on to Wordpress

I looked and looked on Blogger/Blogspot Help and some Blogger/Blogspot Forums but found no answers to my Comments dilemma.


Therefore I have resurrected an old Wordpress blog I started a few years ago but abandoned.  I still think Blogger is more intuitively friendly for the non-techie type.

I have migrated myBlogger/Blogspot posts over, and a bunch of the blogs I follow are there as well.  If a blogger hasn't posted in 5 months I did not bring them along (well that's not exactly true, I brought Nancy and Barry along, even though they haven't posted in 8 months, and I know they have interesting stuff to say...).  I do like how Blogger/Blogspot has the option to put most recent posts at the top, but well you can't have everything, and at least now I can get and make Comments.

so if you are interested,  go to 

www.debiinmerida.wordpress.com

there is a super easy Follow Me button so you can get an email everytime I make a post

To Comment or Not, Here in lies the problem

So not only do I not see any way to Comment, on my own blog, but apparently some of the  viewers/readers of my blog can not see/access Comments either.

So any of you Blogger/Blogspot users have any clues or insights?   I've spent way too much time going through their Help area.


Getting closer to a switch to Wordpress, I feel like my hand is being forced here.

                                  VS

Once again, to Wordpress or Not to Wordpress??? That is the question

Blogger has started doing a few new things, things I'm not completely thrilled about -

First, people keep telling me they can't post comments!  That's bad news, although I get quite a few, nee significantly less Comments since I Networked my blog to my Facebook page.  A lot of people leave the Comments on Facebook and then they are lost forever as the days go by.

Second,  when I open my blog I used to have the Sign In icon at the top, now I have to go out and access Blogger .com as a new page to be able to post.   Not mind altering, just different and less convenient.

Third, I no longer see the Comments Section when I have my blog open.  I don't know if it's the same for everyone.

I recently went to Windows 8, and am using Google Chrome, so maybe it is some incompatibility,  But once again I am seriously thinking of moving over to Wordpress.   My biggest string to Blogger is that I also maintain Blogs for a few others,  so I'd still be tied.   Drats and Damnation!   What to do, what to do!

Chamaco - a tale of terror

So last night, around 11pm I am walking home from Patti's Martini party, and No, before you ask, I did not have too many, in fact I had one glass, short pour, of white wine.

I was attacked, taken down and beaten mercilessly by the cries of this tiny little kitten voice. I struggled towards the sound knowing full well the consequences if I could actually get my hands on it and bring it home, yet I continued on.    And there it was, wedged in to the corner of a garage door of an abandoned house.   This tiny little form, mouth open as if to hiss but no sound coming forth.  As I approached it got smaller and smaller trying to hide itself in the corner.

I estimate it to be maybe 5 weeks old.  One eye is buggered, probably a slight infection.  I treated it with warm chamomile tea compresses and got it clean.  It is in relatively good shape; dirty, some fleas, but overall in good shape.

I made up my small cat carrier with a little litter tray, a towel, a bowl of water, and a bowl of dry cat food.  I don't know if it can crunch dry food, but that's what I did.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So this morning - it's still alive. The eye was crusted over and shut but I'll take the chamomile compresses to it again. I took some canned dog food and smushed it to tiny bits with a fork and offered it - it was taken, tentatively.

The kitten still backs away from me and silently hisses, but once I touch it and rub its little head it responds to the action.

So that was all the easy part - now the tough part starts, finding a home for this little chamaco.

And Yes, I'd love to keep it - But No, I can't - 3 reasons in case you are interested, and I am not sure which order of importance these are in;    I have a 15 year old cat in kidney failure, he doesn't need the stress,  I have 3 dogs, 2 of whom have already killed a kitten that came in to the yard, and TOM!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So kitten has now been to the vet, he weighs 1/2k,  he's had day 1 of a 3 day regimen of meds  for parasites.  I have drops for his eyes, we're treating both even though only presents symptoms.

I bathed him to rid him of the majority of the fleas, swabbed out his ears, and got him good and dry.  He is eating and seems overall healthy enough.

