oreneta aground

I hope they won at Carnival! Espero que hagi guanyat a carnestoltes!

2012-02-20T09:17:00.000-08:00

I thought this the best team of them all....fantastic mammoth and dancing cave girls teamed with beating drums!

Pensava que eren els millors, un mamut fantàstic, nenes ballen, i tambors!!!

Bon carnestoltes!!!

My new favourite Catalan word. La meva nova paraula preferida en català

2012-02-19T07:55:00.001-08:00

Pixatinters.

That would be literally an ink-pisser, or what we might call a pen-pusher, or a beurocrat.
En anglès seria un pen-pusher (algú qui empenta un boli) o un funcionari.

Pixatinters.

Love it. Me l'encanta.

Thank all that is good and sweet Gràcies a tot que està dolc i bé.

2012-02-18T14:14:00.000-08:00

Thank you for mornings. There is something about the fresh coloured clearness of the mornings that just smells like possibility.

Gràcies per els matins. Estan clar i fresc i portant colors, els matins, fa olor de possibilitat

And I ain't no morning person. I jo no sóc una persona gens dels matins.

Well, the girls both went to school all morning. Doncs, les nenes han anat, totes dues, a cole per tot el matí.

2012-02-17T12:01:00.000-08:00

On top of that, they returned home happy and cheerful, not nearly dead.

I a sobre, han tornat a casa contentes i genials, no quasi mortes com els altres dies.

Hmmm, it was a deeply pleasant, but rather unexceptional day. I went for a run, and I was bad, but not as bad as I thought I'd be, my butt didn't hurt afterwards, and I was glad. I got my hair cut, and it looks fine-good. I've yet to see what it really looks like. They really straightened my hair and I haven't washed it since I left the hairdresser as I have dry hair. I'd washed it after running, then they washed it twice and then dried it with a drier, wasn't sure it could stand another washing.

Doooooncs, he tingut un dia profundament plaent, però no estava un dia amb moltes incidències. He anat corrent, i no he corregut bé, però no tan malament com pensava i el meu cull no m'ha fet mal i estic contenta. He tallat els cabells, i sembla bé. No sé com quedaré de debò perquè m'ha planxat i no ho he rentat des de quan he marxat del perruquer perquè tinc cabells molt seques. Ho he rentat desprès de córrer, els perruquers ho ha rentat dos cops i han utilitzat una assecadora i no estava segur que podria aguantar si ho rento un altre cop.

What else. I drew. I wrote one of the most boring blog posts of all time....what can I say, it's Friday night, we have a four day weekend coming up (though in fact I work tomorrow), I'm sitting by the fire and all is good.

Què més? He dibuixat. He escrit un dels penjats d'un bloc més avorrit del mon....ho sento, està divendres, tenim un pont (encara que treballo demà), estic seguda a costat del foc i tot està molt bé.

Espero que tinguis un molt bon cap de setmana.

Hope you have a great weekend.

Love...amor

2012-02-16T15:36:00.000-08:00

I will admit that I am officially a couple of days late for this, but what the heck, and I certainly am not a romantic.

Haig de confessar que estic alguns dies tard amb això, però no passa res, i segurament, no sóc gaire romàntic.

For the rest of this to make sense, you have to go and watch this. I will say that Vimeo is rather irritating and won't let you jump ahead in the video, and if you want to turn of the HD, which I did as I was getting buffering problems, it makes you start all over again, so I'd take the HD off to start with, you really don't need it.

Si no vas aquí a veure la vídeo (em sap greu, però està en anglès. No n'hi ha molt de dialogue), la reste no tindrà sentit. Et diré que Vimeo em molesta una mica, no et deixa saltar en el vídeo, i si vols tancar el HD has de recomençar de zero, per això et recomano que tanquis el HD abans de començar perquè no el necessites.

OK, did you watch it? I know it was 15 min, but still. Were you surprised at the end?

I have to say I wasn't and I was. It was a very California crowd, and 7 people is a very long way from being statistically robust, but there is still some interesting ideas that can emerge from this. First is that the first and second place finishers were both outside of the strong times of hormonal surges. I found that interesting. I was also wondering if the youngest or the oldest would win, and I have to admit that I wasn't sure which. The elder members would certainly have had a very strong depth of love and emotion to call on and call up, but they young, and I do remember this, can feel things with such intensity. I do remember that so clearly. The searing purity of emotion when you're young.

D'acord, ho has mirat? Jo sé que és 15 minutes, però... T'has trobat sorpreses?

Haig de dir que jo no m'he trobat gaire sorpresa. Era un grup molt de Califòrnia, i set persones està molt lluny d'un grup que té validesa estadísticament, però alguns ideàs interessants han sortit. La primera està que els que acabava en primer i segona estan tots dos fora del temporada dels hormones molt fortes. Ho trobava molt interessant. També estava rumiant si el més petit o el més gran guanyara, i haig de dir que no estava gens segur. Els més grans tindran un profunditat d'experiència i emoció, però els joves, i ho recordo jo, poden sentir amb un intensitat. Això ho recordo molt clarament. Està un puritat d'emoció que crema quan era jove.

I did find it interesting the blurring that the hormonal surge seemed to have, but that could also be more a sense of discomfort with the topic as all the people in their 20 − 30s were single and so the emotions may well have been rather more mixed than the laser clarity of the young or the sunken security of the older.

M'he trobat interessant l'efecte quasi difuminat del pujada dels hormones, però això podria ser més la resultat d'un cert incomoditat amb la tema perquè tots els gens qui tenen entre 20 i 30 anys estaven solteres i llavors, els seus emocions podrien ser més barrejades en comparació del claredat com una laser del jove o el seguretat ben atrinxerat dels grans.

On another topic, I tried taking off the captcha...sorry folks, spam everywhere. I put it back on after about 6 hours. Blame the spambots.

Per un altre tema, he intentat treure el captcha, i em sap molt de greu però he tingut spam per tot el reu. L'he tornat a posar desprès de 6 hores. Els spambots són els culpables.

Free language lessons. Curs d'idioma gratuït

2012-02-15T00:50:00.000-08:00

I went into the butcher's today to get some meat for another Ferran Adrià recipe, and I asked the butcher to cut the fat off the piece of meat. Now, the word for fat in Catalan is two different words. You can have 'gras' and its various conjugations for masculine, feminine, singular and plural or greix which is the noun.

He anat al carnisseria avui per comprar una mica de carn per un altre recepte de Ferran Adrià, i he demanat que el carnisser treure el greix del carn. El dificultat és que en català teniu dues paraules que en anglès diuen lo mateix. Teniu gras, i els seus conjugacions i greix que és un nom. Totes dues en anglès són 'fat'.

This guy was good too, he gave me an explanation, without the adjective/noun elements, and had me practice the word, but then the best bit was when I left the store. He gave me a little test. He said, if a person is over weight they are......gras.... and what they have too much of on their body is....greix

Aquest tio era molt bo, m'ha explicat - sense les paraules adjectiu i nom, i manava que practicar la vocabulari, però el part millor era quan estava a punt de marxar. M'ha donat un mini-exam. M'ha dit: si una persona pesa massa, són.....'grasa'.....i el que porta de sobre està....greix.

MOST impressive little language lesson, he even gave me a test and ensured that I left the store feeling I had learned something. He may well be a brilliant butcher, but he's no slouch as a teacher either. Very nicely formulated lesson.

Era una petita lliço molt impressionant, i a sobre m'ha donat un examen per ser segur que marxi amb el sentit que he après una cosa. Podria ser un carnisser fabulós, però no fa mal com a mestre tampoc. Un lliço molt ben format.

Both kids made it till two...lunchtime. Totes dues nenes han quedat a cole fins a les dues, l'hora de dinar.

2012-02-14T14:49:00.000-08:00

And they weren't too dead when they came back. They ate lunch and both went to lie down for the afternoon, though some homework was done and Eldest had to study for three tests tomorrow. Poor thing.

i també no eren fet a pos quan han tornat. Han dinat bé i totes dues han anat a descansar-les per la tarda. Han fet alguns deures, la gran té tres exàmens demà, pobreta.

On another note, I find the internet weird. There are times when I have 7 or 8 tabs open with articles I want to read, and I end up having to leave them up because I can't get around to them all, and others when it bores me silly. I check my email, glance at facebook, check up on here a glimps at the greader and I'm gone.

Per un altre tema, trobo la internet estrany. Hi ha temps quan tinc 7 o 8 pàgines oberts amb diferent articles que vull llegir, i no puc tancar l'ordinador perquè no vull perdre'ls i hi ha altres temps quan em trobo tan avorrida. Miro el meu email, dono un cop d'ull a facebook, aquí i el greader, i jo me'n vaig.

The man is playing Cowboy Junkies....that's a good band. Mmmm.

El meu home està tocant Cowboy Junkies.....un bon grup. mmmmmm

A sweet moment Un moment molt tranquil

2012-02-13T01:17:00.000-08:00

I don't know what the rest of the day is going to bring, but just right now, things are feeling great.
I'm sitting in the sun, warmed enough to be down to a tank top, I've pounded through a mountain of work for TO and the dog is dozing in the sun at my feet. Better still, the girls have gone off to school and still haven't phoned to be picked up cause they're nearly dead. That means they've made it through two classes at least.

No sé que portarà la resta del dia, però ara mateix, em sento fantàstic. Estic en el sol, tant calin que porto només una samarreta sense mànigues, he matat un gran quantitat de treball per Toronto, el gos està dormisquejant en el sol als meus peus. Millor encara, les nenes han anat a mínim.

