The Birthday Girl

I woke up this morning to some wonderful birthday greetings from friends and family. Thank you all so much for sending good wishes and your love this way. Here is the birthday girl getting ready to share her mocha cake with Bryan, sitting on the 3rd floor terrace of a pastry shop we love. I don't even know the name of the place but it overlooks the street that runs into the Jardin, Calle San Francisco. Below us we could hear the ankle bells and drums of the Indian dancers who were celebrating in front of the Parroquia.

My birthday is special because it coincides with the celebration of the city's patron saint, San Miguel, which includes plenty of fireworks, parades and other festivities over the next week. With this in mind, I would like to share this beautiful video, San Miguel de Allende: The Heart of Mexico, which I just saw today. It is the one presented earlier this year to UNESCO, along with tons of documentation, to secure World Heritage status for San Miguel de Allende. www.terrazassanmiguel.com/heart_of_mexico.html Enjoy.

Obama -- Si Se Puede

Obama has come to San Miguel, at least his paper image has. (That is some random woman posing with him.)

About 450 San Miguel Democrats convened at a beautiful hacienda to fundraise and console each other about the state of the economy. It was very impressive.


There was a silent auction, a raffle, and you could get your photo taken with him for one Obama buck (worth 20 pesos or about $2 each). And of course any function wouldn't be complete without mariachis.

















We were newly returned so we ran into lots of friends. Here is Jo looking etherial as usual in her Obama button and beautiful necklace and shawl.





















And here are Yoli and Victor in front of a painting being auctioned as part of the silent auction.














It feels good to be back in San Miguel. As I write this, fireworks are exploding somewhere out there in the night and preparations are being made for the fiestas for the city's patron saint, San Miguel, next weekend. Stay tuned...

Back in San Miguel!

We're back in San Miguel after a stopover in San Diego for Melissa's wedding shower on Sunday. Here we are with Beza and Dennis.

When I am away I forget the lovely sounds that surround us here: the jaunty tune played over and over by the propane tank delivery truck, the old man across the street who chips rocks starting early in the morning and is building a lovely new wall, the tin worker whose workbench touches the back wall of our house and clanks on tin all day, and of course the chickens and dogs contribute.
Here is the view of the new, almost competed wall from our 3rd floor. For some reason his pile of building rocks in front has grown since we left.













Our first order of business was to get hooked up to the internet so Monday afternoon we went into their office and signed up for another 6 months. The installers arrived in their cheerful car which is still flying the national flag from the Independence Day celebration last week. Unfortunately our old modem was faulty but we finally got everything working this morning.

















Here they are stringing line from our third floor balcony to the pole across the street.

















This afternoon we made our first foray into town and had a first class hamburger at the recently opened Oliver's Hamburguesas.














Then we checked out (from the outside) the new Starbucks on the center square. and the place where you can now rent Segways. Much has changed in 6 months but that is ok.

One last photo of our dining area with the placemats we bought in Cambodia and the calla lillies from my sister Joyce. It makes me smile.