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.

Here and There

An iron poker landed on the big toe of Fiorella's left foot last night when she was trying to keep the fire going. Guess who's in pain this morning?
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When a chubby-cheeked baby smiles at you, there's no way you can't smile back.
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Fio has finally come to terms with "amazing" and "awesome," the descriptive terms that have taken the country by storm and are apparently the only words HG house hunters know. As a linguist, Fio realizes she can't hold back the tide because living languages are always changing, but as her mother's daughter, she wants to scream at people to enlarge their vocabularies or sit down and shut up.
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Did Fio tell you she's finished printing out all her 2017 pages and putting them in a loose-leaf notebook? Starting from 2008, that makes nine years of them. Yeah, Fio is a never-give-up-the-ship kinda gal.
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It feels strange to sit on the couch in front of the TV without a telenovela playing, but Mi Marido Tiene Familia has run its course and Fio hasn't found a replacement yet. Give her time.

Pulling Herself Together

Slowly but surely, Fiorella is repairing herself. She's come to terms with her friend's death, recovered from the gunk, and gotten her computer set back on its axis. In addition, her car now releases the ignition key on command, and she has the address and phone number of a cell phone repair shop in a shopping center in Round Rock. And while she's in the vicinity, she'll beard Eye Mart Express with the information that those last glasses whe got from them were bogus--the lenses were weaker than her previous glasses, and Fio doesn't think the ophthamologist was to blame.
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Yes, of course Trump is getting more awful by the moment. His dementia is on a rollercoaster ride, and the GOP is hanging on for dear life, trying to get everything it can out of him before he crashes.
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Fiorella loves cold weather, especially when she's sitting on the couch in front of a roaring fire.
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Busting down the Interstate at 80 mph relaxes Fio. Her eyes, ears, hands, and feet take over and drive automatically as her brain wanders into channels more interesting.
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Fiorella's telenovela had its last hurrah last night. Daniela and Gabriel are married, Eugenio and Blanca have come to a new understanding of their relationship, Julieta and Robert/Juan Pablo, who now have two children, will be moving out of the extended-family home to their own casa, Marisol and Xavi are heading toward some kind of accomodation, Audifaz's book is selling, Linda and Bruno are back together, and Hugo's cookie business is taking off so he and his wife are escaping from his mothe at last. And your Fiorella thinks she's picked up a little more Spanish. Gone are the days when she couldn't sort the characters' names out from the dialogue.

Under the Weather

This is getting old. Fiorella has a cold again, her second one for the winter, and it's the same old, same old--sneezing, snorting, coughing, scratchy throat, runny nose, tiredness, headache, and chills.
The clean up from the Christmas feast is going to have to wait a day or two.
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Fio can't belive the cold weather. Sure, she experienced it every winter when her family lived in Ohio, but below freezing in Texas? And they're predicting it for all week?
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Meanwhile Fio's telenovela is drawing to its inevitable close. Julieta and Juan Pablo have adopted a little boy, Eugenio and Blanka have resolved years of anger, Gabriel and Daniela are headed toward the altar, Linda is softening her snarky ways for the sake of Bruno, Marisol and Xavi have declared their love, and Amalia, a big girl, has finally snagged muscle-builder Enzio. Now all Fio has to worry about is whether or not Julieta and Juan Pablo will be able to retain custody of their son, how much trouble Gabriel's filthy rich family will make about their son marrying a tomboy from a middle class family, the way Marisol's ex is trying to turn their daughter against Xavi, and Belen's depression about living alone now that Amalia will be moving in with Enzio.

Three Rescues

Facebook never lets Fio down. She's bringing an old manuscript (not the one you saw yesterday) up to date  and needs a replacement for a youthful Michael McConnoughey-type character so she asked her "friends" to bombard her with names of blondish male movie stars. And they did. Checking out pics on Google, she's narrowed her list down to three. Will let you know when she decides on the winner.
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Some other good news, if you're following Fio's telenovela. Gabriel put on a big perfomance and asked Daniela to be his novia (fiancee), and she now has a ring on her finger. This will be happy news for the Corseca family, which, with Tulio threatening them financially and both Abuela and Papa hopitalized for health problems, is in a jam right now.
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Husband let Sonia Dog out into the front yard while Fio was piling rocks into her little red wagon and, at the same time, trashing several loads of chainsawed cedar branches. Doggie trailed around after her for a while, then retired the porch to supervise. But when Fio, dripping with sweat, took off her heavy overshirt, Sonia sprang into action, trotted out into the yard, and whined at Fio to go back inside. OMG, since when did Fiorella's dog become her mother? 

