Writer, EFL teacher, trainer, and translator, I was born in Tanzania, have lived in a dozen countries over three continents, and describe myself as an ‘expatriate sin patria’. Wherever I go I make it my business to learn the language, get to know the local people and customs, and discover the country’s remotest corners. I became interested in writing in mid-2006, did a short Open University creative writing course and a Writers’ Bureau course, and began getting articles published in 2007.

=> Read more!

A look into a home we stayed in, in the north of the country.

=> Read more!

The alloe flowers really brighten up the winter here

=> Read more!

Graffiti is an excellent language learning tool...

=> Read more!

Meet Daphne, who wandered into our garden the other evening...

=> Read more!

Punta del Este, the glitzy star-studded resort, is lovely at this time of year, before the hordes hit it. We went there yesterday and watched the surfers. Were I a couple of decades younger, and were my knobless knee still knobbly...

=> Read more!

The jacarandas are bursting into bloom in this season...

=> Read more!

Near the Rio Negro again...

=> Read more!

This is all the traffic you're likely to meet in the north of the country

=> Read more!

This is a beach on a big river, the Rio Negro, to the West of Uruguay

=> Read more!

Another view from Slieve League - come on friends, it's not so far from England!

=> Read more!

Because Slieve League is spectacular. These are the highest cliffs in Europe.

=> Read more!

Yay! I've managed to make a link to 'Blog All' on my blog! And to put a link to a story on today's photo! Thank you Sarah!

Avocet and flamingo on the salt lake. You may also like to read my story 'A Horse with no Name' about my Atacama trip.

=> Read more!

I've just come back from a couple of days at Cabo Polonio - two stories below, and a photo here:

=> Read more!

The roses that inspired my story 'A Good Year for the Roses' (in my Pru and Wills category)

=> Read more!

Raindrops - making the most of wet weather

=> Read more!

Have a look here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=29603&l=ee805&id=664241054

This is my favourite beach in Donegal

=> Read more!

Did you know that a passion fruit is so named because of its flower (see photo below)?

=> Read more!

This is a photo taken at the Nzinga event at my house last Wednesday: Maria is a 'Mama Vieja', a matriarchal figure who is very important at Carnival time.

=> Read more!

I think this really gives the feel of the countryside in the north of uruguay.

=> Read more!

On this wet and miserable day, this photo is to remind us that rain can be beautiful. I took it in in Peru two years ago.

=> Read more!

Did you ever see the film 'The Mission'? Well, the story takes place right here, on what is now the Argentina/Brazil border. Take a deep breath and click 'read more'...

=> Read more!

Well, our autumn is in April, and that's when I took this photo just outside my house...

=> Read more!

This photo relates to the first article I ever had published: La Virgen de la Yemanja, which you can find in my articles under Uruguay.

=> Read more!

I slept very badly – woke at 2 panicking about tomorrow’s event and my Spanish exam and the holes in the fence that the neighbour’s dog had dug, and my visitors arriving from Belgium on Monday, and so on. Lay and counted backwards from 30 about 80 times, then got up at 4.30 to write my little welcome speech for tomorrow, took some plant-based calming drops, went back to bed and eventually dropped off.

Woke up too late to go to yoga.

=> Read more!

Today's photo is one I took in the north of Uruguay last year: we used it to make our Christmas cards

=> Read more!

I took this photo near Rome in May...

=> Read more!

Up at 8.30, in time to be at the pool at 9.00, which is opening time. Ambient temperature has plummeted from 27 degrees to 10, and a fierce wind is blowing.

=> Read more!

Writing inspiration isn't there at the moment, so I plan to show you a photo a day for a few days. This 'still life' is from our summer holiday in Donegal.

=> Read more!

I arrived in Uruguay three years ago today. I had never been to South America before, spoke very little Spanish, and felt lost. After three years, I speak Spanish and feel quite at home, although I would not recognise my immediate next-door neighbours if I saw them. This evening, I drove out of my house and passed dozens of children dressed up as witches and ghosts, tricking and treating around the neighbourhood. But I was on my way to a very different celebration.

=> Read more!