Savouring the moment, long may it last.

Estic assaborint el moment, que allargués molt.

....later..... Youngest lasted till 11:15, Eldest made it to 2! No one went in for the afternoon session though. Here's hoping tomorrow's at least as good.

......desprès...... la petita quedava fins a un quart de dotze i la gran fins a les dues!!! Ningú ha anat aquesta tarda. Espero que demà sigui tan bé que avui.

FABULOUS day!!! Un dia FABULÓS!!!

2012-02-12T13:54:00.000-08:00

I have to say that writing in two languages is occasionally daunting, but having spent almost all day in Catalan, maybe today will be easier. Except I chose to use daunting. Hmmm, how would I say something like that in Catalan.

Haig de dir que escrivint en dos idiomes, de vegades, em descoratja una mica., però que he passat quasi tot el dia en català, potser avui seria una mica més fàcil. Excepte, he decidit d'utilitzar 'daunting'. Com podria dir això en català. Exactament, no puc, però espero que lo que hagi fet pugui fer servir.

Today was a slice of heaven. We went on another hike today...up in Montnegre. With the local mountaineering group. This time a nice small group, we were 11 which meant that I got to walk my own pace much more of the time. I walk fast. I like to walk fast and I have discovered that I like to climb hills. The man doesn't like to break the sweat barrier, which means walking a lot slower than I like to and while the kids are great walkers, they don't want to go at a pace I like to set on my own. Today though?!? mmmmmmm. We had to stop and wait for the group to catch up a lot, but long bursts of walking at a good pace was sweet. The last hour one man and I (the man didn't make the trip) went on ahead and didn't bother waiting for the group. Fantastic.

Avui ha sigut un dia del cel. Vam anar al muntanya un altre cop....cap a Montnegre, amb el grup local de muntanyisme. Aquesta vegada hem estat un grup ben reduït, hem estat 11 que implica que he pogut seguir el meu pròpia ritme per molt més dels temps. Jo camino ràpidament. M'agrada caminar ràpidament i he descobert que a mi m'agrada pujant també- El me home no li agrada trenca la barrera de suar, que vol dir que caminem molt més lentament que voldria, mentrestant, les nenes són molt bones caminadores, però no volen anar amb el ritme que faig quan estic sola. Avui??? mmmmmm. Hem hagut d'esperar pel grup sovint, però gran trossos de caminant amb un bon ritme estava un plaeeeer. Per l'ultim hora un home i jo (el meu home no ha vingut avui) hem anat més endavant i no hem esperat per la resta del grup. Fantàstic.

One of the highlights of the walk was finding a pond (estany! NEW WORD) that was sheeted over with ice. We lobbed rocks at it, very few breaking through. Right at the edge in the sun it was about a cm thick, but as we went on and came around the back side, there was a section that was in an eddy where the sun, literally, never shines and the ice was a good 6 to 10 cm think at least if not more. We went out on it, very gently and somewhat spread out, only as far as a meter from shore. Very cool. None of the Catalans had ever done it before and thought it was seriously neat. Lots and lots of photos.

Un dels moments més recordable ha de ser quan trobàvem un estany (NOVA PARAULA!) que estava just tapada amb gel. Hem tirat (voldria un altre paraula aquí) pedres, molt pocs han trencat el gel i enfonsava. A la vora de l'estany on hi havia sol, el gel era només un cm de gruixut, però quan hem passat més endavant i hem girat per la banda al darrer, hi havia un secció en un remolí (utilitzem aquest paraula per TOT) a on el sol, literalment, mai toca i el gel ha estat un mínim de 6 o 10 cm de gruixut si no més. Hem anat fora a sobre el gel, molt suaument, molt a poc a poc, amb força distancia entre nosaltres i només un metre del terra. Molt guia. Ni un dels catalans han fet una cosa així mai en la vida i ho han desfruitat molt. Han fet moltes i moltes fotos.

They were also pretty impressed by the frozen sand. Sand isn't supposed to be hard, unyielding and rock-like. Till you freeze it.

La sorra congelada ha deixat un impressió bastant fort també. Sora no és dur, inflexible i com una pedra. Fins que ho congelis!

Then there is clothing. The man walking with me, he was wearing two layers and a North Face down jacket. Plus leggings under wind-proof pants and a serious hat. He never took it off, ok, the hat came off for a moment here and there. It was 2 or 3 degrees about zero and we were climbing hard. I would have been SWIMMING in there. He admitted to sweating, but honestly, another form of human. Don't know how they do it. I was down to an undershirt, a turtleneck and a thin fleece I was too lazy to remove cause I new the car was at the top and if I got a little damp it wouldn't be a disaster. Honestly? He wasn't that unusual for the group and I kind of don't understand how they do it.

I les robes. El home que ha caminat amb mi, portava dos capes i una jaqueta de North Face fet de ploma. També portava mitjanes a sota pantalons a prova de vent i una gorra molt calin. No deixava rés- d'acord, la gorra ha tret per alguns moments. La temperatura? Estàvem a 2 o 3 graus sobra zero i estàvam pujant ràpidament. Jo seria NADANT en aquest roba. Ha confessat que estava suat, però, de debò, ha de ser un altre forma d'humanitat. Jo no entenc com aguanten. Jo m'he quedat amb un samarreta sense mànigues, un samarreta amb un coll alt i un polar molt primet que em feia pal treure perquè sabia que arribaríem a les cotxes molt aviat i no em feia rés si estava una mica mulada. De debò? Aquest home era molt típic pel grup i jo, sincerament, no entenc com ho fan.

New words/Paraules noves

Estany: pond
Falguera fern
Pit-roig (havia de buscar aixó quan tornava a casa, ningú sabia el nom) Robin
Cidera de muntanya: mountain cherries, a local fruit
Alzina de suro: cork tree, but I never realised it was a kind of oak
Trestar o com aixì, haig de preguntar un altre cop....something like hiking
Cadena: a ridge, be it roof or mountain
Cadenar: to ridge walk....English speaking parts of the world are flatter and have fewer beaches, there are words for activities in mountains, like cadenar, that don't exist in English, we don't need a single word for it, and there are separate names for different kinds of beaches too. We have one. Beach. If your in the UK...Brighton or Spain.

Poached eggs. Ous escalfats

2012-02-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

I have never, to my knowledge, had a poached egg before Wednesday.

No he tingut, en tota la meva vida, un ou escalfat abans de dimecres.

As I have mentioned before, I received the Ferran Adria cookbook for Xmas, and one of the things that are called for are poached eggs. Though he actually often uses some machine that mimics a Japanese technique of cooking eggs in hot springs for an hour or so. I have no such ambitions. The poached egg, however, seemed like a good challenge.

Com he dit abans, m'ha regalat el llibre de receptes de Ferran Adrià per nadal, i un dels coses que cuina són ous escalfats. Però sovint utilitza un tipus de maquina que imita una tècnica japonès per cuina ous en fonts calens en un hora més o menys. Jo no tinc ambicions per fer això. L'ou escalfat, tanmateix, sembla una bona repta.

Ferran, bless his talented heart, says to simply slip the egg into the nearly boiling water. May I say, that even with the most radically fresh eggs, which I have as I buy them from the farmer every Wednesday still warm and poopy from the feathery behinds they have dwelled under, these turned into a mess.

En Ferran, Déu el beneeixi, explica que simplement hem de llisar l'ou cap a l'aigua quasi bullint.
Podria dir que, encara que tinc ous tan fresc, que compro cada setmana del pagesa, encara calenteta i cagades dels culls plomats a on habitava fins ara, no quedava juntes quan toca l'aigua. Un desasatre absolut.

So. The Joy of Cooking and also Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (Deborah Madison, a vegetarian's J of C) were broached. Various strategies were put forth, stirring the near boiling water vigorously and pouring the egg into the seething vortex (those were the J of C's words. GOTTA love that cookbook). Vinegar in the water was also suggested.

Llavors. El Joy of Cooking i també el Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone (Deborah Madison, una J de C per vegetarianes) eren consultats. Varius estratègies estaven presentats, remenant l'aigua quasi bullida molt vigorosament i triant l'ou entre el centre del vòrtex bullint furiosament (els paraules em falta per trobar un equivalent tant ben fet com ha fet el J of C, un llibre de receptes que estàs absolutament obligada d'encantar). Vinagre també estava una suggeriment.

Swirling was tried, with significant improvements. Perfection, no, but better. Vinegar was tried. Disgusting. Honestly, never do this. I was pretty content with the swirling. Then today? Today, success. Absolute success. Here's the trick. You have to swirl the water SO vigorously, so enthusiastically that a whirlpool forms, like the water draining from a tub. You have to be able to see the bottom of the pot and worry that your egg is going to burn on it rather than poach. (Laws of physics and inertia be d*mned)

Arremolinant? Intentava i notava bastants milloraments. Perfecte, no era, però millor, sí. Provàvem vinagre. F.A.S.T.I.G.O.S. De debò? Mai ho fas. Estava bastant contenta amb el tècnica de remolí. Doncs, avui? Avui, èxit. Un èxit absolut. Mira, aquí és el truc. Has de arremolar l'aigua TAN vigorosament, amb tanta entusiasme que un remolí es forma, com quan l'aigua baixa de la banyera. Has de veure al fons del pot i has de patir que el teu ou es cremarà en lloc de escalfar. (Normes de física i inèrcia..pah)

Honestly, this is probably not such a discovery for some of you out there, but let me tell you, Youngest and I have been enjoying some seriously delicious poached eggs today. Mmmmmm.

