A Nice Vacation

PAB/ST

 

Plane, auto, boat/ship, train – we used them all during our recent vacation.  Many of you know we went to Seattle for the GAS conference and then on to Canada; a three-week vacation.  We have been back about a week and have things mostly in order.  (Another week-long trip is in the offing.)  The whip-poor-will generally wakes me up just before sunrise; he does an even better job than a rooster.  (Listen to its song here:  http://www.junglewalk.com/popup.asp?type=a&AnimalAudioID=388 )

 

Mrs. T tells about the Seattle portion of our trip below. 

 

 

 

"I have become a name;

For always roaming with a hungry heart

Much have I seen and known – cities of men

And manners, climates, councils, governments,"

 

Ulysses - Alfred Lord Tennyson

 

We have returned!  Our sojourn (a bit shorter than Ulysses') was exciting, entertaining, enlightening.  We negotiated everything we thought we needed into four carryon sized bags (And one for DT's CPAP machine; medical equipment is exempt luggage –dt).  Actually, thanks to the generosity and support of our family and friends we could have made do with quite a bit less.  I admit I overdid it when packing the jewelry but it is so hard to decide.  (She has so few things to choose from –HaHaHa –dt)

 

We have discovered a great travel secret - when the plane is very full, as it usually is these days, airlines will gate check your carryons at no charge, especially if they tend to be on the plump side.  This way you get your bags back when the plane lands avoiding baggage claim and fees!  We muddled though all the waiting, being scanned – waiting - - flying, rushing to the next plane – more waiting because it was late - getting on the plane - waiting while it was checked out for some maintenance problem – flying, and finally arriving at Seattle.  We upgraded to a larger sized rental car.  For some reason it seems to be cheaper to upgrade at the airport than to order the larger car from the start.  With only a slight detour we arrived at Suzy and John's. 

 

Their home has that comfortable elegance that some people with good taste, a little extra money, and no live–in children, seem to acquire effortlessly.  Am I jealous?  (Is the Pope Catholic?)  Not really; it is their flower garden that makes me want to abandon that old coveting commandment.  Houses are nice, and I love our house and our condo.  But Suzy has lots of flowers. (We have beautiful flowers at the house and condo as you have seen in previous posts.  But Suzy's garden is indeed exceptional. –dt) One of my favorite parts was a wall of bamboo along their back fence.  I would love to have some of that bamboo but I don't think it grows here, and frankly I am afraid of bamboo.  I understand that if you don't have a panda it tends to take over.  I would be willing to explore the panda option but I have a feeling that Dan would veto it. (Certainly would. –dt) Suzy had lots of lobelia in bloom and mongo grass and a rose of many colors.  Her irises were just starting.  They had a dark black one that would be amazingly elegant.  I comfort myself that Seattle's climate is kinder than ours.  But truthfully, I know that incredible amounts of work, love and patience are needed to create a garden like John and Suzy's.

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,--
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth

Dorothy Frances Gurney

I soon discovered Suzy has a crow who comes and sits on her wall waiting expectantly for tidbits that Suzy puts out.  Exactly who has trained whom I'm not quite sure.
We came to Seattle to attend the Glass Art Society conference and we enjoyed it.  We took a day trip to the Tacoma Art Museum.  While we were there we watched Rich Royal making a bee hive kind of thing.  I really like the installation with big blue glass stones on the 'Bridge of Glass'.   Later, at M-Space, a private studio, we watched a contest where teams – amateurs and professionals - had 10 minutes to make a goblet.  One team featured a young man of 12.  Some of the results were quite interesting. 
Back at the Seattle Art Museum (venue for closing of the GAS conference –dt) the main exhibit seemed to be people made to look like mops with lots of string hanging down.  It was interesting at first but I think he might have gotten carried away.  I have only a capacity for so many mop men.  (Nick Cave show –dt) We also saw a lampworking demo by a lady making small iridescent people.  I thought she was quite good.  We went to a cold working demo by Joe Benvenuto who years ago was the director of Glass Axis (That is where we still work – www.glassaxis.org  -dt) and tutored our son Nick.  He seemed to be doing well.  We saw our wonderful friends Yilmaz and Nimet from Turkey whom we first met years ago when the GAS conference was in Japan (1998 –dt).  (Read about their school at www.glassfurnace.org  -dt)  We also saw Robert Wiley who earned his MFA from OSU and is running a school in Portugal now.  It was a little sad to think of some friends like Finn and Drew who are gone.  We do not go to every GAS conference (We prefer more exotic locations, although we probably will go to Toledo, Ohio next year –dt) so the ones we do go to have a combination of new and old people, and new and old technologies seen through our ever changing perspectives.  I suppose after all the years some of the amazement is gone but I still love working with glass, playing with fire.
While we were in Seattle we visited some other sights.  We spent a morning at MOHAI (Museum of History and Industry) where Suzy volunteers.  (Did I mention that our sister- in- law is a famous archivist?)  We visited a Chinese garden that is under construction; I always like the moon gates.  And we visited a sculpture garden that is part of SAM.  I liked the rope sculpture and also the fountain that had a person holding out his hands as if to summon the water.  During our time in Seattle we had mostly clear weather and could see the mountains.  People there say the mountains are "out" the same way we might say the sun is "out" although really everything is always there.  (Unfortunately we did not get a picture of Mt. Rainier –THE Mountain.  –dt) Aren't people odd? Then on to Canada, but that is another story.
Some pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157626928215653/
Our next edition – or two – will be about the Canadian portion of our trip.  Let's say here that we had a great time.  And we feel very sad about the flooding in Manitoba.  What you have been seeing about Minot has been going on in western Manitoba for the past month or more.
Enough for now.  Hope you all are well as summer really begins.
 
