KARETHE LINAAE
Some stereotypes, such as the tardiness of the Latin people, are seen as universal truths. But are they really so? World renown for being less than punctual, Spain is often described as an eternal mañana culture where everything and everyone is behind schedule. There are of course exceptions to such broad national claims, and there…
A couple of years back I wrote a story about the renovation of a ruin into our present Ronda home. It was my first fictitious episode of a non-existent Andalusian Extreme Makeover Television Series. Amongst later ‘episodes’ was a 10-1 countdown of Andalusian ruins and potential fixer-uppers. The idea remains off-the-air, but I…
When I asked my young students what they wanted for Christmas this year, most gave me a long list of mal-pronounced Spanglish names of plastic toys, straight from the Hasbro or Mattel catalogue. Older kids wanted the latest game consoles for their XBox or new cell phones. Thankfully, at least one girl wanted a book….
When did you last hear someone say haberdashery? It is probably a doomed word. Long, convoluted and hard-to-spell, it will soon work its way out of the English language, if it hasn’t already. In fact, I believe that if one were to take a random sampling of English speakers under 40, certainly in North America,…
Hi. My name is Karethe and I am a Best Boy. Though this might sound like an introduction at Sadomasochists Anonymous, this was as a matter of fact my work title at one point in the past. It was back in the last century, when Seal’s Crazy was reverberating through canny cassette players across the…
End of life traditions are a topic that is extremely personal and emotionally loaded. However, since it is a milepost we all have to pass, I wanted to share a few observations on these rituals here in southern Spain. Regretfully or not, my husband and I have been to more funerals in the handful years…
Old doors have always fascinated me. When traveling in rural Italy, urban India, the British countryside, Antigua Guatemala or my native Norway, I have always snapped more door photos than vistas or anything else, certainly more than those of my traveling companions. When I lived in Paris, I started an additional obsession with door knockers….
There are days when I realize how powerless we humans are against the forces of nature. No time is this more apparent than during a natural disaster. An act of God as it is sometimes referred to, is dreadful for those involved, but it can also remind us of what really matters in life. After…
Ruby Silvious in Ronda. Photo © snobb.netRonda in southern Spain has attracted artists of all kind throughout the centuries, such as Hemingway, Rilke, and Orson Wells. The town’s dramatic views are still an inspiration for painters, filmmakers, writers and of course social media gurus. To put it simply – Ronda is a very Instagram-able spot….
When people hear the word camino, most will think of the trail that crosses northern Spain ending in Santiago de Compostela. El Camino de Santiago (the Path of Saint James) has been a popular pilgrim trail for both the faithful and repentant sinners since the 9th Century, so much so that by the 12th Century over two hundred thousand…