A horse at pasture in Alcocer Mexico is a place where the quiet daily routine is practically as old as the mountains behind our house. I watch my neighbor across the rock fence behind us do her laundry by hand and hang it out to dry. The shepherds lead their goats, sheep and cattle every morning to the small...
Posted by sgraves at Oct 3, 07 03:36 PM
Stefanie's Entries
I can sneeze again. And finally blow my nose. I can pick up something heavier than a gallon of milk. Oh yes, and one more thing. Best of all I can also hear again. This last and best thing is thanks to the wonders of technology by way of a new cochlear implant. All the other things were just nuisances,...
Posted by sgraves at Dec 3, 06 04:57 PM | Comments (1)
Stefanie's Entries
The Instituto Art Fair - a lively, colorful happening We’re far from novices anymore at doing art fairs both here in San Miguel and the states. They still take a lot of preparation and forethought in ramping up to the actual event, but we’ve become accustomed to the routine of applying and the inevitable check lists to make sure...
Posted by sgraves at Sep 9, 06 08:03 PM
Stefanie's Entries
My day begins usually with my cat, Paintbrush, stepping on my feet and legs to wake me up for her morning ration of canned salmon cat food. I don’t have an alarm clock (or I do, if truth be known, but it doesn’t work. And that’s a whole other blog in itself.). The day begins more slowly than in...
Posted by sgraves at Apr 29, 06 10:00 AM
Stefanie's Entries
Stefanie standing at the threshold... Be careful what you wish for, as they say. That didn’t stop us from wishing for a piece of land in the hopes of building a house here in San Miguel. All came true in due course. And now our wall is going up around the property, looking enough like it belongs on some...
Posted by sgraves at Jan 23, 06 10:09 PM
Stefanie's Entries
In a week we will begin our first real exhibition here in Mexico and the third joint show we’ve had together. We’ve busied ourselves over the past month with putting together all the promotional materials – postcards, posters, an article for the Atencíon as well as an ad. We found a caterer to pour the wine and refrescas we’ve ordered...
Posted by sgraves at Oct 30, 05 11:46 AM
Stefanie's Entries
A tiny green tree frog came to visit the other night, just one of the many improbable creatures that are here amongst us that I seem to be focusing on these days. Turning on the light in our bathroom I caught the quick blurred movement of a greenish spot no bigger than a thumbprint. Looking more closely, I spotted a...
Posted by sgraves at Aug 20, 05 09:15 PM
Stefanie's Entries
Stefanie composes in Green Park, Athens Our earthly circumnavigation fades to the background of my mind these days with visions of our wanderings crystallizing in the quiet of night just before drifting off to sleep. Outside the realm of the unknown the memories are friendlier. The difficulties of travel, the discomforts of lumpy beds, the uncertainty of food and...
Posted by sgraves at Jun 29, 05 10:13 AM
Stefanie's Entries
Post Office as palace Madrid is all grandiosity. Great statues soaring in the sky atop practically every other building you pass. Not just some meek, chaste Madonnas but fabulous sweeping chariots and horses chafing to get underway, towering muscled Hercules posturing to the masses below, winged creatures of vast imagination in frozen animation. If that’s not enough, the buildings...
Posted by sgraves at Apr 5, 05 12:45 PM | Comments (1)
Stefanie's Entries
The bustling Grand Bazaar in Istanbul As we briskly walked through the carpet souk at the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul a man stopped Dave to ask us, “Where are you from?” The United States, Dave told him. “Why don’t more people from your country come here?” he wanted to know. It’s a hard question to answer and one we’ve...
Posted by sgraves at Mar 21, 05 05:12 AM
Stefanie's Entries
Colorful crowded streets of Chinatown in Singapore Arriving at the airport last Friday we were congratulating ourselves on our mastery of Singapore’s bus and subway system, conquered over our 3 day stay. We were especially proud of the fact that we’d made it to the airport by the recommended 2 hours prior to takeoff for our flight to Mumbai,...
Posted by sgraves at Mar 2, 05 02:38 AM | Comments (1)
Stefanie's Entries
I sat overlooking the rice fields this evening from an umbrella table in the back of our lodging’s courtyard. The place feels like something made for the gentry, except that this is a former Dutch colony, not English. There are 5 larger two-story cottages around the perimeter of Sri Ratih’s inner courtyard and a handful of smaller single cottages leading...
Posted by sgraves at Feb 21, 05 12:47 AM
Stefanie's Entries
It’s raining gulley whoppers and the old man is dumping tons of potatoes on his bridge. This booming thunder sounds just that way, like there’s someone up in the sky dropping loads of potatoes, or maybe bricks, just like my mother used to tell it. I don’t know when I’ve seen it rain so much – certainly not since we’ve...
Posted by sgraves at Feb 13, 05 08:12 PM
Stefanie's Entries
Socializing in a plaza Except for their Spanish, the girls could be any typical group of young adolescents in the U.S., talking and squealing in a tight clique. They're dressed in school uniforms and gathered along the cramped sidewalk of Quebrada just above the bus stop where I'm waiting. I watch them crowd together, then fall back from one...
Posted by sgraves at Jan 9, 05 09:29 PM