4.23.2006
3.10.2006
Goodbye Oaxaca and onward
"Often I feel I go to some distant region of the world to be reminded of who I really am. There is no mystery about why this should be so. Stripped of your ordinary surroundings, your friends, your daily routines, your refrigerator full of your food, your closet full of your clothes -- with all this taken away, you are forced into direct experience. Such direct experience inevitably makes you aware of who it is that is having the experience. That's not always comfortable, but it is always invigorating. --Michael Crichton, Travels (1988)
redchurch
"I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you only have the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses."
--Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There (1993)
--Bill Bryson, Neither Here Nor There (1993)
farewells
Well, i just can't believe that our time in Oaxaca had come to an end. It's difficult for me to summarize my experience there. We are in Seattle now - and Mexico is starting to feel so far away. I will miss the icons and flowers tied into the front of buses like this one. I will miss the relaxed pace, the walkable city, the old churches, the people, the brightcolors, and the warm sun. and so so much more.
What a wonderful year it has been and i want to also thank my good friends I met in Oaxaca (you know who you are). Thanks for the great memories of spontaneous poetry, deep conversations, firework adventures, popcorn, movie nights, and general silliness. L
What a wonderful year it has been and i want to also thank my good friends I met in Oaxaca (you know who you are). Thanks for the great memories of spontaneous poetry, deep conversations, firework adventures, popcorn, movie nights, and general silliness. L
2.23.2006
2.22.2006
market scenes
We went to the outdoor market in SanCristobal de las Casas (Chiapas). This is a frequent scene at most markets in Mexico - chickens. Markets are always a feast for the senses. Small yellow-orange mangos arranged neatly in piles, crazy varieties of dried beans, sugarcane pieces in plastic bags covered with hotsauce, luchalibre masks, unrefrigerated thin meats hanging from stalls, pear shaped chayote squash, dried peppers of all heat levels and flavors, spices in cups, plastic goods,.. too many things to list.
2.15.2006
2.13.2006
2.04.2006
2.01.2006
1.30.2006
transformation
"The Buddhist teachings are fabulous at simply working with what’s happening as your path of awakening, rather than treating your life experiences as some kind of deviation from what is supposed to be happening. The more difficulties you have, in fact, the greater opportunity there is to let them transform you. The difficult things provoke all your irritations and bring your habitual patterns to the surface. And that becomes the moment of truth. You have the choice to launch into the lousy habitual patterns you already have, or to stay with the rawness and discomfort of the situation and let it transform you, on the spot." Pema Chodron
1.22.2006
1.20.2006
creative commons
FYI-I have an Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives license on my site. It's thru the creative commons web site. "This license is the most restrictive of our six main licenses, allowing redistribution. This license is often called the "free advertising" license because it allows others to download your works and share them with others as long as they mention you and link back to you, but they can't change them in any way or use them commercially." The creative commons site is really interesting, visit the link above and check it out.
1.16.2006
1.15.2006
1.12.2006
1.08.2006
1.05.2006
food and flags
Now this is an interesting food link (ideasinfood) you should check out. These folks like to experiment! This is a roasted monkfish in grape-chipotle sauce with braised black cabbage, preserved morel mushrooms and grated chorizo. holy cow.
702
Hey - check out this cool site (big happy funhouse) where they post old found photos - maybe you'll see one of your relatives there...
quiz
Can you name these 11 celebrities? (you can click on the image to enlarge).... and Here's the answer as i promised last week: BigMamaThorton, Peggy Shaw, ElvisHerselvis, Harriet Dodge, Jennifer Miller, Judith Halberstam, Del LaGrace Volcano, Patrick Califia, Dred Gerestant, Jamison Green and JD from LeTigre.
1.04.2006
view over teotitlan
Maya Heiroglyphs are the coolest ever. We'll see some in our trip to Chiapas next month.
1.03.2006
1.01.2006
12.31.2005
ocotlan2
Another pic of the church at Ocotlan. Also for fun, check out this timeline of mexico 500-1000AD
12.30.2005
12.26.2005
Life
“There are times to cultivate and create, when you nurture your world and give birth to new ideas and ventures. There are times of flourishing and abundance, when life feels in full bloom, energized and expanding. And there are times of fruition, when things come to an end. They have reached their climax and must be harvested before they begin to fade. And finally of course, there are times that are cold, and cutting and empty, times when the spring of new beginnings seems like a distant dream. Those rhythms in life are natural events. They weave into one another as day follows night, bringing, not messages of hope and fear, but messages of how things are.” Chogyam Trungpa Rimpoche
12.24.2005
12.22.2005
flight
Here's a snippet of lyrics to one of my favorite christmas songs here in Mexico:"Los peces en el rio" Where the fishes are excited about the birth of baby jesus.
"La virgen se está peinando
Entre cortina y cortina
Los cabellos son de oro
Y los peines de plata fina
Pero mira como beben
Los peces en el río
Pero mira como beben
Por ver al dios nacido
(chorus)
Bebe y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el agua por ver al dios nacer
Bebe y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el agua por ver al dios nacer"
Lhasa de Sela does a great rendition of this tradional song.
"La virgen se está peinando
Entre cortina y cortina
Los cabellos son de oro
Y los peines de plata fina
Pero mira como beben
Los peces en el río
Pero mira como beben
Por ver al dios nacido
(chorus)
Bebe y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el agua por ver al dios nacer
Bebe y beben y vuelven a beber
Los peces en el agua por ver al dios nacer"
Lhasa de Sela does a great rendition of this tradional song.
12.20.2005
Evolution
" "Intelligent design" is "a religious alternative masquerading as a scientific theory" and cannot be mentioned in biology classes in a Pennsylvania public school district, a federal judge said Tuesday, ruling in one of the biggest courtroom clashes on evolution since the 1925 Scopes trial.". See MSNBCnewslink here.
12.19.2005
12.16.2005
12.15.2005
estrellas
Just found out that Go-Oaxaca linked my blog on their site. Cool.
This by the way is part of a guadelupe exhibition just off the Alcala
(Los Danzantes courtyard).
This by the way is part of a guadelupe exhibition just off the Alcala
(Los Danzantes courtyard).