Notes from November

 It IS the middle of November already and two weeks since I last posted!  How can that be?  I actually got the calendar out of the drawer to see what I have been doing this past two weeks to see
what has made the time go by so fast and there is nothing to report, other then daily life!  How can that be?  Well it just is.

The first week of November was all the festivities of Dia de los Muertos.  What once was simply families going to the cemetery and cleaning and decorating graves, has now turned into a major
commercial enterprise with catrina parades, parties and at least one hundred (I'm not exaggerating)
other activities going on during that time.  It draws tens of thousands of people into our little town.
Our population here in SMA, not the municipality, is a little over 60,000 but surges amazingly during activities like this.  Needless to say, participating is no longer something that I do.  Even trying to get to the little cemetery in San Juan de Dios is overwhelming with tourists, so I live on all the memories
from the last twenty years and let others deal with the traffic and people.

One of the festivities was the Art Walk at La Aurora which is the first Saturday of the month.  All the art galleries put up altars and decorate their showrooms beautifully but this year there were 4400! people there on that Saturday night.  Incredible.  Luckily, I cancelled going and my son and grand kids said that thankfully I did not go as it was so crowded that they could hardly walk. 

Something happened which happens often for John, Matilda and Sebastian.  Readers of the blog recognize them and come up to them, introduce themselves, talk about the blog and themselves and how much they enjoy reading about my family.  The kids are thrilled when this happens.  I heard all
about their conversations when I saw them.  Thanks to the woman from Austin who previously was
with Threadgill's and the woman with "dark hair" who knows me and reads the blog.  Who can that be?

 

 There is always, always, something blooming in San Miguel!  Fall is always heralded by the blooming of the agaves as these were for many years in my garden "up on the hill".  I don't have
them to see now in that garden, but they are blooming in yards and gardens all over town.  I remember how the white and yellow butterflies loved the blooms as well as the hummingbirds. 
Maybe I'll have to get a few plants to add to the flower beds here just for the glory of Fall.

This last photo is one I took a couple of years ago in the parking lot where I used to park when I went to centro.  It is, without a doubt, one of my favorites!  The dog lives at the parking lot with the owner or operator of the lot.  The man is such a good person who has done so many kind things for me over the years from changing a flat tire to picking me up once when I tripped!  And, if there was not room in the lot, he always made room for me.  In response, I baked cookies and goodies for him a couple of times a year.  Most recently, when I was at the H+ Hospital waiting for an appointment, he came in with his whole family.  In typical Mexican manners of gentility, he brought his whole family over to my seat to introduce me to them.  I was so touched! 

The day I turned around and saw the parking lot dog with a cut off sweatshirt on, also touched my heart and brought a smile to my face.  It still does.  Hope it does the same for you!