Bad Blogger Guilt

Yes, OK I have been missing from this blog for quite some time.  Long enough that I have been getting emails wondering if we are all right.  Yes, we are fine, I have just been lazy about finding things that are blog worthy, in my opinion.

My days are spent doing the same old things.  Paying bills, getting groceries, running errands, taking art and Spanish class, laundry, cooking and all the usual day to day stuff.  Nothing real exciting or even interesting for a blog.  I guess things here seem so normal to me now that most of the time I don't take my camera with me, so don't have pictures of things other people might find odd; but are just normal to me.

I did make a couple of posts on the art blog, link to that blog is on the right hand side of this blog, I quit posting my paintings on here as I thought I was boring everyone and if you were interested you would go to the other blog.

I sent a couple of pastels paintings north to Canada hopefully they will get there before the Christmas mail rush.  In fact they should be there by now I think.  I haven't talked to anyone lately so am not sure.

It has been chilly and windy here for a couple of days and my aches and pains have been bad, in particular my neck and shoulders.  I have Fibromyalgia so I ache worse when it is cold and windy.  I skipped art class one day and the next day headed uptown and bought some wheat.  I came home and sewed myself a wheat bag.  If you are not sure what this is, it is very simple.  It is wheat, seeds of course, sewn into a cloth bag of whatever size you want, as long as it will fit into your microwave.  You then heat it up in your microwave, time depends on the size of the bag.  When it is comfortably warm you take it out and put it onto your achy areas. It really seems to help and yesterday I managed to make it to art class, as I could actually turn my neck again without a lot of pain.  Yay, wheat bag.  You can also add some aromatic herbs to your bag if you like, lavender is one that lots of people like.  I didn't as I have allergies to a lot of scents and don't tolerate scents close to my face very well.  I also sewed a door snake to block the drafts coming in under our door.

The landlords sons new home is coming along.  They put the roof/ceiling on for the first floor when I was in Canada in August and are now working on the walls for the second floor rooms.

Festival de las Calacas 2011

This afternoon we went downtown to the Festival de las Calacas which they have every year on the weekend closest to the Dia de los Muertos. It was again held at La Plaza de la Pistola, which is a block north of Serdan at around 21 st. Street.

It was supposed to have started last night; but this afternoon there were still people setting up their altars. Every year they have a competition for the schools and choose which school has the best altar.

I was kind of disappointed with it this year, it seemed like there was a lot less stuff going on than other years, unless things start to hop later this evening. Too bad if this festival fades out, it is a lot of work for the people involved; but is also a nice event for the spectators to view.

Here are some photos of the Calacas and some of the altars.  As usual you can click on the photos to make them larger.

Shoe shine anyone?

How romantic !

Another part of the festival is an art exhibition.  The class I am in at the Casa de la Cultura, has our paintings on display that we have finished so far in this class, (September and October).  Some of the paintings are in oils and some are pastels.  There are other paintings also from other classes and others that I am not sure where or whom they are from.  They are displayed in one of the buildings at the Plaza de la Pistola.

Here is a sampling of the art displayed.