• About
  • Photo Galleries
  • With Thanks

Words and Photographs

Words and Photographs

Category Archives: Mexico

A Hint of Things…

09 Sunday Mar 2014

Posted by Juli in Mexico, Photography, Winter 2014

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

aging, Family, memories, Mexic, Mexico

A Hint of Things

+++

We were six.

My mom and dad.  My mom’s sister, who’s 90.  My mom’s brother, in his mid-eighties. My cousin (one of them), and me.

A re-union of sorts.  My mom is the youngest of six siblings.  Two have passed away, one – a dear sister, just last fall.  And, both my aunt and uncle have lost their spouses.  My uncle lost his wife, three days before his sister died, last year. It has been a difficult few months.

And, so, for the first time in fourteen years, it was time for a re-union. Three of the remaining four siblings (one can’t travel anymore) came together to spend a week in Mexico. And, it was magical.

Just like you’d expect it to be.  Stories told and shared from years gone by. Like 80-plus years gone by. Stories told from each of their perspectives. Stories told that the rest of us hadn’t heard before. Tender stories. Growing up stories. Stories of life during the depression. Stories of growing up in a big family. Stories of growing up a minority – Catholic – in Orangetown Toronto…back in the day.  Stories of first jobs, and mis-understandings, of hidden forts, and secrets kept for a really long time. Like, what (or who!) really caused that little fire?!  (Luckily, it was only a little fire!)

I’m a radio-gal from way back – started my career in broadcasting making radio.  So, of course, I recorded as much as I could.  Hearing their voices, hearing their laughter.  Hearing them remember.  There’s something about the sound of a voice that adds so much to what the words convey.

My cousin and I listened in…sometimes like two flies on a wall, listening and watching as they went back in time…remembering, and conjuring another era, another time in their lives, like it was yesterday.

We were in the mountains of Mexico for this.  Blue skies, warm sun, fragrant flowers. Birds flitting about, horses clip-clopping by on the cobblestone streets just outside the walls of the hacienda.  Abundant life.

We’d sit on the ‘loggia’ as it’s called, like a veranda only facing inward, towards the garden. It would be warm and sunny, and the afternoon light splashed across the tiled floor. This was usually the time when the stories would start to flow. But it wasn’t all about the past.  They were getting to know each other anew.  Catching up.  Discovering strengths they didn’t know each other had…like dealing with loss, and with getting old..while staying young in spirit.  (I’d like to add that I also watched my mom and her sister navigate those cobblestone streets with low heels.  Incredible!)

And, so it was..with feet firmly planted in the present (even if a cane was required) that they re-connected and remembered, and created memories anew.  All the while, handing down to the next generation (and beyond) a few hints about how to live, and how to age…leading, with grace, by example.

And, so, that’s how it was for a few days up in the mountains, and under the Mexican sun.  Kind of magical.

+++

Joining the wonderful community of women over here at Vision and Verb.

Vision and Verb
Advertisements

Beauty in Green

06 Saturday Jul 2013

Posted by Juli in Mexico, Photography, Summer 2013

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

beauty, green, Mexico, pause

Green...

+++

It just is.

A hotel.

A window.

A wall.

It just is.

A splash of pink.

A living wall of green.

A glint of sparkle in some glass.

It just is.

Lush.

It just is.

Green.

It just is.

Beautiful.

It just is.

Gentle Light

28 Friday Jun 2013

Posted by Juli in Creativity, Mexico, Photography, Summer 2013

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

counterpoint, summer

Dappled

+++

It’s a grey, rainy day here.  That’s not a complaint.  We need the rain.  And, there’s something downy and soft about the grey this morning.  It has a gentle light of its own.

It’s because of the greyness of this day that I pulled out this image for today: dappled sunshine, soft, green leaves, sweet, delicate shadows, organic nature set along side the crisscrossed lines of the gently worn ceramic tile.

Soft.  Gentle.  Light.

Not an antidote – that’s not what’s needed, but a perfect match for this day.

A Bit of Bounty

02 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by Juli in Mexico, Photography

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

Beginnings, bounty, Family, June, Mexico, sierra madres

Plenty

+++

Can you have only a ‘bit of bounty’?  Seems an oxymoron.

But, it’s true.  This crowded fruit bowl of apples, mangos, limes and bananas is only a small slice of the bounty here in the Sierra Madres.

Birds, blossoms, fresh food, friendship, kindnesses, and beautiful family…they all abound here. A bowl to-bursting with fruit and freshness, it’s just a bit of what’s amazing in the mountains of Mexico.

