Barcelona, Catalan history museum, laundry, books and divorce

Christmas tree came down today, I know some of you are groaning...we got it all into the box, and managed to fit it into a closet. Only had to unpack, resort and repack two closets to get it to fit....

Got the younger daughter clean and combed out, then found myself facing a largish tub fairly full of pretty warm slightly soapy, slightly dirty water. What to do? Well, after living on the boat for three years, where warm water only happened on hot days, and the four of us lived on 30 gallons for a month, that is, by the way, 5 flushes, I couldn't quite bring myself to just pull the plug. In went the laundry. We still don't have a washing machine. (yes Mom, I am getting to it this week.) so all the laundry is done in the tub. Put it in, soak it over night, everyone stirs it when they're in there, then hang it out tomorrow. One slight miscalculation. The husband hadn't had his evening shower yet.

Being of the same parsimonious frame of mind as me, he elected to shower with the laundry, mid-calf deep in lukewarm water. I hope I'm not grossing you out with this. The tub is now very full, the clothes have been thoroughly sloshed around, all I am left to do is drain, rinse extremely thoroughly this time and hang them out. Must have been a weird shower. Don't try this stunt at home...only for professionals....

This is an incredibly cool virtual tour of the museum of Catalan History that we went to today. It has close ups of the display cases if you click on them, and you can 'walk around' in the rooms. Very very cool site. We were here today needless to say. It was extremely well done. The museum is set up so that you follow a time line of human inhabitants in Catalunya from 450,000 years ago on. There is an enormous amount of information, plus lots of buttons to push for the kids. There are also lots of interactive activities as well. Dioramas, and life size mock ups of houses, there were hand mills for grinding wheat that the kids could use. Amphoras on staves to lift, a sundial with lights that shifted simulating the sun, a giant horse that a knight would use in battle that you can climb up and sit on, wood of course. Castle rooms to enter and sit in, Romanesque churches to tiptoe into, broadswords to lift. They had a net with all the armour that a knight would wear in it. There was a rope fixed to it that ran through a block in the ceiling so you could try to lift it off the ground. MY GOD it was heavy. There was armour that you could put on, stone scrapers with leather to work on, the kids had a ball, and learned something too. We enjoyed it as well, unfortunately we didn't realize that it closed so soon, so we only got about a third of the way through, although that probably suited the kids.

A friend in Philadelphia described the weather that some of you have been getting. She said that it was up to 21 degrees, but was forecast to drop down to normal winter lows. She called it thermal whiplash, which I thought was brilliant.

Great weather for getting colds. So sorry.

I may put down Jane Smiley's Moo altogether. It is driving me nuts, and I have got Bruce Chatwin's In Patagonia which is a brilliant book. I know though that once I walk away from a book in disgust, I am extremely unlikely to ever pick it up again, so I like to give them a good run. The author presumably worked hard on it, I feel obliged to give it a go.

On the other hand, I am reading Gerald Durrell's My Family and Other Animals to the kids. Love his books, and this is one of the best. Love what he stands for too.

Has anyone else noticed how much Ronaldinho looks like Dr Frank-n-Furter from Rocky Horror Picture Show?

The younger one came up with a funny line this morning. They do this at the oddest time. I was sitting semi-conscious at breakfast this morning, and she looked equally somnolent, but no. She had apparently been pondering my wedding ring.

"Mom?"

"Mmmmm?"

"If you get a divorce, do you get a new ring with a skull on it?"

I didn't actually snort my tea out my nose, but it was close. This could be a whole new market... divorce jewelry!