My father had this mysterious malady. We knew it as “el pinchazo” (another one of those untranslatable Spanish words), a very sharp pain on his chest—the right side I think, but I’m not sure. It would appear after a ride home from the university on his scooter in the rain. Or he would wake up […]
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Entretiempo
This new business of translating from Spanish into English is getting me into non-stop trouble. “Entre tiempo” is one of those expressions that doesn’t have an easy translation. It looks like something about the weather (el tiempo) or time on the clock (also tiempo), but although it’s related, it’s neither one. It has to do […]
An Echo
It’s hard to believe, but this past winter it was twenty years since Peter’s death. Despite wanting to remember him on his birthday and not on the day he died, this year was different and I was aware of this ominous anniversary. Some people ask me why do I want to remember him at all? […]
The First Snowfall Again *
I guess I am keeping my “non-new year resolution.” I have started the translation of A Night at Home and I finished the opening story, “The First Snowfall,” which I’ll summarize for you here. It happened when my family moved from warm Mediterranean Valencia to much colder Madrid. Much to my family’s dismay, my parents […]
Reading the Room
I don’t make New Year’s resolutions; it’s two weeks into January and this subject seems out of date already. Of course, I have lists all over the place: shopping, answer emails, items for taxes… What I really want to do this year it’s to translate my first collection of short stories, Una noche en casa, […]
Twelve Lucky Grapes
Of all the Spanish traditions I have written about in my blog, I don’t think I’ve ever mentioned about eating the twelve grapes on New Year’s Eve, our “Nochevieja.” Spaniards eat each grape as the clock strikes midnight in order to have good luck in the coming year. Depending on whom you ask, the twelve […]