In Search of the Perfect Virgen!

     Here is another in the series of Searching for the Perfect Virgens in Mexico:  Our Lady of Solitude, Nuestra Señora de Soledad.  She is the Patroness of Oaxaca.  And featured in her Song "La Cumbia del Mole."  Her image is all over Oaxaca City.  I took this one at the entrance of one of the restaurants.  Below, Lila Downs in "La Cumbia....

For more on on Celebratin Mexico.....Visit Casita Dos Arbolitos' Facebook Page: LIKE us on FB!!
As always, Check Out the Website: Casita Dos Arbolitos!

How To Care For A Simple Green Home.

    When we first came to Mexico to build, we had in mind a house with land around it that reflect our respect and love for nature and its beauty, the full ecological picture, and simplicity.  We built our house with many of the features that we had researched and envisioned.  Among those that we implemented in the house were, adobe construction, passive solar orientation and elements, photovoltaic solar energy, water catchment, gray-water plumbing, a compost toilet (to avoid extra water usage and black-water), and composting of both kitchen and garden by-products (i.e., peeling, etc., from the kitchen; weeds and clippings from the garden).
     We also let the garden evolve around the house, as we were building and first living out on the property.  Once walls and terraces were in place, we designated areas which sheltered the garden or exposed it to the elements.  And then we planted like an artist dabs color onto a painting, a flourish here, a few dots there, a splash in the foreground, a foundation in the back.  And once that had settled, we looked and "Painted" some more.
      One of the most important things to remember when building and living sustainably is that the house a surrounding garden require your participation.  The most important payment that you can make is to Pay Attention.  So, doing something everyday, we Pay Attention to our house and garden, so that it gets full and complete maintenance throughout the year.  By doing a little each day, nothing is too hard and nothing is neglected.
Things to Pay Attention to When Caring for a Simple, Green Home:

1.  Every day feed the Compost Bins.  Our Worm Bin gets the Kitchen by-products and our Green Compost Bin gets the garden by-products and orange peels (because our worms don't like a lot of citrus).
2. Every day, channel the gray-water to a part of the garden (trees, bushes, etc.) that needs a drink.  Some of our gray-water is stationary, permanently directed to a specific location.  Some is directed by hose, to various parts of the garden, as needed.
3. Everyday, water something.  Until the rains come, that is.
4. Everyday, walk through your garden and see what it needs, a branch clipped here, a tree well weeded there.  By walking and maintaining the garden daily, you are stuck with a chore that keeps getting put off.
5. Once a week, flood the gray-water drains with a bucket (approx 5 gallons) of water.  The pipes are simple and direct and the flooding keeps them running freely.
6. Every week, rake the the dry compost toilet, to turn the "soil" and promote the composting process.
7. Every week, turn the Worm and Green Compost Bins.
8. If you are a serious gardener then, you are already planning the next phase of your garden, as the present one comes to fruition.  Every week, keep the garden up-to-date in terms of planting, maintaining, harvesting, digging.
9. Every 3 Months, check and refill the water in the Solar Batteries.  They get thirsty, too.  We check and fill ours on the Solstices and Equinoxes.
10. Every 6 Months, raise or lower the Solar Panels.  We do this at the Equinoxes, right after checking the Batteries.
11. Every day of every year, take time to enjoy the combined efforts of nature and your nurturing.

     For more information on Green Stuff and to See a bunch more pictures about the place we live, the homes we built [Which we are offering for Sale] visit our Website: Las Casitas: Dos Arbolitos; and Laberinto
     Follow us on Twitter, for our EcoWord of the Day: Twitter

     Think Green.  Think Peace!

Celebrating Mexico, One Day At A Time!

We are selling Our Homes in Mexico, just outside San Miguel de Allende and moving back to the United States.  People ask us why we are moving away and they cite such things as cultural differences, possible violence, their own perceived unknowns.  We look at the move differently.  Partially, we are moving back because that's where our children are living and making their homes, at present.  There, also are our oldest and dearest friends.  Beyond these relationship reasons, however, is the feeling that we have had an interesting and stimulating adventure, here; and now it is time for the next adventure.
That doesn't mean the adventure here is quite finished.  The homes are on the market, but the right set of adventurers has not yet appeared.  Until they do, we are looking at our time here with slightly new eyes.
A Zen Story:

  A man walking along a path, encountered a tiger.  He started to run away, but the tiger ran after him, getting closer and closer.  The man came to the edge of a cliff, with nowhere to run.  Just as the tiger was about to spring, the man grabbed hold of bush whose roots were growing it the wall of the cliff and jumped over the edge.  there, he was suspended just below the tiger and above the ground far below.  As he looked down, he saw another tiger waiting for him, if he could get himself down without falling.  Then, two mice---one black, one white---started gnawing on the root of the bush.  Just then, the man looked over and saw a wild strawberry growing on a plant near him.  He plucked the strawberry and ate it.  It was so very sweet!!

