It Was A Dark and Rainy Day

It is a rainy day.....after a couple of rainy nights. This image was taken just a few minutes ago from the terrace. Friday night it started to rain before we finished grilling our dinner on the patio. It let up off and on before we went to bed but about 11:00 PM it started to thunder and rain and that continued until about 9:00 AM Saturday. Then the weather cleared and the sun came out. We had errands to do and the humidity was reminiscent of Houston. Sweat was running off my forehead as we unloaded the car. The weather cooled in the evening and when we walked home from dinner in the Centro, it was very nice. But sometime during the night, the rain started in again. As you can tell from this peek at the patio from the terrace, we are still in a mist. The rain on Friday night filled the pond to within a inch of the top. But the fish don't seem to mind the rain at all. A peek at the terrace. The terrace isn't quite like I want it to be....yet. But we have some wrought iron pieces coming and I think that will bring it all together. The tree in the big pot is a lime tree and if you look closely, you will see that it has limes on it. Our Margarita Machine.

Part of our family will arrive tomorrow for a visit. I'm hoping that the San Miguel Weather Man will turn on the very best San Miguel weather for them.

Holga Landscapes

Howard over on Motivation blog (scroll to the bottom to see his best shot so far) has just gotten a Holga camera and is posting some of his first images. He inspired me to take a look at some of my recent Holga shots. Working with the Holga color negatives always drives me a little crazy. The color is off. I can never decide whether to leave it "off" or try to fix it. And if I decide to "fix it" it still isn't quite right but the fixed not quite right looks better to me than the original scan. Still it is off enough to be just a little disconcerting.

I do have a love/hate relationship with the Holga. I want to find another love, a substitute that lets me work with digital capture but it seems I can never put the film Holga completely out of mind. The holga film image is just a little different. Well Fred Picker always said, "The same is the same and different is different."

Foodies

Are you a Foodie? Well I had heard that term for a while and I wasn't sure whether I was or not.....I guess I'm still not sure. But because I like good food and after writing about San Miguel not being a culinary mecca, I thought that maybe I should find out what a Foodie is.

I looked in Wikipedia (where else?) and I found out that Foodies are a distinct hobbyist group in the United States and that a Foodie is different from a Gourmet. Gourmets have refined taste and might be professionals in the food industry. They want to eat the best foods.

But Foodies are strictly amateurs. They just like to know everything about food, the preparation of food and they are the ones who have created the celebrity chef and the rash of cooking magazines. They watch the food network, buy kitchen gadgets at stores like Williams-Sonoma and they follow what is happening in the restaurant industry. They like to frequent organic farmer's markets or buy their wines or cheeses from the vineyards or dairies where they are made or even go to the farm to pick their own vegetables and fruits.

Hmmm....I do like to learn about ingredients and try new recipes. When we were in the States, we watched the cooking shows...although that may have been because network television was so bad. I liked to look in Williams-Sonoma type stores but I didn't buy much. I take Fine Cooking Magazine. And I like to try new restaurants or find little out of the way places that have good food. So maybe I am kind of, sort of, one of those Foodie people.

Frida Kahlo Centennial Exhibition in DF

We have been to Mexico City for the last few days to see the Frida Kahlo exhibition that commemorates her birth in 1907 and her art. The exhibition ends August 19th. Don't waste time. Book your travel arrangements now. If you think you will see it at one of the venues in the United States, you will be missing out.....only 66 pieces of this show of 350 pieces of her art will travel to the US. It is very fitting that this exhibition that commemorates the centennial of Frida's birth is at the Palacio de Bellas Artes because that is where her wake was held in 1954. The Bellas Artes was originally commissioned in 1904 at a time when Mexico was imitating European styles but because of various political situations in Mexico, it was not complete until 1934. So you find a combination of European classical styles with art deco of the 1920-30s. It is a magnificent building.
We arrived at the Palacio de Bellas Artes at 9:30 to wait in line to buy tickets to see the exhibition. The doors opened at 10 and we had no trouble getting in but when we left the line of ticket holders was long.
If you can see the line snaking up the stairs in this photograph.....that line extended to the right of the image, across this lobby, down a few more steps, across another lobby and out the door of the Bellas Artes and all across the front plaza. They were letting a few people into the galleries at a time. So if you aren't there early to buy your tickets, it is going to be a long day.Even in the early morning, galleries were filled with a steady stream of viewers, moving slowly along seeing the works and studying the images.

