Lorenzo & Ceibos

Lorenzo, the Bounder look-alike from across the street, is now officially our "pretend dog." This afternoon we took him for an hour-long walk up Azcuenaga to the park across from the Buenos Aires Design Center and then around the British Embassy and back home. It was a treat to have some doggie time.

Here's Kurt with Lorenzo, framed by blossoms of a ceibo tree. The ceib0 blossom is the national flower of Argentina. A treeful makes for a pretty impressive sight - just about as impressive as the jacarandas in the spring.

Celebrating Bounder

Bounder didn't make it - at least not physically - with us to Buenos Aires, but his spirit lives on. We celebrated his memory today, on the date our favorite Austin yellow street dog passed away in 2008 after enriching our lives for 14 years. As a dear friend put it at the time, "it is hard to lose those trusty tail-wagging always-there friends."

We see Bounder all around us here. Lots of yellow Labs and yellow partial Labs and just plain yellow mutts that look and act like the B-dog. Right across the street from us, on the same level as our apartment, lives a Bounder look-and-act-alike whose owner we have just met. Tomorrow we have a date to take Lorenzo for a walk. Bounder lives on.

Nuevo Amigo

At mid-day Raul Vidal, our new friend, stopped by to final measurements and design for the mirror he's going to make for our living room. Raul is an artist in cristal.

Raul would fit well in Austin: he's a radical vegan whose workshop's walls bear the Argentine flag adorned with photos of Che Guevara and Fidel Castro with Cristina Fernandez. 

We took an excursion there last Saturday to see more of his work. Raul lives in Avellaneda, outside the limits of Capital Federal, in Buenos Aires province. We were reminded of Mexico City.

The mirror should be finished around the end of the month. Stay tuned.