What Happens When You Jump

It is said that this time on Earth (heart, a little mixed up) is about community.
Yesterday coming back to town from a day away I noticed smoke over part of the mountain range and what looked like smog hanging over the municipality, which is gratefully a site nor quality of air I ever experience where [...]

My yard is a dog’s playpen: old shoes, bones, rope.
When Chandla knows we are going walking she gets excited and likes to grab a bone and bring it along. LIke a toddler, within yards of the gate, the bone is dropped as our movement brings other scents and sights that must be followed.
My normal reaction [...]

Soon he appeared in his white robe with embroidered trim. He asked us to all move back, way back along the path leading into the church. When we’d gone far enough back he told us it was enough. Then he explained why he wanted us where we were.

I just moved and now I live in an inside-outside house. It is a step closer to how many Mexican villagers live, with their outdoor kitchens and open areas for gathering. I have doors that shut off rooms with mosquito netting on the windows, and I have a huge “outdoor” area that is open to [...]

Some days I can feel the energy is bouncing, chaotic, and that it is not a day where doing what I had planned is what’s on the Universe’s agenda for me.
Today was like that. My landlord’s son arrived with a huge machine operated by a man with ear phones around 9. He’s going to build [...]

Sometime in my adulthood my mom said to me that “Just when I think you couldn’t do anything more to surprise me, you surprise me again!”
Sometimes I think I can see when I’ve done something that might suprise someone who thinks they know me and have figured me out. Today is one of those days!
I’m [...]

You know that analogy about the importance of being flexible (in the face of  change) like a willow tree?
I had a gazebo on my roof, poles secured in buckets of earth.
Three male friends (not blaming men, but I think it is interesting!) very strongly suggested that I secure the poles to screws stuck into the [...]

I arrived at the home of Don José to learn the process of and help with the preparation of barbacoa in honor of his granddaughter’s quince años (I’ve had barbacoa de rez (cow meat) and de borrego (lamb). The meat is tender and delicious and I had been told it was cooked overnight in a [...]

I was told that a common wild plant that grows here, called “Palo de Agua” can be used to whiten whites.
I conducted an experiment and besides being fun, it was effective!
Here is how I did it:
1. Put water and laundry soap in a bucket
2. Add white clothing/cloth (It really was more yellow than you can [...]

June 6, 2009
This morning, I was following Don Romulo who was searching for dandelion plants to show me, because I like them so, when we arrived at some banana trees. I glanced up, “Are we going to have any more bananas, Don Romulo?” We found a large green bunch and he said, “Look! Those are [...]