Hats

I am the proud owner of many a hat.
There is something to wear for wherever I'm at.

A hat for the summer,

A hat for the fall,

A hat for nary a reason at all.

I have one with big bows and one with a feather.

There is one I can wear when there's inclement weather.

A hat made of rhinestones,

A hat made of fur,

A black one, a white one, and a red one for sure.

I'm told that I am quite a vision in hats,

And I am not too shy to agree about that.

Hats for excursions,

And some just for play,

My hat is my crown, and I like it that way.

        By Pamela J. Randolph

I can't believe I sold this one.

I would eagerly marry into the British royal family just so I could wear hats.  I've always swooned over them, but I could never wear them because of my glasses.  No matter how many different styles I tried on, none of them ever looked right.  To my great disappointment, the glasses just ruined the effect.

Then around 20 years ago, I had lasik surgery to correct my vision, but it was badly botched.  Very badly botched.  At the time, I was on my way to becoming a professional travel and nature photographer, so this was a devastating development and caused me to sink into a severe depression.  The only compensation was that while my vision was not good enough to tell if my 35mm slides were sharp, I no longer needed glasses for distance.   Eventually I told myself that even if I couldn't see well, I could at least look good.  So to cheer myself up, I bought a bunch of hats.  Glorious hats.  I even had a few chances to wear them although ladies in hats were not common in Toronto.

Sold this one too.

I'm very far from being religious, but I seriously considered moving to the South and joining one of the African-American congregations famous for ladies wearing "church hats".  I think I would have fit right in.  The book Crowns is a marvelous celebration of these ladies and their (multiple) hats.

Fast forward to 2019 when we prepared to move to Mexico and had to downsize our possessions.  I sold or gave away most of my nice shoes and, I'm sad to say, a number of my more elaborate hats.  A church-going lady in Toronto bought several of them.  I never dreamed I would have any use for them in Mexico, but now I'm kicking myself for getting rid of them.  Because of Covid-19, our wonderful classical music organization has been holding its concerts outdoors during the afternoon, and it has been warm and sunny.  A perfect opportunity to wear fancy hats.  I'm very glad I kept a few of them, and I've been delighted to show them off to my fellow concert-goers.

What an amazing week!

The Day of the Dead (Día de Muertas or Día de los Muertas) celebrations started on Monday the 28th with a charity benefit at the home of a local couple.  The house and garden were gorgeous and filled with art, the food and drinks were delicious, and the guests were an interesting mix of mostly expats, snowbirds and locals.

Enjoying ourselves

Late lunch in the garden

On Tuesday we were treated to lunch by a fascinating man, the head of the ProMusica organization that brings world class musicians to SMA.  For a modest amount, we became patrons of ProMusica and will have 16 concerts and 8 cocktail parties to meet the artists between now and March. Then on Thursday, we had a market tour and cooking class in the morning with Chef David Jahnke, a German chef who has been living and working in Mexico for about 20 years.  We purchased food at the market and then went back to David's house where we prepared several dishes: cactus leaf salad, "Chile Relleno" stuffed poblano peppers with tomato sauce, corn tortilla huitlacotche cheese quesadillas and fried plaintain and other fruits with cinnamon sugar.  (huitlacotche is corn fungus - delicious, believe it or not)

Cactus leaf salad

Chile Relleno

Fruit dessert

Thursday was the 31st of October, Halloween, a holiday the Mexicans have adopted recently.  It is controversial because some people feel it conflicts and takes away from Day of the Dead, but the children and families we saw seemed to love it.  Kids don't go door to door asking for candy - they all converge in the Jardin, the central square, wearing a mix of Halloween and Day of the Dead costumes.  We took a large shopping bag of candy and it was gone in a few minutes - a real feeding frenzy of polite little kids.

Friday Nov 1st was All Saints Day and the start of the official Day of the Dead events.  For this holiday, doors are decorated and altars to departed relatives are set up with photos, flowers and items the deceased liked including favorite foods. 

A large altar in a courtyard

A very large display of flowers was located in Plaza Civica

There was a big business in face painting the traditional "sugar skulls" and painting stations were set up near the Jardin during the day and evening.

At 8pm there was a big parade of Catrinas and Catrins, the famous "dead" figures.  We were there in face makeup I applied along with hundreds of others walking along the cobblestone streets.  Great fun and friendly crowd.

Cynthia

Erich

Afterwards we retreated to the Rosewood Hotel, probably the fanciest in town, for a dinner under a large tent-like covering.  It was fun being at dinner with almost everyone in costume and face paint, although the temperature had dropped and it was a bit chilly sitting outdoors.

November 2nd is the official Día de Muertos.  First we attended a concert, Mozart's Requiem in D Minor,  in a very old church in Centro.  There was a large choir and orchestra and the sound filled the church.

That evening we attended an unusual concert at Los Senderos, a place just outside of town.  There is a big man-made lake and a large sculpture that lit up in different colors along with the music.  It was chilly so we joined some folks around a bonfire while listening to the music.

After all this activity, Sunday was a welcome day of rest.