8 Years Ago Today

Washington, D.C., May 16, 1998.
I don't think anybody looks good in the top picture, but it seems to capture some of the crazy magic that was our wedding day. In the bottom picture, we share a serious moment with the eternal Rev. Gordon Cosby of Church of the Saviour. He is a truly spiritual man and there aren't enough like him left in the world.

Wendy is the sweetest wife in the whole world and I feel blessed to be married to her (yes, even after eight years!). In many ways, the time has gone by in a flash. I can understand how people suddenly discover they have been together 20, 30, 50 years and it was so fun it seemed like just half that time had gone by. Marriage is a very strange thing.

The Sinking Sidebar

I don't know why, but these days the sidebar seems to reside way down at the very bottom of the blog. Hopefully, one day it will surface again. But, until then, if you're interested, it's down there. Scroll, baby, scroll.

[5-17-06. I fixed it by deleted a photo that was too wide....here's where I found help:]

Google Groups: Blogger Help
TechHelper Blogspot
BloggerTricks

Sunday Afternoon Rasslin'

Happy Mother's Day!

Mom, we send you all of our love and believe me, if we were in Santa Cruz we would be lining up with the crowd for a post-flea Mother's Brunch at Aldo's right now! Your artistic muse brings a rainbow of light in our lives, even from across the continent. Both you and Irene bring so many new creations to our lives and we are richer for it. And what is a mother if not creative?

Much love,
Your Creations
(Aaron, Wendy, and Amadisto)

Photos:
a) Mom (Coop) at Capitola Beach
b) Granma Coop listening to a story from Ty
c) Coop and her boys in the High Sierra
d) I need more pictures of you from the pre-digital age!

Something to nibble on.

Butterflies

Boat People

My brother's family: Sierra, Diane, Tyler, Sol. On their way to Caye Caulker, Belize. Nice picture! Thanks Irene!

Wednesday evening

Tummy time. 6:21 p.m.

Looks like trouble...

This helicopter was hovering over our apartment complex (I love that I live in a "complex." This word will always remind of the '60s television show Born Free. They too lived in a complex.) Anyway, the helicopter. Anybody recognize it?

(Afterthought: Overnight I realized that Born Free was actually set in a "compound" on the plains of Africa. But I think I will go on living in my complex anyway.)

Tuesday Morning

7:14 a.m.

Monday morning

My early mornings with Amado have become some of the best times of my life.

Whoopers!

Here are some fishing pictures from my family's recent trip to Belize. Really amazing! It looks like a very beautiful place...certainly different from my experience in Belize City in 1985! I'll post some more pictures of their trip soon I hope.

Did I really need another album?

...in this case, I think I did.

Beautiful, emotional Huasteco music from the northeast of Mexico....Los Camperos de Valles, perfect for a quiet and lonely Sunday afternoon.

El ave de mi sonar
Nubarrones sin parar / veo venir en mi horizonte
y el ave de mi sonor / vuela perdida en el monte
y hasta mudo en su nidal / sin cantar esta el cenzontle.

I see endless, immense clouds / Approaching on my horizon
And the bird of my dreams / Flies lost in the jungle
Silent in its nest / The mockingbird is without a song.

Mother & Son

Sunday Morning

6:30 a.m.

Barbaro

Ahem, like I said, mark my words....

(See below. Just a guess really.....or was it an a never-before-tapped intuition about the ponies?)

Tim and Amadisto snuggle up

Who are these freaks?

Cinco de Mayo burrito bash

I originally thought that this blog would have a food theme, hence the "Soulfood." It hasn't turned out that way. I'm not sure what happened....oh yeah..there's that cute baby....

Anyway, we had Tim & Michelle over last might for a mighty burrito feast. As usual, I made WAY TOO MUCH food. We will be eating burritos for months.

Being Cinco de Mayo, the evening was capped off with tequila shots and loud shouts of "Viva Mexico! Hijos de la Chingada!*" Then I realized that everyone was staring at me and wondering what the heck I was yelling about.

Being Cinco de Mayo, we also enjoyed a long call with Cousin Geoffrey in South Korea. It was a sleepy one (his early morning, our late evening), but extremely edifying. Unfortunately, we did miss his birthday, since it was already May 6 in his time zone.

I was up with Amado around 5:00 this morning and I am still quite sleepy. I am trying to solve that by listening to Jethro Tull's Bursting Out album as loud as I can take it in my headphones. That oughta help.

Also, after reading Katie's blog this morning I am also thinking about which horse I would bet on in today's Kentucky Derby if I were a betting man (which I'm not...the last thing I think I bet on was USC vs. Ohio State in the 1975 or 1976 Rose Bowl. I was in junior high, the bet was for $1, and I lost big time). Anyway, just between you and me, I am picking "Barbero" to win the Derby today. I have no reason for this pick, just call it a hunch. MARK MY WORDS!

*See Octavio Paz's classic essay on this phrase, "The Sons of La Malinche," in The Labyrinth of Solitude.

Friday Morning

Father & Son.

Geoffrey James Ivan Corbet

Today, several decades ago, this sprite fellow entered the world. Geoffrey (who by chance happens to be Wendy's cousin) is on an extended mission of mercy to South Korea, where he is busy dolling out English names like "Michael Jordon" and "Dick" to poor students who have none. Geoff...we miss you A LOT and wish you a very happy birthday!

Thursday Morning

Road Trip

This is me in 1985, just after I returned from my first long solo trip to Central America. I had freed myself from "the world," and went on a spiritual trip wandering by myself from war zones in El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala to amazing Caribbean beaches in Yucatan, to the land that time forgot of hidden mountain villages in the heart of the Maya Highlands. I took buses from Managua all the way back to California, walking across the border with one small satchel at Mexicali.

After being searched numerous times, I made it across to the U.S. side. Almost as soon as I crossed the border---looking much like I do in this photo---a ragged homeless man with a shopping cart came up to me and said, "Man, you look like you could use some help." "I've been on the road a while," I told him. "Well," he said, "down the road there's a clinic that will buy your blood for $14 a pint" (or something like that). "You should check it out, man. I go there all the time."

I thanked him for the tip, but passed. Later I caught the last bus to San Bernardino.

Tuesday Morning

If I had to learn SpellCheck when I came to America, so should they!

Whatever country these folks are wanting to forge, I want to be part of that vision. It looks very interesting and there is the potential for lots of work for editors like me. ;-)

Seriously, I am very excited by yesterday's action and the rising movement for human rights for immigrants in the United States. I don't understand why the opposition gets so hung up that these folks broke the law to come to the U.S. Afterall, no one is so zealous about prosecuting pot smokers, under-age drinkers, tax cheaters, or corrupt corporate executives. The opposition says it isn't racism, but I have got to wonder. What else is strong enough to suppress good ol' American pragmatism which should know it's obvious the U.S. economy can't allow 4% of its workforce (who do about 99% of the manual labour) to be declared felons and booted out of the country? When it's evident a law isn't working, that law can be changed. That has happened a lot throughout U.S. history, though not too often in ways that benefit the poor.

Toronto's population is about 80% foreign-born, but with hardly any of the "immigrant" trouble that the U.S. appears to have. I don't know why I mention this, but it seems important to point out.

Amado World

This is the picture I used below in the "pop quiz" posting. I like it too much not to post it full size. Click to enlarge.

HUELGA!

No blog today....in support of all those seeking a better life.



See Luis J. Rodriguez' blog on the boycott.