February ... May?

Where did March and April go?

Well, even though there has been, until now, no documented evidence on these Palacio Pages, life has continued here in the Palacio. The single biggest change in the last month or two has been the re-addition of Devlin into these quarters. Also, progress has been made on my foray into real estate investment. Otherwise, my job has taken me to Dallas, Mexico City and, soon, I'll be heading to Warsaw and Budapest.

On 10 March, 2006, Devlin flew back into town. I left work to pick him up and ended up taking him to the Palacio before heading back to the office. (At the time the two and a half hour lunch seemed a bit extreme, but by now it should be a distant memory in the mind of those who influence my career.) That night, the Palacio boys went back to El Nandu for some empanadas and vino with two of the Palacio boys' favourite girls: Eva and Olga. Needless to say, it was good to have our long, lost Palacio boy back.

On Saturday, 11 March, we hosted a moderate gathering of friends and family for a welcome back bash in the Palacio. Then, on Sunday, I was off to Dallas for the first of two weeks in Texas. I daresay: life was strangely back to normal!

After my Dallas project, I found myself with three weeks before I had to leave again. Not knowing what to do with my extra time, and coordinating with Devlin's excess of leisure time, I cashed in some AA miles for a quick long weekend trip out to the warm embrace of my uncle and aunt's hospitality.

We flew out on Thursday 6 April. By 4:00 PM in the afternoon, Devlin, Katie and I were smoking apple-flavoured tobacco out of Katie's hooka pipe in the courtyard of my uncle and aunt's condominium building. It was agreed by all present that UT was sufficiently surprised and pleased by this scene upon his arrival!

The rest of the weekend was full of great conversation, old wine, and delectable food! On Saturday Devlin and I went up to Duncans Mills, Sonoma County to visit our cousins. The day was spent hanging out in their cabin, and the evening was spent playing bingo with some sisters and eventually dancing a bit in one of Guernesville's bars. On Sunday morning, Devlin and I drove home the long way, along Pacific Coast Highway. Then, on Sunday evening, Devlin, Katie and I enjoyed a warm, home-cooked meal from AC's kitchen.

The weekend went by too fast, and before we knew it, Devlin and I were on the Blue Line heading back to the Palacio on Monday night. Through a few limited conversations from the El, Devlin arranged to meet one of his friends and some of her friends. Although we got back to the Palacio at 9:00 PM, there were three good reasons to go out for the night waiting for us around the kitchen island in the Palacio. Those three young ladies, Devlin, Chico Blanco and I tasted some wine at the Tasting Room and had some wonderfully random fun.

That brings my life story to Semana Santa. For the rest of that week, I recovered. Except that on Wednesday night I went to the last of three Samba lessons I took, up on the north side.

Oh, and Thursday night I ended up attending my first Jewish Seder. My friend Raquel invited me and another friend Bob, to her family's Seder. Jews and gentiles alike read from the Haggadah, drank kosher wine, and ate unleavened bread, as we recalled how God brought His people out of Egypt through a series of miracles, thousands of years ago. Truly, this experience was one I cherished deeply, both for the ability to share in an ancient tradition and for the ability to share it with a good friend.

The fact that Bob and I went from the Seder to the Hot House for samba, in all honesty, does not for a minute indicate a lack of respect for the seder. However, I will say that Bob and I both were not in the mood to dance, so we mostly sat back and watched as Devlin danced for the rest of us!

This was the second Easter Sunday in a row that I left the country. Last year it was to Roma, this year it was to el Distrito Federal. So, after enjoying some patitsa, polish sausage, hard-boiled eggs, potatoe salad, and more at my Grandma C's house, I departed for that most-polluted of cities, Mexico City.

Unfortunately, I did not stay in Mexico City for the middle weekend. Nevertheless, I did enjoy my time greatly in the city. Every single night I went out for a tasty meal (the tapeworm that my co-workers claim lives in my stomach is not going hungry!). I revisited Zona Rosa and Polanco, but the highlight was the dinner in the colonia of Mixcoac. My friend, Adrian, took me and an American co-worker out with his family for the best tacos that I have ever eaten. The ironic thing was that the dinner for the five of us was cheaper than the meal for my co-worker and I the night before. It's safe to say that a little local knowledge comes in handy wherever one goes!

Last Friday I returned from my second week in Mexico City and, before going to the Palacio, I got off at the Western Blue Line stop to meet Devlin. He picked me up in Billie, and we went to visit our friends Adam and Teresa. We ate some good goulash and enjoyed our friends, but we called it a night early due, largely, to my exhaustion!

On Saturday, US came into the city for a day with his Chicago nephews. Chico Blanco, Devlin and I took him to Humboldt Park to Nellie's, a new breakfast joint. We then enjoyed US' company in the Palacio, and eventually joined him in a walk up to Millenium Park to work up an appetite for lunch at Zapatista's. The weather was gloomy, but it was good to hang with kinfolk on a Saturday morning!

On Sunday, to close the loop on a briefly mentioned theme, I saw a building that my LLC will likely be writing an offer on tomorrow. That's enough about that!

Now, this week, the big news is that I decided where I'm going to go for the middle weekend in Warsaw. After flirting with Berlin, Riga and Bratislava, I settled on a flight to/from Budapest! I'm quite excited about it, even if I only have enough time for a Saturday AM walk past famous architecture, a Saturday afternoon bath, and a Saturday evening visit to the opera. I should think that such a Saturday, and whatever may come of my Sunday, will be well worth the Malev Airlines flight south from Warsaw!

That's the abbreviated narrative of the last two and a half months. And it's quite enough for this Tuesday night. After all, tonight is salsa night at Green Dolphin, where are my priorities?