The above’s a short video of the charming little animated ‘green white man’ on all the pedestrian crossings in Oaxaca. I like how he encourages you to run, not walk, the closer it gets to the stop again. I also wonder if there’s a backwards setting in there somewhere…
As you know, no news on this blog means there’s lots of news occurring, but no time to write about it. In brief, we made several gourmet home-made pizzas last night with a couple of lovely folks from Bowdoin. Today’s Wolfe’s Neck with dearest Atticus, picking up Blackcurrant & Apple juice, Twiglets and as many Creme Eggs as I can stomach, from the UK Essentials shop in Freeport. Tomorrow, if the weather holds, tis a Flickr meet in Brunswick of all places… so maybe some more Mainecentric photos will follow soon. And that is the mere tip of the iceberg in terms of current events round our way.
Guadalajara’s rising multimedia star, Elias Garcia-Ortiz has once again rendered one of my photos in beautiful watercolour. Above is Mitla’s Spanish church built with and on top of the remains of the conquered Zapotec structures.
Mitla, Oaxaca, México
It’s not the first time my photos have got an EGO2005 makeover 😀 More here
Part of the guided tour on Day 2 took us to a little cooperative centre close to Santa Ana del Valle, Oaxaca to see how Zapotec rugs/mats/carpets are made using methods that haven’t changed over the centuries. I still remember doing something similar when I was about 7 in Kingston school. I made an acorn placemat. Actually that should be Acorn, because I was into BBC computers at the time… There used to be a weaver in our village too using not dissimilar methods.
The Oaxacan valley’s climate isn’t ideally suited to rearing sheep so the wool is brought in from Los Altos, the first step is carding it to get all the wool fibres going in the right direction.
We card
After a few minutes of carding the resulting rolag is spun into wool using a hand-turned spinning machine. It rotates a spindle which twists the wool and winds it onto the bobbin.
Rigging up the belt to the spinning machine
Next up is the dying process. Cheaper rugs use synthetic dyes, but here they’re still using a range of natural dyes using local ingredients. There’s a whole range of colours. Cochineal is used for the reds (the word comes from the Spanish ‘cochinilla’, woodlouse or more literally ‘little piggy’). Cochineal is harvested from the ‘leaves’ of a local cactus. The female insect is first removed from its husk (I’m making up terminology here…) then ground up with a metate (volcanic pestle and mortar type thing) and activated with lime juice to produce a deep crimson.
Bowl of unground cochinealMetate. Not to be confused with Petate
Blues come from cobalt from the coast. It’s bought in crystal form and is again activated with lime juice. Here’s the guide mixing it on his hand:
Indigo blue in action
Yellow is from Cempasuchil (Marigolds)
Dried cempasuchil
and several varieties of moss are used for green colours:
Verdes
Once the dye’s mixed up to the colour they want, the wool steeps in it for 24 hours or so. Though they didn’t mention it, some kind of mordant is probably used to fix the colours at the end of the process.
When they have enough wools with the colours needed for the rug, it’s time for the loom.
Weft and warp
I still can’t work out how they get the complex patterns into the rugs and I was off taking pictures when they talked about the finer points of the process. It involves pedalling to swap the weft and warp and passing a shuttle between shifts is about all I know. Wikipedia on weaving will fill you in better than I ever could so I’ll just give you a few photos of the bits and pieces used in this part of the process instead:
ShuttleThe finer points...Tying up loose ends
The resulting rugs are gorgeous with rich natural colours and using traditional geometric designs that can also be found decorating the Zapotec ruins down the road at Mitla. They’ll set you back a few hundred dollars but considering the huge amount of work that goes into each of them are a veritable bargain.
Mitla
Next up… the difference between Mezcal and Tequila and how to make it 🙂
I MISS MEXICO… (you’d be surprised how many people Google ‘Miss Mexico’ and end up here… can’t imagine why)
One of the few things I regret, other than not still living south of the border, is that I didn’t take a tripod with me on our trip to Oaxaca. That said thanks to me 1:1.4 50mm lens I managed a good few hand-held night time shots like this one in the courtyard of Santo Domingo’s church which, though they don’t hold up to close scrutiny, give a good feel for the atmosphere.
