😅 This is how highways get reopened after being closed for a major event.

The highway's shut down today on both sides, as ciclovía is used for an actual fancy cycling competition. Spectators all up and down the route cheer intermittently as the athletes zip past.

It's charming stuff!

And... today's brilliant follow-up. 🔥

#Colombia has been astonishingly forward-looking in its energy investments for decades (& I say this as a Canadian; my country's been a poor performer against peer nations for innovation over the same era). While the rest of South America has had serious blackouts, Colombia's last major system crash was in 1992.

There's so much to learn from how other nations tackle problems and leapfrog ahead of our frozen infrastructure.

(More later!)
#Economics #Energy

No matter what, I carve out time for dedicated Spanish reading, to improve syntax, slang, and overall vocabulary.

(Especially important because so much of my workflow is in English; it's easy to fall into poor Spanish syntax when I'm not switching routinely.)

Just heading out to pick up today's paper, but here were two key articles yesterday: one on Latin American energy crises; the other on the big Colombian challenge, as it tries to phase out oil & gas. Can it handle still-growing demand? 🤞🏻

My nearest tienda del barrio usually has a ton of fruits on its front display case, but tonight there were only bananas: traditional and furry. 🤔

#CatTax #CatsOfCoSo

Live footage of me sending out my first story submission of the new month.

#WritersOfCoSo #WritingCommunity

OH DEAR. THIS POST WAS SET TO SELF-DETONATE 💣 💥 🔥

Ą̷͇̀l̵̩̓̕l̸̩͘ ̸̭̪̈́ť̷̝̍̆h̶̡̛̰̯̏͌a̷͕̞͋̂t̵̩͙͑̈́͝'̵̛̍́ͅͅş̴̬̱͝ ̷̗̊͠l̵͚̕͠ē̸̻͓̐͝f̷̧͙̀̑͝t̶͓̓͊̚ ̶̜̱̓͌́a̴͉͊r̶̡̩͛̀é̵̦̞͕ ̶̮̾ṫ̷̡͈̍ḧ̸̛͍́̊e̴̫̅ş̶̥̰̓e̴̟̪͌͂̇ ̷̞̅͊̚h̷̰͕͈͂e̶̡̹̜̚ŗ̸̗͈̾̇e̴̩̍͐ ̷̪͉̩̀a̵̡̱̐͑͝s̴͎͖̈́h̸͈͌́͜e̴͕̝̐̌ś̶͓̆ͅ.̵̩̉ ̵̱͊͑̀

This one is for @BosmangBeratna and my fellow Canucks. (Yes, USians, Canuckistan has problems, too! 🙃 So bring a shovel if you choose to emigrate.)

💪🏻 Solidarity, mi gente.

El pueblo unido jamás será vencido.

#TimeToWork!

So full and so full of love, these streets!

#Colombia #Halloween
(And... Christmas?! But of course! 😅)

One more video, then photos. Some music is just hilariously classic and universal.

Out for a wee walk in Colombian #Halloween 🎃 (a.k.a., street party night!).

Some people wander this mob with bags of candy in hand, dropping them in random kids' buckets, but most are just out in costume to buy street treats/dinner and enjoy the whole vibe with family.

(Later, it gets sillier, when kids go home, and the teens are out alone.)

Lots of great costumes, but as a rule I don't take pictures of random kids (wild, I know), so this mob shot will have to do.

#Colombia

🤔 More news?

No! More moos.

#MooCows

Wee working break to make guacamole and eggs. Sometimes I just have to stare lovingly at the avocado, though. So fresh, so juicy, so big. What a gift the little pleasures in life always are. #CoSoFood

Well that "brief chat" was 2.5 hours long.

🙂

And very very very promising!

Walkies, then newsletterin', then story submittin'. This will have been a good day.

I was too busy running (🥳) for any photos this morning, so have a merry set of roadside moocows from yesterday.

I have a mysterious meeting in a few hours (no idea what the topic is; the organizer just wants to have a "brief chat"), and tons of other work to cram in before it happens.

May your days be splendid and your weeks, spooky - except when it comes to electoral discourse, which is haunted enough!

My afternoon plans were sidetracked by my eldest nephew calling to talk about his high school English homework, which *may* have involved a long digression into how much he enjoyed reading James Joyce's "Araby" and what it meant to him, and me trying not to get all weepy over the staying power of literature (and the amazing work of good teachers!).

Didn't get out the door for my pre-writing, VM-answering walk before he called, though, so... Round 2? 🙃

Oh, thank freaking goodness.

I've been working on this novelette for 18 MONTHS. Rewrote it a million ways, but *finally* locked into one that feels like it works.

I'm a big fan of letting a story go (if the theme is true, it'll come back to you), but this one had all the right elements, so I couldn't shake it. It haunted my dreams!

Now it rests, to be submitted Monday. 💪

(And the next story better not be a freaking princess like this one! No one has time for such nonsense!) #WritingCommunity

@Jorro, I thought you might enjoy this lovely piece on Christian #Humanism.

The interviewer, David Brooks, is more elitist in his faith-practice, and his skepticism shows up in some of his questions for Luke Bretherton. Meanwhile, I as a secular humanist disagree with Bretherton on other accords - but either way, I hope this interview offers a refreshing rejoinder to some of the Christian-nationalist rhetoric you seem to be enduring in other spaces.

Cheers! #Religion
https://comment.org/christian-humanism/

Sometimes I think I've grown too grumpy and cynical around publishing...

And then a new bookstore opens in my nearest mall, and just like that, I'm gushing with the staff over all their press editions and thrilling over the works they have by authors I love. 🙃

Stories *mean* something.
Even/especially in awful times.

#CoSoBooks #KidInACandyStore

Who needs nightmare fuel?

Seen today on BlueSky. I don't like anything about this - not the children's eyes, or whoever thought it would be a good idea to show them licking #StarTrek characters.

And on THAT note... 🙃 #AmWriting