Up and Down Dog
Finding balance in a topsy turvy world…
Sweet Land of Liberty?
In retrospect, maybe I should not have chosen a nail salon based on the fact that they had a gorgeous chocolate colored Irish Setter named Pongo working there. For weeks, every time I passed the salon, Pongo peered out the front window at me keeping tabs on all the...
Speechless in Spain
Communication is at the core of connection. Without the ability to communicate, we feel at the very least frustrated, and at the worst, completely distraught and even isolated. Toddlers on the verge of talking often throw temper tantrums when they can't make...
We Took the Road Less Traveled
On Sunday afternoon, Rocky and I, along with our friends Eileen and Kieran, grabbed a table in the outdoor patio of a bar in a quaint fishing village called Viavelez. Two red and white fishing boats floated lazily in the small port across from the bar. Rows of green...
Spain: Where No One Knows Your Name
Rocky in front of his namesake bar in Gijon, Spain I don't know if it is because I was raised on Cheers, the TV show that popularized the slogan, "Where everyone knows your name..." or the fact that I've been a yoga teacher for more than 3 decades, but names are...
The Perfect Storm
Yesterday we were baptized by our first Gijon galerna, a meteorological event common in this area in the spring and fall and characterized by sudden gusts of cold wind and rain. Primarily associated with the area around the Cantabrian Sea and Bay of Biscay, it blows...
The Luck of the Scottish
Celorio to Llanes Trail You've no doubt heard of the "luck of the Irish," but how about "the luck of the Scottish"? Last month, a new Scottish friend of mine, Eileen, joined the intermediate Spanish class I'm taking. Before her arrival, our teacher Cristina, explained...
The Velveteen Conejito (Rabbit) or Becoming Real in Gijon
Coffee with a Message Monday, we picked up our tarjetas de residencia (residents cards) at the police station in Gijon. Given all we have gone through to get them, we expected a bit of fanfare when they were presented. Fanfare was not what was on the mind of the...
Why not today? Por que no hoy?
We discovered with one whiff that the fresh milk was not so fresh this morning. Fresh milk here does not last as long as it does in the U.S. because it undergoes a soft pasteurization process, heating to 60 degrees C for 60 minutes or at a temperature of 70-80 degrees...
Gijon Grocery Games
Fresh from the Mercado del Sur I've never loved grocery shopping but since moving to Gijon, every market trip feels like a competitive episode of Guy's Grocery Games from Food Network. You know the game show where Guy Fieri gives contestants a list of random...
Change, Change, Change
Within days of arriving in Gijon, I realized I needed to buy a change purse. In Tacoma, I was a debit card girl, never carrying cash. The small markets we shop in here in Gijon prefer cash and always seem to give us change in coins instead of paper bills. Of course...
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