Stairway to heaven. Bogotá, Colombia. (c) Oscar.
Goldfish Airways, Cuernavaca, Mexico.
“Vol de nuit”. Night flight by Saint-Exupéry. Wot? Not night? Ok. Day flight. Have posted it before anyway. The art is still there after a few years. Mexico city 2021
Downtown. Mexico city. Wasn’t there a “Downtown” Petula Clark song? Around the 19th century?
Salvador Dalí. Bogotá. (c)ourtesy Oscar.
Water well, Mexico city. I have already mentioned that the Water Authority hires street artists to paint the walls of the water stations. Great initiative. (And a better use of our Tax Pesos)
If anything in the street is street art, is she street art? Must have paid the Ad agency a bundle to find the gimmick of hitting her open palm with her fist. “It will show how decided you are…” the creative director said. (I don’t know whether she got elected…)
“Blue moon
“You saw me standing alone
“Without a dream in my heart…
“…Ba-bom-a-bom-bom…”
The Monarch butterfly population went down (journalists would say crashed?) from 4 millions in 1980 to 29,000 this year. (La Vanguardia 2020). 29,000 does sound a bit low; what I have read is that the breeding grounds in Mexico have been reduced dramatically. Basically by illegal tree cutting.
Saint Francis of Assisi. Cuernavaca. Mexico.
Calm down. Calm down. And use a mask. Mexico city.
Baby masks and their parent… Cuernavaca. 2021.
Winter flower. Mexico.
Shotgun shot. This fantastic house is just by the highway. Not too far from the house, but not safe enough to walk up there. A shame. The artist is very talented. Thought it might be Duek Gonzalez, but I’m not too sure…
One of the great advantages of globalization: have a Thai beer in Cuernavaca, Mexico. (Beers of the world series)
Chinelo dancers at the corner of a 16th century Spanish church. Ocotepec, Cuernavaca. Those guys have to make a living but the simple slowing down of cars to throw a few coins in the white “bucket” creates a 20 minute traffic jam…
Butterflies. (Again.) Shotgun shot. (Again.) Mexico.
À la Lichtestein. Berlin. (c) Paul Bell. Great blog:
And, last, but not least: Frida Kahlo on a very difficult shot, below a bridge in a sharp curve… Impossible to reach by foot either. Artist: Duek Gonzalez. Can’t begin to imagine how he painted this. There’s a barely 5 ft wide sidewalk. But he did it.
Thank you for joining us on this pot-pourri. Been a long time since I did one. Lost the numbers. (And my marbles too prob’ly). Since “downtown” occurred to me above, there you are: Petula Clark, one of so many English Artists who crossed the Channel to the continent. Way before Brexit.
Happy New Year. Bonne Année.
Equinoxio 
What amazing art you find!
Hi Ellen. Happy New Year. 🥳
I’m just lucky. And keep my eyes open to whatever might come my way. How have you been? Safely tucked home during end-of-year I hope? Bloody virus is exploding again…
Safe, yes. We were around someone who tested positive just afterwards, so we’ve been hiding out for the past week and just this evening tested negative, so all’s well–as is our friend, I’m happy to say. You stay well, you hear me?
I hear you. We are heading to an informal lockdown here I guess.
Glad you could test – negative – before the UK ran out of tests…
Another fabulous post. I love the fish and the boy in the plane. He still looks good. Wonderful shots and so much fun.
Thank you. Glad you liked this year’s first selection… 👍🏻
Love the kids faces on the stairway to heaven. Happy new year!
Feliz año Rebe. Todo bien contigo y tu familia? abrazo.
Gracias, si todo bien! Y uds?
Qué bueno. Ahí vamos. Cuídate mucho. Es porquería de virus está explotando otra vez.
Si, que pena, no?
I still think this is a missed opportunity, so far, to change our ways radically. The way we do things, the way we work, appointments with the doctor, industries, housing. Everything…
I agree completely. Insurance (medical) companies are still balking at paying practitioners across state lines. We need to get rid of the hurdles and use petrol a lot less!
