Fake Flamenco

14 Greats Who Passed in 2019

Day of the Dead, Día de los Muertos, is a holiday that is gaining popularity in the United States. In honor of this celebration of those who have passed on, in our home I make displays dedicated to deceased family members, see this post for examples. Outside in the front yard, I make an art […]

Argentina, Chile, Natural World, The Americas

10 Peeks at a Fairyland of Snow

Tuesday morning we woke up, looked out the window, and what did we see? Our landscape was transformed overnight into a winter wonderland. Each tree carried a canopy of fluff. The temperatures had dropped below zero freezing the precipitation. Say, have I ever mentioned that we talk about the weather a lot in the Midwest? […]

Chile, Spanish Culture and Language, The Americas

5 Ways to Make Your Voices Heard

Chileans know how to protest. They show up en masse and beat pots and pans, cacerolazo is their name for it. This month they’ve returned to the streets as they did in the days of Dictator Pinochet. Chilean protests are very lively and incarnate the democratic core of the country. What happened? Why are there […]

Chile, Living Abroad, Spanish Culture and Language, writing

3 Libraries I Love/3 Bibliotecas que amo

My love affair with libraries stretches back to childhood. Our mother would take us every week to peruse the shelves of our local library a mile away down the Minnehaha Parkway in Minneapolis. When I was elementary school aged, I’d check out as many hard bound and soft bound stories as I could carry from […]

Natural World, The Americas

10 Snapshots from the Land of Lakes

Minnesota is called the Land of 10,000 Lakes; it has more like 11,842. Minneapolis alone has 13 lakes. I grew up there, between Lake Nokomis and Lake Harriet. Minneapolis and St. Paul (the Twin Cities) are the largest and most populated towns. They are near the eastern border with Wisconsin and 175 mi (217K) from […]

writing

5 Reasons to Sing

5. We’re alive today. There’s a great song by Colombian singer Santiago Cruz, “Como si no fuera suficiente despertar y ser conscientes del milagro tan sencillo que comprende el estar vivos nada más, tanto más, simplemente estar vivos.” (As if it were not enough to awaken and be conscious of the simple miracle, to understand […]