Happy Halloween

Is it Darth Vader or could it be Maxwell?

Just When I Thought.......

Just when I thought we were settled with all the construction issues for the renovation, we aren't.

First of all, Hugo of Casal's promised a sample tile two weeks ago. I went in several times before I left to go to Texas to see if it was done, then while I was gone Ned went a couple of times. Yesterday I went again. The paper work is lost. All our discussions about how to do it seem to be semi-lost too. So we started over yesterday with more discussion and paperwork. I have some information on another tile company that we will check out this week just so we have a back-up.
The Carpintero that I was so happy with because he seemed to understand all the design and construction issues for building cabinets for granite countertops is cancelling appointments. He cancelled one before I left for Texas and he cancelled one today. At this point we are trying to decide if he is just behind on other jobs or if he is trying to tell us he doesn't want to do the work. Mexicans consider it impolite to tell you "No." We mostly think it is because he has too much work but we will see if he comes tomorrow at 4:00 PM to take measurements. Again, I have someone that we will talk to tomorrow just in case we need a backup. And we may split the job to several carpinteros. One for the granite covered cabinets, one for the carved upper cabinets and one for the cabinets that will be built in the arches in the dining room. It could make things go faster since all of the carpinteros are one or two man shops.

While I was gone the stove and refrigerator were delivered and Ned picked up the sink in Queretaro. The stove and refrigerator look great. The stove is a stainless steel Mabe (made by GE) and it is a six burner with cast iron grates. The refrigerator is a stainless steel 15 cubic foot Bosch that is 24" deep by 28" wide by 72" tall. That may not seem like a very big refrigerator to you but after we have lived with 9 cubic foot refrigerator for almost 5 years, it seems large. And most important it will fit in the small kitchen.

The albanil also finished up and cleaned up while I was gone. Gone is the corrugated board on the floor, the bricks and bags of concrete in the patio and the sheets of plastic hanging from openings and over furniture. We can move some of the furniture back into place in the living area....at least for the time being.

The painter was just here and he is preparing us a estimate for doing the floors and the painting. He seems to know his business.

I was hoping we would have this mostly done by the time we left here for Christmas......
I haven't given up on date yet but the next target date could be the end of January.

I'm Baaaaack!

I've been to Texas for a week. Have you missed me?

I've missed blogging but there has been no time to blog. Haven't even been able to keep up with my emails. But it has been a glorious vacation. I've seen family and friends, did some shopping and had some medical followups now I'm back home in my house in San Miguel de Allende.

This was the first time that I've been to Houston since we didn't have a house there. No worries about taking care of all the things that houses and gardens need. I could really vacation. I saw friends for breakfast, lunch and dinner. I got to go to a meeting of some photography friends, see a wonderful photography exhibition, and meet up with my photography girl friends in Austin.

The nights have turned cooler here. The wild flowers are hanging on longer than normal due to the rains and the drive from the airport yesterday was beautiful with the roadsides lined with yellow sunflowers and lavender cosmos. The Santa Fe Photography Workshops in San Miguel de Allende are underway. I met someone on the plane yesterday who was coming to take a workshop. We are going to a cocktail party tonight. I'm back just in time to do some photography during Day of the Dead around San Miguel.

Glad to be back home. Good to sleep in my own bed.

Mexican Renovation

Although the renovation of the kitchen and dining room are progressing well, there are a few issues that just leave you beating your head on the wall. Things that you don't even think need to be said because for some crazy reason you think that this is the way things are done or because both you and the craftsman were looking at an example, you thought that they would make it like that plus the additional things you said. Wrong. The additional things you requested will be on there but maybe not some of the things on the original.

You may be thinking, well just send it back but it isn't quite as simple as that. When the item is delivered you look for the additional items, yes they are there, you pay the craftsman and then after it is installed you realize that something from the original was left off. A little thing like a flange on the part of the window that opens. It helps direct the rain away so that the window doesn't leak as much. The new windows leak, you ask? Oh, yes. It just depends on the direction of the rain. I could write pages about leaking windows and doors in Mexico. One of the charming things about Mexico is that things are hand-made. One of the aggravations about Mexico is that no two things are exactly alike because they are handmade.