La veritat és que això probablement no és un gran descobriment per alguns de vosaltres, però vull dir que la Petita i jo hem disfruitat alguns ous escalfats, tans bons avui! Mmmmmmm.

Bon appetit!
Bon Profit!

Read these somewhere. Ho he llegit en algun lloc.

2012-02-09T14:54:00.000-08:00

The problem with posting late at night! I got it into Catalan and not English! What a loser.

Anyway, I saw these two phrases somewhere

Blunt as a bag of wet mice

He keeps missing the opportunity to shut up.

and thought they were hilarious. Below is an explanation of these crazy phrases, but I thought the English speakers could enjoy them on their own.
Sorry folks!

Aquests dits he llegit en un lloc, no sé a on. La primera, no sé com el puc traduir. Si una persona és 'blunt' vol dir que no té cap mena de tacte, que sovint diu coses que seria millor que no ho digués. 'Blunt' també vol dir que no té tall, com un ganivet que no talli. Per això tenim: 'blunt' com un sac de ratolines xopats. Segur, això no pot tallar, i probablement no és gaire diplomàtic tampoc.

Blunt as a bag of wet mice

El segon està més senzille. Que algú continua de perdre l'oportunitat de calla! Peró en general, calla no està tan maleducat com 'shut up'.

Keeps missing the opportunity to shut up.

Youngest's. El de La Petita

2012-02-08T12:25:00.000-08:00

Below are posted some of the pieces done by Youngest. I have to reiterate that she does these out of her head. No drawing, no erasing, no images in front of her. She picks up scissors and paper, starts at the edge of one foot and goes on around.

Aquí baix he penjat alguns peces fet per La Petita. Haig de reiterar que els fa des de la seva cap. Ni dibuixa, ni esborra, ni imatges des de que treballis. Agafa tisores i paper, i comença a una banda d'un peu i va des de allà.

I find this amazing.

Els trobo increïble.

Eldest's. El de la gran

2012-02-07T05:50:00.000-08:00

Here's what she's been working on! Mira! Aquí tens el que feia la gran!

And it is related to this story called The Rise and Fall of Rua Gorbachova that she's been writing on Figment, so if you're feeling really keen, you can go over there and read it too!

El dibuix està relacionat amb una historia (en anglès) que és diu The Rise and Fall of Rua Gorbachova. La gran està escrivint aquesta historia a Figment, per això si vols, pots anar-hi i llegir-ho també!

The upside of being ill...tbc. Les coses bones de estar malaltes...en continuació

2012-02-06T14:56:00.000-08:00

The girls, as I have mentioned before, have been sick for a while. They are improving and I have seen some heartening changes, specifically, the nausea is mostly gone and they can east most anything, particularly in the middle of the day. A big improvement.

Les meves filles, com he dit abans, han estat malaltes per un estona. Estan millorant i he vists alguns cavis que em deixen contenta, específicament, que ara, més o menys, not tenen nàusea i poden menjar quasi tot, especialment per dinar. Aixà és molt bé.

At first, they were really too sick to do much of anything, and pretty much lay around....then they improved a bit and ate a bit more and lay around, now watching screens endlessly. Computer screens. Now they are that much better that they are getting creative. Eldest has produced some amazing drawings, one in particular that she has worked on for a few days.

Per començar, van estat massa malaltes per fer res, en realitat, no feien res, només quedar-se al llit....llavors, van millorar una mica i menjava una mica més i quedava estirats mirant pantalles sense fiiiiiiiii. Pantalles dels ordinadors. Ara estan tant més sanes que les seves creativitat ha ressorgit. La meva filla gran ha acabat uns dibuixos extraordinàries, un en particular, que ha passat dies per acabar-lo.

Youngest has discovered a whole new skill. She sat down one day with a blank piece of paper and some scissors. That's it. No pencil, no tracing, her head, her hands some paper and scissors. She has been producing the most amazing silhouettes of people. They are astonishing, truly and all from her head. Right down to the feet...which are tough, no erasing only cutting.

La meva filla petita ha descobert una facilitat completament desconegut per ella abans. Un dia va buscar un full de paper i uns tisores. Tot. Ni un llapis, ni una manera de copia un dibuix. Nomes el seu cap, les mans, paper i tisores. Ha estant produint silhouttes/perfils de gens. Són increïbles, de debò i tot del seu cap. Fins i tot els peus, que són molt difícil, i sense esborrant res, només tallant.

Their mother, on the other hand, having spent a day and a half reading Harry Potter 7 aloud (I CRIED!!!) has not had so many creative endeavours, not ever taking photos of these oevres, I'll have to post them tomorrow. I did get a good run in though!

Les seves mare, per l'altre banda, havent passat un dia i mig llegint Harry Potter set en veu alta (PLORAVA!!!!) no ha fet tants coses creatives, ni fotos dels obres de les meves filles. Ho hauré de fer demà. Però, he anat a córrer, i ha anat molt bé!

Harry Potter Marathon, el marató de Harry Potter

2012-02-05T13:46:00.000-08:00

Kids are getting better and a big fat thank goodness for that, we had about a nine hour read aloud today, as in I read aloud almost all of the last Harry Potter book today...we have 6 chapters to go tomorrow!

Les meves filles estan millorant i unes moltes gràcies super gordes per això, hem passat nou hores avui, llegint in veu alta. Vol dir que he llegit en veu alta quasi tot del ultim llibre dels de Harry Potter....ja només tenim 6 capítols fins que acabem!

The girls are now eating most anything and mostly willingly, they are showing moments of energy and high-spirits, though they aren't quite ready for school. I took them with me to walk the dog, a 20 min walk in town, and they struggled to say the least.

Les nenes ara estan mangant quasi tot i generalment amb ganes, tenen moments quan mostren energia i entusiasme, malgrat això, encara no estan preparats per anar a cole. Avui anaven amb mi per passejar el gos, un petit passeig de vint minuts, i han lluitat per tornar.

On another note, I am up PAINTING!!!! YEAH!!!!! with drive and energy, but also knowing I have to stop and go to bed at a reasonable time. I still, simply cannot get sick. It's not an option.

Per un altre banda, estic pintant!!!! YEAH!!!! amb ganes i energia però conscient que haig de parar i anar a dormir a un hora raonable. Simplement, encara, no puc ser malalta. No està un opció.

Today, I have to sleep. Avui, haig de dormir

2012-02-04T15:22:00.000-08:00

So, I send you here to this fabulous letter. Worth reading right to the end.

Per aixó, t'envio aquí per aquesta carta fantàstica (en anglès). Val la pena llegir-la fins al final.

Good night, bona nit.

O

Lunch out and smelly dogs. Hem dinat fora i el gos fa pudor.

2012-02-03T15:25:00.000-08:00

The man and I went out for lunch today, heartlessly abandoning the sick kids...they've been sick for three school weeks, now, and we needed a meal and they'd survive for a bit on their own. They aren't THAT sick, they just can't get to school

El home i jo hem anat a dinar fora avui...facilament abandonant les nostres filles. Han estat malaltes per tres setmanes de cole ja i nosaltres necessitàvem un àpat i elles poden sobreviure per una estoneta sols. No estan TAN malaltes, simplement, no poden anar a cole.

It was WONDERFUL. The food was fine, nothing spectacular, but good and we didn't cook it. It was out and we were relaxed, no one was complaining and we just chatted. LOVELY LOVELY LOVELY:)

Estava FANTÀSTIC. El menjar estava bastant ben fet, res espectacular, però bo i no ho hem cuinat nosaltres. Hem dinat fora, hem descansat, ningú queixava i hem passat els temps xarrant. PRECIÓS PRECIÓS PRECIÓS.

The dog is equally pleased with himself. He managed to roll in something today that looked like snow, but doesn't smell like it, let me tell you. We get a little extra nudge when he comes in the room. It wasn't so bad that we immediately washed him, but *phew* he has a certain presence.

El gos està molt content amb el mateix. Ha trobat no sé què en la muntanya i li ha estirat en això. Semblava neu, però no fa aquest olor, te a juro. Sabem quan entra un habitació. No feia tan de pudor que li hem de rentar de seguida, però *oooohhhh* té un cert precènsia.

Can I just say that he has been wagging all day and is QUITE pleased with himself about it all.

Haig de dir que ha passat tot el dia remenant la seva cua. Està MOLT content amb el mateix sobre tot aquesta tema.

Little does he know. Bathtime tomorrow! Heh heh heh heh heh.

No sap que demà.....el banyaré! Jejejejejejejeeee

Snow day! Dia de neu!

2012-02-02T14:09:00.000-08:00

I never thought I would have a snow day in Catalonia, but there it is. Today there was one.

Mai he pensat que tindrem un dia de neu, un dia quan tanquen les escoles i llocs de treball, però avui...ho hem tingut.

We got maybe a cm of snow, as in 1 cm. That's on the roofs and cars. Nothing stayed on the ground at all. Schools closed and my work shut down. A lecture I wanted to attend also was shut down. I have to say, that it was fine by me.

Potser hem tingut un cm de neu, vol di 1 cm. A sobre les cotxes i sostres. No quedava res als carres i al terra. Les escoles tacaven, i el meu lloc de treball també. Una xerrada que volia veure estava anul·lada també. Sobretot, per mi, cap problema.

