What a week!

Here is the recap, therefore, of it all.

Saturday was spent at Tia Emi's house, amid the happy chaos of her children, Clara, Tomas (Tato), my namesake Inés, better known as Ichu, and Josefina. We had a fun time, mostly resting, and lots of music of all kinds, from zambas to Irish music to arias, and Rocio did some flamenco dancing. Sunday we headed back into the city to Tio Claudio's house, for Alba's birthday party, which was a lot of fun. After the party we went to seven o'clock Mass at the SSPX chapel, and at the Consecration a sonnet began to take shape in my mind -- unusually, in Spanish! -- and I wrote it down after dinner at our grandparents' house, (Tata's parents, not Mami's).

Monday, the 30th was a day of failures. After lunch, we headed out to the Planetarium, but it was closed! So after we rested a bit by the lake, we decided to go look at a couple of churches marked on the map. The first was closed, so we went on to the second. Both were modern messes, so we just went home after saying hello to Our Lord, who was on the main altar, for a change, of the second church. At home we played several games of sequence, with Ignacio and me teamed up against Lucia and Rocio. We won two and they won two, but after that we had to clear the table for dinner.

Tuesday was even more chaotic, because as we were cooking lunch Rocio came in from her bedroom clutching one hand in the other and crying quietly. She only said she had cut herself trying to open the window, so Lucia said, "Well, put it under the faucet." It was only when we did that that she started screaming, and we realized it was really bad. She had caught her finger against the lock of the other window and sliced it to the bone. Thank heaven Paco (our grandfather) is a doctor, so he got it bandaged as best he could. It was insane - Lucia holding Rocio in her lap on a chair and both of them trying not to faint, me not much better off on the sofa, and Ignacio not helping by his off-hand attitude. He did call Tata to remark, "Rocio cut her finger and the girls are all freaking out," which was true, but not helpful! Yaya called for a taxi but just then Tio Alvaro arrived and took everything in hand. He insisted on calling Tata, who told him to take her to the German Hospital, and he left Ig and me in charge of his kids while he drove Yaya, Rocio and Lucia to the hospital. They were there the rest of the afternoon, and we passed the time by talking. Jorgelina studied quietly on the sofa, little Pilar bounced off the walls, Paco dozed and Santiago showed Ignacio... how to make a virus!!! Past six, Rocio and the others came home. The finger had been fractured (ouch!) so she had a big stiff bandage on her hand! We had a pleasant dinner at Tio Claudio's house, and then went home to bed. Yaya remarked to me, (look at the bright side, haha!) "Good thing it wasn't you!" (For those who don't know, I'm studying to be a concert pianist... so yeah, it would have been infernal to break a finger now.)

On Wednesday we walked a few blocks to "La Redonda", the beautiful church of the Immaculate Conception, with gorgeous murals all round the walls (some restored by Yaya, who paints and restores icons). We also saw the two museums across the plaza, the Sarmiento Museum (dedicated to the founder of the Argentinian school systems), and the Larreta Museum, which has a lot of fine carvings and old furniture and a gorgeous garden. But lo and behold, Tio Claudio and Tio Alvaro appeared and said Tata had made an appointment for Rocio with a hand specialist at the British Hospital, so we drove back home with them and Alvaro took Lu, Ro and Yaya to the hospital. Ig played chess with Paco and I read until they came home. Rocio had a new splint and waxed eloquent about the specialist, who had been very nice to her, refused to take a cent from Tio Alvaro for his work, and told her to come to his own clinic on Monday. That night we saw the last act of "Pia di Tolomei" on TV, but we didn't see who sang because that had been in the opening credits. It was rather annoying!

Thursday afternoon Ig and I walked out to the "Monumental", River Plate's stadium (and no, I'm not a River fan, though Ig is), to watch Gaspar (Tio Claudio's son) practice. Today we walked to San Telmo and saw the Museo Historico Nacional, the Parque Lezama, and the beautiful parish church of St. Pedro Telmo, after whom the barrio is named.

This week won't be really over till tomorrow, but all that's going to happen then as far as I remember, is that we're going to Tio Gustavo's for an asado. It should be fun, anyway!