The Albanil has been doing a great job. The walls are straight or as straight as he can get them from what they were which was very far from plumb. He still has some new tile to put down in the kitchen but he has basically finished the kitchen/dining room. This next week he will take out the plaster on one wall in the living room and replaster it to the same texture as the kitchen. He will add stone on a column so that it matches the one on the other side in size and he will be done until it is time to install the tile backsplash.

We have run into a snag. On Friday afternoon the carpintero was to take measurements in the kitchen so he could start the cabinets but he was finishing another job and he couldn't do it until Monday or Tuesday of next week. I'm going to be in Texas next week and I didn't want him to take the measurements until I was back and could see what was happening......maybe that will help keep down the "surprises." So we are going to delay the measurement taking until the 30th of October.

The arquitecta and I worked on the drawings for the cabinets this week and I'm pleased with what we have worked out. Norma is learning English and I am learning Spanish. Many of our sentences with each other was a mix of Spanish and English and references to the dictionary....but it is good practice for both of us. Between our struggles to find the nouns and verbs and having the drawings as a reference point, we communicated pretty well. When we got stuck for words we'd draw or go down to the kitchen with a tape measure, and sure enough the visual helped resolve our communication gaps. I think this was the first time that Norma had ever had to be so aware of the inside as well as the outside dimension of a drawer or had to talk so much about the design of a cabinet.

I think that in a way, I'm teaching Norma some things about kitchen design that she didn't learn in school. Like defining areas where food will be prepped or mixed and putting storage space there that fits the items that will be needed. How tall does the drawer need to be that will hold pots, how tall does the shelf need to be where dry staples will be stored. From which side should a door or refrigerator open so that it is easy to get into or so that you will be able to place the things you take out on a countertop.

Another thing that happened this week was after a year, we finally had the cabinet installed in the new bathroom of the studio. Another little surprise. Although the cabinet looks wonderful the shelf on the inside is fixed permanently. This isn't the case in the other bathrooms where the braces for the shelves are attached but the shelf is loose in case you need to do something to the plumbing under the sink you can remove them and get to the pipes. I never thought to say, don't make the shelf a permanent attachment because I thought that the carpinteros knew to make it loose. Oh, well. We'll just hope that we don't have a plumbing problem with that sink.

Everyday is a new discovery and an adventure when you are doing construction in Mexico.

Get to the Point

Yesterday was Ned's birthday....not just any birthday but one of those decade markers. We had gone out for a few minutes and when we came home, there was a message on the answering machine. Will, the seven year old grandson, had called to wish him Happy Birthday.

"Happy Birthday Pawpaw. I can't believe you are so old! Bye."

Container Gardens

Here in San Miguel it is more "Container Plants" rather than "Container Gardens." In the gardening magazines like Fine Gardening or Garden Design, you will find articles, photographs and suggestions for how to combine plants for a "Container Garden." The picture on the right isn't the best example but it does show the variety in the container. You are told to vary the height of the plants, variety and color. But here in San Miguel you mainly see only one type of plant in a container. I wonder why.

Cannas are one of the things you often see in container gardens in the USA but I haven't seen cannas here except in Parque Juarez where they are scattered around in the gardens. They are not very showy cannas, slender green leaves and small dark red flowers. Wonder why the Tropicana canna hasn't been imported. The colors in the leaves and the color of the flower would be great here in San Miguel.

San Miguel Viveros

A couple of comments on my blog today were from gardeners and about coleus. I started to write a reply and quickly realized, I should make it a blog entry.

Recently Gardener in Chacala was in San Miguel and she visited the viveros, plant nurseries, around town. She bought some succulents to take back to Chacala. But that is no surprise. How can a gardener go anywhere and not buy some plant.

