Birthday and the Symphony

Yesterday was LW's birthday. the last couple of years we have celebrated his birthday with a dinner we host here at home. There are a number of friends with birthdays in October. So we usually have one big dinner for everyone on our patio. We haul out the dinning room table and benches, make ice cold pitchers of Sangria. I dig out the huge paella pan, hit the shrimp ladies at the market and make some of the best paella this side of Spain :c} But this year there were vacations, and it has stayed way to darn hot and humid to be sitting on the patio, no matter how much Sangria there was to drink :c}

EEUUU I have a bit to learn about flashes, glare and good photography:c}

Soooo LW and I decided we would have a nice early dinner at the Plaza Muchado and then wonder over to The Angela Peralta Opera House to listen to the Mazatlan Symphony's first performance for the season.The symphony focused on European composers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Music, the Arts and Dance are very important to the Mexican culture. Not just theirs but all the other cultures. Of course and rightly so they are most proud of their own culture's contributions. But they have a deep appreciation for all art and music. so much so that October 2nd each year starts ofF a 3 month long arts celebration. There will be art exhibits, opera, ballet, dance, jazz, blues, Banda, Flamenco, plays and on and on. Some will require fees but many others will be free. They will be in different theaters, churches, parks and plazas all over the city.In the first two weeks of October there is a performance every night. Tonight at the opera house is a Canadian brass group. Well you get the picture. Mexico is not all "Mariachi" bands.

The Angela Peralta Opera House is this wonderfully restored grand French influenced building... The French for a while thought Mexico belong to them. That was after Spain, but in between the USA. The theater sits in Centro Historico and like many historical city centers it fell into sad neglect. In our heat, humidity and salt air, neglect is a death toll. In 1973 Mazatlan was hit with a category 5 hurricane which ripped the the roof off, exposed the stage and boxes to the elements and dumped thousands of gallons of ocean on it.

In the 90s the city realized the tragedy of loosing their historical buildings and began a restoration project. Now the grand Dame is back to her old beautiful self.
All in all last night was a wonderful celebration of LW birthday . Oh I should go check the calander to see what is schedualed next month (my birthday ;c} )

Have a good evening or day my Bloglandian neighbors depending on what part of the world you are in!! :c}

No Thirty Minute Meals Here!!!

One of the first things you learn when you move to Mexico is clocks run at a different speed here. The reality is life is a bit slower here. For many non Latin or non Latin Americans this can cause serious anxiety, crankiness, and much beating of their heads against walls. :c}

There is none of those Olive Garden Rapid Lunch menus. No guaranteed service in 5 minutes or lunch is on them. No dine and dash crowd. In fact most employees are granted 1 hour lunches and many business will close for 2 hours for Siesta.

When we go to Centro Historico ( the historical town center) to run errands we often like to stop for our afternoon meal at Fonda Santa Clara. Fondas are little family restaurants that serve plain home cooking. Santa Clara is one of our favorites. It was the first restaurant we found on our first trip to Mazatlan. It sits on the part of the Melacon ( public walkway on top of the sea wall) that is call Olas Altos (high waves). The little place has been in the same family and opened for 38 years.

We pretty much don't need a menu anymore, things don't change and there is no Chef special or special of the day. LW always... well almost always orders Burritos. I tend to surf around. Although Queso Fundido is one old stand by. It's sorta Mexico's version of melted cheese sandwiches. Except the cheese is melted in a little casserole dish and the bread is tortillas. I always like to order mine with bacon but most eat it with chorizo. There are all kinds of recipes if you google it. Many will give you substitutes for Mexican cheeses. However most bigger grocery stores carry a couple of Mexican cheeses these days.

