Welcome to July

July is here, and it is time to show you this month's picture on the calendar that I made for 2024.  

 Juan O'Gorman (1905-1982) was the son of an Irish immigrant and a Mexican mother.  He was an architect and painter.  His most famous work is the stone mosaic murals which cover all four sides of the ten story Central Library of the National University of Mexico.

The small town of Chalma, pictured in this painting, is 60 miles to the west of Mexico City.  The sanctuary in the village contains a venerated image of Christ, and the Chalma is the second most important pilgrimage site in the country.  If you look closely, you can see the crowds of pilgrims in the streets, as well as a bus arriving with more worshippers.

Speaking of calendars, I had already created my 2025 calendar on Shutterfly.  I ordered six of them to be delivered to my private mailing address in Mexico City.  These are the calendars that I want to take with me to Switzerland to give as presents to my cousins.  This is the first time that I have had a package sent to my address.  On June 24th I received an email telling me that the calendars were on their way to Mexico.  Amazingly, just three days later, I received another email telling me that they had arrived.  Last Friday I went to the office and picked up my box from Shutterfly.

The box had been opened by Mexican customs and taped back together.  They even took one of the calendars out of its clear plastic bag to inspect.  I hope they enjoyed looking at my pictures.  But the calendars arrived without damage, and in a couple of months they will be headed with me to Europe.

Of course, you will have to wait until next year to find out what the theme of the 2025 calendar will be.