I spent a great weekend with my family in my brother-in-law´s small farm in Mercedes, a  town on the South West of the province of Buenos Aires.

I love being in the countryside, so I took some pictures, which I´m happy to share with you.

I´ll show you the typical landscape… Read full post »

Little water, friend of mine,

Allow me to dip both hands.

Clean water, little friend,

I´ll invite you to my face.

Cool water, life of mine,

You´ve freshened my eyes:

Vivid oranges, soft yellows,

Lingering… Read full post »

Update:

Two more aftershocks were felt today Friday 5th March, with magnitudes of 6,8 and 6,6 on the Richter scale, causing renewed panic and damage in the already badly hit city of Concepción, in Chile. Docens of aftershoks have been reported in Chile since the earthquake of last Saturday, g… Read full post »

 Argentina in South America, and Patagonia in Argentina.

Now the whole geographical area, which includes Chile and Argentina

One of my online students of Spanish is English and he lives in London. He has a law-firm, he is intelligent, smart, and very genero… Read full post »

 The desert offers no truce. Dry and hot during the summer, freezing cold in winter. The soil is composed of loose rocks, volcanic sand, with some thorny shrubs here and there, and cliffs hanging high, overlooking more cliffs.

Not a sign of water...yet.

 But there… Read full post »

 Today was a perfect sunny day. This is one of the entrances to El Rosedal

I wanted to share some pictures I took today at El Rosedal, a beautiful portion of Parque Tres de Febrero, not far from my house. It´s summer time in Buenos Aires, the… Read full post »

He hides his deep wrinkles behind darkened hands; one more shadow in the desert many call City. Nobody meets his eyes, he is not acknowledged or taken in. He stays very quiet and covers his face, just for now.

My feet shuffling cool sand,

 Parts I and II are here

The following passages from Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard, are about nature, about religion, about ourselves, about it all. 

“Moses said to God, “I beseech thee, show me thy glory.”… Read full post »

Dear Open Salon community:

I´ve shared with you deep feelings, private thoughts, secret dreams. However, unexpected circumstances have made it essential that I now pluck up the necessary courage to share with you ... my bathroom. Or rather, the part of my bathroom which is relevant to… Read full post »

A Thousand Words, by talented director Ted Chung, is only four minutes long. I have used this short film a number of times as class material, because A Thousand Words has the quality of transmitting much with a few images, and it´s a good stepping-stone for conversation… Read full post »

 For Part I click here.

 I have been trying hard to express what I feel when I read Annie Dillard´s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Her narrations are exhuberant, intoxicating; but also terrifying, unbearably cruel -and yet, irresistible. 

This book is having a deep impact … Read full post »

I went to work with tears in my eyes. And I found my students (hard-core businesspeople) with tears in their eyes. So we had our classes and, of course, we talked about our Negra Sosa. 

You see, Mercedes Sosa, our Negra, she trascended it all, because… Read full post »

This is Tinker Creek, picture from google.com

Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard, is a book I had no idea about. Two wonderful people, Melissa and Michael (from Metaness, The Yellow Starlings, Love, Grandma), sent the book to me more or… Read full post »

Walt Whitman and his Leaves of Grass. I´m sure you already know this poem, you must have studied Whitman at school. I learned about Whitman and the Transcendentalists when I was doing my English teaching training here in Buenos Aires, and I have loved the old Walt and Emerson, and… Read full post »

Ah, the incredible ways some "Annies" have to enter my life…

I had no idea about this Annie: I had never heard of her or that she has won the Pulitzer Prize; in short, I did not know about Annie Dillard´s existence.… Read full post »

Many people long for money, others for fame, some may desire beauty or maybe social class. My true longing is oh, to have social skills, charisma, cool manners, whatever it is that makes people enjoy being with someone and –more important- wanting to see that person again and become a/… Read full post »

 All photos (c) Marcela July 2009

 The five of us in Salinas Grandes: a sea of salt as old as time itself.

 Little daughter having fun in amazing extensions of sand in the mountains.

 Hiking in the company of my husband´s siste… Read full post »

How much can be conveyed through music, image and a few lines when there is talent behind?

I use this material in my classes very often, and it always brings smiles and a number of topics to talk about and practise conversation in English. But you are not in my… Read full post »

There is something about untamed nature that brings in me the real me. It´s when I´m hiking in remote places that I finally feel I´ve found myself, and it feels nice. These are pictures from last summer at Perito Moreno Glacier, in Santa Cruz Province, Argentina. They resembl… Read full post »

Introduction here; Part 1 here; Part 2 here. 

I have finished Bird by Bird. After reading the last page, I closed the book slowly, looked at its front and back covers closely again, and had that familiar mix of happiness, melancholy and a sense of belonging that… Read full post »

 Ann Lamott, author of Bird by Bird

A few days ago I posted some excerpts from the Introduction of Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott.

Bird by Bird offers “some instructions on writing and life”, and it is addressed to either people… Read full post »

Fourteen years of age can be just a few years of life or an eternity. Sometimes both realities coexist in the same teenager, especially if he is a kid from the shanty towns in any big city of the third world.

  One of… Read full post »

 Splendid writer Anne Lamott

Bird by Bird, the present Mr. Mustard / Chuck sent all the way South from the States, is a literary jewel. I feel so happy when I have the feeling I will enjoy a certain book, and then reading it proves even better… Read full post »

The weather was awful this morning, cold, grey and rainy. I went out to buy a few things and came back home cursing the winter. I entered the kitchen shaking my wet umbrella, and my husband announced with a smile, "a present has just come for you, " and he handed… Read full post »