Dan and Rebecca
www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com
 

Who is Your Shipper?

Flora & Fauna & ***

 

As has been previously related to some of you, Rebecca will be the featured artist at Z.A.A.P. (http://www.zaapart.org/ ), one of our art organizations in Muskingum county.  (We invite all of you to come to its June auction fundraiser.)  Mrs.T worked quite hard this winter to complete several paintings – of trees, of course – for that show.  Because they have a shipper right in Bucerias, we arranged to have the paintings shipped back by ***, one of the biggest and most reputable services in the world.  What followed has been discouraging and disheartening.  And none too beneficial to R's psychic health.  Below you will find a much compressed description of the events; she really is in mourning.  As you can see in the following pictures

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157626797189920/

three paintings did not arrive in good condition.  We know the original packing was substantial; it was registered as weighing 70kg (almost 160lbs).  The paintings arrived at our house in cardboard boxes with the bubble wrap in shreds.  The photos do not really show the extent of the damage.  The two extensively damaged works have a cut/puncture - a cut that went through a piece of cardboard (by the label on it evidently from repacking), through the bubble wrap, through the back of one painting, and through the front of another.  A third painting had its canvas stressed out of shape.  All in all, not the careful shipping we expected.  There were many calls and emails, including several to our shipper in Bucerias.  Right now the paintings are being repaired and Mrs.T will attempt to repaint the damaged areas, but the paintings never will be the same.

 

You will notice that the editor has replaced the name of the world renowned shipping company with ***.  The editor felt it not wise to put the name in print as that might bring legal repercussions.

 

For those of you in Ohio, sometime in August we will email you information about Rebecca's show which will start on the first Friday of September and last for the month.

 

Here is Mrs. T's synopsis of events:

 

 

"Art is long and time is fleeting", or something like that.  At any rate my art was quite fleeting, or maybe it was flitting.  *** lost my 10 pictures that I had painted in Mexico and am planning to use in a show in September.  After about 6 weeks of increasingly frantic and irate phone calls (where ***'s computer told me my call was important to them and please to continue to hold) finally the pictures were located.  (Actually they were lost in two parts. –dt) After they were located (twice –dt) they were shipped to me and I found that two of them had holes in them.  After a lot more of continuing to hold I was told to ship them back for examination.  I firmly explained that the last time I gave the paintings to them they lost them and made holes in them and I would be darned if I was going to give them a second shot!  (*** evidently thought that the paintings were like a blender and could be simply replaced. -dt) Eventually we agreed that I would take them to the local *** office where the lady took pictures of them with her phone and was going to fill out a claim.  (Actually two trips –dt) I am still waiting to see what comes of it all but I have already been told that if the claim is approved I will need to get the money from the Mexican shipper!  Have you seen the commercials about how *** wants to solve all your problems?  At the very least, continuing to hold should be featured much more heavily in their commercials!!!

 

Dan and I have been really enjoying our home in the woods.  One of the nice things is all the animals.  Our pond has been visited several times by a pair of wood ducks.  And yes, we do have a turtle this year.  Exactly what kind I don't know because every time I try to get close he dives.  We have lots of birds, including wild turkeys who wander by occasionally.  The last time this happened there was a male strutting around displaying his tail feathers for a couple of turkey hens who didn't seem all that impressed.  I think the prettiest birds are the scarlet tanagers.  We have a red tail hawk and a pileated woodpecker. (A very large bird -dt.)  The noisiest is the whip-poor-will who repeats his name seven zillion and three times each evening and morning. (As good as an alarm clock –dt) The phoebes have eggs in their nest - an engineering marvel - outside Dan's office window.

 

Of course our largest visitors are the deer.  The other morning about 6 AM I was peacefully sleeping.  Dan grabbed me, "Rebecca. Rebecca." he called in a stage whisper, "Look!" (She always wants to see the wildlife –dt) I slowly sat up and peered bleary eyed over the headboard.  There were two deer meandering along our driveway.  They would stop and graze every few feet.  How nice.  Suddenly I realized that they were stopping every few feet to munch on another clump of my lilies!  I leaped out of bed and ran out on the front porch and started yelling at them. "STOP THAT!!  BAD DEER!!"  They froze for a moment, their tails flashed up and then they leaped down over the hill.  When I came in Dan had a funny look on his face, I think he may have been trying not to laugh at me.  (I cannot deny nor affirm that comment –dt) Be that as it may, a few days later when four more deer wandered up the path they turned when they came to the lilies and sedately ambled down the hill, leaving my lilies strictly alone.  I guess I told them!

