Up and Running with Adobe

It took most of the afternoon but I think that I have both Adobe Photoshop CS3 and Adobe Lightroom up and running. Still have some research to do since Lightroom is asking me some questions that I'm not sure how to answer but I think the computer and I survived.

It has been a long time since I posted a photograph so maybe tomorrow I'll have time to use CS3 and post something new.

An Adobe Headache

I broke my own rule about never downloading beta versions or a new version of any software until it has been out for a while. I downloaded the Beta versions of Adobe's Photoshop CS3 and Lightroom. I enjoyed playing with them but now I have to pay the price.

I've bought the released versions of the software and I'm afraid to try to install them even though the beta versions have expired. I've been reading that some people are having problems with the installation over or after the beta versions. I've just printed out eight pages of TechNotes for troubleshooting installation problems with Lightroom 1.0 on Windows XP. I don't even want to look for the TechNotes for CS3 tonight.

I'm a computer user. I don't want to go looking for "hidden" files or repair registries. I don't know where they are and if they are hidden, I would have thought they were hidden for a purpose....so I wouldn't find them. I like it when I can insert a CD and a little window comes up and asks me if I want to install this software, and will this be a good place to install it, and do you want an icon on the desktop. That I can do. But deleting programs, and moving and renaming files and looking for stuff that is hidden....that is a bit much.

Adobe you have crossed the line. I'm not testing anymore beta stuff for you again.

I can't deal with these two installations tonight but if you hear some ranting and raving coming from South of the border tomorrow, it will probably be me.

Gotta Visit Frida This Summer

Yahoo News reports that the 100th birthday of artist and feminist icon Frida Kahlo will be honored with the largest-ever exhibit of her paintings at the Museum of the Fine Arts Palace in Mexico City.

The show will include 354 pieces plus manuscripts and also 50 letters that have not previously been exhibited. Yes, I guess I'm going to be "forced" to go visit Mexico City again this year.

Traveling Home

We left Austin shortly after lunch on Monday and drove to El Rancho about an hour and a half outside of Nuevo Laredo. I kept thinking as we drove that it was as if I was seeing the area between San Antonio and Laredo for the first time. I know that we have driven that area at this time of the year before but maybe they have gotten more rain this year because it was so green and there were still so many wild flowers. It was really pretty.

We zipped across the bridge from Laredo to Nuevo Laredo and as we drove along the Rio Grande and around the town on the by-pass, we were seeing more development. A new Holiday Inn Express looks like it will soon be opening. There are some new housing developments and a new Ford Dealership on the corner of the by-pass and Mex 57. That intersection that has always looked so ratty had been spiffed up a bit with some planters in the esplanade and the venders weren't there to attack our car while we waited for the light. Shortly after that we saw another new Dealership, Chrysler I think it was. This made me start wondering about what is happening in Nuevo Laredo with the drug war as well as economically. I've tried a few googles looking for some current news about Nuevo Laredo but all I'm finding are the articles about the drug war from a year ago. We never drive through town, just around the by-pass so I don't know if the day traffic from the USA has returned or not. If any of my readers have current information about Nuevo Laredo, I hope that you will post it.

At the immigration station on the other side of Nuevo Laredo, we were stopped by Mexico's army. They had a tank with a soldier fully armed and ready peering from the porthole or whatever that hole on the top is. All of the soldiers had weapons and they looked quite ready for battle. They were stopping cars both entering and leaving Nuevo Laredo. They asked us to step out of the car and they went through it although we did not have to take the luggage out. They hit on the side panels and floor, looked under the dash and seats, in the glove compartments etc. Then they told us we could go on. We got the green light and we were on our way back home.

We were stopped again by the Army somewhere around Matehuala. Again they asked us to get out of the car and they did the same search. Ned asked one of the soldiers what they were looking for and he said drugs and weapons.

