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

International Woman’s Day

March 8th was International Woman’s Day, and I was too busy to blog. Worldwide, women do about 2/3 of the work, get 10% of the wages, and own 1% of the land. Of course the places which treat women worst are precisely the ones that wouldn’t dream of celebrating women´s day. Places where women get jailed, or even stoned, for having been raped. Places where their life is legally worth…

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The Cistercian Convent

The Cistercian convent of the Holy Trinity at Buenavista in Breña Alta is surprisingly new. It was founded in 1946, and it’s the only closed order on the island. I was surprised to find out that there are only ten nuns who live there. The convent has a small shop. I first went there about ten years ago, in search of a rosary made of dragon-tree seeds, for a Catholic…

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A Whole Shoal of Sardines

Carnival is officially over in most places, but if you missed the Sardine’s funeral in Santa Cruz and Los Llanos, you still have four chances to pay your last respects. Puntallana hold their sardine’s funeral tonight at 10 pm, and the little village of Los Galguitos in San Andres y Sauces holds theirs tonight too, but I haven’t been able to find out when. Los Sauces hold theirs tomorrow (Saturday)…

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Road to the Roque Blocked

The road from Santa Cruz to the Roque is blocked by snow at least until midday tomorrow. It’s open on the Garafía side, but only to 4-wheel drive vehicles. Years ago, when I was on duty overnight at the Roque in winter, it was part of my job to check the road in the morning to see whether or not it was safe for cars to come up to site….

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