Report from Mexico + All Best Wishes for 2011

OK, here are the two big lies about Mexico:

One, there are no drug traffickers in most of Mexico, and I still walk home alone at night with no sense of danger. Two, it's not manana-land. I'm busier here than ever, though the fun quotient is much higher.

It's been a good year. I've had four photo exhibitions, which has been very gratifying and exciting. I think i'm even starting to make a profit with my photos, though I haven't quit my day job. Links to lots of photos can be found in the posts directly below this one.

The publishing business is pretty much history, and so now I write for private clients. At the moment I am editing a novel about Mexican history of the last century, written by a woman whose husband is part of a prominent Mexican family that figured prominently in the reign of Porfirio Diaz and through the Mexican Revolution.

I feel fortunate to live in this diverse, colorful, festive country, fortunate to have so many supportive and lively friends. In 2011 I'll have a show in Napa Valley, and hope to get back to Marin for the opening on April 28th. On August 19, I'll have a show opening at Bellas Artes, the cultural center here in San Miguel. So I guess it won't be the year of living languorously, as I'd fantasized.

Thinking of you and sending much love and best wishes  for a peaceful and pleasurable year for us all.

Lulu (Lolly, Laura)

Everyday Magic

There are minor mysteries everywhere…the way the full moon shows up each month, perfectly poised in the night sky, in the arched window in front of my desk. The way the blue neon cross at the local parish church two blocks away is simply a straight line, like a sword pointing to the sky, from my studio window. Lately I’m fascinated by a springtime transformation that takes place in my home every day:

In the early morning, light comes in through the triangular window on my stairwell. It casts a sharp triangular shadow on the opposite wall, then migrates down the stairs and becomes a shapeless blob on the floor and kitchen rug, and around midday arranges itself in a perfect circle at the foot of the stairs. Now if that's not magic.... see the whole sequence here.