Sunshine Yellow

Hi everyone!

I haven’t posted lately, so I thought I’d put together some of the challenges I did from June. I can’t always make the deadline for each challenge.

We are in the rainy season now. We live in the central neighborhood which is pretty flat. Mountains surround our city. Rain rolls down the hills which are higher up. By the time the water reaches the town, the streets get flooded. Some areas had so much water that it looked like rivers. It comes fast. Water can be up almost to car door handles. People joke that we live in Venice! Our house has a flat roof like all Mexican houses. We have several leaks and have to catch the rain in buckets plus spread newspapers and towels. Last year, Tony painted the roof top, which is really the third floor, with sealant. It’s lasted a year. Now he has to do it again when the rain stops. The kind of sealant he used last year was a new product. The kind he used for a long time wasn’t thick enough. The only problem is the color-red!

I shouldn’t complain. Not everyone can afford to buy the sealant so they use tar. People with even less money spread plastic on their roof. Others can’t buy anything to use as a covering. In the poorer neighborhoods (colonias) which are higher up in the hills, some people have NO roof at all. And last, some families have no roof, no walls and no floors. No pretty flowers. No roads. No running water. I’ve seen how they hang sheets or blankets on trees to sleep under. They might have wood pallets for a bed. Or cardboard. Cooking on a fire on the ground made from sticks. No bathrooms. Go behind a bush or trash pile. I have seen babies without diapers, completely naked. Pampers are expensive. Most mothers breast feed their babies. The milk is free. The Huichol Indians are the poorest of all. They live in the mountains “out there” and come into town daily. They sell plastic jewelry that they make by hand. They wear traditional clothing and only speak their indiginous language,  Nahuatl. Some of the teenagers speak a little Spanish. Children don’t attend school. Occasionally they beg, but usually they sell things. One way they earn money is by playing a stringed instrument that looks similar to a banjo. Kids make music on clay whistles and flutes.

The differences between income levels is shocking to me. The poor and the rich with a small amount of middle class. The middle class is bigger now than when I first came here. More people drive. The amount of poor people seems larger. And the rich stay rich.

*****

The color yellow is the theme of Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge (CFFC) for the week of June 14 on Dan Antion’s site No Facilities https://nofacilities.com/cees-fun-foto-challenge-cffc/

I found all these yellow items in my office and bedroom. I didn’t realize how much I like this color!

Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge No. 67, Yellow Things, 6/2/26  http://TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 67, Yellow Things, 6/2/26

Bright Funny Things ( a shadorma)

my desk full

of bright funny things

what are they

why here now

should I smile laugh run away

use them for a poem

 

**********************

Tanka Tuesday Challenge by host Robbie Cheadle

#TankaTuesday Poetry Challenge No. 69, All About Trees 6/16/26 – Tanka Tuesday

Here is my Tanka about a tree. It’s a little blurry. Hope you can see it. The hole in the middle where the tree bends into two branches reminded me of a face.

Stop looking at me

I am the one who found you

You were all alone

I climbed about ninety steps

Stop staring or I will leave

©Kay Castaneda

 

*******************************************

The Color Green 

Blogger Dan Antion is now hosting Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge. https://nofacilities.com/2026/06/15/the-crayola-box-of-8-green-cffc/&MO

 

 

My green beans

 

That little bowl only has 2-3 pea pods. Peas grow slower than beans. They are delicious anyway!

The pictures were taken with an app called “Picture This”. The cards with the scientific names are interesting. I like it because it diagnoses any problems with the plant and tells you how to fix it. It also identifies weeds. That helps since the dirt here is full of junk. I buy potting soil for the vegetables. It’s not the same as in the US even though it has a famous American brand name! Companies get away with selling inferior products in Mexico thinking nobody will complain. They are right. Mexicans are used to buying whatever is for sale. The culture is complacent and won’t protest. That means from getting home with a carton of spoiled milk to their government.  For flowers, I buy big bags of dirt from a nursery. Haha! It looks like mulch to me-sticks, leaves, stones, and pieces of trees. After I pick out all the bad stuff, there may be enough for 10 flower pots.

 

In Mexico, the Poinsettia is  commonly called Nochebuena (or Flor de Nochebuena), which translates to “Christmas Eve” flower.

I did not plant any potatoes, but I love them!!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                 Mother of Thousands a type of cacti

 

****************

The Flower Hour Photo Challenge is hosted by Terri Webster Schrandt every Tuesday. Here are pics of some of my flowers and plants.  https://secondwindleisure.com/the-flower-hour-photo-challenge/

 

 

 

Bunny Ear cactus blooms once a month. The flower lasts for a day.

Sunflowers from last year. The ones for this year will be tall by September. Thanks for reading my post!