Small Talk and Other US Norms

I first thought people were cold and distant, especially when entering shops and cafés, because they didn't engage in friendly chatter (small talk). Now I understand that it's more cultural than I imagined!

Learning about the culture of a country can be daunting and it very often remains at a superficial level. However, it's useful to have an idea of what to expect if you're contemplating visiting a country. 

So here's are  ten things you should know about the USA:

Ten Things You've Got to Know about US Culture

Ferns and Fragile Things

Sagebrush is such a cool plant, so tough, so strong. I mean, who wouldn't want to say that she's a sagebrush, a badass plant? Regardless of hot furnace-like winds, she holds her own and gives some back, even making cowboys and ranchers wear chaps and thick gloves. I have tried, most of my life, to be a sagebrush, but, I'm not. Instead, I was a born little, an untimely runt.

My parents were 19 and other than following the social norms of the times, which mostly meant marriage some months before my birth, they were on the whole, unprepared, totally. Neither could handle the commitment of marriage, that included jobs, in-laws, and a myriad of skills, not to mention a baby, and they went their separate ways when I was just two months old. Decades later, I still revisit the sentiment that's followed me throughout my life; a fatherless daughter is a very vulnerable being.

My mother went into labor prematurely, when I was quite tiny, just 6lbs.4oz. The hospital staff had been ordered to wait the doctor's return In those days that's what they did. So, when my mother's contractions increased and I began to travel down the birth canal, the nurses clamped my mother's legs together to stop my early arrival, something they weren't able to do, and something that would be criminal today. I was finally born, a little girl to my father's chagrin, and weak with compromised lungs. Breathe, baby just breathe.

Breathing has ailed me all my life; asthma, bedrest, modified PE, and assorted respiratory illnesses that plague me each winter with the common cold. Sometimes I just forget to breathe in general, like I'm not really living , and so I have to remind myself. Breathe, baby, breathe.

So, very clearly, I'm definitely not a sagebrush, the rugged stuff of fighting lore. It's taken me almost fifty years to accept it.

No, I'm wonderfully something else, altogether. It's taken me all my life to understand, accept and love something different about myself, and it's this: I'm a fern! A fern, that in warm light and in forest mist delicately unfolds its lovely fronds towards the sun and sky. Ferns are unique with two separate living structures, the sporophyte and the gametophyte – both free living. When I draw, I love to draw ferns. I love ferns' uniqueness. When I visit the nursery, my favourite area is the ferns, so lush, so green, an ancient throwback to the primordial. Yes, I'm frail, a quiet observer, fragile, but I'm stable. I've been around a fossil-long time. I'm a tenacious survivor. I embrace that I'm a fern.

Via Cruces Viviente

"And on the night He was
betrayed
He broke bread and lifted it up and

gave thanks."
1 Corinthians 11:23-24

If Jesus can give thanks, IN THAT, I can give thanks in everything.
annvoskamp.com

Tonight. Live reenactment of the Stations of the Cross
Via Cruces Viviente

Justin Moreno

Black is a colour and it is beautiful, March 25, 2018

Restaurante Silva

This is the best of home made local dishes and desserts in a comfortable, friendly setting. The food is delicious and the prices great. Make this your stop along the Camino or if you simply have a chance to eat in Astorga.

No hay nada mas gratificante que hacer un buen plato de leche frita, gracias a nuestra fotógrafa particular. Geli 24 marzo, 2018

Hoy nos vino a visitar Marcelino, un clásico del camino de santiagoUn peregrino, que iba ayudando a otros peregrinos, era como De la Cruz roja alemana

Sunny Thoughts on a Cold March Day

El Alhambra et Generalife, Granada, Spain

When it's cold and grey outside my thoughts dance back to revel in the sunniest days in sunnier places.

#mijo #granada #elalhambra #summerbests#mellowyellow #stillmybaby #spain #florals#roadtrip #airbnb #sunniest #sunny#sunnyday

Susana's Tree

Beautiful creation by talented Susana Rodriguez

TREES
by Joyce Kilmer

I think that I shall never see
A poem lovely as a tree.

A tree whose hungry mouth is prest
Against the earth’s sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day,
And lifts her leafy arms to pray;

A tree that may in Summer wear
A nest of robins in her hair;

Upon whose bosom snow has lain;
Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems are made by fools like me,
But only God can make a tree.

Source: Poetry (August 1913).
Joyce Kilmer (1886–1918) was an American writer and poet mainly remembered for his short poem titled “Trees” (1913), published in the collection Trees and Other Poems (1914). A prolific poet whose works celebrated the common beauty of the natural world as well as his religious faith, Kilmer was also a journalist, literary critic, lecturer, and editor. While most of his works are largely unknown, a select few of his poems remain popular and are published frequently in anthologies.

Paul Robeson (1898-1976) sings the poem “Trees” by Joyce Kilmer.