Here’s the sole photo I took in its absence. Flickr doesn’t display panoramas very well, nor does my photoblog. So sorry if you’ve seen this one before, but here ’tis:
Tip your head back as you scroll down for full effect...
If everything goes according to plan the next photos you see in this blog should be of mole, chapulines, mayan ruins and mezcal.
I could never get the hang of Twitter, but 24 hours later I’m liking Google Buzz. This is taken through the window of one of those shops that makes you wonder how they manage to stay in business. East Portland, Maine…
Sue on the (very active and friendly) Maine Photography Meetup group on Flickr mentioned the Greenville Dog Sled race a couple of weeks back. I didn’t think I’d be able to make it because it’s pretty far up north and I didn’t relish the idea of driving through the ice to get there. Luckily another member, Jason, offered me a lift and thus on Saturday at 6:45am outside the Brunswick 7-11 the expedition began.
Once you get off the highway the towns get pretty scant. Mainly made up of a few churches, an ACE hardware, and a few taxidermy and hunting shops. It was nice not to be driving so I could take shots out of the window and Jason slowed down to expedite the process. Some of the houses struggle to withstand the elements.
We missed a turn but still got there a bit early at the meeting point. It was next to Moosehead Lake. So-called because it looks like a moose’s head from space if you squint. Which either speaks to the impressive cartography skills of the early settlers or the view from local mountains. The lake was frozen, obviously. Really thick- planes were landing on it, trucks driving across it and herds of skidooers (skidooists? skidoodlers?) noisily sweeping over it.
Jason decides he needs more layers
Next up, the main(e) attraction, the 30 mile dog sled race start. The 100 mile one had been cancelled due to patchy (lack of) snow which was a blessing in disguise because it started at 9am which would’ve meant getting up even earlier and being colder still. I bet the dogs were disappointed that their run was shorter than they wanted.
There were about a dozen teams, they’d get set up on the start line and set off every couple of minutes which allowed everyone to change their vantage points. You could tell the dogs were loving it. Here’s on of my favourites:
Here’s the link to the full set. After a couple of hours of dog watching we went to the Black Frog in Greenville for lunch. A restaurant specialising in comfort food with a menu that gave Bertie Lou’s in Sellwood, OR a run for its money. They had Poutin on the menu which I’ve heard nothing but good things about. So I ordered that:
Poutine
It’s chips, cheese and gravy. What’s not to like? I expect there are a few differences to the Poutine they serve in Canada but until I sample those delights I’ll just have to recommend the N. Maine version.
Next up Jason reckoned skirting around the side of the lake, over towards to the Canadian border and then down following the Kennebec river’d be entirely possible and still manage to get back to Brunswick for 6pm, so we did that. Very little traffic along the way, maybe the Moose warning signs every 500 yards put other road users off. It was fantastic scenery- frozen rivers, ice floes, more taxidermy shops. If we’re around in the summer that would be the time to get the full experience though as leaving the car for more than 5 minutes invited hypothermia.
State of the UnionHalf of me wanted to see one. Half of me didn't.1 deer, 1 impala, 0 moose
One of the many coffee stops was in Waterville on the way home. I only mention it ‘cos there was a gorgeous sunset. Regardez:
As long as I gaze on Waterville sunset
And that was my Saturday. Even managed to squeeze in a Flickr meetup in East Portland on Sunday too. Lovely to see the gang again. Here’s the 4×4 of my pix from then. As you will notice it was a TTV day:
On Saturday I travelled up state to Greenville to watch the dog race. Freezing it was, but it was a great photo op and everyone-crowds, mushers and dogs- looked like they were having as much fun as I was.
6 weeks since my last post eh? That’s got to be some kind of new record. Sorry about that, I’m sure you found other ways to spend your time though. It was probably good for you to take that break. What did you do? Learnt a new language? A musical instrument? The harpsichord eh? Good on ya. Upload a cover of something baroque to YouTube would you. Thanks!