 

It must be true that April showers (and May rains also –dt) bring May flowers because I have a lot of lovely flowers this month.  My irises are lovely; I have at least four different varieties and thank goodness the deer don't eat them.  I had some lovely allium which I planted last year and they bloomed very enthusiastically.  My lilies of the valley are slowly spreading, (Don't you love the way they smell?)   I bought five new evergreen trees at the Dawes Arboretum plant sales. (Dawes is one of the premier arboretums in the country. www.dawesarb.org  The very historical Dawes family includes ambassadors and a vice president; one of them even rode with Revere. -dt).  I cut my thumb pretty badly working on glass at the studio so Dan dug three of the holes, albeit grumpily.  (Not true  –dt) This is really above and beyond the call of duty because our agreement is that I can get plants as long as I dig the holes.  Fortunately my thumb is almost better; I got a bunch more plants at a plant swap and there is one more plant swap this weekend.  (A very long drive past Cincinnati. –dt) I love getting plants.  I got one I was unfamiliar with this week but it was listed as an endangered native, so I felt it was my duty.  It is a celandine wood poppy; I will plant them today.

 

 

 

Well, we shortly are going off on a 3-week vacation.  First to Seattle to the Glass Art Society Conference, actually a good excuse to visit brother John and his wife Suzy.  And then two weeks in Canada.  (The folks in Manitoba are having floods every bit as bad as ours.)  We mentioned this in a previous newsletter but now the trip is at hand.  We will try to post something while away, but don't bet on it – we are already quite booked with events and rendezvous'.   Looking forward to a lot of great companionship.

 

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

Bonus Material

TWO THINGS FROM BUCERIAS
 
Here are a couple of additional items from the south.  One is a short video  of the master of the boogie board.  (Hope you can get it to play.) The waves were not too good this year.  (Thanks P for the video!)  The second item is a picture of us with our good friend Marisol and her roommate Miriam at lunch just a couple of days before we came back north.  For those who do not know, Marisol was one of my students at Franklin University; she is a wonderful person and the reason we now live in Bucerias during the winter.  Thanks Marisol!
 
 
http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157626401870693/
 
dan and rebecca

RETURN NORTH

 

 

O-H-I-O

 

As mentioned in our last newsletter we were preparing to make our way up north.  And here we are back north for about ten days – seven days of rain and clouds and three days of sun.  I have filed the taxes and am considering a ticket to go back south.  As Mrs.T relates below she is quite happy to be back among her blooming flowers and the fauna of our forest.  But before we turn to her short tale, we should mention Oaxaca again.

 

As you no doubt noted, Mrs. T was overjoyed just to see the Tule Tree and Monte Alban was icing on the cake.  But we also visited Mitla, which is an older Zapotec site, and nearby Teotitlan del Valle where there are reputedly 2000+ weavers.  (No, that is not an extra zero.)  We visited the "Bug in a Rug" studio/shop and had quite a good description of all the natural dyes and a demonstration of their rug weaving techniques.  The Zapotecs had been doing this for centuries before the Spanish conquest and the subsequent introduction of the modern spinning wheel and weaving loom.  Several of Teotitlan's artisans are world renown and are represented in public and private collections, including a nice rug at our condo.  In the pictures you will see the exquisite rug that KA of our group from Casa Ollin purchased.  R bought a pillow cover which goes well with Turkish ones we have had for some time.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157626384102583/

 

 

On to R's brief commentary about our restart of the northern home:

 

We are home in Ohio.  We arrived about seven hours later than we first intended.  Dan was extremely, and justifiably grumpy and I was a wreck.  But after a week things are settling down.  We went through a ton of mail, most of it third class, and ended up taking 3 tubs and one plastic garbage bag to the recycling place.  Dan thought there was not room for it but I climbed up and shoved the existing stuff around and made room.  (Yes I did wipe off my hands quite thoroughly with wet wipes I keep in the back of the beluga for just such emergencies.)(I insisted –dt)

 

Arriving back in the North the cloudy weather hit me like a sledge hammer.  It was not really that cold, although Dan did grouse a lot, but grey and dreary.  And I have to admit my toes are a little grumpy about wearing shoes after five months of sandals.  The good thing is I had a lot of wildlife and flowers, some wild and some I had planted.  Also we have bats.  I hope they will eat the mosquitoes. We put up a bat house when we moved here but the bats are living somewhere else.  I have also seen lots of birds and butterflies.  I have taken pictures of a lot of the flowers; the animals would not hold still!  There has been a lot of rain this week and the pond overfloweth. (The week before we returned there had been a record setting 1.6 in./4cm in one day. –dt)  I was happy to find my goldfish made it through the winter this year.

 

Dan is busy doing the taxes and out of sorts about that, but I am happy because we get money back.  Not only that but we got a peach pie from the reduced rack at the grocery store; no pie man (or muffin man or strawberry man –dt) to make home deliveries in Ohio.  As a point of interest you know you live in a rural area when they sell seed potatoes at the grocery.  I was looking at them thinking, "those potatoes look awfully old and wrinkly surely no one will buy them" and then I saw the sign "SEED POTATOES".  This is Spring - the time for growing things.  Soon I will plant my bulbs and flower seeds that my sweet husband got me.  But first I have to go buy dirt; I suppose you know you are dealing with a gardening radical if she buys dirt to use outside.

