Massive snowstorm gonna hit parts of the country. Too bad we can't make a deal with Mother Nature to delay it. Or could we?

Bummer! Ya can't win for losing. We got some rain for a few days. On and off. Right now it's raining. Monday shows more rain. We are in a valley and are ringed by mountains so the view is breathtaking when it snows. But of course there is always a downside worst case that can come with that. SIGH. Thank you for your reply Shuhak and Happy Saturday to thee and thine! :)

Oh my gosh that is GORGEOUS! Bet you are an EXCELLENT skier m'dear. Thank you for your reply and the picture. It's awesome! It's funny I just never think of snow in South America! Of course I've never had the pleasure of traveling much so of course my stereotypical mind's view is of warm and tropical and celebratory. Dancing in the streets in gorgeous costumes. I know. I've seen too many movies! Happy Saturday to thee and thine Sirena. Hope all is well with you and your family! :)

My English teacher from school was from the United States.  I think she might have thought some of the same things about all of South America.  I'm originally from a small town in Río Negro.  I live in the City of Buenos Aires now.  I moved when I was 18.  The part of Río Negro where I grew up is in the southern Pampas, which are like the Great Plains in the United States.  One of my cousins moved here from Minnesota.  My English teacher in school came from Montana.  They both said it looks exactly like eastern Colorado, western Kansas and northern Oklahoma.  I think the English teacher was disappointed that her teaching job wasn't in a more interesting place.  Not all of Río Negro is flat prairie.  There are also mountains and ocean coast in the province.

This is a picture from the part of Argentina where I grew up.  This is in the southern part of the Pampas in Río Negro.



This is the part of Río Negro that's in the Andes.  This is near the ski resort city of Bariloche.



This post was edited by Benedict Arnold at March 15, 2021 2:18 AM MDT

That photo just took my breath away. It is so beautiful! I would NEVER in a million years have it guessed it was Argentina! So thank you for taking the time to educate me about a part of the world I will never see in person. That is the beauty of the internet. We are all armchair travelers and depending upon the generosity of those with whom we come in contact our world expands and we get a taste of what else is out there! It isn't all Mardi Gras by a long shot. And some Americans moved there so you get to see firsthand a representation of some of us. Hopefully none of them are "UGLY" Americans. I'd love to have that photo of Rio Negro as an oil painting on our wall. It is that lovely! Thank you for your informative reply Sirena and the photos. We have areas with windmills here mostly out in the desert but elsewhere too generating electricity I guess. Years ago when I lived in Massachusetts I met two sisters who were Australian and when I told them I was from southern California they told me that the part of Australia they came from was very much like southern California which they had visited. That was another surprise. I always thought of Australia as all outback. STAY SAFE! :)

I don't think my cousin who moved here was an ugly American.  My cousin David moved here when he was 18.  I think he's normal.  He came here for his summer vacation, which was winter here.  The reason why he moved here was to escape from his mother.  We remember her.  She came for two weeks at the end of June and the start of July.  We had to take her shopping because she only wore summer clothes.  The weather here was cold and snowy.  David was more informed, so he brought a winter coat and winter clothes.

She got into a shouting match with David over dinner.  We offered him wine, but she said he wasn't allowed to have any until he turned 21.  David said he was going to have the glass of wine anyway.  They yelled at each other until she gave up.  When he came here, his mother sent a list of rules for him.  My parents and the other family members he visited ignored all of them because he was 18.  An 18 year old is an adult to us.

Instead of going home, David applied for permanent residency.  His mother ordered him to come home, but he refused.  He became a naturalized Argentine citizen.  He's married to a woman he met here.  They have a 14 year old son and a 12 year old daughter.  They live in the suburbs of Buenos Aires.  David still has a poor relationship with his mother.

Good grief was his mother always that unpleasant? I guess all families worldwide have certain members who are rude demanding selfish and hard to deal with. Well it certainly is her loss not his. Good for him. He was fortunate to have family somewhere who did care about him and offer him support. Whatever happened to her? Did she alienate everyone or did she just save it for her son? Does Argentina allow for dual citizenship? Some countries do and some don't. Happy ending for David. He stood his ground and did what he needed to do at the time he needed to do it. He didn't cave in roll over and do her bidding. Thank you for your thoughtful and informative reply Sirena. Very lively as usual. Happy Monday to you and yours m'dear! :)

David's only citizenship is in Argentina.  People consider him to be an Argentine.  He speaks Spanish with a perfect rioplatense accent.  Argentina considers its citizenship to be permanent, so if an Argentine becomes a citizen of a foreign country, Argentina considers that person to be a citizen of both countries.  Argentina also considers everybody who is born here to be a citizen, even when neither parent is a citizen.  If the parents' home country also considers the child to be a citizen of their country, then the child has dual citizenship.

David's mother lives in Minnesota.  I know she's close with with Livvie's mother.  I'm close with Livvie, so I sometimes hear stories about her.  David has an older brother who is a NEET. David's older brother lives in the basement of their mother's house.  She has one son who moved to another part of the world to get away from her.  Her other son lives in the basement and does nothing.  It's sad.

"She has one son who moved to another part of the world to get away from her." How very sad is that? As is "Her other son lives in the basement and does nothing." As least David has made a life for himself. The other son? Nothing interests him? No passions draw him in? I know there are many who have very little interest in achieving great things or being "successful" which is fine or can be if they have things they love to do that fulfill them. It seems the basement boy doesn't. Imagine living a life of existing from day to day without anything that excites you or interests you? You're going to laugh at this. I looked up "rioplatense" and it's not in my unabridged dictionary. Does it have anything to do with Rio de Janeiro? Just as Americans have different accents living in Texas or New York or New England I expect the same thing is true in other countries too. It just never occurred to me. Thank you for sharing so much of your life with us Sirena. You come alive on the page...three dimensional for sure. Hope all is well and stays well for you and your family. Liv drops by from time to time to chat. I'm glad the two of you are close! It's nice to be friends with those who are family. Happy Tuesday to you and yours and STAY SAFE! Is Argentina stable now vis a vis the virus? Several european countries have had to lock down once again due to surges. I'm sure America will too seeing the photos of massive throngs of people on the beach in Miami. They had to put a curfew on and closed things down. Typical of many Americans. Selfish to the core and clueless! :( This post was edited by RosieG at March 23, 2021 10:21 PM MDT

Rio is river in Portuguese too. Latin languages (Italian, French, Spanish, Portuguese, and Romany) all share the same root and therefore some overlap in vocabulary is inevitable. Ditto with Teutonic languages (German, Dutch, Flemish, Afrikaans). English is an outlier because it's hybrid - basically Teutonic but with French and Gaelic admixture.

i do know that rio is in brazil but since it means river i thought it would fit. i did not know spanish isn't the main language in brazil. What is? Tell livvie congrats on the baby. thanks sirena. happy wednesday and stay safe.

Brazilians speak Portuguese.  Portuguese is so close to Spanish that when we travel to Brazil, we can read and understand most of the signs.  Italian is also close to Spanish.  Italian is the largest ethnic group in Argentina, so many Argentines speak Italian.  I chose Italian in school for my elective language.  I thought it was the easiest choice.  In my school, we had to learn two languages.  One of them had to be English, the others were a choice between Italian, German or French.

Thanks for the info m'dear. I was going to Google it but hadn't gotten around to it. PORTUGUESE? ITALIAN? And two languages in school were MANDATORY one of which had to be English? Amazing!:)

we've seen pix of the flooding.  fires floods and what else...earthquakes too? thanks for the link R and happy wed/thurs to thee and thine.