 As we spend our last months of living full time at our home, out here in the beautiful Mexican countryside, each experience seems sweeter, richer.

Thoughts About Sounds, On a Cool Autumn Afternoon.

The Light of Autumn, the golden-tinged light, was shining throughout the morning and afternoon.  It gave an auric glow to the landscape.  Now, clouds are gathering.  Thunder has been rumbling for the past hour.  Because we had a short rainy season this year, we are hoping that these clouds, blowing from the northeast, rumbling in, will be more than the tease of last night.  Then, there were all of the dramatics of the false prophet, promising the end of the world, by deluge, when all we got was a few minutes of sprinkles, which were quickly soaked up by a thirsty earth.

The above paragraph was written just before it was time to stop for Dinner.  Dinner, last night consisted of homemade Guacamole.  This made in one of our Molcajetes.   And Tacos de Carnitas, with Homemade Tortillas.   During dinner, and throughout the evening and night, the gathering clouds kept their promise and delivered some rain; 8/10 of an inch!  

My thoughts, yesterday afternoon, were musings on the sounds of the countryside, the "campo" outside of San Miguel de Allende, where we live.  The sounds here, coming mostly from nature, differ from the hustle and happenings of SMA.  There, are the noises of cars and buses and trucks and commerce.  On any given day, there is celebration and fireworks; these from simple "cuetes," fire crackers, to bottle rockets and grand displays of pinwheels and facsimiles.  There are musicians playing in the Parks and Gardens and restaurants; sometime creating a cacophony, as mariachis compete with Spanish flamenco guitarists and the jukebox of the kids break-dancing on the bandstand.  Vendors calling out selling newspapers and cooked "elote" (corn) and the tin whistle of the knife sharpener.  And a siren or two, punctuated by the band whistle of the transit police, trying to find the people who have double-parked along the main streets.   And, for many who live and visit SMA, all of these are a part of its charm.  For me too; this, mostly because I visit SMA when I choose.  The rest of the time, I'm out here at Casita Dos Arbolitos listening to sounds out here.

We have no fewer sounds than SMA, mostly just different, and more natural.  There are some "industrial" sounds, if you will.  If one is awake at 5:30AM, the sound of the school bus honking the "claxon" (car horn) is hurried summonig the secondary-grade students.  From our house, it is a bit faint and only heard if we're awake.  A bit later, the Poorwill sings its plaintive to condensingly bouncy song, as the dawn breaks.  In the distance, a rooster or two crow to the awakening day, a few dogs, barking at an early delivery truck.  Other birds take over, as the sun begins to appear on the horizon and the Poorwill finishes its morning solo; later, as dusk begins, another solo performance will be staged, as the birds begin to quiet down and settle in.  At some point in the morning, the high plateau drylands sound a bit like a jungle, as the cactus wrens and woodpeckers begin their callings to one another.  And there are the doves who coo and "mourn" during the morning and early evening.  And the screech of the jay.  And chittering of the towhees.  And the beautiful song of the thrasher, a song that belies its sinister yellow-eyed appearance.
Besides the birds of the campo, there are the domestics.  The roosters, as mentioned, comment throughout the day, mostly in the morning and evening, and at abrupt changes in light and temperature.  Yesterday, the cattle on the hillside to the south of Casita Dos Arbolitos, in full view from our Patio Room, were carrying on some indecipherable conversation,  occasionally punctuated by the braying of a donkey in the village.  During the early afternoon, one of the villagers was moving his flock of sheep through the arroyo, looking for a little green for them to nibble on.  The sheep added to the domestic dialog, though not as much as they do during the time their children are still suckling.  Then, there is a bit more calling, back and forth, as mother and child try to locate each other; the children, as children of all species are wont to do, having wandered off to explore, instead of staying close to their Mamas.
At various times, throughout the night, throughout the year, coyotes yip.  Their reasons not fully understood, though some times they sound lonely and others more celebratory.  And, on occasion, the hoot of an owl breaks the silence of the night.
There are more industrial sounds.  There is a rhythm to them, throughout the week.  In the next post, I'll tell about them and their place in our village, out here in the campo.