If you are looking for a place to spend the night between somewhere in Texas and San Miguel, El Rancho is a great place. It is right after the first toll booth on the Mex 57 cuota road. The rooms are clean and comfortable, there is a gas station, a restaurant, Church's chicken, a Subway, and a convenience store. They don't take dogs although we have been able to talk our way in with Taylor a few times. Taylor stayed in Mexico on this trip with a sitter so no problem. We went to the restaurant for dinner. Ned had a cabrito stew and I had a brochette of beef. It was all very tasty. The problem with the restaurant is that they say they open at 6:00 AM but that just means that their employees start to arrive at 6:00 AM. Up until this time the convenience store has been open at 6 but yesterday it wasn't. Still we headed on down the road and stopped near Monterrey for coffee.

Those of you who have driven from Mex 57 through Los Rodriquez to San Miguel know how bad the road is. Well some work has been done on the road especially through Los Rodriquez. The road paving has almost eliminated most of the topes through town but be careful because they could put them back in at any time. We also noticed that in general the town seems to have cleaned up a bit....yes it still has a long way to go.....and there are two new, very nice looking automotive stores. I don't know why Los Rodriquez needs two big automotive stores but they are there.

We drove up to our house about 2:30 PM. The weather is cooler than when we left and we slept well last night in our own bed. We had a wonderful time with family and friends but we're glad to be home.

Passport Hell

Planning a summer trip out of the country? Do you already have a passport? If you don't, you might not be going.

We have family who are planning to come to San Miguel to see us this summer but the children need passports. Now I'm not sure why the children would need passports. But apparently our government has decided that even a 7 and 11 year old child born in the USA and returning from Mexico with their parents who have passports could be a terrorist threat.

The Houston Chronicle had a story about the passport office in the Federal Building in Houston.

The scene at the George Thomas "Mickey" Leland Federal Building in downtown Houston resembled a soup kitchen. Outside, tired-looking people crowded benches and sprawled on grass. Inside, State Department guards kept teeming hordes at bay in the lobby so they wouldn't add to the lines, snaking through hallways outside the fourth floor passport office.

"We started out in a line to get in a line to get to the elevator so that we could get in a line to get a number to wait in another line," Prothro told me.

Applicants, from El Paso to Oklahoma City, waited like cattle in holding areas, clutching suitcases, gripping manila envelopes of itineraries, some frantically calling congressmen for help. Even those with appointments were shooed by guards to the rear of the line.

While listening to a local Doctor on talk radio in Houston, I got to hear a first-hand report on the situation at the passport office. Usually the talk is about medical issues but this doc was riled up because his wife was in the Passport Hell described above. She applied for a passport in February so that she could go on a mission trip this summer with her church to a Central American Country. Now it was the end of May and she still didn't have a passport. She had tried calling many times to check and then she got an appointment to get an expedited passport. But when she arrived at the appointed time at the Federal Building she was told she would have to stand in line with everyone else. This doc was furious with his government. He wondered how they could even consider making more foreigners citizens when they couldn't even take care of the natural born citizens.

So keep your fingers crossed with me that my grandsons can get their passports. I'd really like for them to come this summer.

What Do I Miss?

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.

A Good Adoption

It was this time last year that we were in the process of clearing out our home in Houston and turning it over to its new owners. We still feel really good about having made the decision to live full time in San Miguel so we haven't felt any anxiety about letting go of a really wonderful, unique house. The reasons we let it go are still valid...it is too hard and too expensive to keep up two houses and would you believe that just last week the New York Times published the article, The Tyranny of the 2nd Home.

When we planned to see our former next-door neighbors, Pat and Susan, they said that the new owners wanted us to stop in for a drink. Mmmmm....I wasn't sure I wanted to do that. It was fine to drive by the house but did I really want to go in and see what they had done. I had worked so closely with the architect. It was, in my opinion, a real collaboration. What if they had taken something out or painted a strange color or what if they wanted to complain about something in the house. But we went for a drink.

The house was still wonderful. Their furniture fit it perfectly and they had even put some similar pieces in the same places that I had furniture. They love the house like we did. They recognized the spirit of the house, the way the light changes it through the day and they love the lighting in the house and that the dining room doesn't have a chandlier. The house is very contemporary but their furniture, like ours, makes it feel like a place where you can sink into a sofa and read.

