tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-59923042008-10-14T11:57:59.699+02:00An American mom living in Spain with her Spanish husband and their three sons: a six-year-old, a four-year-old, and one little guy who just made his debut!katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comBlogger587125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-50725816274868822252008-10-10T13:58:00.003+02:002008-10-10T14:01:10.424+02:00

Dare we hope? Could it be a good omen that this: and this: arrived on the same day???

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-49086327201579098542008-10-09T17:55:00.006+02:002008-10-09T18:14:47.668+02:00

Halloweening Some of the stuff we've been doing (with more or less success, but hey, at least I'm making an effort!): Ghost toasts and jack-o'-lantern bread: We also did Apple Bites (link in previous post) but the picture didn't come out. The boys didn't eat the almonds anyway, and they are kind of fussy to make, but the effect was neat. Halloween crafts: Salt dough creations and a

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-67822858115319059212008-10-01T11:39:00.000+02:002008-10-01T11:39:49.606+02:00

Happy October So it's October 1st, which can mean only one thing in this house: let the countdown to Halloween begin! Even though it's not really celebrated here, we will be making lots of crafts and jack-o-lanterns (they do sell little pumpkins for this) and even a Haunted Castle Cake! The kids have the 31st off, because the Nov. 1st holiday falls on a weekend. So, there will be plenty of time

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-82867930815014504852008-09-25T07:38:00.003+02:002008-09-25T08:02:23.561+02:00

Morning poetry 1. Six-thirty am. One boy in our bed, asleep. The other arrives. Chaos ensues. 2. We leave for school at 8:45. A very long time. What to do? 3. One train= both sets of wheels. One car-- needs wheels. Fight over Legos. More coffee necessary. 4. We fold some paper. Swans for ghosts to ride on. A moment of peace. 5. Fighting again. TV- only Dragon

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-10102498757207925852008-09-19T16:37:00.009+02:002008-09-19T22:27:50.861+02:00

Shoe Revisited, or The Vagueries of Memory (Is that how you spell it? Is it even a real word? Anyway...) So the other day I was fondly reminiscing about the time Pedro lost his shoe, and then we found it. It seems like a common thing, but the whole event has become sort of a family myth, and of course when we did find the shoe there was much rejoicing. His grandmother even went out to buy

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-65543339520058274402008-09-09T21:26:00.004+02:002008-09-09T21:56:46.482+02:00

Man, oh man! Well, I am happy to report that I did well on my music exam, which involved playing a couple of songs on the recorder and also reading a couple of passages of music. This is where you have to read the names of the notes with the correct rhythm and stress, drumming out the beat on the table. This apparently is a big thing here-- it's called "solfeo" (because the note "G" is called "

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-44962402171085291232008-09-04T09:56:00.002+02:002008-09-04T10:05:50.385+02:00

Fiesta de la espuma Still no time to blog, but a few pictures from the soap bubble festival, otherwise known as the "lawsuit waiting to happen" fiesta. Oh wait, that would be in the US. Anyway, this is always a hit, and they have the machine going for a couple of hours, then clean it all up.

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-6044371655017262742008-09-02T22:50:00.007+02:002008-09-02T23:24:02.969+02:00

Caldereta No time to blog yet, but I thought I'd add a post about a typical village celebration, the caldereta. This comes from the word caldero, which is a big metal (traditionally copper) cooking pot. The caldereta is an event that harks back to the days of yore when many of the villagers were shepherds and spent the winter months accompanying the sheep in greener pastures. They brought along

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-10022672594249030372008-08-14T13:10:00.002+02:002008-08-14T13:14:04.554+02:00

Heads up Just a note to say that we are leaving for the village this afternoon and won't be back until the 25th-27th (not exactly sure when.) So I won't be able to answer emails or comments or post or any of that for awhile. Hasta pronto!

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-73443696013815393212008-08-13T09:06:00.005+02:002008-08-14T13:10:33.162+02:00

Poetry Warning-- post about poetry! (As you may have guessed from the title.) So in looking for the poem about my grandfather, I found my senior portfolio from college. It was strange to read those poems again, so many years later. As I mentioned before, some of them stand up better to the passing of time than others, but generally speaking they seem too often to skim the surface without really

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-87314526974184113422008-08-10T23:33:00.006+02:002008-08-11T00:21:48.490+02:00

Back, briefly From the village, of course. Not to go on about the temperatures again, but there Dani was sleeping in winter pajamas, and here he's sleeping in just a diaper. Though actually the rest of the family slept in summer pjs and with a top sheet and in some cases a light bedspread, while Dani slept in the port-a-crib with no covering. Anyway, we are going back again soon, so I'll try to

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-80967596552019289572008-08-06T23:20:00.006+02:002008-08-07T00:01:14.458+02:00

Tribute In the midst of the excitement of getting ready for our US trip, and Pedro's kindergarden graduation, and my exams, we got some sad news. First, my grandfather, 96 years old, had been admitted to the hospital again, his health deteriorating fast. Let's face it, 96 years is a long time to hang in there, and he had actually been doing well for someone of that age. But, things were getting

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-12582898955235325492008-08-05T16:15:00.002+02:002008-08-05T16:19:18.499+02:00

92º Am I the only one for whom that particular temperature evokes a song from the eighties sung by a woman wearing way too much black eye makeup? Probably... Anyway, that was the temperature at 10pm on Sunday when we got back from the village. 10pm. Just saying. It's been a horrible few days (right now it's 102ºF, but it is 4pm.) The parks are deserted until about 8pm, and the kids are going