I don't think I read her overall thoughts about the nurseries here in San Miguel but after having several wonderful nurseries in Houston that specialize in native plants as well as all the regular perennials, shrubs and trees, I don't get too excited about the nurseries here. To me it seems like the plant selection is the same at everyone. Lots of geraniums, begonias, lantanas, bougainvilleas, limited selection of day lilies, lavender, bird of paradise, margaritas, limited selection of roses, Mexican sage, citrus trees of unknown variety, ficus trees, houseplants and some succulents. I'm sure I've overlooked a few but this makes up the majority of every vivero. Now all of these are nice plants but it really isn't a lot of variety....not like I'm use to in Houston. Although there are one or two places that have someone who knows the plants for the most part about all the information that you can get is "sun or shade?" information.

Both Brenda and LaGringa tell me that they can find coleus where they live in Mexico and Honduras but I don't think I've ever seen them in the viveros here in San Miguel. I specifically looked for them yesterday at two viveros along my breakfast, paint store route. The only place I have seen them in the area is at Hacienda Las Trancas and I don't know if Kelley found them at one of the viveros or grew them from seeds. Hers were in a shady garden. I'd like to have some of the sun coleus as well as some that grow in the shade. They can add so much color to the garden. I may just have to try to start them from seeds and see what happens. I wonder if I can even find the seeds. I wonder if I'll be thrown in jail for bringing in seeds. Of course, I may find out that the reason we don't see them here is because they don't do well.

Mmm.....you know something else I haven't seen is the lime green or the burgandy potato vine. They would both be great color additions to the terrace or patio.

Where did the Blue Skies Go?

On the left is what October is suppose to look like here in San Miguel. So far October has been more like the picture on the right. We have had so many days of rain and cool damp weather that everyone is tired of it.

Yesterday, I'd had enough of being in the house, and of the construction and of quickie breakfasts of toast and coffee so I decided to head out for breakfast. The weather was misty and cool. I had on a long sleeve shirt over my t-shirt and a muffler wrapped around my neck. I went out Ancha de San Antonio because I wanted to stop in a Comex paint store and see what I could find out on the colored wood stain for kitchen cabinets.

I had in mind a breakfast place that had tables outside and looked very nice but as I was walking along I saw a door and a sign that said "desayuno." My glance through the door saw a kind of entry and then it opened up to a covered courtyard and behind that an open patio. Mmmmm.......I walked on down the street a couple more doors and then turned around and went back. I walked in and was greeted by a friendly smiling young man. The place was a little funky with plants in tin cans tied to the support posts of the covered courtyard. Every posts was decorated with "canned" plants, old Mexican and American movie still photographs, masks or hats. Oh, yes, this was the place to have a leisurely breakfast and write in my "morning pages" and just take time to breathe and nourish my soul as well as my body.

The friendly young man delivered the menu in Spanish. I'm still so far from being able to carry on a conversation in Spanish but I'm getting better and better at being able to understand what is said. So I understood the menu and ordered scrambled eggs with ham, frijoles, cheese, salsa and tortillas. Coffee and orange juice. The orange arrived a few minutes later. Freshly squeezed. A huge 12 or 16 ounce glass of orange juice. Since I like my coffee HOT when my breakfast arrives, I asked him to wait to bring the coffee.

I sat there with my journal writing and just enjoying the ambiance. When the breakfast came, it was a huge plate of eggs and frijoles. He asked if I wanted some sugar in my coffee. I said yes. Right away he brought the coffee. It was boiling hot and sweet. Next time I'll ask to put in my own sugar. Also the coffee had a cinnamon taste. I think they might use the Mexican brown sugar. It was different but good. The tortillas were handmade and a little thicker than you get from the corner tortillas tiendas in the neighborhoods. The salsa was great but a little too piquante for me.....Ned will love it. I had a wonderful breakfast and I bet that most gringas would not eat breakfast there but I can assure you that while we are doing this renovation and the Mercer kitchen is closed, I'll be going back.