I nipped over to the UK and Eire for a few weeks just to check in on everyone and have a fine old time. We’ve been back in Brunswick, Maine, Top Right of ‘Merica, Last stop before Canada, for nigh on two weeks now. It’s still cold and that snow that fell last week is not going anywhere. I’ve taken up ice-skating and am working on describing graceful figures such as 1 and 0 in the ice.
The 'one-glove' technique
There’s a song I’ve been trying to find for almost a decade now I think it was on one of David Byrne’s compilations. It’s a Brazilian duet so I could only sing it phonetically. I think it’s about arrows. Probably. Anyroad, usually if you want to find a song on the internets you usually just google a few words from it + “lyrics”, but if you don’t know how to spell them, you’re stuck. Same with instrumental pieces (like this one). So I thought I’d try www.midomi.com. You hum it for 10 seconds, then it searches its database for songs that match, and lo and behold, first time it found what countless hours of googling couldn’t. I’ve been listening to this over and over. It’ll warm you up when you’re in the negative celsius.
It wouldn’t be a proper post without an Atticus update. He’s almost back to his usual self after 3 weeks on the mean streets of Harpswell, ME. We’ve nursed him back to health after a nasty bout of kennel cough, and some new toys. His favourite is a squeaky hedgehog thing. DON’T try and take it away from him.
I took this one on a wintry walk round our village with me dad a couple of weeks ago. What I liked here was the sun coming from the right, but the shadows on the fence being the other way round because of the way they affected the drift.
I have to be careful what I write here now ‘cos I don’t want to invite comparisons with Ryan from The (US) Office’s brilliant photoblog that truly skewers photoblog descriptions… Favourite bit yet?
It’s possible my subconscious shot this or perhaps I accidentally took the picture without realizing it. Doesn’t matter. In life, there are no accidents. This is proof. How could something “accidental” be so mysteriously striking. And layered. It’s obviously working on at least three levels, but can you see the fourth and fifth? I dare you to try.
Then I decided that was a bit flippant and doesn’t translate culturally outside of the US anyway. Hoping to start posting properly again here. At least 2 a week. I’d forgotten I had an ‘Elsewhere‘ category so that’ll make it easier to put a few up from our lovely holiday back in the UK and Ireland.
Been a pretty busy couple of weeks on the work front. On Tuesday one of my latest sites, www.elizabethharveyphotography.com went live. Liz is a fellow Maine Flickrer and she takes fantastic shots of the local scenery and puts them to music. I went to Portland to show her the ropes on updating it with WordPress and afterwards had a wander round the freezing streets with me camera before picking DrSita up from the airport (email if you’re interested in details on that particular point)
Dalek in the town centre
I’m awaiting the arrival of a Bokehnator kit, which will change the circles in unfocussed shots like this:
'Normal' Bokeh
Temperature: -15°C * Wind: WNW at 5 mph * Clouds: Clear Skies * Wind Chill: -18°C…to all kinds of other shapes. Yep, it’ll be tacky but I’m all about experimentation in photography.
It’s hard not to mention the weather at the moment. Look at the weather thingy in the left hand sidebar…
I know that a fair amount of the UK got snow today and, as you know, I’m all about the frozen water crystals; However I’ve never experienced cold like we’re having right now. Yesterday 16 degrees C below zero was the ambient temperature. That’s before factoring in windchill. I was wearing at least 6 layers plus my favourite furry hat but as I was dragged around Bowdoin campus by Atticus it felt like I was wearing shorts. Today if I venture out, I’ll be wearing pajama bottoms underneath me trousers. Wonder if it’ll get to -40° which will spare me having to specify centigrade or Fahrenheit….
Talking of Bowdoin, the maintenance peeps are building an ice rink in the middle of it. They cleared the snow off a patch of the grass and are spraying it with water on a daily basis. Might have to see if Goodwill has any cheap size 12 skates, though it’s been a good few years since I did any skating and I’d be very cautious given that there aren’t any rails around the edge to slam into when it all goes pear-shaped.
