Tag Archives: surprise gifts

Eduardo’s Gift

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Since I saw him last, my gardener Paciano’s son Eduardo completed a three-day pilgrimage to Talpa, walking  and sleeping in rugged mountain terrain, to view its famous Virgin.   Today is the first time I’ve seen him in  three weeks, since I was in the states for nine days so missed two sessions.  When he turned up for his weekly English lesson today, he brought me this lovely hand carved wooden owl, inscribed  with this message  on the bottom, (which I have translated from the Spanish): “Souvenir of Talpa for dear Judit (sic).

Such a tender and unexpected gift from this sweet teenage boy!!! Today we spent a good hour reviewing the English names for parts of the body. To check his progress, I asked him to draw the human body and to label its parts.  After carefully  measuring distances to get the proportions correct, here he is at his labeling task. Joints are the hardest ones to remember. Certainly true with me re/ remembering them in Spanish!

Morning Offering: Favorite Photos from the Past! Now show me yours….

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Rooting around in old photos, I found another favorite. This was a friend’s dog. I was staying in the guest casita behind their house and every morning her sweet dog would bring me a gift.
If you have a favorite photo you’d like to share, please give a link in comments.

Sneaky Santas

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My neighbors David and Sergio leave tomorrow to spend Xmas with their families in Los Angeles, but today they brought me over this gorgeously wrapped gift:

Imagine my surprise, however, when I removed the wrappings to find this perfectly ordinary brown cup:

This is the couple whose outrageously beautiful Xmas decorations I showed last year. There is not an ordinary object in their house!  Ha. A gag gift, for sure.  Then Sergio insisted I make a cup of coffee and pour it into the cup and voilá!  This transformation occurred:

Remember when they gave me the Cheetos Torciditos beach towel last Xmas? They will stop at nothing to support my mania for this incredible snack.  Sorry, though, not available outside of Mexico.  Suffice it to say, however, that I have never served them to a single person who didn’t become an immediate addict.  David and Sergio are even taking two large bags of them with them to the U.S.  Add a glass of my Sangria alongside and perfection is served!!!

Touché, guys. You have again won the Xmas gift prize.

But sadly, as I drank the cup of coffee, this happened:

And, once I’d sipped the dregs from the cup:

How to stop the Cheetos from disappearing? Perhaps this is the solution:

But it is going to take some willpower to enact this plan!!!