Miscellaneous Musings
Month Six in Málaga – Intercambios and Small-World Encounters
With September came a change in the weather. For the first few days, there were clouds and a bit of rain, and when the sun returned, it was with a tempered presence. No more scorching hot days. No need to cower indoors until evening or skitter from scarce shade to scarcer shade in the height…
Read MoreMonth Five in Málaga—La Feria de Málaga
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.…
Read MoreMonth Four in Málaga—Sun, Spanish, and More
I recently utilized the Spanish healthcare system and had blood and urine analyses done. Todo bien. Everything within normal levels with a few things slightly above normal. Like Vitamin D. The doctor asked if I took vitamins. I hadn’t for months, not since I ran out of my multivitamin and fish oil tablets soon after…
Read MoreMonth Three in Málaga – Turning Seventy
June is my birthday month and though I’ve never been one to celebrate for an entire month, I thought that because this birthday was doubly significant— hitting the very big Seven-Oh! and doing it in Spain—that every day this month, I would write down something that made me happy. That intention lasted a few days.…
Read MoreMonth Two in Málaga—People to Meet, Places to Go, Spanish to Learn
Month two in Malaga has been all about people and places. And, of course, the vicissitudes of Spanish-language acquisition. People Since my second week here, I’ve been attending a weekly writers’ meetup of mostly expats, seasonals, and short-stays. Regulars and semi-regulars include a pair of very smart and affable former Seattleites who are co-organizers of…
Read MoreFarewell, 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…
Read MoreMy ears are bigger than yours
Lend me your ears? I wrote a little essay about my ears and other body parts. It’s called “What I Know About Dismemberment” and it will appear in one of my favorite literary journals The Museum of Americana at the end of this month. But I thought it would be fun to talk a little…
Read MoreInsomnia face and how podcasts might mitigate it. Or not.
I’ve mentioned in previous posts that I listen to podcasts to keep my mind from catastrophizing at the end of the day in bed. I’m not one of those people who falls asleep when my head hits the pillow. Lying down and turning out the light are cues to my brain to commence the doomsday…
Read MoreMoments from 2022
Writers always look for the surprising in the mundane, trying to squeeze meaning from every random little moment. A lot of my random moments happened in Northern California and New York City where I spent a good part of the year visiting with one or another daughter and grandchild. Here are a few of those…
Read MoreA long overdue thank-you to my 11th grade teacher (on the second anniversary of my book)
Sometimes you write something that you didn’t realize you’d written until the book is published and readers weigh in and you find out what you wrote. For instance, I wrote a book of stories about a young girl who learns how to exist in the world as a visibly brown, yet invisible girl. Writer, editor,…
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