Fall Brings Changes

Fall Brings Changes

Many people begin the new year with new and fresh thoughts. It is an obvious new beginning. You wipe away the old as the year fades into oblivion and you promise yourself a great new future, as if you are cradling a new baby and see infinite possibilities.  It makes perfect sense to project life and new beginnings in this manner and time of year.

My changes always seem to take place in the fall. The leaves on tress begin to dance with color and I hear them beckoning me out into the world.  Paint me; take a walk, snuggle with a book, or just gaze out the window and think of the winter sliding into your life.  I love the first frost of winter and how the sun can peak out and create a glaze on the earth as if it has been sprinkled with fairy dust. Life has led me in a different direction these days,  and so I rarely build a snow man or toss a snowball, or slide around on icy sidewalks.  In winter you will see me walking among  Palm Trees as I gaze at stars on a sidewalk. Palm Springs and its myriad of happy hours, golfing and plein air painting has now become my winter playground.  Nonetheless my changes are just as relevant as my snowy winters skating on snow in the Northwest.   My snowing nights and visions of snow on the butte have turned into sunsets over the San Jacinto Mountains that literally take your breath away.  Just when you think you have seen the most magnificent sunset in the world, you are gifted with yet another the very next night.  How could you not be inspired?  Each winter in each place is a gift, and as an artist they stir that creative bubble lurking just below the service.

What I have learned is that life is never stagnant.  I have a friend that likes to say, "if you want to make God laugh, make a plan!"  How often do I hear the lament , "if only"; if only we had taken that dream trip; if only I had said I loved you more ; if only I had been kind; if only we had not let life slip through our fingers?   If you have read my different blogs over the years, then you have journeyed with me on this rigorous path of laments, grief, sadness, joy, adventure and new beginnings, always, always new beginnings. Art has sustained me through it all. It has enveloped me in its arms and given me strength

and great joy. I am so thankful to look at life through this lens. 

Recently I found a new path and so I begin fall with great hope and expectations.  As I weave my way around critical aspects of daily life, I will be ingesting a heavy dose of discipline to be more creative: paint and write and learn to have fun again.  Oh, I know, if you follow my social media, it all looks like fun, but that is only the character that appears on those pages.  Inside is a ghost that is looking at life stream by at a steady pace and needs to slam on the brakes and smell that proverbial rose. 

I will try to keep myself honest and , if you know me, help me on this new path.  Call me out. Ask me if I have painted are written a word lately. Sometimes we need a captain to guide us through the fog. 

As I said no to many things,, I am saying yes to me. 

Hope along on the ride.  I need all the help I can get.

With time comes Growth

With Time Comes Growth
Lost in Thought

I recently received a notice from Google about my blog...oh my, my blog!  It has been almost three years since I spent anytime writing for growth.  I wrote articles about art and decorating, but nothing personal has crossed from brain to fingers to paper.  It was only recently that I realized that I have been growing, not necessarily up, but nonetheless, growing.  We think that we are "all grown up",but I seriously believe that we are always on a path of growth.  

In three years I have allowed myself the ability to accept and forgive.  I allowed myself the time to experience new beginnings and many, many endings. Unfortunately, with growth and age, comes the loss of so many family and friends.  Also, sadly, not all those friends were old, or ill, or decrepit or sick. Some went with love and peace, some with pain, some suddenly and some with great anger. 

Our souls decry the need for nourishment. It is with hope that I feel we need to stuff that fire each day with things that can feed that soul.  Often this means moving forward in a field that enriches us with each day, but might be a bit frightening to the self that likes the status level of the known and comfortable.  I find myself taking that cozy little ride to the overstuffed chair and a good book much more often then not.  I crave the desire to jump over the ottoman and reach for the sky, but that takes so much more energy then I am feeling right now.....a common refrain.

My fraternal grandfather never retired, or should I say, retired many times, only to start another business.  I was 17 when I saw him riding around on a tracker, having retired from his last business and starting a nursery out of boredom.  My grandmother said that she thought he would just pass onto heaven, fedora on head, and take that tracker right with him.  She came real close to that prediction. He had a heart attack one sunny afternoon, riding his beloved tracker, but, alas, he left the tracker behind.

He never once said that he didn't have the talent, energy or fortitude to try something new.  In fact, if he had never experienced something, all the more reason to give it a try. My grandmother stayed right by his side in every adventure, and, although we thought she would pass shortly after he, she lived to be well into her 90's and had twenty years of more adventure then granddad.  

