It is always Christmas

Our friend Pat came back from Paris this week, where she had to visit our common friends Adrienne and Gustavo, who sent us some great presents: White tea (which I have never tried yet!); some Spiced salt; a Clementine-cinammon candle; a Felt heart; a couple of tiny too cute to eat Candies and of course their always warm Words.... Who could ask for more?! : Nuestra amiga Pat volvió de Paris esta semana donde visitó nuestros amigos en común Adrienne y Gustavo, quienes nos mandaron con ella unos regalos increíbles: Té blanco (el cual todavía no tuve la oportunidad de probar...hasta ahora!); Sal especiada; una Vela de mandarina-canela; un Corazoncito de felpa; un par de Caramelos chiquititos demasiado lindos para comerlos y por supuesto sus siempre cálidas Palabras... Quién puede pedir por más?!

Thank you so much : Muchísimas gracias
Y

Ci vediamo presto, Antonio!

A flower day : Un día en flor

Passiflora coerulea L.

Rainy afternoon

I tried a new recipe, carrot muffins : Probé una nueva receta, muffins de zanahoria.

Great with a Smoky Russian tea : Muy buenos con té ahumado, Smoky Russian.

Weekend treats

Some gardening : Algo de jardineria

(more pictures soon : más fotos en breve)

The new Jardín with Cecilia's drawing : La nueva Jardín con ilustración de Cecilia.

340 million years ago...

One of the thousand things I am peeking in the microscope... isn't it amazing??
Una de las miles de cosas que estoy mirando en el microscopio... no es maravilloso??

A forest

The Argentine phytogeographic province called Espinal deserves its name due to the high proportion of thorny deciduous trees and shrubs that inhabit these regions. It is located in central Argentina extending from central Santa Fe through the province of Córdoba to the north of San Luis. In the northern section, the climate is warm and wet with summer rains. It is a mostly flat plain with low hilly areas. Soils are loessoid or sandy.
The vegetation is characteristic of deciduous xerophytic forests, palm groves, grassy savannahs, grassy steppes, bushy steppes. Espinal is characterized by the dominance of arboreal species of the genus Prosopis in the climax communities, accompanied by species such as Jodina rhombifolia (“sombra de toro”), Celtis tala and C. pallida (“Tala”), Geoffroea decorticans (“chañar”), Acacia caven (“espinillo”) and in some areas there are still Trithrinax campestris (the local palm “caranday”) which are isolated or in colonies occurring now as relicts.
It is believed that the only the agricultural expansion is the only threaten that this forest has, but the invasion of exotic species like Morus alba (“mora”); Broussonetia papyfera and Ligustrum lucidum (“ligustro”) between others, may replace completely the native species.

La provincia fitogeográfica del Espinal debe su nombre a la alta proporción de árboles y arbustos deciduos espinosos que habitan esas regiones. Se localiza en el centro de Argentina, extendiéndose desde el centro de Santa Fe, a través de la provincia de Córdoba hacia el norte de San Luis. En el sector norte, el clima es cálido y húmedo con lluvias durante el verano. Es mayormente un terreno llano con areas poco elevadas y suelos loesoides o arenosos.
La vegetación es característica de bosques xerofíticos deciduos, pequeñas colonias de palmeras, pastizales, estepas graminosas y estepas arbustivas.
El Espinal está caracterizado por la dominancia de especies arbóreas del género Prosopis en las comunidades climax, acompañados pore species tales como Jodina rhombifolia (“sombra de toro”), Celtis tala y C. pallida (“Tala”), Geoffroea decorticans (“chañar”), Acacia caven (“espinillo”) y en algunas areas aún se conserva Trithrinax campestris (la palmera local “caranday”) las cuales pueden aparecer aisladas o en colonias.
Se cree que solamente la expansion agrícola es la única amenaza que estos bosques poseen, pero la invasion de especies exóticas como Morus alba (“mora”); Broussonetia papyfera y Ligustrum lucidum (“ligustro”) entre otras, podrían reemplazar completamente las especies nativeas

Who is conquering who?? The expansion of the agriculture and the chañares facing it : Quién conquista a quién? La expansión de la agricultura y los chañares enfrentandola.

A couple of caranday,the local palm : Una pareja de caranday, la palmera local

It is easily observable the tops of the exotic trees : Es fácilmente observable las copas de los árboles exóticos

A comon ivy of the forest, Ipomoea : Una trepadora común Ipomoea

de . lurking?

The term de-lurking refers to when people introduce themselves on someone's else's blog through commenting. this is my attempt at coming out on my own blog to introduce myself to each of you new...and encourage all of you to do the same.

