Update on the Boys

Our boys are growing up and doing quite well these days. At 11 months, they are nearly full grown and we hope they will start becoming a bit more mellow soon. Baxter is shown here, lying on my stomach, on the couch, looking rather serene. This is not the typical pose, but the sweet face is typical of him. He is the most cuddly and loving of the two dogs. We have found that when he is reprimanded, he will go into his kennel and refuse to come out. If he misbehaves, or worse yet, if I shout a threat at him, he will go in there and pout. Baxter is also the emotional one of the two. He hates to be bathed or have his ears cleaned. When it is time to clean his ears I ask, "Do you want to get pretty?" No, he does not. He runs immediately to his kennel and puts his head into the blanket so I can't see him. When I need to give him a bath and I run the water in the upstairs bath tub, I will allow him to run up the stairs and then when he sees the bathroom door open and hears the water, he goes flat on his belly on the floor. I have to pick him up and carry him into the tub. He is a very funny and sweet little guy. If any dog was ever made to be a therapy dog, it is Baxter. He is a snuggler who loves to be close, have his ears stroked, and back patted. He is an overall wonderful little guy.

This is our Charlie. He is getting smarter every day. He is however, also the more naughty one of the two. For example, yesterday I was making a cake and had to run to the store to get more sugar. As I returned to the house, only 15 minutes later, I saw little bits of chewed paper all over the floor by the couch. Coming into the den, it was clear that he had helped himself to Mother's tax return paperwork, that had originally been in an envelope and readied for my review. After banishing them to their kennels (where Baxter pouted because he probably didn't do it and still got scolded), I was able to piece together some of Mother's paperwork so I can make out the numbers to enter when I do her taxes. Good grief.

Charlie is the more anxious of the two dogs. If he gets scared, he pees on the floor. It doesn't happen often, thankfully. When we go walking outside, he is so anxious that he'll bark at anything and twirl around to be sure no one is coming up behind him. I'm not sure why he is such a scaredy cat, but he is. Getting him to heel is a real challenge. Baxter trots right along and doesn't pull on the leash too hard, probably because he is rolly-polly like a Cocker Spaniel and just can't keep up a very fast pace for a long time. Charlie, on the other hand, has springs in his heels and can run very fast and jump quite high. When it's time to feed him he comes over to the counter where we are putting food in his dish, and he will bounce up and down so he can see on top of the counter. He probably clears a couple feet when he does this.

Charlie is getting more affectionate as time goes by. He often braces his feet against my chest when I pick him up and put him next to me so he doesn't get too close to me. But when I pull him closer, he goes limp and really loves the attention.

So we are quite happy with our little guys. They bring a great deal of pleasure into our lives. In spite of the teeth marks on the coffee table and Mother's tax papers. Overall, they're good boys.

Beautiful Places

Well, here we are in beautiful Dorado, Puerto Rico. The sky was gorgeous, as were the various sections of the water in the ocean. We could see clear to the ocean floor since it was so clear and clean. Titi Cuchi took us out for a day at Luquillo Beach, which is a gorgeous and famous recreation place on the island. I think it was the most beautiful beach I had ever visited.

Later that night, our cousin Linda took us into Viejo (Old) San Juan to look at the sights. The streets were fairly quiet since it was mid-week. A few people were out doing minor shopping, lovers were in the plazas talking quietly on park benches, and tourists were winding down and walking back to their hotels.

This is the major cathedral in Viejo San Juan. Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony were married here. It seemed to be a lovely stop on a breezy, warm night.

Linda took us out to El Morro, the fort built by the Spaniards that walled in most of San Juan back in the late 1400s and early 1500s. This fort was manned by Allied soldiers during World War II, as they kept a lookout for the Japanese and Germans. When we got there, the wind was howling up off the beach and we were hit by huge raindrops at great velocity. It felt wild and untamed there that night.

Here we are in La Plaza de Delicias (The Delicious Plaza) in Ponce, in the South central area of the island. Apparently, to say something is delicious is like saying that it is delightful. We loved watching the blackbirds bathing in the fountain behind us.

This is the cathedral in Ponce. A lovely building, not unlike other cathedrals on the island.