Besides many paintings and drawings that I had never seen before because they are held in private collections, the show also included many pieces of Frida's correspondence, selected texts about her political postion and many photographs taken of her by any number of the famous photographers of the day. One room held some of her journals and showed some of the pages, especially of drawings in the journal. I love looking at artists journals and I thought hers were really facinating.

After seeing the show, we hailed a cab to Coyocan and met up with some friends for a leisurely comida. Then we were off to the Frida Kahlo Museum in Coyocan, known as Casa Azul (the Blue House). Casa Azul is the house where Frida was born, lived and died so this is a very unique museum. We had been there before but this day it was special. On exhibition were things that had been stored for 50 years since Diego's death.....photographs that were dedicated to Frida and signed by the photographers, books signed by those who gave them to Frida, personal objects which belonged to Frida and Diego, and more personal correspondence. But the amazing thing was some of Frida's clothing put together as we have seen them in her paintings and in photographs. And they were in her house. It was a very intimate look at the artist.

You can do both of these exhibitions in one day if you get to the Bellas Artes early. It is definitely worth the trip!

Fish

We have fish in our pond! Three fish. I know you only see one but there are three. They are still very shy and so every time someone comes to the pond they retreat under the stand where the cocucha pots sits. I tried earlier this morning to photograph them before the sun created a lot of reflection on the water but they didn't cooperate at all. So I tried again after Ned had gone to buy them fish food. I was hoping that the food would entice them and I'd get all three up where I could photograph them. This was the best I could do today.

I've read that goldfish will start to recognize the person who feeds them and some will even come to recognize a voice. Seems far fetched? Scroll down to Behaviors in this Wikipedia entry about goldfish.

What is next? Well today I looked at a birdcage.

Madre Mala

I know you have seen this plant before. What do you call it? I've heard it called Spider Plant because the new plants that shoot off from the mother have little roots that look like legs. And I've heard it called Airplane plant because the new babies are hanging loose below the mother like they are flying.

Here in Mexico, they call this plant Madre Mala or Bad Mother plant because the mother plant throws the babies out.

Colonial Gem not Culinary Mecca

On a food chat group that I check from time to time, one person wrote:

Mexico has an excellent group of innovative chefs who are developing a modern cuisine alongside their traditional fare, and I certainly haven't been disappointed by dishes using local products (including foie gras from Puebla) and their interpretations of old and new.

It was like a Whack on the Side of the Head. That is what is wrong with the restaurants in San Miguel. San Miguel de Allende is a Colonial Gem but it isn't a Cullinary Mecca. Mexican food isn't being explored and re-interpreted or updated at any of the restaurants here. Oh, when tourists come to town they think the restaurants are great. I think the restaurant food here is good but not great. And some of the best food is in some of the small little out of the way places like the little restaurant near us, ChaChaCha or the tamales that a couple of our Mexican neighbors sell. And none of the restaurants are presenting any of the regional cuisines of Mexico like the Yucatan, or VeraCruz, or Michocan, or Oaxaca just to name a few of the most famous.

Actually some of the best food I've had in San Miguel has been at private dinner parties. There are a few people we know who really love to cook and take the best local ingredients and whip up some really good menus. There are also a few caterers who are using some fresh approaches to traditional Mexican cooking.....which is a long way from the Tex-Mex food that most Mexican restaurants in the USA serve.

In Mexico City, and maybe other places in Mexico, the Mexican chefs are exploring the many cuisines of Mexico and re-interpreting them. I've cited this New York Times article by Mark Bittman before about restaurants in Mexico City. And just today Deb sent me this link to an article in the Ashland Daily Tidings about what is happening on the food scene in Mexico City. Susana Trilling, Diana Kennedy, and Patricia Quintana are tracking down the recipes from all the regions in Mexico and recording them. Then chefs like Patricia Quintana are re-interpreting them for contemporary tastes.

