Something died yesterday. Not too sure what it was? Hope? Freedom? Democracy? Common sense? Maybe a little bit of all. The sovereign people of America have put a sexist chauvinist crook at the head of the US of A. I’ve always thought that, given America’s impact on the entire world, foreigners should be allowed to vote for the President of the United States. My own vote would definitely not have gone to Mr. Trump Esq.
November 8 will remain as the day the American people may have started a chain of events leading to major crisis or wide-scale war. As if enduring little George Bush Jr for two terms had not been enough. Will November 8 become the new Day of the Dead, in lieu of November 2nd? I was mulling about that this morning at my new favourite café, in Tlalpan, in the southern part of Mexico city where we just moved a fortnight ago.
“Table for two, Sir?” November second, the Day of the Dead, is a very strong day of celebration in Mexico. The day the dead are honoured. Altars set up to their memories. Skeletons (Calacas or Catarinas) are dressed up and placed in the streets of Tlalpan. A neighbourhood that has remained virtually untouched since the 17th or 18th century.
An offering to the Dead. Hachi bleu Café, Tlalpan. I took all those photos last week, between October 31st and November 2nd.
People decorate their houses with Cempazuchitl, the flowers of the Dead. An orange carnation-like flower.
A typical house in Tlalpan. Colonial style.
Tlalpan City Hall. Waiting for Trump.
On Tlalpan’s main square.
The future Secretary of HEW. (Benito Juarez is on the left).
Altar and offering to the dead. An elderly couple concerned about their pension plan. And health plan, and, and…
To be continued… Maybe. The Internet sucks. Had to reload this post thrice. And the Captain and crew are in shock. 😦
Equinoxio 
Perfecto. Me encanto. Los sentimientos tambien.
Muchas gracias. Estos sentimientos se me van a quedar. Estoy aterrado… 😦
And you’re British. Nice to meet you. 🙂 (Even in dire circumstances)
Indeed. Nice to meet you too. I think those flowers are tagetes, are they not? Very good for companion planting.
Tagetes? No sé. You mean the cempaxuchitl? As far I know it’s indigenous to Mexico. I have to look the word up. Oh. You are quite right. It’s the latin toxonomic name. 🙂
I said Sorry on my post. Forgive us.
you my dear are easily forgiven. I remember your early stand for Clinton. What a bloody mess. All that is missing now is for Marine le Pen to be elected in France next year. Sad, sad.
I am still in a bit of shock and not particularly proud of my country at the moment.
Aren’t we all? Maybe it’s time for California to leave the Union? You are after all the 6th world economy, with a GDP slightly higher than France. 🙂 Baby kicking and kicking I imagine? 🙂
I have no interest in seceding. We just need to grow up and figure our stuff out.
A very good point. I have heard those words “grow up” a few times in the past days. It goes with a feeling that our politicians (worldwide) seem to be receding. Into narcisism? I’m not quite sure. But yes we all have to figure our stuff out.
Sometimes I wonder if we aren’t just getting too big and too diverse to function any longer.
That is a point. Athens, the craddle of Democracy only had 30 or 40,000 citizens. (plus 130,000 ilots or slaves) can we replicate the same functioning with 100 or 200 or 300 million people? Should we change representation rules? Randomly Nominate citizens for “civic” duty: one year term, not renewable, a bit like jury duty? (What we lack is creativity) Be good Jenny.
I wish I knew the answer…
🙂 Don’t worry too much. You will soon have your hands full. Literally. Grandbaby visited this sunday for lunch, we had both daughters and significant other and of course grandbaby was the star of the show. 😉
Yah, we are pretty excited to have him for Xmas this year. I am sure he will be our star of the show.
Of course. A real baby under the tree! 😉 (And a Sagittarian!) 🙂
Reblogged this on Scotties Toy Box and commented:
Very interesting images. I was surprised at the energy that goes into setting up some of these. Great post. Hugs
Thanks Scottie for the reblog. Which energy do you mean? The artists who make the sculpture or the time I spend putting a post together? 😉
🙂 both I guess. Decorating can take a lot of time and energy and creative talent, so can blogging. Be well. Hugs
Thanks. Likewise.
Here’s what I saw in this whole election thing (and keep in mind I’m an old feminist from the early 70s)
I saw women in their 40s, the daughters of the women’s revolution and who had gone to sleep because they thought it was done, wake up! So the idea of misogyny is back in open conversation and it’s not likely to go away.
I also saw a forgotten class of people roar Pay Attention. That’s valuable.
I did not like Trump winning, but maybe, just maybe, the country is waking up and growing up. For goodness sake, we’re the only western country without some kind of national health care! And we have become an oligarchy. Not a democracy. Maybe, just maybe (we pray) this country is beginning to grow up.
I’m also wondering if there isn’t a difference between the public Trump showman and what he is inside. That’s what I’m hoping for. And he doesn’t owe any of the Republicans anything.
