Not my usual Pearson day as I had to make some plans first of all Catalina the lady who comes to clean the house on Saturday mornings called and asked if she could come this morning and that was fine by me so she came whilst I was in town doing some chores…..the streets are abound with happy smiling faces…lots of loud music and just a wonderful festive spirit in the air…even though this is not my favorite time of the year it is hard not to get caught up in the celebrations…
I came home and saw Catalina and gave her the Christmas bonus that all workers in Mexico by law are entitled to she was very thankful……..
Then in the afternoon I went for a hike down by the presa(lake) the water level is receding but it is still too high for me to take the normal path I go.
Sad to say I am having trouble with my camera it has been like it for a few weeks now it does not open properly and it is very frustrating as it sometimes takes me 5 minutes to get the lens opened…..I will check in town and see if anyone can look at it.
At 6.30pm I was invited back to Karen and Gregg’s house for dinner, I must have been a good boy when I was there last to get invited back. Karen is a fantastic cook and the food and the company were wonderful…thanks……...
I have a busy but good weekend coming along…blessings to all!!
Celebrate Our Lady of Guadalupe Day
Public celebrations, or fiestas, are held in honor of Mary, the Virgin of Guadalupe, on December 12. Catholics from across Mexico and other countries pay pilgrimage to see an image of Mary (Virgen Morena), believed to be authentic, in the Basilica of Guadalupe in Mexico City. Children are dressed in traditional costumes and are blessed in churches. Thousands of people come to church to pray.
What's Open or Closed?
Our Lady of Guadalupe Day is not a federal public holiday Mexico, but it is a religious festival, so many streets, roads, and transport providers are busy on December 12. It is an optional holiday for some workers and a holiday for banks and other financial sector organizations. People intending on travelling via public transport in Mexico should check with public transit authorities on any timetable or route changes.
Did you know?
According to the story of the Lady of Guadalupe, Mary spoke in the Nahuatl language when she appeared to Diego. It is said that millions of indigenous people in Mexico were converted to Catholicism as a result of her appearance and miracle.
The old and the new Basilica in Mexico City where Mary is said to have aeared!!!
Our Lady of Guadalupe
From Wikipedia
Our Lady of Guadalupe
Our Lady of Guadalupe (Spanish: Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe), also known as the Virgin of Guadalupe (Spanish: Virgen de Guadalupe), is a title of the Virgin Mary associated with a celebrated pictorial image housed in the Basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe in México City. The basilica of Our Lady of Guadalupe is the most visited Catholic site in the world, and the third-most visited sacred site in the world.[1][2]
Official Catholic accounts state that on the morning of December 9, 1531, Juan Diego saw an apparition of a maiden at the Hill of Tepeyac, in what would become the town of Villa de Guadalupe in the suburbs of Mexico City. Speaking to him in the native Nahuatl language, the maiden asked that a church be built at that site in her honor; from her words, Juan Diego recognized the maiden as the Virgin Mary. Diego recounted the events to the Archbishop of Mexico City, Fray Juan de Zumárraga, who instructed him to return to Tepeyac Hill, and ask the "lady" for a miraculous sign to prove her identity. The first sign was the Virgin healing Juan's uncle. The Virgin told Juan Diego to gather flowers from the top of Tepeyac Hill, where he found Castilian roses, not native to Mexico, blooming in December on the normally barren hilltop. The Virgin arranged the flowers in his tilma or cloak, and when Juan Diego opened his cloak before Bishop Zumárraga on December 12, the flowers fell to the floor, and on the fabric was the image of the Virgin of Guadalupe.[3]
The tilma has become Mexico's most popular religious and cultural symbol, and has received widespread ecclesiastical and popular support. In the 19th century it became the rallying call of American-born Spaniards in New Spain, who saw the story of the apparition as legitimizing their own Mexican origin and infusing it with an almost messianic sense of mission and identity - thus also legitimizing their armed rebellion against Spain.[4][5]
Nevertheless, a number of elements, reviewed below, suggest that while the image may have inspired great devotion, the story connected to it is a pious invention. For this and other reasons, many Mexican clergymen have historically opposed the devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Even recently some Catholic scholars, including the former curator of the basilica Monsignor Guillermo Schulemburg, have openly doubted the historical existence of Juan Diego. Schulemburg said in an interview that Juan Diego was "a symbol, not a reality", and that his canonization would be the “recognition of a cult. It is not recognition of the physical, real existence of a person.” Father Oscar Sanchez, in charge of Juan Diego's cause, [...] said that Father Schulenberg and two other priests who signed the letter have "zero credibility .... They have no authority."[6] Nonetheless, Juan Diego was canonized in 2002, under the name Saint Juan Diego Cuauhtlatoatzin
Another article which I enjoyed!!
How elite sport can be a lonely, isolating and vulnerable place
By Tom Reynolds BBC SportWhy does a top Premier League manager feel alone? How can you feel isolated, with no-one to turn to, in a bustling dressing room? Why can a jet-setting sporting lifestyle leave you feeling like a stranger in your own home?
Elite sport can appear a privileged profession, a chance to live out the childhood dreams of millions - and get paid for it.
But there is a darker side. For some the instability of life in the public spotlight can be as fraught as it is thrilling.
With the help of marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe, former Aston Villa and Germany footballer Thomas Hitzlsperger, ex-England cricketer Steve Harmison and world-renowned sports psychologist Dr Steve Peters, BBC Sport looks at the issue of loneliness in sport.