My path lately has been the rocky road of volunteering.  As I built my career, raised a son, ran two businesses, gave dinner parties for my career climbing husband, I didn't have time to give of myself freely....ha ha, did I just say that?  Of course, I meant, outside those responsibilities.  After the death of my husband, I jumped head first into volunteering .Although  I am still a bit involved in projects of others,  but have learned to grow from those jobs and explore territory that I never deemed possible. I am not learning  to find spare time for myself. 

I built a little studio a few years ago, and only spend about six months a year in that location, but love the ability to leave a project out for scrutiny and change.My studio is named "Maison de Della", after a store I once owned, for I love to say...."I'll be out there soon Della and we will create works of art."

Enough for now, but next we will talk about Della.

Sentiment of Mexico

I have ignored you, my journal, for many months.  As I walk my path of life I look towards so many paths that I often spin around and cease to become grounded in one direction.  It is my soul to take small bites of life, but what is often needed is to take one big hunk and chew on it for awhile.  Today my artist friend, Erin, inspired me to write again.  We are kindred in the fact that we know writing takes us through journey’s that are difficult, as well as those that are smooth. So, without hesitation, I take pen to hand.

MEXICO:

Mexico is such a conundrum for me.  I have highs so high that I lose my breath, but often times of longing for home, creature comforts, my family and friends. I plunder forth and ride with the spirit and try to move with the flow of life here. Sights and sounds mix together to create energy and excitement, and the philosophy of just being happy. “Relax….have fun, they say.”  I have a friend here that often says she is living in paradise.  I often ride on her optimism. Mazatlan is not the easiest place to get to so travel back and forth to visit home is pretty much out of the question.  So you ride the tide of emotions of being away, and know, that as it gets closer to returning home, you will conjure up all new emotions on having to leave!!!  Yes, it is a conundrum….

So, having said all this, why do I return year after year?

Dance to the beat.

 Is it the tequila that makes me dance in the Plazuela Machado with a young vendor whose feet can’t stop tapping to the beat of the music being played in the El Centro Pagoda, or dance around the square one night like Isadora Duncan with her famous scarf, or dance down the beach to the Banda’s, or is it just the air in Mexico that seeps into your soul and grabs the spirit? I dance so free here.  Who cares who sees you or what they think about you.  I just let it go and the happy spirit that I receive back with smiles and laughter only enhances that experience.

Color

There is something in the light of the Sun that makes the vivid colors of the earth bloom with brilliance in Mexico. I dare count the number of times that I have stuffed my suitcase with pillow covers, rugs, pottery and all manner of decorative items that sing here and kind of fall flat in the Northwest light.  I never give up though for the colors make me smile with delight.  I walk through old town seeking out colors and taking pictures so that I can transform those colors into works of art in the hopes that I capture just a taste of the beauty back home in my studio.  Terracotta, Gold, Emerald Green, Cobalt Blue, and clear Red all blend in a symphony as they play on tiles, fabrics and pottery to sing their happy song of harmony.  This is not the monochromatic feel of serenity, but the jolly dance of color!

Homes

Last week was the annual home tour, and although the modern homes were lovely, it is the homes in El Centro that speak the language of Mexico.  Tattered walls of stucco and brick; sidewalks that undulate to the force of tree roots; solid doors that take two people to open; behind all this you will find vista’s of such beauty that it takes your breath away.  How magical to open the door and walk into a paradise.  I feel a bit like Alice in Wonderland……what lies beyond.  Lush plants weave around atriums anchored by tile that beckon you forth to explore.  The Hacienda style is my favorite for room after room of color and style spin around like a carousel until you almost become dizzy with the tactile and visual senses.  I have been fortunate to enter many of these homes throughout Mexico.  They not only speak the language of Mexico, but they portray the personality of the inhabitants. Nationals and ex-pats have taken ruins, literally, and pulled them up from the dirt and gnarly vines to visions of beauty.  I can’t even imagine the fortitude for such an adventure.

My time to leave is creeping up on me, but I have one more favorite escapade before I leave.  Tomorrow is the annual Art Walk.  More homes to explore, more walls to take shots of and some beautiful art to admire and possibly squirrel away in the suitcase.

Hasta la vista

Sleepy Village

I am sitting in the courtyard of an old Hacienda that is alive with a new life. The water rolls down the fountain and the Bougainvillea climbs the walls. I am surrounded by silence but for the water. The colors bounce with energy, but the people are in Siesta and the quite feeling embodies the village of Alamos.