DIY Ice Rink
My favourite bit about going ice skating when I were a lad (f’rinstance, James Healy’s birthday in 1985ish in Bristol) were the arcade machines. They had my all-time favourites Mr.Do!, Defender… and with Bananarama, The Bangles, & Blondie blasting on the speakers…good times…
Apparently the Androscoggin river down the road is going to freeze over more or less completely. It had ice floating down it t’other day and at the bend half of it had a good couple of inches of ice over it. According to one of my local Flickr friends there’ll be a ‘Fishing shanty town’ on it in the new year so that’ll be worth a photo or three.
After you’ve checked out Liz’s site another recommendation is Mario’s latest Circulo Vicioso podcast. This month the theme is Los Angeles, cos that’s the guest city of this year’s Guadalajara International Book Festival (FIL). He’s picked some great choons. I listened to it the first time on a long walk with ‘Cus round the snowy woods, and it was a tad incongruous, but no less pleasurable, listening to the likes of Los Lobos and Lalo Guerrero as my extremities slowly froze. If your Spanish is a bit rusty, skip to the songs.
It was coming down thick and fast, the only people out were business owners suddenly demoted to street sweepers and this poor, bedraggled poodle. Atticus was safe and warm back at the house. He’s due a long walk today.
You might have already seen this one on my blog or at Flickr. Sorry to repeat post, but I’m quite proud of it. Mainly for managing to get up early enough to capture it… We’re due for more snow tomorrow and I’ve been reading up on snow photography tips.
BTW- Gina, Evan & Adrian, thanks for the card! Little Ady’s looking cuter than ever.
For First Friday Art Walk in Portland I met up with the usual suspects for a couple of hours of night urban photography. I tried to do the whole thing flash-less which meant some nice bokeh wherever I pointed the camera.
When I told people we were moving to Maine, after the ‘Hope you like lobster’ comment, the next was usually ‘Hope you like snow’. Lobster’s alright, though it seems more trouble than it’s worth. I reckon you burn more calories in cracking it apart to get to the meat than you do digesting it. Like cucumber encased in concrete… I’ll take smoked haddock over lobster any day of the week. Actually, I’d take fish fingers over lobster too. But snow. I bloody loves it.
The Abominable Photographer
It’s feeling well Christmassy what with the 4-6″ we got on Saturday night. It only seems like yesterday that I was packing our fibre-optic tree into the back of a moving lorry in 3 digit temperatures. Now we’re in the cold and I’m back to using centigrade cos 32° sounds like a ridiculously high temperature for water to freeze at. We were up late on Saturday night watching Dollhouse (which has recently become unmissable and is a real shame that they’re going to cancel it) so I had 5 hours sleep and got up at 6 to see Brunswick in all its frozen glory. I was amazed that the roads had already been ploughed, and Bowdoin maintenance staff (bless ’em) had already shovelled and gritted the path from our door to the road. The ploughed bits were really icy and I nearly fell on my arse several times until I realised it was a lot easier to trudge through the unploughed bits and making full use of the boots mum bought me from LL Bean.
I took around 50 photos, half of which are on Flickr in this set. This is my favourite:
Bowdoin Chapel dans le neige
There should be a top-up of snow on Wednesday and if so I’m going to try and get to the coast because I don’t think I’ve seen that particular combination since Cape Cod in 2000 with Matt & Meg.
Also the snow’s a grand excuse for comfort foods here’s DrSita’s latest soup:
I know I shouldn’t criticise until I stop weighing myself in stone and pounds, but Pecks? Really? Anyway I purchased half a peck of pommes to practice providing puddings to my peeps.
You might have already seen the recipe over at Flickr, but just in case you’re desperate for the info and Flick has the hiccups, please hold your clicks or summat:
Cut up apples, sprinkle with sugar (and cinnamon if you remember), mix marge into flour till it’s crumbley, cover them apples with crumble. Put more sugar on top… oven it on 350° for about 45 minutes, serve, add generous dollop of your local vanilla ice cream.
Mum, if I’ve missed anything or you notice any other oversight therein, comment away… and thanks for the Autumn cooking lesson series 🙂
