What's Up With Fiorella

 You may have noticed that yesterday's poem went through two modifications before Fio was satisfied with it, That's how it goes--anything Fiorella writes or paints is subject to revision until she gets it right. But why does Fio rhyme so much, you ask. Because rhymes are always whirling around in her head like a swarm of demented fireflies--buys/size/lies/tries/dies/guys/highs/pies/rise/ties/thighs/ies/wise/ 
shies/stys/guise. And then there are the half-rhymes....
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The elctronic world has passed Fiorella by. She writes on una computadora, uses email, and knows how to text, but that's it. On the other hand, she can also write longhand, use a landline, communicate by letter, and even start a fire without turning on the gas, so maybe she'll survive in a hut out in the woods somewhere.
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The ecoles must have closed down for summer vacation because France, which bolstered Fiorella's readership to flatteringly high numbers, has deserted her again. You know Fio's theory--that English professeurs are using her blog to illustrate Ameican colloquialisms.
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The end of La Piloto is near. The villains have been winnowed down to Yolanda's former lover, his current girlfriend, the crazed colonel, la bruja, and a crew of disposible extras. No dramatic death scenes like the ones in El Color de la Pasion, though. Just bang, bang---you're dead.
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The temperatures are climbing here in central Texas. It's going to be a 100-degree week so think cooling thoughts in Fio's direction. She was not born for hot weather. Remember her genealogy.


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Farewell, My Bedtime Soporific

El Color de la Pasion winds up tonight. The mother-and-daughter female villains have committed suicide, the male villain is in jail, the various sets of lovers seem destined for happy endings, and your Fio has picked up a little more in-context Spanish. By the way, if you decide to try out a telenovela, these are the key words to listen for: amor (love), esposa (wife), esposo (husband), embarazada (pregnant), pistola (pistol, of course), asesinar (kill), You can figure out the rest of the story from the acting and facial expressions. One thing to look out for: THE SLAP. In fact, the Mexican Oscars list it as an award category.

How Fiorella Lives Her Life

Fiorella had a wonderfully social day yesterday lunching with friend Jane Perrine, then driving into Austin to visit with friend Deborah Radel. Politics was the topic of the day and both of her friends were so clever that Fio laughed herself silly. Jane fights the good fight by contacting her representatives and contributing to various liberal causes, while Deborah is looking forward to the next one. Empowerment is addictive.
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Fio has started exploring the unknown territories of the five-acre wooded tract that she and Husband live on. Yesterday she discovered a charming dell off the side of the north driveway that Fernando, her yardman, who also likes discovering things, had obviously mowed. She also found the north branch of the dry creek that edges three sides of the property. but she didn't go too far because that area is unfenced and she didn't want to get lost. Again.
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The last day for El Color de la Pasion is Monday, March 6, and all its plot threads are rapidly being resolved. Rebeca is homeless, Amador is in jail, the guy who raped Tene is in jail, Nora has committed suicide, Nazario was visited by the spirit of his late wife who tells him to marry Norita (Fio thinks),Rafaela is back with a chastened Milagros, Lucia and Marcelo are engaged (again), and Lucia will be sole owner of the art tile factory, Your Fio plans to buy the whole series and watch it again. It's a great way to learn Spanish, she picks up drama pointers from it that she can use in her books, and watching it before she goes to bed ensures a good night's sleep.

Over the Top

Fiorella is under a lot of stress, but she sleeps well at night because she watches El Color de la Pasion, her Spanish-language soap opera every evening. It's so totally ridiculous that she's amazed the actors can keep their faces straight. Fio herself has been known to snicker cynically as the lovers pledge eternal devotion, scream with laughter as the inevitable blood spurts, and hoot at intricate, unbelievable plot twists. But she keeps on watching, even though she only understands, at best, one word in ten. It doesn't matter--the actors are quite good and their faces and gestures tell the story. Right now, Lucia (Goody Two Shoes) has stood up Marcelo (Handsome Hero) at the altar to take care of her half-sister, Nora (hiss, boo), who is going crazy because she accidentally killed a guy. But what Lucia doesn't know is that Nora is the one who engineered Big Sister being left standing at the altar when she was about to marry Roderigo a while back. And that Nora is not really her sister, but the offspring of Lucia's stepmother-aunt (who killed Lucia's mother and married Lucia's father), and one of her many lovers.