I'm afraid I wore him out with all this this morning, so here are some fotos of very tired, but playful kitty "Chamaco" who is looking for his forever loving home.

Hanal Pixán, and the Paseo de las Ánimas

I have gone to every Hanal Pixán, and the Paseo de las Ánimas here in my neighborhood since we settled in to our house.  I rave about the event.  It is my favorite event of the year.  I don't attend other fabulous events so as not to miss this one.

Here are a couple of my posts about the Hanal Pixán, and the Paseo de las Ánimas from the past.
2009
2012

We have seen an evolucion of this event over the past few years.  Each year more and more people attend. We were surprised when about 3 or 4 years ago the City started setting up a stage and scheduling performances. We see more and more government sponsored altars.
We see more often government officials coming to have foto ops, both with the government sponsored altars and at some of the family altars.
We notice more and more police presence, mostly for crowd control.
We see more and more food selling booths.
See the City's webpage on the event here!

This year, I once again raved about it.  Even went so far as to invite a group of folks over early enough that they could get parking in front of our house.  We snacked, drank, and visited till near on to 7:30.  I explained that once we got to 66 a group our size could not stay together, it's just too hard.  So we split in to smaller groups and crossed paths during the evening.

This year the event was to start at 6pm, at the Cementerio General, progress North on 66 to La Ermita, then proceed for the first time on to parque de San Juan.  Always in the past La Ermita was the terminus.

It was curious to me that this year the advertising stated that the event would start so early, at 6PM.  But hey, things happen, things changed.

So about 7:30 we head over, just a block away.   The crowds are staggering.  I've never seen so many people.   At one point I got caught in one of those human crushs, wedged so tightly in a group that you can't move.

A rather narrow passage had been created between the new stage location and the house on the opposite side of the street.  There was no order and people were trying to go in both directions with no one giving, We were all stopped in this human sardine can effect, when finally a group of maybe twenty something years old boys decided to affect some change.  The started pushing through the crowd causing those already stuck  and pressed to start losing their balance.  At one point I had to grab an older woman as she was slowly slipping down.  It was quite frightening.  I glanced around for Tom and saw him, also stuck about 20 feet behind.  There was nothing we could do.  I made it through once the movement started, and was able to make my way around the park.

Later on the police became a human divider and forced to lanes, one in each direction  - This really helped.

This is a foto of a crowd later on, one that was not so scary or dangerous, but still quite intimidating.

 Ir was the placement of the stage that created a serious bottleneck, as people wanted to watch., And there were only a select few with in a ringed perimeter around the stage that could enjoy any of the performances.  The rest of us could catch glimpses as we filed past.

We were barely able to see the altars until well past about calle 81 on 66.  

When we finally managed to get farther South on 66, things opened up.  We could see the altars, and some of the costumed participants - 

We waited and waited, but there were no signs or signals of the procession getting anywhere near.  Finally, about 9:30, we were getting foot sore and back tired, so we headed home.  We thought we'd go back after a bit, but others from our earlier invitees stopped in.   And well, that was that.  We missed the Paseo, and I'm not sure I'll pass up other events next year to be able to do this one again.  It may have run it's course for me.

OR, maybe I'll go to the cemetery and then follow the procession???????

my new camera

Whilst in Italy recently we visited Pisa, 

to see the famed Leaning Tower of course.    

So silly, but when we rounded the corner and caught our first glimpse of it we turned and looked at each other, and we each had this huge goofy grin!

I mean, this is an iconic structure, you hear about it your whole life, and most of us think we'll never see it outside of print.  But there we were, in the presence of this awesome site.

 from this angle the lean is to the left,  which is the most pronounced,

 but from one side it actually looks in vertical alignment

As you can imagine we walked with eyes lifted to the soaring 55.86 meter (183.27 feet) height of this incredible structure.   Prior to the restoration work which was performed between 1990 and 2001, the towers lean was at an angle of 5.5 degrees.  The tower now leans at about 4 degrees. Which means that the top of the tower has a horizontal displacement of 3.9 meters (12 ft 10 in) from where it would be if the structure were perfectly vertical.  Incredible, eh?

