Do you believe in miracles?....

Si, un milagro....

However, all it made me think was she was playing the "I'm crushing your head" game....
This one:

Flutter by, butterfly...

The garden continues to attract birds, bees and butterflies.  The guy posed like a pro.

 

However, the flowers are just past peak.  They can feel the seasons change approaching.

It's floodin' down in Texas....

We've had serious flooding in many areas here in the last few days.  There was two feet of water covering the Pan-American Highway just down the road from me... and half the road is being repaved and was down to dirt, so now one big mud pit that the earth-movers try to work in.  It's ugly.  But nothing like poor Texas..... 50 inches of rain is predicted, more than they normally get in a year.  And twenty seven years ago today, SRV died.  Be sure so check out the behind the back playing near the end.

On the plus side when the dry season has nary a drop for months, it is a rare sight to see water flowing under bridges and the ancient aqueduct.

Hermanas - Sisters

My produce ladies from the market in Etla, Doñas Rosa y Lucia.  They take such good care of me.  I'm a lucky man.

Musicians for a funeral.....

While at the market in Etla, I heard music, a band playing sonorous music.  It was a funeral just across the street.  The musicians were quite good and they played wonderfully.  I love the looks on their faces, so serious and heart-felt.

The atmosphere was not somber, but respectful.  The hearse was waiting to receive the casket, then to process through the streets followed by all the people at the service. 

Life and death so closely wedded here in this culture. Powerful and healthy.

It's the little things....

Do you recognize these fruits?  They are tunas, not the fish, no, the fruit of the nopal cactus, prickly pear.  And they are delicious, one of the most popular flavors for nieves, ices.

Anyway...

After reading that blogger buddy spixl, who is in El Norte, says that small avocados are $3.98 US in California, where they grow the things... well, it just made me appreciate how lucky I am to be where fresh fruits and vegetable are so readily available and so inexpensive.  I got four medium size avocados for about $.50 US each... and they are all perfect, timed to ripen, each over the next four days.  And look at these grapes. $.50 US a lb.

So many fresh things, direct from the garden

Anyone for miel, honey?

Fresh handmade tortillas, tamales. everything you could want..

Glad to be here....

Quesillo from Etla - It doesn't get any better....

Etla is world famous for its cheeses.  You can find Oaxacan cheese in many places in the States, but there's nothing like getting it incredibly fresh, right from the heart of Etla, the market.

This is Doña Vicki, who I think has some of the best queso and quesillo in the market.  This was soooo fresh and she balled it up like you wouldn't believe.  I joked with her, "Is that the first time you've done that?"  She's probably done it tens of thousands of times.  I've been buying from her for ten years.  Conservatively, if she made twenty a day for a year...  that's 7,300 balls and that is being very conservative. She makes much more than that and in different sizes.  She also has lots of other highly edible things.  That's mine on the lower right.... Mmmmmm.

By the early morning light...

Everything is so lush with all the rain we've had.  This agave and romero, rosemary, combo is quite large, but nowhere near the largest of either.  It's about at least meter and a half, but there is a romero plant that is two meters by two meters by two meter right next to it.  Best I've ever grown.

Plumas in wood

Another music stand from Jesus Sosa Calvo and family.  This one's motif is the danzantes de la pluma, one of my favorites.

Wonderful detail right down the leggings.

The base...

It all gets me psyched for the dancers in Teotitlan del Valle who will be dancing in just three weeks. Yay!

Note: Sorry for the lack of posts.  I've been fighting a stomach thing, but one the mend now... Thanks Obama ;-)

Heavy weather...

The weather here can be different just a kilometer or two away.  Today, there was serious flooding in the southern part of the city and yet here, ten km to the north, almost nothing.  The mountains have a lot to do with the weather patterns and there are big ones just behind me to the east.  They also cut this region off from the city.

Many times I can see the rains way off to the west and they don't make it over this way.  However, when they come from the east, over those mountains, they can be fierce.  And the mountains make for micro-climates, one side of the hill may be lush and the other side, bone dry.

It's that time of year...

It has been a wonderful rainy season thus far this year. Really, one of the best I remember, with perfect temperatures and almost daily rains.  Sure, there have been some torrential downpours, but mostly, they have been nice and short with an occasional rain lasting a few hours.   And the garden loves it.

The zinnias are back and they always attract birds bees and butterflies.

Tough to get the shot if you keep flitting around.

This guy posed like a pro.

C'mon man, hurry up and take the shot.

What a season....

There's always something....

Even though lots of the tourists have left after the guelaguetza festivites, the city is still hoppin'.  That's the beauty of this place, it lives for itself and its citizens, not for the tourists.  And because art, music, dance, food, culture and tradition are such parts of the social fabric, there is always something happening.  In this case, it was El Dia de los Pueblos Indigenas with stalls set up on the upper section of the Alcala, the pedestrian walkway.  First I heard the music and then I saw these beautiful instruments.

It was good to see our friends from San Maria Tlahuiltoltepec, Honorina Gómez Martínez and Pablo Martínez Martínez, whose incredible embroidery is quite renown. 

I missed them a couple of weeks ago, but this time I managed to get a little bag for my phone.  I'll always be carrying a little piece of them with me.

Garzas - Herons by Jesus Sosa and family

Here's another remarkable music stand by Jesus Sosa Calvo and family of San Martin Tilcajete. 

They created twenty-six atriles or stands over the years and they really perfected the whole style and functional aspects of the pieces.  I really wish they were all here in a museum in Oaxaca... or a museum anywhere.  I also wish I could see all sixty plus on stage being used by an orchestra, but if wishes were fishes.....

Two more by Maria Jimenez Ojeda

People seemed to enjoy the music stand by Maria Jimenez, so I thought I would share two more by the Jimenez family.  As always, I let the artist decide what the want to do, no limits, no restriction.  All I ever say is, "Have fun!"  Obviously, they did. Again, the brothers are the carvers and carpenters and Maria paints.  First, with fishes and mermaids....

The two toucans on either side are classic Maria pieces.  The detail is incredible as seen in the first shot.

 The other, a mariposa, a butterfly.

She is an incredible painter... Just look at the vertical part covered with some of her signature tiny doves and roses.  What detail!

The butterfly from the front....

And the back...

What an incredible family, Maria, Alberto, Arón, Miguel, and Cándido, all of San Martin Tilcajete.  ¡Viva los Jimenez!

A music stand by Maria Jimenez Ojeda and family

Maria Jimenez Ojeda of San Martin Tilcajete is world renown for her exceptional pieces and I feel very fortunate to have two music stands by Maria and her family.  Her brothers, Alberto, Arón, Miguel, and Cándido, do most of the carving and carpentry and Maria paints... and what incredible painting it is.

Her work is always so delicate and detailed. Look at this gold filigree on the vertical.

Fine detail work covers the entire piece... and it works perfectly holding music

 The doves are constant in her work and always her amazing tiny detail work .  On all her pieces her signature is almost microscopic.

Maria is one of the few women heading a carving family and one of the most preeminent artist in Oaxaca.

It's an art...

The city is still vibrating from the guelaguetzas, but most of the tourists have gone and so the zocalo is filled with locals.  It's always fun to check out all the action, the musicians, the vendors, there is always something.  A couple of days ago there was a group of portraits artists and caricaturists who were doing a brisk business.  Whaddya think?

They had lots of takers and lots of spectators.

All of this was just opposite all the cafes and there was lots of interest.  So nice to see artists doing their thing right out in the open.

Even off a phone photo.

Ain't it all great?