 

Mrs. T's pictures of flowers, pond, etc.:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157626508869244/

 

(For those of you who are not flora experts, most of the flowers are not nearly as large as they might seem by the photos. –dt)

 

Our next adventure will be a vacation to Seattle and Canada.  We are going to the Glass Art Society conference this year.  After that we will visit Butchart Gardens in Victoria and then take the nearly two day train to Manitoba to visit some of our many Canadian friends.  Those of you in that northern country should have already received an email with our itinerary.  We are very grateful to the several of you that have invited us to visit and are quite excited.  We think everything has about fallen into place as planned.

 

Hope your spring is green.

Dan and Rebecca

 

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

 

 

In Southern Mexico

OAXACA – PART 1

 

People generally say just Oaxaca when really what is meant is Oaxaca, Oaxaca – the capital of the state of the same name.  (You can go to Wikipedia or numerous other sites to find basic information.)  We stayed a full week and visited most of the requisite tourist sights, several of which are classified as heritage sites by Mexico and the U.N.  Due to its historical importance, especially as the birthplace of Benito Juarez and the home of many of Mexico's indigenous peoples, Oaxaca is a tourist locale for Mexicans as much as it is for non-Mexicans.  But we were your basic tourists and took many pictures, a whole lot easier to do with a digital camera.  (However, we generally avoid taking too many pictures which professionals have already made into postcards.)   The 'Third Age' card, basically a discount card for folks over 60, that Rebecca obtained (after a bit of adventure), provided us free or reduced entry to several locations.  There are too many items to report about in a single issue of our newsletter, but Mrs.T covers several highlights below.  (She said she was about 'writ out' and hopes to finish up later.)

 

 

 

Well after the travel agent fiasco Dan began making our travel arrangements to Oaxaca.  He found a nice little bed and breakfast and booked our airline tickets.

 

Dan and I are both nervous travelers.  I don't like being around a lot of strangers and Dan does not like not being in control.  (Well, I like things to be organized –dt) We had previously experienced a near miss in the Mexico City airport when they kept changing our departure gate.  So as soon as we arrived Dan wanted me to find the gate.  I refused until after using the facilities.  We had two hours - plenty of time.  The flight was not listed on the board so I inquired at a gate and they told me to check back in 15 or 20 minutes.  Plenty of time to grab a sandwich, I thought.  Dan was not hungry and was pretty sure we would be fed on the plane. (!)(I just said it was a possibility. -dt) I ignored him and went and bought two club sandwiches.  Although Dan was not hungry he wolfed his right down.  Eventually the gate was on the board.  We got to the gate an hour early.  It was a small plane and they did give us a little bag of peanuts.

 

As we approached Oaxaca I asked Dan if that could be the airport.  He was unsure.  It was, one runway, and one terminal, but after all that was all we needed.  A collectivo (a little van taxi) took us to our B&B.  Oaxaca is a pretty big city which sprawls across a valley between the Sierra Norte and the Sierra Sur mountains. (Population close to 300000 –dt) There are no skyscrapers in the old downtown area, and it has the feeling of time past if you can ignore the ubiquitous cell phones.

 

Casa Ollin (http://www.oaxacabedandbreakfast.com/ ) was charming, the project of a slightly bemused ex-pat lawyer from California, John, and a competent Mexican tour guide, Judith.  We unpacked and traipsed down the hill in search of the zocalo (the main plaza).  Before we had gone more than a couple of blocks we ran into a peregrination (a Mexican parade, you may recall).  It was preceded by a boomer letting off Roman candles.  Then came Los Altos (this translates literally as the talls); they were dancing to the music of the children's band which followed them.  Talls are huge cloth figures of people that are about 10 feet tall and are maneuvered by one person inside.  I quite liked the talls!  After the band came a bunch of uniformed school children laughing and chanting who were escorted by a few resigned looking mothers and teachers.  There was a short space and the sequence repeated itself:  talls, band, kids.  After about six or eight schools the parade was over.  I inquired of another spectator and was told the parade was in honor of their schools.  (Then we went another block and saw a completely different set of schools.  –dt)

 

When we arrived at the zocalo a band was playing Cuban music and a lot of people, most of them older, were dancing on the square.  We soaked up the atmosphere while eating at one of the small open air restaurants.  People were hawking every sort of thing.  There were some very cute woven straw piggies.  The guy selling them had a noise maker that made pig noises.  I thought I probably needed one, but Dan did not think I did.  Families were strolling together.  Touristas were gawking and taking pictures.  On one side of the square was the cathedral and on the other was the old governor's palace (now government offices and a museum.  In front of it there were a couple of half hearted demonstrations going on.  One was about rights for indigenous people and one about women's rights.  Although I tend to be a bleeding heart liberal, it was hard for me to be too concerned when the demonstrators were calmly knitting, crocheting, and weaving baskets as they sat under their signs.  Around the square were trees, flowers, benches, and of course the loveliest of all were the Jacarandas trees which were covered with purple blooms. 

 

We wandered back looking at the grand stone churches along the way.  Lots of areas were enclosed in high stone walls.  This was the old section of town and by old I mean some of it was five centuries old.  The walls were entered through tall wooden doors.  When the doors were open, you could see they were made of heavy wooden planks 3 or 4 inches thick.  The doors had great iron spikes with roundels around them.  The outer walls varied from six inches to six feet thick.  These guys were ready for a siege!  Just before we arrived at the B&B we came upon a small park where lots of young people were spooning, as it were. I christened it the kissing park.

