I so rarely get down to the garden when all the zinnias are fresh and unmarked that I just had to make them my flower of the day once again. They are so perfectly perky that if they were humans, they’d be annoying, but since they are just flowers, they earned my undivided admiration.
http://ceenphotography.com/2015/07/30/flower-of-the-day-july-30-2015-daisy/
Wish I’d gotten a picture of the cute and durable doggie toy I got you today, Morrie! 
New house record. Fifteen minutes from gift presentation to disembowelment. His job is done.
After a hot humid day in Ajijic, I arrived home to find it had rained. This beauty had bloomed in the garden by the pathway into my house, bearing evidence to that fact. I have four or five different varieties of hibiscus and each time a new bloom comes out, it is a gift!!
Since I believe Cee is on retreat, I’m linking this to her yesterday’s challenge. You can see other floral offerings HERE.
Oops..she did post today, so to see her today’s post, go HERE.
CAMP ESTRELLA FINAL SHOW!!!!!
(Please click on pictures for a larger view.)
The final show included the kids from Camp Estrella as well as part of the 153 member kid’s orchestra and chorus from San Juan. They are the spirited children in white blouses and dark pants. They presented music from Grease, La Bamba and a wonderful spoof where they drew participants from the audience and wound them around the stage area in a long line. It turns out it was a song about the whole village lining up to buy tortillas in the morning–to buy enough tortillas for 7,000 people from one shop with 7 tortilla machines…The joke is that the people drawn from the audience who took a place were forced to go to the end of the of the line–like newcomers trying to break into the tortilla line. Much funnier when listening to the lyrics!
The woman doing the scarf dance was Cynthy, one of the counselors. The woman doing the flamenco was Cindy, the organizer of the camp and the man on the drum and guitar is her husband, David. Other counselors left to right are Audrey to the far left, Juan behind Cynthy, Gloria in polka dots and me! Alicia regrettably left before someone requested we pose for a picture. She is the exotic Mexican lady standing to the left side of the stage in the picture to the right of the audience shot.
After the show, where all those little girls in bright yellow Camp Estrella T-shirts turned into sophisticated flamenco dancers in exotic dresses and tightly-chignoned hair and all the jostling young boys turned into swelled-breasted young men, every one of them hugged every one of us. Audrey and I vied with each other over who could do the best job of hiding wet eyes and lumps in our throat, and we decided the 5,000 pesos that the audience gave us to support the camp (the show was free) should be split between the performers. So, we gave each child 100 pesos and gave the rest to the orchestra/chorus.
Counselors were even more richly rewarded by the memories of working with and getting to know these warm and lovely kids…not to mention the remarkable counselors. We now count among our friends two new generations of young Mexicans–and feel younger for it and more determined to stay in the flow of life. Tomorrow we start all over again with another camp in Ajijc, the neighboring town.
Thanks for giving me a platform to share this wonderful Experience.
Now do you know why, if I had a billion dollars, I would spend it to make this sort of experience happen every day for the children of San Juan Cosala?
If you haven’t been following my stories on Camp Estrella, go HERE, HERE or HERE or for more of the story.
I went out to photograph flowers, but found the palm tree trunks more interesting.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/close-up/
The beautiful children of Mexico
shed music as they come and go
see how they dance and how they flow–
the beautiful children of Mexico?
Long hair held back out of the way,
womanhood fastened there at bay.
They’ll loosen it another day,
but for now they need to play.
See how the big boys stand aloof
in the shadow of the courtyard roof?
Yet their guard lets down as they sing and dance,
with an occasional sideways glance.
They lean and banter, jostle and
cavort like puppies as they stand.
But see how the smallest one of all
suddenly seems to stand so tall?
See the talents they all display–
victorious at the end of day.
So clever, given half a chance,
they show their bravery in dance.
Intelligence in the written word–
a painting of a flower or bird,
these beautiful masks they’ve put in place
obscure the beauty of each face.
Mothers and fathers, heed me well
as the truth of it I seek to tell.
As they lift their masks, end their parade,
see the beautiful children that you’ve made!
I’d been asked to read a poem at the children’s performance at the end of camp tomorrow night, but nothing I’ve written seemed appropriate, so I wrote this poem that I will read at the end of the animal song and mask presentation as they are about to take off their masks and leave the stage for a party and dinner prepared by Agustin, the owner of the restaurant where we held this six day camp. I hope you’ve enjoyed getting a glimpse of a few of the over 600 pictures I took. Too many photo opportunities!!! I guess I’d advise that no one else try to sift through this many pictures to adorn a post. It has taken me from 4 p.m. until 10 p.m.–with a few diversions..two one hour phonecalls and a few email interruptions! So, a very late posting, but appropriate for this prompt: https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/well-i-never/
I’m choosing an alternate prompt today–to talk about my most unconventional love affair. I’m fairly sure I’ve written about this prompt before, but this time I’m talking about another unconventional love affair–my love affair with Mexico. Hopefully you’ll know why after you read it.