It's tough at the top
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers spends his day surrounded by players and coaching staff and making multi-million-pound decisions. Why, then, has he talked of the loneliness of command?
Brendan Rodgers succeeded Kenny Dalglish as Liverpool boss in June 2012
Peters works with Rodgers and also counts five-time world snooker champion Ronnie O'Sullivan, the England football team and the ultra-successful British Cycling squad among his clients past and present.
"Being in charge or having responsibility can be isolating," says Peters, author of the best-selling book The Chimp Paradox.
"People at the top of organisations can find themselves in isolation and that is a lonely and vulnerable place, especially as there is a lot of criticism that potentially goes with it.
"Alongside this can be a feeling of being assessed publically, which can further add to a sense of isolation. It has parallels with other professions such as the police, doctors or teachers. Not having an acknowledgement of what you are going through can be very stressful and isolating."
The same feelings can afflict a sportsperson living a life where their every public move is forensically scrutinised.
"Some athletes get the feeling that the whole world is against them, especially when the media might be involved too," Peters notes. "They can feel that what is being written about them is unfair but is what people will believe. This may have a knock-on effect which can decrease self-esteem and create further feelings of being alone."
Desolate in the dressing room
The pressure of elite sport, as Peters points out, is not a problem for everyone - some people revel in it.
Former Aston Villa footballer Thomas Hitzlsperger
"Of course I am not talking to my team-mates - we talk about football, we don't talk about private matters"
For the majority of his career, that pursuit of success resonated with Hitzlsperger, who played for Aston Villa, West Ham, Everton, Stuttgart and Germany.
From making the Villa first team as a 19-year-old, to representing Germany at a World Cup and winning the Bundesliga with Stuttgart, football mostly brought happiness and a sense of inclusion.
But when personal issues started to take a more prominent role in his thoughts and motivations - earlier this year Hitzlsperger became the most prominent footballer to publicly reveal his homosexuality - the dressing room became a lonely place.
"Towards the end of my career when my private life became more and more important, I got that loneliness feeling," he said.
"There were times when I thought I would like to speak to someone but I can't. Of course I am not talking to my team-mates - we talk about football, we don't talk about private matters."
Isolation can lead to depression
Success is rarely a constant in sport. Failure, or the fear of it, is never far away.
Radcliffe experienced more highs and lows than most in her stellar career. After setting a marathon world record in 2003, which still stands, she arrived at the Athens Olympics the following year as favourite.
But the anticipated gold medal did not materialise, a combination of injury and stomach problems forcing her to drop out a few miles before the end. The negative media reaction left Radcliffe feeling isolated.
"After Athens was a difficult time for me because then it was really knowing who you could talk to," she said.
"That's when you learn who your best friends are and who you can open up to. You need to know they are not going to go to the media or abuse that trust of being able to share your inner thoughts, inner concerns and inner worries with them."
While Radcliffe wasn't affected to such lengths, psychologist Peters has experienced first-hand the link between the instability of a sportsperson's career and clinical depression.
Marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe has experienced loneliness in her career
"I have had to treat a number of athletes for clinical depression resulting directly from the lifestyle that they are leading, their management of it and their own emotional responses," he says.
"There is little stable about the elite sports lifestyle and that, with potential isolation, can lead to depression."
A lonely life away - and back home
For former England fast bowler Harmison, the jet-setting lifestyle of a Test cricketer was part gift, part curse. Uncomfortable spending large periods away from home and his family responsibilities, the cricket field was a haven; his time off it something of a nightmare.
England fast bowler Steve Harmison struggled with loneliness due to cricket's demanding touring schedule
"Six and a half hours a day I was in a place I would not swap for the world - inside the boundary ropes in countries like India, Australia and the West Indies," he said. "For the other nine hours when I wasn't asleep, I was thinking 'I don't want to be here'."
Harmison is far from alone in struggling with the demands of travel. Two-time Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton - a disciple of Peters - detailed in her book Between the Lines how the loneliness of a Swiss training camp led to self-harm with a Swiss Army knife.
The feelings of isolation are not limited to life on the road. Peters has seen acute loneliness afflict elite athletes on their return home.
Steve Peters has worked with two-time Olympic champion Victoria Pendleton
The place they spent months pining for is suddenly the most isolated of the lot.
"Not unusually after returning from a lengthy trip abroad, some athletes feel that they don't belong at home and that they don't have any roots," he said.
"Their partners or friends have moved on and have got on with their life without them. I have met a number of athletes who report feeling like a stranger in their own home."
Retirement - the loneliest time of all
Perhaps the most dangerous time for an elite sportsperson is when the moment comes to call it a day. The void of retirement can be acute.
Four-time World Superbike champion Carl Fogarty recently outlined the isolation. "You feel lonely when it's gone," he said. "I missed the banter and the social side.
"When I retired I felt I had no direction in life. For three years I wanted to forget who I was. I was depressed because I could no longer do the thing I was good at."
That disorientation is something Harmison remembers. "Retirement is like walking out of a supermarket with all your bags and not knowing where your car is," he says.
"I quickly got some media work and I am still part of the game but it can be a struggle for cricketers. The Professional Cricketers' Association do some great stuff for players because from a mental point of view when it ends it can be quite tough. I miss the dressing room."
Yashi Kochi!!!
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