San Miguel FAQ

Plus: The 10 Commandments For Successfully Shooting City Market.
Also, how Prince Valiant’s graphic art layout can help tell your story.

Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Congratulations, San Miguel Facebookeers! You are creating a new photography genre — City Market Art. Your orgasmic uploading of scores of images from the newly opened high-end supermarket “experience” has been a visual feast worthy of the artfully displayed departments of bread, fish, wine, vegetables, chocolates, and meats.

This is commercial exhibitionism at its finest.

Because you are all so good — and prolific — I am proud to announce the first-ever open invitational online gallery of the year’s best City Market images. I will create a gallery page for your very best images and keep posting new ones through the end of the year. ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Opening soon: City Market Photo Galleria – Art for mart’s sake. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: As far as hurricanes go, Earl wasn’t a great hurricane. Certainly, it wasn’t the worst, hardly the worst of the seven hurricanes of 2016.

But it was our hurricane.

Most hurricanes that year sounded like the cool kids in high school — Alex, Bonnie, Colin, Danielle, Fiona. And then, “Oh, look. It’s Earl. Quick, spread out so he doesn’t come sit at our table.”

Earl might have started as an under-achiever but he was the first full fledged hurricane to reach the western Caribbean in four years. Earl plodded slowly through Belize and the lower Yucatan, making a mess for sure but after a dip in the Gulf of Mexico, he turned into a mean and wet bastard of a tropical storm that killed at least 45 people in Mexico from mudslides. ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Happy anniversary, Earl. You did your worst and it is just a fading memory five years on. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Sometimes you just have to get out there and walk. Anywhere will do. Just walk.

Most mornings, that’s me walking Moppit, struggling for control over the master/pet dynamic with a willful and intelligent opponent.

I want to go left, she wants to go right. We both freeze in our tracks and engage in a game of blink, staring into each other’s eyes with fiercely competitive stares. It is Moppit who decides when she’s had enough of this walking nonsense and communicates her desire by sitting firmly on her tush. It is Moppit who sets the pace, decides what needs to be sniffed or peed upon. For my every step forward, she executes a complex zigzag pattern worthy of her genetic heritage. ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: A little Sunday morning walk to the Presa clears your head, raises your spirits, and revives your senses. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: When I walk the cobblestone streets of San Miguel de Allende, usually early mornings with Moppit the philosopher dog, I find things.

It is not that I am scouring between the cracks and crannies. It is just that cobblestones can be treacherous and if you are not attentive to your footsteps, well, you can fall.

There is a joke about the number of ex-pats who walk around this hilly town with canes — but I forget how it goes.

Cobblestone streets are the tide pools of very old cities. They tend to trap small and delicate things in the spaces between rocks, much the same way that tide pools trap small fish, snails, squid and pirates’s treasure. Especially after it rains. ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Poor souls, lost their marbles on the cobblestone streets of San Miguel de Allende. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: It pays to walk the dog on a Sunday morning, even if you don’t feel like it.

Today, Moppit and I arrived at the Ancha around 8:30 a.m. to see a police car blocking the normally busy thoroughfare.

In the distance I could hear a familiar sound — the frentic beat of trance-dance music so beloved by killer clowns, life-size Disney characters and scarry looking mass-murderers (in costume only).

Yes! The popular Dias de los Locos Parade is back! ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Crazy, man! The Dia de los Locos returns to San Miguel de Allende — smaller but just as lively — and crazy as ever. See the photos! More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Sure sign that tourism is back — hot-air balloons dot the early morning sky in Colonia San Antonio, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Robert J. Hawkins wrote: So here we are now at 6,200 feet enjoying incredibly mild weather yearlong, a severe drought and growing water shortage, unrestrained development, and a once-exuberant city that has almost withered away under the relentless grind of Covid restrictions.

Signs of life are returning to San Miguel de Allende.

Hot air balloons are once again visible most mornings around 7 a.m. There are traffic jams on weekends. A beautifully refurbished basketball court in the heart of the city’s most beautiful garden, Parque Juarez, opened last week for the first time in more than a year. Fireworks are returning to the night sky and the weddings that inspire them are returning to the streets. No parades, no pageantry, no processions — these are the things we once encountered weekly as we strolled around town. ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Where you been, bro? It has been a year, yeah? More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Interesting question raised by a former newspaper colleague and a Poynter institute column: “Should journalists play a role in identifying rioters?”

