March 31 - I Choose A Rather Unusual "Dinamica" To Start Our Final Workshop Day

Do The Twist! they cry
I download Chubby and twist
They laugh, but it's kind

March 30 - All The Women From The Workshop Come To The Playground To See Evidence Of The Fantasma They’ve Heard So Much About, But The Invisible Swinger Appears To Have Pulled A Singing Frog

The haunted swing hangs

Last night’s ghost is laying low

Though they loved the tale

March 29 - First Day Of The Series Of Workshops In San Ramon, Matagalpa

The 'cool north' is hot
I look for the dog I like
But alas, she's gone

March 28 - Today's All-Day Workshop Reminds Me Of How Far Things Have Come SinceThat First Terrible Honduras Workshop Four Years Ago When I Could Barely String Together A Coherent Sentence In Spanish

Tonight I will toast

the brain, so willing to learn

Though not rapidly

March 27 - A Stripped Down Easter Sunday In Managua, With Both The Electricity And The Water Going On And Off All Day

No bunnies. They'd melt
No ham dinner. Way too hot
Chips. Crackers. Cheese. Gin

March 26 - I Make A New Friend At Hotelito Kelly, Where The Families And The Lonely, Drinking Men Are Out In Force For Semana Santa

Lounge chairs side by side
We chat of life's surprises
How down becomes up

March 25 - A Shift In Time And Date For The Morning Passion Play Sways The Decision To Stay Home And Avoid Two Hours Of Overheated Travel To The Plaza De Colores

It's work or Jesus
Work wins, though we tell ourselves
buses could be down

March 24 - Exploring The New iPad App That Takes My Accordion Jams To A Whole New Level, As Long As I Don't Get Too Self-Conscious

Neighbours are away
Grab the moment, sing loudly
Only the guards hear

March 23 - In Which I Shift My Yoga Routine Outside Into Our Terrace Area And Wonder Why It Took Me So Long To Think Of This

Morning yoga, breeze
not yet so hot that I bake
Birds eat jocotes

March 22 - The Cow Movie Is Starting To Come Together, Though It's Been The Hardest One So Far With All These Tiny Little Bits

Slippery morsels
My video confetti
moves with the breezes

March 21 - Nothing's Stranger Sounding Than Rain On The Roof In The Nicaragua Dry Season

Listen: A downpour
It shakes us from sleep. So rare
Minutes later, gone

March 20 - The Search Begins For 'Old-School Rock' Songs For A Seven-Year-Old

Owen wants some tunes
How'd I forget I like this?
Modern-day mixed tapes

March 19 - Oh, The Tropical Sun Might Sound Alluring To Those Enduring A Damp Northern Spring, But March Is So Damn Hot In Nicaragua

Even sun bunnies
can't handle days like this one
The back yard's sizzling

March 18 - In Which Something That I'm Dreading Actually Happens, And It's Not Such A Terrifying Thing After All

I hate being wrong
But when I am, I fess up
It's better that way

March 17 - We Drive To Esteli Through The Arid Landscape Of An Area At The Peak Of Its Dry Season, Which Has Its Own Compelling Beauty

This dry north: It's like
a Canadian winter
Every leaf is gone

March 16 - This Is The Last Normal Work Day Before A Serious Stretch Of Workshops Starts

Bag full of homework
I treat myself: A taxi
We talk politics

March 15 - We Give A Communications Workshop At Las Nubes, Where Every Now And Then I Miss What Someone's Saying Because Of The Monkeys

At times this work feels
like a form of religion
Have faith. Persevere.

March 14 - A Day In Which Extracting The Unique Aspect To Write About In Your Haiku Leads You To Think About How The Plastic Grocery Bags Cut Into Your Hands On The Walk From La Union

Nothing much happened
and I can't write about work
I came home with food

March 13 - It's Not My Normal Kind Of Sunday, But In Truth It's Too Hot To Do Much Sunning Anyway

PowerPoint morning
March is like that - so much work
Everyone spending

March 12 - In Which My Need To Find Lyrics For Songs To Sing While I Play The Accordion Outweighs My Certainty That This Ridiculous Setup Will Collapse At Any Moment

iPad balanced on
rickety music stand, perched
on a wrecked suitcase

March 11 - Big Plates Of BBQ At Jimmy Three Fingers, Though We Are Left Wondering About The Name

Our mouths full of meat
We steal glances at his hands
But they're full of plates

March 10 - A Young Visitor Arrives At Our Place With Her Dad And We Regret Not Having The Obligatory Toy Basket To Offer Up

Three-year-old sparkler
She burns through the house, scrambling
for a bird's eye view

March 9 - Let's Just Say I'm Still Reflecting On The Last Few Days

Choose your words with care
Weapons or flowers, your choice
Tools of war or peace

March 8 - The Beach At La Boquita Is A Great Place To Celebrate International Women's Day

Platters of seafood
Then a rocky wading pool
To soak at sunset

March 7 - My Haikus Land Me In Hot Water, A Profoundly Uncomfortable Experience That Makes Me Realize I Need To Tone Things Down

Today's hard lessons:
Don't pick fights. Don't gloat. Picture
your haikus in lights

March 6 - The Strange Ritual Of The Security Guys Watering The Hell Out Of Our Tiny Bits Of Lawn

Seriously, guys
Does our grass patch need this much?
Paul thinks it's the tip

March 5 - Trapped In Our Outdoor Seating Area By A Dull Man, Although His Lady Friend's Final Question About Where We're From Is So Funny As To Make A Painful Two Hours Almost Worth It

The drunk friend of friends
spots us eating sandwiches
He's so damn boring

March 4 - Something Is Going Wrong

There's bad juju here
No money, spirits fallen
These feel like dark days

March 3 - Sometimes You Bring Presents And It Feels Good, But Other Times It Just Makes You See How Bad Things Are

Broken-legged child
takes my toys, but her spark's gone
Empty begging cup

March 2 - A Day Of Taxis, Shuttles, Planes And Airports On The 18-Hour But Relatively Uneventful Trip Back To Managua

3 a.m.: I'm gone
Windy, long stop in Denver
Hi again, Houston

March 1 - In Which We Meet Sister Margaret And Everything Goes Crazy, Mostly In A Fun Way Even If We Do Feel Slightly Dizzy And Overwhelmed By The Time We Leave

The lunch at John's Place
makes us feel like we're famous
Rodney gives us bread

Feb 29 - Leap-Year Luck At Value Village Leads Us To A Stroller, A Backpack Carrier, Clothes, And A Completely Content Rosetta Hanging Out In The Shopping Cart

A second-hand day
when everything clicks, right down
to the Robeez shoes

Feb 28 - A Rather Strange Decision To Drive To Nanaimo With Gage, Owen and Regan On A Shopping Trip, Topped Off By A Fine Dinner Of Venison And Halibut

Gage is owed two gifts
Impressed by the 'fleece bundle'
He goes home well-dressed