A 900 Page Novel

It's been quite a while since I have written a review of a book that I have read.  That's because since before Christmas I have been reading a massive, historical novel called "The Memoirs of Cleopatra".  I finally finished it last night.

Don't think that the length of time that I took to read it is an indication that I didn't enjoy it.  I most certainly did.  However the book is over 900 pages long and is in small type.

Historical novels are my favorite genre, and the author, Margaret George, is one of the foremost writers of historical fiction.  I have read two other books that she wrote... "Helen of Troy" and "Confessions of a Young Nero".

George's novels are painstakingly researched, and this one is no exception.  She took two and a half years to write it, and made four trips to Egypt to research it.  She has provided a vivid depiction of  Egypt in its last days before the Roman conquest by Octavian (who later took the name of Caesar Augustus).  And she provides a sympathetic portrait of the Queen that Roman propaganda portrayed as a scheming seductress, a femme fatale who used men to her advantage.  The author said the Cleopatra was not the "bimbo that the Romans would like you to think she was."  She was in fact an extremely intelligent and astute ruler who spoke at least nine languages.  Her affairs with Julius Caesar and Marc Anthony were based on genuine love, and were not just politically expedient sexual adventures.

Of course, the reader knows from the very beginning how it is going to end with Cleopatra's carefully planned suicide, but in the meantime it's a fascinating journey.  I found myself wishing that Cleopatra and Mark Anthony would have defeated the forces of Octavian and wondering how the course of history would have been different if they had won.

Death of a Camera

I checked my old blog posts, and it was eleven years ago that I bought the Sony compact digital camera that I have been using.

It has served me well... through innumerable trips to Mexico, several trips to Europe, and during the two and a half years that I have lived in Mexico.  However, in the last few months, it has been acting strangely.  Sometimes, if I pressed the button to take a video, the menu would appear instead, and if I wanted to go to the menu, I would sometimes have to press that button several times.  I figured that the poor thing was probably on its last legs.  Then the other day, the on / off button would not work.  The only way I could turn the camera on was to access the old photos, and when I left that mode, the lens would open.  The only way to turn it off was to let the battery-saver feature turn it off automatically after a few minutes.  The old Sony was definitely not something I would want to use any more.

If you have been reading this blog for a long time, and have a really good memory, you might recall that a number of years ago, I forgot to bring my camera with me on a trip to Mexico.  Fortunately, Alejandro had a Samsung digital camera that he had hardly ever used.  I was able to use it for that trip.

I figured that when my camera finally died his Samsung would be my backup. Alejandro uses his cellphone exclusively for taking photos.  (The camera on my cellphone is not that great, and I only use it in a pinch.)  So, I now have a new camera without having to buy a new one.                    

A New "Anglicismo"

In Spanish there are many, many words that are easily recognizable to the English speaker because they come from the same origin in Latin, Greek or other languages.  These words are known as cognates.  Just a few examples are... accidente, chocolate, elegante, familia, insecto, música, pirata.  

(However, be careful because there are also "false cognates".  "Ropa" does not mean rope; it means clothing.  "Fábrica" does not mean fabric; it means factory.  And potentially most embarrassing of all, "embarazada" does NOT mean embarrassed.  It means pregnant!)

Beyond cognates, there are also words that have been taken into the Spanish language from English.  These are known as "anglicismos".  The Royal Spanish Academy, which sets the rules for the language, looks down its nose with disdain at some of these "anglicismos", but others have been accepted even by the snootiest Spanish scholar.

Sometimes the "anglicismo" is spelled exactly like the English word.  For example, "jeans" or "golf".

Other times the spelling might be altered or an accent mark added to adjust to Spanish phonetics... sándwich, fútbol, básquetbol, champú, suéter.

Sometimes, the "anglicismo" might not even be recognizable at first glance to the English speaker...

The ball player hit a "jonrón" out of the park.  

The boxer won by a "nocaut".

I bring all of this up, because the other day I saw an advertisement with an "anglicismo" that I had never seen before.  (That's not to say that it's new.  It was just new to me.)

When I saw the word "pines" for a split second I thought of pine trees.  But, no, "pines" (pronounced "PEE-nays") means pins.  In Spanish an "es" is added to make a word ending in a consonant plural.  This advertisement from Coca Cola is about commemorative pins that you can collect for this summer's World Cup.

