Alone in the Woods

Fiorella was out on the land again today, having a wonderful time pulling rocks out of the ground and throwing them down the bowling-alley lane that she'd hacked out of the tangled woods with her pruners so su piedras would be nearer the entrada de las coches that she, as always, is shoring up so it doesn't wash out when la lluvia comes. There's something invigorating about hard physical work, and there's something inspiring about working in the woods, especially if one is all alone. Fio becomes a child again, a child who wonders about everything, a child who is sure there is a lost civilization under her feet, who talks to the rocks and the trees.

And they talk back. The trees are self-sacrificial, of course, but the rocks can be difficult. Fiorella is glad to report that they've finally gotten over their snit about Fio paying more attention to the gathering of la lena during the cold, hard winter, and are once again presenting themselves to her as candidates for driveway guard duty. They are worthy soldiers, and Fio can ask for no more.

Languages, Trump, Inspirations

Fiorella's at it again--the language thing--and she's attacking on a couple of different fronts. There's the Spanish, of course, which friend Juana reinvigorated by sending over a pack of cards with messages in Spanish on them, and there's the Hindi, Bengali, and Vietnamese, which Fio is quizzing her new friends at Capital One abour.
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It's fascinating to watch the rats leaving Trump's sinking ship.His long-time doctor is now coming forward with his story, but one wonders--did he really expect Trump to remain loyal to him? Didn't he understand that the only person that Trump is loyal to is himself?
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Where do you get your ideas for what happens in your stories, Fiorella? From life, my dear. Yesterday afternoon, the rhythm of the road lulled me into a hypnotic trance when I was returning home from Austin, and I overshot the exit to Georgetown by about five miles and had to turn around. You can bet that's going to end up in my next book.

Triste

Fiorella is sad. Dora, her sweet computadora, is dying. Fio's planning to go shopping for Dora's twin tomorrow, but in the meantime, she has her long-time companion resting on the hard-surface of the mostrador de madera she seems to favor. Blessings.

After the March Was Over....

Fiorella woke up yesterday morning still glowing from the success of her NEVER AGAIN march, spent way too much time on FB, but had enough glow left that she did a fair amount of work on a difficult scene in her WIP. In the afternoon, she  and met up with friend Patricia in the cafe adjoining la biblioteca and her glow returned as she recounted the progress of the march.  Patricia asked how her Spanish was coming along, and Fio told her in sorrow that she hadn't made much progress because she needed a telenovela that she could play over and over again to drive el espanol into her brain, but didn't know how to locate  one.

"Why not borrow one from the library?" friend asked. To make a long, thrilling story short, Fiorella checked out two telenovela DVDs and will try them out on Monday.

But wait--there's still more! To top it off, when Fio got home, she started working on la historia de nuevo and pretty much finished off the rest of that problem scene.

Fiorella is a happy camper.

Busy Bee

Fiorella and Husband had a wonderful afternoon in Austin with Brother and his wife, first at a very nice restaurant, and then at a clever performance of 17th century art songs.   Not only did Fio enjoy a tasty salmon dinner, but she also got a free dessert because it was her three-month belated birthday celebration. Next came the Early Music Project, hosted by the First Presbyterian Church. Of course, Fio and Brother, who took voice lessons many years ago and had actually sung some of the songs, were in their element.
Fio's singing voice is gone now, but it's all for the best. She's got too many irons in the fire as it is. One of those fires is putting up her Halloween decorations--wrapping the plastic skeleton around the mailbox, arranging her cardboard bats on the window, and sticking paper pumpkins around and about. And, of course, she needs to start on the fifth revision of Phillipa's story, clear the fallen branches and rotten limbs out of the south woods, and plow ahead on Spanish.
Too bad she has so much spare time.

