Out with the youngest....

NaNoWriMo is on...National novel writing month or something like that and I would love to get that organised, but I have to admit that between kids, work, Catalan studies, the dog and trying to maintain a semblance of a relationship with my husband, let alone paint a bit, I am not sure that is going to happen. I also need to start Spanish...that said, if I was driven enough I would FIND the time for it, but well, guess I am not.

Youngest and I instead went into BCN today. Eldest is still hurtin' and the man is recovering...so it was youngest's choice of what to do...we went SKATING!!! It was pretty cool, they have a hockey rink in the ground floor of a building, and there were skate rentals...it was all fairly pricey especially if you are used to the free neighbourhood rink, but man we had fun. There was some mandatory safety wear, which seems a good idea, except that it was a pair of gloves. Yup, I had to cough up for a pair of regular knitted gloves...high tech safety wear. No helmets available, god forbid you might mess up your manicure though...very strange. We saw several children whack their heads pretty hard too, two on the ice and one slid into the boards...we are not looking at a collection of highly competent skaters here. No fingernails were damaged though I am glad to report.

Youngest caught on quite fast in fact. Especially since she went skating once last year, and then once about five years ago...she was doing a Klingon to the boards at first and by the time we left two hours later (oh my poor feet and abraded legs) we were whizzing around the rink, passing people and dodging incompetents. Now that doesn't mean she could do anything as fancy as stop or turn in any major way, but we had a good time.

No pics. Sorry folks. But the camera is pricey and bulky, BCN is a hive of thieves, and I wasn't sure of the security options...and the chance that I would fall and wreck the camera completely were pretty high....

After that we went and had a little food, the mandatory hot chocolate...that was a bit of a wash-out. The Catalan's make AWESOME hot chocolate, but not this café...though he did throw some chocolate milk in the nuker for us...it was kind of like the stuff you get out of the machines at arenas so it fit the bill. We also had sandwiches which were as always excellent and we stopped at a patisseria that would warm any one's heart.

Finally we went to the Antoni Tàpies foundation, which I had wanted to see, but youngest said was Booooooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrrrrinnnnnnnnnnnnnnng.

I liked some of his work, it is abstract and vigorous, and I love his use of just about anything that comes to hand in his paintings and sculptures...and the sheer size of the pieces...that said I am not sure how much I like his message...a mite grim, and his chosen pallet is a bit harsh and dour....



Tomorrow back to the grind....it has been a lovely weekend, but it is a shame that a full half of the family has been under the weather....ah well.

The girls also wanted me to show some of their latest work....this is Youngest's (8), she is very happy with how it turned out....



And in the multimedia category, Eldest's blue tack art....



I see a contest, or exhibition in here somewhere...a challenge of sorts in fact...let me think about the details, maybe we will have a blue tack art contest....announcements to follow...