That’s the headline and based on it alone, the answer is, of course. Media goes after the facts and a big chunk of the facts from last week’s Washington riot answers the question: Who the hell were these people?

The more-specific and thornier question is: “Should the media turn over unpublished documentation, especially photographs, to law enforcement upon request?” ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Social media-loving D.C. rioters are finding there is nowhere to run, nowhere to hide. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Electric Jesus.

Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Confinement. Isolation. Sequestration. Lock down. Quarantine.

Of all the words to describe this peculiar existence we are in today, I have the most trouble with “quarantine.” I simply can not recall this word when describing how we are living these days.

It is blocked from my memory. Unlike the actual quarantine which we live minute by minute in our homes.

Ah well, I’m not here to summarize 2020 — nor analyze. I can offer no grand insights, survival tip, recipes, bromides, earned wisdom, nor life lessons. ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: These are a few of my favorite things, Part II: Finishing off 2020 with dignity and grace. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Merry Christmas from beautiful San Miguel de Allende, a city that is no more beautiful than on Christmas Eve.

The city has been decorated for weeks but we waited until this evening to walk through historic Centro. A perfect night for it — the temperature dropped suddenly, the wind picked up slightly, and there were ever so few people out and about.

This is just a brisk tour through the center of this magical city. I took some photos while Rose handed out tangerines and caps that she’d knitted to a few people. Moppit just sniffed the curbs and wondered why we kept stopping to take in the beauty of it all.

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Starry and bright: All is quiet on Christmas Eve in San Miguel de Allende. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Nieman Lab’s “Predictions for Journalism 2021,” asks a pretty provocative question: Is it time to defund the crime beat?

Read the essay here.

The authors reach some conclusions that are bound to hurt dedicated, hard-working crime-beat reporters and their editors:

“This should be the year where we finally abolish the crime beat. Study after study shows how the media’s overemphasis on crime makes people feel less safe than they really are and negatively shapes public policy around the criminal–legal system. And study after study shows that it’s racist and inhumane.” ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Defund cops? Some are saying, “Defund the media crime beats”. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: It is clear to me that the single greatest invention of our civilization has been the wooden toast tongs.

Since the time of Medieval toasters, this device has safely extracted piping hot slabs of bread. Perhaps even earlier, if certain Egyptian hieroglyphics are to be interpreted correctly.

Suspected fact: Leonardo da Vinci may have invented the wooden toast tongs before there were electric toasters, once again anticipating the needs and aspirations of future generations. ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Tongs for the memories. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Recently I was asked to read a selection of my writing at the Prose Cafe in San Miguel de Allende.

In better times, Prose Cafe is a gathering of writers and others (mostly other writers, I think) in the beautiful Belles Artes. Three or four writers would each read something and take questions. I always found the cafe sessions inspirational. I imagined myself — some day, not right away — being just like them, having something of worth to share with other writers.

These days, Prose Cafe and its sister gathering, Poetry Cafe, are ZOOM affairs. They are both the offspring of the San Miguel Literary Sala whose wonderful Writers Conference is currently underway — on ZOOM, of course.

I shared the ZOOM space on Thursday, Dec. 3 with two accomplished authors, Molly Giles and Fredrika Sprengle. Both have published works — award-winning books, short stories. I have nearly four decades of newspaper clippings. A good mix, as it turned out. We all leaven our prose (and pain?) with humor.

What follows is the story that I read. As I told the ZOOM audience, this is a work of fiction, except for the parts that are true. (You figure it out).



Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Fiction: Hell hath no fury like a seminarian scorned. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Chadwick Boseman is Levee in “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.” It was his last performance as an actor before passing away in August.

Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Netflix begins streaming “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom” on December 18. The August Wilson play has enjoyed an excellent life on Broadway and beyond. And for good reason. It is a powerful creation.

I think that in the Denzel Washington-produced movie we will see what a treasure and tragic loss was the death of Chadwick Boseman in August. This was his last performance.

This most recent news from Netflix sends me back nearly to the creation of the play, in 1982. ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Soon to be on Netflix, ‘Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom’ brings back some violent memories. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: You read that right.

That’s me, bookended by two actual accomplished and brilliant authors at San Miguel de Allende’s monthly Prose Café. It is happening this Thursday, Dec. 3, 5-6 p.m. Central.

On Zoom. Not only is this free but no pants are necessary. You only need register right here in advance.

Fredrika, Molly and I will each read something from our own creations and then entertain, oh my, whatever it is that Zoom events generate. Questions? Observations? Static? (That last one’s my personal nightmare. Not theirs.)

