Mexico City: Pretty and Clean!

The sun is out! After weeks and weeks of rainy cold days, the sun has finally come out. And I feel Fine! Everyone says the rainy season this year is strange: it rains for hour and hours at a time, and gets really cold. Before, they say, the rains came in the afternoon for a couple of hours, but the sun shone both before and after. I think it is due to the increased tropical storm activities caused by global warming. But do I think that because Leonardo DiCaprio tells me to think that? ... Probably--but it still rains a lot. And that is a known fact.

But anyway, this is a picture of the walkway down the middle of Avenida Amsterdam. If you look closely, you can see Chicle, the chihuahua. She and her adopted sister were stars of another post 'Man About Town'

It was a loverly day. Just loverly. Even those kids on the street who try to wash your car windows with dirty rags took advantage: This spy shot not-so-clearly shows one of those kids in the fountain near my house. He and a few of his friends had gotten some soap, and were bathing and washing their clothes. I thought it was a pretty domestic scene (except for the public nudity), that says a lot about these guys. Even if they are homeless and live on the street, even if it has to be in the fountain, they're going to be as cleans as they can be. I'm wondering now if I should have offered them towels....or maybe fabric softener. oh, well--hindsight.

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Man-About-Town (and at home)

I had a great weekend, if I may rub it in a little. Saturday was nice, and sunny, and I had two delightful companions to keep me company. I was dog sitting for a friend/coworker while she went to Taxco for a day of shopping. They are two tiny little Chihuahuas: the white one is named Chicle, and the black one is named Lola. They have color-coded collars, with diamelles spelling their names. They were fun, but I was a bit embarrassed taking them to the park. Luckily I'm secure in my manhood to do that. I had to carry Lola in her dog-carrier (okay, it's a purse) because she gets nervous walking around cars, people, other dogs, trees, and just about anything else. But I have to say, if I had to worry about everything stepping on me, I'd be a little nervous too.

The doggies helped me paint as well, (which is more than I can say for my pal Jeff). They stepped in the paint and left little paw prints, but Jeff just sort of sat on the sofa. The hall was a boring white color, but since it is dark and long I had a long interior monologue about what color to paint it. This is the before picture. See, it's long and dark. But I decided to be bold, and paint it a gunmetal gray/blue color. I thought it would draw together the gray in the other rooms, the navy blue carpet, and the blue lamps and accessories that came with the apartment. Good plan, right?

So, I hiked myself down to the paint store, and took a good 40 minutes choosing just the perfect shade. The paint store guy thought that I could do it with two gallons (this, of course, after I explained to him that the hallway was smaller than the store, but bigger than a breadbox. Did I have any measurements, or any idea of how many square meters? NO!) So I bought three gallons just in case. You know, three gallons of paint don't seem so much when you carry them from Home Depot to your car in the parking lot. But after a few blocks walking, they got really heavy! I had to stop for a cappuccino on the way back.

But I made it, and with no help from Jeff, started to paint. I had originally planned to do the whole hallway, but one wall seemed sufficient to add color and interest. Plus I was tired of it.

But as I was painting it became clear (as it usually does), that the color I chose was not the color on the walls. I reserved judgment until the second coat, just to be fair, but then I ended up with this:

It's waaay more blue than I wanted. But, the wall looks much better not white, and I did a pretty good job of it, if I do say so myself. But what else could I do? Maybe later I'll get another gallon of a darker color and put it on top, but for now I'm done with painting.

And it only took 1/2 of a gallon! So if you like the color, let me know and I'll hook you up.

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