It's hotter than a ......

four balled tom cat. As some uncouth marine, fireman, gandy-dancer or other illicit type I have called buddy said.

Can't keep up with the garden. It's slowly losing its luster to the too hot sun. I feel guilty that I'm not doing more to battle the elements and save the little pansies. But, I'm about as withered as they are so I decided to save myself.

Now it's up to the rain gods and you know how chicken shit they are.

As you know from reading Bamboo Lemur Boys...etc., today is Fathers' Day. Leti always makes an issue of it even though we have no children in common. She insisted we do something. We decided to buy a bag of shrimp and treat ourselves.

Seafood is what we go for when there's an 'occasion'. It's probably because seafood is so expensive that never buy it unless there's something up.

Half the bag went for making shrimp cocktails. The rest were pan fried 'a mole de ajo'. Mole de ajo is nothing more than lots of smashed garlic in melted butter and cooking oil. Really yummy but, I pay for it with the garlic burps several hours later.

Leti makes an 'agua fresca' from the leaves of a tree known as the 'Challa' tree. The resulting water, of the same name, is green. Dark green to start with but, as it settles it becomes pale green ( a more agreeable shade). It's a very refreshing drink. A tall glass of 'agua de challa' goes very well alongside a brandy over ice.


QUOTE OF THE DAY:

And what can be more obscene than our own imaginations? - Mark Twain


MEXICO (as I see it):

Note: This article was written in the ninties. The dry laws have been largely elliminated, except around election time. The national presidential election will be held on July 2nd so I thought the piece might still be of interest.


Mexico is still subjected to what used to be called 'Blue 'Laws in the United States. Everybody can remember 'dry days'. Here it is referred to as 'Ley Seca' or the 'Dry Law'.

To a drinker it seems like the Ley Seca is in effect about a hundred days a year. Actually, on a non-voting year the law is implemented about twelve or fifteen times a year. But, every sixth year there is the presidential election plus state gubernatorial and senatorial elections. All this activity spawns an extra five or six 'dry days' during said year.

The purpose of these stoppages of liquor sales is not exactly clear. The government would like us to believe that the no drinking days insure a more wholesome voter turnout. This concept seems to imply that without such restrictions a significant percentage of the registered voters of Mexico would be too drunk to make it to the polls and voice their opinions.

Few people agree with the government's perception of the issue. In the first place any Mexican citizen, who is a serious drinker, like serious drinkers throughout the world, already knows when these dry days are scheduled. He and his buddies simply load up the night before to bridge the gap. So, the only drinkers who get caught short are the tourists and a few members of the ex-patriot community, none of whom are allowed to vote, drunk or sober.

A more likely reason behind this enforced abstinence is that the government is not at all sure it can handle the populous if they had a snoot-full and began to talk over the pitiful state of affairs extant in their country after generations of political corruption and dry laws.

It's one thing for citizens to intellectually accept that they are victims of unscrupulous mercenaries but, quite another, when they get lit up and start feeling a certain comradeship. A little booze can sometimes give people the courage of their convictions. They begin nodding to each other, putting their arms around each other's shoulders and comparing notes. Once they feel insulted as a people, as a nation, instead of as isolated individuals they are apt to get vociferous about their situation.

A noisy populous, fired up and expressing its distaste for the powers that be can reign havoc on an election day. The government has the forces to control such a demonstration, as they proved in 1968 in the Zocolo of Mexico City, but, in 2006 they really can't afford another shot of worldwide condemnation. After the assassination of a Bishop in broad daylight at the Guadalajara Airport and the shooting of Colosio, the ruling party's presidential candidate, and implicating members of the sitting president's family in the murder, the country could hardly stand another jolt.

The peso is already on its ass and Mexico's looking outside its borders for band-aids to stop the hemorrhaging so any new moves to maintain the status quo, at the on going expense of the people, would poison any and all pleas for monetary assistance by the government.

To avoid all the international chaos Mexico just tries to keep alcohol out of the equation. It's probably a good idea but, with a shot of inspiration from the agave plant things might open up a little and the Mexicans might do a bit of creative voting.

The 'Ley Seca' serves only a very narrow range of interests and all of those are aimed at taking advantage of people's natural reluctance to 'talk back' or 'make a fuss'. Besides, the Mexicans could hardly do any worse voting drunk than they have done voting sober for the past century.

Well, either way, good luck Mexico and ¡Salud!