Thursday, July 30, 2009

100!!!

Yesterday was my 100th post!
So I decided to have a giveaway. As I said before, there are few followers, so it's very easy to win. I bought seven scarves (no, I did not make them, I doing an infernal on-line course) . They are made here in Mexico. Unfortunately they are not made of wool, and are machine made. It is very difficult to get wool products here. So these are made of synthetic material, but the colors are very nice. The first four are not shiny, thay are made of a more mate material. The other three are made of "artisela", a shiny thread. So if you would like one, leave a comment stating that you want one, and on Tuesday I will choose the winners. Easy, no? Now I need the comments.
So here are the scarves.....








I'm really happy to have reached my 100th post. And am planning to reach at least 100 more. Hope I see you around....
Adios!!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

¡Felíz Cumpleaños, Edmundo!

Happy Birthday, Edmundo!! (my husband). I feel so bad. My husband's birthday was on Saturday, and I've just had time to post it!
I'm doing an on-line course and I never would have thought it would be so time consuming. But I'll talk about that at some other time.

The day was beautiful and he did what he enjoys the most: play soccer- He plays on three teams. Yes three!! One on Tuesday, the second on Wednesday, and the third on Saturday.
(It's a masters team, of course, but he still runs and makes goles.)
Unfortunately, his team lost on Saturday, but I made the typical birthday food: Mole con Pollo.
He got lots of calls from family and friends.
¡¡Te queremos mucho, Mundo!




He was constantly on the phone
receiveing lots of good wishes.




Mmmmm. Mole con pollo. Under the mole
sauce is the chicken.


When I arrived here, twenty-five years ago, I thought Mole was gross. After just a few years I loved it. Everytime I come back from a trip, the first thing I ask my mother-in-law to make is Mole.

Oh, and did I mention? This is my 100th post!! Yay.
So please stop in tomorrow. I have a giveaway, and with so few people folowing me, (hehe) it's almost sure you will win. And I send the gifts to any part of the world. That is if you like what I'm giving away. So...
¡¡¡Hasta Mañana!!!





Friday, July 24, 2009

Lluvia...de nuevo.

It has started raining again. Pretty hard but only for about twenty minutes. It was still cloudy, and a bit cool, when my kids decided to go play at a huge "pirul" tree near our house.....









That's a "magic wand" in his hand...
Guess you can imagine at what they were playing.




Pirul berries...



Don't know what this is, but I liked the colors.




Nopal with raindrops.


Have a beautiful weekend...





Thursday, July 23, 2009

Mina de Colores.

The local culture center has been giving exhibitions of artwork done by children.
So yesterday I went to an exhibition of painings done by one of my sixth grade students, Mina (Minerva). She has been taking painting clases with Profesor Palafox (the same teacher my son and I go to). She presented all her works done in the past three years.
I enjoyed the exhibition very much. It was like a grown-up thing: wine, canapes, live music.
The exhibition will go on till the 10th of August.



Mina..




A lot of people came, of course half were family.
But still it was a nice crowd.






She won a state prize for this self-portrait in
a contest called "Así soy yo"
(This is Me).














With Profesor Palafox, her art teacher.




Canapés, wine, and soda for the children...




Live music...






And this is a video of the musical group at the exhibition.
I told them I would upload the video, although
it did not come out too well. I recorded
it with my camera, but there was a lot of
background noise.
Still, a promise is as promise.
The group is calle "Palabra de Vago"
which translates as "word of honor of a bum or hobo".



Have a great afternoon...

Monday, July 20, 2009

¡Zapatos......en León!

My friend, Claudia, invited me to go buy shoes in León with two friends of hers who came from Mexico City.
León is the leather producing capital of all the Mexican Republic. Shoes, wallets, handbags, jackets, belts, you name it. Most of the products are export quality, and the prices are unbelievable.



Lots of belts.



More belts.



Shoes..



More shoes.




Coin purses.
The prices are in pesos.



Boots...and more belts.




