Jitomates!

Buen dia.

It is Senor's birthday and this afternoon we will make a trip into Navajoa. I hope to sneak a little cake into the shopping cart. I also hope he will feel well enough to grill a steak tonight.

He is still sleeping a lot and coughing, but his voice is stronger.
A friend in town gave him some tablets and told him that this is what he should take if he gets an ant bite. It is called Virlix. I researched it and it is just an antihistamine. Senor is not taking it, but something tells me Virlix is not what he would need if he ever gets another bite like that one.

Several months ago we found a jitomate (tomato) plant growing in a concrete crack outside the bedroom. Senor then found another and planted that one in a pot. Now we have two big leggy tomato plants that are already putting out. I hope these are heirloom tomatoes. The fruit has ruffled bottoms and tops. Aren't heirloom tomatoes usually ruffly?

The pop bottles are over the rebar because the water spigot for the house is right behind the plant. Did I remember to tell you we have a water leak somewhere under the concrete outside the fake kitchen and our current bedroom? So we have to keep the water turned off all the time. When we want water we have to reach in behind the jitomate and turn it on. I kept cutting myself on the rebar that Senor staked the plant with, so enter pop bottles on the tops of the rebar.


Below is the second plant.See the ruffles? maybe that's not what they are called. Ridges? Swirly things?
This morning I will be setting up the History Club altar for the Day of the Dead. Each year we dedicate a decorated altar to a foreigner who made a strong impact on the community and has since passed away.

This year's altar is dedicated to Levant Alcorn. He is the American who rediscovered Alamos, in the fifties, as it was in its ghost town stages. He was so enamored with this beautiful old colonial town even though it was practically deserted, that he decided to buy an old 'ruin' and repair it and make it livable. At that time few people were living in the community, but those who did had clear land and home titles to properties. Alcorn gave two thousand dollars to a Mexican family for his first ruin.

Before long, friends of Alcorn's and friends of friends came to do the same thing. Word began to spread in the United States about this quaint old cobblestone place up in the mountains, a place that was not very easy to get to, but one that was filled with mystery, charm and almost full abandon of glorious old colonial homes. As foreigners began to purchase ruins, Mexicano workers returned with their families and Alamos became a thriving community, much as it had been in the 1800's when it was one of the largest silver mining towns in the world. Old historical homes were restored to their original conditions and Mexican families with strong heritage began to return.

Today Alamos is a strong Mexican community with almost ten thousand residents. There are over four hundred foreign landowners here, although some never come to town, it is the winter season when many homeowners do return to enjoy the charm, the beauty and romance of the town. The forty or so of us who live here year round feel very fortunate to call this community our home.

So thanks to Mr. Alcorn, who in search of a little adventure, decided to travel into the mountains of Sonora so long ago, we are really able to be here.

When the altar is done, I will share the photos of Levant with you.

First, I am off on new old bike to the Panteon to finish painting one headstone. The cemetery has been filled with people working on grave sites, repairing them, painting them. They are very proud here in Alamos, of their ancestry.
Que le vaya bien! linda lou