Hung out with my still sick kids, walked the dog, enjoyed an utterly snowless snow day. A little weird, but nice. My boss at one point asked if we would shut down in Canada for this. I just looked at her. What can I say. Clearly not. That said, they were calling for more snow and if it had gone far enough below freezing the roads would have iced up and no one has winter tires here.

Passava temps amb les meves filles, encara malaltes, passejava el gos, i desfruitava un dia de neu absolutament sense neu. Una mica estrany, però genial. La meva cap m'ha preguntat si a Canadà tancarem les coles i tot per aquest quantitat de neu. No he dit res, només la he donat un cop d'ull. Que puc dir. Clar que no. Igualment, haig de dir que els meteoròlegs deia que tindrem més neu, i si les temperatures han baixat bastant, tot seria gelat, glaçat i ningu té pneumàtics d'hivern.

Now to get some painting down and see if I go in tomorrow. I'd be surprised if I didn't.

Ara, pintaré i miraré si vaig a treballar demà. Em sorprendre si no.

Today, maybe, for the first time in ages, I may pull it off!

2012-02-01T14:30:00.000-08:00

Avui, per la primer dia fa molt de temps, potser, ho faré

There are a certain number of things I have promised myself I will do every day/ regularly.

1. Draw for half an hour every day
2. Paint every day
3. Run and do Pilates regularly (if I manage three times a week I'm ecstatic)
4. Read every day
5. Blog every day

Hi ha uns quants coses que m'he promès a mi mateix que faci cada dia o sigui, regularment.

1. Dibuixar per un mig hora, cada dia.
2. Pintar cada dia
3. Córrer i fer pilates regularment (si pot ser tres cops a setmana, estic super contenta!)
4. Llegir cada dia
5. Escriure aquí en el meu blog cada dia.

Then there are the things I desperately want to do, basically spend time with my family, that's not too hard to pull off every day, it is my absolute and final #1 priority.

També hi ha coses que són imprescindible, bàsicament, passant temps amb la meva família. Això no trobo difícil d'aconseguir cada dia perquè és el meu prioritat absolut. No hi ha cap cosa que sigui més important.

There are other things which I have to do like work, and cook and do errands....they tend to get done as well. There are also things I'd like to add to the list, like study Catalan and Spanish more formally......

Hi ha altres activitats que haig de fer, com treballar, cuinar, anar a comprar. Generalment, aquests ho aconsegueixo. Altres activitats voldria fer cada dia, com estudiar Català i Castellà més formalment, amb mestres i tot!

Lately however, the have to dos, like work and errands have been getting done. Family time, absolutely. The activities I've promised myself? Not so much. Today though? Today looks to be shaping up to be a red letter day, one where I get it all done.

Recentment, no obstant això, les coses que haig de fer, com anar a treballar i comprar, ho faig. Temps amb la meva família també. Els activitats que he promès a mi mateix? No tan. Però avui? Avui, em sembla, que serà un dia molt especial. Un quan faré tot.

And a good thing too.

Una cosa molt bona això.

I was about to post

2012-01-31T15:01:00.000-08:00

about how annoying it is when you have a fantastic idea for a post during the day, and then you can't remember what you wanted to post about when it comes time to write it.

And then I remembered what I wanted to write about.

Estava a punt de explicar com em molesta quan he tingut un idea fantàtsic durant el dia, però a l'hora d'escriure aquí, no el puc recordar.

Llavors, he recordar el que volia explicar-vos!

I was walking down the street today on my way to work and ahead of me was an couple, grandparents I believe, and a child between them, and they were playing the game we always fondly called 'one, two, three, weeeeeee!!!!' This involves the child between two adults, holding a hand of each, hanging back a little till, on the count of three, they swing the child forward in a big bound and a WEEEEE and the child lands on their feet with a shout of joy and a cry of AGAIN!!!!

Estava passejant cap a on treballo quan he trobat un parell, avis crec, i un nen entremig. Estaven jugant un joc que sempre vam anomenar, afectuosament, 'un, dos, tres, weeeeeee!!!!!' Que heu de fer és, amb el nen o la nena entremig, cadascú agafant un mà, el nen camina una mica enrere i tots compten UN, DOS, TRES....i quan arriben a tres, el nen saltar i els adults li gronxen cap endavant a on arriba als peus, cridant WEEEEE i de seguida, UN ALTRE COP!!!!!

It made me feel so happy to see this child having such a good time, and the grandparents too. I remember playing it as a child and ADORING it, and playing it with my kids and loving it almost as much, till my arms got tired. The adults do always tire first with this game, no?

Me'n alegro tant veient aquest nen desfuitant tant, i tan content. Els avis també. Recordo jugant aquest joc quan era petita i estava ENCANTADA, i també recordo jugant aquest joc amb les meves nenes i estava quasi tant contenta com quan era jo que saltava, però no exactament perquè els braços els cansent quan és tu gronxant. Els adultes sempre cansen primer amb aquest joc, no?

Arrived at work with a big fat smile.

Arribava al meu lloc de treball amb un somriu molt gran.

back to the real world

2012-01-30T14:08:00.000-08:00

My sister and her family were here for the weekend, and it was wonderful. Now we're back to real life...kids sick at home, work, blah blah blah...though I have to say that the real world ain't all that bad. A nap, lovely food, a walk in the mountains (Youngest just accused me of bragging, maybe she's right.)

Either way, here's hoping you're having a good Monday.

.....later......much later.......

can I just say that I am sick and tired of being good and going to bed at a sensible time so that I don't get ill when all around me are failing? Know what? I really really want to stay up half the night and paint.

Not go to bed.

Wonder if they could pretend I don't exist tomorrow and I can just go up there and work.

Camp Nou

2012-01-29T16:04:00.000-08:00

Went for a visit to Camp Nou today. That was amazing. For such an enormous stadium, it really doesn't seem very big. Skydome in TO seems MUCH bigger. Camp Nou is much more vertical, and that may account for a lot of the sense that it isn't so big. It just doesn't sprawl out the way that NA stadiums do?

Not so sure.

I am sure that I am ridiculously tired, which accounts for the dearth of posts...and the crappiness of this one.

More later. My sister and her family are visiting and it is super fun, and super busy!

Hope you're having a good one,

Cheers,

O

This is funny

2012-01-27T16:30:00.000-08:00

Sadly, I have no idea of the original source. If you came up with it? BRILLIANT!

click to enlarge

Variable ability

2012-01-26T16:04:00.000-08:00

Weird isn't it.

One day you can do something very well, and the next? Meh.

Or vice versa.

I think anyone who has learned a language can attest to this. Some days, you just can't seem to get it right; others, it just flows along. Athletes too can certainly agree, there are days when you are just on. I find the same in drawing. Yesterday, seems I wasn't able to draw anything competently. Nothing. Not that I was beating myself up, but really, basics such as proportion and formation were. not. happening. Running however seems to have been.

This morning? Drawing, smooth, effortless, easy and lovely. Not trying running today however, so I'll have to let you know about speaking instead -

Odd though isn't it. Something good for people to recognise consciously though too, we all have our on days and off days, and it is just that way. Kids too.

If someone could figure out why, and help us get to on days when we need them? Wouldn't that be great.

I have discovered a great truth

2012-01-25T04:26:00.000-08:00

This happened when I went running today.

I know, you read that correctly, I f.i.n.a.l.l.y. went running again after MONTHS! Nothing like being surrounded by extreme and not so extreme illness for a couple of weeks to get you focused on maintaining your health!

Anyway,

I have indeed discovered a great truth. There is a trick to enjoying running and it is this:

Keep your expectations very very very low. If you go out convinced that you are going to be utterly hopeless and pathetic, you are utterly delighted by anything at all that you do achieve, and you come home with a thrilling sense of your own ability, even if your efforts were kinda sad.

Just keep assuming you're far worse than you could possibly be, and everything else comes as a pleasant surprise.

Neat, eh?

constraint and creativity

2012-01-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

A while ago, I was taking this course on Material and Techniques of Post-war Abstract Expressionist Painting from Moma. The instructor for the course spent quite a bit of time talking about studio rules. Yesterday I was listening to this video from Vi Hart. She talks about 'loose sort of rules' when drawing/doodling. This morning I was listening to this podcast from 99% Invisible. Here he was talking about constraints.

By studio rules, the instructor was discussing how art is often made within a self-imposed set of rules. Some of them you can see for yourself, such as in this Rothko painting at Moma; or indeed, any of these. You could say that his studio rule was for largely rectangular forms created by painting and over paintings with thin translucent layers of paint. The edges of the forms should be loose, and I am sure that there were also rules about colour choice and order. For instance I assume that brighter whiter colours formed more of the bottom layers in order to achieve the glow.

A set of rules.

Vi Hart talks about how a set of rules, that are very simple, such as lines from a central point every 100º or every 122º or every 180º. Or a simple rule that creates the fibonacci series.

The first two numbers in the Fibonacci sequence are 0 and 1, and each subsequent number is the sum of the previous two (from Wiki)

So for example the sequence goes 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21....

What it creates though is spirals, like in the cauliflower below, which is a wildly exaggerated spiral that is normally there, or pine cones, flowers etc etc etc

So this simple rule is a constraint.

In 99% invisible, the question is more of a time and physical space restraint.

99% Invisible-45- Immersive Ideal by Roman Mars

Why, you might ask yourself am I rattling on and on and on about restraint? I think it is an interesting route to access creativity, to funnel it and to get it to flow. As I posted a while ago, I feel like my painting this year has not really been moving, it is here and there but unco-ordinated. I don't have a studio rule. I have imposed these on myself before, the canvas a day project, the Immigration series...but nothing so far this year, and I think this is what I am missing, although I have temporarily restarted the canvas a day to get ANY sort of rule going. I have a rule to spend a half hour each day drawing from the Artwork of the day blog/post from the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York

Still searching for that rule it would seem, though I think this year it is going to have to do with straight lines.

