keep the oleander flying
The hailstorm that decimated the bougainvillea also shredded the purple flowers of the mexican bush sage, salvia leucantha, growing with the jasmine on the terrace. So this morning I have just had to cut back all the straggly stems and now I fear there are not enough left to attract the hummingbirds. I probably would have pruned the salvia next month anyway but I love watching the little colibris shimmering among the flowers collecting nectar with their long beaks - and some are so small that they could be irridescent butterflies flitting from flower to flower.
And the oleander on the lower terrace has been getting a bit wild leaning over the balcony so now I have pruned that too.
See you on the ice at 5. Who keeps saying that? The hailstones returned yesterday …at 4. Fortunately only for a few seconds in the middle of the afternoon rainstorm. Not enough to block the drains and destroy whole gardens. And not enough to destroy the Concurso …on the ice at 6.
Being five and a half thousand miles away, as a new day starts in England tomorrow we are still enjoying today yesterday. Or something like that. So part of my entry for today will be about yesterday which happened today but when today was tomorrow. Mmmmm.
Last night in La Pergola at the Instituto Allende they held a Concurso de Margaritas - a competition to find the best margarita in town. All in aid of charity of course. Local bars and restaurants sent along their best efforts and we were entreated to sample them all. The classic margarita is tequila, triple sec and lime juice. Usually served with salt on the rim of the glass and …on ice. It was apparently invented in the thirties and the proportions then were 1:1:1 (33% of each ingredient) but now the international bartenders association says a margarita should contain twice as much tequila - good for them.
There are dozens of margarita variations and at the Concurso we could try everything from the Cadillac or Royal margarita which contains Grand Marnier rather than triple sec to the margaritas created using other fruits instead of lime. And last night they gave us tamarindo, sandia, mango, piña, granada, garambullo and tuna (from the cactus not the sea). Casa Payo seemed to be offering chocolate margaritas which were not really margaritas at all (but were amazingly delicious). I voted for Bacco’s margarita which had quite a zing and was made using the root of the heliopsis plant and is supposed to be medicinal - of course.
But I could not wait for the results and I hurried back through the Jardin where the mariachi bands were playing and fireworks were going off to celebrate the festival of Santo Domingo - they did not realise it was almost dawn in England …and they were already part of tomorrow.