I started this blog because I was inspired by people I run into the web and by friends who had been blogging for years. I thought it would be a fun way to keep in touch with family and friends that are living away from Argentina.
I am a Biologist, and I am currently getting my PhD in Paleobotany. I live with Scott, who is living of acting in commercials (you can check on the label "blog sponsors") and now, by giving English conversation classes. Thai, our cat, lives with us, he is a pretty happy cat as he gets to go to the terrace to look for mice and to the hall to play with the other cats. We live contently almost all the time in the Buenos Aires neighborhood of Belgrano. It is close to school and to my family, which by the way, live just next door: my sister: Luli, her fiancée: Nico and their little Valentín, the one recently incorporated to the family. Justo, my youngest brother lives across the street, but unfortunately he is moving farther to Palermo. My parents live in a farm in Córdoba, a province in the center of Argentina, but they come often... and more since little Valentín was born.
Scott's family lives in the US, he has a sister: Kelly, which is married to Chris, they both live in a place close to San Francisco with their dogs: Nali and Nesta, as well as their parents: Keiko and Steve. They are such a great family as well and we are lucky because we get to see them pretty often.
The Monte (the farm’s forest) would be my place in the world. I love collecting plants and catalogue them. I love art expressed in any way. I love objects with history. I spend a LOT of time with my computer, by the way, called Clementine. I don’t like going to movie theatres on weekends. I like all kinds of music but in my I pod I have lots of metal-Goth-doom-heavy-punk rock, which I listen with the maximum volume. When I go out at night I cannot make it through more than 3 am. I try to swim 3 times a week and I do yoga once a week. I like to take buses everywhere, specially when they detour and I get to see different streets, if I have two ways to go I will take the longest one, for sure. I drink tea every morning. I love all kind of teas. I love to cook and I love to eat. I love red wine and Absolute Vanilla. Pasta would be my favorite dish and Passion fruit my favorite flavor. Paris would be the place to come back, again and again….and live?. I love cold and dry weather. I like wearing coats and scarves. I am very tidy and organized, chaos freaks me out. I am cold blooded; when I am cold I can only get warm if a take a hot bath. I take a shower in the morning and before going to bed. I don’t talk much and I don’t laugh much either. I have a tendency to see the glass half empty and I am strongly melancholic, even though I truly enjoy being alone. I thought about publishing this post A LOT… yes, I go to therapy.

oh those sweets...

Adrienne and Gustavo sent us some new treats!!...

Thank you guys!!

Corners of our home

To the ones who need an update of our home, here it goes, sorry it took so long, but we would never found a moment to take the pictures.

The dining and entry room, flooded by the morning light

The new coffee table with my aunt's art on top

Thai resting in our new couch




the already introduced chair,





The tea shelf

The office and its new chairs


An amazing book that we found in the cottage, placed on top of the new wood shelf made by Scott

This chimera chair found a while ago at the flea market in the bedroom


My brother's interpretation of my sister and I at the age of 4... at the bathroom

Kurt Uncovered

Here is a resume of the week with Kurt.

Thank you for coming, hope we have you again soon!!

For those out of Argentina, I wish these photos would inspire you to come too!

69

is the number of the post...

and This was my Valentine's present for Scott.



It is the paper edition of an internet based arts magazine which give exposure to some poorly known talented artists around the world. It is a limited edition of 500 copies.
You can see the edition here, enjoy.

Sunday surprise

My good friend Susana came by today... it has been a lot of time since we have seen each other.

We had some Jasmin tea and a cozy talk. Thank you!

Have a nice Monday!

An intuitive way to explain my work

An article from Página 12, a good local newspaper: an interview to my Director. Pity is only available in spanish.

P.A.R.T.Y

Our friend Antonio offered a party . Great night for more details go here.

Have a nice week...

Aloha

How would you feel to have your image all over the city?

More presents!

Scott best friend is in town for the first time!... We are very happy to have him
And I got to receive some presents from them...thank you so much!!. I just loved it.

Bodycare products completely organics in an amazing packaging. They smell SO good!, even the soap boxes contains seeds that you can soak in water for a minute and then plant them in the earth to get your own Basil or Amaranth plants... Isn't it a neat idea?!

Finally I received the print that I bought from Camilla (check out her work here). I can wait to frame it and hang it.

Nice weekend friends!

Scott is becoming a star...

A Sunday at HOME

If you remember, Ashoka had given us 2 massage sessions at HOME, this hip hotel in BA. So this Sunday we went over to have the massages at the hotel's suite!. Andrea has made a deal with the owners which basically she would shoot some of the hotel and she would get the suite (private pool!!) at a lower price.
So, we had our amazing massages, and later on Ashoka and Larissa came over to have brunch, while Andrea was taking photos of us just seating and faking smiles. It was really fun.
We continued the day at the suite's pool the five of us, until it started raining...so we got inside and we watched some tv in bed (amazing beds!)... not bad for a Sunday

Relaxing after the massage

waiting for the food

good food...I hope I will be able to show you the real pictures of the thing (and before it was gone)

Ashoka could not help it, and he threw Larissa to the pool

And later on... some rain

good week

A french Tea

We just went to the movie theater to see Sofia Coppola's Maria Antoinette and we were craving for a tea...
so we bought some sweets and we prepared some Lune Rouge from Mariage Frères tea which was given by Adrienne a while ago... so appropriate...