I think I have this writing thing down fairly well. Reading aloud? Well, I’m working real hard at slowing down. Let’s leave it at that.

It should be fun. ...

Continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: San Miguel Prose Café Presents: Fredrika Sprengle, Robert Hawkins, and Molly Giles. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

See also: Prose Cafe: December 3 (free via Zoom).

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: May I start by saying that photographing San Miguel de Allende’s new Urban Art Gallery in a highway underpass is best not done during Friday morning rush-hour traffic.

I mean, really, at how many art galleries can you say you take your life into your hands stepping out in front of a picture, trying to take a decent photograph?

Nevertheless, that is when I got there and that is when these photos were taken. ...

The words and pics continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Four days: A gallery is created, an obscure corner of San Miguel is transformed. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: It is Day Three of San Miguel de Allende’s first-ever Urban Art Gallery and the creations of our 10 street artists show an incredible variety of tastes, styles, techniques, and mediums.

What was mere sketchy outlines on Monday, became splashes and dashes of color here and there on Tuesday and by 5 p.m. today, their full-blown visions were apparent in all their glory.

And this once graffiti-splattered underpass of the Libramente will never be the same. ...

The words and pics continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Urban Art Gallery takes shape in a San Miguel highway underpass. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: The south wall of the Urban Art Gallery at the El Puente underpass in San Miguel de Allende on Tuesday morning as the artists were just arriving to resume painting their murals.

If you are going to open up an art gallery these days, you may as well do it outside, right?

That is exactly what San Miguel de Allende’s Direction de Cultura Tradiciones is doing right now.

The city has invited 10 well-known street artists to put up their best work on the expansive concrete walls of the Libramente underpass called El Puente, located just south of Hospital H+. ...

The words and pics continue at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: At first brush: San Miguel’s open-air Urban Art Gallery is many strokes of creative genius. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Back in the day — before Uber & Lyft, before Google street maps, before the Internet — there was a thing known as The Thomas Guide. It was a spiral-bound book of maps and street indexes for many of the major West Coast cities in the U.S.

It was a godsend for journalists and taxicab drivers alike.

Toronto had a similar book, as I discovered one night when I arrived to cover the Toronto Film Festival for my California newspaper. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: The cabbie’s life: One night in Toronto. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: The musician David Byrne was asked in the New York Times which subjects would he like to see more authors write about.

I liked his answer.

“I’ll turn it around — most writers should avoid writing about writers as their main characters. I know, I know, ‘write what you know.’”

Some critics (especially the Guardian’s) wish that Martin Amis had heeded this advice before publishing his latest novel, “Inside Story,” which is propped up on his friendships with fellow literary giants, including Saul Bellow, Peter Larkin, and Christopher Hutchins. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: When peering into the infinite universe, always watch your step. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Remember when your friends were nominating you to do stuff on Facebook that you wouldn’t dream of ever doing on your own?

Things like, “post the album covers of the seven LPs that changed your life.” And, “post the covers of 10 books that made you who you are today.” And, oh, whatever.

I can’t recall because I just don’t do that sort of thing.

Or maybe ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: That time when ‘everything looked better in black and white’ More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: In case you don’t know, this is not Moppit. ...

What do these two dogs have in common?

The one at the top guards a parking lot on Calle San Juan in Colonia San Antonio. (The photo was taken this morning by my wife, Rose Alcantara, while walking Moppit.)

Moppit and the guard dog sometimes antagonize each other. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Of memes, Moppit and dog-on-dog mayhem. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote (captions to a series of photos):

Part of a mural in Guadalupe by Jace. In art, Nature seems to have the last word.

A bucolic setting on the edge of Colonia San Antonio.

Be a door ever so humble …

Until a door is opened, you just never know …

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins, and see the pics!, at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Framing life: A San Miguel de Allende gallery. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: A pandemic of new murals all over San Miguel de Allende, many with iconic images from pop culture and high art, carry a simple message: Put on a mask.

If Frida, Van Gogh, the Girl With the Pearl Earring, Klimt’s stylish “Lady in Gold,” and Mona Lisa and her Botero-esque alter-ego can put on masks — and look fabulous — so can we.

That’s the hope, anyway, of the city’s Directorate for Culture and Tradition which has sponsored the creation of the 10 murals.

Besides retaining some of the region’s finest muralists and providing them employment, the Directorate also engaged a dozen aspiring young artists, between ages 14 and 25, to apprentice with the masters.

