January 21, 2023. I awoke from tortured sleep. The nearby nightclub blasted out beats until about 3:30 and after the noise quieted down completely at 4, I dozed in and out. I got up at 7 and headed to a local breakfast place before heading out on a long tour with 4 other members and …
January 20, 2023 I am off to Mexico for 3 weeks to explore cities and towns of central Mexico, with Mexico City as my base. My “partner in crime”, Alice, isn’t able to join me this time, but she’ll be back soon, not soon enough for me. On Thursday she drove me to the airport …
Since returning to Michigan the weather has turned colder, the wind howling and people often huddling indoors, except for brief appearances outdoors. My desire to walk and take in the world persists. Alice and I went out for a vigorous walk soon after returning. We chose the North Country Trail traveling north from Lowell …
November 1, 2022. The leaves are down and it rained yesterday. But today was unseasonably warm and sunny, so Alice and I headed out to Lowell to hike the North Country Trail north to Fallasburg. We arrived around 10, with numerous Halloween decorations posted from various houses. One house, next to the cemetery seemed to …
I was fortunate to arrive home in time to help photograph Grand Rapids’ Day of the Dead celebration, now in its second year. This event aims to reconnect immigrants and their children with the history and traditions of Mexico, history that many people coming from tiny ranches or towns never learned. The Day of the …
October 29, 2022 The white Toyota hybrid pulled up outside our little apartment on Calle de Santiago in right on time and we jumped in. The rush hour was brutal for getting out of the Old Quarter of Madrid, but we had planned an hour to get to the airport and it was plenty. The …
Today marked the Festival of Transhumance, a day in which ancient rhythms of the earth and shepherding are honored by having large flocks of sheep and goats move on their way to their winter grazing grounds, and pass through a major city, such as Madrid. Today, as we reach the end of the summer grazing …
Transhumance Festival – All Saints, Samhain, and Halloween connected. Read More »
I have always considered flamenco to be a fascinating dance form with complex roots. Some state that its roots are in southern Spain, and others point to gypsies who originated in India. Spain has not been rapid to embrace flamenco, which rapidly became identified with the country, and yet to many in Spain was considered …
I’ve never managed to get to Madrid, and for that reason it was a bit of a mystery to me as we pulled up in our train on the northwest side of the city. As often happens, my Google directions didn’t quite prepare me completely. It was not in fact a transfer to subway at …
After our tumultuous arrival in Santiago and spending a nice evening with friends in the blues bar, we took an extra day in Santiago, to be sure to go to the Pilgrim’s mass at noon. This is the famous mass with the giant incense burner that swings the whole width of the Cathedral. We arrived …