Senora Quintana strives to maintain the techniques of ancient Mexican cooking practices, she's willing to experiment with classic recipes, employing new methods that use less oil and include fresh indigenous herbs and vegetables. Such creative impulses make Quintana's recipes lighter and brighter while they remain true to their historical roots. "My style of cooking is bringing sophistication to traditional recipes and giving Mexican food the recognition and honor it deserves," Quintana has said. Her approach has yielded a prodigious collection of recipes: marinated pork with almonds and prunes, vanilla shrimp, pineapple and coconut tamales, squash blossom soup, grilled cactus with huitlacoche, scallions, and goat cheese.

This is what we are missing here in San Miguel de Allende. Food from other regions and bringing a new interpretation to the traditional recipes.

Sir Edward James Surreal Garden in Xilitla

What is happening over in my galleries on pbase? I took a look this morning and yesterday I had almost 500 views of one gallery, Sir Edward James Surreal Garden in Xilitla. Usually I'll have 5, maybe 10 views of this gallery a day.

Who is looking at it? Someone who is thinking about going to Xilitla? Someone who is overwhelmed with my amazing artistry with a Holga camera? A book publisher who wants to publish this work? (The last two written with tongue in cheek!) An art consultant? A gallery? The MOMA? (Again said with tongue in cheek!)

I don't have a clue why this sudden surge in statistics. But if anyone is interested, I have most of them printed 16x16, beautiful matted and framed and they are for sale.

Gala: Fiesta of Life

Gala? Fund Raiser? Who cares. The event was for my favorite charity in San Miguel, Feed the Hungry. And what a lovely event it was. I'm so glad we went. At first we were going to work as volunteers for the event but we decided that we just wanted to go and enjoy. The Fiesta of Life was featuring a dinner prepared by Patricia Quintana. I've already written about Senora Quintana, the Ambassador of Mexican Cuisine. My only regret about the event was that I didn't take my camera so that I could show you where we went and what we ate.

Cocktails were served in a wonderful house. We don't know whose house it was but I heard that it was two old houses that had been put together about two years ago. If I wrote that the house was like a maze, I would give you the wrong impression because there was nothing closed in about the house. But arches led to a patio that was surrounded by rooms with porticos, and another path led to a pool and stairs led to a terrace and roof top and...... The place was beautiful.

I kept following the trail to the patios and terraces and checking out the garden plantings. Oh my there were some wonderful fountains and plant arrangements but for the most part the plants looked like they had been there forever. Not like they were "arranged." And everywhere there were chaise lounges or chairs and tables so that you could sit down and rest for a moment.

But the lively music of the Angelettes kept you moving. And you never had to worry about looking for something to drink or eat. There were delicious morsels being passed constantly as well as wine or margaritas. I found out that the supervising cooks for Feed the Hungry made the botanas. They had worked with a chef to learn how to make them but did the work for the party and the botanas were delicious, really first-class.

From the home where the cocktails were served, we boarded buses for the Calderon hacienda outside of San Miguel off of the road to Celaya. I had heard about this hacienda before but this was my first time to see it. It has been restored, but not too restored. You still feel the history. A Marachi band greeted us and set the stage for the festivities. Tents had been set up in the open patio around the pool and the tables were gleaming with dishes and silver.

Senora Quintana's menu was amazing.
Entrada - Chilled Avocado Soup Atlixco Style with Garnish of Crisp Tortilla Strips, Tomatoes, Onions, Chile and Creme Fraiche

Plato Fuerte - Chicken in Yellow Mole with Pepicha Herb and Hoja Santa
Chayote and Zucchini
Black Bean Tamal

Postre - Caramelized Almond Custard with Pine Nut Clusters

We saw a short movie about the children and the kitchen in Los Ricos de Abajo and a multi-media presentation about one of the newest and the most distant kitchens for a Chichimeca school.