After breakfast, I headed on down the street and picked up samples from Comex. Indeed they do have the colored wood stains and even a very nice brochure about them. Suddenly when I came out of Comex, the weather had changed. The sun was out, the mist was gone, the air was warm. The long-sleeved shirt and muffler went in the backpack. Yesterday afternoon was beautiful. I think we have found some blue skies.

The New House

Maybe 10 years ago, I cut out an article from Met Home magazine about a small house in San Miguel de Allende. This is a scan of one of the pictures from the article and it has been in my files since then, folded, stapled and written on. A little worse for wear so you just have to use your imagination a bit. It is a contemporary Mexican house full of color and wonderful design innovations using local materials and craftsman. The architects were a husband and wife team, Cathi and Steven House out of San Francisco. Since then their work has been on my radar screen.

About two years ago our friends Mayer Shacter and Susan Page told us that they were going to remodel an old rattan factory outside of town for their house. As we talked about their plans, I asked who was their architect. House & House. I was so excited for them. I knew that it would be wonderful but I wondered what that architectural team could do with a rectangular building. We saw it while it was under construction and I started to get an idea of how the curves in and out of the rectangle would work but nothing prepared me for seeing the finished house today.

Once again the House team has capitalized on the use of wrought iron, tiles, cantera, shaped concrete, color and amazing attention to every detail to create light-filled spaces that make you want to sit a spell. When you add to that, that the house is furnished with all the amazing collections that Susan and Mayer have acquired over many years, you have a house that Architectural Digest should be on the way to San Miguel to photograph.

I'm feeling very good to know that we are using the same people who did the granite in their kitchen because it was well done. Also I was wanting to stain my kitchen cabinets a color. Minwax has colored wood stains but I haven't been able to find them here in San Miguel. But Mayer tells me that Comex paint stores have colored wood stains so I'll be checking it out. It wasn't an appropriate time today, but if I get to make some photographs of the house, I will definitely post them in the blog.

Congratulations to Mayer and Susan. It is a beautiful house. And congratulations to Cathi and Steven House. The house is a most amazing addition to your portfolio.

Best Laid Plans

The plan for being without a kitchen during the renovation was simple. We'd move the refrigerator to the portico, buy a hot plate and we can cook in the patio or go out to eat.

This first week, the plan isn't working. We have rain. Lots and lots of rain in the afternoon. Rain that makes the street a river rushing downhill. Blowing rain. We can't cook on the hot plate and going out to eat requires getting wet too.

Last night we thought okay, if we can't get out, we'll call for home delivery from Juanita's Pizza that is just around the corner. Nope......too much rain for Juanita's delivery motorcycles. During one lull in the downpour, Ned walked around the corner to Juanita's for a Pizza and salad but before he got home, it started in again.

Tonight? It is cool and the rain fronts keeps rolling in. Not sure what we'll do. I think I have a can of tuna in a box somewhere.

Simple? Not!

Like most houses in Mexico the electrical breaker box for our house is in an inappropriate place....at least from as aesthetic point of view. It was on a wall of the kitchen but I've also seen them on the wall of the sala......and usually it isn't tucked into an inconspicuous spot. Nope right in the center of the wall.

In our kitchen the bottom of the box was a scant 18" above the counter top. I figured that I could hide it with the microwave on a shelf above the counter but just one problem. The wall cabinets and the shelf should all be at the same height and that is usually at 18" above the counter top in the States. So that would mean that once the shelf went in we couldn't take the cover off of the breaker box. You may be wondering why I'd worry. How many times have you had to take the cover off of your breaker box? Never. Well for some reason here in Mexico it seems to happen....maybe not often but definitely occasionally.

Somehow, I thought that moving the breaker box up 3" would not be a problem. Oh, silly me. On Wednesday morning the electrician came to move the box and a couple of connections. When he left, everything seemed to be fine. The computers and lights all came back on in the front side of the house. About 5:00 PM Ned tried to turn on a light in the bedroom side of the house. No electricity. The refrigerator, not running. He checked the breaker box. Everything looked okay.

