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!

Sample half for free!

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."

More reader comments!

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!"

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.

                   

MORE!

Textile art: Arpilleras!  Molas! Clothing! Dolls!

Ceramics

Painting

El dia de los Muertos

Meet the fascinating extraterrestrial Ana Darcy!

"Thoroughly enjoyed the whole series. After B. reads them I'm thinking of starting from the beginning again."

Tickle a fennec fox and what do you hear?

Fennec foxes are possibly the cutest canids ever. Ana Darcy would love one of these tiny critters but so far she's staying with cats.

Thanks to Julie's Jungle for the clip!

Fennec foxes playing with house pets

Baby fennec foxes

Caracals, the kind Ana has

Caracal and serval play on a bed 

(Ana wants a serval, too.)

Distant Cousin: Regeneration

(A caracal is a major character)

Meet Ana!

"I have to admit, I am jealous of those who are reading Distant Cousin for the first time. There are few books that I wish I hadn't read yet just so I can enjoy them not knowing what's going to happen next and meeting them all for the first time again. There are very few series I feel that way about."

Incredible Mexican pottery from Mata Ortiz!

Mata Ortiz, a town in northern Chihuahua, Mexico (MAP), is justly famous for its world-class ceramic art. Mata Ortiz also happens to be a venue in Distant Cousin: Recirculation. Novels being what they are, photographs are seldom present, but the work of the artists in Mata Ortiz deserves to be more widely known than it is now--that is, mainly by collectors, art galleries, and cognoscenti.

Our extraterrestrial friend Ana Darcy Méndez lives in southern New Mexico, only about 150 miles from Mata Ortiz, and thanks to her in-laws knows it well. She is not a collector but a friend of a friend has collected pieces from Mata Ortiz for years. Here is a representative sample. The small ones below are called "seed pots." (Click any to enlarge; click the X to return.)

What does Mata Ortiz look like?

What do readers say about Distant Cousin: Recirculation?

What other Latin American art does Ana love?

(includes arpilleras, molas, and clothing)

Mexican folk masks

Why would an extraterrestrial love Latin American art? Meet her!

"I love the Distant Cousin characters, they feel like family to me, I am interested in their lives, I worry about them, and I just adore them.  I think I've said this about each book, but I think [Recirculation] is my favorite!  Highly recommended!"

Ana finds a treasury of molas and Mexican art!

You might expect that the first human extraterrestrial woman to return to her home planet (Earth) would be a collector, and that she would be delighted by all the novel things to be found around her and want to keep a selection with her at all times.

If you'd expect that you would be wrong. Ana Darcy does indeed love much of Earth's surprising bounty, but such is her personality that she prefers living simply, and having around her only the most utilitarian, necessary objects for daily life. She loves museums, however, and loves visiting other people who are collectors--which is why she was so delighted to meet the friend of a friend who collects Mexican art, something Ana feels a spiritual connection to.

We have already presented some of the arpilleras, molas, murals, paintings, clothing, and sculpture that Ana has enjoyed to date. Below is a preview of some of the Mexican folk art (and some slightly more formal art) in the collection of her friend's friend. (Click any to enlarge; click the X to return.)

The total collection is astounding. In the near future we will present more of these delightful, imaginative artworks.

Molas! See the mermaid?

Clothing (huipil):

Masks:

Ceramics:

Ana discovers El dia de los muertos

Mexican folk masks

Textile art: Clothing  Arpilleras  Molas

Spanish dichos  (proverbs)

Meet Ana Darcy!

"What a nice surprise Distant Cousin was - quite unique.  It has humor, moves along at a pleasant pace, and the main characters have realistic flaws and faults that I could identify with.  ...I found myself smiling the entire time I was reading it.  There is a subtle wisdom and numerous life philosophies throughout this book.  To sum it up: good story - thoughtful, comfortable, and fun!"

More textile sculpture: Mexican dolls!

Ana found these stunning handmade Mexican folk dolls at a friend's home and fell in love with them immediately. The one on the right is eight inches (20 cm) tall. Two have tiny babies slung on their backs!

Ana says the people on Thomo, her home planet, have nothing resembling a "toy industry," and mothers (and grandmothers) tend to make dolls and toys for their youngsters. Some Thoman clothing, she says, even resembles the Mexican styles seen here. (Click to enlarge.) 

She admits regretting that she had nothing this precious for her own daughter, but she's going to try to collect some now. It's never too late!

See much more of the textile art of Earth Ana has enjoyed below. You will notice that most of it is Latin in nature, from Central and South America. That's because Ana lives in a Mexican-American household in New Mexico. She would welcome reader suggestions for more textile folk art from other parts of the world!

Wearable textile folk art 

Arpilleras: "painting" with textile sculpture

Molas: Panamanian fabric "paintings"

Mexican-American dichos (proverbs)

Mexican folk masks

Ana discovers El dia de los muertos (all souls' day)

Figurines for El dia de lost muertos

And now, meet Ana Darcy!

"Está espectacular...solo esta semana terminé el libro de Ana Darcy [Distant Cousin]...muy bueno...Es de esos libros que uno empieza y no quiere parar.... ¡Mil gracias!"