Rain Drops on Roses and Whiskers on Kittens

So far in G I have a variety of favorite things, but I think I may have discovered my favorite favorite thing yesterday.

I have been looking for a good place to go running in this town. I can't just go out my front door and go from there- this town doesn't work that way. The sidewalks are too tiny and crowded in the center of town (where I am lucky enough to live) and the cobblestone streets are a little too conducive to sprained ankles.

MP clued me into this ramp near my house (this town is made out of stairs and ramps, it's all based on different levels due to the whole city being built into the mountains), that if I just walk up it, and keep walking up, I can get to the Panoramic Highway pretty quickly. She claimed 5 minutes, but let's face it, she's in better shape than I
. 10 minutes isn't bad though, and it's a good warm up.

So I got up there, stretched a bit, and took off. I headed toward the hospital, as MP had suggested, and then ran through the parking lot and followed the dirt road to "la bufa" (not like the opera, music nerds, it's just what the call this place up in the mountains here). By the time I got there I was pretty worn out (that darn altitude...arrgh!) but I kept going a bit further, luckily.

La Bufa is like the opening of the Sound of Music, except a little browner, and warmer, I would imagine. And a bit more trash, I guess. But once you've lived in Mexico for awhile you stop noticing the trash.

But truly, it is so beautiful and peaceful up there. The air feels amazing and you just feel that the world is yours, up there looking out over wide open spaces. I went at about 6:30 and the sun was just starting to go down. The light against the hills was perfect, and ever-changing. I think if I go up there four times a week I will never again be in a bad mood. Then, as icing on the cake, as I walked back down it was just getting dark, and the lights in the houses sparkled in just a way that you almost think they're candles, like Whoville from The Grinch Who Stole Christmas or something.

Some of my other favorite things include that it takes only 1 hour for my laundry to dry, my 43 second "commute" to work, my eccentric and very sweet horn students, that we are playing a Brahms Serenade in a few weeks, and how tourists ask me when I'm around the theater..."Ingles? Oh, good, do you know about events here? Blah blah blah..." (I'm sure this will get old real fast, but for the present it makes me feel special.)

My favorite things do not include today's breakfast experience. I was sitting at the table, eating a bowl of cereal, forcing it down as I wasn't really hungry anyway but knew I had to eat something before rehearsal. I hadn't even had coffee yet when this happened. One of the cats, "Castro" creeped up to the counter right next to the table. I glanced over and he started gagging, more of a dry-heaving actually. I had about four seconds to think, "what in the world..." and then he proceeded to throw up all over the counter. I literally ran to the other side of the kitchen and dumped out my bowl of cereal. Awesome.