Mexico day 5, Valladolid market and the cenotes

Another market, this time in the old colonial city of Valladolid in the interior, the town has beautiful old spanish architecture, and instead of a city park it has cenotes right in the middle of the town!

tacos and mondongo (cow intestine) soup for me, hey, when in Rome...

 fragrant plumeria strings, one girl was happy

it was scorching hot hot hot that day, piled in a small sedan with 7 people and a baby, the yucatan is quite dry, it is actually considered subtropical, to walk into these underwater caves of fresh blue water and silence was heaven, a freshness and coolness like I have never felt before.

The only light down here comes from a hole in the roof of the caves, you can see it spotting down into the water, the hanging strings are tree roots from above.

 beautiful stalactite's

this is the hole that discovered the cave, Mayan legend has it that a little girl found it chasing her pig,  the pig fell through, splash into the water below

outside this little Mayan lady was selling possibly the best tasting  tacos from our trip

Onwards we drove to Tulum that day, and finally home.

Handmade custom order wool pompom rug and a gorgeous baby to lie on it

I made this rug as a special order for a dear friend that had fellen in love with something similar on Pinterest.
Suffice to say i will be just fine if I never, ever see or hear about a pompom rug again!
Like many crafts and handmades I get myself into, I had no idea just how many pompoms are needed to fill out a fluffy rug, and just how much wool goes into one single pompom. 'Nuf said.
While I was sitting winding wool and shaping pompoms, I kept thinking of this baby for some reason, gorgeous little Sudanese baby Aaliya, who is 6 months old. She was my muse for it,and her  lovely mama was good enough to let me snap her laying on it.
Luckily it is going to belong to an equally lovely little girl.

Have a wonderful wednesday

Some beauty for your monday

Have a great day

Flea market successes

I love everything about flea markets, 

the musty smell, the piles of things everywhere, the quirky people who browse them, the tangible feeling that you are are walking among pieces of history, objects that belonged to, and meant something to people long ago. I often feel that I am back in my gradfathers carriage house, once again fingering and exploring his vintage belongings, it is totally comforting. 

I also happen to live within walking distance of two great ones, and I try to visit them at least a couple of times a month, as my children really enjoy them too.

 There is a fullness to the experience, exactly the opposite say, of walking down the plastic smelling, neon lit hallways of Target in your nearest strip mall.

Sometimes I browse the flea markets for a specific need, a piece of furniture, a doily for a project, but often I wander through, waiting to be surprised, and occasionally  I simply fall in love with something, it speaks to me deeply for no reason at all.

 Such was the case with this amazing wall art peace, it is from mexico, is entirely hand embroidered on blue burlap canvas, and the gaiety it conveyed, as well as the richness of its colors had me transfixed, I tried to put it down, i really did, but thankfully it made it home with me, for a song,

 15$, and found its home on the boys bedroom wall

I painted its wooden frame white, and there it hangs now.

Have you fallen in love with something at a flea market?

Happy Monday