Murals are notoriously short-lived. The apprenticeships will ensure the artistry lives on.

While some of the murals are far-removed from the city center, they make for a wonderful excuse to walk about in the city, probably into neighborhoods you barely knew existed.

Understand, collecting all 10 murals in a single day is a feat best left to the very young and most physically fit. But why not break them up into two or three comfortable walks. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins, and see the pics and the maps!, at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Up against the wall: 10 San Miguel de Allende murals with a message to mask up. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Butterflies are one of the “two sweetest passions known to man.”

So says Vladimir Nabokov. The other is literature.

A day watching butterflies flutter amid the flower boughs

Never feels misspent.

Nor does a day with a good book.

Literature lasts forever. No so, the butterfly. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: A lesson from the butterfly’s second life. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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The bicycle mural of Efrain Gonzalez at the corner of Orizaba and Refugio in Colonia San Antonio. The joy is spreading from this corner to other parts of San Miguel.

Robert J. Hawkins wrote: This is how things work in magical San Miguel de Allende:

Susan Campbell Skinner lives on the corner of Refugio and Orizaba in Colonia San Antonio. Across the street is Dona Rosa’s tienda where she buys organic eggs, produce, and fresh squeezed orange juice.

Susan does not know Rosa well but she feels a kindred spirit. She feels like Rosa is always looking out for her and her casa when she is away. This is what neighbors do for each other here in San Miguel de Allende.

So, Susan wanted to do something nice for her neighbor. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: One thing leads to another: A mural grows in Colonia San Antonio. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote:
I didn’t even know we had roses.

Well, a rose. This one you see above.

It bloomed on Saturday. One of a kind. A lone rose.

It bloomed just hours before the Running of the Roses.

And it bloomed for my Rose,

Who celebrates her birthday on Monday. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Happy Birthday, Rose. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Entrance to the new Mama Mia restaurant at Hernandez Macias #91, in San Miguel.

Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Rose and I happened to walk by the new Mama Mia’s restaurant today.

That’s right, the NEW one.

One of San Miguel de Allende’s most popular restaurants has moved from the heart of Centro to Dr. Hernández Macías # 91.

Really, just around the corner, but worlds away a huge improvement. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins (and see the pics!) at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Mama Mia makes a move and it is spectacular. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Very few people — children, mostly — know that all around San Miguel de Allende there are portals that can transport you to unimaginable places.

No, sorry. That’s not right.

You have to imagine a place before you can be transported to it.

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins (and see the pics!) at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Look through any window. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: I’d like you to meet Wally, full name Wallace George Hawkins. He was born on Saturday at 6:54 p.m. in Kaiser Hospital, San Diego, weighing in at 7 pounds, 12 ounces.

Mother, Larisa, and father, Ryan, are as over the moon — as we are!

Wally and parents were home by Sunday evening and Wally got to meet his big brother, Augie. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Welcome to Wally’s World. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: I have so many pictures of the flowers and plants that fill our courtyard that I want to share with you. This oasis. This sanctuary. This place where we find peace and solitude during the global crisis.

This home in Colonia San Antonio, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.

Flowers speak for themselves. They don’t need words to make themselves more beautiful. Unless the words are contained in a song.

Flowers and songs work well together. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins (and see the pics) at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: In the garden: A meditation. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Pocket-sized transistor radios were probably one of the first great subversive technologies. And smuggling one into a culturally hermetic community could spark a revolution.

That’s what happened when rock ‘n’ roll invaded the cloistered walls of my seminary.

Thank God. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Schultzie’s transistor radio started a revolt. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: A cynic might say there are more murals, statues and pictures wearing masks in San Miguel de Allende than actual people.

I wouldn’t know.

Lately, the only people I hang out with are murals, statues, and pictures. And they all seem to be wearing masks. ...

Continue reading (and see the pics!) Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Murals with a message say it loud: I mask-up and I’m proud. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Since the beginning of the Covid sequestration, I’ve been taking the occasional walkabout here in San Miguel de Allende. I’ve even taken some that were inspired by my beloved city but strictly products of the mind.

Honestly, we’re all kind of feeling like we are at the “break out” point.

I hope this will help. ...

Continue reading (and see the pics!) Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Little escapes: Seventeen San Miguel experiences you can enjoy while sitting on your couch. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: My whole neighborhood put on a lunch for about 30 hungry and hard-working guys today.