Purses, handbags.
The whole city is dedicated to this trade.
So there is a lot of walking to be done
when shoe buying.




After walking so much, we decides to get some fresh fruit.
Cups full of pomgranate seeds.




Claudia had hers with lime juice,
salt and chili powder.
I had mine without the chili powder.




Pineapple slices, canteloupe, honeydew, watermelon,
papaya, and mango.
Also served with lime juice, salt, and chili powder.
Mmmm...delicious!


And the following bounganvillea flowers are for all to enjoy, but especially for blogger
friend Georgia.
There are many different boungavillea flower colors here in Mexico.
The first two photos are from my two, very small bushes. One is a between orange and pink color, while the other is a very light peach color.
The other two were taken while driving home.




Please excuse my lack of photography technique, but I do it with all my love.
Hasta mañana.....

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Lluvia.

Rain.
I had posted about the unbearable heat we had a few weeks ago, but I didn't post about the rain. We had two weeks of pouring rain, where everything got nice and green, and then... it stopped! We haven't had any more rain for at least a week and a half . And that is really strange.
But although it's not raining anymore, the heat isn't that bad. There are some cool winds in the early evening that makes sleeping just perfect.
Here are is a nice snail that visited us during the rains.



Snails ought to be slowpokes...




...but this guy moved pretty fast. Before I knew it, he had dissappeared
into the flowerpot.




While it was raining, the sun was still
shining, and its rays made the raindrops shimmer.
It cannot be seen in the photo, but
my small buganvillea bush looked
like it had Christmas lights.


We didn't go swimming as planned, but we did make "carne asada" (barbeque), mmmm.

I hope your beginning of week is great...

Saturday, July 18, 2009

Cerro del Cubilete.

Today, we went with some friends who are visiting from Mexico City, to the "Cristo Rey" shrine. This shrine is located about an hour from my house on the "Cerro del Cubilete" (Cubilete Hill).
Most of the road going to this place is a highway. Then the last part of the road going up is paved with stones and makes the going slow, but allows you enjoy the view. Many people from all over the country come on pilgrimage to this shrine. We counted at least a hundred tourist buses from places like Querétaro, Jalisco, Estado de México, Michoacán, which are pretty close (no more than a five hour drive) to all the way from Acapulco (at least a ten hour drive). Luckily for us, as we went up, most of the people were getting on the buses to leave. So the place wasn't as full as we feared.
The weather was great; hot, but with plenty of clouds to dissipate the sun's rays.



View from the highway.



The statue of "Cristo Rey" (Christ our King).



There were still a few people visiting.



Hubbie and son.



We live in that "general direction".



My kids enjoyong the view.



This is directly under the statue. Here Christ Eucharist is
exposed always.



All around, on the inside, there is this "Crown of Thorns".



Prayers inscribed on the marble stairs...



The Velazco family and us.





One more, from a different angle.
I enjoyed the visit very much.
It is a very special place.





One the way down there are many "fondas" (places to eat) to
service all the visitors. We decides to eat at "Doña Ofelia's Fonda".







I've had a craving for "chiles rellenos" (stuffed chilies) for some time,
and was glad to see so many.




There were many other stews. The kids sat down immediately.
No picky eaters here.





My plate was served with rice, cheese stuffed chile,
nopales salad (from a special kind of cactus), a
shrimp pattie, and goat cheese.




Hand-made tortillas.



Digging in.


After eating, we stopped further down the road
at "Santa María Reyna Temple" where the remains of
the martyrs of San Joaquin are kept.
They were martyrs from the Cristero War.
Sad events in Mexico's history.
Click here for complete information on the Cristero War.





The three maryrs were: Father José Trinidad Rangel,
Father Andrés Solá y Molist, and Leonardo Perez Larios.
They were shot by a firing squad for saying mass.
It was illigal in those days.





The bones of one of the martyrs are in this case.




The main altar.




And a beautiful sky....

A nice Saturday. Tomorrow we may go swimming.
Enjoy the rest of the weekend....