Rocco
http://iamlearningdisabled.com/blog/page/8/ Rocco staring down intruders
Little Ninfa on the left
I call him Rocco, even though male and female Colibri Canelos, Cinnamon Hummingbirds, appear identical. I intuitively judge Rocco a male. He’s a tuffy, and he guards the feeder on our terraza against all invaders.
http://ccritz.com/wp-content/plugins/formcraft/file-upload/server/php/ Starthroat
A relatively large Colibri Picuda, a Plain-capped Starthroat, is a frequent trespasser. When the Starthroat goes for the feeder, Rocco becomes so preoccupied with discouraging the bigger bird that tiny Ninfa Mexicanas, Mexican Woodnymphs, slip by Rocco and take a quick sip.
Together these speedy birds drive Rocco mad.
El Día de Muertos
This is an appropriate day to return to this blog. I have been sick for way too long. No more.
This morning I wandered through the Panteón, the nearby cemetery packed with graves, small mausoleums and statuary. Today friends and relatives of the dead fill the grounds.
They are there to remember, honor and care for their loved ones.
One group of old men gathered around a monument to a recently departed friend and passed around a bottle of mezcal while they softly sang a song of remembrance to their amigo.
Others worked to whitewash their loved one’s marker and placed on them bright orange marigolds, flores de calendulas.
This is a day people in the US should consider observing.
Street Art III
Street Art II
Another slideshow of Mexico’s not so permanent art forms
Institutional Public Art I
When Alice and I traveled to the city of Vera Cruz, we found a beautiful sculpture in front of the PEMEX building, Torre de PEMEX, just off the Malecón de Puerto de Vera Cruz.
The scale is heroic and the work awesome. We liked it, but despite asking dozens of people who the artist is, no one could tell us.
Street Art I
In Mexico there is a great tradition of Institutional Public Art heroic bronzes, massive bas relief works, large scale frescoes and many other “permanent” art forms.
There is also a deep vein of anarchical art, more ephemeral in nature—chalk or flowers on the sidewalks, paper maché, cheap house paint, collage and glue. Most is only one good rain away from oblivion. This art form is expressive and shuns the idea of “precious art.” Often political making social comment or celebrating Mexico’s sense of libertarian personal freedom. This is a peek at the art form, Street Art.