I is for Island . . .

I remember the floating gardens
of Xochimilco, just south of Mexico City,
once a retreat for Aztec rulers, now 
a respite for tourists and families on 
warm summer Sunday afternoons.

We came to celebrate a wedding
and sat smiling, on a great, flowered gondola
with our daughter and new son-in-law; 
our host poled slowly along the canals,
occasionally passing boats of musicians, their 
songs and guitar music lifting above the warm waters.

We ate grilled chicken with our sticky fingers,
purchased from an old woman in a dugout canoe,
her grill balanced in the bottom of her little boat 
as she darted between the gondolas.

Now I remember those sweet days of long ago
as I play with my grandchildren and sing the songs
of Xochimilco.

Our Gondola at Xochimilco 

Tomorrow, those writers posting for the Blogging A to Z Challenge with confront the letter "J" with Sunday a day of rest. Visit HERE to see what others have written.