It does make me ponder about the relationship between constraint and creativity, no?

Thinking

2012-01-23T13:52:00.000-08:00

The week has indeed begun on a rough note, and looks to continue that way. Soooooo I bring you a saved post from a few weeks ago. Hope you're having a good one.

For Xmas, my Dad got a book called Thinking Fast and Slow by Daniel Kahneman. I nabbed it and read the first 6 chapters, but it was a bit of a slog with everything that was going on, and I will have to have another go at it later. He knows how to flog a dead horse.

Kahneman's basic premise in the book is that we have two basic ways of thinking, the first is a fairly automatic rapid response thought process, what you engage if you look at a piece of art and decide if you like it or not; what you engage when you answer 2+2=4

The second type of thinking actually forces us to engage consciously, for instance when you have to solve 27 x 32 = ??? for example, or when you are analyzing a book. When you engage with a piece of work fully.

As a teacher, one of the hardest things to do is to get students into system 2. Work sheets appear to do this. The students are silent and processing work. The problem is that this is only one type of system 2 work. If you think about it, we all know that this is not the highest type of system 2 thought. Sure, we've all filled out worksheets that test whether we have read the text, that ask stupid questions that require you to look back and reread. You need some quiet and concentration for this, but it is not truly engaging. Higher system 2 thought, which I am not sure that Kahneman approaches or differentiates, is that level of concentration that makes time disappear. When you are engaged in a piece of work and erupt again unaware that hours have passed. This is difficult to achieve in a class, to set up an atmosphere that allows the students to truly engage 'system 2'.

In the first chapters I read, Kahneman did not distinguish between these different types of system 2 thought, mental business and mental engagement. When I get my hands on a copy, I am hoping to find that he does.

My second hope is that he will clarify that it is not always such a clear separation. We can all feel the mental difference as we gear up to solve 27 x 32, as opposed to the snap ease of 2+2. There is however a sliding scale of engagement. He uses the example that chess masters will, with System 1, the 2+2 system, play the first several moves of a game in a way that would require the rest of us to fully engage in system 2 if we could even do that. A reasonable example, but not a wildly accessible one. Driving a car comes to mind, when you first get behind the wheel, for most of us I would think, it is a full on System 2 highly concentrated, possibly white knuckled (for the passenger as well) engagement. As your skills improve, more and more of the tasks get handed over to system 1, you no longer have to think about where the brake pedal is, or how to use a steering wheel. Gradually a sense of time opening up appears as more of the requirements can be completed in an rapid automatic way by system 1. Eventually, driving becomes so automatic that we barely think about it at all - with System 2 - and therein lies danger, particularly for newer drivers who have shifted the skill to System 1, but do not have a depth of experience there to provide good decision making.

It becomes clearer how much this has happened when you go to drive in another country where the street signs are unfamiliar and the road layout and driving styles are not your own, suddenly you need to engage system 2 to manage what is normally an auto-pilot activity.

Another example is learning a foreign language. Trying to speak and understand it is, at first, a full on System 2 process, laborious, slow and engaging. As time passes, things speed up, more and more structures and phrases become automatic and things shift down to system 1. But even when a certain degree of fluency is acheived, like my Catalan at this point, it still requires a higher engagement of system 2. Even listening to a simple text requires a higher level of engagement than listening to a language either acquired in childhood, or one fully acquired. But full engagement? No. More like system 2 focussing a bit.

These are two examples of thought processes that blur the lines between Kahneman's clear cut system 1 and 2. I am itching to get my hands on the book and look at whether he explores these regions or not, because I think that these aspects provide more depth and interest than a simple two system concept and also more closely mirror the reality of our thought processes.

Looking forward to reading it.

Hoping he goes rich with this rather than plays it easy.

Oh frabjulous day!

2012-01-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

Up at 6am!!! and it was a maaaaarvelous day!

We walked for 5 hours, Catalan timing......started walking a little before 8 am, had esmorza at about 10, and went on till 2:30.....we couldn't figure out why they were all going so fast at the end, and then came to the (accurate) conclusion that we were the only ones who had packed any lunch, and they all hoped to be back in time to eat at home! Normally at around 3pm, and they were HUNGRY!!!!

We did about 20K

and it was wonderful. Exactly what I needed. Good climbing, good descending and quite a bit of flat at the end. Liked the climbing best.

Here's a few random picks. The camera seems to be over-exposing these days, can no longer manage the Spanish sun, I may have to look into this a bit.....

Here you go though...

Like the graffiti?

A tough week

2012-01-21T14:40:00.000-08:00

You know it's been a rough one when you find yourself on Friday night with absolutely NOTHING going on in your head. Comedians joke that men do this a lot, I don't know about that, but I don't. Friday night though? Like someone flicked off a switch.

We had, this last week, a ridiculous amount of serious illness where I work. I don't talk about my work on here, but let me just say that out of the four administrators/owners/heads all four were out at the local hospital with an immediate family member at one point this week, all that the same time. Indeed, for a while, all together.

One of those has recovered and the issue is dealt with, all but the pills. The others? Still in hospital, still very very ill.

There has been, as a direct result of this, a great deal of absenteeism amongst the directing/teaching staff. I have largely been taking over these roles with the admin lady whose family member was a quick turnaround. She hasn't been with us that long, but she's a dream.

On top of that, both girls have been sick all week, Youngest went down Monday night, Eldest, Tue night. I didn't have an option of getting sick, and so far haven't. They had/have a bug, lay around a lot, ate little and had no overt symptoms other than nausea (unproductive thankfully) and exhaustion. Youngest is on the road up, but still runs out of puff at the top of the stairs. Eldest is still staggering. The lack of food hasn't helped of course, and I have been cooking up a storm, when not at work filling in classes and finding substitutes. Thank goodness for applesauce, chicken noodle soup and crackers. Keeps the world rolling around. Strangely corn nuts have been going down well too, weird eh?

Next week doesn't look to be fixing to be a whole lot better, and it is scaring me into getting a physical booked for all of us.

The up side? Kids are getting better, we all have free health care here - not like that poor skier's family - and the man and I are going walking tomorrow. Better than that, the girls are well enough for us to go.

Let em do the homework when we're not there. Much more peaceful.

No?

Fractal broccoflower

2012-01-19T14:41:00.000-08:00

Check this out! I got it in the market.

This babies got it all, fractals and Fibonacci spirals!

And vitamines. Mmmmm.

The cake I'm glad we made for ourselves only.

2012-01-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

Youngest and I decided to make a cake the other day, and it was a little more involved than we had planned. It was a cake we had made before, from Naomi Duguid and Jeffery Alford's Homebaking cook book. Delicious and simple and wonderful.

Except, we took it out of the oven too soon. Youngest checked it for doneness at the allotted time, but I didn't double check her and she isn't tooooo experienced at it yet. Later, once they'd cooled and the other things we had to make were out of the oven, we discovered the problem and put them back in. Sadly, we remembered to put the temp back to what we needed, but cakes don't cook well if you try and grill them, whatever the temp. I tested them for doneness this time, and they seemed fine. Out again, cooled again, and raw at the bottom.

Despondency.

Solution? Put them back in the pans, upside down and bake them again.

VICTORY!!!

Ugly, and kinda cookie crispy in places, but done.

See?

Still glad we didn't have to serve it to any of our foody friends.

Slack and floppy

2012-01-17T13:53:00.000-08:00

That's how things have been rolling around here, not back into the routine since the break, indeed not really this year at all.

We've been rolling with some stuff and that snow in the little snow-scene ball is still kinda floating around, so....

running, gotta get happening again. We've had a really vicious dog on my route in the fall, who seems to have gone away, and then a dead goat on the path.....and while I'm not happy about washing the dog when he's rolled in poop, I just don't want to go to dead goat, but now it seems that someone has FINALLY hauled it away, so my running route is back!!! Running on the road is like death for me SO BORING, and this is by far the flattest mountain route we can find. If you're reading this Kate, we walked the first part of it together the other day. Did I mention that? I met Kate and her man and her three dogs! SEPARATE POST ALERT!

So...the door is open again to getting my running mojo mojoing...my shoes keep looking at me accusingly, but I didn't know how to solve it. Oh...I just got another good idea too.....an all downhill run, though maybe that's not such a good idea, that's how I hurt my butt last year.

ANYWAY, drawing and painting is coming in sporadic bursts. I get a big idea and great things happen. I feel this year like I'm not painting at all, but I look at what I've produced and it's pretty cool but steady it ain't and that makes me sad. I've got this cool studio space that makes me happy simply being in it, and I'm not getting here like I want to.

~~Discipline~~ Organisation is needed.

So, the drawing a day is being reinstated. Half hour of drawing in the morning before I get out of bed.....and canvas a day is back. Temporarily, it isn't what I really ultimately want to be doing, but I've got to get the system ticking again, and this might be the push start I need.

I don't know about you other creatives out there, but the act of creating spawns ideas and further work, and a lag in movement, and I do think I mean movement, leads to mental atrophy as well. I come back and don't know where to start.

So! here's to disappearing dead goats and drawing in bed and making something every single frickin day.

No?

