Leaving Ely today to Return to San Miguel

Today we commence our latest trip from Ely Minnesota back down to San Miguel de Allende. It is still snowy and cold here in Ely, which is normal for Northern Minnesota at this time of year.

On Wednesday we took a hike around Bass Lake and Dry Lake with Matt and all of the dogs. It is very nice with the temperatures in the mid 20s and the dogs running the trails without leases.

However, reality set in yesterday and we had another inch of snow. It has not been a hard winter this year but the winters up here in Northern Minnesota can be so long, that you just get cabin fever.

However, tomorrow we will be in San Miguel and the temperatures will be in the mid 80s and the sun will be shining. This is a week of business rather than vacation as we are going down to try and close our purchase transaction of Ranchero la Luz which will set in process our relocation from Minnesota to Mexico. It is a very exciting week for us, but also one that will trying I am sure.

So although I have high speed access in our apartment in San Miguel, I am not sure how active my postings will be for the next week. Hopefully we will have a celebration sometime this week and will have some images of the Ranchero.

Bon voyage.

Everyone Loves a Circus

It was the evening of Valentine's Day this past February when Jo Ann and I were walking up to la Parroquia and we saw that the church was under a sea of circus lights. As we walked over we could see that the circus was in town and they were putting on a short exhibition and there was probably three or four hundred people sitting in the chairs and in the jardin waiting for the show.


Well I had my Olympus camera, but alas no tripod and so I kept waiting for the show to start hoping to get some nice photos. The first image is of the Parroquia under the circus lights and was probably around 6:15 and the ISO settings were at 640.





Finally as the clock ticked to around 7:15, the performers started to assemble and prepare for their performance. During this time, I kept shooting images and to get decent images, kept moving the ISO settings higher, until finally the only shots that I could get were being shot with my ISO at 1600. This image of the performers awaiting for their time, the shutter speed was 1/10 sec. and f/4.5. As I said earlier I did not have my tripod so there is some movement as I tried my best to keep it still.


I also was having to deal with the lights coming from the background buildings but since there were so many people in attendance, there was not much I could do to move around and get a better sight line. However, the colors from the circus lights and the colors of the costumes were beautiful and I did not want to mess these up.

The evenings in San Miguel can be so wonderful, with the stars, the moon and the wonderful temperatures, then finding something like this on Valentine's Day was so very nice.

Jo Ann working at the Gualala Farmers Market

For the two years that we lived in Gualala, we were active members of the Gualala Farmers Market. On one Saturday, Jo Ann was approached by a local artist who asked her if she could paint Jo Ann's picture while working at the market.

The actual painting is wonderful, however, I recently purchased a LenseBaby 2.0 lens for my Olympus and was trying it out on a number of exposures. It is a lot of fun to work with this lens and I really enjoyed how it created the blurred image of Jo Ann from the painting of her.

I have used it to photograph our dogs and cats and am working on using it in some macro type shots. It takes a lot of practice, but I am really enjoying the final output as I learn how to use it properly.

Farming in Mexico a long the old Spanish Silver Trail

In March, Jo Ann and I were on a mountain bike ride that followed the old Spanish silver road from Guanajuato to Dolores Hidalgo, although we only rode from Santa Rosa to the Haciendo las Trancas. It was a very beautiful trip, but one that started at around 8500 feet and dropped down to 6500 feet. The ride itself was an extremely challenging ride, not for beginners, but covered around 25 miles and went through some of the most beautiful vistas in Central Mexico.


Our guide, Beto from Bici Burro (beto @bici-burro.com) was wonderful and conveys not only good biking ideas, but also the history and culture of Colonial Mexico. At about the half way point, we stopped for some water and came across this farmer who was tilling his land in preparation for the upcoming raining season. Since there is only the trail that we were biking on to get to this location, you can see he does not have a big John Deere tractor but must rely on the historical farming techniques. We spoke with him for a long time and it was very interesting to learn that as long as there is sufficient rain, he and his family are well provided for and all is good. However, last year there was not sufficient rain and the production was not sufficient and it has been a very difficult year.

Here in Mexico, there are no subsidies or grants to farmers and they must care for their own families and friends. However, the people seem so much more at peace and generally happy when compared to the people of the US who expect their ration of entitlements. Maybe progress is not always good, if it does not bring satisfaction and happiness.

Well back to the image and off my soapbox, I took the photo in RAW format and did all of the black and white processing in Photoshop. I love the capability that you get from using the RAW format and not having to worry about white balance when shooting. Regarding the bike ride we had a great time on this ride and would strongly recommend the tour for any moderate or advanced rider and we would also recommend Beto and Bici-Burro as they have many different rides and hikes that are in the area around San Miguel de Allende.

Fishing the Back Bay of Ft. Myers Beach

P3130929_edited-2, originally uploaded by Jon of SMA.

Last week I was in Florida for the Minnesota Twins Spring Training season with my wife's cousins. We had a great time seeing four baseball games in five days, biking around 75 miles, watching a lot of college basketball and the World Baseball classic and of course getting in some boating and fishing.

Although I do not fish, I was a long with my handy Olympus and caught Jerry thinking he had caught the big one. Well it turns out this was nothing but a big snag.

I will have more photos of the baseball games and the beach later after I can get them all processed through the Camera RAW processing and converted to jpegs.

Visiting the Sterling Dickinson Jardin

P1310240_edited-1, originally uploaded by Jon of SMA.

Jo Ann and I spent a wonderful day visiting the orchid garden in San Miguel. This garden has hundreds of interesting plants, orchids, cactus and trees. The flowers will be at their best in April and May so if you get a chance to visit San Miguel, you should make sure that you tour the jardin.

Welcome to San Miguel Photos

So here I am enjoying a beautiful day of skiing with my wife Jo Ann. As you can see this exposure is still from cold and snowy Northern Minnesota and not from the warm and enjoyable San Miguel, but there will be more from there soon.