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—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—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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Month Eight in Málaga—Language, literature, art, and lights

Lettering on museum wall that say Art is the Answer

Art seems to have been the theme of this month. Here are a few highlights: Congreso de Literatura Hispanofiipina November began with the arrival of two lovely literary people from San Diego, California—Jody Blanco, professor of literature at UCSD and Marivi Soliven Blanco, the author of numerous books including a favorite of mine, the novel…

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Month Five in Málaga—La Feria de Málaga

Women in Flamenco dresses with horses in background

It’s August, the hottest month of the year in Málaga. It’s also the month of Feria, eight days of more than 200 free shows, some on stages set up in various plazas in the Centro Histórico, referred to as the day fair, and many others at the fairgrounds five miles away, considered the night fair.…

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Farewell, Seattle (After AWP)

My husband and I are moving to Spain. Soon. Like next week. The idea had been in our heads for a year and the actual visa process was in the works for months. But when the visas arrived in the mail sooner than we imagined and we realized we needed to apply for our residency…

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