Personal Stuff

Fiorella is the filet mignon of the mosquito world, which means that when she sprays her arms and legs, they go after her less protected flesh, and since Fio sleeps with covers drawn up to her chin to defend herself while she's asleep, they feast on her face, which is now decorated with five new bites. Fio is not happy
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It turns out that Fio has been usimg the wrong term for her driveway guardians. Instead of rocas, they are piedras. Rocas are more boulder size, and Fio can't lift over thirty-five pounds. Mea cultpa.
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Fiorella doesn't see much future for Young Sheldon. It was cute idea with a cute cast of kids, but what is ithe show's targeted audience?  The main character is a kid, but children aren't going to warm to a weird, totally non-empathetic know-it-all. And if Sheldon develops empathy every week as quickly as he responded to his father in the pilot, he's going to be as considerate as Leonard when he reaches his twenties. Also, Fio doesn't think a precocious child can carry the show as the main character. It would have been better if Sheldon's mother had been the main character, like Leonard is in BBT. An outrageous character like Sheldon isn't interesting unless he plays off of a more stable character.
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The vet prescribed the same ointment for Sonia Dog's pussy eyes that Fio's ophthamalagist told her to put on her healing eyelids. Wonder which prescription costs less?
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The young actress who plays Linda, the sister who teases her sister and is mean to her brother's wife on Mi Marido Tiene Familia, is destined for a great career as a telenovela villainess, if she'd just enlarge that mole to the left side of her lip. A prominent facial mole is a sure mark of female villainy in Spanish-language soap operas.

Language Crossovers

Apparently Fioralla's brain categorizes langiages as either English or Other, judging by the way her study of el espanol has reactivated her Russian, German, and even Telugu. Yesterday she caught herself using pahtuhmyshto instead of porque when trying to put together a sentence in Spanish.

Speaking of Spanish, Fio is quite pleased with her recent progress. Her verbos are coming along, she's attempting simple frases, and she's understanding enough of her new telenovela, Mi Marido Tiene Familia, that she can follow the plot. It really helps to have a backgorund in linguistics, but it helps even more to have friends who are kind enough to help her. (Okay, Fio will admit it--Translater on Google helps too.)
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But Fio looks back on her Russian studies with sorrow. If only Russian-language television had been avilable back then. If only the instructional program had involved more verbal communication and less translation of long-dead authors, althoug Fio can still recite the beginning of  Yevgeny Onyegin:. "Moy dyadya sahmic chesnic pravil, kahgdah nyev shootku zahnimog.....". Pahnimayitzi menya?

Purely Fiorella

Fiorella grabbed a nice handful of servietas at Starbucks as she was heading out of la puerta, y ellas came in handy. El dia was blazing caliente and su automovil had been sitting en el sol por dos horas so her car seat and steering wheel were burning. Thinking fast, Fio stuck a servieta under each pierne and grasped una servieta in each mano before she pulled out of her parking space and headed a su casa.
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Yesterday was up and down. Way up and way down. Fio was ecstatic when Richard at Mazda called to tell her that baby car was all healed and ready to go home early--and that the bill turned out to be $500 less than expected. But her day started going downhill when she stopped by the post office on the way home and left her purse and keys in the car, then locked the door. A nice passerby let her use his cell phone and Fio called Husband, who arrived with Sonia dog in the back seat. About two hours later, the locksmith arrived. And to think, Fiorella thought she would get a lot of writing done because her lista amarilla was so lightweightfor the day.
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Fiorella has discovered a wonderful new rock bed (cama de rocas) behind the chainlink fence separating her back yard from the jungle beyond, and she's already pulled several of them up and tossed them over the fence, where she'll pack them into her little red wagon to tow up to the driveway to reinforce su mura pequena, but that's the only mura she'll ever contribute to

Fivesome Update

Sonia perra tripped nimbly down la escalera at 4:15 a.m.and gave mamacita a sharp bark of demand. Porque ella es una mamacita buena, ella struggled awake and turned off the alarm system, then opened the back puerta so Sonia could usar el sevicio. Si, la perrita es la reina de casa.
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The whirlwind is spinning faster and faster. Trump is going down. Doesn't he see the signs? They're the same as when his multiple businesses went down.
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Fiorella posted one of her paintings on FB and got a really nice response, which made her hungry to start painting again, something she hasn't done in years, but she needs to invest her time in her family and projects that have the possibility of paying off big, like the writing. The almighty dollar wins out over art every time.
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Speaking of writing, Fiorella is engaged in the third revision and the story is really fleshing out. For instance, she now knows that Bram is a nickname for Abram, which explains why a guy who's half Czech has a Dutch-sounding name.
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Fiorella plays the piano every morning to keep her hands, fingers, and brain-eye coordination working, but she sings for the pure joy of it. Yes, the botox shots to her false vocal chords are finally working.