Insurance companies are the worst. If I understand correctly, if you live near a state border and you have a better doctor 10 miles across the state line the insurance won’t pay? Pffff.
No, they’ll just send an “Explanation of Benefits” note which translates as why they won’t pay the blooming bill!
I have to say that “Stairway to Heaven” is my favorite. It’s very happy.
It is. Bonne année Liz. How was your end of year?
Pretty stressful. The pandemic is really getting to me, and I need to cut back on some things to have more time to write. How about you?
Sorry to hear that. I’m beginning to become fatalistic. Cases are closing in. People we know, a neighbour just in front of our house… But I am beginning to think: “Hey! We’ve done it all. Three shots. We are careful, now que sera sera.
Stay safe Liz.
Hard to pick a favourite, they are all so wonderful. Thank you, Brieuc, for this first share of the year!
Avec plaisir ma grande. Comment se sont passées les fêtes de fin d’année? Toujours un peu difficile j’imagine, mais bien quand même?
Pas mal tranquille mais bon. Juste ma mère et mes deux kids.
Et toi?
Oui j’ai vu. On a réussi à être tous ensemble, ma femme, nos deux filles, mon gendre et les petits-enfants. Ça a failli être annulé à la dernière minute, mais ça a marché… Pfff.
Bien oui 🙂
Tant mieux pour vous autres! Suis contente!
Merci. Mais au rythme où vont les choses, qui sait quand on pourra le refaire. Une de mes filles en est à quasiment un test par semaine par contact avec des amis qui testent positif le lendemain…
C’est l’enfer…
Encore de belles photos qui nous en mettent plein les yeux… J’aime beaucoup le vol de nuit par Saint-Exupéry. Merci pour ce pot-pourri !
Belle et heureuse année Brieuc
Pas de quoi. Cette peinture d’enfant dans un avion de bois m’a toujours enchanté. A 5 mins de la maison.
Pour l’année, on y arrivera. Et toi? Ça va? Tu récupère? (Je m’inquiète…)
Ne t’inquiète pas. Ça va aller ! Je sors demain.
Quelques séances de radiothérapie et changement d’hormonothérapie et ça repart !!!
Oui bien sûr, les hormones. Ce sont des ajustements que les médecins dominent bien maintenant. Et le mot “quelques” est encourageant.
Bon courage.
Merci et bonne soirée
A beautiful tour. Hope you had a good holiday with as many loved ones piled up as you could. And I hope you found my Calendar 2022 in your inbox. I sent it on December 26th. Also, just now amore told me while listening to Petula that she recorded this song in Italian too, with the title Ciao ciao. All well to you.
We did what we could. Finally all got together after a few scares. Didn’t get your calendar. Can you send me the link?
Yes, yes! Ciao, ciao! Now I remember, they played it a few times on the French radio… She’s quite an old lady now, she will be 90 this year…
Felice anno nuovo Manja. 🙏🏻
Here you go, you can print it out directly off my cloud if you like it:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1NZ01T3xFkb1nn2P2mdVAKUzMRGB8Wk0m/view
Feliz!
Just downloaded it. Grazie mille. It is absolutely wonderful. 🙏🏻
Ahh, thank you so much! I’m glad you like it. 🙂 I had much fun with it since I did it all myself.
👏🏻
Wonderful tour and fabulous wall art. Missed you, happy New Year!🌷
Hi Coeur de Feu. Missed you too. I hope your end of year was fine without surprises or setbacks.
Frohes neues Jahr… 🤗🌹💕
Thank you Brian. So far so good. I hope everything is fine with you. 🤗💕
“working on it.” basically going back into self lockdown. There’s about one test a week in the family due to contact with people who turn out positive the next day. Watch yourself Coeur de Feu
Thank you Brian. self lockdown is a wise choice, pity the unvaccinated prefer to party. Take care my friend.