When we have lunch here we usually plan on being here an hour to an hour and a half. First we have to greet the waiter Chulio. He has been the day waiter since the place opened. He was a surfer in fact an excellent surfer in his younger days. He was also an actor in a number of Mexican movies.Once we get caught up on the latest news he'll bring LW his ice cold Pacifico, a tall glass of Limonada for me fresh Salsa Mexicana, (fresh salsa) and chips then wanders back in a bit to take our meal orders. There's never any rush. We have the ocean in front of us across the street and when there are a few waves we can watch the kids surf or boogie board. Like most out door restaurants the sidewalk passes right through the middle of the tables. So at any given time we can run into lots of people we know. All must stop say hello check on how lives are going. Of course that applies to those who are driving by in their vehicles. Ya stop, put on your blinkers, lean out the window or across the passenger and proceed with your greetings. If you haven't time to stop the polite thing to do is slow down, roll the window down, honk your horn, and yell ADIOS as you point your finger at whom ever you are greeting. That way everyone on the side walk looks up to see who is being greeted and since they are never sure it's not them they all laugh point their fingers and yell back ADIOS. :c}

When we have had more then enough to eat we say our goodbye grab our packages and start down the sidewalk holding hands smiling and saying "Damn life doesn't get much better then this!!" :c}

So my Bloglandian friends have a good rest of the day or evening depending on what part of the world you are in.

Show and Tell Sunday

We are suppose to share our vintage aprons for this Show and Tell Sunday. This one might have proved rather difficult for me, because there is only so much room in a 5' by 8' trailer. Huh?? When we decided to live out my then our dream of moving to Mexico we decided to divest ourselves of our "material baggage" :c} Soooo we bought a 5' by 8' trailer and set ourselves the task of fitting all our worldly possessions in it. Ha! that's a whole other bedtime story for another post. :c} Needless to say vintage aprons was not on the list!!!

I found these at an expat's. yard sale. Because of personal reasons they were throwing in the towel and moving back to the States. I can't help wondering what was the reason was that would compeled a woman to decide these two little beauties needed, had to, can't live without, to haul them all this way?? Sadly she wasn't at the sale when we were there so I could ask her to tell me their story. :c{

I've got to say these are some really cute 1950s-1960s aprons. The green one could only have been made to wear for entertaining. I can just see June Cleaver in her best full skirted dress, high heels, pearl earrings and necklace, serving coffee and crustless Wonderbread finger sandwiches to the bridge club!! ;c} Both of them are hand made and the green one is trimmed with darling hankies.

SO my Bloglandian friends have a delightful rest of this Sunday (I guess Monday for the other side of the world). It's way to hot, humid and sunny for us to do anything but head for the beach at Stone Island :c} Besides Shrimp season just started and I bet Rudi is serving up some really mean ceviche!!!

WOW

I thought I would let you all know that Debbie really loved the jacket I made her, and I was pretty proud of how both of them turned out:c} I have a little confession though I still ended up doing a bit of hand work on both jackets in the hotel rooms on the way there. You know how it is. Maybe one more thing here now one there to balance things out. What would it look like if I put this here or there or took it off?? I just can't help myself. I have to keep fusing until it's just right. :c}

The first evening we were there we decided we would go into town for a bit of dinner. Because we were at a cafe that was in the court yard of an old colonial coffee baron's house we decide we'd take our jackets. That was the first time Debbie told me that if I'd make some more jackets she would sell them in her shop. I sorta poo pood the suggestion, "right no one is going to buy these, I mean these are okay but that's about it." "No really" she said "they would really sell well here" (me) "Oh sure sure" Then she started showing the jacket around and sure enough women said they were something they would buy. Better yet they would even wear them out in public;c}

Unlike many of my bloglandian friends that have their own shops and have sold their creations I never have. No one has ever payed real money be it dollars, pesos, yen or Monopoly money for anything I have made. I'm really not that talented. I get by and I love to create and give them as gifts but... I didn't even learn to sew until I was 26. I was working at a hospital in a little town in Northern Montana. In the winter (that's 11.75 months a year) the only thing to do is go to the bars or the churches. So I asked for a sewing machine for Christmas bought a few easy patterns and taught myself to sew. My Mum was a gifted seamstress who made all of my clothes when I was at home. When I would get stuck figuring out the directions I would pick up the phone, read them to my Mum and she would tell me how to do it. Number one child is my only girl so I had so much fun sewing all kinds of little outfits for her. BUT I never had anyone ask me to sell anything. Talk about being flattered :c} but still I didn't think I could do it.