Here and There

The older Fio gets, the more she likes clouds. Hope that means she's headed to heaven someday.
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 Ah, a new month, a new chance. And this month has Fio's birthday in it, which gives her a double chance.
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Fio's book is jolting along, and what drives it is some advice Fio's literary agent, Liza Dawson, gave her four years ago: every scene must move the story forward. (To which Fiorella adds what Tracy Wolff once said at an RWA meeting: let the POV be from the viewpoint of the person who has the most to lose.)
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Fio's getting closer and closer to signing up for an on-line Spanish class. She just can't stand not knowing what the characters on the telenovelas are talking  about.
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Speaking of telenovelas, Minnesota Son said most of the guns the characters on La Piloto were toting were berrettas. Apparently there is not much diversity in the television gun wardrobe closet.

Morning, Noon, and Night

Fiorella lives by lists and systems. Her major lista is the one she writes down for the next day (manana), but she also consults her calendario. Her sytems include such things as feeding la perra her daily pildoras--Fio puts a gob of peanut butter on the handle of una cuchara o tendedor (spoon or fork), sticks una pildora in the mess, and presents it to Sonia, who eagerly gulps it down.
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If there's a body count category for the Mexican telenovela awards, La Piloto will win it hands down. Not only have the extras died like flies, but several of the minor characters have also been killed off. Of course, our heroine is in peril--again. The only way she could save the life of la bebe de una amiga (who had been killed) was to surrender herself to the sadistic Santamaria. Of course, she was rescued by Dave and her friends, but not before Sanamaria, quien no es un santo, strung her up by her wrists and branded her with a red hot cattle iron. Her scream could be heard all the way to Hollywood.
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The day is surprisingly cool for central Texas in late June, and the house is quiet. Maybe Fio can get through a couple more chapters of her work-in-progress before anyyone gets back to the house. Ah, pandemonium, I know you well.

Staying Tuned to LA PILOTO

How can you survive without Fiorella bringing you up to date on her current telenovela, La Piloto? 

After escaping and being captured more times than Fio could keep track of, Yolanda has wound up in the clutches of the high class Shadow Cartel, but this time, she has two of her gal pals, the boyfriend of one of her friends, her aunt, and Amanda's orphaned baby with her. Zulima, who, unknown to Yolanda and her posse, is the one who killed Amanda, is also there, pretending to be a member of Yolanda's tribe, although she is actually in cahoots with the Shadow Cartel.

The good news is that Oscar Lucio, a real baddie, finally bit the dust--literally--when he parachuted out of a plane and landed way too hard. That leaves John Lucio, Santamaria, the Shadow Cartel, and Zulima to go. Yes, the villains are being picked off one by one, which means Yolanda and Dave are drawing closer to their happy ending, but not, Fio thinks, before Monica and Mena sacrifice themselves for the greater good.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, your Fio is being drawn into another telenovela, La Doble Vida de Estela Carrillo.

Pruners, GPS, Girl Scouts

Fiorella is thinking of grabbing her pruners to take care of a couple of unwanted bushes in el parke and of a couple of springtime cedar branches that are grabbing for her hairevery time she passes by. She's also looking over areas to plant cast iron plants, which Brother and his wife have offered her. Maybe in place of the sages along the west side of the house, which appear to have developed rust.
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Did Fio tell you that Scott Williams, a friend of older son, is going to be fixing her Christmastime GPS so Fio can finally use it? Then she'll be able to head down the road to see Baby anytime she wants to.
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Hey, hey, hey--Fio finally figure out how to get the las botellas de pildoras de plastico (plastic pill bottles) to the Girl Scouts without having to drive to Round Rock. MAIL THEM!