 

The next day we headed out to look at the museum of contemporary art.  This was in an old convent with beautiful arches, atriums, columns and so on.  The main exhibit was a disturbing concept piece about the impermanence of life.  It was interesting but not exactly cheerful.  We came to another exhibit which had something to do with a lot of naked people.  I did not get to try and figure it out because I was too busy beating Dan about the head and shoulders for making inappropriate comments.  (Just commenting on the wonderful art. –dt) There were also some really excellent photos here.

 

We went on a Tour of the Ethnobotanical Garden.   This was hidden behind one

stone wall.  It was in the compound of the old monastery of Santo Domingo.  This garden was only twelve years old but they had transplanted many mature plants and trees that were native to the state of Oaxaca.  We had an English speaking guide who explained both the traditional and the modern uses of many of these plants.   She also told us a lot of plant lore.  I highly recommend it for plant lovers. 

 

One Zapotec legend goes something like this:

 

At first there were only plants.  One day there was a big storm.  Lightning struck the top of the Kapok tree.  This made a big hole in the top of the tree.  Out of this hole, one by one climbed all of the animals, one male and one female of each.  Last of all out climbed the first man and the first woman.  This is why the Kapok tree is scared to our people.  It is because we remember that it is the Mother Tree, the Tree of Life.

 

In Mexico you often see folk crafts which feature the 'Tree of Life' motif.  I was aware that these trees always seemed to have horizontal branches.  As I stared at the Kapok trees in the garden I recognized the form.

 

The White Mountain, Monte Alban, was a main reason I wanted to visit Oaxaca.

This is an ancient Indian site.  It was first settled by the Olmecs, then later the

            site was appropriated by the Zapotecs.  After the Zapotecs left, the Mextecs used it as a ceremonial site.  I am fascinated by these ancient sites.  The Olmec was one of the earliest Mexican Civilizations.  They had writing and a calendar some 2500 years ago.  We knew Monte Alban would be exhausting.  (One of the French Canadian couples from the previous episode visited before us and filled us in a bit.  –dt)

 

            Monte Alban is a very large site about 7500ft (roughly 2300m) above sea level.  (Oaxaca itself is at altitude of about 5000ft (abut 1500m) –dt) So we determined to leave early and take it slow.  The van bus let us off at the parking area and we climbed up to the entrance.  Several guides were standing there evaluating the prospects.  One of them pasted a friendly smile on his face, murmured a claim on us to his cohorts and came to us to offer his services.  Our guide introduced himself by his Indian name which he told us translated as hungry coyote (hereafter known as Mr. C.).(I think it was laughing coyote –dt)  He told us he would give us a nice tour, very slow, not too many steps to climb.  Sounded good to me!

 

Climbing up we got a good look out over the valley below. I wondered why the Olmec would build their city so high.  Mr. C explained that at one time the valley had been a lake.  The ancient city had covered a wide area.  About 300,000 Olmec could attend ceremonial events at one time.  Mr. C who was descended from the Olmec was quick to point out that these never included human sacrifices. 

 

The time and energy it must have taken to create the intricately patterned sandstone buildings and carvings tells us something of the organization and dedication of this society.  Sandstone is easier to cut than, say, granite but it takes incredible control and patience.  For example, the Maya using a harder stone for their carved designs.  The Olmec formed multiple stone pieces and fit them together, dry!  As the Olmec script has not been deciphered there is a lot about this people we do not know.

 

The different tribal peoples of Mexico and their descendents can be identified by their physical characteristics as shown in their carvings.  Mr. C was a broad shouldered Olmec with a big nose.  Dan was named a possible Olmec because he shared these attributes.  My mere schmere nose proved I probably did not belong anywhere in pre-Columbian Mexico. (sigh!)  The differences in ruins show cultural differences too.  The Mayan ball courts were very large to accommodate a team sport which used a rubber ball.  The Olmex court had a lot of seating but the court itself was small.  Theirs was an individual contest with a pelo pelota, literally a hairball.  Such was the life with the jaguar people (Ha Ha!).

 

Of all the things we saw and did in Oaxaca my favorite was seeing the Tree of Tule.  This Monterey Cypress is the biggest tree in the world.  That is what they said anyway, and I believed it.  It is in no way the tallest tree or the oldest tree, although they do think it is over 2000 years old.  But having been overwhelmed by the sequoias, I assure you that two or three of their trunks could fit in the trunk of the Tree of Tule.  The other thing is with redwoods and sequoias the treetops are so high they seem remote.  With the Tree of Tule you could reach up and touch the branches hanging down.  There are, of course, signs telling you not to do this but, when I thought no one was looking, I held up one fingertip and for a moment the tree and I were connected.  I love the Tree of Tule.  (Check out http://www.sue-feathersandflowers.blogspot.com/ for 25 March 2011. –dt  (Happy B-day J))

 

 

Photos of this part of the trip are at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157626351197450/

 

A note about last issue's photos:  You saw a couple of photos of some ceramic pieces.   These were some of the pieces made by Nick when he visited in December and left for us to glaze.  They came out quite nicely and we greatly appreciate them.