One of the most upsetting things to me before we sold the house and one of the reasons that I could let go of the house was that the garden was getting overgrown and out of shape. They have found a landscape person to help with the gardens and they are bringing them back into shape. One area near the front door that had become very overgrown they had taken out the plants and put in some slate with a bench on it. I had thought of putting in a pond or fountain there but something really needed to be done and what they did highlighted their wonderful Indonesian pieces on the front porch.

We're happy living in San Miguel full time and they love the house. This was a good adoption and I'm glad I had a visitation.

Going to the Lightroom

Months ago I downloaded the beta version of Adobe's Lightroom. I played with it some and tried to watch some of the free on-line video tutorials. Video tutorials just don't do it for me. All I see is an arrow darting around the screen and someone talking too fast for my slow brain to fully comprehend what they are doing. I really wasn't getting the Library module of Lightroom but the Develop module seemed a little more intuitive. After downloading the Lightroom beta I was able to download the beta version of Photoshop CS3, I found that some of the features I like in Lightroom's Develop module were included in Photoshop so I stopped exploring Lightroom.

I started not to even buy the full-blown Lightroom software but it was being offered at a discounted price and I decided to get it so that if I did start to use it, I would only be buying future upgrades. I guess that somewhere I knew that I would eventually want to use it and I was becoming more and more aware of how much I needed a better system of file management for the rapidly growing digital files.

One of the books I recently bought from my huge Amazon Wish List was Scott Kelby's new book, The Adobe Photoshop Lightroom Book for Digital Photographers. I'm about 1/3 of the way into the book but I now know that I made the right decision in buying Lightroom. The Library module is going to be a great help......just wish I would have been using it for the last four years of digital shooting. Now I'm starting to read the Develop Module. I feel sure that I'll come to really understand the controls instead of just playing with them until things look "right."

I really like the way that Kelby sets up his instruction manuals. His book on Photoshop CS2 has been my all time favorite reference book for Photoshop. If you need to understand all the underlying programming, his books may not be for you but he has an easy way of explaining how things work and how they work together. And I like the screen shots of each step. I'm waiting for the release of his Photoshop CS3 book. Amazon doesn't have an estimated release date yet but I'm pre-ordering so I'll get mine as soon as possible. In the meantime, I'll work on the learning curve for Lightroom.

Epson Clearance Sale---or maybe not

Yesterday I received an email from Epson announcing that they were having a clearance sale. I went to the site to see what they had for sale and to check out the prices.

They have a refurbished Epson 4000 17-inch large format printer for sale for $1595. A little over two years ago you could buy this same printer new with discounts and incentives for about $1300.

B&H has the newer Epson 4800 also a 17-inch large format printer for sale for $1820.

And B&H has the even newer, although it can't handle roll paper, Epson 3800 17-inch large format printer for sale brand new for $1200.

Epson what are you thinking? You are selling four year old technology refurbished for almost the same price as the newer not refurbished 4800 which hopefully solves some of the ink delivery issues with the 4000 and has newer inks with a wider gamut.

I don't get it. If any of you can explain Epson's marketing plan to me, please comment.

A Taste of San Francisco

In three days we didn't have enough time to eat at all the places that we wanted to but still we had some amazing food. After walking around and exploring the area near the hotel, the first night was at Chaya Brasserie just in the next block from the hotel. We shared an order of sushi. Then Ned had lamb chops on a bed of polenta with blue cheese. I had yellow fin tuna crusted with sesame seeds and served on lemon. Every flavor was distinct and crisp. Very satisfying although the portions were not Texas-sized. The room was sleek and contemporary with the iron girders painted the color of the Golden Gate Bridge. By the time we left the room has full but it still seemed spacious and the noise level was low enough that conversation was intimate and pleasant. The next day we headed out exploring after a quick stop for coffee. We covered China Town, North Beach and the Fisherman's Wharf areas. By the time we walked to North Beach we were ready to sit down and have something to drink, eat and rest a bit. We stopped at the San Francisco Brew Pub which is one of the older pubs in town. The beer was great and we shared a sausage sandwich. There is a old wooden bar that takes up one side of the room and down the center of the ceiling is a ancient fan contraption with palm paddles. The bartender was also our waiter and he was from Ireland and could have been from central casting. As we walked further into North Beach, I saw a lot of other restaurants that I would have liked to try including Rose Pistola whose cookbook I have. Hopefully, we'll be back again.