The electrician came back. The architect came back. They worked on the problem until 10:00 PM. We could get a low level of electricity in our bedroom so we were not stumbling in the dark but that was it. We called it quits for the night. Yesterday morning everyone was back to work on the problem. All electricity to the house was shut off. About noon the electrician went to get a friend to come and help him. Finally around 5:00 PM, success. We have everything operational again. I don't think we totally understand what the problem was but what is important is that we have electricity.

I thought that the move would be simple. Ha! Even the simple things become an adventure in Mexico.

Flames

The croton plant on my terrace almost went in the trash this Spring but he has redeemed himself. Yesterday he was really beautiful backlit by the morning sun.

No Turning Back

The project has begun. Over the weekend we emptied the kitchen cabinets and moved as much stuff as we could into the guest bedroom. This morning at 8:00 AM Jose, the Albanil and two helpers came followed a few minutes later by Norma, our Arquitecta. After moving some of the furniture and the refrigerator and stove, we drew lines on the wall for the arches for the cabinet in the dining room. The wooden cabinets under the counters were removed and the chipping started. All the plaster has to be chipped from the brick, the concrete counters removed and then new plaster applied and the form for the arches will be built so that we can add wooden cabinets and a bar inside of them. Then it will be time for the carpintero to do his part of the job.

I have wanted to redo the kitchen since we bought the house. Not that it was a bad kitchen but I hated the fruit tiles in the border and I hated the quality of the tiles on the counter top. I don't know what is different about the way the Mexicans do grout but the grout in the counter tops was never clean. I had been use to drawers that pulled out so that you could store things and get them out without standing on your head....and at our age that is a good thing to not have to get on your hands and knees or stand on your head. I definitely wanted more storage space. It took me a while to figure out what to do with the kitchen but I think the plan will be a very workable space and still tie in to the rest of the house.

But I've got to say, I feel a little guilty about taking out this kitchen. It is bad enough that all the Mexicans think it is wonderful but so do the gringos. Yesterday we saw some friends at ChaChaCha while we were having comida. We told them we were getting ready to start the remodel. And both of them said, "I love your kitchen." Well, they are just going to love the new one too!

I Still Get a Thrill.........

It was the Harvest Moon tonight. We were not sure we would get to see the full moon rise above the mountains and over the town because we have had some clouds. Last month we tried to have a full moon party and it rained....a lot. But tonight was perfect. I still get a thrill seeing the moon peak just above the hill and then seemingly dash into the sky. I hope that thrill never goes away.

Future of Film or Is the End Near

When you look at a group of tourist with cameras, it is hard to spot anyone that isn't holding up a 3x5 or smaller camera and looking at the LCD back to frame the image. If they want prints, they take the memory card over to Costco or Walmart and pick up prints later. Or they pop the card in their computer and send Grandmother a picture of little Johnny blowing out the candles on his birthday cake just an hour ago.

Eight years ago I thought that I'd always use film. I couldn't see ever moving to a digital camera for anything other than a few snapshots and certainly never digital output/prints for my work. But cameras have improved dramatically and so have inkjet printers and new papers are appearing faster than you can test them. But there are still a lot of fine art photographers who have a relationship with film and with the processing of film and silver gelatin prints and that relationship is a part of their vision. They want film to continue. And I have always thought that it would. Maybe in smaller facilities, sort of like the small businesses that have sprung up to service the photographers who want to use the older processes like platinum or palladium, but this week an article was brought to my attention in the British Journal of Photography that made me rethink that idea. Film is difficult to make and it is expensive. As film sales continue to fall, the time will come when production will become very expensive and/or cease to exist.

Some of my photography friends have been discussing this issue and my friend Frank wrote about it in his blog, Life with Pitchertaker this morning, October 7, 2006. Frank's reply is at the bottom of the entry.

Getting the Job Done

This morning we have been watching a good example of Mexican ingenuity to get the job done. We heard some different noises in the street and when we looked out this metal structure was there. Alfredo has a metal working shop inside the stone walls in the upper right corner. There is no way to get this structure out his door that you can barely see at the end of the white truck so the only way we can figure that they were able to get it on the street was to pull it up the side of the house that is being built from his patio, then lower it down to the street but that also meant that they had to knock down the front brick wall of the house under construction. I don't have any idea if or what kind of arrangements were made to do that.

