Mazatlan -Learning how to blog!

2/12/13  Mazatlan

Trying to get my act together.  Do I want to blog or write short stories?  I guess right now I'm doing a little of both - stories are good for grandchildren in my opinion, but not so interesting to blog followers. Let's see how it goes.

My stay here in Mazatlan is not fulfilling my desire for encountering the 'real' Mexico.  The beaches are lovely; however, I come from beach country so it's perhaps not as rewarding for me as it is for others coming from inland areas.  I'll have to 'catch up' on my actual travel experiences as I go along ....

This area of Mexico, essentially the whole west coast, is very commercialized and caters to a USA and Canadian clientele. So very many snow birds escape the harsh Winters in the North and settle down here for months at a time, not being very interested in a new culture, etc., but more in warm, sandy beaches and friends from "home."  Some of the rigs here are enormous; my little Toyota Dolphin is overpowered by magnificently appointed Class A motor homes of 36-40 feet long, with every convenience one can imagine.

However, I'm a month into this adventure and I love my little house on wheels.  It's certainly adequate for one lady and her pets.  I will say that I'm very warm here in Mazatlan without an awning for shade during these warm and humid days.  I haven't turned on the air conditioner, but do have the fan going most of each day.  The evenings and nights cool down considerably and sleeping is very comfortable.

I guess I'm a little of an oddity - and a little out of place here.  Don't get me wrong!  The beaches are fantastic, the historical part of the Mazatlan is interesting, the food is good (although not exactly strictly Mexican - usually), the language is essentially English.  I tend to respond to Mexicans who speak to me in Spanish - at least I'm getting some practice even though it's not always necessary!

Ideas for stories - blog followers may want to ignore this part!

Meriden, Connecticut 1917

My dad, Leo, and the Dentist: 
One day, when Leo was a boy of about 13 years old, he informed his mom that he had a toothache.  She gave him $2 and told him to go to Dr. O’Brien, in downtown Meriden, to have his tooth filled.  [It’s interesting that in those days my grandmother didn’t accompany him to the dentist like parents do today].  As Leo was walking to towards the dentist's office, he realized that he could go to another dentist who had an office in the “low-rent” district of town, have his tooth filled for $.50 and pocket the $1.50 for himself.  He went to the low rent dentist, who, indeed, filled the tooth for 50 cents and he didn’t give his mom the change.  Grandpa Leo was raised in, what he referred to as an "Irish family" – with a German mother!  That is to say, he was raised by a very strict and authoritarian mother; his father had little to do with discipline; his mom, Agnes Kuus Ryan, was the B-O-S-S!  As it turned out in my family, Leo was the BOSS, taking after his mom. 

Although he never disclosed to his mother his dishonesty of that day, I’m sure it was something that  bothered him for a long time - like all his life.  Being raised by an authoritarian parent and the concurrent influence of the Catholic Church and schools, he would carry the guilt of that deception, maybe forever. 

Skip ahead about 45 years  ….. One morning at the breakfast table Dad related to us that he had a toothache; this was the only time in my memory that he felt he needed to see a dentist.  Doctor and dentist visits were rare in our family; there was no such thing as a yearly physical or dental exam.  Interestingly, we had free medical and dental care available through the military; but to use it was not common.  Anyway, at dinner that evening Leo told the family the story of his long ago disobedience.  At first we weren’t sure just why he’d chosen to tell this story; soon we understood.  It seems that that morning, when the dentist anesthetized his jaw and drilled out the 45 year old filling, he found the cause of the pain.  45 years previously, the “low rent” dentist  had drilled the cavity and blotted the drilled hole with a cotton pledget – which he forgot to remove before filling the tooth with a silver filling.  The tooth had finally succumbed to infection caused by that very old pledget of cotton!  And, Dad told us the story to indicate the moral.  "If you lie to your parent you will be punished – maybe not immediately, but certainly sometime!"  For him it was 45 years!

More story ideas.....

John and the piano Tuner

Kari and the clink clink coins

Kari and dancing recital

Jeff sharing aspirin with his sister

Spencer and Jim Burton’s tools

Spencer and the garbage man

Spencer and pillow in the bed????