That evening we met Megan, daughter of one of our friends in San Miguel, and her friend Daniel Grant who I interviewed here. We had a glass of wine in the Americano Restaurant at the hotel and talked non-stop for almost two hours. What a treat it was to see them both and it was really nice to connect Daniel's face and his work. From there we walked across the street to the Boulevard Restaurant. I don't think I've ever eaten such creative, delicious and beautifully presented food in my life. We started with scallops for me and Ned had red abalone. For the main course I had lamb prepared 3 ways, sausage, lamb loin, and lamb chop. Each with an exquisite accompaniment and presented as one on a long narrow plate. Ned had a veal loin prepared two ways. And then we moved to the desserts. Again there were several preparations on each dessert plate. Nancy Oakes is an amazing chef. The decor reminded me a bit of some of the French Quarter restaurants with the mosaic floor, tulip lamps and brick vaulted ceilings. Although the restaurant was filled to capacity, we felt cozy and comfortable at our little table for two. I bought the Boulevard's beautiful cookbook. I will not be able to complete one of the recipes in Mexico because I can't get some....maybe most....of the ingredients. And if we still lived in Houston, I probably wouldn't try to serve the two or three preparations for lamb or veal or a dessert at once but I might try one method at a time. Still I think I'll get some good ideas for presentations.

On Wednesday we headed off for the Golden Gate Park. The cab driver obviously didn't know his way around the park and let us out on the wrong side of the park for the Conservatory. We spent most of the day in the Park at the Conservatory and the De Young Museum and just walking. We caught a cab back to Union Square to check out the shopping and from there walked back to our hotel on the water by the Ferry Building. We had thought that we would eat at the Slanted Door but when we called for reservations, they didn't have room for us so we decided to go to the Tadich Grill. The Tadich Grill has been around since the late 1840's and it has that wonderful feeling of permanence with dark wood and mirrors. We started with a Dungeness crab cocktail. The cocktail sauce had a great hit of horseradish and was perfect. I had one of the favorite specials....a dungeness crab casserole. Ned had fish. The food was good and reminded me of our long time Texas Gulf Coast restaurants. But another treat was the San Francisco Brown twins who are considered a San Francisco institution. One of the waiters told us that they were in their 80's. They dress exactly alike....all the time. I could see them from where we sat. They were sitting side by side and the whole time we were there they were either talking to each other or to people who stopped to talk to them. I stopped and talked to them because they were adorable in their matching yellow pillbox hats with jaunty yellow feathers. They are so animated that although they gave me permission to photograph them, one or the other of them was always in motion. Before we left on Thursday, we walked to the San Francisco of Modern Art and on the way back to the hotel had dim sum at Yang Sing. Magic little tidbits of flavor.

The trip was wonderful and the food was marvelous but we'll have to start saving up to do it again for the 60th wedding anniversary!

SFO

Yes, we are in San Francisco. The hotel, Hotel Vitale, is on the water and our room looks over the bay and the Ferry Building. It is really lovely. Another part of our 50th Anniversary Celebration. And we aren't through celebrating this milestone.

We haven't traveled by air much since 9/11 except to Mexico. Domestic travel is a zoo. At least it is out of the Houston Airport. The security procedures feel invasive if you were use to travel prior to 9/11. Not that I am complaining if that can make it difficult for someone to take over the airplane. The airport was so crowded there was hardly an empty seat around the gate. And the other thing that impressed me is that almost everyone was dressed as if they were enjoying a casual Saturday, not business casual, but wrinkled, rumpled Saturday.

We explored around the hotel after arriving yeserday afternoon including the Ferry Building. Today we hit the sidewalks. After breakfast we started walking and walked until about 3:30 PM....Chinatown, North Beach and Fisherman's Wharf. Tomorrow......we'll map out another day of seeing the town.

I'll report more about where we eat but from what I'm seeing the food here is fabulous and very creative even at the small places. Also the prices seem to be about 1/3 more than I'd expect to see in Houston. Lots of fish of course but also the portions are not Texas Super Size.