 

The season is about over and we will be back in the holler in a couple of weeks.  We will be seeing many of you in April.

 

Dan and Rebecca

http://www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting There is Half the Fun

GOING TO OAXACA – Part I or

How do you get to Oaxaca?

 

 

Although our newsletter comes out irregularly, we average about one per month.  A few folks made inquiries about the lack of an epistle in February.  Well, we were originally scheduled to take a vacation to Oaxaca, Oaxaca, in southern Mexico in February.  As you will read below, there were some 'complications' with those arrangements and the newsletter muse was more than a little consternated.  In any case, we did manage to go to Oaxaca during the first week of March.  (After Mrs.T used a better travel agent.-dt)  For those of you who were hereabouts at the time, much of this will be old information.  But then you were able to enjoy (?) the events, frustrations, and discontent in real time.

 

 

 

I like to travel around Mexico.  I told Dan I thought we should go to Oaxaca this year.  Dan on the other hand likes to sit under the palapa reading a book. (I do some other things also.  And I do enjoy travelling. -dt)   I told him he could stay and I would go alone, but no he would go.  However this was my project and I had to make the arrangements.  This was a trick.  If anything went wrong (and there is always something, isn't there?), he planned on glaring at me and mumbling rude things under his breath.  Already he was planning to enjoy the trip at least a bit.  I must admit Dan does not discriminate.  If something goes wrong with plans he makes, he mumbles rude things to himself.  But I found a local travel agent in early February.  How wonderful!  This way there could be no mistakes because of my imperfect Spanish.  What a great idea - at least that is what I thought at the time.  Alas no!

 

It started out very well.  They called up pictures of hotels on their computer.  They also accessed the airline schedules.  The first hitch came with how I was going to pay for it.  I had been warned not to let out my credit card number in Mexico so I decided to pay cash.  I got a printed Itinerary and a receipt.  They would bring the tickets for the flights and the hotel reservations in a couple of days.   When they did not show up a couple of days later I called and they said they were having problems with the computer.  I could understand that.  The next time I called there were problems with the reorganization of the main office in Guadalajara. Then the airlines were reorganizing their files.  As the time of our scheduled departure approached I became more and more nervous.  Dan had begun to mumble.  (I had already been prompting her to call the agent. –dt)  Saturday two days before our scheduled Monday departure, I called and the boss was not there but the boy in the office said the boss would be coming in on Sunday to make sure things were in order and would bring the travel documents to our condo. Dan had checked the airline site and they did not show a reservation for us.  After several calls on Sunday before our scheduled departure the travel agent said he had to reschedule our departure for Wednesday.  But he assured us our reservations were made and we were all set for Wednesday.

 

At this point we were very suspicious.   The next day, Monday (the original scheduled departure day), Dan got on the computer and contacted the airline again.  We still had no reservations.  "What do you plan to do about this?!"  Dan asked me.  I told him I planned to walk downtown and talk to the travel agent in person.  When I got down there, the agent was not there.  There was only the young man who worked there.  He was very apologetic.  He called the agent who said he would bring us the tickets at 5 that afternoon.  I told him that was not OK.  Another phone call ensued and the agent said he would be there at 2pm.  About this time four VERY ANGRY French Canadians appeared.  They had booked tickets the month before but when they got to the airport the airlines would not honor their voucher because the agent had never actually paid for the tickets. (AARGH!!)  The young man confided that he had not been paid for a month either.  Things were not looking good.

 

The French Canadians - hereafter referred to as FCs - did not speak any Spanish but one of them spoke English.  After we conferred they went out and called the police.  The first policeman (There are very few female police officers. –dt) who came knew little English and no French and I was trying to translate.  Pretty soon an English-speaking cop appeared.  At this time after another phone call the agent came.  He promised to bring our money at 3 the next afternoon, even if he had to sell his truck.  One of the FCs remarked unsympathetically that she didn't care if he sold his house as long as they got their money back.  I felt the same.

 

Still unsatisfied but slightly more hopeful we went home to see what the morrow would bring.  The FCs picked me up and we all arrived at 3 but there was no agent.  The young man from the previous day was there and another agent who was trying to sell tickets to a bunch of Canadians.  I told them on no account should they give these guys any money.  So they left.  The lady agent was really angry but when I gave her my grumpy look she backed off.  The FCs went out and returned shortly with a different set of police.  One of them spoke English and we repeated our sad tale including the fact that the agent had promised to be there this day with the money.  At this point the lady agent started talking very fast in Spanish so I would not understand.

 

"What did she say?" I asked.  She had told the police that the agent never promised to bring us back our money.  As she had not been there the previous day she could not know this.  I told the police to ask the other employee and he confirmed that the agent had promised to bring our money back at three.  He also told them that the lady had not been there.  The police then turned on the lady and asked her why she was lying.  She immediately admitted she had not been there and knew nothing about it. (A small victory!)

