The Quinceanera

Buenas tardes!

I thought I would take a moment to explain who the beautiful young girl on our profile page is.

Her name is Kathya and she is the daughter of a friend of mine.

And we were so lucky to share a beautiful tradition with her.

Her quinceanera, or fiesta de quince anos, a celebration a young girl may have when she turns fifteen.

It can be and often is a huge celebration for the young girl as she passes from childhood to womanhood.

In the old traditions of Latin American countries at this time a fifteen year old girl needed to be prepared to marry immediately or become a nun.

Luckily things have changed and Kathya, like most other fifteen year old girls, continues her school work and hanging out with her friends and family. 

It was just so special to be asked to attend her party, which began at the church at the Plaza de Armas, because she is from a Catholic family, and continued later at a party event place in town.

Outside, before the mass, she is already celebrating with her entourage of handsome young men.

Inside the church, the priest is giving mass for her.

These boys were with her practically everywhere she went, all handsome, all well behaved and all wanting to be right by her side.

Below, at the event, where there was lots of food and drink and music and dancing, she is still with the boys.

Each boy stood around her in a circle, with a flower behind his back and then when it became his turn to dance with her he gave her the flower. They danced to the theme song from the 'Titanic', a beautiful Spanish version. When they were done she had a beautiful bouquet.

 After she danced with the boys, she danced with each of the older male family members.

 She also led a long procession that went around in a circle so we could see everyone.

This was pretty awesome for us, but we didn't last long, our bedtime in Mexico comes just about the time the party kicks into high gear.

As we were leaving I noticed that she had removed the lower portion of the gown and was wearing only the top frilly flouncy section. 

It was so cute and I had no idea that she could take that gown apart.

And by then I was out of batteries and grumpy with Senor who forgot to put the other batteries in his pocket.

So, it was a good departure time for us!

Okay, just seems like I am interested in sharing traditions for a few days. 

The farioses are in town and you know how I can go on and on about those handsome men.

So stay tuned for an update on that.

I need to go and feed the birds. We have a family of orioles coming in for oranges and the hummingbirds are back and so are the bees!!!

Que tengas un buen noche!!!

Linda Lou

New Baby in Town

Buenas dias~! What a beautiful day it is here.

I am still up around 4:30am and leaving for my walk around 5am. As it gets lighter I will go even earlier.

 January was a very cold month here and I was getting pretty tired of bundling up in cold weather gear just for an hour walk. So, it is warmer now and more enjoyable.

In January, on the 6th, we were excited to be asked to the El Chalaton Barrio, to our friend Modesto's house for a Dia de los Reyes fiesta. This is Kings Day, when the wise men brought their gifts to baby Jesus. In the photo above Modesto, surrounded by children, is making certain they understand the significance of the day. The children are most likely thinking about the toys they will be getting.

 But they were polite and very respectful and they listened to what he said.

After a meal of sandwiches and salad, the parents are beginning the drawing for the toys. Every child's name gets written down and each child is promised a gift.

 The parents read each child's name and a gift in the box was given to that child.

 Modesto told me each gift was hand picked for each child. He knows these children well.

After the gifts we ate tres leche cakes and suddenly Senor said................oh, look what i got..................he got the baby Jesus in his cake.

And that means that he has to host the party on Dia de Candelario, which is February 2nd.

Of course, I am really the one who hosted this party. I did all of the work, the preparation, the cooking, and the research about the day.

 Not being Catholic I did not have a clue.

This is the day that you are supposed to take down your nativity scene, so I immediately put mine back up. 

You are also supposed to have a new born baby laying around to represent baby Jesus and since we did not have one of those handy I went to the Mercado and bought a baby doll for the occasion. 

I dressed it up in white and as you can see, I put it on display.

You are also supposed to walk to the church and take the baby with you to get it blessed, but I figured we could skip all that stuff and no one would be too upset.

 I consulted Modesto on a lot of this and he basically told me the party is more about food than messing around with the baby,

So, he and his friends made guacamole, 

We did not have the traditional Dia de Candelario tamales, (they are so expensive when you are making them for sixty people). Instead we had potted meat mixed with salsa and mayonaise. This is a favorite treat for Mexicans in Sonora, but is just like spam, if you ask me. 

