Framing life: A San Miguel de Allende gallery
Monthly Archives: September 2020
Up against the wall: 10 San Miguel de Allende murals with a message to mask up
A pandemic of new murals all over San Miguel de Allende, many with iconic images from pop culture and high art, carry a simple message: Put on a mask.
If Frida, Vincent van Gogh, Vermeer’s “Girl With a Pearl Earring,” Klimt’s stylish “Lady in Gold,” and da Vinci’s mysterious “Mona Lisa” and her Botero-esque alter-ego can put on masks — and look fabulous — so can we.
That’s the hope, anyway, of the city’s Directorate for Culture and Tradition which has sponsored the creation of the 10 murals.
Continue readingA lesson from the butterfly’s second life
Butterflies are one of the “two sweetest passions known to man.”
So says Vladimir Nabokov. The other is literature.
A day watching butterflies flutter amid the flower boughs
Never feels misspent.
Nor does a day with a good book.
Literature lasts forever. No so, the butterfly.
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One thing leads to another: A mural grows in Colonia San Antonio
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This is how things work in magical San Miguel de Allende:
Susan Campbell Skinner lives on the corner of Refugio and Orizaba in Colonia San Antonio. Across the street is Dona Rosa’s tienda where she buys organic eggs, produce, and fresh squeezed orange juice.
Susan does not know Rosa well but she feels a kindred spirit. She feels like Rosa is always looking out for her and her casa when she is away. This is what neighbors do for each other here in San Miguel de Allende.
So, Susan wanted to do something nice for her neighbor.
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Happy Birthday, Rose
I didn’t even know we had roses.
Well, a rose. This one you see above.
It bloomed on Saturday. One of a kind. A lone rose.
It bloomed just hours before the Running of the Roses.
And it bloomed for my Rose,
Who celebrates her birthday on Monday.
Also a one-of-a-kind Rose.
Which raises my once-a-year question:
What do you give to the woman who IS everything?
A woman for whom a rose blooms on cue?
The pandemic has changed what is really important.
Instead of a new dress with nowhere to wear it,
I want to offer her security in an uncertain world.
Instead of a 1,000-piece puzzle of an exotic destination,
I want to offer her unwavering devotion in a fickle world.
Instead of a nifty new pasta maker with seven attachments,
I want to offer her unconditional love in a divided world.
Instead of a store-bought birthday card,
I want to offer her this, a rose not quite as beautiful as her soul.
And my humble words.
Happy birthday, Rose, the woman who is everything.
Mama Mia makes a move and it is spectacular
Rose and I happened to walk by the new Mama Mia’s restaurant today.
That’s right, the NEW one.
One of San Miguel de Allende’s most popular restaurants has moved from the heart of Centro to Dr. Hernández Macías # 91.
Really, just around the corner, but worlds away a huge improvement.
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Look through any window
Very few people — children, mostly — know that all around San Miguel de Allende there are portals that can transport you to unimaginable places.
No, sorry. That’s not right.
You have to imagine a place before you can be transported to it.
That’s why children — who still possess great imaginations — are most-aware of these magical conveyances.
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Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More 