Most Americans (and possibly even some Canadians) know the story of Paul Revere, the Boston silversmith whose famous 1775 midnight ride alerted colonial patriots that British troops were on the way to forestall their revolt by seizing a patriot weapons cache and arresting their leaders. The American militia confronted the advancing British at Lexington, an encounter that resulted in the "Shot heard 'round the world", and triggered the American Revolution.

I'm guessing very few people from either the US or Canada are familiar with Revere's Mexican counterpart, Josefa Ortiz de Domínguez, known as "la Corregidora". In 1810, la Corregidora (the magistrate's wife) alerted insurgent plotters in New Spain that they had been betrayed and were about to be arrested. As a result of her warning, Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla issued his famous "grito", or cry for freedom on the night of September 15, and launched the Mexican War for Independence from Spain. The role that la Corregidora played at the start of what Mexicans call Independencia was every bit as dramatic as Paul Revere's famous ride, and she paid a far higher price for her patriotism than did he.

September is a great time for celebration. Every year the middle of this month is filled with the special activities that culminate with Mexico's Independence Day on 16 de Septiembre. If possible, the 2010 Bicentennial celebration plans are bigger and better than ever with every city, town, and village in Mexico going all out to celebrate the anniversary of Father Miguel Hidalgo's cry to arms against the Spanish in 1810.

The rebel army of Mexico grew from the original handful of Father Hidalgo's parishioners to hundreds of thousands in just a matter of months. Two months after war was declared on September 15, 1810, José Antonio Torres had assembled 20,000 rebel fighters from all of the villages in this part of Jalisco for his march on Guadalajara.

When Alejandro Wagner laid an enormous 125-year-old Mexican atlas on my table, he ran his fingers across the gold leaf imprint of his great-grandfather's name on the cover and began to explain the book that is his heritage and has sparked a new passion in his life.

"1885 was the pinnacle of an exciting time for Mexico — her golden age. She was a huge new country filled with natural resources, adventure and opportunity. Europe was fascinated and the Mexican government was working hard to interest important investors in participating in this growth period of building railroads, increasing shipping, building manufacturing, and raising crops for export.

Every year, by the first week of September, the heralds of the Fiestas Patrias (Mexico's Patriotic Festivals) appear, strolling local markets and streets while hawking seasonal inventory. Each of the flag salesmen carries dozens of Mexican flags embedded in a huge reed pole balanced on one shoulder.

Most also promote a second line of merchandise — the patriotic do-dads, baubles and tiny flags that hang from every Mexican car's rear view mirror by September 15.

While you may not be ready to hang the Mexican eagle or a CD imprinted with the Mexican flag and the Virgin of Guadalupe from your mirror, stop to check out the trinkets the flag vendors are selling. Some of those decorations intended for cars make make perfect souvenir Christmas tree ornaments — with a Mexican flair.

Visit any Mexican market — indoors or in the street (tianguis) and you'll see the wonderful array of farm-fresh produce available year round here in our mild sub-tropic climate. As I learned about Mexico, I was delighted to realize that so many of the foods and sabores (flavors) so traditional north of the border originated right here — in this part of the new world.

Not surprisingly, these foods that once entirely made up the diet of the pre-Hispanic residents are still an important part of today's Mexican diet — and the popularity of these distinctive flavors have spread throughout the world until most cooks and diners have forgotten that they originated in Mexico.

By the middle of this month we'll be celebrating the Bicentennial of Mexico's fight for independence from Spain. There's no better time for us to learn some of the history and statistics about our adopted country.

Here's a little quiz to test your knowledge:

• How many states are in Mexico?
• How many languages are spoken in Mexico?
• Where does the country place in the world by population?
• What is the national symbol?
• How many children are there in the average family?

I love shawls — cheap or expensive, hand woven or machine made, acrylic or cotton, triangular or rectangular. Shawls are the perfect addition for any occasion. They are great for keeping warm on a cool evening, brightening up a dull outfit, and making a fashion statement. Mexico is the land of rebozos (shawls); Lakeside and nearby Guadalajara are great places to purchase them.

The acquisition of my newest shawl illustrates this theory. Whenever we have visitors from up north, we take them to Tlaquepaque. Creatures of habit, we always park on Juarez, the street leading into the plaza. It is lined with fine shops selling stone statues, metal lamps, furnishings, and art. This street also happens to be the home of my favorite shop, Del Corazon de la Tierra. The owners, a handsome young Mexican couple, Guillermo and Veronica, have a fine collection of Mexican textiles on display — all hand picked by Guillermo on his frequent buying trips to Chiapas and Guatemala.

How many pieces of Mexican talavera pottery are displayed in your home? If you are like most folks who settle at Lake Chapala, you've been smitten with the overwhelming urge to buy several pieces of the intricately decorated ceramic ware.

Did you chose decorative plates, practical coffee mugs, beautifully painted flower pots, ornamental figurines and boxes, knick knacks, dessert plates or kettles and caldrons? The selection of types of pieces, and the designs with which they are decorated are endless — as are the stories of the origins of this popular style of pottery and the reasons folks decide to collect it.

Numerous novelists have sworn, "My original ideas for the book were totally different, but somewhere the characters took over, and decided what the story would be."

That always sounded intriguing but farfetched to me. After researching and writing this month's article, I understand better what those writers meant, since I've had a similar experience.

I planned interviews with senior citizens of Nestipac, hoping for some family history or legends related to the Bicentennial of the Mexican Independence and Centennial of Mexico's Revolution. But somewhere along the line, my interviewees and their stories took over.

We, as mere mortals, fear ever having to hear, "You are going to need surgery." Giving up control of your body; handing it over to someone else, with no guarantees of the outcome, causes universal angst.

As expatriates living in Mexico, those words raise more than the usual anxieties. The pesky details — the foreign land, foreign language, foreign everything — raise the panic level right up and off the charts. Medical urgency reduces the option of returning to one's homeland, where familiarity eases the fright and douses any hopes of slowly digesting the unfamiliar processes here.

As Dr. Jorge Arch, renowned surgeon in Guadalajara, read the CAT scan results, my husband, Ernie, heard those petrifying words. "We need to operate and remove this gall bladder and we need to do it within two days." Bam! Angst! Fear!

I collected stamps as a boy, back in the 1950s when stamp collecting was a very popular hobby, but it was not until I was living alone on a high mesa in western Colorado, wondering what to do through the cold winter nights, that I began collecting stamps again. That was in 1992.

By then, through my frequent trips, I had already fallen in love with Mexico. In the Puerto Vallarta Post Office, sending cards back to the states, I bought, on a whim really, one of each commemorative stamp they had on hand. Back home I went to the public library down in the valley below my home and discovered that Linn's Stamp News—the very same weekly paper I had subscribed to as a boy—was still being published.

Oh my goodness, how did it get to be fall again so soon. Our next issue will be released on October 1 — and that marks the beginning of the new fall snowbird season.

We're already seeing the first stirrings: The Lakeside Little Theater is planning the season's kickoff party, announcing casting calls for the first productions and beginning the annual sales campaign. Organizations are planning fall and winter social events and concerts, churches are beginning to fill up again, and parking is already at a premium.