I’ve spent the last six months dabbling in the world of yoga. I’ve sought out different online courses, delved into a variety of yoga styles, and observed how my mind …
“Start Where You Are Today”
First thing each morning Susan and I head out to the Royal Gardens. A morning walk with exercise is our favorite activity of the day. This morning, though, we were …
The Importance of Small Pleasures
We resurfaced from the Covid-19 confinement of nearly two months with a renewed appreciation and soft spot in our hearts for the city parks of Valencia. They represent our little …
A Life Well Lived: Lizzie, the Best Dog Ever
It’s been two weeks since our Lizzie returned to the universe. She played like a puppy on Friday. Saturday the grand mal seizures began. She never recovered. Lizzie was in …
How to Get a Digital Signature in Valencia, Spain
We’re up for our second visa renewal this year. When I reached out for advice from our good friends at YesValencia, Linda asked me if I had ever considered getting …
A Year of Yoga: Daily Practice
About 60 days into Spain’s CV-19 stay-at-home mandate, I realized something. Without making it a goal, I’d practiced yoga every single day for the entire time. Some sessions were shorter …
Uprooted! I Didn’t Have a Checklist for That
Susan and I had coffee with a fellow American who had recently arrived in Valencia. As our conversation unfurled he quietly admitted that he’d been having second thoughts. After two …
Deja Vu High School
As I sat down to write this post it dawned on me that it has been 50 years since I graduated from St. Catherine’s High School in Racine, Wisconsin. Fifty …
My Reckoning With Hidden Consumption: Part 2 — Food Waste
In Part I of this series I examined my clothing purchase habits in order to reduce my contribution to the fashion industry’s environmentally unsustainable practices. Part II is a similar …
My Reckoning With Hidden Consumption: Part 1 — Clothing
One of my many interests and aspirations is to lower my impact on earth. I feel a little guilty that I’m just getting around to this with my new retired …
Our Gentle Values and Their Measures
We are trying to live gently in the world, more gently than we ever have. We’ve been at this point before, when we were young, and again, and yet again …
Our Unexpected Stay-at-Home in the Navarrés Region of the Valencia Communidad
Our escape from Las Fallas, version 2020, started with a week in the Spanish Pyrenees followed up with a week in the Basque Country. We planned for our third and …
Sabando: A Remote Village in the Basque Country of Northern Spain
Late last year our friends Mat and Kathryn suggested we escape the noise and crowds of Valencia’s bacchanal, better known as Las Fallas. We spent the first week of our …
Fiscal, Aragón: A Quiet Village in the Spanish Pyrenees
Late last year when our friends Mat and Kat asked if we’d like to escape from Valencia with them for three weeks in March, we jumped at the chance. Not …
I’ll Be Using Idioms Until the Cows Come Home
Something I’ve learned during my time in Spain is that my speech is full of idioms. When Jamie called me out on this, I thought, well maybe I use these …