Then the day I was at Debbie's shop and laid eyes on the antique tortilla making board she had, I fell instantly into love!! I just had to have it. The owner had an iron stand made for it so it was coffee table height. But OH MY GOSH the wood is as soft as silk, especially in the indentations where the dough was mixed and rolled out for a couple of hundred years :c} When you run your hand along the wood you can actually feel all the lives of the women who made their family's daily tortilla on it. It truly has become a testament to these women's lives, emotions and love of family!! SO I just had to have it I didn't care what the cost... Yikes that much huh?? That's when Debbie and I worked out a bit of a trade. Jackets and vest for the tortilla board.

Now that I'm home I'm on the hunt for tarnished bling, bits of lace, ribbon and trims. I have added to my list of things to bring back from the States. And I guess you could say I'm now in the Jacket business. Although in case the Mexican immigration department is reading this I'm not officially receiving money nor am I working for pay. Neither of these two things can I legally do with the visa I currently have. :c} And since I would hate for people to think the label name was by "noname" I decided to add a tiny key and heart charm on the label and call it "Para Siempre" (forever)

What do you guys think?? How about taking a minute and giving me your opinion in the comments??

Once again we are at the end of a wonderful day. I'm feeling pretty good since I got a card made for LW's mom's birthday this month. I hope you have a good evening or day in bloglandia depending on what part of the world you live in!!:c}

Yard Sales

That all American love affair with Yard Sales, Tag Sales, Garage Sales, is not much more then a passing curiosity here. I suppose it's because here things are used, reused, repurposed, and parted out. There isn't much of the I'm tired of this or have to much stuff so I'll just have a yard sale. Things here get passed down and passed around until no one is sure what it started out as. :c} There is always someone that can find a use for anything.

With more US and Canadian expats moving to Mexico more Mexicans are being introduced to the ubiquitous Yard Sale. Up north you can always tell when Spring has arrived as the yard sale announcements begin breeding and attaching themselves to any solid vertical surface. News papers have whole sections devoted to then. They go so far as listing them by areas and neighborhoods. I've even heard where some papers compose a neat clip and run packet for those real hard core addicts. :c}

Here the news tends to travel a little different route. There is no signs on telephone poles, no adds in the classified sections of the city's papers. Here you don't find the ladies of the neighborhood having coffee and planning out strategies on who's sales to hit first and which ones will have the best junk... treasures. Instead they more then likely are sitting out on the sidewalk with the fans plugged into the living room outlets, wiping the sweat off their faces with their terrycloth sweat rags, shaking their heads while saying "you would not believe what those crazy Americans are doing"!!! "What!!! You can't mean that!!?? I've heard about them doing some really dumb things but this defies ..."

Yard sale announcements are far and few between I'll bet there isn't more then a dozen all year long. There is a bulletin board that the expats use for announcements, houses for rent, cars for sale and yard sales. They are posted on the expat forums. And of course there is always the good old word of mouth, pipe line. Most of the sales occur in the "Season" that's Nov 1st to May 1st. That's when the population increases because of the migration of the migratory species known as "Snowbirds" :c} Well much to us full timer's surprise a yard sale announcement went out over the pipe line. 'Huge yard sale. Everything must , repeat EVERYTHING must go!!! So of course we all willing pitched in and did our part to be sure EVERYTHING DID GO!! :c}

"Well of course I really don't need anything LW but it wouldn't hurt to at least go by" :c}

Want to see the little stash that came home with us?? ;c} Who isn't always looking for a picture frame now and then?? The cute pink polka dot and green fabrics on the right of the picture are.... sorry you'll have to check back here on Sunday for "Show and Tell Sunday" if you want to find out :c} Folded under the treasures is an old (Import market I'm sure) Indian mirrored wall hanging. It hung just long enough in our hot, humid, salty air to gain that limp sorry looking patina that is so necessary for that fab shabby chick ;c} look!! Or maybe cut up and used for any number of projects.

