Seven Continents AB returns for Friday the 13th

Some of you may remember this post where I lamented that my 7 Continents altered book (AB), which I have been working on since 2005, signified possibly a world record for procrastination and AB UFOs (unfinished objects).  I also stated that I would work on this book in no particular order, unlike before, where I tried to work on one continent at a time.

Having started a new AB, I thought it was time to also work on my 7 Continents.  That's what I did a few days ago.

This is a North American entry featuring Mexico.  It shows a blue-footed Booby that lives both on and off the western coast of Mexico.  Booby's are quite friendly, but don't like to be caged, as can be seen above.  This booby decided to raise her young outside the cage.  Created on a page from my Physician's Desk Reference or PDR the book is made from, I first colored it using some of my hand made shimmering mists.  The bird cage and flower were left over from my August ARC.  The birds came from a bird encyclopedia.  To put this page in perspective, it is about 8 inches by 10 inches (20.32 centimeters X 25.4 centimeters).

In reality, the Blue Footed Booby lays its eggs in a shallow depression on flat land.  Both males and females take turns incubating the eggs under their big blue webbed feet.  The feet carry a blood supply that warms the eggs.  When the eggs begin to hatch, they are transferred to the tops of the feet.

The word "booby" is Spanish for "stupid," which is what early European colonists may have characterized these clumsy, friendly, and unwary birds when they saw them on land.  However, when the Booby is in water, it is a graceful bird with a streamlined body.

On the back is a rather static (some might even say "boring") spread of Mexico using various cards.  The substrate is also a page from the PDR that was spritzed with more hand made shimmering mists.  It's practically impossible to tell in the 2-D scan, but the cards are elevated using pop-dots.

I'm not sure where I got these cards that are on the top of the spread, but they had slits in them.  I tried to add some shimmering embroidery floss, but I couldn't figure out how the slits were supposed to work.  The center is the flag of Mexico, taken from a banner and elevated above the back of a card 

like the one in the lower left of this photo.  They are supposed to be similar to Loteria cards and were sent to me by my friend Marlynn when I needed them for a round robin page.  I thought I had sent all of them to Dianne, my round robin partner for that round, but I found a few I had obviously not sent her.

Of course, they didn't look like traditional Loteria cards to me, so I went searching for an answer.  What I learned was, they were called La Barajas Espanolas and the cards I have/had were made by Maya.  Once I knew the name, which I found on Amazon, I went searching for what they really were, other than playing cards.  What I next learned was this was originally a deck of 40 cards in four suits, used for fortune telling.  Other than that, I couldn't find how to read them since I don't speak Spanish.

So that's my take on Mexico.  Naturally, I'm sure I have more fodder for Mexico, but this was what I found without any trouble in the top container of my three large tubs of 7 continent fodder.  Thanks for looking.