Mas Mexico y some other memories

Botanical Garden - El Charco

la Parrochia

garden at La Casa del Puesta del Sol

Mural

Mural

Instituto Allende 

In front of the rented casa

 We stayed up above the center of San Miguel de Allende in an area called Los Arcos, which was colonia Atascadero.

It was such a steep walk down, and then up, that I didn't even attempt it, though my honey and daughter did.  We took cabs or called a car. I always jumped in as co-pilota so I could have the "thrill of the ride" like a Montaña Rusa.

I was always able to have conversations with the drivers and learn about the city, the neighborhood, the people. I'm so happy that I can speak Spanish, because de lo contrario, not everyone speaks English there. Even though there's a large ex-pat population, it doesn't feel like it, but it makes it easier for people like my honey who has a small Spanish vocabulary.

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Now to some older memories - someone posted about a postcard company and they had great cards from my home town. I fell in love with the illustrations. And even though I make my own postcards for Mail Art, I ordered a bunch to send to my family and friends who grew up there, too. There's the theatre that did live shows and I ushered there in high school, and Navy Pier, which is now an amusement park but I went to University on it. We used to say, the only school that could be torpedoed. I think it went out 3/4 of a mile into the lake.
And the El train that I traveled on my whole life, as kids we took the train by ourselves to get to the ice skating arena and go to the beach. Who'd let a kid do that now? It helped us to be independent and comfident, for sure. And the fabulous Art Institute, where we were taken to see the art, even as little children, and my honey went to school there. I can remember the paintings by Seurat, Degas, Renoir, which I think is what drew me to study art. Such memories. The company has other places, too. Check out their website. It's actually a family owned business, which made it extra attractive to support. Click HERE to get there.

Adios, hasta luego, mas fotos de Mexico en el futuro, tal vez.

Like a dream - February in Mexico

A Perfect cactus!

View from the terrace

Terrace view

 We had a wonderful two week vacation in San Miguel de Allende.
 Pasamos dos maravillosas semanas en San Miguel de Allende.

on the terrace

Mail Art on Cactus

 Here are a few photos of the house we rented and some of the Mail Art that I made. I wanted to take that cactus home with me.

La casa que alquilamos fue perfecta para nosotros. Luminoso con luz y una pequeña piscina/alberca climatizada con energía solar para relajarse.

Mail art on cactus

Mail art on cactus

Mexico trip (more)

 The grand-girl was a great traveler. She was so easy, took everything in stride. Here she is wearing her safety harness. Rather than carry a bulky car seat, her parents found this cool harness that hooks into the adult seat belts. She like the harness. She said that it was like Frida Kahlo's corsets she had to wear because of her accident. Hard to believe that she knows these things. In this photo, she's a month away from her 4th birthday.  We were taking a break on the road from Mexico City to San Miguel de Allende.

Some chimichurro in a terrific coffee shop, cafe, in San Miguel de Allende.

 We stopped by a cemetery in SMA. We always like visiting cemeteries in countries we visit. They're so peaceful and so different from cemeteries in the U.S.A.

The view, looking up, at a small cafe. A bird, a colorful building.

More birds, right next to us. Very chirpy. The cafe was called Cafe Magico and it was on a main street into SMA called Salida de Saleya. The inner area was tiny, the patio was the main seating area. The owner was friendly and brought Grand-girl a gigantic glass of fresh orange juice. What a treat.

In our friend Barry's house. Devils on display in an interior window. We loved the color of his house. So cheerful.

More MEXICO!

 Tortillas being made by a pretty fascinating machine at the big mercado near Frida Kahlo's house. This is the view from the inside of the market. On the outside, there was a walk-up window where you could by them by the dozen or less or more. Fresh tortillas1

We walked to a plaza and found an area with stands making fresh tortilla things. Can't remember the name of them. Do you know what these are?
The woman made a tortilla, filled it with stuffing of your choice, then fried it and yum, freshly made food! I had cheese, bean, and shared a squash blossom filled one with my DIL. So delicious.

I had some fizzy lemony drink. Pato Pascual!

Here's a photo of the finished food. I'm getting hungry just looking at this, remembering how delicious it was.

I love how the buildings are painted in bright colors. This was a municipal building with a police station in it. It faced a lovely plaza/park area where lots of people were relaxing, enjoying the beautiful weather.

Here's our grand-girl with helado. She was quite quick to learn and remember that word.

I took photos of newspapers during our vacation. It was interesting to see how Mexicans wrote about things.  This article talks about how a higher wall between the U.S. and Mexico won't be an obstacle. This newspaper has a very good reputation for good journalism.

Have you been to Mexico? What were your experiences? We found the people to be very warm and open. Even my family members who don't speak Spanish, were able to get along fine. I was excited to be using my Spanish all the time. 

Hello again. Long time, no see.

So, we went to Mexico. We loved it. I got to use the Spanish that I've been studying for years and it worked. I had lots of excellent conversations with people in Mexico City and San Miguel de Allende. We want to return. We've been back for a month now but it seems like we were just there. It was good to be away, for the most part, from the political news in the U.S.

Here are three cards that I made while in Mexico. We were so fortunate to have seen Frida Kahlo's home but I didn't buy the permit to take photos, so I just looked at everything. The top card is my attempt to capture a bit of her studio. The second card is a bit of the roof top terrace over looking San Miguel from where Mica was living. The third shows three of the dresses that we bought Zinn. She said that her favorite thing about Mexico was the dresses.
More to come, once I can figure out how to get my photos from Google Photos. I'm still not doing great using my Chrome Book. I know, the same old same old.

Market update

Yesterday was a slow day at the market. It was nice weather, sunny but not so humid, a nice change, but not so many people. Maybe it's vacation time? We had gorgeous eggplants, radishes and tomatoes, plus lots of other veggies. We had a young helper, who was a very good worker. I'm wearing a blouse made by Mayan women in Chiapas, Mexico. Amy, the organic farmer whose stand is across from ours, buys them directly and sells them at the market. I never wear this much color, but I really liked this shirt and thought it was perfect for being a veggie vender.

The wooden bowl was a gift for Chuck. It's walnut wood and made by Tom Lowe, who does really beautiful wooden pieces.

Bonnie is also across from us and brightens our view with her great tie-dye items. She's so good at this. Have you ever tried to do more than one color? I can only do single dye but she does really intricate multiple colors.