They have been with us for a while now, long enough to know many of them by sight and wish each other a good day. These are the guys who tore up our street, right down to the dirt, and installed new utilities — sewer,water, fiber-optic.

For the past several weeks they have been doing a beautiful job of restoring Callejón de San Antonio, putting down square granite pavers like a very symmetrical jigsaw puzzle. ...

Continue reading (and see the pics!) Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Putting on a nice lunch for the crew rebuilding our street, because ‘We are Mexican’. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: We went for a walk on Sunday.

Or maybe it was a hike. When does a walk stop being a walk and become a hike? Is it the distance? The degree of difficulty? The moment when you suddenly realize one call to Uber could end all this? Anyhow, we went ...

Continue reading (and see the pics!) Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: A good Sunday morning walk to the Presa, unspoiled by the reality awaiting back in town. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Kind of like the world we live in today: Fractured, confusing, disorienting, distorted.

But there is hope. A way out. An opening in the distance — with a glimpse of promise on the other side. We just need to stay focused on that opening.

Don’t get distracted by the distance, the rough roads, and the impossible exits. ...

Continue reading (and see the pics!) Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: No rhyme, no reason, Part 2: Seeing things. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: Yeah, this is how I feel every day when I open up my computer and begin reading the news. I want to scream, lash out, run for cover, then hide in the bushes for the rest of the day.

+ + + + +

I know “curated” does not mean “stuff left over.”

A curator searches through his or her museum’s basements, files, archives, vaults, hallways, and subterranean sanctorums in search of pieces that support an important theme or idea.

The hope is that, as a whole, a curated show will tell a story or bolster an idea. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: No rhyme, no reason: Randomly curated photos from the Pandemic-era. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote:
In a crossword puzzle today:

“It might send you to the moon”

Horizontal. Four letters.

So obvious. I wrote in

LOVE

...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Crossword clue: ‘It might send you to the moon’ and your answer is … More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: These days, we walk around Parque Juarez.

No, not walk around in Parque Juarez.

Just, walk around. The perimeter.

We circle the park, as you would circle a fishbowl. ...

Continue reading (and see the pics!) at Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: On the outside, looking in. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: The rainy season has begun in San Miguel de Allende and brings with it an abundance of lush and impossibly green vegetation. There is a freshness to everything — the streets, the air, the flowers now blooming everywhere in mad bursts of color.

Walking though older parts of San Miguel feel like you have been transported to dense tropical forests in an era far removed from the present.

The perfect getaway for the homebound in the Age of Pandemic. ...

Continue reading (and see the pics!) at Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: The rainy season turns San Miguel hillside neighborhood into a vernal wonderland. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: The summer that “Jaws” came out, I was sailing very poorly on a tiny wooden platform called a Sailfish off the coast of South Chatham on Cape Cod.

Mind you, I had never sailed before.

We were rigged with a larger than normal sail, which under normal circumstances would have made for easy gliding on a sultry summer day. ...

Continue reading at Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Happy anniversary, ‘Jaws.’ But let me tell you the tale of my infamous duel with Moby Jaws. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote: “What did you do on your summer vacation?” I bet the answers in 2020 are going to be a lot different from those in 1966.

A newsletter for ex-newspaper folks (specifically those bred in the incubator known as The San Diego Union-Tribune) recently spooled out a thread on summer jobs. The question was neutral but the recollections quickly veered toward the worst, hardest, most humiliating.

Well, those are usually the most memorable, aren’t they?

Mine was among the hardest, and the worst, but also one of the best a kid with football hero dreams could hope for in a small country town like Brookville, Pennsylvania. I cherish every brutal, exhausting moment. Here’s what I wrote ...

Continue reading at Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: ‘We arrived at the Dam in tattered cut-off jeans — covered in sweat, sawdust, and dirt’ More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J. Hawkins wrote:

We don’t do fireworks in San Miguel de Allende any more.

The hot-air balloons drifting slowly over the city at dawn are gone.

Parades and processions are put on hold.

Concerts under the trees have been muted.

Chalk-art festivals, Mariachi bands, street singers, horse riders,

First Friday art and ego struts, sundown wine divines,

street hawkers, weddings, random events of unexpected joy,

All have vanished. Peacockish pageantry has molted away. ...

Continue reading and see the photographs at Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: In the absence of art and pageantry by agile minds and clever hands, Nature fills the void. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Text by Hermann Hesse: “Trees,” from “Wandering: Notes and Sketches”
Photographs by Robert J. Hawkins @Robert Hawkins

For me, trees have always been the most penetrating preachers. I revere them when they live in tribes and families, in forests and groves.

