Distant Cousin: August 2012

Thursday, August 30, 2012

The variety of Ana's blog: food, art, education, & more!

First, why not take a peek at Distant Cousin? It won't hurt and you might love it, and her!

Matt, husband of the extraterrestrial Ana Darcy, models a Dia de los Muertos t-shirt. The legend says "Beautiful Mexico," and "Man proposes, God disposes, and along comes Death and everything decomposes." (Matt and Ana love to bicycle down their country road.)

Ana loves the foods of Earth. Here she's arranged a fruit plate according to the color spectrum! See many of her recipes in the column on the right, under the photo of cranberry-apple pie!

Ana is a huge believer in early education, and especially in reading and math. Here are two young practitioners!

More on early education: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

Ana loves the arts of the people of Earth, especially the Hispanic peoples (since she lives among them). Here's a mola and a painting of Don Quixote (oil on pine):

More of Ana's favorite art: molas arpilleras clothing paintings music

Language fun with Ana: Dichos Mas dichos Aun MAS dichos

Meet Ana!

"I have started reading Distant Cousin and I am charmed. It's been a breath of fresh air."

Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Two poems about children tug Ana's heartstrings

If you know anything at all about Ana Darcy you know that she's devoted to children, all children. She treasures both of these two heartfelt poems about children, and if you too love children you are sure to love the poems as well.

We cannot reproduce copyrighted works here, but we can provide links to them. The poems are "Gravity," by Kim Addonizio and "Majority," by Dana Gioia. [NOTE: both pages have been taken down. To find the poems elsewhere please see the workaround.]

Ana would have the poets know they have touched her soul.

There is a great deal of Ana's poetry to be found in the column on the right under the photo of the LOVE sculpture, including

Ana's very favorite poem

Ana's second favorite poem

A poem about caring for others

An anniversary poem for an extraterrestrial's husband

A puzzle poem!

A Valentine's Day poem

A love poem to a cat

If you haven't already, meet Ana Darcy!

See some of Ana's favorite recipes and art also on the right!

"What a tightly crafted and delightful story!"

Friday, August 3, 2012

Time for some Mexican folk masks!

Everyone loves a good mask. We learn in childhood that a mask ignites our imagination. A mask allows us to pretend, to experiment with different identities, to become something other than we are. Adults use masks too, for disguise or to perform or entertain.

Ana Darcy Méndez, hailing from the planet Thomo but now living on Earth, in New Mexico (as detailed in Distant Cousin), remembers masks from her childhood. Some of those masks demonstrate the Thoman people's cultural memories of animals on Earth, still recognizable after several thousand years of separation. Others are devoted to animals from the planet Thomo. Both types retain considerable totemic power.

This may explain why Ana is so fascinated with the imagination and creativity seen in Mexican folk masks. She has a small number hanging in her house, but she has friends and acquaintances who actually collect them. Fortunately for us, those friends have allowed us to present a representative sampling here. You may come to realize why someone from another planet would find them fascinating! Click any to enlarge.