We had a great evening and I know that all the contributions to Feed the Hungry will be used well and that it is going to help them continue to serve a hot meal to 3500 children who otherwise might not be able to eat very well everyday. My congratulations to Mary Murrell, President of the Board of Trustees, the Board, and everyone who worked on the event and most definitely my thanks for all the hard work they do all through the year along with all the volunteers who help every week to keep the kitchens in operation.

Progress Report

This photograph is just a teaser. I'm not quite ready to show you my NEW AND IMPROVED patio. It is still a work in progress but we are close to being finished. Alfonso Alarcon and his muchachos have popped in and out for the past week getting the fountain running and putting in plants. It is looking good.

I'm really happy with the little fountain. I knew we needed to take out the old wall fountain but I wasn't sure what to do for a water feature for the garden. When I was back in Houston at one of my favorite gardening stores, I kept looking at some brightly enameled pots from China that were being used as bubbling fountains. If I could have gotten one of those big pots in the car on that trip, I might have done it but I couldn't and besides something about the idea of a pot from China didn't seem exactly right for my Mexican patio. Ah Ha! I saw the Cocucha pot that Rick and Deb used in their pond and I thought that something like that would be perfect. Totally Mexican. One of the objectives when we went to the Palm Sunday tiangus in Uruapan was to look for a Cocucha pot for my fountain. I found the perfect one. Just tall enough but still slender enough so it would fit the small pond. I wasn't sure how we could make it all work but between Memin, the albanil and Alfonso and his muchachos, it is running and we have lights in the pond so that it glistens at night.

I love how the water flows over it making it look like it is coated with running glass. And I love the soft bubbling of the water. It is very peaceful to sit in the patio and write in my journal.

This week Alfonso is coming back to "landscape" the terrace. I'll show you the whole project once we get it complete.

Cooking with Patricia Quintana

Oh, what a weekend this has been. And one of the highlights was a cooking class with Patricia Quintana. Maestra Quintana was in San Miguel de Allende to donate her time and expertise to help the children of Feed the Hungry. First for a wonderful Banquet and then for some special cooking classes. Ned had taken a cooking class from her while we were still in Houston and so we were delighted when we were able to go to the class. Just in case you are not familiar with Patricia Quintana she has been called the Julia Child of Mexico and Mexico's Culinary Ambassador. She is the author of numerous cookbooks on Mexican Cooking. If you are going to Mexico City, you might just want to try her food for yourself at her restaurant, Izote.

Maestra Quintana demonstrated three recipes from the Yucatan,
Sopa de Lima, Classic Bitter Lime Soup

Filete de Res al Chilmole, Beef Tenderloin with Traditional Yucatecan Black Sauce

Flan de Coco Imperial, Royal Coconut Flan....sorry, but I didn't get a photograph of the Coconut Flan but let me tell you it was delicious.

I'm ready to make all three recipes. Although I'm not sure I can find the bitter limes here or the Sevilla oranges (which are not in her recipe but she added some zest from them) or if I can find the Yucatecan oregano. She explained that Mexico has seven oreganos and that the one from the Yucatan has much larger leaves than all the rest. The other ingredient that I might have to look for is the chilmole paste. Actually it is a small black cake. She did tell us that it was available at La Anita. I looked and it is there but you will need to order a case of 50 cakes. Anyone what to go in with me on a case? And the last item that will require some research is the coconut milk. You can use coconut water but her Coconut Flan was so delicious and she used coconut milk. She showed me the can it came in and it was from Vietnam. But you never know.....Bonanza just might have it. Oh, and of course I will need to find the fresh coconuts which I have seen here at times.

Those were the recipes but as she talked we learned a lot about Mexican Cuisines and tips for building complex flavors in the foods. I loved every minute and every morsel.

What Happens to Pasta Sauce in San Miguel?

I don't think I'm a pasta connoisseur but in my opinion there isn't very much good pasta in San Miguel restaurants. I've about come to the point of just having pasta at home. Now actually I'm not talking about the pasta, pasta, I'm talking about how it is cooked and then how it is sauced. That is where the San Miguel restaurants are falling short.