La Familia Corcega

Fiorella is fascinated by the distinctiveness of the members of la familia Corcega, Juan Pablo's extended family on her telenovela, Mi Marido Tiene Familia. Imelda, la abuela (the grandmother), is something of a conniving despot. Her hijo mayor (oldest son) runs the family bakery and is a solid, but old-fashioned guy with a wife and four adult children. Her second hijo, Tulio, is rich, has a beautiful, but nasty wife, and no children. Her third hijo, Audifaz, is a mess of braggadocio who has a sweet wife and a nice son.

Then there's the third generation. Juan Pablo, the hero, is smart, kind, loving, and so sensitive that his weeping is beginning to annoy Fiorella. His older hermana (sister), Marisol, is the very model of una esposa buena y madre (good wife and mother), but su esposo (her husband) has left her. Daniela, next in line, is a spunky nino-nina (boy-girl) and one of Fio's favorites. Linda, la bebe (the baby) is downright mean.

Add in Juan Pablo's lady love, Julieta, who is just as weepy as he is, and su madre (his mother), Blanca, a good woman prone to fits of screaming anger, plus Tulio's esposa, Ana, who is mainly concerned with herself , and you have a cage full of tigres (tigers). Oh, and has Fio mentioned la madre de Julieta, Catalina, a squinty-eyed villain who can't get along with anybody?

But there's one character that justifies the whole show for Fiorella--Gabriel, who's not related to la familia Corcsega, but wants to relate to Daniela. He's rico (rich), guapo (handsome), funny, has an expressive face, and is unbelievably acrobatic. Every time Fio turns around, he's falling out of something or over something, but he always lands on his pies (feet)--as Fio is sure all the Corcega family will by end of el producion (the show).


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Three Confessions

When you spot errors or misspellings in her blog, it's because Fiorella wrote the it during the evening hours, when her brain is half-asleep. Or because she wrote it during the day, when her mind is preoccupied with daily living. Or the dog was disreacting her. Or the sun was in her eyes. Or she just plain made a mistake. Sorry.
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Fio's Spanish-language soap opera is really heating up, and she loves every dram-filled moment of it. Robert is beginning to remember his childhood as Juan Pablo, the goods and the bads of it, the latter of which is that his Aunt Ana, who never did like him, was the one who shoved him through the orphanage door and slammed it shut. Meanwhile his new-found mother and grandmother are driving his live-in-fiance, Julieta, nuts with their efforts to bring her into the family. And then there's Linda, one of Robert's new-found sisters, who's determined to break up his relationship with Julieta. And that's just for starters.
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Fio does not have a good reputation with some of her more eco-concious friends. Not only does she
favor the trapping and elimination of armadillos, but she's planted invasive, non-native trees and bushes in her garden area. Sorry, ladies, but armadillos are nasty creatures that ravage gardens and lawns, and the only decorative flora that can thrive in the hill country are tough cookies like fontinias, nandenas, boxwoods, bayberries, and palmettos.

Poetry, Politics, Pens, Pisces, Program, and Pacing

Why is there nobody out there who's tried to cross political pens with Fiorella? Can it be there's no one on the right who can rhyme, set a beat, or count accented syllables?
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Fio doesn't understand why people advertise on pens, but then, she's not the type to be influenced by the name emblazoned on her ballpoint.
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Ah, salmon and fries for dinner--nothing better. Fio is replete.
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Fio's nightly telenovela has been running two hours this past week, which is daunting. Fio can only take so much elevated drama at a time. Por favor, kill off Danilo and Morgana, give Leticia's family a happy ending, and let Ryan and Laura live happily ever after.
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As Fio said back when Flynn got canned, Trump Tower is crumbling, brick by brick. Quite a few bricks have fallen since then, and the pace seems to be accelerating.

Escape into Television--THWARTED

It's so relaxing every evening when Fiorella escapes Trumpdom and loses herself in the murder, rape, scheming and screaming of La Doble Vida de Estela Carrillo, a Spanish-language soap opera of which she can only understand one word in ten. The important thing is that while the DC Halloween horror show is real and Fio doesn't know where it's going to end up, the telenovela is scripted for a happy ending. Ryan and Laura (formerly Estela) are going to pull through, but Fiorella isn't that sure about the USA.