Anyway. That’s what I’m thinking about today. J.
Positive thinking Janet. You are right on a number of points. Oligarchies are world-wide. Europe, France too. Some disguised in “socialist” attires. Now about the public vs. private Trump… I wouldn’t set my hopes too high. Only time will tell. Take good care of yourself. B.
Apparently the Internet is about to become one of the subjects of the above pictures.
Enjoy what’s left for as long as you – we – still can!
Subject? Ha. Maybe. I was just referring to the fact that the Internet connection in the new house is slow. I think it still is copper, not optical fiber. 😦
A crawling connection is still better than a dead one. 😉
Remember the ancient 14400 bps modems that were used 25 (or more) years ago? I got a modern 3G modem as my unique connection and when the 5GB download quota is reached the connection speed drops to about 15000 bps, comparable to those ancient modems. Right now I’m at that speed, which makes some of your pictures above not to load (completely or at all).
So… you may have to adjust your habits to the new situation at least until you get a better connection somehow. 😉
15 kb? OMG. I will stop complaining. And sorry that the photos are too heavy. I distinctly remember my fist portable computer. Nixdorf I think. 8 kilogrammes. Monochromatic screen. And a 3MB hard drive. More than enough then. Yes, you read correctly: 3 megabytes hard drive! 😉
Don’t worry, I got used to this snail-web. 🙂
Such computers like the one you’re talking about must have costed a truckload of money at the time. Now it would be a collector’s piece. 😉
I never had a portable (unless you count the Sinclair Spectrum as such, but it required a TV to be hooked to 😉 ), my first was a 486 @25MHz, IBM PS/ValuePoint that I cropped up from spare parts; can’t remember first HDD, maybe 100MB or so. Later on I upgraded the oscillator and the CPU to 66MHz, mounted an ISA soundcard with a built-in additional IDE controller and hooked a 1,2GB Quantum Fireball HDD to it. Primary HDD would host Windows 95 OSR2.1 and the “large” one would be for storage, for the downloads that came through the 14400bps ISA modem that was a bitch to find drivers for. O, tempora! 🙂
O mores! 😉
(You really now your stuff don’t you? The most I’ve ever done hardware-wise was to add a hard drive…)
I’ve always been nosy, for one. 🙂 Fancied electronics since I was 13. And poverty helped me learn to do a lot of things I couldn’t have afforded to pay others for. Then others started coming to me for help. If only I had a little bit of luck…
Foto interessanti 🙂
Grazie mille. Mi facia contento. (I really need to learn proper italian) Tutto bene con te?
prego
Your photos always make me long to see more of the world around us. I’m sure you’re still unpacking but these are so bright and lovely, thanks for sharing, even if it took three times, quite worth it 🙂
My pleasure Kim. It’s words like yours that make it worth the work. (And that particular Mexican custom is quite extraordinary) See part 2, which I just posted. And take care. B.
Be evem more concerned what a gleeful Congress might do. They control the purse strings.
Absolutely. And republicans (eg. Tea party) have gone a bit bonkers lately on budget issues. bad, bad…
I’m deeply disappointed with America right now. But your photographs certainly didn’t disappoint! You have a gifted eye.
Thank you. Muchas gracias. Tlalpan es muy bonito. Me la paso caminando y viendo detalles. Saludos
I hope your prediction about the war won’t come true, my friend. I don’t wish any war, to nobody, but what I see now is the crowds of Ms Clinton supporters rioting, burning flags, etc. Don’t remember such things happening when Obama won the elections. Republicans just sucked it up. The Democrats don’t know how to lose with dignity, obviously. I didn’t like both candidates, but kept to myself, mostly. I didn’t believe that Trump would win, but he did. May be the riots are the answer to why he was elected? May be people are simply tired of all this mess? I wish this country stays strong, and am sending them the most positive thoughts and encouragement. Their future has very little to do with their president’s personality – the same applies to any other country.
I do hope I will be wrong. But protests are not the right way. And as much as I would like to agree with your last comment, some presidents can really turn countries into a big mess. See Chavez in Venezuela, or Perón in Argentina. Let’s hope for the best.
I just hope that his party will put him in line. He is not an emperor. Nothing bad happened yet, so we have to be positive. You know how the negative thoughts attract trouble.
You are right. Fortunately modern times have some checks and balances. Take care.
All the best!
The new neighbourhood looks great Brian, although I fear the death-knell of democracy may have been sounded…
Knell? For whom the bells toll? (An english word I didn’t know. Well done!)
I hope to heck you are wrong about Trump’s…. win. Win for him, loss, I suspect, for us in America.
For all my friend, for all… 😦
Many thanks for all the wonderful pictures from day of the dead. I wish I could be there, walking and looking around all day long… 🙂
It is quite a sight. One day…
(Have a nice week-end)