The Boy in the Blue Feathered Mask
I was so busy issuing art supplies, that when the masks were set out to dry, I had no idea whose was whose. Other Camp Estrella counselors were helping at each table and requests for paint colors were coming fast and furious. Who knew so many boys would want to be grey foxes? A lot of white and black got mixed. A lot of red and pink to make a deeper rose.
Then, feathers flew and concrete became polka-dotted with sequins in every shape from polka dots to half moons and leaping reindeer. Day after day, layers added until it was impossible to tell roosters from foxes from bears from falcons from rabbits.
But when I saw the remarkable turquoise feathered mask with the jeweled beak, I tried to imagine which of the graceful young girls had conceived of it. When I collected it from the tarp set in the sun and sat it under cover with the others for the night, I knew I wanted to be sure to capture her picture tomorrow before my day became consumed with other tasks.
The next day, the members of the camp surrounded the tables and piano where we had set the masks away from the night rain and winds of the rainy season. Some asked for more sequins, feathers, beads, paint, glue, glitter gel. Others wanted their headbands attached and wore the masks, as is, all day long–swooping between the fruit trees of the open courtyard and over the open spaces where the dance routines were practiced. They sat during language lessons and singing practice with beaks and ears and wattles and plumes.
And then I saw the boy in the turquoise feathered mask!
He didn’t seem to mind that his friends behind him were getting a large charge out of his mask.
He wore it almost constantly, once I’d fastened the strap to it. And then one morning, he caught me by the arm and asked me to take his picture. With his other hand, he caught the hand of a girl who walked by. She was one of the taller girls, rather shy, as you can see from this photo snapped the first day of camp:
“Take our picture!” he asked politely, and although at first she pulled away, she didn’t resist much, and neither did I.
Brave young man. Looks pleased. Brave young woman. Looks placid and mature. In the flamenco dance lessons, she alone looks almost as poised as her instructor. She is the niece of my housekeeper, and although I’d never met her, her aunt pressed me to see that she was included and it was a special request of mine that she be added to the camp roster. Now, in the 4th day of camp, I am so glad I did.
There’s a reason why feather boy looks so pleased. She is talented in everything she does, graceful and kind, and I’m told by the other counselors that the other girls look up to her. Although innocent, and in spite of a few flirty looks from girls toward boys, this is the only case of pairing up (short as it was) between the 11 through 14-year-olds in the camp.
When I mentioned the picture later on, he seemed puzzled, and then when I reminded him, he beamed again. In the two days since then, I’ve seen other boys watching her closely in the dance or at her table as she carefully pens thank you cards to camp sponsors. But no one else got his picture taken with her, and I noticed her shyness melt away rather quickly afterwards.
So many pleasures in this camp. Watching child after child mature and blossom was the greatest one. More stories if you want to hear them. Telling them assures me they won’t be forgotten.
See other Camp Estrella stories HERE and HERE.
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/unconventional-love/
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_prompt/the-perfect-game/
Coincidentally, a friend brought it to my attention that this post also meets Cee’s prompt this week, so if you want to see some more teal or turquoise, go here:
http://ceenphotography.com/2015/07/21/cees-fun-foto-challenge-teal-or-turquoise/
What Did You Do, Morrie?
When Morrie got into his cage the minute I came into the room, I suspected something was wrong.
Is something wrong, Morrie?
Did you do something naughty?
Have you been a bad boy?
Oh, oh, oh. What did you do, Morrie?
Did you make a mess?
Did you chew up a roll of toilet paper?
Did you open up the closet door and chew up thirty rolls of toilet paper?
Bye, Morrie!
Before he decided to leave the room for awhile, Morrie taught me some lessons. This is what I learned:
Always secure the closet doors before you leave the room.
Put everything up high!
Especially toilet paper!
And be sure to put your shoes away. This is my favorite pair.
I wonder where the other one is? Oh, that’s right. Morrie ate it!
Morrie? Going out again?
Twins
https://dailypost.wordpress.com/dp_photo_challenge/half-and-half/ This week, share an image that has two clear halves, literally or figuratively. You could focus on composition, like me, and take a photo with an explicit dividing line (either vertical, horizontal, or diagonal). Or take the theme in other directions: zoom in on a pair of objects that together form a whole. Show two people whose demeanor or personality complement each other. Or bring into balance two opposing visual elements — light and dark, color and its absence, sharp focus juxtaposed with blurriness.
lifelessons - a blog by Judy Dykstra-Brown 