Saturday, May 1, 2010

Overheard and agreed

I was making a big fat truita de patates for Youngest and a friend to sell on the street, a kind of lemonade stand, in a Catalan sort of way.

While they were working away peeling potatoes they were chatting and they commented on the fact that no matter how often you practice something, when it comes time to show it to someone else it often comes off not quite so well.

Then I went to flip the truita and the whole darned thing stuck to the pan.

##***##||||

They were going to take this out to sell the entire village and say I'd made it.

Grrrr.

In the end it turned out alright, when they put it on the plate the right way up.

One noticable thing here is that there is not the same tradition of lemonade stands and the near obligation of stopping at them.  They have a tough time getting people to stop and buy, big old brush-offs most of the time.  Also oddly, it is normally teens who are the best customers.

That and grandparents.

Later on we went and saw some castallers....I've posted about them before and there is a whole album of photos on the right there for you to look at, maybe two.

These photos I took today struck me as interesting though.  The guys on the bottom are carrying a fairly enormous strain, they have up to 7 people one on top of the other standing on their shoulders.  The strain doesn't show as much as you would expect.  They also have to work very hard at resisting any lateral forces they are subjected too.  Additional strain.  This guys face however seems to illustrate it nicely.

First layer up, all fairly calm.  Focus and concentration, but all OK


Here you can see the next layer heading up....two people standing on his shoulders at once!



Now he has about five layers of people on him.  Starting to work a little more.


He's got seven folks on his shoulders now, in the zone, veins bulging and blood congesting in his face with the effort.  Still looking pretty calm.



He had to talk for a moment while there were seven layers on him.  Doesn't look that easy.





Now?  No problemo, the 180 pound man is the only one left, and he's climbing down, plenty of time for a chat, no?  I'd be chatting with a 180 pound man climbing down off my shoulders, wouldn't you?

9 comments:

Beth said...

Ah, youth and endurance!
And then there’s that whole cooking/baking thing – I’ve supplied school bake sales with some real doozies. My poor kids. ;)

The Bodhi Chicklet said...

Looks like that guy could use a tall glass of cold lemonade!

Vancouver Isle Doug said...

Your lemonade stand comment made me think of a greeting card I saw today. Two kids on the front at a Margarita stand! Inside said "Jenny and Mary made $17,000 that summer selling to the mommies in the neighbourhood." We laughed so hard at that one.

Looks like good progress on the house. Congrats!

oreneta said...

O lord, yes, I have escaped that so far...the arrival home late the night before, "Mom, three dozen cookies for tomorrow" and you KNOW you haven't got all the ingredients and the stores just closed.

Bodhi, yeah, you'd a thought he'd have bought something, no?

Doug...now THERE's an idea! We could probably do it here in Spain too!

Anonymous said...

never had lemonade stands either when I grew up.

Xavier Macia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
oreneta said...

Must be a North American tradition I guess.

thecatalanway said...

Hola Oreneta
Just discovered your blog and it is beautiful. I really like the colours, the photos and the interesting things you include( Fun things web site very good!) there is so much to read that I can't do it all but this is to say that I LOVE the painting of the little jug you found on the street. When I eventually find time to start making things again I will take inspiration from you and include photos on my blog. best wishes Kate

oreneta said...

Kate! Thanks for coming by!