San Judas 2009

A few weeks ago we went to the state of Michoacán to celebrate the day of San Judas Tadeo (St. Jude). My friend Adriana and her family are devoted to this saint, and have a big celebration every year. She invites a lot of friends to celebrate and stay over.Not everybody stays, but we always do. I love going there. They have an authentic adobe house which is really incredible. At night, there are fireworks, and of course, lots of food. In the afternoon of the first day, a rosary is prayed, and there is lots of singing.
So prepare yourself for lots of photos. Hope you like them.....

This is the adobe house with lots of plants in terracotta pots.

As we arrived to the house, the bread seller
arrived in his pick-up selling freshly baked sweet bread.
Those small chocolate doughnut were incredible.

Just in time... we arrived when food was being
served. These are some friends who had arrived earlier.

Rossana (Adriana's sister), Doña Leonor (her Mom)
were some of the women in charge of this great celebration.
With them my friend Lolis, her daughter Andrea,
and Loli's sister, Marcela who came from Colima to visit.

The pots full of mole at the indoor cooking place.
They have a gas stove, but this type of fod tastes better
cooked over firewood.

Part of the kitchen wall. You can see some gourds
hanging there, and a blackened part where
the food is cooked over firewood.

Stringed chiles.

I love this wall.

Adriana was singing in the rain.
Love ya, Adri!

Around the house there are lots of plants, rocks,
trees, etc. I love these moss covered stones.

Time to pray and sing.
Here they are singing "Las Mañanitas".

As soon as it was dark, fireworks!

After the fireworks, we played Loteria.
By then the temperature had dropped, and we had to
put on our jackets and scarves.

This small fruit is called níspero.
It's sweet, and gets a bit tart towards the seed.

This is the normal size.

The inside.

The seed.

The trees were heavy with the fruit.

Some guavas from the trees. There are also
orange and tangerine trees on the grounds.

I guess these are some type of suculents growing from
volccanic rocks.

I don't know what is this. I think it is some
kind of fungi. I like the way it looks.

Strange but nice.

Now, check out this tree.
I really don't know what kind of tree this is.
It has some kind of bumps on the trunk.

People in this town say that a tea made
of these bumps cures diabetes.

I love these plants.

And here is the small chapel
dedicated to San Judas.

Votives dedicated to the saint.

On our way back home we stopped at a fish
nursery (is this correctily written?),
and bought 4 kgs. (about 8 pounds)
of fish.



Fresh fish...

On our way home... passing confields, pumpkin patches,
and some beautiful mountains.

Mmmm... I love Autumn!

Dulces/Día de Muertos 2009

Buying candy for Día de Muertos.
Yesyerday we went downtown to the main market to buy candy for Día de Muertos. There are many places here where candy is sold my grams. This is really a candy lover's paradise. We bought lots of candy for the kids who would go to our house asking for them, but we also bought some for my kids. They love "panditas" (gummy bears), and other candies for which I do not know their English names.
Then we went home to prepare the Altar de Muertos. We weren't going to put one up this year, but at the last minute we did.
So here are the photos. The altar ones are kind of blurry, but it was dark and I couldn't see how they came out at the moment.

This is the store where we bought the candy.

These are called "perfumados".

Lots of gummy candy.

These are covered with chilli powder.

In the back are the packaged candies.

Attacking the gummy bear bag.

My son's favorite.

Oh, Pandita, how sweet art thou!!

Our personal stash.

This is the altar. It looks a lot like last year's, but this
year I included my father in law, and an ex-student of mine
who passed away a month ago.

Sugar cane and tangerines.

A small cup of expresso coffee for my dad,
and some mole for my father in law.

The black and white photo of my father in law, Edmundo.
The big photo is of my dad, Louis.
And the smallest photo is of José Antonio Leal who was
my student in 5th grade. A great kid
who is missed by so many of us.

Some of the kids who came asking for candy.

Great looking mummy.

And what do you think about these little girls
dressed like "Merlina" from the Addams Family?
I think theEnglish name of that character
is Wednesday.
They are really cute!

We sat outside to wait for the candy asking kids, and since it was a bit chilly I got out my coffee maker, and made some coffee. Soon some of our neighbors came over to have a cup, and in no time we had a nice crowd of people chatting and enjoying the evening.
Hope your Día de Muertos was just a nice as ours.
And hope you have a great week!!

Crafts.

When I started writing on this blog, my plan was to post photos of my crafts (knitting, sewing, etc.), but I got into posting mosly about Mexico. I mean, the themes in Mexico are never ending. And I think I haven't posted not even one theme about my crafts. So today's post will be about this.

First, I am actually participating in a Craft:along. Every month three different crafts are posted so the participants can make. I really enjoy doing these things. Here are some of the things I've made.

Some crazy-stitched coasters.

Felt pouches which I gave as gifts
to my friends from Puerto Rico and New York.

Individual placemats. These I gave to my brother
and his wife for their new house.
I recieved an Amy Butler pattern as a gift
since it was chosen best craft of the month!!!!!

Knitted scarf which soon will be
sent to Hungary.



My waterproof lunch bag.




And lime cookies (yes! I baked them myself).

At the moment I'm knitting a balaclava
which will also be sent to Hungary as a Christmas
gift.

I also participated in My Mama Made It Gift Exchange. I recieved some really nice sewing notions from Sofia in South Carolina.

She gave me a pouch she made, and the pattern
for making more. She also sent me two pre-cut pieces
so I could sew them. I love this gift.

I've also been visiting many sewing blogs, and I've found some I am really loving. Incredibly, there are so many giveaway. I participate in many of them. You see, it is very difficult for me to buy the many beautiful things for sewing that are online. I earn a salary in pesos which is great here since most things are soooo cheap, but what may be cheap for most people over there (U.S), is terribly expensive for us here. So I participate in the giveaways.
For example I just participated in a fabric giveaway at Sweet Tidings.
I also enjoy seeing what other people are creating. and get ideas for gifts to give over here.
So this is my crafty post. I will try to post more of my crafts every once in a while. And I hope I can have more giveaways (this time I promise to send the gifts sooner).

I wish you all a great beginning of week.....