This is a fun trip.

Which Lens?

Which lens is going to work best for me on a short trip to San Francisco? Should I take the Digital holga lens, the Lensbaby, the 24 mm or the 24-105 f4 IS lens????? I'm not going to take them all. One camera, one lens. Nada mas! The 24-105 lens is heavy especially when you are walking around with a camera all day. And the camera 24-105 lens combo makes a big camera statement. So I doubt that I'll take that lens. I don't expect to come back with a portfolio of fabulous images but I'd like to come back with a keepsake or two. I'm probably going to go with the digital holga or the lensbaby and just have fun.

But maybe not. I still have until tomorrow morning to decide.

Mother's Day

Ned made my breakfast this morning. Jimmy Dean sausage, egg, English muffin and coffee. Gary sent flowers yesterday. I'm sure I'll get a hug from Mike when he gets up and a call from Doug later this morning. It is nice to have a little attention from "my boys."

Long ago when they were really "boys" they would go off with their father on Saturday and bring me a corsage to wear to church on Sunday morning. Remember corsages? Does anyone still wear them? Anywhere? It was quite a trick to wear a corsage and burp a baby. And back in the old days, Ned didn't do much cooking but he was great at going to get glazed donuts for a special breakfast.

One Mother's Day we were going to Kemah to eat after church. We had Mike and baby Gary who was about three months old. We pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant and it was full and there was a line out of the door. I think that was the last time we ever tried to go out to eat on Mother' Day......actually any special day.

And I've been thinking about my Mom. She always looked so great in a shirt-waist dress. She made the most amazing boiled sugar icing for coconut and devil's food cakes. She could just throw together the flakiest pie crusts and she always baked some little pieces for me with a little sugar and cinnamon sprinkled on them. She made our clothes when we were young and some of them I still remember vividly......a tweed wool battle jacket with a pleated skirt, a peasant blouse with a deep ruffle of eyelet around the neck. Any number of dresses with gathered skirts and big sashes that tied in the back. The year she re-decorated mine and my sister's bedroom with a flower print of fushia and lime green. I thought it was very colorful and stylish. All the things she did for our wedding. Well the list could go on and on as I'm sure it can for you when you think of your Mother. Now my daughter-in-laws are doing the "job" and doing it very well.

I'm through with the hard work of keeping everyone in clean clothes, teeth brushed, food on the table. But the job isn't over. Until the day I die, I still have the worrying part of the job. Hey, that is what Mothers do.

What Is Different?

What are the things that I notice immediately when we come back to the USA?

The highways are smoother although Mexico is working on a 1000 miles of Mex 57 and it seems like each year it has gotten better.

The urban roads are wider, cleaner and smoother. Traffic signs and directional signs have standards in the way they are used. Mexico you never know when a sign says Queretaro to the right if it means the road that is right in front of the sign or the next road to the right. And you have to be vigilant to look for signs because you never ever know where they might be located.

Things are green and there are big mature trees. The part of Mexico where we live, we only have green about five or six months out of the year. And the trees, even if they are oaks or not like Texas stately live oak.

We can drink the water from the tap.

Portions in restaurants are huge.....I mean huge. They aren't served on plates, they are served on platters.

You have to stand in line to buy groceries or pay for clothes. There are few sales people in department stores and the kiosks where you pay are few and far between. Yesterday I didn't think we would ever get checked out of a grocery store. In San Miguel, I pick up my veggies hand the tienda owner my pesos and I'm out the door.

Houston is humid and so far on this trip, just really warm but I'm sure that while we are here we will have some HOT days. The good news is, we go from the house, to the car, to the shopping mall, to.....AND all these spaces are air-conditioned, very well air-conditioned with controlled humidity. The bad news is that the only walking you do is from the house to the car to the door of the store. Although I did put in a bit a walking in the Galleria.

I don't see someone I know every time I put my foot out of the house in Houston. Of course, you may say, "Houston is the fourth largest city in the USA. How could you expect to see someone you know every time you go out?" True, but it sure is nice in San Miguel to talk with friends face to face all of the time. Better than the telephone and better than email.