Below you can see how I set up the baby and the nativity. Each parent had their child come and take a look at the baby and I heard a lot of children giggling, so probably there was something not quite right, maybe just the fact that it was a doll and not real.

I don't know. I asked Modesto and his favorites sentence is.....oh, don't you worry about it.

So, I didn't.

Below people are starting to settle in for the potted meat, but the big crowd was out around Senor's raised garden beds. I did not get a photo, but I think the garden was much more popular than the baby doll and the nativity.

I decided to give the children candy even thought Modesto told me that is not important on this day. Well, sometimes traditions just have to be changed.

We had the children decorate small brown paper bags and then loaded them up with candy.

Below is one of the tables where the children colored their bags.

This was a very unique experience for us. 

Not only a Mexican day of celebration, but a religious day as well, it put a new meaning on the word fiesta for me.

Of course, it is not always about the tecate and the loud music and the dancing. 

There are so many wonderful celebrations in Mexico and at the end of the day, we were very happy Senor got that baby in his cake.

Adios!!!

Que tengas un buen dia!!!

Moving Day

Hola! Buenas dias! Hope every had a wonderful Christmas.

We sure did.

We recently moved........a new old baby grand piano to our casa.

The move itself was eventful. 

We started out with our two guys and 2 of their sons and then, went to the Alameda with a call for help and ended up with 7 people, all of course, being bossed by Senor who had spent the previous day googling 'how to move a piano.'

 After he realized no one in Alamos was going to be able to supply him with a piano dollie, he calmed down and proceeded to just be the jeffe and let the guys do the best they could.

 Somehow we were able to get Marcelo's truck parked right outside the front door of the house we were moving the piano out of.

 Remarkable piece of luck especially since by that time we had about 10 guys hanging around, all excited and wanting to help and while Senor was trying to figure out how they were going to lift it up and onto the truck, I made the mistake of suggesting they just carry it all the way to the house. When that was repeated in Spanish to the workers I was dismissed very quickly. 

 Senor had promised me they would not turn the piano on its side.

 The tops of the legs are encased in brass and they insert inside a carved out area, which is also surrounded in brass, so there are no nails or screws and as a result, the legs kept falling off.

 At one point they attempted to just remove the legs, but the piano was so heavy they needed to set it down every few feet, so they needed the legs. 

Senor did the leg work, placing them back into their inserts whenever they fell out.

By now the crowd has thinned and we have lost some of the guys who either found the work too exciting, or strenuous, or not exciting enough. But the 5 guys say they have it under control.

 We took the lead and drove off. A little way up the street I asked Senor to pull in back of the truck so I could take pictures................. he said.................. NO................why not.....i want to take pictures of it going up the street.....you really don't, he said.................yes, i do, pull over.

He did as I asked and we were behind the truck just as Marcelo drove over a tope and the entire bed of the truck lurched to the left. I was watching through my camera lens and believe me, the photo does no justice to the lurch. I almost had a heart attack. The workers all scrambled to the left to support the piano and then back to the right after they cleared the bump.................I covered my eyes,................omg #+^*%$#@*!~^*_+............ is what I said to senor....................well i told you you would not want to be behind the truck, is what he said to me.

 Upright again and back in control we are almost to the house.

 And my first little concert on our new old baby grand piano.

Adios! Que tengas un buen dia!

Linda Lou

Life is so Good

 Hola. I know, last post was in July. 

I have been getting facebook messages from followers asking for an update.

 You can always follow good2go2mexico on facebook at glasspondstudio. 

But I am going to try and get back into blogging.

 I haven't been sure where the blog was going.

 Maybe I will figure it out.

Maybe I just needed a long break.

Well, the guys have been roofing and plastering all summer.

 Everything is roofed in and we have one coat of plaster in the main sala.

We will be doing two coats. That will leave it kind of rough. I like that. 

 The niche above the window has been made especially for a very old wooden train that belonged in Senor's family for a long, long time and below that in front of the window will be the baby grand.

 We don't have the piano in the house yet.

 It is coming from a friend in November and I am really looking forward to playing again. 

Behind the black and yellow painting which in the lower left has a large pink and white trillium painted on sculpted cheesecloth, is a doorway to the bath and what will be the library/guest room.

 Below is the plastered kitchen and the doorway to the game room and more sala photos.

 The arugula self seeded and we have daikon radishes coming up. The birds got everything else Senor planted this year. The cayenne pepper bushes are loaded.

