Thursday, July 21, 2011

Rebecca in Red Canyon Utah, Nikon FM 35mm, 800 ISO colour neg

As some of you might guess my last real blog written on the day that it appeared was on July 5th on our first day of our trip to south Texas. I was able to post a picture from my iPhone to facebook and from there down to my blog. After that communication ceased between all my gadgets and I gave up. Since we arrived on July 23 I have been writing blogs looking back but in some cases finding contemporary ideas and events of the particular day that I am blogging. Thus a blog on July 8 might have been influenced by events that happened after we arrived here.

Five days after we got to Vancouver the two girls and their mother got on a plane to visit friends in Cabo San Lucas in Baja California del Sur in Mexico. The three will be there visiting Eliana Zamora who is the daughter of an old friend of ours, also called Eli who was our neighbour back in Arboledas, Estado de Mexico in the early 70s. She died a few years ago and her husband Carlos died last year. The Zamora family has always been a family of many and very happy children. Eli “chica” has four. She works as a food and beverage manager for a fine hotel so she has a hotel provided home with a nearby communal pool.

As you can imagine Lauren, the fish of our family, is in her glory - but, Rebecca, not quite. She misses her friends in Vancouver. I can only guess this is a 13 kind of thing. She is not too prepared to practice her Spanish or be friendly with Eli’s daughters and from last reports has been sulking and glued to her iPhone.



I would have thought that not being with her grandparents and having the opportunity to be with girls her age might have stimulated her to have fun.

Today (really August 2) I sent her an email via Eli (and in Spanish) pointing out that Eli’s daughters might be an example that she could follow. I am sure that my email will probably be no issue but then I can only hope.

I look at these three pictures, one with an iPhone, all taken within seconds at Utah’s Red Canyon which is the entrance to the really phenomenal Bryce Canyon. There are some who prefer Bryce to the Grand Canyon. Upon seeing Red Canyon Rebecca said, “This is a pile of rocks.” I was speechless but asked her to pose. She did and her expression was not changed. I see in them a sorrow that breaks my heart and I can only hope that she smiles up fast and becomes the girl she has always been for me, a happy and stimulating girl.