While there are apartments and condos and hi-rises, most people live in houses with space around them. We do like space.

The shopping is fabulous. What do you want? If you can't find it in Houston and probably many kinds of it, then it probably doesn't exist.

I'm going to write more about shopping in the USA but that will have to wait for another day. So far these are the things that are different.

Houston

Last night we spent the night in Laredo. Drove into Houston today. First stop was Central Market. I had sushi and Ned a sandwich. We are at our son's house and are connected again.

Isn't it weird.....it wasn't that many years ago when I was talking with a computer nerd about the Internet and ISPs. It was very confusing and very difficult to do but he kept telling me that the Internet was going to explode our understanding of comunications. It all seems so long ago but it really wasn't. Now I get anxious when I can't get on line for a few days. It seems that computer nerd was right.

Tomorrow will be a full day. We have to hit the ground running to get in everything on our calendar.

Family Time

Tomorrow we're headed to Texas. Time to see family. Time for some shopping. Time for friends. Time for some Texas food.

The shopping list is long. None of it a major item but lots of little stuff like a little whisk for salad dressings, a 9 inch springform pan for this amazing chocolate cheese cake recipe, fabric for curtains, the cosmetics I like. T-shirts....they never last more than one year. Either I get a stain on them or they fade from so many washings. And so the list goes.

Mike and Betsy's boys are in playoffs on their respective little league teams so we'll get to see some of the games. Maxwell is waiting to show me his new martial arts moves and Dexter...... well can't wait to see our clown.

We've lined up some visits with friends.....breakfast, lunch and dinners.

And I'm already thinking about Blue Bell Homemade Vanilla ice cream with Hershey's Chocolate Syrup. Yumm...... Good Company Seafood's campechano one day for lunch. A steak at Flemings. A burger at Someburger. Dinner at our neighborhood Italian restaurant, Patrenella's. A trip to Farmer's Market in hopes of finding fresh pinto beans. You can only get them fresh in the shell during May. Soooo much more delicious than the dried pinto beans. Okra and tomatoes, fresh cream peas. A trip to Central Market. Fiesta for live crabs....I hope they have them. I love to sit and pick crab meat, drink wine and talk. A big bowl of boiled shrimp. Sushi. Wow, I'm not sure I can get enough meals into three weeks to cover all of this.

And while we are back we are going to San Francisco for a few days.....more of our 50th Anniversary Celebration year.....a gift from Son #2.

Now all of these plans are in place and the plan is that we have a house/dog sitter because we want to leave Taylor here since we will be on the road so much. I think he knows he is getting left and just like a kid, he has been sick. First with an eye infection that has taken us three trips to the vet to clear up and then Sunday he had a little stomach upset. But all seems to be okay today.

So tomorrow morning we'll be headed North.

Headlines

Dan de baja a 9 policias por consumir cociana y marihuana

That was the Headline in Ecos de San Miguel newspaper this week. That headline took up almost a fourth of the front of the newspaper. With my limited Spanish and with reading some of the rest of the article, I knew that the policias were in deep trouble for consuming cocaine and marijuana but I wasn't sure what they did to them. Dan....from the verb dar....They gave. Baja...lower, fall???? Somehow it just wasn't computing....certainly not as a literal translation from my limited Spanish vocabulary.

So off to my handy, dandy new Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary, 3rd Edition. I read through the dar's, one half a page in the dictionary. Still I couldn't figure out exactly what the headline meant.

Next I tried baja. Aaahaaaaaa......there it was, almost at the end of baja........dar de baja is to dischange. They discharged 9 policias or as The Donald would say, "You're Fired."

Secondary headline was, "Segun la Direccion de Seguridad Publica fueron dados de baja despues de resultar positivo en el examen antidoping." My translation of this is, "They were fired according to the direction of Seguridad Publica after they tested positive in a drug test." But I love the phrase "el examen antidoping." Antidoping? Why not use "el examen para drogas?"

Even if I learn to speak better Spanish, I doubt that I'll ever be fluent enough for these nuances of the language. But nevertheless, I gotta start working with a tutor again.

