Life in Málaga—with jaunts to Brussels, Paris, Nantes

Tourists taking pictures and looking at the sites in Grand Place, Brussels

September brought another opportunity for travel, starting with Brussels, where in addition to ogling the sites such as the Grand-Place above, I attended the European Writers Salon yearly conference. I went because I wanted to be in a physical space with other writers. Also, I’d never been to Belgium. I’ve never been to a lot…

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Life in Málaga—A retreat, France, racism. Oh, and Feria.

Women dressed for feria in Malaga, Spain: black dresses with white polka dots ad red flowers in their hair.

August in Málaga means Feria, when women don traditional Flamenco dresses and accessorize with flowers, fans, and shawls, when countless bottles of the sweet Cartojal wine are poured, and song and dance, both planned and spontaneous, fill the streets of the Centro by day and the fairgrounds by night. And it happens during some of…

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Life in Málaga—A Book, a Movie, a Friend, a Retreat

Woman on the terrace of a house in the Spanish Basque region.

It’s the end of July and I’m posting this from northern Spain in the foothills of the Pyrenees, where the weather is cool and rainy—a nice change from the high temperatures in Málaga, where I spent afternoons indoors reading or writing, or in a movie theater sheltered from the heat. At the beginning of the…

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Life in Málaga—Birthday, Book Fair, and Pub Date

Dark-haired, dark-skinned woman sitting at a seaside cafe with a glass of wine in front of her.

Birthday I turned seventy-two this month. It’s weird being an age that seemed light-years away when I was thirty, forty, even fifty. But here I am. Seventy-two years can seem like a long time. It can also seem like not enough time. Nothing is promised us in this life, but I can still want. More…

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Life in Málaga—Comings and Goings

Three women and a man in front of a window of a cafe facing the camera

People come, people go. So goes the line in the movie Grand Hotel. And so goes our lives. In Seattle, where I lived most of my adult years, I established friendships, some close, some casual. I saw some of those friends move to different cities, while new people came into my life as a result…

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Life in Málaga—Mostly about books

Woman standing at entrance to Libreria Luces, a bookstore in Malaga, Spain.

The Non-Book Stuff The big event in April was Semana Santa but having witnessed the spectacle up close the two previous years, I was happy to give it and the crowds a pass this time. The only procession I watched materialized at 3:30 in the morning a half-block from our apartment as I was awakened…

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Living and Learning in Málaga—A New Apartment

Living room with white sofa draped with a blue scarf. A small round dining table with an embroidered tablecloth is in the foreground. In the background against the terrace doors framed by pink curtains a woman in a dark top and pants sits on the arm of the sofa looking toward the camera.

This month marked two wildly contented years in Málaga. The anniversary passed with barely a nod of observance because we were in the last phases of moving to a new apartment. Though our possessions are few (clothes, linens, plants, and books—yes, I’ve begun accumulating books again) and we’d been able to move things slowly over…

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Living and Learning in Málaga, Year 2—Otra Vez Madrid

Facade of a bar in Madrid called Madrid Me Mata. Graffiti covers the closed doors.

January meant another trip to magical Madrid where I spent time with my friend Miguel, whom I first met in Málaga at the now-defunct writers meetup. With a Dutch father and Spanish mother, Miguel grew up in the Netherlands speaking three languages. He’s very much at home in Spain, is well-versed in Spanish history and…

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Living and Learning in Málaga, Year 2—Four Joys

Two women and a man in winter coats standing together and facing the camera

I’m not a big celebrant of Christmas. Organized religion and I parted ways many decades ago. But I’m still a believer in the family, friendship, and community aspect of the season. And the joy of solitude. I made a point to experience each of these this month.   Family James and I took the train…

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