Category: Stories to Tell

One of the many things I miss from the US is the variety of vegetables. I won’t go too deep into the economics of food here. Let’s just say the plain and simple is Argentines eat meat and not too many veggies. We have a vegetable store on every block but they carry basics; lettuce, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, peppers, eggplant, and a light green zucchini. On occasion, there will be mushrooms and butternut squash.

Adding to the lack of vegetable demand, the vegetable stores are true “farm to table” vendors. If it isn’t in season or grown nearby, it ain’t on the shelves. This is a good thing but it is very limiting.

Many years ago, I decided to start growing my own food. I would buy seeds when I was in the states and then smuggle them back to Argentina. I have tried a for a few years in growing a garden from seed, until this year, I wasn’t successful.

I’m a serial plant killer. I think it is genetic because my mom is a world famous killer of plants. We both killed ficus trees with ease. And, Cacti never have a chance with us. I’m not sure what it is that prevents me (or my mom) from growing anything. We’re both very nurturing and we do care for the plants. They just don’t make it.

This year I was determined to grow vegetables. My determination was strengthened by speaking with a co-worker about her garden and seeing my friends gardens on FB. I wanted to grow all my food so we would never have to buy from the store EVER again!

The last time I was in the US, I bought a packet of seeds from Amazon, “Non GMO Heirloom Vegetable Seeds Survival Garden 40 Variety Pack”. It had everything and then some. It came with a booklet that gave me the full instructions for each seed; how to germinate, grow (amount of water and sunlight), and how to save the seeds for the next growing season. I was so determined to break my title as serial plant killer, I actually sat down and read the instructions.

At first, I was successful! As you can see from these photos;

I was so excited! I had visions of having a cornucopia of veggies. I thought I’d be giving some to my neighbors because I couldn’t eat them all.

Once the warmer weather was consistent, I moved my sprouts to our roof deck where they would enjoy plentiful sun and rich soil. I planted the sprouts in the planters from previous failed attempts to grow veggies and flowers. Rodrigo made a big planter box thing for me too. I was so proud.

In moving the sprouts to their new homes, there were several crops that didn’t make it. My beans were dug up by Bleu. I wasn’t aware that the vacant planter where I planted the beans was his litter box. My bad! Then the carrots died, the dogs seemed to enjoy their tops. The eggplant had a chance but I guess they were planted in yet another Bleu litter box. I also tried to plant corn and sunflowers in a space that is in front of my office window. I thought at the very least I’ll get to see a few birds pecking at my crops. NOPE! The dogs found the space to be ideal for them to dig a hole and turn it into a doggie den.

So what am I left with? Well, that’s the other fun part. Either I did a bad job at tagging the germinating seeds, or the seed company labeled the seeds wrong. What I thought would be summer squash turned out to be zucchini. The arugula seems to be brussel sprouts, but I’m not sure. What I originally thought was another type of bean seems to be a vine like arugula. My red cabbage is maybe red kale or something like it. I have no idea when my cauliflower will ever produce something or maybe it is not cauliflower. The cherry tomatoes, so sad, I have one strong brave tomato. Since I took these photos, the 3 tomato plants have met their maker. The other challenge is I’ve been dropping seeds from peppers and other veggies I’ve purchased. They are starting to sprout in the planter box. The challenge is I’m not sure if the seedlings are actual vegetables or weeds. I will have to wait and see if and when they grow.

What I will say is I have a new appreciation for farmers. I started this process in July, the southern hemisphere’s version of March. It is now January. I have eaten a few leafs of lettuce, 2 zucchini’s and some of the vine arugula. My zucchini grows to two inches long and then dies on the vine. All the other stuff has yet to produce anything. This growing stuff takes a long time! There is so much work to get just a few “fruits” of your labor.

Life, Death, Rebirth

I replanted a few things in one of Bleu’s litter box. Apparently he doesn’t mess with succulents. Oddly they were on their last leg. When I moved them, they started to liven up.

Here are a few plants that came with the house and I haven’t killed. I attribute their longevity to leaving their care to Rodrigo.

Here’s a little shout out to those that tried but didn’t make it.

This is the first year in a long time that we are not spending Christmas in Paso Grande. Our little cabin in the middle of nowhere is a place where we can finally take a break and relax. Naturally, our dogs and cat love it there. They are able to run around and be.

But this year, due to the virus, if we wanted to travel to San Luis, (the nearby province where our cabin is located) we would have to register with the government and go through a whole series of forms. In addition, the cabin is near a river where many people visit during this time. Even if we were willing to be on the government registry, I am not willing to be in an area where there’s a ton of people. We’ve been lucky to dodge the virus all this time, I would be so pissed if we caught it now.

