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And now, hello from me! The volcanic ash that I wrote about in last month's blog put my holiday off by two weeks. And then when we finally did get off to the States, the volcanic ash came back again! Unfortunately or fortunately - depending on your point of view - the ash didn't delay our flight home, and so I'm back here in the ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ Learning English offices, looking out at the cloudy London skies and dreaming of sunny afternoons in Baltimore, and remembering the fun adventures we had there - including an interesting trip to .

I hadn't heard of 'visionary art' before visiting this museum. Do you know what it is? Here's how the Visionary Art Museum defines visionary art:

"....art produced by self-taught individuals, usually without formal training, whose works arise from an innate personal vision that revels foremost in the creative act itself."

This was my second visit to Baltimore and, on my last visit there, I saw an interesting exhibition at the museum that now makes me think of you, even though we hadn't met when I saw it. It was a beautiful collection of quilts made by a group of women who were Mexican immigrants living in the USA. The quilts told their stories - both happy and sad - of their lives in the USA and what (and who) they had left behind in Mexico. The quilts were all beautifully made and the tales they told were really moving. Do you or anyone in your family quilt? I always think it looks so intricate and complicated. I just don't think I'd have the patience to do it!

The audio in this clip from isn't very good, but it does show a similar exhibition which took place in the National Museum of Mexican Art in Chicago with a group of Mexican women quilters which you might find interesting

Your blog about Xochimilco and Mariachi bands was really interesting. Until recently I'd always thought that Mariachi bands were male, but then I heard of this group, , in Texas. And after hearing about them, I discovered there are quite a few other all-female bands. Are there many female Mariachi bands in Mexico? If so, which type of band do you prefer - male or female - and why?

Turning now to you most recent posting, I thought we'd take a look at the passive structure. As I'm sure you know, the passive looks like this:

• The president was shot last night.
  


• Rice is grown in Japan.
  


• The votes have been counted.

And is made up of part of the verb to be (for example, was, is, have been), plus the past participle (or the third form) of the verb (for example, shot, grown, counted).Ìý

And we can use the passive to put the focus on the receiver of the action (rather than where is usually is, in active structures, on the do-er of the action).Ìý

Compare these sets of sentences:

1 - Passive: The president was shot last night.

Active: Someone shot the president last night.

2 -ÌýPassive: Rice is grown in Japan.

Active: Farmers grow rice in Japan.

3 - Passive: The votes have been counted.

Active: People have counted the votes.

Can you see how the passive voice works better in each of these sentences? In each of the sentences we're not really interested in who did the action - either because we don't know who it is, in the case of sentence 1 or because it doesn't really add any extra useful information in sentences 2 (of course it's farmers who grow the rice) and 3 (of course people count the votes).

So now let's have a look at a few passive examples from your blog. I've changed a few little bits and pieces of your writing so that we can concentrate solely on the passives here. Hope that's OK with you:

1. It's locate south of Mexico City.

2. In the past the use was to transport farmers' crops.

3. The first trajineras was decorated.

4. These names were put there rich people.

Can you see if you can correct these sentences? Try and do the task without any more help ... but if you think you need some clues, here are a few pointers for you:

1. The problem here is the main verb.

2. Have a look at the words "the use was".

3. The form of the verb "be" is wrong.

4. You need to add one more word to this sentence.

That's all from me for just now. Looking forward to hearing more about your colourful life in Mexico soon.

All the best,

Nuala

Vocabulary

put my holiday off - delayed my holiday until a late date
defines - explains or describes
self-taught - teach yourself to do something, rather than having someone teach you
arise - came from or results in
innate - a quality, skill or ability that you are born with
foremost - most important
quilts - heavy sheets that you can put on your bed to keep you warm while you sleep. Some quilts (like the ones in the museum) are made of piece of material sewn together to make patterns or pictures
moving - makes you feel strong emotions
intricate - very complicated or complex
complicated - very intricate or complex
solely - exclusively, only
pointers - tips or helpful hints