Wednesday, July 13, 2011

Oh No, Say it isn't so......


I got the news as I was reading my laptop opened to a few of my places that I visit religiously.

It was not good news.

I felt like I was losing a part of my daily routine, a routine that I have grown into over the years.

I wake up each morning, wander into the kitchen, cajole the coffee machine into doing it start up routine, then walk back to the bathroom, make a quick offering to the sewer gods, by that time the machine has gone through it’s rinse and operational check cycles and fetches me a cup of dark coffee to which I add exactly one teaspoon of Rancho Canyon cultivated honey.

I then carefully stumble into my small office which is crammed with stuff, push a few things around the desk in order to make room for the hot steaming vessel.

I rest the coffee cup on the table, click the computer back to life and click on the opening Yahoo page.

I like Yahoo because it can point me to hundreds of not thousands of directions.

And I being an old person set in my ways only visit maybe 20 on a good day.

5 on a bad day.

The news headline I was reading was that Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World was closing up. Going out of business, shutting the doors after decades of operation.

That news didn’t matter, for I have never read the rag, nor knew anyone who did, so in the big scheme of things it was no big deal.

But what followed was.

It was “Thank you and Good Bye” But actually it was in Spanish. It was Gracias y Adios.

For those of you who remember the Danny Thomas show, you will now understand exactly what I did with my first sip of coffee.

What?

Impossible!

No, I am reading something wrong, were my first reactions.

How could this be happening?

There must be some typo or the last line will say, April Fools day, but today is July.

It must be so.

Please say it isn’t so.

One of our resident Patzcuaro retirees has called it quits, to his blog escapades.

He was one of the reasons I was motivated in writing these thoughts to screen.

I had done a search on Patzcuaro many years ago and was directed to some guy who was sitting around the plaza enjoy a cafecito pontificating on life in Patzcuaro.

I thought that was kind of neat.

Maybe I can do that to.

Maybe not.

I for one will miss Senor Zapatas writings, sadly things must change, I don’t like change sometimes especially since I have grown to enjoy and anticipate his writings. He was our Hemingway, our writer, our chronicler, he was our resident scribe, talking about life down here.

Judging from enormous volume of best wishes comments on his site, he will be missed.

He is giving up writing about Mexico; he says he will continue writing.

I hope so.

Thanks for all the great political and historical chapters you have published. Gazillions of keystrokes, lots of cyberspace ink.

Sr.Zapata has enlightened many, tweaked a few who deserved it.

For that, I thank you!

8 comments:

norm said...

I do not know but my guess is he is going to write a little fiction. Good writing takes time and we only get so much of it, a new direction is my guess. Change is good.

- Mexican Trailrunner said...

I KNOWWWWW! I went through all the same changes you did! Noooooo. I'll miss Sr y Sra Zapata and all their trials and tribulations. I love his writing, I'll read anything he writes. He could write verb conjugations on TP and I'd read it.
But wait! I'm really liking the new stuff, The Unseen Moon. It's fun. Like I said, I'll read whatever he writes!

Leslie Harris said...

It is a sad, sad day in the Mexpat blog community! :( I hope that no one else follows suit. I don't think I could deal with the loss of another blog.

JerryL said...

I was disappointed to see him quit, I will look forward to his new site.
His writing got you involved in his day to day life. Kind of being part of his family.

Calypso said...

He will be missed. - thank goodness there is still a fine Patzucaro Blog (yours!).

Anonymous said...

Thanks for The Tales obit, seƱor Tancho. The dark Bierce Account will continue, but I don't put stuff on there very often.

And, of course, there's the newbie, but it will not be about Mexico.

Don Cuevas said...

Some bloggers will do anything to get attention. :-)

So far "unseenmoon" looks like a change from garden care to trimming the long whiskers on a panther.

What I's REALLY like to read is the blog of Lady Zapata.

Saludos,
Don Cuevas

Anonymous said...

Don Cuevas: Lady Zapata is a lover, not a writer.

-- Felipe