This is the old firehouse in Ponce, built by the Spaniards. It has been maintained for over 200 years and was used for many years until it became a tourist stop in the 50s. It houses the old fire rescue vehicles. It also has a number of the hideous masks (below). I believe that these kind of masks were first created by the African slaves that were taken to Puerto Rico to work in the sugar cane fields. Their native religions were melded with traditional Puerto Rican indian religious ideas, and these masks were one of many results. It looks frightening, doesn't it?

Here is the fountain and cathedral in Mayaguez, on the West of the island. We enjoyed an evening there sampling maiz (corn) and guanabana ice cream at an ice cream shop just down the street. The plaza gave us a wonderful place to relax and watch other people come and go. Families came out and mingled with other people from the neighorhood, lovers met, and children slipped their hands into the fountain. It was a balmy and warm night with a nice breeze--just perfect weather.

We went from Mayaguez over to the city of St. German (pronounced, "Hermann"). This is the home of the very famous Porto Coeli--Window of Heaven--cathedral. It is the second oldest church in the Western Hemisphere and was built in 1606. In 1949 the church gave permission for it to become an art museum. The view above is from the steps of the church. The house on the right belongs to a cousin of my mother-in-law's family. The church with the original ruins at the left of the building are shown below.

When my mother-in-law was alive and when Sam was small, she used to tell him that he needed to one day visit Puerto Rico because it was a place where it rains when the sun shines. Sure enough--here is the sky over Vega Baja, right after a downpour.

This is what I think is one of the nicest verandas I saw in Puerto Rico, at our cousin's home in Vega Baja (which people there pronounce, "Begha baha"). I spend some lovely, restful time on this veranda. It is situated at such an angle that it catches the breeze from both sides and creates a cool, comfortable rest area in the house.

We ended up having a red snapper lunch with Tio Freddie on la Isla de Cabras (Island of the Goats) that is a thin peninsula that looks across at the ocean to El Morro in Old San Juan. It is a beautiful, beautiful place.

On the Menu

You might be interested in seeing the food we ate in Puerto Rico. These are all pretty common dishes, and are quite exotic to our Stateside palates. But Sam grew up with his mother making several of these quite often. He felt right at home and I loved the food. Except....no vegetables! These (above) are called tostones. The Puerto Ricans drop the first s and say something that sounds like "to-tone-es." They are plantains that you hit with a hammer to flatten. Then they are fried and sprinkled with salt. Very starchy, very good.

This was what our Titi ordered: seafood salad. It had octopus, squid, and I'm not sure what else. It didn't look appealing, but it is typical seafood. Interesting, since Puerto Rico is an island, that there is lots of seafood. You can see that the tomatoes are served as pale pink and unripe. It doesn't seem that anyone grows vegetables on the island--tomatoes, etc. But there are lots of places in the island where you could easily grow them and have gardens. There are tons of banana groves and mango trees, but no tomatoes that I could see anywhere. Hmmmm...maybe if we ever live there I will try to have a huge garden with these veggies in it.

This vile looking concoction (above) is sliced, candied papaya con queso--with cheese. Not sure what the call for cheese is, but this is a common native desert.

This is red snapper that we ate on Isla de Cabras (Island of the Goats) where we had a wonderful view of El Morro.

More tostones. They are everywhere! Some are better than others: these were wonderful.

Here is more fish, from a meal at La Parguera--over on the West Coast of the island. It was a fishing village where the specialty is red snapper or cod. I never could get past the eye looking up at me. So I always ordered breaded fish and tried not to look over at Sam's plate!

We were introduced to these little fried breads by Titi Cuchi. They were wonderful, fattening little things that we slathered with some kind of sauce from a bottle (tasted like Russian dressing). I can't remember the name of them, but they were very tasty.

This is my favorite dish in Puerto Rico: Mofongo. It is made from pressed plantain with garlic, onions, and I'm not sure what else. Inside is the most tender chicken I've ever had. You can see that these tomatoes were more red. Not bad for imported tomatoes! We were treated to this lovely meal by Sam's cousin, Pachito.

Thought the food pics would be interesting. I came back about 6 lbs. heavier. Although the food was great, I missed my vegetables and fruit.