And that's just the main plot. Now you see why Fio sleeps well. .

Fiorella's Schedule for the Day

Fio finally got the fake Christmas tree dismantled and packed in boxes for storage in the garage, which cleared out the living room. Now she hopes to move the them and all the other Christmas boxes into the garage, which may be difficult because of the huge fiberboard panels that are leaning against the storage shelves. But never feaar--Fiorella is quite talented when it comes to tottering. Her calendar also calls for finding Husband's wallet and showing up for her monthly INR appointment, but she hopes to spend most of the afternoon writing, Then, in the evening, she'll have her reward--her telenovela. Will Nora get away with killing Ricardo? Will she somehow manage to shift the blame onto Lucia? Will Lucia end up in jail? Inquiring minds want to know.

On the side, Fio must correct herself--she remembered the murder wrong. It wasn't a swinging wine bottle that dealt Ricardo the fatal blow, but what looked like a Notebook which Nora was using to assault him. It shattered the glass of wine he was about to drink and drove the sharp edges into his neck. (Just in case your inquiring mind wanted to know.)

Busy Bee

This will be a busy day. Wednesdays are always busy for Fio because that's when she drives into Austin, which means she's scheduled to the hilt. Her lista amarilla (yellow list) is instructing her to start with a visit to her CPA, where she hopes to learn how to simplify her tax preparations and get advice on handling hijo menor's (younger son's) student loans. Then Fio will scoot across town to meet up with friend Paula at Dan's Hamburgers and find out if she and her husband can join Fio and Husband for a Palace Theater production of West Side Story. Then Fio will drive up the street for a business appointment at 1:00. Finally, she will head down to the periodico (newspaper) office and hand over chocolate and copies of her political poems to Serena, who guided her through her commercial debut.

At home, Fiorella will devote herself to her current book, pack away one more box of Christmas ornaments, and maybe work on her mura de rocas (wall of rocks), then settle down for another episode of El Color de la Pasion. Did she tell you that it's turned out that Nora Gaxiola has just learned that her father is not Alsonso Gaxiola, but Alfredo Suarez?

Lucia, Marcelo, and Sex

Thank goodness last night was a week night and El Color de la Pasion was on TV. After the stress of the day, Fiorella needed to lose herself in a gripping telenovela. The last she saw on Friday evening, Lucia, the heroine, was about to have sex with Roman, and Marcelo, the hero, was about to have sex with Daniela (who apparently is not his half-sister after all).

Were Lucia and Marco going to realize they are with the wrong partners and back off at the last moment? Or would someone burst into room on one or the other of them? Or would a phone ring or a fire alarm go off?

As it turned out, little puffy memory clouds vaporizing above their heads, which the show has begun using lately, caused both of them to beg off with the wrong partners and find each other again. Regarding further action, Nora got threatened by Ricardo and Daniela caught her father in bed with Rebeca.

Golly, if Gaspozha Skarjinskaya had directed her class to a Russian-language telenovela, Fio would have learned and retained russkee yazeek much better.

Telenovela Update

Fiorella slept well last night. nothing like an hour of El Color de la Pasion to distract her from the worries of the day. To bring you up to date, Daniela has regained consciousness and  ratted on her former lover, Ricardo, who, frighteningly, appeared in her hospital room and tried to talk to her. Also, Nora, who's in a neck cast, is up to her dirty tricks again, this time trying to separate Letty and Sergio, And the noose is closing around Rebeca at last---Magdelena knows she killed Adriana.

Got all that?

Fiorella's Telenovela

Fiorella is so excited! Her faithful watching of El Color de la Pasion is beginning to pay off--she's actually understanding some of what is being said. Almost enough, in fact to follow the twisted and tangled plotlines.

There's a difference between being able to read and speak a language and being able to understand a language. With a five-year background in Latin, Fio has always approached new languages analytically, concentrating on how to read them, but with Spanish, she is concentrating on understanding the spoken word, leaving formal training till later.

Fiorella would love to tell you more about her language acquisition program, but you'll have to excuse her because El Color de la Pasion is about to come on. To bring you up to date, Marcelo has finally been sprung from jail, Lucia has discovered her stepmother caused the death of her padre and Marcelo's hermano, Daniela appears to be recovering from her near-fatal accidente automovilistico, and everyone is weeping or kissing or plotting or screaming. Adios for now!