Bienvenidos a la Mujer Ardiente!

Welcome to my first ever blog post - intended to become the collected reflections and rants of a mid-life woman whom you'd love to have for a friend and confidante. Time will tell, right?

To explain the title of this post, I'm not hispanic nor do I speak Spanish (although maybe one day...). I just happen to be writing this from our winter home in Bucerias, Nayarit Mexico. My Spanish/English dictionary tells me the words for "woman" and "burning" are "mujer ardiente." I'm sure I've gotten something wrong grammatically with the phrase, but you get the picture.

I was excited to see the word for burning is "ardiente" because of course it brought to mind the English word "ardent", and I certainly am ardent about many things! In due course, these will be revealed.

"The Burning Woman" blog title is meant to cover a whole lot of territory. Although I've never been to it, the name of the "Burning Man Festival" held annually in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada, had a lot of appeal as the event is rooted in "radical self expression and self reliance." Cool! Those are the only things that have ever seen me through life!

I'm also 51 years old and dealing with menopause - especially hot flashes, which have made me feel like I'm burning up. As previously mentioned, I've been living in Mexico off and on; between sunburns, heat and occasional humidity, I often feel like I'm melting here. Then there are the various political and social issues of the day that get me fired up and hot under the collar. Finally, there are the meltdowns I experience when faced with challenging and/or just plain horrendous circumstances. In the past 12 months of my life these have included unemployment and dire financial straits, family estrangement, death and, just this past week, a sewer back-up that completely flooded our home in Canada.

All these things, plus a whole lot more have led to me sitting here, in Mexico, drinking red wine ("vino tinto"), and typing these thoughts. More to follow.

Todo bien, amigos (it's all good, friends).