And even more, I revere them when they stand alone. They are like lonely persons. Not like hermits who have stolen away out of some weakness, but like great, solitary men, like Beethoven and Nietzsche. In their highest boughs, the world rustles, their roots rest in infinity; but they do not lose themselves there, they struggle with all the force of their lives for one thing only: to fulfill themselves according to their own laws, to build up their own form, to represent themselves. Nothing is holier, nothing is more exemplary than a beautiful, strong tree.

When a tree is cut down and reveals its naked death-wound to the sun, one can read its whole history in the luminous, inscribed disk of its trunk: in the rings of its years, its scars, all the struggle, all the suffering, all the sickness, all the happiness and prosperity stand truly written, the narrow years and the luxurious years, the attacks withstood, the storms endured. And every young farmboy knows that the hardest and noblest wood has the narrowest rings, that high on the mountains and in continuing danger the most indestructible, the strongest, the ideal trees grow. ...

Continue reading and see the photographs at Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Sequestration meditation: Walk among the trees, with the thoughts of Hermann Hesse. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J Hawkins wrote: Last night, Rose and I watched the streaming performance of “Romeo and Juliet” by the English National Ballet. It was an exuberant performance of the Rudolf Nureyev production with the music of Sergei Prokofiev.

Alina Cojocaru and Isaac Hernández are the young lovers of Verona. The ballet was filmed in October 2015 at the Bristol Hippodrome.

Quite by coincidence, it was exactly 10 years ago — to the day — that we attended a performance of “Romeo and Juliet” by the San Francisco Ballet at the stately War Memorial Opera House.

Like I said, to the day. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: That time Romeo proposed to Juliet? Well, yes, but it wasn’t quite as we remembered. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J Hawkins wrote: I hope you will find a little peace and a little escape here in these photos.

And maybe, when this is all over, you can come to sit in our garden and perhaps read a book, meditate, do yoga, sip a glass of wine, talk to the angels. ...

Let’s take a quick walk around the grounds. Then I’ll introduce you to some of the statues. ...

They watch over you while you are here.

No harm comes to anyone in the garden. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Come, walk with me, through the magical door and into the garden of stone angels. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J Hawkins wrote: When I opened my computer this morning, I was presented as a very long list of quotations, mostly by famous people, extolling the virtue of patience.

Patience.

I stopped reading midway through the list and scrolled to the bottom to see how long the list was. “No time for this, “I thought. “I’ll get back to it later.”

Now I can’t find it. ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: O God, give us all the patience to read this. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J Hawkins wrote: Can there be any symbol of resiliency more endearing that a single strand of climbing cactus with a full bloom up where the air and light are free? This one on Calle 28 de Abril Norte in Colonia San Antonio makes me smile whenever I pass by.

~ ~ ~

What do we need? HOPE!
When do we need it? NOW!
Who are we going to get it from? NOT FACEBOOK!
Then from who? (Or “whom” or “what”?) WINE!

OK! But are there any other vehicles of hope,
ones that we can remember in the morning? ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Reasons to be cheerful before 10:30 a.m. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J Hawkins wrote: From Ray Bradbury’s ”Dandelion Wine” …

“He brought out a yellow nickel tablet. He brought out a yellow Ticonderoga pencil. He opened the tablet. He licked the pencil.

“Tom,” he said, “you and your statistics gave me an idea. I’m going to do the same, keep track of things. For instance: you realize that every summer we do things over and over we did the whole darn summer before?”

“Like what, Doug?” ...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Things we do all the time and things we do for the first time ever. More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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Robert J Hawkins wrote:

Lurking in the dark corner of the far left tabs

on my computer, for two weeks now,

Concerto for flute, no. 1 in G-Major, K. 313 (1778)

By Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and performed

By the Iceland Symphony Orchestra.

I imagine that Mozart and the ISO have

Survived so much. An Iceland orchestra must

Be composed of hardy creatures, impervious to

Cold, dark — Or is permanently lit? I forget.– winters

And barren landscapes that cry out

For a Mozart concerto to bring warmth and brighten

life and the endless day — or is it the night?

...

Continue reading Robert J Hawkins and see the great pics at Musings, Magic, San Miguel and More: Grateful on this cool, preternaturally calm Sunday morning, I ask myself, isn’t this just enough, for now? More #MusingsMagicSMA.

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