Peligrinacion de los Indios

Rodolfo y Grisenia helped me with the spelling of this religious tradition which is a procession that happens every evening for a week leading up to Dec. 12. As I understand it, the kids walk with their mothers around the village - and they are honoring the virgin Guadelupe. Anyone reading this blog, Please correct me if I got this wrong. You can make comments, you know... and please do! Anyway, it is delightful to see the childeren gathering in their beautiful traditional garments.

 

Contrasts

Walking around this village (and Mexico generally) one is so often struck by the juxtaposition of beautiful tropical flowers, carefully tended by a jardinero - or not - and then, right beside them, the dusty gray looking streets...you have to love it!

 

 

Art Walk, you say?

El Gallo doesn't have to wait for the Art Walk...he walks right in and starts critiquing my paintings. For more information about the first annual Art Walk, on the solstice, Dec. 21, click on visitlamanzanilla.com

I will be participating, and welcome you to come and see all my work - I am so keen, will probably be open for extended hours...and will have art for sale all over my house.

 

El Gallo

He marches into my yard (and house) every morning, crows loudly, and looks around for food. I know, I know, I should put chicken wire over the gate to keep him out, but I hear they eat scorpions, and fertilize the garden... so until he pecks at me or makes some other trouble, he and his family are welcome.

 

 

While Cleve is painting, Susan is pruning the lime tree in the back yard.

 

All in a Sunday's Work in La Manz

 

My neighbor Cleve is getting ready to paint the sailboat that he brought down from Oregon, in the trailer above, on top of a huge load of furniture, and pulled by a green '73 International Travel-All. His wife Susan, says that once again, they looked like the Clampetts arriving into town - where was I with my camera that day?

The "Verduras" Truck

 

I love when this truck comes by, and I am out of vegetables. Especially without a car, it is just so convenient to have vegetables delivered to your door. Today I got potatoes, carrots, papaya, (a really sweet one), beets, cucumber, mandarinas (like tangerines, but tastier), and a chance to take a picture of little Carmen. As you can see, she has great stage presence - maybe she will sing Carmen one day.

Color

 

Waiting for a ride to Melaque with Nancy, I spotted this shot of color, and wanted to get back into painting - right away! Soon, soon....

Classes de Arte

 

Cori and her brothers, and several other kids have been asking when art classes are going to start again - soon, I hope! Maybe we will do them on the teraza of my house this year.

 

Humberto helps me set up the tent

 

When Enrique comes down to visit, we might have a campout in the back yard. The tent is just big enough for 2.

 

 

 

Monte trying out the new kitchen

 

Last year on this blog I started to tell the story of how a chef named David (from the Laughing Oyster restaurant in Powell River, BC) came along just in time to help re-design the kitchen. He is not only a great cook, but also an expert in space design, he said with the modesty of a typical chef. Anyway, the kitchen is almost finished... one day, I will be able to replace the crates with cupboards, David...and the important thing is, it really is a spacious kitchen to work in, for 2 or even 3 people. I love washing the dishes, (no dishwasher here) and being able to call out "buenas dias" to my neighbors walking by.

 

Rodolfo and his family go into the coco business

 

Delicious cocos "tierno" are now available for only 5 pesos, and only a block from my house.

... a photo of the kitchen taken from the side yard, looking through the very open kitchen window. By the time I get back, I am assured, the whole kitchen and a lot of the other areas will b e painted white (just the primer for now)

Packing to return to La Manzanilla

A friend, Kelly, emailed these pictures of the house in La Manzanilla - just before a big storm knocked down the big tree that you can see on the left of the balcony... it's going to be a different scene when I get down there this time. I hear that the fence was damaged, bougainvilleas are wrecked, and there is no electricity, because the mufa (electrical box) was also knocked down...still, I am so looking forward to settling in there again, and this incident can't dampen my spirits - the sun, sand, and sea is a powerful healer. I will post a few other pictures above this one, to show some of the improvements (most of which will not be affected by the falling over tree). Thank goodness it didn't fall towards the house, and that no-one was injured!

 
These are four of the landscapes at Creative Framing, only until Oct. 1. The two on the left are of the Fraser River, which is very close to my home/studio.

One of my new "red series" abstracts

 
My work alternates between representational and abstract - people do say they can always recognize my style, however, so there's always a lot of "me" in the paintings.

A current show of my work

 

I have 10 paintings featured (until Oct. 1) at Creative Framing Galley, 3332 Main Street, Vancouver. Here's a picture of Rob Austin, waiting to greet you, show you my work, and give great advice on framing as well. Scroll up to see some of the work - it includes landscapes and some new abstracts as well.

Domitilo's project

Three generations of one family worked on this project - Domitilo, his father, and his son, as well as other compadres from Los Ingenios, the village across the highway. They obviously enjoyed the work, the planning and the completion of a really solid, well-built "pas a mano" - and for me, watching the teamwork is a lesson in how to live in the moment, having fun and taking pride in one's work.

New pas a mano

The last improvement that was done on my house in Mexico was a guard rail for the teraza - it is an adaptation of an old style of building (antigua, as the Mexicans say) It has given the house more privacy and usable space...

Back to blogging - and a photo of the local hunter-gatherers

After a break from blogging, because of computer and camera problems, I'm back! This picture (above) is of two of my neighbors in La Manzanilla shooting an iguana. If they get him, he will be part of their dinner!

Just across the street from me, a palapa is being built - each piece of palapa (the palm grass) is towed up from below, and then woven into place on the framework of guayabilla (very hard wood) posts.