ANIM

How to avoid Alzheimer's

2012-01-16T15:54:00.000-08:00

We can all be sure that my memory will be with me for at least a week longer after this evening's efforts. The music group I go to to keep my Catalan in trim decided this was the week for a movie. Lovely. It was in French. I have not thought in, spoken or meaningfully heard French in a very very long time, but I still can generally follow it. Sorta kinda.

The subtitles were in Spanish, which as you heard, I can speak better than I thought I could.

The two languages, both of which I am not accomplished at at the moment, offered up simultaneously, and me trying to listen to one and read the other at the same time?

I could actually feel my brain creaking like a ship groaning in a seaway.

Eee gads.

It actually wasn't too bad after the first 20 minutes or so, as long as I didn't think about it. Then I was dead.

Theft in Spain

2012-01-15T13:48:00.000-08:00

OK, everyone goes on about how bad pickpocketing in Spain is. Most Catalans I know have had their wallet lifted once, in BCN, and my Dad got nailed while we were away. In a bathroom on a highway service center. The guy came up to him and told him that there were bird droppings on his coat (putting dirt there with a kleenex) and then proceeded to help him clean it up; and cleaned him out.

Major drag, but they didn't get the car keys or the rented car (with all the presents in it) which would have been a bigger drag.

When the Mossos (OPP equivelent - Catalan level cops) showed up, they told us that with the recessions/crisis theft is increasing insanely. People going into farmyards and stealing hand tools, like a shovel. This was further corroborated by a man that the man knows. He works in a lab in one of the universities and he told us that someone is breaking in there, almost weekly and stealing, get this, coffee percolators. Really. How desperate do you have to be to break into university offices and steal those nasty coffee percolators.

This week though our local bakery was robbed. It was about 9:30 in the morning, which is pretty quiet, and a man came in asking for directions, but he couldn't understand what she meant, and had a map and had her come out to point to him which street he had to take. His buddy went in the other door, right behind the counter and grabbed her purse, which sadly also had quite a lot of money in it to pay a wholesaler that day. He couldn't get into the cash register as it has a code, but he dashed out the door as she turned seeing him and down one street, the map holder ran down another street and was picked up by a car with a third man in it who then zipped over and picked up the man with the bag and they were off.

Huge hassle, new locks on everything, cancel the phone, new cards for everything, blah blah blah.....

The nastiest feel of it though was that it was kind of personal. The guy in the bathroom who got my dad's wallet had planned to do this, but it wasn't my dad specifically he was looking for. These guys though, they had scoped the place out and come up with a plan to do it.

Grungy.

Note to self

2012-01-14T14:37:00.000-08:00

Do not take photos while chatting with the man. All but one came out blurred.

Ah well. Menu 6, modified today:

Crisp omelette, pork loins with roasted peppers and a parsley garlic sauce and coconut macaroons.

Made this sauce of parsley, garlic and olive oil, that I kind of messed up, you have to pound the garlic and parsley and then very very slowly trickle in the oil as you stir. I forgot and dumped. Ah well, still good. More garlic though.

Salad, not officially on the menu, but it needed eating and today's menu didn't feature a lot of veggies.

There's the pork and roasted peppers. You're supposed to 'finish the peppers in the pan, which was also a good place to keep the pork warm after cooking it.

That doesn't look much like a coconut macaroon, does it. That's cause the shops didn't carry the dried unsweetened coconut I needed. I could probably have trekked further afield and found it, but I had the chocolate left over from the other day (miracles do happen!) and they were easy. I substituted olive oil for the butter in these and it was super delicious, changed the texture and better for us.

Oh, there's the crisp omelette. That was the first course, but I wanted the only non-blurred photo to be at the end so that you can remember this one. The omelette was called a crisp omelette because it has crisps in it, as in chips. Sounds pretty weird, and it was. It's sort of a fast and easy lazy-cook's version of truita de patates. Kind of dry though, so we put some of the sauce for the pork on it, and that was better. I also made it in four smaller batches which were much easier to flip and not so messy at all. Though that may also be why it was drier as well. Good though, and I probably will do it again as it was so much easier than making a proper one.

No peeling, no dicing, no par-boiling, just cut them open and pour them in.

Watched Mamma Mia tonight. Such fun. Nothing like singing ABBA for a whole lot longer. It is hooky too. They were doing a version of it once in town and Eldest mentioned that half her school was wandering the halls humming the tune and the other day in class one of the kids sang a bit of Mariah Carey's I'll be home for Christmas (which I find fairly loathsome) and it got hooked in my head, I look pleadingly at the class and begged them for another song to unhook the shuddery one. A few bars of Mamma Mia and all was right in the world.

Hope you're having a good one,

O

Made menu number 2

2012-01-12T14:40:00.000-08:00

Ferran Adria's Menu number 2 for lunch yesterday!

Pasta with bolognaise sauce, never made it before, and I don't think it is spectacular enough to make again...though it was VERY good, the fuss vs. added taste ratio was a little off. Then I made a fish soup with potatoes, now that was GOOD.....definitely a do again. I even made the soup stock, which was dead easy.

MMMMMM

Then there were the chocolate cookies, very gooey and very yummy and very rich and chocolatey.

I may have to do it again, as we were all so keen and hungry I didn't take any photos at all!

the wonder of independent book stores

2012-01-11T13:25:00.000-08:00

Go watch this,

If you really want to, watch this, it's an interview with the creator of the video.

They're in Toronto, Type bookstore.

Go buy books from them.

If you can't buy from them, go buy a book from any independent bricks and mortar book store, OK? These places are treasures, and if we don't buy there, they won't exist.

Hearing

2012-01-10T05:52:00.000-08:00

Know something I would love to know?

How is it that we stop listening in our sleep? Hearing is, as you all know, something that we cannot shut off, like we can sight. We can't close our ears and stop. Obviously we can drown out other noise - fingers in ears "I'm not listening...LALALALALALALALA"

Here's the reason. I listen to podcasts sometimes when I can't sleep, and on vacation I was somewhat book deprived (didn't bring enough) and I was sometimes listening at night instead of reading. Sort of like having a story read to you before bed.

The fancy shmancy ipod though, doesn't recognise when I've gone to sleep the way that my folks did when I was little, and so it goes on and on and on through all the podcasts I've downloaded for that show till it comes to an end. A real battery killer that can be.

As I result, I normally chose the last podcast in a list, so that if I doze off, as I so often do, it doesn't go on infinitely. Last night though, I really wanted to listen to this new - to me - podcast, 99% Invisible, which is supremely cool. All about design and how design impacts on our lives, and the fact that good design is indeed, 99% invisible.

Anyway, I had downloaded all the shows, and was about 2/3 through, they're short....and I really wanted to listen. So I did.

Then this morning, I had to figure out where I went to sleep (near the end) and I relistened to the last 4 or 5.

And I was amazed.

How is it, when these stories were being poured directly into my brain from ear buds, that I have no recollection of them. None. The ear was still functioning, but something neurological inside was simply switched right off. The difference between hearing and listening....but how is it that we can hear and so completely not listen. I get it when we're awake, you simple aren't paying attention, so maybe it is an extreme form of this inattention, but still......

I would love to know if we respond to stories in our sleep, but simply have absolutely no recall. None.

We do respond to extreme sounds in our sleep, and we are roused....a noise in the house and you wake up, not sure why......

I still whisper to my kids that I love them, even though they're sleeping. Maybe somewhere deep inside they hear it and know.

I don't understand how they can't.

Designers will head slap themselves when they read this.

2012-01-09T02:57:00.000-08:00

No, really. For a designer, this post is a big fat DUH!!!!

I am marking papers, and I have to say that it makes an astonishing difference how something is formatted. A text moves from being an indigestible lumpen mass to something that you can move through, something that has space for the reader.

For the record, I prefer Georgian font, size 11 with a 1.15 spacing. There also need to be indents at the beginnings of the paragraphs or, on a computer, a space between paragraphs. Though, interestingly, I am not overly disturbed by the default font on the blog. Probably that nasty ariel that microsoft loves so much.

Here it is in Ariel:

No, really. For a designer, this post is a big fat DUH!!!!

I am marking papers, and I have to say that it makes an astonishing difference how something is formatted. A text moves from being an indigestible lumpen mass to something that you can move through, something that has space for the reader.

For the record, I prefer Georgian font, size 11 with a 1.15 spacing. There also need to be indents at the beginnings of the paragraphs or, on a computer, a space between paragraphs. Though, interestingly, I am not overly disturbed by the default font on the blog. Probably that nasty ariel that microsoft loves so much.

It makes such a difference, honestly. Such a difference to the reading experience.

Don't you love books that tell you at the back what font they were printed in and some of the history of the font too?

Vultures, lots and lots of vultures

2012-01-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

Remember that post from a couple of days ago with the big big big vulture? Here?

Well one evening we went up near the base of the cliffs for a last walk with the dogs, and look what we saw:

You may need to click on these, and these are only fragments of the sky, the camera, great though it is, cannot even approach getting the whole sky in a picture

There must have been a hundred of those big big birds flying and circling around the thermal there, flapping in and landing on the cliffs, soaring out from their landing spots. Truly an amazing view. I've never seen anything like it before. Never.

Cooking with Ferran Adria

2012-01-07T07:24:00.000-08:00

One of my gifts from the Ho Ho Ho season was a copy of Ferran Adria's The Family Meal, Homecooking cookbook.

There are 31 set menus, as in the Spanish menu, well the French too, two courses and a dessert plus wine, water and bread. Sometimes coffee.