And, a bit of bounty seems a nice way to welcome the month of June – the gateway to summer, (at least, for those of us north of the equator.) Wishing you much joy and bounty, too, as we make our way toward the half-way point of the year.

+++

All you really need…

16 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by Juli in Mexico, Photography, Summer 2012

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

market, Mexico, senses, Summer 2012

It’s Saturday morning and the streets begin to fill with local vendors, setting up their stands, sharing their bounty of produce and wares.

It’s not market day – that’s Wednesday. No, today is a bit gentler, no shopping list in hand for the week’s meals. It’s about happening upon some kind of joy -made to measure. Roast chicken grilled and ready to take home for lunch; baskets and hats woven into all shapes and sizes; or this, fruit and coffee bean stand set up on a busy street corner to catch passers-by.

It’s the senses that are awakened by the presence of these vendors. Sight and smell gifted with colour and fragrance.

It’s been weeks since I was on that street corner, but I can still see (and smell!) the barbecued chicken sizzling on the grill and hear the sound of coffee beans being scooped into a bag.

The sensory pleasures of a Saturday morning walk in the village.
+++

20120727-171114.jpg
+++

Angel de la Guarda

19 Thursday Jul 2012

Posted by Juli in Mexico, Summer 2012

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

IPhone

Saint Guadalupe, Mother Mary and angel images abound in this five-hundred year old town in Mexico. Painted on walls, as frescos, gracing the entrance to a home or avenue.
This guardian angel watches over a home and the street along side…Angel de la Guarda…

20120719-220852.jpg

Rainy Season

18 Wednesday Jul 2012

Posted by Juli in Mexico, Photography, Summer 2012

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

IPhone

It’s rainy season in Mexico.
Storm clouds rise up over the mountains during the day, and come late afternoon, or late night, the clouds burst and the earth is drenched.
The Sierra Madres, brown through the dry winter – when many of us like to travel here, avoiding winter in our own backyards – are now, in summer, lush and gorgeous green. It is green beyond measure. And, the landscape is transformed. Such a gift to be here and see this, the summer season.
+++

20120718-145401.jpg

Image

On The Road…

17 Tuesday Jul 2012

Tags

IPhone, Mexico, on the road, rose, Summer 2012

20120717-174817.jpg

Hola..and greetings from the Sierra Madre mountains…
I’m on the road and keeping my eye out for the beauty that abounds in the every day and the unexpected. I will post along the way…
This morning, early, on the roof top of the casita, roses abundant and beautiful. Delicate, pink and full of sunshine. Just so lovely.
+++

Posted by Juli | Filed under Mexico, Photography, Summer 2012

≈ 1 Comment

A kind of harmony

14 Wednesday Mar 2012

Posted by Juli in Mexico, Photography, Winter 2012

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Mexico, oranges, raw, reds, unfinished

This image is a favourite of mine.  I can only try to explain why because I don’t really know for sure.

I think it’s the amazing texture and earthiness of the old brick wall.  That wall’s been there a while.  You can see its history, the repairs and re-builds.  I can picture the work that was involved to build it.  Hand-made bricks, laid by a team of workers.  All done under a hot sun.  This wall is of the earth.

And, I love the smooth silver pole – a bit of gleam against the earthen work.  The line of it cuts across the horizontal lines of brick, which appeals to my eye.

And, that other bit of shine – the horizontal piece of pipe, cut off, it seems, before it could be finished.  Did they run out of money?  Did they run out of supplies?  Did a dream get put on hold?

And, there’s the fabric awning, a little worse for wear, draped across the top of the image, with its soft, scalloped edge.  A contrast to the roughness of the brick and the silvery hardness of the pipes.

And, I love the warm tones – orangey-reds and browns.  (That’s a technical term – ‘orangey-red’!)  I find it grounding.

All of the elements seem raw, broken or unfinished, and yet, together, there is some kind of harmony.  I find beauty in it – in spite of the wear and tear, or maybe because of it.

Orange Appeal

12 Monday Mar 2012

Posted by Juli in Mexico, Photography, Winter 2012

≈ 2 Comments

“Orange is red brought nearer to humanity by yellow.” –Kandinsky

+++

+++

+++

+++

← Older posts

Recent Posts

  • Glass Garden
  • Invincible Summer
  • A Hint of Things…
  • A little bit of Mystery
  • Markings

Archives

Categories

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Advertisements

Copyright

Unless noted otherwise, all content - words and photographs, are my original copyrighted work.

Create a free website or blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel