THEY'RE BACK!!!!! Happy feet!!

See that! They're back. Bless the marvelous shoemaker...I have happy feet again, only 11 Euros too! I am ridiculously excited...Let's hope that the repair holds.



Here you can see that he has placed another layer of leather on the inside and sewn them together. You can see 'baddog' in the background there...the perpetrator of the deed. Lets hope he doesn't repeat it.

It was a long and hot walk over to pick them up in the next town, it is summer here, and I had too much on. *sweat* Unfortunately the man's shoes that I had taken in weren't finished, so I have to go back again next week, but smart shoemaker, he fixed mine in time anyway. I had told him that they were my favorite shoes and I was quite upset about it.

The cacti are beginning to bloom over here as well, and I find them compelling and beautiful. There have been there green carbuncular bumps on the cacti, and then suddenly from such hard waxy prickly surfaces, look what appears!







I just cannot get enough of them. I took many more photos but managed to restrict myself to only the three.

Kate asked us what our plans are in the comment section of the last post, and I answered her there briefly. We are planning on staying here for at least two more years, at which point we will have to make a decision about where we want to be for the next decade or so. We feel that it would be easier on the kids, as they go through being teenagers and launching themselves into the world, if we stay in one place. With the difference in age, that looks like about ten years. This does not exempt the possibility of a year long sabbatical kind of thing, but we would probably decide where we would be for a while.

It is a big decision, as the girls would most likely remain where we decide to go, be it Spain or Canada, or elsewhere, though that is less likely. We would be deciding based on schools, universities, friends, family, political stability, opportunity for the kids...so much. The implications are huge too...if we stay, we would probably end up with purely Catalan grandchildren, and Canada would seem strange and odd to them. This is not exactly a new discovery, every immigrant family anywhere faces it...it is just odd to make a decision with such far-reaching implications and repercussions. Even marriage has less...

That is down the road though, and I am not worrying about it now. At this point, all four of us are working on language skills, building community and friendships, learning about Spain, and the schools and the culture, so that when the time comes we can make as informed a decision as possible, and we have the skills and background in place so that Spain is a realistic option.

At this point, we don't even talk about it, but strangely as I was walking up the hill, in my Spanish repaired Berks, carrying my Catalan grocery bag, walking my Spanish dog, it occurred to me that it would be awfully sad to go. Already. That is just personal though.

The man and I have been looking at ads for boats. It is torturous looking at all the sailboats and the sea and not being able to get out there. It isn't something we are seriously considering right now unless we came across the deal of the century, which does happen, but if we were to stay here, we would probably get a boat, and maybe cruise for a year here and six month there...we'd have to see.

My sister said once that she loves doing a five year plan, because then she knows exactly where she won't be in five years time.

*nodding head*

....later.....

Youngest came out of school and cried because she said that the teachers were complaining because she isn't learning Catalan fast enough. I asked her who, and regular reader's can guess that THAT teacher's name came up. That was it. This particular camel's back snapped. I talked to the principal, who is also eldest's teacher, and made it clear that it would be best if youngest had a different teacher next year. She assured me that she agreed with that, and was already planning accordingly.

*whew*

Youngest went off with her sister to the friend's house who has them over on Friday evenings, and is I am certain happier, and when I tell her that she will have a new teacher next year, I am certain that she will be RELIEVED. So am I.

....a few moments later....

Where the hell is my comment button? Blogger is driving me MAD! I swear, I read a book while I wait for pages to download...and now no comment button. Everything else loads up just fine thankyouverymuch, but my own pages????and god forbid I may want to make an entry, literally over five minutes to get the page loaded.... And the help section? WTF? No help AT ALL.

I want my comment button!

Shit. Wordpress is looking good to me right now.

......later still...........

seems big blogger brother is reading my posts, and doesn't want me going over to the competition. The comment button's back too!!!!!!!!!!!