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-79955201932665319002008-07-27T22:12:00.003+02:002008-07-27T22:47:20.871+02:00

So I'm a liar I guess all I need to do is post about how I'm not going to be posting for those blogging juices to start flowing! Anyway, to be honest life is not that bad around here-- I realize that I have too often on this blog posted about how terribly busy I am, which I know is annoying (Hey, look at me! I'm so busy and important!) The truth is that I am most likely no busier than anyone else

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-86578747203181218732008-07-26T23:19:00.005+02:002008-07-26T23:51:03.807+02:00

I suppose it's too late ...for a post that says "I'm on vacation, with very little time for blogging or reading posts, so I probably won't be back on here until the end of July." Yeah, I thought so. So how about a post that says "Damn, it's hot. I mean, really really hot. And the kids don't go back to school until September, and I have to learn to read music (of the Do-Re-Mi variety, not notes

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-43536356757764597732008-06-30T13:36:00.002+02:002008-06-30T13:42:50.057+02:00

I can't believe we missed it! Well, we didn't miss it, we were able to watch it on ESPN (on HDTV, no less), but the effect was nowhere near as exciting as it would have been watching it back in Spain, with all of the neighbors going wild, fireworks going off outside our window, car horns blaring for hours, and a general state of frenzy. Though on second thought, maybe that isn't such a bad thing.

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-53374756730839333412008-06-22T18:32:00.003+02:002008-06-22T18:44:27.896+02:00

Suddenly it's summer Not only by the calendar, or the fact that I finished my last two exams yesterday, and that we are about to leave for the States. It's also suddenly Summer, capital S, as in 34 degrees Celsius (that would be 93.2 in F.) Boy am I glad we're getting out of Dodge! Of course I can't complain, as we have had a very mild June, and it was about time things heated up...

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-91140457018608157942008-06-16T09:28:00.008+02:002008-06-16T09:54:48.233+02:00

In La Dehesa This is a comunal area in the village, traditionally used for pasture for livestock. Now there are still some cows who use it, but it's also a nice green space for walking and enjoying nature. One time we saw a corzo there (I think that's a musk deer) and there is often evidence of other animal life (such as the kicked-up mud or a stray hair imprisoned in the sap of a tree showing

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-63141442566193478952008-06-12T11:19:00.003+02:002008-06-12T11:26:00.494+02:00

Update This morning I stopped in at the grocery store again, mainly out of curiosity. The meat case had been restocked and at the butcher section the guy was saying that a truck had just come in so they had lamb. The milk shelves were being restocked. Still no tiny lentils or short-grain rice, but plenty of garbanzos. Very slim pickings among the fruits and veggies, and ditto on the fresh fish.

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-13120582404164085622008-06-11T09:43:00.002+02:002008-06-11T09:57:29.893+02:00

Psychosis So this morning when I went to the small grocery store near our house, I found that the meat cases were empty. All of the preferred-type of lentils were gone (the tiny ones) and all of the preferred rice (short grain.) So were the 1-kilo bags of flour (they had a few of the 500gr ones.) I have to admit that I gave in to the hysteria and picked up some non-perishable items myself, mostly

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-25343673118354027422008-06-10T08:35:00.002+02:002008-06-10T08:47:53.058+02:00

May 40th Okay, so it was yesterdy, but I didn't get around to posting. Here there is a saying: Hasta el cuarenta de mayo, no te quites el sayo. Don't take off your sayo, which was kind of a long tunic used for keeping warm, until May 40th (I guess that rhymes better than "June 9th.") And in effect, this year, we have had a fairly cool and rainy Spring, with some warm/hot days thrown in for good

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-45925683413560763552008-06-05T13:04:00.002+02:002008-06-05T13:08:28.951+02:00

Finding his feet Dani has discovered his feet! We've had him in footie pajamas since he was born, but just now I had him semi-sitting and unsnapped his pjs to leave his legs free. He looked at his feet, one by one, curling and uncurling his toes, moving the foot here and there, all the while carefully observing. Very cute!

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-36121932572828970902008-05-25T10:46:00.004+02:002008-05-25T11:01:02.959+02:00

Not the boss Yesterday I was giving Pedro a list of what he could eat for snack, and the item he wanted was not on that list. He was none too happy about this, and angrily exclaimed, "You are not the boss of my tummy!" And then we have little lawyer-in-training Elías, who had been told not to throw toys into Dani's playpen. When I came out of the kitchen, he showed me that he had put his

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-64457190602257405522008-05-21T11:25:00.003+02:002008-05-21T11:33:46.354+02:00

He smiles! I know that this post should feature a photo, but I haven't gotten one yet (because this is such a new development) and even if I did, I probably wouldn't post it (because I don't like to post pictures of the kids, for various reasons, and I think I am done with posting pics of Dani.) So, you will just have to take my word for it that he is absolutely adorable. And if I "know" you (in

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5992304.post-11709181282710505502008-05-06T17:06:00.004+02:002008-05-08T11:02:45.772+02:00

Grammar Lesson Now there's an exciting title for a post, eh? Here's a question for you: What part of speech is the word "on"? Now, if you're like me, somewhat grammatically challenged (believe me, this is not a description I would have applied to myself a few years ago, but now I know better), you would answer, "It's a preposition, of course. Isn't it?" The grammatically savvy among you,

katehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16975826433125245969noreply@blogger.com