So here we are in Cordoba sweating our butts off, watching movies, drinking, and waiting for my family to call me on FaceTime. Today isn’t too much different than any other day. Which got me thinking, what is Christmas? People get so upset about Happy Holidays vs. Merry Christmas. They stress about finding the right gifts and making the day special. I think this is why Christmas is one of my least favorite holidays. I’m not a fan of holidays that come with high expectations; New Year’s, Valentine’s, and Xmas. When a certain day has certain expectations hanging over it, you can bet your last dollar it will not go as planned.

So, what is Christmas? It’s the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ? A celebration of Winter Solstice? Or is it a holiday to promote spending and high expectations of the perfect life? If anything good has come from this virus, it could be that we’ve realized how family and friends are important. Thus, Christmas is a time to appreciate the people close to you. We should celebrate that we all got through a long ass year. It’s a time to stop and remember all the good in the world and forget about the bad. What’s the Christmas spirit? To spread joy, give to those less fortunate, and believe in hope. Those tenets, aren’t specific to one religion, it’s universal.

Why do we have to wait until December 25th to have the Christmas spirit? Why can’t we try to maintain those 3 simple tenets all year long? If we all embraced this thinking all year long, would the world be a better place? I think so. The whole world has gone through an unusual crisis. WWII was probably the last time that most of the world suffered together. I hope we all can learn from this crisis and start caring for one another with no politics, and no greed.

Today while we all get drunk and eating excessively, and dreading tomorrow’s long lines to exchange the gifts we received, raise a glass to all our loved ones near and far. And don’t forget to believe in better days.

It’s been a very long time since I updated this blog. It was on my to-do list when the pandemic hit.

Every time I was inspired to write, my dogs would pull my attention away. Even now they are pawing at me to pay attention to them. However, after writing several new and updated procedures and policies at work, my inner Shakespeare was ignited. God, I love a good policy and procedure.

Weeks before the whole world went nuts, Rodrigo was panicking. He suggested one of us should go to the states and try to ge my mother to stay down here with us to wait out the virus. I foolishly said, this is just media hype stop watching the news and it will all blow over. The day it hit the US, I panicked. I tried to catch a plane to convince mom to stay with us or at the very least, to have her 6 when she tried to buy toilet paper. I had a flight, then it was canceled. I got another, but then Argentina announced they would be closing its borders. Debating to go and wait it out in the US for the month or stay down in Argentina, I stayed. Good thing too. Rodrigo would have been stuck here for months with those crazy dogs. However, my mom was and still is alone. It bugs the hell out of me every day. Being torn between two worlds sums up most of my stress.

Argentina’s shut down was far more drastic than the US. We were not allowed to travel more than a 500 meters from our home. We could not be out past 9. Only emergency workers and grocery store workers were allowed out. They had to carry a document proving they had a right to walk past their 500 meter radius. Everyone else could only go the pharmacy and grocery. They said this would be in effect for 2 months.

So, I implemented a project plan with swim lanes and multi-step tasks for how we would survive for 2 months. Like many, I positioned this as a time for growth and to catch up on all those things I’ve been meaning to do.

First, I had Rodrigo rush out to the Mercado de Abasto Córdoba, the wholesale market for restaurants and grocery stores, and buy boxes of vegetables and meat. We spent a whole weekend oven and fire roasting vegetables,  packing them in oil, and canning. I felt like Laura Ingalls getting ready for the winter. We also made and froze agnolotti, gnocchi, and  spring rolls. Rodrigo decided to start making sourdough bread. We were the quintessential upper middle class Americans who have watched too many apocalypse shows and movies.

This shut down did pose a problem for us. The park where we took our dogs every morning was out of our 500 meter radius. The police were everywhere stopping people and checking where they live and if they had a right to be out. If you are caught in an area you are not supposed to be, you could be fined heavily or sent to jail. Seriously. We had to take our dogs out for walks. They are insane without a walk. The issue is within our 500 meters we have several hospitals, grocery stores, fire station, and several police stations. There are just too many people going to work at 5:30 am for us to feel safe. Plus they need to run.

We decided to go to the park anyway. At the park there was absolutely no one around, better for social distancing and they can run. We kept a keen eye for police. It was also easy since they drive around with their lights on. When we would see the police, we would jump behind a car or dumpster or into an alley. After a few weeks of this, our dogs would automatically hide when they saw the police. So I guess I did train them.

