Flying the Circle

In between getting ready for the arrival of my cousin and his girlfriend, I have been checking the progress of their flight on a website called "FlightAware".  Earlier when I took this photo of my laptop screen, their flight was approaching the coast of Greenland.

When looking at a flat map, it would seem that the shortest route between two points would be a straight line.  This circular route looks as if it would be going far out of the way.  But in fact, when dealing with a three dimensional globe, the shortest distance is an arc.  Most trans-Atlantic flights circle far to the north into Arctic regions.  On several flights home from Europe I have looked out the window and viewed Greenland with its glaciers and coastline indented with fjords.

The Tour Guide Returns

If you have read my blog over a period of time, you know that I enjoy playing "tour guide" to friends and relatives that visit Mexico.  At the end of last month, I received a message that Christoph, the son of one of my Swiss cousins*, and his girlfriend are coming to Mexico City.  Since they had not yet made hotel reservations, I invited them to stay here at the apartment, and I offered to show them around.  They will arrive this evening after flying on Swiss International Airlines from Zurich to Frankfurt and then taking the direct Lufthansa flight to Mexico City.

Obviously, I am very excited and thrilled to show them the kind of hospitality that my Swiss family has shown me on my visits there.  I have been busy preparing the guest bedroom and preparing a light supper for them after their long flight.

Yesterday, I read that the Lufthansa pilots were going on strike for two days over a breakdown of negotiations on pensions.  I feared that their arrival would be delayed by two days.  Then I read that, in spite of the strike, the airline planned to run 50% of their flights, 60% of their long-haul flights.  I had hope that they might arrive today as scheduled.  Christoph said yesterday afternoon that he had not received any notification that the flight had been cancelled.  This morning I woke up at 5:00 AM (noon, Frankfurt time).  I sent a message to Christoph and asked if the flight was on schedule.  He immediately replied that everything looked good.  As I write this, according to the Lufthansa website, the cabin doors were closed, and the plane was leaving the runway.  They are on their way to Mexico!

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One of the places that they have said that they want to visit is the National Museum of Anthropology, one of the great museums of the world.  It is impossible to see everything in this vast museum, so I will give them a highlights tour of about two hours.  Although I have guided other visitors through the museum in the past, I wanted to refresh my memory.  So last week I went to the museum, reviewed the items I want to show them, and even took some notes.

Out of the enormous museum collection, I am going to concentrate on just four galleries...

The Olmecs... Mexico's oldest civilization

Colossal stone head carved by the Olmecs

The Mayas... one of the most advanced of Mexico's pre-Hispanic civilizations

Jade funerary mask of Pakal, king of the Mayan city of Palenque

Teotihuacan... the mysterious civilization that built the largest city in pre-Hispanic America

Reproduction of the Temple of Quetzalcoatl at Teotihuacan

The Aztecs... the great empire which fell to the Spanish conquerors

The monolithic Aztec Sun Stone

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* In genealogical terms, the child of a cousin is a cousin once-removed.  However, according to Alejandro, in Mexico the son or daughter of a cousin is considered a nephew or a niece.

    

Two Movies

 Over the past couple of weeks, we have seen two movies.  One of them I liked, the other I detested.

First, the film that I liked... "Nuremberg"

Ever since the movie premiered in the U.S. last December, I had wanted to see it.  At that time, the talk was that Russell Crowe was a shoe-in for an Academy Award.  (As it turned out, he did not even get a nomination, although I think that he was worthy of one.)  I have no idea why it did not appear in the movie theaters here until a couple weeks ago.  Usually films from the U.S. premiere in Mexico at about the same time.

The movie is a sold historical film, although not as good as the award-winning "Judgement at Nuremberg" from 1961.  The plot centers around an army psychiatrist (Rami Malek) who is assigned to ascertain whether or not the Nazi war criminals, including Hermann Goering (Russell Crowe), are mentally fit to stand trial.  The performances were excellent, especially Crowe, who learned to speak what to my ear seemed to be flawless German.

Now the movie which we both hated... "If I Had Legs, I'd Kick You"

The film centers around a therapist, wife and mother whose life is falling apart.  Her husband is away at work, and she must deal with a myriad of problems on her own.  Her daughter has an unspecified disorder that requires that she be fed through a tube in her stomach.  The ceiling of their apartment collapses, and she and her daughter must move into a shabby motel.  She turns to alcohol and drugs as an escape.  The character does not earn the viewers' sympathy.  She is simply too shrill, angry and argumentative.

For some reason the critics raved about this movie, but we just wanted it to be over.  One movie goer, however, wrote a review on the internet which encapsulated our feelings perfectly... "too much strife, too much stress, too much shouting, too much whining..."

Sitting through the nearly two hours of the film was torture.  We thought that it was the worst movie that we had seen in a long time!

 

Hummingbird Door

I had been thinking about buying some sort of decoration to have on the door of the apartment when it's not the Day of the Dead or Christmas season.  On Monday I was at Alejandro's family's house.  I had a dentist appointment that evening, and I was walking the few blocks to her office.  I passed a store which sells decorative items, and at the entrance was a beautiful metal wreath decorated with flowers and hummingbirds.  It looked as if it would be too big for my door.  On my way back, I went into the shop to see if that had any similar items in a smaller size.  They did indeed.  They had a number of decorations, all by the same Mexican artisan, all with a hummingbird motive.

I decided upon this one which is now hanging on my door.

The metal framework is shaped like a hummingbird, and it has hand-painted figures of flowers and smaller hummingbirds made of resin.

