Our new solar powered lanterns lighting up the night.

Yesterday was perfection. The entire day from start to finish. The weather was the nicest day we've had so far this year. Clear blue sky, temps in the high 70's and low humidity. A nice breeze dried our freshly laundered sheets on the line. The trees are filling out pretty quickly now and each day our view through the woods diminishes. The grass really needs its first cutting.

We went to opening day of the Warwick Famers Market and bought some a few herbs (thyme, sorrel, borage), pickled spicy carrots and pickled brussel sprouts (yummy!!), and some new potatoes for our dinner.

We ate lunch at Pennings Farm and bought two more herbs—sage and cilantro—along with a cute lady bug yard flag and a little lady bug spinner for the Lady Bug.

When we got home Rick potted up the herbs and put them on the deck. We sat in the Lady Bug for a while and planned out what we are going to eat on the Bug's maiden voyage coming up this weekend. We drank a couple of glasses of wine and munched on our pickled carrots & sprouts.

The Rose-Breasted Grosbeaks having been gracing us with their presence over the last few days. I'll be sorry when they move on to wherever they are migrating to. They show up every year right around this time.

Dinner was BBQ baby back ribs and potato salad (featuring those delicioulsy creamy potatoes we bought at the market). 

The best part of the day came with dinner. We ate outside on the deck and sat and watched all the birds. Rick saw something big fly and land and there was the pileated woodpecker on our big oak tree. He stayed and hammered on the tree branch for awhile and then flew away. Magical. Then we sat in awe and watched the first hummingbird of the year take his first sip from the feeder.  Which reminded us of when we first bought the property that our cabin now sits on and we took our RV up and "camped" on it. We didn't have many hummers in those days and we made a pact that each time we saw a hummer come to the feeder hanging from our RV's awning we would take a sip of wine. We sat for hours with only one glass. Last night we did the same thing: each time the hummer and his wife came to take a sip, so did we. All I can say is that it's a good thing it got dark shortly thereafter and the hummers went to bed.

We built a fire in our little outdoor fire pit and had dessert (Blueberries and Cream Pie) and a whiskey nightcap.

Bella sat by the fire with us and seemed to be saying why isn't the pool open yet? 

As we looked above us we saw our first bat of the season too, circling over the pool area. Like I said, One Enchanted Evening. The only thing missing was a bear sighting.

colorful

narrow

cobblestoned

busy

thriving

These are the streets of San Miguel. 

The Doll Lady

Many people make their living hawking their wares around the Jardin.

The Hat Guy

He was very entertaining and after a few days of being approached by him while we were eating at various restaurants around the Jardin Rick gave in and bought a hat from him. He balances all those hats on his head as he walks around the square. Pretty amazing! After Rick bought his hat I asked to take his photo. After I took it I showed it to him and he said "nice!" and patted me on the back.

The Balloon Lady

Very popular person! Parents were always buying balloons for their children. See those pointy ones sticking up? They are rockets and they bounce. Kids loved throwing these bottom down on the streets and had contests to see how high they could bounce them.

The Fruit/Juice Cart Ladies

Look at all that luscious fruit! We had papaya nearly every day with breakfast.

Laborers

What was actually amusing about this photo was that is was actually Labor Day (May 1) this day. Stores were open but only if they wanted to be. Maids and gardeners were off. If you look through the doorway you can see another man with a stone on his shoulder.

Street Hawker with Baby

She was selling something out of her orange bucket but I don't know what it was. Possibly pepitas.

P. S. Please stop by Rick's site as he has some great Lytro street photos up. It shows how truly bumpy the streets really are.

It was hard not to notice certain vehicles on such narrow streets. Here are a few that I enjoyed.

Matchy-matchy! (well ... almost)

Arsty! Or is that Arte's?

Impasse — sometimes cars get stuck. In this case it was a car and a bus. The cars on the right are parked. Fifteen minutes later when we went by they were gone so somehow they figured it out. Take note of the tangle of wires above the street.

Beer enthusiast. Either this guy likes his Corona or he owns a liquor store or a brewery. (Side note: Our Skipper-dog that we house-sat had a great dog toy. It was a stuffed squeaky Corona beer bottle with a lime on top but it said GRRRona instead of Corona. Way too cute. He chewed a hole in it and was tearing the stuffing out so we had to take it away from him and hopefully Juanita sewed it up.)

Photo taken sitting on a bench in the Jardin, framed by laurel trees.

Yesterday I talked about the Jardin, and what would the Jardin be without its cornerstone—the Parroquia. Even though it looks like a catherdral, it isn't. It's just a parish church. The original church was built in the 17th century with a baroque façadae and three tall towers. In the 19th century, Mexican architect Zeferino Gutiérrez drastically changed the façade to that you see today. It's rumored that he based his design on postcards of European catherdrals. 

From a distance it looks like a totallly pink confection, but up close you can see the mixture of pink and gray stones. It has many facets.

Here is peek inside:

And straight up while standing in front of it:

From the side:

The bells that can be heard all over town. They startled us awake many a morning and rang throughout the day although we could never figure out just why.

From a distance:

At night:

No matter how you look at it, it's a beautiful sight.