• The Seer’s Stone
  • The Dodo Dragon and other stories
  • About Sheila Crosby
  • A Breathtaking Window on the Universe

Be Prepared!

 Last night I went to La Punta in Tijarafe, to get some photos of the fiesta. It’s not a big fiesta but I’ve been going cross-eyed with the current translation, and I really, really needed a break in my routine. Besides, in 18 years of living on La Palma, I’d never been to La Punta. Since the procession was going to be quite late, I made sure I had the…

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Yeuch!

  This week my friends in Franceses had a plague of flies. Today I’ve got a plague of spam. Over 1,500 message trying to sell me Tamiflu. Presumably other people are getting this. Look, if you’re thinking of buying from these people, allow me to point out that they’ve almost certainly paid for your email address with a stolen credit card and invaded lots and lots of computers with viruses…

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Fiesta de la Cruz

I love Fiesta de la Cruz, when they decorate the roadside crosses. Even though I really had no time for anything except translating and housework, I went out on Sunday night to see at least a few crosses, and this morning I took my son to Santa Cruz to see more. To my delight, there were lots of mayos again. More photos and details on the blog about La Palma.

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Photos of Fiesta de la Cruz

My favourite! Of course this is the international year of astronomy. The kids’ cross beside the one above. This is GranTeCan, the (Big Canarian Telescope) which will open this year. The Centro de Niña Jaubert (a home for mentally handicapped adults) produced this old fashioned cheese factory. And the cross the handicapped people did by themselves. The decoration is pasta, sprayed gold. Cruz de la Pasión. At fist I thought…

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Fiesta de la Cruz Tonight

This is a local fiesta in Santa Cruz and the Breñas, in celebration of the Sacred Cross. As often happens, the main party is the night before the public holiday. The wayside crosses will be beautifully decorated. Since most crosses are hung with gold jewelry (among other things) people stay beside them in shifts all night, and all the next day. Most holidaymakers go and admire the crosses on the…

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Functional neuroimaging

The human brain uses up about 20% of the calories we eat. Some kids of Functional neuroimaging scans light up areas of the brain with a higher metabolic rate, which shows which parts of the brain are currently in use. This translating and poof-reading makes me tired, and I’m sure thelanguage areas are lighting up like Christmas trees, and metabolising like mad. So translating twisted Spanish burns calories. Therefore I…

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