In the 1700's the Spanish settled here, at the base of the foothills to mine silver.  The town prospered and the Spanish sent their offspring to Stanford and Harvard and the education brought more prosperity to the area, but only for growth within and not towards over burdened growth.

It wasn't long before the migration of "gringo's" began and hence bringing more wealth and renovation to the area.  After the mines dried up the houses started to collapse unto themselves.  Adobe needs constant care and without inhabitants we are suddenly climbing over crumbled walls and getting snag in knarly vines.  People from America discovered this beautiful city and had the vision to walk through ruins and see the vision of a Hacienda.  I sit in the middle of just such a ruin. 

Walking away from a life in New Orleans, full of stress and making a typo in her research to find a new location, our owner landed in Alamos, Mexico versus Alamos, Colorado!  Shortly after stepping off the plane, hitching a ride to town and taking a stroll....well, needless to say, she was hooked.
Twelve years later and a learning curve that was strictly perpendicular she owns the beautiful Hotel Colonial.

What does one do in a sleepy village.  It draws people that love to move slowly through life and beat to their own destiny.  Entrepreneurs have moved into this village to prefect their craft and create a new life.  Gourmet restaurants can be found behind a dark corner on a quite street and not far away one can stay in a luxury hotel that rivals any around the world.  Life moves slowly, but doesn't stagnate.

We all strive for a more peaceful life with a touch of Zen, but don't want to give up all the little luxuries of a feast for the tummy or the soul.  It is hard to find a place that embodies both.

It is a beautiful village with so much diversity of energy and quite.  Just a perfect little spot in the  chaos of life.  There is a saying here.....".the first day you arrive you fall in love with Alamos, the second day you hate it and the third day...you buy a house".....almost..almost...

It's not all about the Tequila....

 Mazatlandian's watch their community grow each winter by leaps and bounds, it is an invasion of Americans and Canadians!  I know that you think that we all just come here to drink up all the Tequila, soak up their sun, eat all the shrimp and act a little crazy....nada, well, not all the time. We don't just  sit idly by and watch the locals serve and entertain us, but many of us  join in to help make this city a better place to live for the locals.   Along with all the eating, drinking and shopping, there are charitable events that are organized, promoted and attended by the "gringos".

Once a year the El Cid golf course echo's with the sound of girls!  Little golf carts all decorated with Boa's, balloons, bras and other girlie attire scoot around the golf course and create all kinds of laughter and fun.    It is the annual Golf for Breast Cancer Awareness Event.  Gaiety and money flows into this worthy cause. Many ex-pats have survived breast cancer and know the importance of early detection, but many nationals don't have the funds for just the simplest of test, the annual mammogram.  The worth event of golf, lunch, silent auction and guest speakers , brings the matter to the table and creates funds for awareness and research.  With much pride the event has driven down the cases of fatale breast cancer by donating funds for early detection testing.

 

 

 

The sound of the motors begin early, big tourist  busses lining up to carry us to seven amazing homes in Mazatlan.  From El Centro to El Cid we are carried away to dream about living in a tropical climate with outside patios and terraces that can be used year round.

 

 Expats from around the world have joined forces here in this busy metropolis to purchase homes in the old part of Mazatlan. The busses creak and grind their way around streets that are so hairpin that cars have a difficult time navigating.  Walls that rise 30 feet above the road and colors that climb upon each other great us and entice and tease us to enter.  IT IS THE ANNUAL HOME TOUR! I have been inside enough of these homes to know that the shabby façade gives way to homes that come straight out of your newsstand decorating magazine.  Walls that were peeling with age and years, wood that tempted the termites, floors grimy with dirt and leaves have given way to paradise.  It can take years of stress and heartache and yelling and learning the meaning of "a Mexican minute", but in the end the beauty resonates, the artistry speaks aloud and we enter another time and place where craftsman carry their work proud. 

 

I am always taken with the spaces outdoors, especially coming from a climate that celebrates  only two months of summer!  Houses often open right into the terraces and lines are merged from living indoors/outdoors. Fountains, pools, plants, outdoor kitchens, lounge chairs, birds chirping, cats lingering and the sun stream through strategically.  All is well in life.  