Visitor jump

WOW! My blog stats are going crazy since last night. I wish it was because I had written a carefully crafted essay about photography but it isn't. I wrote a lighthearted piece about Adobe pulling the plug on PhotoShop Creative Suite 3 Beta. The new full-blown PhotoShop CS3 has been launched and they have closed the freebie. Now they want you to buy the program that they have been letting you beta test for them. Hey, they're in business. Good marketing ploy, get it free and if you like it enough you'll buy it when you can't get it for free anymore.

Sometimes I have a jump in visitor stats because of a link from somewhere and I can see that many of those visitors stay on the site for a while and look at lots of pages. Maybe they'll like what they see and they'll be back. But this spike in visitors isn't looking around. They are coming in and out in one second. So this is just a blip. Here today, gone tomorrow.

Wish List

I've always liked to read and I've always liked owning books. Going to the library is okay but to actually possess the book makes me feel "rich."

My Amazon Wish List has 34 books in it. I've moved 10 of them to the shopping cart. That may be the best I can do for this trip to Houston. With so many books on my list it would be nice if I could check some of them out of the Biblioteca here but they don't carry "my" books.....my books are mostly monographs of a photographer. Besides I like to go back through my photography books often. As well as the photography books, I have a book of poetry, a cookbook, and a "manual" for Adobe's Lightroom in the cart tonight.

We'll see how things go in Houston, maybe I can sneak a few more in.

Product License Has Expired

Oh, no. Adobe please don't do this to me. I've been a customer since PS3. I've bought my new update for CS3 but it is waiting for me in Houston. Can't you figure out a way I can keep using the CS3 Beta until I get to Houston? Yes, I know I could have downloaded the software but on my connection here, it might have taken all day. And besides, I'm an old fashion girl. I like hard copies of the software somewhere so I can hold it in my hands....just in case.

Adobe, do you realize that you are sending me back to the stone age of CS2?

I'm not sure I can make it until this time next week without CS3. And if I don't make it, you are responsible for cutting me off.

Elementary....But Maybe Not

About a month ago I received a copy of Stephen Shore's book, The Nature of Photographs. It is 133 pages. Text is limited and usually in the upper left hand corner of the page on the left. There are a variety of images, a few well known but most unknown and some by relatively unknown photographers.

It didn't take long to read through the book. Mmmmmm....I thought. This is a pretty simple book. No long words, no complicated sentences. No scholarly commentary or critiques. I more or less knew what he had written about even if I hadn't gathered all those thoughts together in one place. So in a sense, I dismissed the book and put it on my bookshelf. But I've gone back to get the book any number of times since then to help me put into words what I'm trying to say about an image.

On the inside book cover, ....this book serves as an indispensable tool for students, teachers and everyone who wants to take better pictures or learn to look at them in a more informed way. And Shore writes in the book, All photographic prints have qualities in common. These qualities determine how the world in front of the camera is transformed into a photograph; they also form the visual grammar that elucidates the photograph's meaning.

Yesterday I used a quote from the book in the post about the picture of my Father. But that same quote I had also thought of using in conjunction with the video interview with Sally Mann in another entry. For some reason I'm not able to go back and see that video again so I'm paraphrasing what she said. But Shore wrote that a photograph had a life of it's own in the world. Sally was asked about comments and critiques of her work Immediate Family that were critical and saw the images in a dark way. Sally answered that it was not what she thought or what was happening when the images were made but she had no control over what people thought or wrote about them after she put the images out in the world. The images took on a life of their own. She could no longer explain them, justify them, they had to stand on their own. I loved the metaphor she used of having no control over little boats that were set out on the sea.

So while my initial reaction was that the book was simple or elementary, I think I will be pulling it out of the book shelf often to help me organize and analyze my own work and to write about images.

Update: Just tried the video link again this morning and it was working.

Snapshot #2 - My Dad

Bill Williams
March 31, 1906 to July 4, 1984

Stephen Shore says in his book, The Nature of Photographs, "As an object, a photograph has its own life in the world. It can be saved in a shoebox or in a museum. It can be reproduced as information or as an advertisement. It can be bought and sold. It may be regarded as a utilitarian object or as a work of art."