Daughter #1 already told us to go back to on-line shopping. haha! For a few weeks.
The unvax? Bunch of irresponsible idiots.
I remember a restaurant owner in Paris this summer watching an antivax protest on the street. She said: ” Fine. Just sign a paper that you will pay for the hospital when you get sick.” Popular wisdom.
Hi there for the new year! Unfortunately I’m still alive. 🙂
That Alicia woman may use sign language – or I’m still in the deaf mindset after watching both La famille Bélier (2014) (strange coincidence: deaf guy running for mayor) and the american remake CODA (2021) (which, unfortunately for France, was way better – except for the main girl’s voice).
Many other butterflies dissapeared around the world, not just the Monarch. I remember it used to be full of buttefflies in my garden as a child and even until a few years ago. Maybe they caught the virus too… 🙄
Was that beer original or only a writing on a label? They sell lots of “fancy” brands here but they are all produced locally with “adapted” recipes. Which means they’re fake. I don’t drink beer anyway, makes my forearms itch. Well, don’t drink anything lately ‘coz of empty pockets.
Guess that girl’s Valentine wish may come true sooner than we think. Let’s see what this Valentine brings us: another Greek letter, perhaps? Or an asteroid, a comet, a living dinosaur – some other terror to shift our minds from the already old story of the evermutating flu?
That Frida looks more like Salma Hayek in the omonimous 2002 movie. Or maybe not. But last year’s Salma definitely doesn’t look like the 2002 Frida. Watched both “Hitman’s bodyguard” movies and couldn’t recognize her at all.
Thankfully I did recognize “Downtown” as the musical theme of an old TV show here. The good ol’ sixties…
Thanks for the pot(pourri). 🙂 Have a great year ahead! 😉
Fortunately you are still alive… It makes happy. Sign language? you might right. I don’t know.
And you might be right about Salma Hayek-Frida… there is an air.
Beer was orginal. Hopefully. There is quite a boom here on craft beers. Sorry it makes your arms itch.
You’re welcome my friend. May 2022 be a turnaround for you…
Hopefully I get to watch Nurnberg 2.0 this year. 😉 If you watch this you may see the hypocrisy – to say the least – of those who destroyed our lives.
One advice, if I may: do not live in fear and do not believe everything you hear! 😉
Cheer up and enjoy the week-end. A bientôt! 🙂
Advice well taken. I don’t like fear. See the Bene Gesserit Litany of Fear.
Most likely nobody likes (their own) fear, but paradoxically most accept it by default. 🙂
Glad you chose not to follow that path. 😉
🏴☠️
Nice captures here Brian. How are you?
Thank you Arlene. We’re struggling as all on the planet, trying to stay out of harm’s way. I have been out of the blogosphere a bit. I will visit as soon as possible. Just to check that you are fine… hugs.
Nice! Odd that there is barbed wire around the water well, but living in Johannesburg I understand.
I once heard that if you stood still long enough in Eloff Street (Jo’burg centre) someone would nick your trousers!
.
There’s barbed wire -almost- everywhere as you clearly understand. Walls are low, and there’s always a guy ready to jump and see if he can snatch something.
Now using barbed wire as a belt to secure your trousers might be a bit extreme right?
Happy New Year. All well?
Ditto. Thank you ,Brian, we are all well.
Good. Keep it that way. Make sure your clients wear a mask when you deliver your cakes…
Be good.
Some are lax. Annoys the crap out of me, but we all ensure we are masked.
If I’m in a mood I won’t let them drive into the property,just smile behind the mask and hand their order over the gate!😷
Lax is the word. (Ask Boris)
I support your “mood” 100%.
Thank you for the tour. wonderful art with the last one, Frida Kahlo, as the climax! It is beautiful! I am concerned though about the shots you mention. You mean people shoot in the streets in broad daylight?