Last night we went to a new restaurant in the centro that has been getting mostly rave reviews, Vivoli. The San Miguel Vivoli Restaurant is owned by the owner of the Vivoli Cafe & Trattoria Restaurant in West Hollywood and I assume that the recipes come from there. The restaurant is done in an earthy gold with brown trim around the doors. Behind the bar is dark wood wine racks. White table cloths and cloth napkins. I mention the cloth napkins because you seldom get more than a tiny paper napkin at most restaurants in San Miguel. It all looks very comfortable and cozy except for the lighting. I'm sorry but a ceiling fan with four lights on it, just isn't very flattering to the diners. The staff is dressed in black and seem to be trained, but there simply isn't enough staff to be attentive on a busy night.

There were three of us and all of us were looking forward to getting pasta, pasta as we know it from the USA since we assumed the owner was bringing in his recipes and we would have some wonderful flavorful sauces on our pasta. I don't think that the recipes crossed the border intact. They had already adapted to Mexico. Here is the thing I don't understand about tomato based sauce in Mexico. All of it looks smooth, like a paste. There aren't any little bits of onion or pieces of tomato or anything that might add a burst of flavor or a crunch. And why do all of the tomato pasta sauces end up looking orange instead of tomato red? And why do all of them taste the same?

We had three different pasta dishes and we all thought that the pasta was gummy, not al dente, but gummy. What are they doing in the kitchen? Leaving the pasta sitting in water?

Gummy pasta, pasty sauce. Do you get the idea that I was disappointed in the pasta?

We ordered the calamari and it arrived promptly and was good with a lemony tomato sauce....the same tomato sauce that I had on my pasta but the lemon saved it with the calamari.

We ordered a caprese salad that never arrived.

The wines we had by the glass were good. A Merlot and Pinot Grigio.

The menu had quite a list of things to have beside pasta and we took a peak as some of the plates passed our table going to other dinners. They were nicely plated and people seemed to be enjoying them. So next time we will try something besides pasta, maybe the pizza or a meat dish.

Pasta with any kind of a red sauce? If Vivoli, the little sister of the hip West Hollywood restaurant, can't do it, I guess I'll have to make make my own.

I Lost My Mexican Time

I like Mexican Time because for me it means taking the time to do what is important but sometimes I forget about Mexican Time. It happened this week.

I was walking into town headed for the wrought iron store with drawings in hand to get some quotes when I saw Gillian and Jerry. We stopped to talk. Then Jerry said, "Do you want to get some coffee?" I almost said, "Thank you, but I need to go to the wrought iron store now." WHOA! What difference does it make if I get to the store at 10 or 11 or noon. The store will still be there in an hour but I'd lose the opportunity to sit down and visit with friends.

So I turned off my "check things off the list" self and said, "Yes. Where can we go that is close by." We went and sat on the portico at the Instituto in wonderful soft lime green curvy modern chairs and visited.

I'm glad I remembered to switch to Mexican Time.

Dinner with Friends

Image scanned from page 39, Fine Cooking magazine, May, 2007

"Dinner with Friends" is a series in Fine Cooking Magazine which is my favorite cooking magazine. I like the series because it gives you recipes for the entire meal, preparation hints and a timeline for getting it all on the table. Last night Dar and Jean came for dinner and I cooked from the May, 2007, issue of the magazine, A Taste of Spring. I wish I could refer you to location on Fine Cooking's website so that you could see the recipes but, alas, it isn't on there yet.

The magazine menu was: Wild Mushroom Toasts, Garden Lettuces with Garlic Chapons, Roasted Cornish Games Hens with Wildflower Honey and Orange, New Potatoes with Butter, Shallots and Chervil, Roasted Asparagus with Lemon & Olive Oil, and Vanilla Ice Cream with Espresso-Caramel Sauce.

Now all of this has to be translated to San Miguel and what is available. And right now we can get Cornish game hens at Mega. So I started on finding the other items.