 

The police called in another set of police (They travel in pairs in silver and red striped relatively new SUVs.) and we had to go through the whole thing again.  These police decided to call in a Fiscal which is something like a prosecuting attorney.  After much debate she seemed to agree that they could arrest the head travel agent for fraud.  It must have been a slow crime day in Bucerias because two more police vehicles showed up and were hanging out.  I felt that 8 policeman with huge guns were more that enough to subdue one travel agent. About this time the agent showed up and promised that he would pay us the next day without fail and then bolted out the door.  The FCs and I returned to our homes dissatisfied.  I think it was at this time Dan stopped mumbling and said right out loud that we probably would never see that money again and if I didn't get the money back we were not going to Oaxaca this year.  So in addition to being angry with the agent I was annoyed with Dan.

 

Dan was staying home leaving all of this for me to deal with aside from benefitting from his extensive advice of course.  This was probably for the best because he gets angrier and I would not have enjoyed visiting him in a Mexican jail.  At 10 the next morning the FCs met me at the Fiscal office. There was no agent with our money.  But equally irritating was the fact that the prosecuting attorney refused to file our complaint. Her idea was that we did not want to file a complaint because there would be a lot of paperwork involved and the case would not be solved for a long time.  (Probably true on both counts –dt)  She thought we should wait a few days and maybe the agent would pay us.  Except for the police, some of whom seemed very interested in arresting the agent, the Mexican legal system seemed to be based on the idea slow and sure wins the race.  (This is the same in the USA and it is very frustrating there too.)  The prosecutor did not have the travel agent's telephone number but perhaps there was a good reason the agent did not come with our money.  The FCs and I agreed there was a good reason, HE DID NOT WANT TO GIVE OUR MONEY BACK!!!  "But this is your lucky day!" I told the prosecutor, "Because I DO have his phone number."  The prosecutor, grumpy at having to do something useful swished away to call the travel agent.  He promised (no surprise here) to bring all our money that very evening at 7.  The prosecutor told us we must give him one more chance leaving the FCs and I very grumpy and the police unhappy also; they were in an arresting mood.

Back at the Fiscal office that evening we were not surprised to find no agent.  The prosecutor once again refused to file charges against him.  The agent had promised her to bring our money the next morning at ten.  Another lawyer approached the FCs and me and said, "I don't think this prosecutor is handling this very well.  If you would like, my friend and I can go and talk to the travel agent and explain he has to give your money back or go to jail. Would you like that?"  We all thought this was a great idea.  What we didn't understand was that this lawyer was not another prosecutor.  We had just hired a Mexican lawyer.

 

The next morning was very exciting.  About 8:30 the police came looking for me.  It turned out to be one of the English-speaking officers who wanted to encourage me to file a complaint and offered to help with both the reluctant prosecutor and the larcenous travel agent.  About 9 I got a call from the travel agent asking the exact amount he owed us and assuring me I would be paid that morning.  I assumed that he had been found by the police and the fear of God put into to him.  Well I was half right.

 

The FCs and I arrived at the Fiscal office shortly before ten.  The Two Mexican lawyers were there (I neglected to mention that one of them strongly resembled an OSU linebacker.) and they had collected all of our money.  "We did have to lean on him a little," one of them told me. I did not inquire further.  (I suspect they were 'leaning' on him at the moment he called and wanted to know the exact amount he owed. –dt) We signed a receipt and they gave us the money.  The thing we were not expecting was that the Mexican lawyers wanted a collection fee.  That is when we learned they were not part of the judicial system but independent attorneys.  (Ambulance chasers perhaps. –dt) They asked for15% I offered 5% and we settled on 10%.  Civil law is odd; you start out wanting justice and what is right but after a while it seems as if you will be satisfied to get almost whatever it is you want.  Judging by these standards, although perhaps a bit more basic, the Mexican legal system worked a lot better for me than my unfortunate experiences with the US legal system.

 

Also our new Mexican lawyer left me his name and phone number and told me if I ever had any other problems of any kind he would be glad to help me sort them out.  After I recovered the money Dan said he would make the arrangements for our trip to Oaxaca; that will be in Part II.  Here are a few teaser photos:

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157626273013156/

 

(As a postscript:  We should note that we do not know if the travel agent was trying to take our money, if there were really problems at the office in Guadalajara, or if he was just incompetent.  The one thing in his favor is that he never tried to actually skip town. –dt)

 

 

Some announcements are in order.  First, many of you switched to daylight savings time already; here we will switch the first weekend in April so we may be more or fewer hours different from you.  Second, we have another vacation in the works for June; we will be travelling to Seattle for the Glass Art Society Conference and from there to Canada for a couple of weeks.  Those of you in that cold country up north will shortly be receiving an email explaining our itinerary.

 

Finally, our thoughts and prayers go out to the people of Japan.  We are very thankful our wonderful good friend KK is okay and safe.

 

Best wishes to all.  And may your spring begin soon.

 

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

Onward Christian Soldiers!

PILGRAMAGE

 

Those of you who read the last newsletter recall that Mrs.T participated in one of the Christmas posadas.  As you will read below she could not pass up an opportunity to participate in another traditional event, deciding to join in one of the peregrinations of our annual fiesta (about which we have written before); probably a one-time adventure. I may get her into the RCIA program yet.

 

Last year Bucerias also initiated an annual Chalk Walk/Street Fair held in another part of town for three days of the fiesta.  This year the event had more artists and food vendors and appeared to be a great success in raising funds for several of our local charities.  You will see some pictures from the event at our Flickr site.

