The Moon, Venus And Jupiter

I wanted to try and get some photos of the alignment of the Moon, Venus and Jupiter. On Sunday evening we were in centro and by the time we got home it was too late to catch it, the mountains had intervened. The same thing happened on Monday night, by the time I got home from Cynthias and Mikes it was again behind the mountain. Finally last night I tried. My camera is not very good at taking night pictures and one of the planets was not as bright as it had been a couple of nights before. Here is what I got anyway. You pretty much need to look at them full size by clicking on them to see Venus and Jupiter.

Street Animals

Street Animals

Anyone who has either been to Mexico or done much reading about Mexico, knows about the proliferation of street animals. Our city/neighborhood is no different than other cities/neighborhoods in that area, with the exception perhaps that our street animals are in fairly good physical condition compared to lots that I have seen.

A few months ago the dog catcher came into our neighborhood and picked up the female dogs that we had here. I have no idea if someone called and complained or if they just happen to go through areas at random. It has been much quieter here since then with none of the noise associated with the females at certain times of the year.
The two males that we have left here come and go at their discretion. They are friendly and come to get petted and wag their tails mightily when they see someone who feeds them regularily.

We have lots of cats also, of course.

At the corner of our landlords lot is a big stone with a flat top, this is where we put out our leftovers for the animals when we have some. Our landlords also put food out for the animals when they have it. This is our "drive through" for them and they all know it. There is a definate heirarchy involved in the feeding process. Whoever gets there first rules. The dogs will wait until the cats have had their fill and vice versa. No fights or even growling, just patient waiting for their turns. Pretty funny to watch.

Only 2 cats waiting this time, sometimes there are 5 or more waiting their turns.

And a token, bad moon picture.

Foggy, Foggy Morning

Foggy, Foggy Morning

I like spending time watching the sky at night, it seems like there is always something different to see. Last night when I was outside looking up, I noticed that there was a huge, perfect circle around the moon. It was beautiful. Unfortunately I couldn't get a picture of it as my camera lens wasn't wide enough to get it all in. I noticed that Ciro was out on his patio so I called him up to see it. He went back down to get his camera; but had the same problem that I did. We think it was caused by the humidity in the air; but are not sure. It was certainly something to see.
This morning it is very, very foggy. This doesn't happen very often; but it is cool here this morning only about 14 or 15 C. around 58 F., BRRRRR my fingers are cold as I type this.

Tomatoes, Anyone?

Tomatoes, Anyone?

I had just returned from spanish class this afternoon, when I heard a loudspeaker blaring. Now, this is not an unusual thing around here, as there are trucks that drive by selling everything from veggies and ice cream to a couple last week selling mattresses and bed frames. Some of the tapes are quite muffled and you have to listen closely to understand what they have for you. This time I made out that they had tomatoes, "tomatoes, tomatoes, diez pesos por bolsa", 10 pesos (around $1.00) for a bag. Either he was really muffled or I just wasn't listening closely enough; but as I handed over my 10 pesos I happened to hear the rest of the tape. Diez pesos for tres kilos, oh uh I had just handed over my whooping great sum of $1.00 for 3 kilos of tomatoes, (almost 10 lbs.). As the young fellow and I walked around to the back of the truck and he handed me this big bag, I could see work in my future. Oh well, I laughed to myself, I guess I will find something to do with them. Roy thought it was pretty funny when I came back in with my big bag of tomatoes and he started making noises about a pot of fresh tomato soup. Figure this out, I had just bought 3 kilos of tomatoes for $1.00; but in the store 1 regular sized can of Campbells tomato soup costs somewhere around $1.45. Someone is making money. So, guess what I will be doing with part of my day tomorrow? They look nice and should be tasty. I wonder how many tomatoes you would get for $1.00 in Canada right now? Certainly not 10 pounds.

We have had a beautiful full moon the last couple of nights, so I tried to get a photo tonight. This is the result. Much better in real life, when you can see the shadow of the mountain in the moonlight; but this is what I captured.

Playing Around With The Moon

Playing Around With The Moon

We had such a nice moon this evening, I couldn't resist getting the camera out and fooling around a little. I tried 2 different settings: the "sunset" and the "dusk/dawn". The photos taken on the "sunset" setting were definately lighter than the ones taken on the "dusk/dawn" setting; but I haven't decided which ones I prefer, I like different things about each of them. Naturally they all look better when you click on them to enlarge them.

The first 2 were taken on the "sunset" setting.

These last 3 were taken on the "dusk/dawn" setting.

Moonlight

Moonlight

We had a beautiful big bright moon this evening. Unfortunately I cannot seem to hold the camera without shaking for long enough to take a decent photo. I guess I am going to have to look into getting a tripod, if I want to keep trying to take photos of the moon and stars. The other problem with putting the dark photos on this blog is the black background and I don't want to change that. Today I tried adding a border around the photos but then ran into the problem that the file was too large for blogger to upload, as they only allow you to upload 8mb., I am trying a very tiny border here to see if it will show up better.





We went uptown this morning and purchased the hot water heater and it is to be delivered mañana en la mañana (tomorrow in the morning). Other than that we had a lazy day and enjoyed it immensely!