But the real score for the day is this CUTE teapot, sugar & creamer set!! It's hard, okay impossible to see but the little pink things are rose buds. Between them if you squint your eyes and cock your head just so there are little white dots, sorta that dotted Swiss look. I'm not sure what I'm going to do with them yet. However Miss Laurie and Miss Dawn try not to get to attached to them!! :c}

So as you can see even here if one is willing to go the extra mile you can find a fix to this little addiction :c}

Have a good day or evening fellow Bloglandians depending on what part of Bloglandia you live in, rest up tomorrow is another "Yard Sale Saturday" ;c}

A Little Site Seeing

I'm not sure about everybody, but I don't need to do the tourist thing all day everyday when we are on holiday. When we are home the big girls have us up a few minutes after the sun is up. We are probably two of the only people that look forward to the mornings staying darker longer:c} So when we are on separate holidays it's very decadent to sleep in till we wake up :c} LW can enjoy his coffee and not have to wait until the girls have had their morning constitutions. In most, actually in all Mexican cities yards (read grass) are almost non-existent. Houses are all attached so the only real outside space is a patio. On the streets parking strips are concrete. Grass just isn't around. Bottom line is dogs have to be walked. SO holidays for us is all about no schedules

Each day we picked a different place to see. This way we could lolly gag having breakfast and enjoy our afternoon siesta There is an amazing Botanical Garden between Coatepec and Jalapa. The old spelling is Xalapa. Many locations in the central part of Mexico have indigenous names, that at times are nearly impossible to wrap your tongue around.There seems to be an attempt to modernize some of these old spellings. I find that a bit sad. When you look at Mexico's history most of it's Prehispanic roots have been destroyed, changed, or given little importance. Sometimes the only thing left of this history is the historic name and now those are being lost. Because it had rained all week, that morning, and threaten to at any time we didn't climb up the trails into the high cloud forest. There is something about wet rocks, covered with moss, terraforma the consistency of raw eggs, and an incline of 75% that strikes fear in the heart of this little treker!! In order for these gardens to be available to most people the entry fee was a whapping $5 peso (less then 50 cents)

One day we took a trip out to the old Hershey Coffee Plantation. Like many large plantations in the US south the Hershey Plantation's buildings fell into a very distressing conditions. A few years ago a group of artisans formed a NGO (nongovernmental organization) to restore the plantation home. It's now a school for hands on internships, learning and teaching many lost techniques.



One of the bests places in every Mexican city, town, all the way down to the villages is the the center park. There is always benches, shade and a gazebo, no matter how small. These squares are where you hear all the news, where you go to be seen and to see. Where you meet your friends for coffee, gossip, or dominos. It is the heart of the community.
I think it's time for this bloglandian to fix a cup of tea, turn the AC on and start a new book I checked out of the library. You northern Bloglandians might be enjoying the cooler days of Fall. And my "other side of the world" Bloglandians friends might be enjoying the warmer days of Spring. I however am not enjoying the "Dog days" of October!!

I think that about says it all :c} Have a good day or evening depending on what part of Bloglandia you are in :c}

Just Call Me Abuela!!!! (Grandma)

HE'S HERE!!!! Meet my FIRST Grand Baby :c} :c} Little DB who isn't all that little 8lb 11oz & 21" was born at 7:45am on October 1st. He has all his fingers and toes and a little skiff of red hair!! #2 child the proud papa had the most beautiful auburn colored hair :c} before his mom's genetic marker cut it's beautiful life short :c{

DB, Mama, & Papa are all doing fine!!! Mama's family were all there and #3 child was there for his brother.:c} This is one of those times when you wish you could just beam yourself there!! But because babies tend to live on their own secret schedules, and plane fares have become completely unreasonable I booked my trip for the 21st on Oct. That's still 3 weeks away!!!! :c{

HAPPY BIRTHDAY Baby DB WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY!!!!