 Senor planted his sweet corn three different times and each time the thrashers ate all the seed, so he devised this little covering and planted again. He discovered a family of thrashers trapped one morning under the chicken wire top, so after pulling it off and helping them get out, he planted again. No luck, they must be staking out the seed and going in at night to get it. He just can't figure out how they are getting inside and under the chicken wire.

 But, now he is out of seed. 

 Still green and lush here, after 31.5 inches of rain this year.

 But fall is here and the hillside trees are changing colors.

 We were given two beautiful old Leclerc weaving looms. Senor developed quite a friendship with a ninety nine year old weaver, and while he does not weave, yet, he has a background in weaving and knows quite a lot about it.

 Someday when we have the right location we will set them up and he and I will both get to work.

Maybe we will make a rug for the floor.

 We were also given her beautiful spinning wheels when she passed away several months ago.
 We also have table looms and an old loom from India and enough yarn to wrap our casa completely.

 We have moved the front door and widened it. I think someday we will actually have a door there.

 And one last photo of the kitchen. The island will be above where you see the bucket. The copper tubing to the stove is under the bucket, safely sleeping until it is put to work.

 We are still around. 

We are still working on the casa.

 I am still working with glass and other assorted things when there is time.

Tomorrow we will head north for the otra lado which is what our Mexican friends call the USA, and plan to fly to Colorado on Friday for a much needed break with our daughter.

Beautiful, beautiful Colorado. 

And on the shopping list?

SWEET CORN SEED

Life is so Good.

Stuff Update

Hola.

There you have it.

The last section of the concrete sub floor under the portal is being poured.

 The larger floor space against the wall in the 1st photo is for the fireplace.

I am ready to have the top floor put in, but Senor says that is about the last thing we will do.

In last posts comment section Mr Gill, an Arizona reader, said, "It must be about done."

Well, you would certainly think so, but, it's not.

We were at a fiesta the other night and Senor was talking to someone about............'how in 2 years when the casa is done, blah, bah, blah'. I just about went ballistic, but kept my mouth shut.

TWO years..............i repeated on the drive home.........i heard you say that!..........no way, this casa will be done way before then if I have any say about it...... He said..................i was just trying to give a time frame, it did not really mean it will still take two years..............two years sounded better to say than one year because it might really take one and a half years. 

I just let it all go. It is not gonna take two more years.

Things  overall are great though, especially with the sala completely roofed in. We have so much more space that is nice and dry and free from the the sun. It is possible to walk from one end of the casa to the other without frying like an egg on a hot sidewalk. The sala stays nice and cool, and while Senor likes his air conditioning in the bedroom, after working outside all morning, I like lounging on the couch underneath the sala fans.

It's a wonderful life!

 They are working on the parapet roof. They are laying the last of the sub floor. They are plastering the outside of the house. They are planting bouganvillea. They are hammering iron pieces. We still need windows and doors. We need the inside plastered. We need the fireplaces done.

 There is a long list. 

I am making glass window panes now. Eight by eight beautiful pieces of fused color that will go into some iron windows we will have made.

To date we have had eighteen inches of rain in our yard. Three of those were prior to May, and fifteen since June. That is quite a lot. 

I should apologize about the 'Rain Contest'. I decided a little late to have it and during it I took off for a trip to Texas and relied entirely on Senor to monitor things for me. The rain monsoon actually began on Dia de San Juan Bautista and while I missed it, Senor was here and says it was a wonderful electrical storm with plenty of rain.

Most of the rains have come during outdoor events we have attended. No one seems to mind at all. You just get a little wet.

That is the stuff update..........hasta pronto, Linda Lou

THE RAIN CONTEST

Hola! Buenas tardes!

Okay, we are having a 'little storm' here in Alamos, rain and thunder and lightning.

 It has prompted me to begin the RAIN CONTEST. 

The actual day of rain is June 24th, that is Dia de San Juan Bautista.

 Here are the rules: just send me your guess. 

Your guess must be for the 24th and any date thereafter.

 Any date you hope the BIG RAIN will come so you can win the prize.

 You have to include the date, and the time, pm or am. 

You have to make your guess by June 22nd. 

It's a QUICK CONTEST this year and here is the prize!

BUENA SUERTE!

Linda Lou