At this point they decided that the longer legs needed to be on the bottom not on the side so the three men maneuvered it into place. We still didn't know what they were going to do with this piece but then we realized that it was going on the white pickup truck. By having someone on the roof of the house and the other two working from below, they managed to get it in place. I wish I could adequately describe this to you but ropes broke, the metal legs got stuck on things so the piece would not move. This wasn't a slip it in and slide it on process. I just knew that at any minute they would lose control of the piece and someone would be hurt. There were no loud voices....it was just three men working together to get a job done.

Finally it was on the truck, tied down and ready to be delivered. Thankfully there is only one overpass in town so they don't have to contend with that but there are lots of low electric lines. When we have a procession and a santos is being carried through the streets, there are always men who go along with tall poles to push the lines up and over the santos. I don't have a clue how far this load has to go or how they are going to deal with the low power lines. But I don't doubt for a minute that they will get the job done.

Damp and Cool

The weather is changing in San Miguel de Allende. The nights are getting cooler. Last night we didn't turn on the fan and the windows were closed. Probably in the next week or so we will close the curtains in the bedroom to keep a little more cool air out and we'll close the little bathroom window too. It is almost time to switch from the cotton blanket to the warming blanket on the bed. Usually as it starts to get colder, we have chilly mornings but blue skies and soon the temperature warms up. You start out the day with a sweater but soon it is off and tied around your waist. But today, it was misting rain when we got up EARLY because once again the garbage truck came before it was light. It is still misty, damp and cool.

This was the view from the front terrace to the back terrace. The bougainvillea is just coming back in bloom. We have been into a barren season for this fuchsia colored one so I'm glad to see it showing its colors again. Also the geraniums on the back terrace are very happy right now.

Offended

I don't usually comment about politics in the United States or anywhere else but I gotta say something here.

Representative Mark Foley says that these things aren't "excuses" for his inappropriate emails with a boy but since he has been exposed suddenly he has decided to broadcast this information to the world.

I was abused as a teenage
I am an alcoholic
I am gay

In my opinion, he IS using them as "excuses."

And the one that offends me the most is, "I am gay."

I have a lot of gay friends. They don't fool around with boys.

Garbage/Basura

You would think that this is a very civilized town with garbage pickup three times a week but as things usually are in Mexico, there are a few quirks.

First of all you must be at home when the truck comes because it isn't proper to just leave your garbage sitting outside your door. When you hear the clanking of the rod on the metal triangle, it means the garbage man is in the street and you are suppose to take out your sacks of garbage and hand them up to the men on the truck. I'm not sure by what criteria they sort the garbage but some of the sacks are slashed open and the garbage is dumped in the bed of the truck and some of the bags of garbage are stacked. But whatever the criteria is, the men are standing in the loose garbage and sometimes the stacked sacks are shoulder high.

Neighbors meet at the truck and some one helps the older people lift their sacks up. The muchachos in the neighborhood have a little business of going door to door to collect garbage sacks for a few pesos so you don't have to go out to the truck when it comes. Sometimes the garbage men will have a box for "tips" on the truck but always at Christmas there will be a decorated "tip" box. Ned takes the garbage out more often than I do and he says he has never seen one of our Mexican neighbors put anything in the tip box. We try to do what our neighbors do but at Christmas we put in "tips."

Maybe this sounds pretty well organized to you but now let's talk about the schedule. On our street the garbage truck is scheduled to come on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. But the question is, When on Monday, Wednesday or Friday. For a while it was sometime after noon. Since you have to be home to take out your garbage you can't make any plans in the afternoon. But again the question is, when in the afternoon. Sometimes just when we are giving up that they are coming, here they come at 6:30 or 7:00 PM. Other times they will fool you and come at Noon. If you have some garbage that really needs to go out, you just stay home until they finally come. But it is also possible that they will not come on the regular day at all but will come sometime the next day.

