isobelmtl

Writing under a Montreal sky

Category: Uncategorized

  • In the neighborhood of San Antonio is a mysterious blue door.  A sign, Pannos leads me to peek in.  A wonderful aroma of baking bread, a shaded courtyard, a welcoming mother and daughter who sell wonderful, wonderful bread.  It’s a good thing I’m walking a lot in San Miguel because I could eat nothing but…

  •     I went went to a performance by the Guanajuato symphony orchestra. The concert was held in a theatre in the middle of town.  I would estimate that 80 percent of the audience were ex pats and I noted many a grey or white head.  The rest of us had discovered Miss Clairol or…

  •   But not just any pick-up.  Notice the floral decorations and what a shiny new model it is.  Yesterday, Saturday, was the day for weddings in San Miguel.  This one took place in the big ” parochia” of San Miguel the archangel.  Some people mistakenly call it the cathedral but since San Miguel is not…

  •     We we are still celebrating the feast of Candalaria or Candlemas Day.  There is a big component of buying and planting flowers, trees and bushes.  The open air market is a temporary home to at least one hundred stalls.  People come in covered trucks from far away and they sleep in the trucks…

  •   This morning I took a cab which cost me less than five dollars to a nature reserve high above the town of San Miguel.  I went on a bird walk with some Canadians and Americans who certainly had a better idea of what they were looking at than I did.  The big standout for…

  •   I received a notice by email that Toller Cranston would be laid to rest in the cemetery in San Miguel on Saturday, January 31, 2015.  I have made friends with another Canadian woman here and we decided to go.  I was interested in Toller Cranston as an artist and I had fond memories of…

  •       Or so it seems.  I was invited to a lovely dinner party yesterday.  San Miguel is that kind of town.  I have never been in a place where people were so eager to know me, eat with me, drink with me, invite me to groups.  Really it is quite amazing!  I attended…

  •   I really was trying for something a little more romantic than the street dogs of San Miguel but they seem to insist on muzzling in.  Today I went in search of vegetables and found an organic market peopled by many Mexican sellers and many Gringo buyers.  I managed to find onions, garlic and carrots…

  •     No, no, that’s my brother.  I never pose. Don’t have the patience, I guess.  You think there’s a family resemblance?  Maybe, I don’t see it myself. Of course, we’re a little vague on the subject of paternity.  Not like our gringo friends who come down with their masters or mistresses.  I wonder who has…

  •   I promised my my readers graffiti for the month of January but it was so dreadfully cold that I posted precious little.  Now, I find myself surrounded by some pretty spectacular examples and I will try to give you a sample in the next few days.  This one, beautifully accessorized with bougainvillea is at…