my identification with locals. And I triple check any possible uses and side effects via med pub. Then, and only then, do I make something from these wild plants.

So when Herbal Academy said they had a new class specifically about wildcrafting, I was so excited!  I signed up a full month ahead of time so that I would be able to start the very first day the course was available.  Let me tell you, Botany and Wildcrafting was an amazing course!  I learned so much!

I was a little concerned before the course that there wouldn’t be much information I could use since Herbal Academy is found in the northeastern US and well, I’m not.  Delightfully, that wasn’t the case at all. The course was divided into 3 units and each unit was jam-packed with useful tidbits.

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The first section focused on plants as living beings, highlighting the many ways plants reproduce and examining how each plant is an essential part of the larger ecological system. While I was already familiar with the basics, there was so much I didn’t know.

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Since I’m in a completely foreign ecosystem, not at all like the quiet river valley I grew up in, plant identification here is frustrating to me. The second section of the course walked me through plant identification methods, plant morphology, taxonomy and using a dichotomous key.  Since I obviously won’t be at my computer doing any identifying, the printouts were a wonderful tool to use on my explorations! I don’t have a field guide specifically for Mexico, mostly because there isn’t one, but I have ordered a book about Mexican-American herbal remedies that I hope will aid in my local plant wildcrafting. Herbal Academy offers an illustrated botanical workbook to complement the course, but as the majority of the plants included aren’t found in my area, I opted not to purchase it. It is lovely though.

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The final section covered ethical and sustainable wildcrafting, drying herbs, and making tinctures, decoctions, and poultices. I had to think about the sustainable wildcrafting section and my role as wildcrafter for a bit. Up until now, I was the live and let live wildcrafting variety. My collections weren’t pressed flowers but pictures (which you can see on Instagram). But now, as the steward of the earth that I envision myself becoming, I believe it’s time to become more proactive in my defense of the wild plants in La Yacata. As a case in point, when we first moved here, the upper area was covered in rainy season wildflowers. Then came the chicken feather guy and the entire section has been utterly devastated ecologically. I could just kick myself for not gathering at least a few of the bulbs and transplanting them in a more protected area (like my backyard). No more! If that makes me the crazy plant lady wandering around La Yacata, floppy garden hat on my head and trowel in my hand, well, so be it!  I am on a mission!

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Hopefully, with these plant identification skills I’ve learned in the course, I’ll have some new natural remedies to share in the very near future.  

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Charandaro Pitayas

Just before the rainy season starts in mid-June, the pitayas, another cactus fruit, are ready. This year we went to Charandaro to do a little harvesting. Pitayas, not to be confused with Pitahayas AKA Dragon Fruit, is also known by the indigenous name coapetilla which means thick serpent in reference to the branches of the cactus stenocereus that this fruit is found.

We found a long bamboo stick with a three-prong top for easy harvesting. This particular grove of cactus was easily accessible by climbing neighboring trees.

We ate about 5 or 6 each and left the rest to ripen up a little more. When fully ripe, they taste exactly like a sweet strawberry.

Have you had pitayas?