Here lately the schedule has really been throwing us some curves. There was no garbage pickup on Monday so our garbage from the weekend was still with us. We had already talked that one of us would need to be here today to be sure that the garbage left on the truck whatever time it came. Well it turned out that no one had to stay home to wait. This morning while it was still pretty dark, we heard the clang of the metal telling us the truck was in the street. Ned jumped out of bed threw on some clothes and went out with the garbage. But no truck. All of the neighbors had done the same thing and everyone was standing in the street looking up and down and wondering where the heck the truck had gone. In a few minutes the truck came back.

This morning we got rid of the garbage but one morning a week or two ago, we heard the clang of the truck. It was still totally dark. We looked at the clock.....5:45 AM. We both just pulled the covers up and said............well, I won't write what we said but basically we decided to keep our garbage until the next time around.

Blur

Saturday evening after the parade, it was starting to rain. We headed over to LaGrotta restaurant for dinner and got there just as the drops were getting bigger. We headed upstairs for a table and I looked out the window. One of the dance troupes was hurrying down the street in the growing dusk to get out of the rain and keep their feathers dry. I had the camera in my hand and captured this blur of color.


I do love the digital Canon cameras at 1600 ISO. And I love that I can be shooting at 100 ISO and as needed change the ISO for the lighting situation. I also know that at 1600 ISO I can get a usable image.

Sunday Morning Parade

There was a parade and fireworks on Saturday honoring San Miguel's patron saint but by 11:00 AM on Sunday, everyone was ready for another parade. I like to get to the staging area for the parade because then I have room to maneuver and make contact for photographing the people in the parade. When I reached Ancha de San Antonio about 10:20, there were 3 floats (flatbed trucks) parked at the curb and maybe 50 people and some of the mojigangas were being unloaded. Wow, did I have the time right? I started walking around and checking out the costumes. Gradually people started to arrive and the parade left right on time at 11:10.....well that is very on time here in San Miguel! But while the front of the parade was moving well on down the street there were still groups arriving to join in. As usual, it was a huge parade with many, many dance groups, floats, some flatbed trucks with sound systems, a band or two and of course the Queen.

I brought a new lens back with me in July and I'm just now getting around to using it. My friend, Frank, raved about the Canon 70-200mm, f4, L lens. I was covered for focal lengths below that so I thought that this lens would round out my camera bag. I've shot a lot of the festivals in San Miguel so Sunday when I picked up the camera to head over to the staging area for the parade, I put this lens on my camera to give it a try. I set it for aperture priority at f4 to see if I could blur the background and make the main subject standout.

This is a big lens at just over 10 inches long with the lens hood but it felt balanced on the camera while I was shooting hand-held. Frank, was right. This is a good lens. Very, very sharp and I didn't notice any distortion on the straight lines of the buildings although architecture wasn't the subject for the day. And depending on how far away the background was there was a nice blur for the background. I need to work with this lens some more to learn how to use it but so far I can see using it as a great portrait lens.

If you want to see some more of the shots from the parade with this lens, click here.

Outside my Door

No this isn't the wild, wild west or a movie set. This morning was another parade for the San Miguel Festival and these boys and young men have paraded through town, then danced outside the Parroquia for several hours, then back to our next door neighbor who had comida for them. After eating outside our door and some hooping and hollering, the drums started up again and they were ready to dance back toward town for more dancing this evening.
The neighbors and parents had gathered right in front of our house to watch our very own parade as it headed down the street.

Mojigangas

These papier mache and reed puppets are nine to 12 feet tall and they flounce through the parades and festivals irreverently swinging their arms and showing a breast and creating laughter. They might be a bride or groom, a devil, a skeleton or an outrageous caricature of someone we all think we know.
Mojigangas were introduced to Mexico by the Spaniards as a way to attract attention for festivals and teach religion. Today they still are the hit of a festival but the message they bring is giggles and laughter. Click here to see some more Mojigangas