On this trip back to Houston I've realized that the things I really, really miss, other than family, are "my" two garden shops on 11th street in the Heights and my photoing phriends. You know if FotoFest can change the letters around from Photo Fest, I can go the other way from Photoing Friends to photoing phriends. HA!
One day this week I made it over to Another Place in Time and to Buchanans nurseries. I could have spent the day just walking around looking at the plants and seeing what was new and looking at all the gardening accessories. They had many glazed ceramic pots that can be used for self-contained water fountains or for decorative pots. Also many clay pots different from the ones we have in Mexico. I turned some of these over and found that all of them at Buchanans were imported from China. What's the deal? How can it be that these heavy, breakable pots can be imported from China and here is Mexico, the next door neighbor, who makes pots too. Now I have to say that the pots from China were pricey and they were in colors and shapes for contemporary tastes but why can't Mexico whose craftsman and artisans are so talented make things just as well and cheaper and closer to import. It would seem to me that the Mexican government would help with some market research and product development. It might help some of the Mexicans find jobs at home.
The other things at the nurseries that I don't see in Mexico were huge stacks of bags of compost....all kinds of compost.....and mulch. In San Miguel we really, really need both of these items.
Going to the nurseries made me sad that I can't find something similar for our area in Mexico. We have such limited plant selection. I would think that most of the plants that grow in Santa Fe would also grow in San Miguel.
I was able to see my Foto Friends on Monday night and then on Tuesday a bunch of us met at the Empire Cafe for lunch. I'm surprised that the management didn't kick us out. We were there for about 2-1/2 hours taking up a big table and talking and talking. Ellie brought a couple of prints on new papers and it took a lot of time trying to decide if one of the papers had a magenta or cream base......and whether the other one was blue or green. It is one of those vital areas of discussion for photographers! What color is the base paper? Is the image split toned? Detail in the shadows? In the highlights? Over-sharpened? All things that the average viewer would not even notice but we can talk about forever. We passed around grandkid pictures and talked about what we were doing or not doing. I treasured this time because I don't have a similar photographic community in San Miguel.
Yeah, I'm very happy in San Miguel but there are a few things that I miss and can't bring back with me.
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3 comments:
Hola Amiga,
Man I hear you! If we didn't miss anything from our "old" lives it simply wouldn't be right I think.
I woke up this morning to blue skies and billowy white clouds, birds singing and a lush green forest. Do you think I a going to miss this - you bet I am!
Missing things is a good thing because it lets us know we were alive along the way.
John
One of your phriends wants to know what new paper kept youy at the phlunch table so long?
Pitchertaker
Pitchertaker, the papers were the NEW Hahnemuhle Photo rag Pearl 320 GSM=magenta to me, cream to Ellie and the NEW Innova Ultra Smooth Gloss 285 GSM = blue or a tad greenish. Both of these papers are listed with Shades of Paper. Both have a surface very much like silver gelatin papers.
Juan, I do think you will miss the earthship and its surroundings but you will gain a lot more.
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