I've never seen the actual photograph from this negative that I scanned today but I've seen this negative for as long as I can remember. It was in a box with other pictures....not a shoe box but maybe a dress box. I'm guessing that my Dad was about 3 years old when this was made. It is a very strange negative. The material is very heavy and stiff. Nothing like what we think of as a negative today. The size is about 5.5 inches by 3.75 inches and the image only takes up 1/2 of the space so it looks like another oval image of the same size could be on the other side. It doesn't look like this was made by a professional photographer, certainly not in a studio.

Was this the original negative or was it made at a later time. George Eastman House has some of Lewis Hine's negatives....all clumped in the 1906-1938 time frame. Some are glass plates and others are gelatin on nitrocellulose sheet film. If this is an original negative, it is coming up on 100 years old. It is deteriorating badly. The emulsion is silvered and on one side it is bronzing. The "shiny" side of the substrate is crazed with tiny cracks. Or was this a negative made in the 1930's from an old photograph. I don't really know. This photograph/negative has had a life of it's own in the world. When did it end up in the box in my Mother's hope chest?

I was always told that this was a photograph of my Father but even without being told I think I would recognize the sharp brow over the eyes and the set of the mouth. I look at it and I think I see traces of my Father in my sons and in their sons. But seeing it, I also see traces of my Father's whole life. Family images are amazing possessions to have to remember things that we have witnessed and things that we did not witness but are still in our consciousness.

Mustard Sauce

I love this mustard sauce. I originally got the recipe out of Beyond Chiles, A collection of Recipes from Saint Paul's Anglican Church, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. It goes with Toni Allen's recipe for Spinach Balls (page 11) but it is so versatile that I wanted to share it with you. I've used it with Toni's spinach balls, with cocktail sausages, on fish, and on sandwiches instead of mustard or mayonnaise and I'd use it on little cocktail sandwiches of ham or roast beef, or as a condiment with medallions of a filete de res. If I kept it on hand all of the time I'm sure I'd find other uses for it too.

It is one of those recipes that really needs some time for all the flavors to blend. It can be as hot as a Chinese mustard but most of the time it isn't quite that spicy. It also makes a difference which dry mustard you use. The bulk dry mustard I can get in San Miguel doesn't seem to make as hot a mustard sauce as the canned dry mustard I buy in the USA. And the vinegar and mustard really need to stand covered for 4 hours before you put the rest of the sauce together.

Recipe for Mustard Sauce
1/2 cup dry mustard
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk

Combine mustard and vinegar in a small bowl. Cover and let stand for 4 hours. Mix sugar and egg yolk in a small saucepan. Add the mustard and vinegar and cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until slightly thickened. Cover and chill. Serve at room temperature.

Groceries

I'd never think of doing this in the USA......walking home with all these groceries. Here I don't give it a second thought.....well, sometimes I do, like last week when this load was kind of heavy. First I walked to the San Juan de Dios market and bought the chicken and then to Espinos and then home. I guess the heaviest things were 7+ pounds of chicken, a cantaloupe, a bottle of corn oil and a big jicama. Add to that all of the other things and it was heavy. One of the things I do when I go to shop is take my backpack and I use it for the heaviest things. It is easier to carry when it is on my back and not hanging from my arms.

Most days, we are only buying for the two of us for that day.....like two chicken breast, some zucchini, a loaf of bread and some tomato juice. I love only buying the vegetables that I'm going to use that day. And I love the fact that if I don't eat them that day the next day they are past their prime. You know in the USA, I could buy carrots that would last...maybe not indefinitely....but for a long time in the refrigerator. Here, in or out of the refrigerator, they won't last long. What this tells me is that these are local carrots and they aren't treated to hang around. I think that here in San Miguel we are eating more food that isn't processed or that has additives.

Although there are now two super market grocery stores in town where we could get in the car drive up to the door, shop, drive to our front door and not have all this walking and carrying, we don't do it. Maybe I would only have to shop once a week. It would be just like we lived in the USA. I can't believe I'm saying this but I prefer walking to two or three tiendas for what I need, shopping daily, and walking home with my purchases. Definitely a much healthier and much tastier lifestyle.