Swapping the Big Taco for the Big Smoke and the Big Apple....

Summer Holidays!! That time has come around again - Hurrah!! Small Fish is swapping the Big Taco for both the Big Smoke and the Big Apple. As well as reacquainting herself with the delights of iconic London, she will also be off to Brighton, the Lake District, Stroud, Stratford, Oxford, and Wimbledon.....

After drinking in the delights of London and the UK for five weeks, she will be stopping off in the Big Apple to savour the joys of New York on the way back to the Big Taco...

If anyone has some great recommendations for theatre, exhibitions, restaurants, concerts, arts events, or nightlife in London or New York this summer please let me know. I would love some suggestions of what is new and exciting or a must see.....

Hence, Small Fish will be taking a break from blogging over the Summer, and will not be back online until mid-August, although she will be checking and commenting on your blogs as frequently as she can. Have a wonderful summer everyone - especially those in the blogosphere!!

Shadow Shot Sunday 64 - Tlalpan

Some of my favourite shadow shots include wrought iron, so you can imagine my sheer delight when I stumbled upon this collection of Mexican rustic furniture in a park in the beautiful neighbourhood of Tlalpan in the South of the city....

The designs on the chairs, tables, lectern, and benches included these lovely horseshoes which left such lovely, curvy twisty shadows. Here is an overview of the whole collection so you can see where the close-ups came from.....

For more fun with shadows check out Shadow Shot Sunday over at Hey Harriet. Enjoy!! Sadly this will be my last shadow shot for the next six weeks, so it will have to last you!! Small Fish is off on vacation swapping the Big Taco for the Big Smoke and the Big Apple - check out tomorrow's post for more details.....

Bring on the Botanical Gardens in Mexico City....

The Botanical Gardens here in Mexico City have enjoyed a bit of a revamp recently with the opening of the ornate orchid house shown above. Looking around there were plenty of other beautiful sights to see. Check out the cacti....

and these bright blooms....

There are some lovely still pools with reflections....

and wasps busy seeking out the nectar...

Grasses wave softly in the summer breezes...




















And who could possibly ignore these brilliant blooms......???




















It all amounts to a wonderful summer scene in my part of the world! For other global glimpses check out My World Tuesday by clicking here... The Botanical Gardens are located in Chapultepec Park with the entrance on Reforma. Entrance is free.

Shadow Shot Sunday 63 - My Balcony

I got up early a few weeks ago to watch Rafa Nadal win the French Open, and was rewarded by something I had never seen before!! The early morning sun streaming through the leaves of the rubber tree outside my balcony....

In England these come as house plants that have to be tended very carefully, but here in Mexico they are trees which flourish very easily. This tree is three and a half storeys high and totally encloses my balcony turning it into a little green oasis and paradise....

I really liked all the different bold shapes and patterns made by the sunshine and shadows.....



















For more shadowplay this weekend, check out Shadow Shot Sunday by clicking here....

Flags are flying....Horns are honking.....

I just nipped out tonight around six to pay my Cablevision bill at Sanborns, and suddenly got swept up in this jubilant crowd gathered around the Angel to celebrate Mexico's 2 - 0 victory over France.....

The flags were flying, the horns were honking, the drums were beating, and the crowds were chanting......

The atmosphere was electric, the high spirits infectious, and everyone was more than happy to pose for the camera...

Like in any good crowd, there was a wonderful cross section of the community - from grannies to babies, and dogs to monsters.....

But in a Mexican crowd, Land of Dressing up at the Drop of a Hat, you are also going to get the sombreros, wigs, costumes, face-paint, masks, make-up, luche libres, devils....

Even the riot police couldn't resist smiling, laughing and joining in the fun...

All the world's a stage and it is hard to see how the fans are going to up the anti if Mexico qualify for the next round. If so I shall be back here at the Angel to bear witness!! In the meantime I finally managed to pay my Cablevision bill at Sanborns after persuading them I was not a football hooligan and could be safely let in through the locked doors. On the way home I noticed that the French Bistro on my corner was very quiet....very quiet indeed!!

Valley of the Dolls....

Strolling around the streets of Colonia Roma last week enjoying the calm atmosphere and the colonial architecture, I suddenly came across this exceedingly quirky lamp sculpture outside one of the houses on a very ordinary residential street....

The sculpture is an odd assemblage of rusted junk and machine parts including a fan, umbrella, and a very freaky-looking doll....

It was so incongruous just sitting there looking for all the world as if each individual ingredient had escaped from the nearby flea market on Alvaro Obregon where I had been wandering earlier in the day...

