OH Dear--off to the dentist!

I don't know why it's so difficult to want to go to the dentist, even though I have no complaints at this time.  It's partly the invasion of privacy of having to open one's mouth to strangers, I think, more than the fear of pain and discomfort. 

So this is to be short, as I have to go get dressed and out of here pretty soon.

I have been thinking about Laredo since writing yesterday's blog....What an interesting place it is.  When I was very young, Nameless no. 2 and I would travel with my parents by car, when my father had business to do in Laredo.  As we went through (now non-existant where it was) Zapata, the horizon in front of us would subtly change from flat to slightly rolling, and from quite far away we'd see forming, the silhouette of exotic Laredo.

"I see the Hamilton Hotel," my mother would carol from the front seat, and indeed there it would be, sticking up like a blue sore thumb from the surrounding mass.  We stayed at the Hamilton when I was very small, but then switched over to the more luxurious Plaza for several visits.  My sister and I found the carpeted halls leading to our bedrooms irresistible, and ran up and down with all our might and main.  I don't know why we did that; it seems to be hard-wired into the young human, though hard-wiring had not been discovered yet.  I think it was from the Plaza that we could look out our window directly into Nuevo Laredo just a small  distance away.  I particularly remember one summer rainstorm when I watched out the window and saw the beautiful post-storm light grow around us all, Laredo and Nueveo Laredo both, like a blessing.

Hotel food was good in those days.  Delicious, we thought. My mother loved ordering from a nice menu.  Nowadays we'd probably find those dishes very ordinary, but then, it was  a pleasure just to order a meal.  And it wasn't hash nor meat loaf, either!

My father worked for Mr King, then.  Mr King lived in Houston, I believe, but came to meet my father in Laredo.  He was interesting, as I remember him from the viewpoint of a young child.  He was very skinny, and was affable with my mother and us.  He had a certain dessert that he always ordered.  He ordered a dish of vanilla ice cream, and a cup of coffee.  He poured the coffee over the ice cream and ate it  from the dish.  Mr King's Dessert is still one of my favorite desserts.

Mr King had three sons the age of me and no's 2 and 3 in my family of girls.  As time went by we met and liked the sons very much.  They were nice kids and I wonder where they are now.  Paul, Charles, Bobby, where are you?  Mrs King was a most beautiful lady from New Mexico, and we admired her profoundly. Before long, the Kings lived in Mexico City instead of Houston.  I was privileged to spend some time in her company as a young adult, and she was a revelation to us. She loved antiques.  She had a chauffer.  She lived the Mexico City lifestyle to the hilt.  She had a concierge ( a portero) who guarded her gate and kept an eye on things.  She served me a dessert once, Crepes a la Cajeta...I thought it was wonderful.  You'd use Dulce de Leche, as it's called in the USA, warmed with butter and slightly diluted, and pour it over the crepes. Yummo.

Somehow we have jumped from Laredo to Mexico City.  It's easier than you'd think, in South Texas.  Mexico City is lots closer to South Texas than is, say, San Diego, California. YAZZYBEL