At the urging of a friend, I am writing and posting pictures of the Farm in the winter. Here is today’s post. Here is the post from Sunday. There was also another post a while ago, with pictures form the spring and summer, just in case you want to compare…
Last weekend, I enjoyed the sunshine in Rincon Puerto Rico, and this weekend, I am enjoying the winter in Wisconsin. The temperature difference, last Sunday to today: Easily 70 degrees! ( it is 7 degrees Fahrenheit here). But we also experienced a 40 degree drop from yesterday, and I didn’t even have to leave the house! (Thank goodness!). Here’s a note and pictures about the “post January thaw”.
As I experience it and as I write about it, I always wonder why I don’t get out on the island more! Rincon, Puerto Rico
It’s wonderful being the boss! Yesterday, I took advantage of the need for a “business trip” to Ponce (to pick up a custom-painted vejigante mask for a client) and convinced my younger son to accompany me (here still on Christmas break) and enlisted the chauffeuring skill of my husband to make a family outing to “la Perla del Sur.”
What a surprise to find a “Parade of Lions” in the Plaza las Delicias – the main plaza of Ponce (home of the famous firehouse and the cathedral). We had seen a similar display of public art some years ago in Chicago where there were painted bulls all over the Golden Mile.
Here, fittingly, they are life size lions!
In case you are not aware – the lion is the symbol for the city of Ponce (pronounced “pawn-say” not “pons”). Ponce is the second largest city in Puerto Rico, and is known by different names like “la Perla del Sur” (the pearl of the South) and la ciudad sensorial (interpretations?) . There is quite a rivalry between sanjuaneros (residents of San Juan) and ponceños (residents of Ponce) as to who lives in the better city. One of the major differences in the two cities is historical. The Spanish established their capitol and base of operations in San Juan – forming its Spanish character. Ponce, on the other hand, was always an international port, with influences from all over the world.
That is all an aside really to telling you about the lion parade. Unbeknownst to me until today, when I actually looked it up, the lions have been on display for the better part of the last year. I think that is a comment on the island news media – I had heard nothing about it and this was not my first trip to Ponce in the last 12 months.
The lions have been painted by different artists and represent different aspects of Ponce’s character. If you want to see them, visit the Plaza las Delicias in Ponce. Here are some of the pictures I took. Test your knowledge of Ponce to find the significance of each painting.
Obviously a school project! One of my favorites.
I had to hang up my “Jetsy” moniker for a couple of months and actually do some work! That’s why I have been pretty quiet lately. I haven’t been anywhere, unless you count Santa Isabel last Saturday.
I did, however, take a different kind of trip – one down Memory Lane – as I put up my Christmas tree last weekend.
Here’s my tree: It’s in a new place this year too.
My Christmas tree is decorated with ornaments I have collected over the 30 years I have been married. As I put them on the tree I always think back to when I got each one, the occasion, the reason, the person. I even think of the other ornaments I got at the same time and how I miss the ones that have been lost or broken.
Here are just a few:
These little wooden ornaments were purchased one of the first years we were married. We were still living in Brooklyn then, and since we were traveling for Christmas (either to Puerto Rico to see Gerry’s family or to Marco, FL to see mine – that I can’t remember), rather than buy a tree, we got all these white branches and stuck them in a big vase. These were the decorations for the “alternative” tree!
The first Christmas I spent in Puerto Rico, I thought my tree should make some sort of “nod” to our tropical environs, so I found a whole series of tropical fish, both wood and bamboo.
Friends have made ornaments for me (when your birthday falls a week before Christmas it is an easy call!). Of course, I have ornaments my boys made at school…and ones they made at home!
Last year, when we were making “Boricua Santas” and “Reyes” out of corks to sell through Isla, I made a series of place cards for the Christmas table that found their way onto the tree this year. (Can you guess who each of these is supposed to be?)
But the happiest discovery I made this year – and it was just by chance – but it did provide the impetus for this blog post…was finding the ornaments we purchased in France 11 years ago to celebrate our Euro-Year Christmas!
Of all my trips, this yearly trip down memory lane is clearly one of the most enjoyable!
jetsytravels 
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