 

If I were ever to move here, it would be to El Centro for it feeds my soul with each breath, but the homes on the golf course at El Cid are nonetheless spectacular, but they are larger, and newer and more modern.  I can see these home linger on the pages of Architectural Digest or sitting in the hills of Beverly Hills.  Lovely, large, marbled floors, infinity pools, and the ever present maids quarters....there is no way one lady to care for all of this.  The decorating is always immaculate and often has crossed the border from the USA.

 

No matter where your heart lies there is something for everyone.  Yesterday was a special treat for some of the owners were there to give their own stories of love and strife in the ownership of a home in Mazatlan. We are all so thankful to them for opening their home, showing us their amazing art collections and supporting education and health programs.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

open your eyes....

As we all know art is in the eyes of the beholder.  If you disagree with the beauty in something that others find astounding, then that is as it should be.  I seek beauty in so many spaces and places, but I am looking for the artistic element in everything because that really is my nature.

Today we hopped the bus to El Centro in search of art supplies.  I think that I mentioned that I picked up the wrong box at home and brought incorrect materials to Mazatlan...but , that really doesn't matter.  Half the fun of being in a country where you don't speak the language is discovering how to find the things that you want and , even better, how to ask for them.  That, in and of itself, is an art

El Centro is not aesthetic, so to speak, but hey, if you want the ordinary, the clean, the organized, the mundane, then you can find that almost anywhere. I kind of like the element of surprise, the tad gritty and the challenge of the game. Sometimes you sneak around the corner and find a vendor on the street that has displayed his meager goods in such an artistic manner that it is inspiring. You weave your way around Nationals doing their everyday shopping and then you listen, in hopes of picking up just a bit of the language, and, guess what, you do!!  Simple things seep into your pours and make you a better tourist. 

Please don't get me wrong.  I still yearn for the solitude and softness of sitting at a quite cafe, lingering over a  drink and lunch and teasing the locals.  These moments make you feel as if you are in another world, or maybe even another dimension.....and you are, because you are outside your normal realm....you have extended your horizons.  

It is muggy, it is hot, you have shopped, conversed, translated and walked  miles, but you know at the end of the day, you will sit in a lovely cafe, sip a margarita, have some lunch and maybe walk across the courtyard to buy a book by a local author.....lazy days, but rewarding in so many ways.  Art is more then paintings, etc. it is life at its best......one only needs to stop and look around at all the things that surround us and make life enchanting. Each day we open our eyes and ask ourselves.."what shall today bring?" ....today will bring us art, even if we do nothing more then smell a flower or look at a smile of another human.

Today I share the beauty of art as applied to a "caro".....just looking and see what I found.

There are three distinct areas in Mazatlan that we frequent; the Golden Zone, Old Town and Cerritos Beach area. 

  Golden Zone is the big resort area where we can walk to any number of restaurants, bars and shops.   It is a mixture of Nationals and Gringo's.....both sharing in all that the golden zone has to offer.  Even though it is "touristy" , so to speak, it is also where we have made friends with the vendors, shop owners and locals that work in the restaurants. They greet us each year with hugs and smiles. This is where we hop over to The Social, a lounge and coffee shop, to hear great music by Rob Lamonica and Lori Davidson.  Love sitting outside, eating a light dinner and listening to their music and banter. Highly entertaining.

 

 

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Old Town, Centro Historico, is where I go to feed my artistic soul.  I find beauty in the ruins of buildings, the carved and painted doors, and the night life at Plazuela Machado.(town square). There are a number of expats that hang out at Casa de Leyendas; many of them artist of one sort or the other.  The Historic district holds the "First Friday Art Walk".  Not only are our artistic souls feed with some amazing art, we are privy to many private homes that would otherwise be just beyond our reach.   Sitting at Macaw's, at Casa de Leyendas, across from the museum and a lovely little park, never ceases to make me want to rush home and throw myself into an art project.....this only happens after I allow myself to linger and absorb the atmosphere , nearby conversations and sip my margarita!!  Casa de Leyendas is B&B that serves up an amazing breakfast and delights with its charming rooms. 

Todays journey took us to Cerritos Beach for breakfast at Loony Bean and a short walk on the beach.  Cerritos is off the beaten path and is home to one of the "Cutest" RV parks that I have ever stumbled upon.  I swore that the place must be overrun with artistic types...I can only show you a couple of pictures and let you make up your mind. 

Just a Mariachi Band in Scraps.......

Satellite Dish!

Where the heck is that RV?

 

Adios Amigo's......................