I decided not to serve the Wild Mushroom Toasts. First of all I'm not seeing any wild mushrooms and secondly, I wanted to keep the menu preparation a little simpler. So I just served a local herbed goat cheese that I found at the new Queso Luna shop out on Ancha de San Antonio. No preparation for that.

The next change I made was in the salad. An earlier recipe in Fine Cooking was for baby greens with fresh mango and marinaded red onion. Even though I can't find baby greens we do have some wonderful organic red tip lettuce and the mangos are huge, sweet and juicy now. Another easy switch.

I had to adjust the Cornish game hen recipe because I couldn't find any local honey......I hope this doesn't mean that there is a problem with the honey bees around here. So I substituted maple syrup. They turned out really delicious.

The recipe called for Yukon Gold or Yellow Finn potatoes. Ha! Certainly won't find them here so I used the plain old baby white potato. And I used flat-leaf parsley instead of chervil because I don't think I've ever seen chervil here either. But they were delicious. The only change I'd make next time is to reduce the butter by at least a fourth.

The asparagus was delicious too. But again I'd reduce the olive oil to a minimum to just barely coat the asparagus. By the way, the asparagus was really nice and fresh at the mercado in the centro. I bought two pounds of asparagus for $4. It is always more expensive at the vegetable stand in front of Espinos.

And the dessert.....I didn't use the one suggested but instead used the one on the back cover of the May, 2007 magazine, A Bourbon-Chocolate Mousse. But of course I had to mess with it some too. Instead of bourbon I added Kahlua. It was rich and chocolatey and so easy to make. I made it early in the day and put it in the refrigerator. When it was time to serve it, all I had to add was a dollop of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cocoa powder.

None of these recipes were fussy but they added something to simple ingredients to make them just a little special. I love trying new recipes and I love the challenge of adjusting the recipes to our local ingredients. I just hope all of my guests don't mind being guinea pigs for my trials and, I have to admit, sometimes errors. But last night, I think it was all pretty successful.

John Szarkowski, Rest in Peace

John Szarkowski died Saturday at the age of 81. The New York Times obituary outlines the amazing influence he had on photography as an art.

Fortunately, I had the opportunity to spend some time with Szarkowski in August, 1994, in a workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico. The Workshop was organized by Geoff Winningham. Although Szarkowski was listed as one of the instructors for the workshop, actually he was along for a vacation in Mexico. But he did look at every one's portfolio and he talked about photography. I wish at that time that I would have known as much about photography as I know now. I'm sure I would have appreciated and understood much more of what he had to say.

Szarkowski was as eloquent a speaker as he was a writer and about a year ago I had the opportunity to hear him speak about his life and photography when the retrospective of his photography was at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, Texas. John Szarkowski, Rest in Peace

Disconnected

I've been disconnected today. The electricity was off when we woke up which of course meant we were also without cable and Internet. We asked around in our neighborhood and no one else had electricity either. We managed to heat water on the gas stove and make coffee and make some toast. At 10:00 AM....still no electricity.

By this time I'm really feeling deprived, really deprived. How can I survive with out my email? without reading my blogs? Without checking out the headlines? We don't have any idea what is going on and calling CFE, the electric company only results in a busy signal. And no one is answering at the cable company.

I decide to head out do an errand rather than sit around. As I walk past the Pemex Station on Ancha I see the CFE truck and they are putting in a new major cement light pole. The old one is on the ground and is broken in half. Wires are down. The new pole is suspended by a crane and the men are working around it. There are no men working signs, no barricades, nada. People are sitting outside of the shops by where they are working on the pole, cars are going within 10 feet of the work area and if something should happen and the pole fell someone(s) would be squashed flat. OSHA would not be happy with this work site.

I go on and do my errand and on my return I cross over to the side of the street where the work is still continuing. I can't figure out what happened to the pole that was there. Did it get hit and broken in half. Is it being replaced and if it is, why did they cut it off at about the ground level? Just before I get to where they are still trying to maneuver the pole into a hole and get it upright, I see that about 8 men from the cable company have cables stripped and each one is holding a wire from the wrapped cable. I don't have a clue what they are doing but they seem to know what they are doing. Since all the Mexicans are sitting around, within squashing distance, watching what is happening, I decide to make a run for it and I stay on that side of the street and walk "under" the suspended new pole.

