Grouchy Gabe visits the ROU

 Janine and Cecilia's brother Gabriel was here for a visit at the end of February.  He spent an easy two weeks living among us with no set schedule.  It's a rare pleasure to have a visitor that's not rushed either by the pressures of getting in all the 'required' visits or their own hectic itinerary.

Grouchy who? It was a pleasure.
                                                                                                                                   

We had a chance, during Gabriel's visit to spend the weekend in Punta del Este and we jumped at it.




The stay was short, but the weather was great.

Gabriel, Janine & Cecilia

These are some siblings that had some catching up to do.
And boy did they.



After so much distance, it ended up easy breazy.
You never know.

One night we had to remind this long estranged 'Porteno/Yanqui' just how good our Chivitos are.

This night we had a nice table outside at Tinkal. It's right on the Rambla and the night-time ambiance was spectacular.

And the Chivitos? Fantastico, por supuesto.

We had some problems with the plan to upgrade from PS2 to PS3.

Rebecca had been so kind and dilligent to find the new equipment and games while Gabriel hauled it down here.

The kids are thrilled and are trying hard to sell the old system,  which languishes on a sort of 'ebay', Mercado Libre, waiting for a new home.

Mission Accomplished?

End of an Era

1922-2012

Lots of activity since the last post.

First off, it's the end of an era, as they say.

Janine's mother Maria Amalia Cipolina Borrazas passed away this January 27, just 6 days shy of her 90th birthday from complications due to an infection. I guess being nearly 90 caught up with her. We felt prepared for anything, but this ended up happening kind of fast. In many ways that's probably best.

Jani's older brother Gabriel had booked a visit to coincide with her 90th birthday. Alas, the universe just listens to our plans and laughs. That party didn't happen, but Gabriel's visit did in what turned out to be a great visit that I'll be sharing in the next post.

A surprise (extended) family visit to Coffee Shop recently. The children of Janine's Godfather (also Amalia's first cousin) Gejermo Riva-Zucchelli. Clockwise from front left; Fernando, Juan, Maria Isabel and Elena. Their dad was this amazing sculpter and had a swanky villa near Punta del Este. He threw Janine and I our wedding party and it was kind of outrageous.

Great that they are getting together. (Are other siblings doing this too?)  And so nice that they thought to drop by Coffee Shop.

This past week the prodigal son has finally returned.


Gabrielito's visit was as easy going as I've seen. He was in some new place and was only faintly bemused by his ex-country's idiosyncracies. The last guy who showed up with his mug couldn't handle milk in a bag. 180 degrees around and headed in a positve direction. Waddya know?







School has started for many kids and our guys head back on the 12th. Vincent will be getting up just after 6:00 am.

Vincent and Mauro. Morning guys?

I can hardly think of anything that sounds less natural.

Vamos Arriba.

Thanks for checking in.












Hypocondriac (not this last time though!), gadfly, complainer who could speak volumes on any subject without the inconvenience of  facts getting in the way, she was the life of any party for more years than any of us youngsters can remember. Intrepid and stoically pressing forward despite lesser fortunes these years, it seemed sometimes that she's be here forever.