Fiorella Rides Again

Fiorella may have had a discouraging time--make that a devastating time--on Tuesday, what with her entire book getting deleted, but on Wednesday, her Austin day, she, friend Paula, Brother, and his wife had a great time laughing and exchanging stories at Dan's Hamburgers. On the way home, Fio bought Easter candy, which is always uplifting, and stopped in at Click Computer Repair, hoping against hope, and Click came through. Travis not only resurrected Phillipa, but taught Fio about something called a recycling bin. Then, high as a kite, Fiorella stopped at Target and was able to buy five boxes of shredded wheat, which hadn't been on the shelves the day before when Husband and a friendly store employee had searched for it. And when she got home, Fio added a cartful of rocks to the driveay murita and took some nice bluebonnet pictures, which she can't show you until Minnesota Son, who's visiting next week, teaches her how to post pics on her blog without messing up.

 So today's a new beginning, and Fio has a light day planned. Primarily, she will work on Phillipa's story, then call the church to find out when she and Austin son should be getting their art in. On the side will be laying down rocks, sorting family photos, paying bills, practicing piano, and, of course, studying Spanish.

By the way, Fio needs more opportunities to practice her Spanish. Does anyone out there know of an instructional DVD or a small local class?

Final Episode, Final Review

They pulled out all the stops last night on El Color de la Pasion, starting with Marcelo's mother, who had been a real bitch about Lucia, being the one who brought the two lovers back together again. Also, Mario and Magdalena adopted a baby, Daniel and Roderigo received both of their now-single parents' blessings for the baby on the way, Gloria made a play for Roman, Normita caught the bouquet and hugged Narazino a lot, Segio gave Leticia an engagement ring, and Lucia and Marcelo had an elebaorate wedding at a beautiful church, then a lovely honeymoon at the beach.

Fio was especially interested in the wedding ceremony, which involved elements not found in her own plain and simple Lutheran wedding and maybe unknown to non-Mexican Hispanics either: Marcelo poured something that looked like gold coins into Lucia's hands, and the priest draped a kind of silver rope around them. But that's just another reason Fio needs to get DVDs of the show--so she can study all the details.

All in all, El Color was drama at its best. The plot twists were non-stop,the cinematography was outstanding, and casting was perfect--supposed family members actually looked like each other. Oh, and there 's one more twosome that Fio should add to the list--Amador and Vicinio. They both ended up in jail, in the same cell. Happy life, muchachos.

Catching You Up on El Color de la Pasion

Fiorella doubled down on el espanol yesterday. Or rather, tripled down. During the afternoon, she posted two pages of verb tenses for ser ("to be") on the wall above her desk. Later, about twenty minutes before El Color de la Pasion came on, she played with Duolingo on her phone. Then she topped the evening off by watching the telenovela. All the prep work was worth it--not that there's anything subtle going on, but Fio caught a few more words and phrases. To bring you up to date, Tia (Aunt) Rebeca, the villainess, has been tossed out of her luxurious casa (home) by sweet Lucia, who turned into a spitfire when she learned that Rebeca, out of jealousy, had shoved her older sister, Lucia's mother, over the balcony when Lucia was a baby. Then Daniela, who is embarazada (pregnant) broke it to Milagros,who had tried to set up an assignation between her and her son Marcelo, that Marcelo was not the father of the child. The hour ended as Brigita, who had put her homeless friend Rebeca up for the night, walked into the guest bedroom to witness her despicable husband, Amador, groping and kissing a struggling Rebeca.

And those were just the highlights.

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. .

Movin' On

Christmas is almost over at Casa Fiorella. Husband kindly packed away the last of the Christmas ornaments yesterday afternoon, and Fio hopes to get his help unwinding the lights from the tree today. Maybe we'll even get the tree disassembled and stuffed into its many containers.

Fiorella loves decorating for Christmas and is always a little sad when her creative efforts have to be banished to the garage shelves till next year, but it's not just that Christmas has a limited shelf life--it's that tax time is just around the corner, which means that Fiorella has to turn her mind to IRS and her dining room table into a processing station.

At the same time, she's trying to rock-line a driveway, learn Spanish, write a book, and pretend to be human.

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.