Charro Days

 a celebration of the dashing Mexican gentlemen cowboys

For two weeks each February, Texas's Rio Grande Valley lights up in celebration of Mexican-American unity and culture.  The historic Charro Days Fiesta, which began in 1938, honors the friendship between Brownsville, a town at the southernmost point of the Texas Rio Grande Valley, and Matamoros, its sister city in Mexico.  The historic festival marks the continued cooperation between the twin Rio Grande cities which, although separated by national borders, are bound by shared traditions and culture.

The Charro Days Fiesta was originally born to "lift community spirits" during the difficult times of the Great Depression.  Inspired by Brownsville's unique location on the border with Mexico, the residents came together to plan a fiesta unlike anything else in the country.  "Horse-drawn, hand-made floats processed through downtown Brownsville in those early years, with marching bands from Mexico, soldiers from old Fort Brown, and children from area schools dressed as charros and chinas," writes the Charro Days committee. 

Over 80 years later, many of these traditions remain intact at the storied Charro Days Fiesta, which still begins with a Mexican grito, a joyous cry to mark the start of the celebration.  In years past, revelers could move across the Gateway International Bridge, which links Brownsville and Matamoros.  Today, the celebration still begins with a friendship ceremony called, "Hands Across the Bridge," in which the mayors of Brownsville and Matamoros both speak, exchange gifts, and affirm their long-standing friendship.

This year, the fiesta, which runs from February 22 to March 8, celebrates its 83rd anniversary and it has only grown since that first parade.  Now, the lineup of festivities draws thousands.  Costume balls, parades, carnivals, street dances, and fireworks are staples of the modern fiesta.

The celebration is named after the charro, a traditional Mexican horseman, and channels the jovial spirit of these original cowboys.  Many revelers still dress in the fashion of the festival's namesake charros, who wore ruffled shirts and silver accents.  Women will don the China Poblana, a colorful Mexican frock complete with elaborate embroidery and voluminous skirts.  ~Southern Living

The Charro Days Fiesta usually has about 50,000 attendees each year and includes the Sombrero Festival, as well as an illuminated parade and an international parade that goes down Elizabeth Street through Historic Downtown Brownsville across the border bridge and into Mexico.

The Sombrero Festival is a three-day street party in Washington Park that began in 1986 to enhance the spirit of Charro Days, and to expand the activities available to the general public.  It includes a jalapeno eating contest, a one-mile run/walk, a 5K run/walk, music, dancers, carnival rides, numerous food stands, and cooking contests.  Several rock stars, corrido singers, and Tejano music entertainers perform in this annual event.  The event not only provides families with entertainment, but it also gives away money to charitable organizations and to fund public facilities in Brownsville.  ~Wikipedia

SpaceX participated in the parade with a unique float that featured one of Starship's methane-fueled Raptor engines.  SpaceX employees appeared at the parade playing maracas on the float with giant STARBASE letters, similar to the sign in front of the rocket-ship factory at Boca Chica just outside of Brownsville.  The Raptor caught spectators curiosity and attention well before it was seen because it was releasing "smoke."  The float featured a screen that played a video of Starship flights as it cruised down Elizabeth Street. ~Tesmanian

I personally took a picture of the STARBASE float, but mine wasn't nearly as good as the picture above.  I also felt the information on Charro Days that I was reading on the 'net was far better than any information I could put together, so I simply did a cut-and-paste giving credit to the sources I used.  One thing not mentioned above, Elon Musk provided free carnival rides one day at Sombrero Days to all the children in attendance.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about Charro Days as much as we enjoyed being there!

Do You See What I See?

 

View from Lobo del Mar on South Padre Island

It feels like summer here today.  The sun is shining and the weather is warm.  Consort decided to take advantage of the good weather and begin stage one of two in sealing our fifth wheel's roof.  Me, I decided it was time to catch up on the blog and share some of the pictures I've been holding onto.

On the left:  The seafood sampler from Lobo del Mar.  Pairs great with a cucumber refresher!

On the right:  Each evening at sunset, pipers from the restaurant sound their bagpipes

in a salute to God and country.  It is really quite moving. 

Consort and I love bagpipes!

I honestly can't tell you what it is I do each day that takes up all of my time, but the days they do fly by and it seems we are constantly busy.

On the top:  I finally finished the French knot tree in red.  The embroidery was done on a dish towel, but I'm pretty sure it will not be put into service.  The bottom right:  The new project I'm working on, a cabin in the woods surrounded by a flower garden.

Some days are used up with mundane tasks like housecleaning, laundry, and grocery shopping.  We spent an enormous some time packing and then moving mom and D into their new house on the resaca.  