Walking there has been surreal. We leave at 5:30 am. It is winter so it’s cold. We’re bundled up with masks. All of us on high alert for the police. Flora walking like a hell beast clawing out of hades. Marvin a total spaz, bouncing from one side to another, “oh smell this, oh look at that, oh what’s that?” Elsa at attention looking for cops and/or cats. And Zena, walking like an old European lady after a long lunch. When Queen Z stops to check something out, there’s no moving her.

One early morning we are across the street from the park. We just need to cross the street. Queen Z decides she needs to stop and smell something. We can see the blue lights about 1/4 of a mile down the street. Rodrigo freaks. “Come on let’s go!” But I can’t. Zena is impossible to move when she wants to stop. Rodrigo grabs the 3 kids and runs to the park leaving me alone with Zena. At 5:45 in the AM, I’m screaming wait, wait, frantically looking back at the cops driving down the street, and holding onto Zena’s leash in a squat pulling her like a tug of war championship. If these cops see me, I’ll either get fined, or go to jail. I blanked. I got into child’s pose and hid under Zena. I know it is hard to imagine. In child’s pose I can get real small. Zena is the size of a pony. She kept smelling while the cop car slowly drove past us.

Yes ladies and gentlemen, if there is ever a zombie apocalypse I know now that my husband will leave me for dead.

I’ll leave you with THE song of Covid 2020. I can’t stop watching this; it makes me happy.

More to come. I’m inspired!

 

Many people ask me, especially non-US citizens, ask me why would I move from the US to Argentina.  My answer is always about the quality of life I have down here.  Society here centers around living and experiencing life, being outdoors, longer days and nights.  It isn’t focused around working.  Working is a way to pay for whatever you need to enjoy life.  Work isn’t life.  Yes, Argentina has many issues; the government is beyond explanation, the economy is one of the worst in the world, and crime is shocking.  However, with all the crime down here which is mostly focused around theft, there hasn’t been a mass shooting by a lone gun man.  It is important to note that he dirty war was the last time Argentina experienced mass killings which was done by the government.

I moved to Argentina in March 2011, since then, there has been 15 mass shootings in the US. WTF.  For those who like spreadsheets MotherJones has a very comprehensive list of all shootings and their basic details since 1982.  Every time I read about another shooting in the US, I think back to a conversation I had with two co-workers about gun violence in America.  We just left our company’s Christmas party and somehow started talking about America’s violence.  It was a very interesting conversation as we were all in HR which gave us some insight into humans I guess, and had different cultural viewpoints as one co-worker was from Russia and the other from Germany.  We compared societies, child rearing, and the laws in each country.  The US, Russia and Germany all have/had histories of being “warring” nations, all three are industrial nations with very stressed worker bees, on and on we compared. We just couldn’t truly pinpoint one reason or reasons why the US is so out of control while other countries in the world do not have such an issue. A few hours later I was at the airport on my way home.  On the news was coverage of the Newtown shooting.  I couldn’t believe it, another one.

I can’t help but wonder what makes these people go on a shooting spree while others don’t.  I think about my life.  I moved around a lot due to my dad’s job.  I was always the new kid.  During my early years I was a chubby latch key kid.  I was bullied and picked on throughout elementary and high school.  I used to come home from school and cry.  I used to dream about having powers like Carrie so I can make them stop.  I had troubles.  In addition, my dad kept guns, tons of guns.  There were guns under his bed, in the closet, in various corners of our home.  I had every possible chance to take any of those guns and make them stop.  Yet, even during my most worst times I never thought about shooting anyone.  Why? Because my dad taught me to respect guns.  My sister and I knew where every gun was and all the bullets.  We didn’t touch them without my dad being right next to us. He drilled into our heads how picking up a gun means you plan to kill.  He instilled the seriousness of what it means to take a life, any life human or animal.  He taught me and my sister how to deal with our issues in a logical Dr. Spock kind of way. I can’t help but think is that the difference?

I’m not a parent.  I can’t say how to raise children.  I can only look at my life and see how my parent raised me during a very difficult time in my life and how I never acted on my pain even with the literal arsenal at my fingertips.  I can also use my own experience raising 4 dogs.  I know their potential.  I know they could kill.  Rodrigo and I take time out everyday to train them to ensure we are able to control them and that they know right from wrong.  I observe my dogs and learn their cues that help me understand what they are thinking and feeling.  I respond to their actions and manage their fears and excitement.  I can’t help but think if I, a person who never had a dog until 3 years ago, can manage 4 dogs why couldn’t the families of these shooters see they were time bombs waiting to go off?

I don’t know much.  I’m just thinking.  I can only hope and pray that none of my family or friends in the US ever fall victim of a shooting.  I worry about this daily. Stay inside and play with your dog everyone.