Here you can find old typewriters, bull's heads, stuffed armadillos, antique furniture and skulls...

Coming across strangely posed dolls in Mexico is not an isolated experience - here is one in the streets of Malinalco...and don't get me started about the Island of Dolls down at Xochimilco where we are talking many, many dolls perched in the trees....

The grave junkmaster over at Magic Lantern Show specialises in such strange but beautiful finds - check out his blog and you certainly will not be disappointed. In the meantime what have you found strange but beautiful this week??

Viva Mexico!!

Mexico kicks off the World Cup tomorrow by playing South Africa in the opening match. Everyone is getting pretty excited....

Mexican football fans love displaying their cultural heritage and traditions within their choice of spectacular spectator outfits!!

I will be watching the match tomorrow at school on a big screen alongside all my students - the atmosphere should be electric, and of course we will all be supporting Mexico. I am predicting a 2 - 1 win for Mexico. Secretly however I wouldn't mind the final result of the World Cup looking something more like this....

All the photographs are courtesy of Mexsport (except the last which is Getty) and are currently displayed at the outdoor gallery on the railings of Chapultepec Park, Reforma until the end of the competition. Check out "Las Rejas de Chapultepec" for some great photos dating back as far as the first World Cup in 1930...For more global glimpses this week check out "My World Tuesday" by clicking here.

Opening at OMR...

Colonia Roma, once home to the Beat Generation hanging out, now home to a fine selection of cutting edge contemporary art galleries in colonial buildings, all adds up to a beautiful barrio for strolling, chilling, dining and taking in some fine exhibitions. On Saturday, OMR Gallery opened their new exhibition "The winner often wept and was kissed by the loser" by Vancouver-born international artist Graham Gillmore.

Gillmore's large trademark canvasses consist of a series of "text messages" embedded in layers of design making the viewer curious to decipher both the meaning and often ironic wordplay. "Misguided by Invoices" above is a mischievous play on "Guided by Voices" - and as an astute friend of mine once remarked "when people hear voices in their head, why don't they ever say anything nice?"... The words and phrases are taken from lyrics, everyday phrases, the radio, and can be very personal in nature...

The canvas below is a transcript of a psychological evaluation of Gillmore himself, assessing his suitability to be a fit parent to take custody of his son, and the closed off symbols are both reminiscent of a computer keyboard plus the cold closed-offness of such institutional language...

One of the most fascinating aspects of Gillmore's work is that all his pieces use vintage ledger paper as the canvas, something which started in his childhood when his accountant father gave him scrap ledger paper to draw upon. Now he finds it a comfortable starting point rather than the terrifying prospect of a totally blank canvas. Today he tracks down his ledger paper in flea markets, or people are kind enough to send him some. This choice of canvas is much more obvious in the recent spirograph paintings which set up a nice echo between the curlicues of the old-fashioned penmanship on the ledgers and the swirls of the brushstrokes....

The next close-up shot of a section of one of the larger paintings really highlights in more detail the interesting complexity of this relationship between old and new text...

What a treat it was on Saturday to meet the artist himself at the opening, and hear him speak so articulately and accessibly about his work and ideas. He was very relaxed and personable, happy to chat about his art, plus we also ended up swapping top tips about New York and Mexico City - Smalls for Zincos....

The OMR Galeria itself is a beautiful space and the works are wonderfully and thoughtfully displayed to their best...

Near the end of the exhibition I found this painting and wish I had had the chance to ask about its origin and inspiration - I am sure there is an interesting story behind it!!

Gillmore has exhibited at MOMA, NY and Tate Modern London, plus his work is included in important permanent exhibitions all over the world. This show is on at OMR Gallery (Plaza Rio de Janeiro 54, Roma) until July 24th - Don't miss it!! For more happenings around the world, check out My World Tuesday by clicking here.

Shadow Shot Sunday 62 - MUAC Art Gallery

One of my favourite art galleries here in the city is the relatively new Museum of Contemporary Art down in the south of the city on the UNAM university campus...

Last weekend when I visited, however, I was more taken with these chairs rather than either of the art exhibitions on display. I think they become rather cool exhibits in their own right....

And that is another major reason to visit as the architecture, design and space of the building reaches the height of contemporary coolness. These shots that look like monochrome are actually colour shots....

MUAC forms part of the UNAM Cultural Centre which includes concert halls, theatres, and a fantastic restaurant called "Azul y Oro" . It makes for a wonderful full day and evening out for culture vultures...

For more shadow shots from around the world, click here for Shadow Shot Sunday.