Yesterday we took a tour of the island’s north, where the malpais (bad land) fans to the coast, the legacy of eruptions of a chain of volcanos about 5,000 years ago, two of which form the view from our farmhouse, to the west and the north. It is the route Ann took in the firstContinue reading “Picking up the breadcrumbs”
Tag Archives: Odyssey Books
Of the people…?
Yesterday we were up and out of this old farmhouse bright and early. A little cloud on a warm and breezy day, and as we drove down past the saddles of the massif on our way to Arrecife I noticed the swathes of untilled land, land that used to be a checkerboard of haphazard plotsContinue reading “Of the people…?”
And the wind it blows
Well I cried on touchdown. It was the sight of the barren forms of the mountains of Los Ajaches, Lanzarote’s southern massif, and the villages of La Quemada then Puerto Calero coming into view, then the sprawling mass of white cubes that is Puerto del Carmen and the villages in its hinterland. Michelle had theContinue reading “And the wind it blows”
Hanging out in Oxford
This trip to Lanzarote wouldn’t have been complete without a detour to Oxford to catch up with my oldest friends! Sue Raikes and Adrian Moyes still live in the quaint village of Eynsham, six miles west of Oxford, where I lived back in 84. Introducing them to my travelling companion and publisher, Michelle Lovi wasContinue reading “Hanging out in Oxford”
taking flight
Tomorrow begins a grand adventure, although it feels like it has already begun. I am flying to Lanzarote, Canary Islands after a twenty-six year absence, and I will be accompanied by my publisher, Michelle Lovi. And I have only met her once. It is hard to say when this journey began. I could say itContinue reading “taking flight”
Narrative as Navigation Through the Self: Isobel Blackthorn’s Asylum
(‘Narrative as Navigation Through the Self: Isobel Blackthorn’s Asylum’ by Ness Mercieca was originally published in the October 2015 edition of The Tertangala) They say the mind does not create, and that it only cuts and pastes the stimulus it receives from the outside world. Author Isobel Blackthorn has a talent for this, in fact, I oftenContinue reading “Narrative as Navigation Through the Self: Isobel Blackthorn’s Asylum”
Lanzarote: the fulcrum of an empire
The history of the Spanish conquest of the Americas upon the famous voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492, pivots on an earlier conquest, that of Lanzarote and the Canary Islands. Sailing is largely dependent on ocean currents. The Canary current sweeps down from Spain and Portugal along the West African coast, until it reaches the EquatorialContinue reading “Lanzarote: the fulcrum of an empire”