Postscript: After writing the above, Fio settled down to watch last night's episode of Estela Carrillo and found it had been knocked off the programming by another stupid soccer game. HOW DOES UNIVISION EXPECT FIORELLA TO HAVE A PEACEFUL NIGHT'S SLEEP WITHOUT HER NIGHTLY DOSE OF MAKE-BELIEVE?

Telenovela Foresight

No! Fiorella's telenovela was pre-empted by a copa oro soccer match last night, and she's still fuming. La Doble Vida de Estela Carrillo is not her favorite Spanish-language soap opera (she liked El Color de la Pasion better), but Wednesday night left Estela in a very precarious position, and Fio wanted to see how it turned out. She's sure the judge will find Estela "not guilty" of everything that chief villain John B. Green is accusing her of, but who knows--there are always loopholes and complications.

The big surprise to Fio, who started watching the show after it had already been on a couple of months, is that Paloma. Estela's little girl, is not really hers, but a baby she rescued from John B four years ago.  Fio's a bit hazy on the details, but apparently Greene was involved with a prostitution ring.

Fio thought the La Doble Vida was about ready to wrap up, then read that it had gotten a contract for a second installment  in 2018. Guess Fiorella knows what she's going to be doing from 8:00-9:00 p.m.for a while yet

Bras, Kardashians, Estela Carrillo, Trump, Afterlife

How do men survive without bras? Fio stores her glasses, credit card, car keys, lipstick, and a couple of Kleenexes in her bra while she's out gadding about. Good thing she doesn't have go through any metal detectors.
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Fiorella is tired of the stupid Trump family. She wants everything back to normal--you know, with the Kardashians being the dopiest family on television.
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Fio will admit she herself has been around long enough to know it's true that what goes around comes around, like names, fashion, politics, and philosophies. Nothing new under the sun, as they say. Hey--maybe that will apply to people too. See you in your next life!
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La Doble Vida de Estela Carrillo is drawing to its inevitable close, but it's still spitting out screwball drama. Danilo knocked out Estela with an anesthetic for horses so he could rape her, but she doesn't know it yet because she was--well--knocked out. That boy's getting more and more vicious--remember that he strangled Tommy to death last week--and there's not much further he can go, though it might be a good idea if, on his way out, he took down Mr. Green, the evil Americano politician who held Estela and her daughter captive for a week or so.
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What if Trump once upon a time had a brain of his own which was replaced by a Russian model installed by Putin and is operated by Melania?

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.

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.

Bang, Bang! You're Dead!

La Piloto is getting boring. Minor characters are being killed off by the dozens as Santamaria and Oscar still chase after Yolanda, who still hasn't realized that Dave is her best choice.  Fio thought the Spanish-language telenovela was building toward a resolution, but maybe not. Besides, the characters talk too little and too fast for Fio's English ear to catch as much as a mucho. They make the Spanish-language news reporters sound like they're drawling.

Fiorella would like to change her allegiance to La Mujer de Vendaval, in which the actors speak at a normal pace, but it doesn't come on till midnight, and Fio has to sleep sometime.

Personal News

The only reason Fiorella switched to Gmail is that Microsoft quit supporting Windows Live Mail, and she's been in trouble ever since. Windows was so beautifully intuitive, and Gmail doesn't make any sense at all.  Far too often, Fio ends up scurrying to Click Computer Repair or friend Patricia to untangle the electronic webs she's woven trying to figure things out for herself. GRRRRR!
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Fio is now officially addicted to La Piloto, another telenovela. El Color, which she still wants to find a DVD set of, was a romance pure and simple, but La Piloto is a fast-moving action movie. Everyone carries guns, even Yolanda, the heroine, who, yes, is in the drug trade, although ultimately, she's going to end up in the loving arms of Dave Mejia, the stalwart, uncorruptible DEA agent. Right now she's engaged in escaping from the arms of Colonel Santamaria, who is chasing down drug dealers, including her former boyfriend, John Lucio, who's fallen under the influence of Zulima, a  practicing bruja, cigars and all.
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Fio finished laying the last rocks in the north driveway yesterday. Now to check out the south driveway to see what needs to be shored up. A rocker's work is never done.

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.

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.)

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.