Alamos Arroyos after a Good Rain

 Hola.

I want to share some arroyo photos with you.

If you are a facebook fan of Glasspondstudio, then you may have already seen some of these.

 

If you have been to Alamos during the winter season when it is typically dry and brown, but nonetheless very full of life, these scenes may make you want to return in the summer when again, the Pueblo Magico is full of life, but very, very green.

 Alamos has two major arroyos, the Chalaton and the  La Aduana.

 La Aduana, the largest, runs east-west through town, on the north side of the Alameda. 

The Chalaton runs the same direction, on the south side, near the foothills of the Sierra Madres, but merges with a smaller arroyo, the Escondido, and then meets La Aduana, on the west side of town, near the barrio Las Delicias.

Of course, for those of you who remember Hurricane Norbert, in October, of 2008, (after Senor and I had only arrived in June of that year), the merging of so much water and the filling of so many small tributary arroyos are what helped lead to the flooding of Alamos that night of the 11th.

 Above is a photo of a roadway that is in the Barrio Perico. It is a great example of how oddly ordinary little places can fill up quickly with water. And this photo was taken after it began receeding.

 Below is the Arroyo or Aqua Escondido which comes south-north down from the foothill mountains and meets the Chalaton up a little higher in between the Barrio Perico and the Barrio Tacubaya.

 In the photograph below you can see the larger La Aduana as it meets the Escondido.

One interesting thing about the rains that led to the filling of these arroyos on this particular day is there was absolutely no water in the Chalaton. So the water rushing on the right has no other influence, it has just come down from the mountains.

And equally as interesting, to me at least, is two days later we had another big rain and the Chalaton was spilling over its banks and in a huge hurry to meet the Escondido.

 The next two photos are of La Aduana as she flows toward Olas Altas Barrio and then, Las Delicias.

 Below, water from both La Aduana and Escondido.

 Below you can see the two arroyos and the hillsides that are lush and tropical. 

These photos were taken in late July and now, in late August, not only is it even greener, but the San Miguelito vines, which are almost neon pink, will start to cover some of the vegetation and then, if we are lucky, the vivid purple morning glory will do the same.

 Again, La Aduana flows on the north side of town, opposite the Alameda, the merchant area of town. On the higher area to the left, near the blue tarp, is the location of the open air Sunday market, the Tianguis. The market stretches the length of the arroyo as it goes alongside the town. And to the right are only a few of the buildings that were so heavily damaged during Norbert.

 On this day that I took these photos, I said to Senor.........now, drive around the whole town and let's see where the water is. After only a couple of disagreements over which way to turn and who was the boss, excluding the Aduana and Escondido arroyos, we saw over nine little small tributaries that had filled with water. Little roadways and low lying areas in between casas, it was amazing how they all filled up so quickly with water.

And this was not a particularly heavy rain.

 And at last, La Aduana, flows quietly near the Barrio La Capilla, and waits for the sun to set.

Fallen Fronds

 Hola. Buenas tardes.

 In the aftermath of a heavy wind the other day, some of the fronds came down from the big palm. I'm sorry I missed the fall, it must have been something of a slide, right down the trunk. We checked for bird's nests, but didn't find any.

We were worried that the fall might have disorganized the bats, but they were out in full wing last night,  spilling from the palm like hundreds of indigo ink dots.  

Below you can see the big Mexican Palm and several of the other palms in the yard, Kings, and Triangles, also known as Pyramid Palms. There are also Dates and Mediterranean and Acacia and Pygmy Palms, all doing well. In fact they are thriving in this heat and humidity and rain.

And above, take a look back to the house.

 If you didn't know what we're up to, well, it might look deceivingly finished.

And I say, it will be, by next summer.

 Okay, gotta skedaddle. It's an Etsy workday for me!

Que le vaya bien!

Linda Lou

Rain

 Hola, Buenas tardes.

You may recall how smart Senor is.

Long ago he put PVC pipe inside these last columns of the portal.

We are happy to say they work great. 

The water runs straight through and down the pipes and out in to the neighboring field.

Some day, when we get around to it, we will put in another cistern to collect all of that water. 

For now, I am just happy it works.

Of course, Senor never doubted it.

 

Yesterday's storm was worth the wait.

 The only problem was it came up from the south and the wind was strong and everything got flooded.

 Even with the sala roof over the far end of the portal, we still got a tremendous amount of water everywhere.

Tonight we are waiting for the 80% projected rain storm to get here. 

But, it is so quiet out there, not a breath of air, very still, no birds, no dogs, no cars, no kids skateboarding down the street...... too quiet for a storm.

We Live on a Nice Street

Hola, we are good, but we are lazy.

I don't think I posted at all in July, but that's okay.

 I don't have much to say. 

I think it is just the heat.

 We have had lots of rain and it's pretty green around here.

Things always slow down in the summer at our house. The piles of books and DVD's grow, naps get longer, walks get shorter, and projects get swept along with the dust into the corner.

We originally had some grandiose plans for May and June, preparations that would take us closer to beginning work on the inside of the house. We had hoped to remove the big L shaped wall prior to the rainy season and start working on the indoor floors and walls.  Remember those concrete tiles I was acid staining?

Instead, in May, we had to let our worker go.

 I won't go into details, but after five years with us he decided he had more privileges than he really did. 

Then it became obvious that staining tiles out in the hot sun was not going to happen. Then we took a look around and decided it just felt good to not have anyone else hanging around here. So, we are going to keep taking the summer off.

After the rains and the heat have diminished we will start back on major  house projects.

 Instead we are doing little things that will lay the ground for bigger stuff later.

Senor has already started his tomato plants and topped off the garden beds with a good mix of manure and soil. This year we will actually trim our tomatoes which got so out of control last year.

 He is also getting us ready for when that wall does come down. The fake kitchen is that room will be moved into this room, the game room. He has installed a sink and counter tops, all temporary, but ready to become the new fake kitchen.

I have moved the kiln outside and am working on glass projects.

These are the front panels of the wall sconces for the game room. Eventually I will add copper wire designs to them. But I am not having luck finding copper wire down here, so it may be something I will add after ordering the right gauge from the states.

Each front piece is 7 1/2 inches and there will be two panels on the sides of each front, 4 1/2 inches wide. Perfect for the game room. I'll show them to you again after I get some copper wire.

I like summer here, even though I often bottom out at the end of the day when the heat is suffocating. 

I like the clouds as they billow and roll into magnificent domes, the wind as it charges through the yard, ringing the wind chimes and scattering the cardinals and doves, the rain as it drives in sheets, flooding, but cleaning the concrete.

 Alamos continues to be a good place for us.

After six years we can still say we are happy here and...........don't we live on a nice street?