It will be on the door until October when I start to decorate for Day of the Dead.

Late Bloomer, Repeat Bloomer

Easter is on its way, but my poinsettia plant is now in full bloom.

Back when I lived in Ohio, I tried several times to keep my Christmas poinsettias and get them to bloom the following winter.  They tell you that the plant needs absolute darkness for 12 hours starting in the autumn.  I would faithfully put my poinsettia in a closet for the allotted hours, but my efforts were rewarded with only a few small red leaves.

My first Christmas after the move to Mexico, I bought a poinsettia.  After it was done blooming, I cut it back and let it sprout new foliage.  In the fall I put it in the guest bedroom, but I was not good about closing the blinds or shutting the door each night.  Even though it did not get total darkness, by February it had some nice blooms.

This past fall, I did not even bother to give it total darkness.  Christmas is long past, but I think that the late blossoms are the best I have ever had!

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I have also written frequently about my attempts to get my orchid to bloom.  I bought the plant at Home Depot, and the flowers were beautiful.  But then, for over a year, I could not get it to rebloom.  July of last year, I took the plant to a nursery, and had a professional repot it.  He said that I had been over-watering it.  He cut away some rotten roots, and planted it in bark with a time-release fertilizer.  He told me to give it no more than one cup of water per week.

In August, just a month after repotting, a flower stalk had sprouted, and by October my orchid was in full-bloom  The flowers lasted until January.

A few days ago, I was looking at my orchid.  I wondered whether the time-released fertilizer was spent, and if, now that winter has passed, I should begin fertilizing it.  I noticed that at its core, a new leaf was emerging.  And then, much to my surprise, I saw that a new flower stalk had sprouted.

 Only a couple of months have passed since the previous blossoms had fallen, and my orchid is preparing to bloom once again!

  

TV Watching

When I learned that Alejandro has a subscription to HBO, I found a series that I had wanted to watch... "The Gilded Age".  It's already on its third season, but back in Ohio I never had HBO.

(image taken from the internet)

The series takes place in New York City in the late 19th century... an era of rapid industrial growth in the United States when the "robber barons" amassed enormous fortunes.  The focus is on two fictitious families... the van Rhijn family, "old money" that traced their ancestry back to the Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam, and the Russells, a "new money" family loosely based on the Vanderbilts.  There was great rivalry between the "old money" and the "new", and much of the story revolves around Mrs. Russell's attempts to be accepted in New York society.  There are also story lines dealing with the "downstairs" servants of both households, as well as Peggy, a young African-American women trying to establish a career as a journalist and novelist.  Numerous historical characters pop in and out, such as Clara Barton and President Chester Arthur.  Mrs. Astor, who was the arbiter of whom was accepted into the top level of New York society, is a frequent character.

The series was created and written by Julian Fellowes, the producer who brought us the popular "Downton Abbey" series and movies, and it bears many resemblances to the British series.  Both of them are "soap operas" disguised as costume dramas.  However, they are very high quality "soap operas".  I do think that "Downton" is the better of the two.  What attracts me to "The Gilded Age" are the performances of two actresses that I like very much... Christine Baranski and Cynthia Nixon.  Baranski plays the widowed Agnes von Rhijn, and Nixon is her meek, spinster sister Ada.  Barnaski's role could be compared to Maggie Smith's role as the Dowager Countess.  She is a snob who looks down her nose at those flashy "nouveau riche", especially her neighbors, the Russells.  But just like the Dowager Countess, Agnes has a good-hearted side as well.

I am hooked on "The Gilded Age", and I am already well into the third season.  I look forward to the fourth season which is expected to premiere in August of this year.

More from the Museum of Modern Art

There are many paintings in the museum by artists who are not as well known outside of Mexico.  However, I have been to so many art exhibits down here that many of the names have become familiar to me.  And perhaps, if you have been reading my blog long enough, they might be familiar to you too.

"The Butcher Shop"

by Alfredo Zalce

1943

"The Little Mule"

by Abraham Angel

1923

"Birds in Dialogue"

by Carlos Mérida

1981

"In the School" 

by Agustín Lazo

1943

"Skull Rack"

by José Chávez Morado

1961

"Seated Girl"

by Manuel Rodríguez Lozano

1929

"Green Fire in Paricutín"

by Gerardo Murillo

undated

Murillo is better known by his pseudonym, Dr. Atl, and he was obsessed with painting volcanoes.

A number of women painters are represented.  I think it is a shame that all the international attention is on Frida Kahlo, and other talented painters have remained in her shadow, largely unknown outside of Mexico.

"Landscape with Pineapple"

by María Izquierdo

1953

"Reflection of the Oracle"

by Leonora Carrington

1959

Surrealist Carrington was born in England, but spent most of her life in Mexico.

Remedios Varo was also a noted Mexican surrealist.

"Roulette"

by Remedios Varo

1955

"The Flautist"

by Remedios Varo

1955

"Masks and Dolls"

by Angelina Beloff

1955

Russian-born Beloff was Diego Rivera's first wife.  Although they divorced after ten years of marriage, she spent most of her life, until her death at the age of 90, in Mexico.

"Woman from Tehuantepec"

by Lola Cueto

1924

There is only one painting on display by Frida Kahlo, although it is one of her most famous works.

"The Two Fridas"

by Frida Kahlo

1939

The double self-portrait represents her dual identities.  The Frida in European-style attire represents her German heritage from her father, while the Frida in traditional Mexican dress represents her indigenous Mexican ancestry from her mother's side of the family.