Feliz Dia De la Madre...Mexico.

It is Mother's Day in Mexico...always May 10th.
In a way, it's just easier to remember, & I like that some holidays have their day, like birthdays.
So, in honor of my mother, here's a recent photo from Easter.
My sister had a large dinner gathering, & my mother-in-law suggested a 4 generation photo...my side,
so, it was me, my younger son (Nat, the painter), his daughters Violet & EvieA, & my mamcita, Pat

All, I'm proud to say, have been to Isla.  My mom is now 88 1/2; and while she didn't make it to Isla this year, she's been there twice before...in her mid 80's. I give her credit. She's done a lot. 

 And just below, left, is my mother-in-law, Dolly. We vow to get her to Isla soon...

Dolly is quite the character, as most would agree--still a real farm woman who mows her own large acreage yard (in her mid 80s) & even can sometimes fix her own mower as well. As Garrison Keillor would say, she comes from the Midwest, where ' all the women are strong, all the men are good lookin' and all the children are above average.'     I think that about sums it up!   

My other son, Abe, put a link on his facebook page to this poem, a Mother's Day tribute. 

It is from Billy Collins, entitled, 'The Lanyard'

via Abe Sauer 

Billy Collins - The Lanyard

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0EjB7rB3sWc&

Revisit the greatest Mother's Day poem of all time.

Dia Del Niño vs. Cinco de Mayo ....

I like  Dia Del Niño, and saw that it was well celebrated in Isla, Merida and around the Yucatan.
Here is a post from the Yucatan Times, a paper published out of Merida.  It's celebrated on April 30th.

Saturday, April 30th, 2011 | Posted by Yucatan Times 

Petac Has Special “Día del Niño” Celebration

As part of the Children’s Day festivities (Día del Niño in Spanish), Angelica Araujo Lara,  Mayor of Mérida, visited the province of Petac to interact and spend the day with nearly 700 youngsters from ten rural communities in the South of Merida and reopened the children’s playground in the town.
Fun, entertainment, gifts and local interaction among neighbors were the ingredients for the festival that the Mayor brought to Petac, where the special guests were the youngsters who live in the most vulnerable areas of the Yucatecan capital....

The Municipal DIF (*DIF – National System for Integral Family Development), directed by Ana Rosa Estefani Cárdenas, delivered hundreds of toys so that the children attending the festival could have a gift  arranged for by the mayor as part of the Día de Niño festivities.
Parents and children thanked the mayor for taking into consideration their needs and requirements as shown in the improvements made to the children’s playground.

 
Playgrounds on Isla have been updated also, and we were grateful to use those great facilities...

 Not sure why US doesn't have a Children's Day??  We have Mother's & Father's Day...Other countries have Children's Day...    In the US, we don't let children be children long enough...maybe that's why...

      (Cinco de Mayo, on the other hand...I feel it's a fabricated holiday in the US, probably to sell food at Mexican restaurants or something; few people know the history behind the Mexicans defeating the French years ago, and sorry to say...doubt you'd find anyone celebrating it on Isla...)

Heard that there were pony rides in Hacienda Mundaca, and Sr Ruinas (who is holding down the 'ruinas' on that end, while I'm at our US ruinas site...) reported seeing probably some of Sofia's classmates there.
Her school would be back in session, and it's a little sad to think she is not there, and wondering what her little classmates think...what happened to her?  Hope they can all reconnect again.  We like to talk about it, and she likes to tell me that her 'novio' is in fact, Abibel...and not Lucio (her former favorite), or Jose' or Luis.  It's fun to keep their names alive.

      I think no adores and gives more attention to children than Mexican families.  Here is a cute shot I got of a shop-tending grandma in Centro, playing 'el toro'  (bullfight) with her grandson.   Wish I could remember his name, or hers... 

 

she has a shop, just off Hidalgo St.
Think she was a bit embarrassed that I could her so intently playing with her grandson, but business was slow anyway. I was intrigued how she used a plastic bull, and he was the matador, as she waved the little red flag for him to make the pass at his toro.  And if you look closely, you'll see she also played the 'picador' as the bull has pencils stuck in its back!

And, then he was onto his caballo.  (the bull is still peeking out from the left...)

Just a fun day and evening of play.
I think everyday is Children's Day in Mexico.     But it is great they have an official holiday as well  :)