When I get home, Ned has talked to CFE and they said that the electricity will be on in a couple of hours and sure enough it came on. I told him that I thought the cable situation looked a little more complicated and I doubted it would be on any time soon. In the afternoon he finally got hold of the cable company and they told him that it would be on in 2 or 2-1/2 hours. In about 3-1/2 hours we finally had cable and Internet again.

I'm relieved. I'm connected again. Being disconnected made me realize that I really, really would miss being connected.

Speaking of Nudes

copyright Stephen DiRado 2007

My friend, Stephen DiRado of Worcester, Massachusetts has been photographing on the nude beaches of Martha's Vineyard for ....... 15 or 20 years with an 8x10 view camera. There are no grab shots with a 8x10 view camera. Stephen has a relationship with every person in every image.

The first time I saw the beach people series, I was stunned. In the usual sense these were not nude photographs but they were images of people, real people, enjoying the sun, the sand and the water. They were comfortable in their ordinary bodies. The 8x10 view camera rendered the skin so beautiful and luminous but still it was skin with pores and hairs and wrinkles. Then when I got past the body, I got to the story. What is happening between these people? What are their relationships to each other?

Stephen teaches at Clark University but every summer he spends at Martha's Vineyard making images...images from the nude beaches and the dinner table and recently Jump images. I've had the good fortune to see these portfolios grow and I can tell you that the images on his website are just the tip of the iceberg.

A few months ago on Alec Soth's blog there was some discussion about underrated photographers. Stephen's name came up and Alec took a look at DiRado's website and then interviewed Stephen. Alec starts of the interview with:

Until last week I was not familiar with Stephen DiRado. A couple of folks had mentioned his name in regards to the discussion of underrated photographers. I looked up his website and was bowled over. While I don’t claim to have an encyclopedic knowledge of the medium, it is inconceivable that work of this quality and consistency hadn’t penetrated my consciousness sooner. Had I just spaced out or is Stephen DiRado the most underrated photographer in America? Within fifteen minutes of seeing his website I emailed Stephen in hopes of answering this and other questions regarding his remarkable work. Stephen responded with the same generosity of spirit that you can see in his pictures.

You want to see some nudes with a fresh perspective? Then go look at Stephen DiRado's website. You want to learn more about Stephen DiRado? Then go read Soth's interview with Stephen.

Nudes, Manuel Alvarez Bravo

Nudes: The Blue House, a book of photographs by Manuel Alvarez Bravo is a beautiful object. It almost seems to be handmade with one of the nude photographs embossed in the left upper corner of the terracotta-colored-cloth cover. And the title is stamped in blue on the cover. The cover image is of luminous breasts above a partially removed black dress. The book is lovely to hold in your hand and contemplate what you will find when you open it.

And what you find are 37 nudes that Bravo made between 1939 until sometime in the 1990's by which time he was in his late 90's. There are essays by Carlos Fuentes and Ariadne Kimberly Huque in both Spanish and English. Unfortunately the essays are in such small type and so densely laid out on the page that they are difficult to read.

I have referenced the dates that the images were made to see if I see a progression or changes over time but actually some of the ones that were made in the 1970's and 1990's make me think of the ones made by Edward Weston while he was in Mexico in the 1920's and some of the ones he made in the 1939 and 1940's have made me think of the work of Flor Garduno. Bravo had begun photographing during the time Weston was in Mexico and while I don't have a reference, I'm sure they knew each other. But when Bravo makes a nude photograph in the Weston style in 1980, it seems very dated and tired. Garduno was Bravo's darkroom assistant for a few years. So I'm sure that there was cross pollination. In the nude images she has made, that seem to me to have a reference back to Bravo's 1940 images, the images are taken further and other layers of meaning are applied. Her nude images seem fresh.