January was consumed by sickness and recovery. 

Each week Consort faithfully plays shuffleboard and has gotten quite good at it.  After last week's matchup, he now has bragging rights to beating my mother who has been the reigning champion around here for years.

There are always multiple events going on weekly in the park, and various outings in Brownsville and South Padre.

An evening of karaoke.  That's my mom in the big hat.

The kite festival held at South Padre Island.  

Met some folks who drove 14 hours from Oklahoma to attend, and others who flew in from Oregon.

Opening night of Charro Days at the Brownsville Historical Society.  

Watch the videos to get a small taste of the culture we are enjoying.

The participants in Charro Days take great pride in their heritage

and in Brownsville, their hometown.

The Beard Posse is featured in the bottom video performing an impromptu hat dance.

This is the historic Rabb house at Sabal Palm Sanctuary in Brownsville.  Built in 1892, it is the only Queen Anne style house in this region.  It is currently being used as the visitor's center for the sanctuary.

Bottom right:  Interior of the Rabb house visitor's center.

The Sabal Palms Sanctuary shelters one of the rarest ecosystems in the United States while providing safe haven for critically endangered plants and animals.  It is one of the last locations in the Rio Grande Valley with a profuse grove of sabal palms.  The 557-acre sanctuary abuts the Rio Grande River and has around three miles of hiking trails.  It is the southern most point in the state of Texas accessible to the public.

There are always birds to watch, 

sandcastles to be admired, and neverending animal antics to revel in.

Fulton has discovered the palms here really are trees and, yes, they can be climbed!

D.O.G. received a Valentine full of delicious treats from the puppy across the street.

Fulton got a new toy, D.O.G. got a chew stick --

-- momma got some new boots -- 

-- and they all lived happily ever after.

Live life to the fullest.  

You have to color outside the lines once in a while if you want to make your life a masterpiece.

Laugh some every day.

Keep growing, keep dreaming, keep following your heart.

The important thing is to never stop questioning.

~Albert Einstein

Obsessed with the DMC

 That's Double Mercerized Cotton floss, in case you're wondering.

Last year when we were in Arizona, sister-in-law and I spent some time in Crate and Barrel where I picked up some dish towels to embroider.  While we were in Tennessee, I decided to get busy on some projects.  About mid-September, I became obsessed with embroidery to the exclusion of all other hobbies.  I don't have pictures of everything I've stitched, many have already been given away, but today I decided to post pictures of those I have retained.

The topmost picture isn't great.  I did a panoramic and it's a little wobbly; also, the finished piece has been folded up in a drawer for a while.  This one started out as a dish towel, but after working on it for a couple of months, I believe it is frame-worthy.

These are two of four corners on a large, muslin dish towel; variations on hands.

Two of four sides on an Edgar Allan Poe, The Raven, themed dish towel.

These kitties are on a cat-themed muslin dish towel.  

The entire towel is covered in different outlines of cats.  These three are my favorite.  

(The above stitching was done during my let's-only-use-black-floss phase.)

A set of pre-stamped pillowcases for a friend here at 4 Seasons who LOVES red trucks.

Another set of pre-stamped pillowcases done for consort and me.  Obviously, they're currently in use!  I purchased the pillowcases over ten years ago and brought them with me when we moved into the trailer.  I thought that one day I might be ambitious enough to stitch them up.

The antique crocheted trim was made by my great-grandmother.

Raindrops and puddles on a dish towel.  The crocheted trim is my first attempt at duplicating the delicate lace my great-grandmother was famous for.  I was pleased with the result!

It's kind of hard to see, but there is an iridescent floss called Innocence

that is stitched into each puddle and flows down each set of raindrops.

The puddles are a simple outline stitch, the raindrops are a split stitch.

The two dish towels above, and the one below, are all from Hobby Lobby.  They're great towels, 100% cotton, made in India.  The corners on the above towel are stitched in a pearl white floss, which was a little tricky to use.  I crocheted the white trim across the bottom with a thin crochet thread.

And, finally, this is what I'm currently working on.  I love trees and birds.  I may still add a sketch of a bird to this one.  All of those dots you see -- hundreds of them! -- are French knots.

This is one of the dish towels from Crate and Barrel, again, already in use.

This colorful towel was completed before I started my black-only phase.

I regularly gift these towels and am always sad to hear the recipients simply put them away in a drawer to "save."  (My daughter is the exception to this rule because she knows she has a steady supply.)  The towels are very sturdy and 

the embroidery holds up through numerous washings without fading.

I have several towels that were put into service a decade ago that still look almost new as you can see by the examples below. 

No story today, nope, nothing but stitchery!