January 2013

Welcome to Mexico! By Victoria Schmidt A Land Beyond Time   The world did not end on December 21, 2012. We have proved once and for all that the Maya were not predicting the end of the world, but more, the end of a cycle. As stated by Evo Morales – President of Bolivia at […]

Grape Expectations Robert Kleffel and Noemí Paz Chardonnay   Chardonnay is originally from France’s Burgundy region, where the best white Burgundies are powerful and rich, with complex fruit flavors and notes of earth and minerals. Chardonnays from America, Australia and Chile tend to be ripe and full-bodied, even buttery, with higher alcohol levels and vanilla

Anyone Can Train Their Dog By Art Hessartthedogguy@yahoo.com Before You Start   There are many opinions and methods in the field of Dog Training but there are several points that are irrefutable. These must be indelibly etched in your memory bank before you strike out on your training venture. You can not be a dog

Child of the MonthBy Rich Petersen Dana Michelle Zambón Barajas   This very elegant six-year old is Dana Michelle Zambón Barajas. Niños Incapacitados featured Dana two years ago as our Child of the Month. At that time she had just undergone surgery for placement of a cochlear implant (see below). We wanted our members to

Austerity Snake Oil Courtesy of Beverly Bandler   “Fiscal contraction…is precisely the doctrine expounded by Herbert Hoover in 1932.” – Paul Krugman —Joseph E. Stiglitz  “I think Europe is headed to a suicide…There has never been any successful austerity program in any large country.” “Decreasing growth is causing the deficit, not the other way around.

Walk Lightly On Mother Earth By Janice Kimball   My former husband and I rented a Fiat and toured Europe. At a pensione in Austria, the owner became excited when he learned we were from Chicago. His brother, he said, had been there and stood on a pedestrian walkway over the multi-lane highway that came

Hearts at Work A Column by James Tipton “Amazing Grace”   “I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” Most English-speaking people recognize those words, and many love them. For those of us who were raised with hymns, “Amazing Grace”—some call it America’s most beloved song—comes back like a

Sounds Of A Life Style By Carol A. Curtis   We have only lived in two locations in Mexico – two very different locations. Our first home was in El Parque, a lovely, gated community across the carretera from Super Lake. The other is our present home in the village of San Juan Cosala. If

Ajijic’s Guitar Art By Antonio Ramblés AKA Tony Passarellowww.antoniorambles.comantonio.rambles@yahoo.com   Perhaps nowhere else in the Spanish-speaking world has the guitar become such an inseparable part of the culture as in Mexico.Here the instrument appears in the varying shapes, sizes, and sounds which can be most often seen in the instrumentation of Jalisco’s celebrated mariachi bands.

The Ghosts Among Us By Fred Mittag Catherine the Great (1729-1796)   Catherine was both a lusty and a brilliant woman. She excelled in all her studies, but her childhood was unhappy. Her father was a stern Lutheran and her mother was cold and indifferent. Marriages were matters of state, and because of the reach