"¡Coleciónalos (oh, there's another cognate) todos!"

"Collect them all!"

Postal Experiment

Since I moved to Mexico, I have made out my Christmas cards early, and I have given them to a friend when I have visited Ohio.  He then would send them out after Thanksgiving.

My opinion of the Mexican postal service has long been very negative.  However, since I moved to Mexico, I have had some positive experiences receiving mail sent to my apartment address.  This year, I am toying with the idea of sending my cards from here.  So, this past week, I sent some cards... three to friends in Ohio, and one to my cousin in England.  I wanted to see if they arrive to their destinations and how long it takes.

Just a short walk from my apartment there is a post office in the World Trade Center.  So I went there to mail the cards.

The clerk in the post office was very congenial.  He said that the cards should arrive in four to six weeks, but during the Christmas season I should allow more time.  In the United States, first class postage to any foreign country is $1.70 US.  In Mexico, however, different regions of the world have different postage rates.  The cards to Ohio cost 18 pesos each ($1.03 US) while postage for the card to England was 21 pesos ($1.21 US).  I have informed the recipients that they will be receiving mail, and that they should notify me when the cards arrive.

We will see how my postal experiment works out.

Floral Opening

If you are a long-time reader of this blog, you have been following the story of the orchid that I bought a couple years ago.  After its original blossoms had dropped, it did not rebloom for over a year.  Then, not long after I had it repotted by a professional at a nursery, a flower stalk emerged, and it finally rebloomed last autumn.  The flowers lasted into January,  After just a couple of months, another flower stalk sprouted this year.  I have been watching the buds develop and grow larger.  This week one of them opened...

And by the way, my late-blooming poinsettia, which I bought three Christmases ago, is still full of red leaves.  I almost wish that it would finish blooming so that I can cut it back and prepare it for next season.  (I noticed that one of the red leaves dropped a few days ago, and that some of the green leaves are starting to yellow, so perhaps it is nearing the end of this year's late bloom.)

One Less Autocrat

I am sure that you have seen the bizarre picture which the "Pendejo-in-Chief" posted... the one in which he was portrayed as a Christ-like figure.  Just when we think that his administration could not be any more "loco", he manages to surpass himself.  The image was demented and disgusting; even people who are not religious found it blasphemous.

At least we had one piece of good news this past week.  Victor Orban, the autocratic prime minister of Hungary and good buddy of the "Orange Mussolini" and "Putin the Terrible" was decisively defeated in last Sunday's election.

One political cartoonist used the infamous picture to comment on the downfall of the autocrat...

 

(image taken from the internet)

One less wanna-be dictator on the world stage...

Hopefully the beginning of a trend.

A Museum Reopened

The Dolores Olmedo Museum was located in the far south of Mexico City in the district of Xochimilco.  It has been closed since the pandemic, but its reopening at the end of May of this year was recently announced.

(Images taken from the internet)

Dolores Olmedo was a wealthy Mexican businesswoman and art collector who was a personal friend of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.  Over the years she purchased 145 Rivera paintings and 25 by Kahlo, making her collection of works by Diego and Frida the largest in the world.  She also acquired paintings by other contemporary artists as well as pre-Hispanic, colonial and folk art.

In 1962 Olmedo bought a former hacienda known La Noria, and she lived there until 1994 when she turned the property into a museum to house her collections.  She died in 2002, and in her will she left her house, its gardens, and her enormous art collection to the Mexican people.

Many years ago, I visited the museum, although at the time of my visit, the paintings by Frida Kahlo were on tour.

In 2024, the amusement park, Parque Aztlán, opened in Chapultepec.  It was announced that the Dolores Olmedo Museum would be moved to the park.  Parque Aztlán's website said "coming soon" in reference to the museum, but it never materialized.

The fact was that the transfer of the museum to Chapultepec was tied up in legal battles.  Dolores Olmedo's will clearly stipulated that the collection was to remain at the hacienda.  Mexican intellectuals and cultural figures as well as the museum's neighbors in Xochimilco have protested that the museum must remain intact.  

Finally last month, it was announced that the museum would open its doors once again on May 30.  (I just checked the Parque Aztlán website, and there is no longer any mention of the museum as a coming attraction.)  I am looking forward to revisiting the museum, although I will wait until the likely crowds and hubbub of the reopening have passed.