We started taking pictures, each of us taking probably the same shot with each of our cameras. We walked without care, without regard, and with complete and utter conviction.   

That is until we turned towards each other without bothering to look.  We collided, hard.  

No damage, unless you take into account the complete destruction to my camera, because it went flying. The lens is stuck part way out, the latch on the battery door snapped off and the door no longer aligns with the opening, and there are several rather large dents and scratches.

This camera I purchased about 3 years ago, hard for me to believe I've had it that long.  I think I paid about 120USD, so to try to repair it just isn't economically logical, especially after I was already jones'ing over a camera that does Panorama Shots!

So here you see my old camera!

Et voilà, my new camera arrived last night via my friends.  

Pretty!

Just in time too, because tonight is the Paseo de las Animas here in my neighborhood so I'll give this baby a test drive!

isn't it funny that colors are cheaper than silver or black?  

Not that I mind!

An Ode - A Lament - to shoes of old, or just old shoes, you choose!

So a year ago, when we went to Spain and Portugal we walked, a lot!  I took 2 pairs of shoes; a pair of Fitflop flipflops, and a pair of Mephisto sandals.  I took these 2 pair because they are comfortable, broken in, and have really good arch support.  I am overweight, and have plantar faschitis, a really bad combo for crappy shoes.

When we came back after a month, people kept saying we had lost weight.  We really hadn't noticed.  When we went we took minimal clothes, and jetisoned quite a bit of those before we returned.

I did notice a difference in my clothes once we returned, so I know I had lost weight.  We both felt better for having walked so much, and vowed to start walking daily.   We never did!

Well, we just got back from 34 days in Italy - we walked alot.  And again, I took 2 pair of shoes, the same 2 pair.  Absolutely no problems, walked hours and hours each day, in fact I did the trails of Cinque Terre in my fitflops.

 No problems.  Unfortunately, unlike Spain , we did not lose weight.  I blame this on the incredibly high fat content, namely olive oil, of the food in Italy.  That and the volume of processed food, bread, pasta, ...  No matter what you have, even a scrambled egg and sliced tomatoes,  they pour a healthy amount of olive oil over.  Now don't get me wrong, it's tasty, but damn!

Well once again, we vowed to start a walking regimen.  Took us a week, ok more than a week to get it together but we started.

I started out walking in the Mephistos, I got blisters, then I tried the Fitflops, and again, blisters, I think it's the humidity here - causes the things to rub differently.

Well today I pulled out the pair of runners/tennies/athletic shoes/????, what do you call them?  I think these were actually marketed as walking shoes.   Pretty huh?

Well I bought these when we decided to move down here (2006), everyone said buy good walking shoes.  I think this is the first time I had them on!

Well, as you can imagine

OKAY, no worries, we were only a block and a half from the house.  Back we came and I switched to a pair of Tevas that I bought when we went to France, in 2004.   Walked all over France in these babies.  I've even worn them here a dozen or so times.

hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!  

what do you think?  

They just don't make things the way they used to?  Or I just keep things too long?

Tom's handy, you all know that - he's got glue, he says he can fix em.

needless to say, I took this as an omen.  I did not try for a 3rd pair and go walking.   I am thinking about going shopping for a pair of good walkers though.   Any suggestions?

Lament, by Joshua Edwards

This playground's crater began way back

with the formation of a meteor collecting

reflections of itself. I sit here thinking,

one foot planted in creation, the other

in exploitation, that my complaint is premise

and illusion, and fruit is memory and energy.

Someone who says a photo of a frame is not cute

enough to be coy. Rather, I'm told, you

must show the rotting classic and evoke

its historiography. I fall asleep drunk

and wake up startled. Archery makes an echo

of war. I must take a long walk before

I speak. I must buy new shoes before I walk.

I must get a job that doesn't yet exist

to afford suitable shoes. I will not mention

the catalog of fossils reborn in images.

As the team is led back into its barn,

a light passes from the house and is gone,

terminating on the blank skull of a ram.

Joshua Edwards is the director and co-editor of Canarium Books.

 He’s the author of Imperial Nostalgias and Campeche, 

and translator of Mexican poet Maria Baranda’s Ficticia.