LOTS of photos, and he lays out a timeline for you so that you can have it all ready at the right time. As we got back yesterday to a fairly empty and chilly house (about 12 degrees inside), we had to go shopping today, so we checked out the ingredients for menu #1. Cesar salad, hamburger with potato chips and a coca de Santiago. We've got an ABBA sound track going, and the cake in the oven.

Once the food was ready we were too excited to wait for pictures, so this is all there is:

Our caesar dressing, comes thick it does....stir sloooowwly in one direction only, while trickling in the oil......also, when the local egg yolks are orange, the dressing comes out rather less white.

Burgers before cooking:

Coca de Santiago, that came out rather thinner than intended, but still very good:

The coca de Sanitago is a recipe that dates from the 16th century and uses ground almonds in lieu of flour - can you say arabic influence on the cuisine? At the store we couldn't find ground almonds, only chopped, so we pounded them in the mortar and pestle, and pounded and pounded and pounded. True renaissance style cooking. Then we had to beat the eggs and sugar together (with an electric mixer) for five min. till thick and foamy. The two of us with a fork and super powerful arms beat it for about 15 and decided that was done, risen or not. Again renaissance style cooking......without the serfs.

We are making our own croutons too.......baked rather than deep fried.

When I went to the butcher's for the ground meat, I was given a lengthy dissertation on why I could not buy beef, only veal....had to do with Mad Cow disease.....an either Spain wide, EU wide, or Catalan regulation/advisory is that you don't eat any cow that is more than 2 months old.

I personally have never heard of this before, and didn't want to mention the amount of beef I have eaten since that LONG ago break out......

Anyway, it was all good, though we only need 1 burger per person and we forgot to put the chips out on the plates. That's OK, we can enjoy them another time.

Horses, ponies and donkeys

2012-01-06T12:41:00.000-08:00

It didn't cost a lot to make Youngest really happy on this vacation. Indeed for less than a Euro you can get a big bag of happiness. In the shape of a big bag of carrots, you see, there were some horses, ponies and a donkey nearby and nothing made Youngest happier than going over to give them some carrots.....

I wasn't sure if we would do them any harm by giving them carrots when they aren't used to eating them, so, one day, as we were going over we saw some men in the garden next to their field, we asked, well, I did with some assistance from Youngest, and they said, though they aren't their horses, that there would be NO problem at all.

GLEE

Then the animals wouldn't come. D stood at the fence calling and whistling, and nothing happened....

Finally she thought of calling to them in Spanish, specifically, calling to them to 'come here'. Worked a charm. She called once, the heads all turned and in a body they headed over. Rather more than she'd hoped for.

The donkey is proving the brightest (or greediest) of the lot, arriving first every day and getting the most too.

Happiness all around.

Seven in all.....

Another hike in the hill, well, mountains.

2012-01-05T06:32:00.000-08:00

We went for a lovely walk today again, through a beech forest, a faigada....it was sunny and cool and MUDDY. Chuck is dying to get off leash, he'll be happy to get back home. What with all the livestock and sheepdogs, I'm reluctant to let him off here. Two and a half hour walks aren't that bad, even if he was on leash.

A waterfall... the highest in Spain.

It is a very deep gorge, no?

They smelled like, well, like goats.

The faigada again, my camera seems to be overexposing these days, not sure why.

There were lots and lots of caves too.

Where we went today:

2012-01-04T06:52:00.000-08:00

San Juan de Gaztelugatxe on the north coast of Spain.

If you look closely at the photo, you can see a pedestrian causeway out to the hermitage on the island.

There was lots of noise and waves and rocks...

Looking back.

Fun walk indeed.

coffee

2012-01-02T23:54:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I can no longer handle caffeinated coffee. In fact I am not sure I ever could. In Bilbao the other day, we stopped to have a coffee. I found mine rather harsh, but drank it back. About half an hour later I was having chills and sweats, my hands were shaking like I had Parkinson's and let's not even talk about the internal trembling. I think my heart was beating irregularly I felt so weird.

That decaf, wasn't.

URGH.

Had to go and eat to try to reduce the trembles...felt weird for several hours.

Am I alone out there with this? I assume not. How does caffeine miss-hit you? Curious about this one, I have to admit.

of cliffs and eagles

2012-01-01T10:55:00.000-08:00

We went walking in the mountains again today, and look what we found. A turnstile in a barbed wire fence!

That's seems a little weird, but if you think about it, it isn't too unreasonable, it's to keep the cows out.

Then again, if you look at what's on the other side....

Not a typical walk. No?

If you look carefully at this picture, there is a very intrepid, individualistic, possibly rock climbing cow.

"I vant to be aloooone."

View from the top....

ENORMOUS birds kept popping up over the edges of the cliffs, they were too fast in the strong wind for me to get the telephoto going, so these photos aren't so great, but they had a HUGE wingspan. When one appeared over our heads, Chuck gave a half-hearted sort of woof, the bird was bigger than he was easily, and better armed. (a Eurasian Griffin Vulture wiki here. The bird is HUGE! 240 to 280 cm wingspan!!! That is up to a 10 foot wingspan!!!)

It was, truly amazing, one flew by us, no more than 50 yards away. Amazing.

New Year's Eve

2011-12-31T15:56:00.000-08:00

Quiet at home with the man, the kids and my parents.

And Chuck who did not approve.

See.

Kites? I know the perfect place

2011-12-30T13:32:00.000-08:00

We headed off to San Sebastian today.....the perfect place to fly a kite on a blustery day. We were lucky, the tide was way out, the wind was onshore,

and the kite was brilliant, it just popped up and stayed up there, like walking a dog, but it doesn't want to stop and sniff anything.

Youngest was gleeful.

So now you know.....

There were SWIMMERS!!!! BRRRrrrrr!!!!!!

Down in one corner of the beach, where the mountains have stood on end,

are these sculptures by Chillida was recommended by a friend and is great, though it is hard to look truly monumental in the setting, with the Atlantic pounding in on the cliffs. Sadly his museum is closed due to the current economic climate, but......these we could see.

And now you can get a glimpse too!

Hope you're having a great one.

O

Guggenheim

2011-12-29T09:49:00.000-08:00

Today was another Bilbao day, and we went into the Guggenheim museum to see what there was to see. The very very very best was a group of sculptures by Richard Serra, some of you may have seen one of his works in Terminal 3 at the Toronto airport....big steel job you can walk through.

Here's some videos of the work at the Guggenheim: one and two....very long with an interview with Serra. That second one is half an hour and includes some great footage of the installation process, which must have been astonishing. The second half of the video shows the feel of the work a little more, with Serra's explanations. By the way, his father was a Catalan who moved to the US....

Though, even if you watch through all of the video, it will give you no idea of the impact of them, of running through them, getting tipped by them, echoing in them....amplified by them. It is dizzying and amazing and would be incredibly to do with a pair of beat boxers.....

As Youngest said, probably the best exhibit she's ever been to. She also said that they feel bigger from inside than from outside, which is pretty cool too.

Amazing.

Truly, if you ever get the chance to go....go. No, make a chance to go.

Astonishing.

Outside of the Guggenheim there was this puppy dog:

And in the window of a restaurant, we saw this.... I have NO idea what they mean, but they're pretty fun to read aloud
:

Oh, and it seems I can speak Spanish!

2011-12-28T05:59:00.000-08:00

Spent the day so far walking in the hills and napping. Not all bad by any stretch!

Since we have arrived in the Països Basques, near Bilbao, and I've gone off shopping and made our way around town and village, I have, to my astonishment, discovered that I can speak Spanish! The man and the kids have both expressed astonishment at my abilities.

Nice little Christmas present to myself there! Going to have to study more. What a wonderful mass of inspiring feedback!

Not kidding myself that it is anywhere near as good as my Catalan, but I can go into stores and mostly succeed, and not get anyone too terribly confused. It is fun.....

If I spend a little more time on this, I'd get better and better and better.

Vitoria-Gasteiz

2011-12-27T10:36:00.000-08:00

We were off to visit another city today, Vitoria-Gasteiz, which architecturally was BEAUTIFUL! We had a grand lunch as well.......here's some pics:

A kind of creepy alligator:

Very cool covered escalators in town:

Someone's entry:

Garbage disposal containers that, as N put it, look like they are ready to rise up and defend the town:

Almost looks like a Banksy this one...

A very cool museum....

Love this balcony:

There is a card museum, this one talks about Canadians...click on it for more detail:

A view over Vitoria in the evening:

Another lovely day!

well, maybe not.

2011-12-26T15:34:00.000-08:00

Well, I took a video for you on the hike today, but blogger doesn't seem to want to put it up. It was a lovely walk too.....we discovered that in this neck of the woods, gates don't mean that you have to stop, only that you have to do them up again so the animals don't get loose.

So, instead here's a picture of an Anish Kapoor scultpture from behind the Guggenheim.......

Happy present day

2011-12-25T08:11:00.000-08:00

if that's what you're up to! We are.

Here's a few photos from the day. I have to say that where we are is exquisite. Tomorrow I am hoping to push up high enough to get into the woods......

Here's a few photos. I was stupid enough to forget my battery charger for the camera (duuuuh) so I'll be searching for new ones in Bilboa!

Below is Chuck opening his present, he's a most enthusiastic present opener!

Especially when he present is cheese!

There's no shortage of water here.....rivers and streams EVERYWHERE!

The dog in the house we are staying in, Luna. She doesn't get walked much normally, so she's having a pretty gleeful time with us, in fact is pretty wildly excited the entire time we're walking.