Viel dank. Frida was my favourite indeed. 😀
Yes and no. The “shots” I talked about are photo shots I took from the passenger seat, my wife driving. What Americans call “riding shotgun”. I think it comes from the old West, where the stage coach held the horses reins, and another guy rode next to him with a rifle/shotgun on his knees in case they were attacked.
Now, yes. Some people are shot in the street in broad daylight. There are about 30 to 40,000 homicides a year in Mexico… For a population only a bit larger than Germany. 120 millions or so.
That’s a lot of homicides … 😦
It is. Mexico is one of the world’s most violent countries in the world with Brazil and South Africa… Sigh
Are you armed when going to the city? I mean is that necessary?
No. After a year in the army, I can handle just about any kind of weapon from 9mm pistol to antiaircraft 12.7 or 81 mms mortar! I don’t carry weapons. Don’t like them. Now, a while ago, in a Market Research Society Congress, we used to ask a small questionnaire to the 300 or so participants. Present the results at end of the Congress. One year we asked the question: “Do you carry a gun?”. Just for fun. Much to our surprise, 19-20% said yes. So, discarding those who said yes for fun, there were maybe 10-15% of participants armed in this oh, so educated crowd…
Wow, they seem to feel threatened.
Many people carry weapons in their cars for instance. I don’t like guns. Used too many in the army. 😉
Wonderful street art and wonderfully captured of course!
Would love to visit Colombia one day (not only the dodgy Letitia in the Tri-border).
The stairway to heaven is amazing and I love the Frida Kahlo one! Thanks for another great share. 🙂
Don’t know why this comment just went into my mail… Didn’t see it on WP. Tsss.
I’m sure you would love Colombia. It is quite beautiful. Terrain is a bit of an issue: three “fingers” of the Andes makes for ups and downs and difficult roads. One place you would love is San Agustin. A unique precolombian culture. I think I posted something some day…
(And we did talk about Leticia right?)
Cheers
Have always loved Clark’s Downtown–timeless. Another great series of murals. I do hope the monarch population revives and we’re not left with only man-made images to remember them. I love your dew-speckled flower. Beautiful shot.
Let’s hope so indeed. I just realized I posted the same dew flower twice. Today’s post. Oh well…
A nice collection, Brian, I’ve even seen one of them up close and personal! I love that Bogotá highrise image, beautiful.
Yeah, you did see one. (I did quote you right?) I found this mural very funny.
And the Bogotá highrise was well liked. My borther-in-law there now knows my interest and sends me what he sees in the street.
All well?
Great stuff; as always. Nice one to finish with Petula. And that art director certainly knows his stuff 🙂
Clark was without borders, right?
I’ve worked with a few very good Art directors. Others? Well…
Ha ha, it seems I mostly meet the “others” … (“I want more luxury, MORE luxury! It needs to be really bright but with beige and modest but with a statement …”)
Haha! There are some lousy art directors too. Met a few. I also did a lot of advertising research. And having been on the Agency side, when a campaign sucked, I knew I had to be political. “This campaign needs a few adjustments…” 🤣
Fun post, Brian.
My fave is the Frida Kahlo. It is a mystery how some art gets painted in spaces people can’t seem to get into.
Yet, the do. I consider a mark of true and dedicated street artist. I know many who pride themselves in painting in the craziest of places. Thank you for these pics. You know how much I adore street art. Cool song!
I know you do. And you always find great pieces. I agree with you: the Frida was one of the best of this series. This guy Gonzalez is a really great artist.
Great post. Love all the street art. It is very sad about the monarch. The numbers that migrate to Mexico were cut in half this year as well. Petulia Clark also did a song “These boots are made for walking.” 🤗❤️
Thank you.
I might have seen a monarch the other day. I need to blow the photo up to make sure.
How interesting about Clark. I always thought Nancy Sinatra was the one and only, but I did find an entry for Petula Clark and the “boots”. Probably recorded for the French/European market… Thanks. I didn’t know
My pleasure entirely. Sending hugs 🤗 Joni