 

Rebecca also managed a trip to the zoo with Ms. D.K. and Ms. S.S. from Casa Gardenia.   And she and the other ladies of Condos Jacarandas made an en masse shopping adventure to Vallarta; the city may never be the same.  Pictures of the events are also at the site.

 

We welcome several new readers from way up north to our distribution list.  We hope you enjoy these musings.  And for all of you, please let us know if you have another email or wish to be dropped from our list.  And of course feel free to comment to us or share this with others.  On to Mrs.T's story:

 

 

Every year for nine days in Bucerias in January is the fiesta to celebrate our patron saint, Our Lady of Peace.  Every morning and every evening there are peregrinations.  These are little pilgrimages or parades that start each day at a different colonia and wander through the town and end up at the church for mass.  I had always wanted to be in a peregrination.  This, I decided, was the year.  This was not from an excess of religious fervor, I was more like one of Chaucer's pilgrims - along for the ride.

 

There were two choices for our colonia - Colonia Dorado (and barrio San Francisco –dt); the morning peregrination which started at five in the morning - Have I mentioned that I am NOT a morning person? (Rarely sees sunrises –dt) - but started conveniently right behind our home, and the evening one which started at six in the evening but about a mile away. (Not that far, but a ways down the street. –dt) It was a hard choice.

 

After much thought, I decided to go with the early option.  Dan was quite willing to drag me out of bed at 4:30 and follow along taking my picture.  It was already a religious experience judging by my comment when he awoke me.  Have I mentioned that Dan is a morning person?  It is disgusting, I know, but he freely admits it. (Proudly –dt)  

 

When I arrived right on time there was no one there but two night watch men drinking beer.  After some questioning, which was a little confused considering my limited Spanish and somnambulant state, we concluded that they thought the peregrination was to start there soon.  The next person to arrive was a thin dark guy in a cowboy hat who was the official fireworks guy; we'll call him Boomer.  Boomer walks ahead of every peregrination setting off Roman candles every few minutes.  These are the fireworks that make a large BOOM but very little light.

 

The mariachi band appeared next, a few at a time.  These were young men, average age twenty-something, with matching shirts.  They stood around making warming up blats on their various instruments and smoking.  About this time Boomer let off a preparatory boom to get our attention.  This seemed to work because shortly thereafter a few more peregrinators appeared along with the rest of the band.

 

The leader seemed to be a thin lady in a white poncho.  She went over and spoke to Boomer and the band.  Boomer let off another blast and headed out.

"Vamanos!" called the leader and we were off at quite a good clip.  This was a good thing because the band started blaring out music and charged along behind.

 

These mariachis were perfect for a marching band: loud, fast, and rhythmic.  As far as tunefulness and sensitive expression, perhaps a little was lacking.  But you had to be impressed with their enthusiasm. As the peregrination continued I began to see the point of Boomer.  At each corner he let one off, and people would poke their heads out to wave, clap, make the sign of the cross, or what ever seemed appropriate to them.  And at each corner a couple more people joined us so that by the time we arrived at the church the original 8 or 10 had swelled to 40 or 50.

 

Father Chema was waiting to bless us as we processed into the church.  Our church is a small white adobe building.  The windows are open arches only partially covered by stained glass crosses.  The doves who nest in the rafters stuck their heads out to see what all the excitement was about and retreated to their nests (some above the altar –dt) with their heads under their wings.

 

Just in time too, because the mariachis had gotten themselves organized to the right side of the altar and began blasting out some many-versed religious song.

A few brave souls were singing along but most of us were too shaken to participate.  Fortunately before too long the song came to an end and it was time for mass.  The little church that had been about 1/3 full when we entered was now full.

 

The fortunate thing about Catholic masses is that if you are familiar with them it is pretty easy to follow along even in another language.  The unfortunate thing was that taking advantage of the relative quiet, I began to fall asleep.  Dan, who was now sitting beside me would poke me periodically (whether to draw my attention to the mass or simply to annoy me; I  am not sure) and one time he poked me too hard and I started to topple over onto the lady sitting next to me.  She politely righted me and I assured her I was okay. (Humph.  R fell of her own accord due to her state of sleepiness; I only poked her when she started to snore. –dt)

 

There is a part of mass where people can supply their own petitions.  Several of the petitions were for Father Chema.  I didn't quite understand them so I asked the lady next to me if he was sick.  We really like Father Chema and he has had health problems in the past.  He was okay she said, people were simply praying for him because they loved him.  I love him too; I told her that was why I asked.  Waking and mostly sleeping I muddled through the mass. (Father C's homily was even longer than usual; I thought we were in a catechism class –dt)

 

We came to the part where you give the hand of peace to the person next to you. When I turned I saw several ladies holding and hugging my neighbor and weeping.  As the mass continued I heard her sobbing quietly.  I reached over and held her with my arm and she leaned against my shoulder.  The mass was over and we were told to go in peace.  I hope that Our Lady of Peace can lend some measure of peace that passeth understanding to my neighbor.  We went home and I slept (Some more –dt).  Sometimes you find things you never knew you were looking for.

 

 

HAPPY LUNAR/ASIAN NEW YEAR!

 

Dan and Rebecca

www.casa-de-terrible.blogspot.com

 

Find pictures and a short video:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/9151458@N07/sets/72157625808441473/