Tia Carmela

My Nana Josephine's sister and one of the 17 original pochas. She was a First generation Californian.
My mom says Tia Carmela's name was really Carmen and she was a fabulous cook. She's my Tia Queto's mom. Tia Queto is my nuclear family's collective FairyGodmother. ...Oh how i love my Tia Queto, she fell in love with G. and Pop-pops at a family re-union. After their 1st meeting, she wrote G. an elegant little handwritten notecard about how he did his ancestors an honor with his intelligence. MUY amable she says about him, muy amable - which means you got gooood manners and are kind/courteous and you lend yourself to people (how the fuck i got so lucky to be these 3's mother is beyond me) she also tucked 25 dollars in the envelope and told him to please not be offended by that, it's just her way...G. wasn't offended in the least. Tia Queto likes buying my mom, Happy and i Nice jewelery. She mails it to us in big professionally wrapped care packages filled with sumptuous scarves and Hats! i love hats. I don't know how she does it, but she finds turquoise & amber earrings that are lovely to wear. We got a penpal thing going on. She digs my writing and has my letters framed. How honestly cherished am i by her?? The feeling is mutual, she's got a wicked sense of humour and always has kind words....always. Tia Queto is just Good People. I love her for calling my mom and telling her what an excellent mother and cousin she is. They grew up together, went out dancing together....they have a lovely history...Which is why it bums me out that i invited Tia Queto to read my blog and she started at the beginning. In an early rant, under the guise of coming clean, i let myself wallow in a Bush Rant, went on & on about how i loathed him as our embarrassing president on account of him being a slugvomit war criminal fuckface....ANYway - Tia Queto is a Republican. And her husband is a retired high up there guy in the military! I totally offended her. I Fucked UP! The next little elegant notecard had american flags on it and a simple, oh mija, i Love my country! in response to my blog and she wasn't interested in it anymore...i don't even think she got to the parts i wrote about my mom which i know she woulda enjoyed. Gah! why i gotta be so controversial??


She's still our FairyGodmother, though. Which is why this picture of her mom, my great Tia Carmela - is propped up in front of my typewriter, she's giving me a solid indulgent strength/encouragement...if that makes any kinda sense at all.