While there are several outstanding nude images in the book like--Ariadne-1990's, Snows-1940, Doll House-1977, Good Reputation Sleeping-1939, Good Reputation Awakening-1939, The Black Cloth-1986, Black Mirror-1949, Temptation in the House of Antonio-1970, and Lucy-1986,--most of the rest of the images seem to be more about......well, more about just photographing a nude body in shadow, in vegetation, in an architectural setting. I don't get any meaning or significance beyond that.

The book was published in 2002, Bravo's 100th year and the year of his death. Maybe that was reason enough to gather his nude photographs into a book but I think it should have been more tightly edited.

May I See Your License?

This is not the identification photograph of a criminal. It is Ned's new Mexican Driver's License.

He decided that he wanted a Mexican driver's license....after all we live here full time. So he found out the procedure and did it. Some people hire a Mexican to go with them and help with the transaction but Ned is a do-it-yourself kind of guy.

First of all you need to know what your blood type is. So Ned went to a medical lab and they pricked his finger, took a sample and in five minutes they gave him a report that said what type blood he had. Cost $50 pesos.

A day or so later he went to the Consultario run by the Department of Health to see a doctor to prove that his health was good enough to be able to drive a car. He went in and almost immediately was seen by one of the doctors working there. He had brought a report from his doctor in Houston covering his last check-up but the Mexican doctor said he didn't need it. The Doctor checked his blood pressure, listened to his heart, took his temperature, his weight, his height and had him read an eye chart. He recorded all of this on his report including the blood type. This took about 15 minutes and cost $30 pesos. Oh, and by the way, the doctor told him that he was in better health than many of the people he saw in the Consultario.

Next he went to the office of the Transito to apply for the Driver's License. He took along a copy of his Passport, a copy of his visa, and a copy of a tax receipt to prove where he lived. He also turned in an old Texas driver's license so he did not have to take a written test. They took his paper work, asked him some questions such as his name and address and then took his picture. They sent him around the corner to a State of Guanajuato office to pay the fee of $515 pesos for a 5 year license. He returned with his receipt from the State office and they gave him his Mexican Driver's License.

I had already been thinking that Ned had started driving like a Mexican but now it is official. Ned is a licensed Mexican Driver.

Now the Fun Part of Gardening

The hardscape for the new patio is finished and now we are ready to "furnish" it with plants. I also like garden art like the refurbished birdbath pictured above from Fine Gardening Magazine. This is something that we can have made here so easily or maybe I can even find an old baptismal font. Then an iron worker can make the sphere for the top and there you have it. A piece of garden art! Actually I'd like to use this on the third floor terrace and fill it with succulents because it would get lots of sun.

Since the fountain and flower beds and the new laja stone was installed for the patio, we have had the walls painted and the tree significantly trimmed to let in more sunlight. We also took out two of the three bougainvillea that climbed the walls because we could see that the larger they got the more volume they had, the more shade they created over the patio. I like shade but we were getting into deep shade and that made it hard for even some of the shade loving plants.

Friday, Alfonso Alarcon owner of Terra came over to take notes about the plants we'll use and I had several ideas like this planter. He liked them all and talked about how easy it will be to get them made here in San Miguel. Our local craftsman can figure out a way to do most anything. It is so much fun to work with Alfonso because he is so much more than just a landscape guy. He is creative and has an artist's eye so collaboration with him has energy. Now he just has to figure out a way to get in the work before my family comes in a few weeks. Between the rain and other large projects that he has on his agenda, I know it isn't going to be an easy task to work in this small project. But he has been the one I wanted to work with since I talked to him almost exactly two years ago.

Somehow, I think it is all going to work out and when my family arrives, the house and garden will look beautiful.

First Born

Michael was our first born. Born on July 1. I won't say how long ago but his next birthday will be one of those biggies with a "0" at the end. This portrait was made in a studio when he was four years old. I just love his little blond crew cut. He was the first grandchild on either side of the family and he was spoiled by everyone. He started walking before he was 10 months old and he was into everything. He liked music and he liked to build great structures with tinker toys. I thought he would be an engineer. But he ended up with an MBA from the University of Chicago and is into financial management.

Happy birthday, Michael.