Lovely bit of countryside around here.

Some more. Looks almost Swiss to me.

See!

They're all wearing bells too, I'll take a recording of it for tomorrow.

I am DYING to go hiking up into those woods.

All those white dots are sheep....lots and lots and lots of sheep!

And long views....

Then there's some donkeys....burros in Catalan, no idea in Basque...an astoa!

And ponies and horses....

As Eldest put it, a vacation just by being here!

Hope your day s turning out well! Ours certainly is.

O

well this was calmer

2011-12-24T09:32:00.000-08:00

And we SCORED A TURKEY!!!!!

There were Pavos and Pavitos, turkeys and little turkeys...and we scored the last turkey there.....YEAAAAH!

We went for lunch in town, a most unpromising looking bar, but it was OK in fact and the food was fine. Fairly typical fair honestly. We took a walk around the town and I wondered why I hadn't brought my camera. Still not sure why I managed to do that, but there it is.

Got back to the house and took Chuck for a walk alongside the local dog, Luna, who lives chained outside, but who loves a good walk. She doesn't have Chuck's stamina though, Eldest tried to get her to run with her and ended up dragging her along the road as opposed to being dragged herself. Chuck, once you get him going, is not too sympathetic to our slower pace.

Some wrapping, some reading, some napping and things are looking pretty good indeed!

Happy Christmas eve to you all!

O

Good cops. Bad guy.(s?)

2011-12-23T14:39:00.000-08:00

We're off on vacation again...YEAH! My dad rolled in last night and we've driven over to the Basque region near Bilbao for a bit more than a week. The countryside through the drive was stunning, Spain really is an amazing country and the drive was fine, if squishy.

The downside?

The extremely professional and efficient pick-pocket who made off with my Dad's wallet in the bathroom at a one of those highway rest stops.

D*mn.

There was a very scary moment when we weren't sure if he'd gotten the car keys and the car too, which would have REALLY been a drag rather than a remarkable pain in the *ss.

The cops eventually came, the cards are easily cancelled, the biggest immediate hassle is the lack of a driver's license, so we had to wait around to fill in some forms so that we had something to show any subsequent cops.

They were very nice. They didn't make us go to downtown Lleida to fill in the forms, they apologized many times and were generally quite civilised.

Poopy, but not major damage. Fairly major irritation for my Dad, but we're all here and well, and that's what counts. The guy was most impressive.

Linguistics

2011-12-22T14:42:00.000-08:00

It is something we do really naturally here in this house, and something that I do at work...which seems more obvious as a language teacher. You see, my Dad arrived this evening, and it made me realise the amount of time that we spend discussing language and accent and pronunciation and syntax etc etc etc....

In an average evening of conversation we will, at least Youngest and I will, easily have 4+ conversations that circle around language use, and if she is reading something to me, as she was this evening, this may well include several minor pronunciation corrections as well....some typical for her age group, for instance the pronunciation of 'Ella Fitzgerald', and some less typical for her age group but relevant to her life experience.

We'll typically range through 2 − 3 languages, both in discussion and use: English, Catalan and sometimes Spanish, but as Youngest is very keen to learn French and will be starting lessons in the new year, to her glee, we did get to that this evening, and even touched on Latin which Eldest is studying and which my dad has also learned something about. So tonight? We got to 5 different languages. English is, however, dominant. Hands down.

It is neat and fascinating that we can have these conversations at all, and even neater that we are all so fascinated by them.

Seems it takes remarkably little to make me happy

2011-12-21T14:05:00.000-08:00

I went into BCN today to do some ~~chatting~~ shopping (quite successfully) and missed my bus by about 45 seconds, which one might think would be profoundly irritating, but it wasn't.

Know why?

Cause it was a beautiful warm sunny day in a beautiful city, I had a nice cafe to go to for a delicious coffee and croissant (though the ones in Paris are better, they certainly aren't as inexpensive for the slightly better quality) and I had a really good book.

A little slice of heaven.

I sat around, drank my coffee, ate my croissant, paid up (2€) and went out to catch the next bus.

When you see the driver with the back of the bus open, and half a fan belt in his hand, it's probably a bad sign, but know what? It was still a beautiful day, I had just had some really good food, I had an alternative for getting home and I still had the good book.

Sometimes, life is so sweet.

A lovely part of the day

2011-12-20T22:53:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, while I was ~~shopping~~ chatting my way around town yesterday, I got the ultimate distracter, a friend called up and wanted to know if I could go for coffee....and as the town is pretty darned small, there we were at a table having a delicious cup of just a few minutes later.

She's been having a rough time this year, and I haven't seen or heard from her since Sept...though I see her kids from time to time.....What a delight that was though. Just love getting a chance to see her again. Smiled all day.

Now there's a shopping trip worth taking.

Village life, advantages and disadvantages

2011-12-19T15:38:00.000-08:00

I went into BCN today to do some Xmas shopping, which was lovely and efficient, though you have to hang onto your wallet with a vengeance, and not so much from the shop keepers.....

Then I tried to do a little more shopping here in the village. For a bunch of reasons, principally because I very much want the stores to stay in business, and if no one shops...they won't. It is lovely too, I can walk easily to all the stores in under five minutes, I know who most of the shop keepers are, and many of the other shoppers.

This is all good, and one of the things I love about living in the village, until I need to get a lot of errands done in a limited time frame.

OOOOoooooooohhhhhhh, a good exercise in developing patience that one. I got three gifts bought in an HOUR, all in stores within a three minute walk of where I live. Fabulous for my Catalan, but OMgoodness, I'll never finish at this rate! I even saw the entire assembled off-spring of one store owner and discussed where they were all living!

Not dull, just not efficient!

Went walking!!!

2011-12-18T13:33:00.000-08:00

On the Costa Brava....

want to see some photos?

Hope so, cause here they come!

It was a very good day. Warm and lovely when there was sun and no wind and COLD and blustery in the reverse. I end with a Dalí for you.....that fish above.

Lottery tickets

2011-12-17T05:09:00.000-08:00

One of the things I am finding this year that is making me feel both more integrated and more alien is lottery tickets.

These are ABSOLUTELY p.e.r.v.a.s.i.v.e in the culture here. There are tickets for the lottery itself....the gordo at Christmas, which means the fat one.....the most coveted prize, but every single association gets the kids to sell lottery tickets, and lots of them. We are at this point selling tickets for the basketball team, the weekly kids community group, Eldest's high school and the mountaineering group. Actually, that is not the whole truth, because we're not selling mountaineering ones, we just bought a bunch of them.

You see - and this is the part that makes me feel alien to the culture - but just call me a puritanical type, but it seems odd for kids to be flogging lottery tickets. Faintly Dickinsian. So we don't ask the kids to sell them. Also, as I work in the village, and so did the man when he had work, there is an extremely limited market from which we can buy. EXTREMELY, as there are probably 200 kids in basketball, another 150 in the community centre, plus another 90 selling the high school tickets.....and then the mountaineering crowd. Talk about saturated market.

So, we buy them ourselves. Almost all of them. The ones for Eldest's school we are trying not to, as they go toward her end of year trip and the more we sell, the less we have to pay, so buying the tickets for those is WILDLY illogical.

Sometimes it is these weird little things that make you feel like a foreigner.

After yesterdays honest to goodness despair

2011-12-16T14:23:00.000-08:00

Alleviated somewhat by his Justin-ness.....

Seems that in the US anyway, NEARLY ALL research involving testing on chimpanzees will be ended. A BIG FAT YEAH!!!!!!

Plus, as a good beginning, let's hope not just a scape goat action and nothing more, but as a fine thin beginning of a wedge, 6 Wall street executives have been charged for wrong doing leading the the economic downturn. Send 'em to jail, for a long long time, and go find some more boys. Sadly, it says their suing them. Personally, I hunger for jail time and a lot of it. They are criminals. I'm not the only one thinking it either, now the politicians have to get their pieces of..... together and get some regulations back in place so these cack-headed nutjobs who think their smart but apparently ain't can't screw it all up again.

And to boot? It's Friday.

I think I'll have to move to Montreal when I move back.

2011-12-15T06:08:00.000-08:00

Specifically Justin Trudeau's riding.

Go get 'em!

Canada, I am humiliated

2011-12-13T14:16:00.001-08:00

Utterly.

I am embarrassed to say I am Canadian.

Really? Walking out of the Kyoto accord?

Please, Quebec? Leave Canada. Now. I was born there, I could get a passport, OK. I'll relearn French. NO PROBLEM.

OK? Is it a deal? I'm with ya.

Please?

Painting and thinking

2011-12-12T15:35:00.002-08:00

As I cruised through some stuff on line, I found some neat bits and pieces....like this one: writers chose their favourite books of 2011 Books loved by book writers and lovers. Good recommendations, I think, no?

Scraping around about today, trying to come up with something to write about.

Hmmmm.

It was a quiet day, a good day, a day with a lot of painting in it, therefore a very good day indeed. What I am working on is fairly secret, let's leave it at that. It is going fairly well, which I am very thankful for.

What else. I seem to be posting more political stuff. I find things are making me despair, honestly. Despair.

This is a lousy post. Hold on a bit. Let me get myself together.

Having trouble, too many things I can't talk about. A standard blogging problem, all you can think of is the things you CAN'T say, and you can't come up with anything else....don't think of pink elephants, like that.

The man is turning out the lights and signalling bedtime, and as it is 12:30 I may have to give this up.

Going to have to work harder at this tomorrow.

O

The back is better

2011-12-12T15:35:00.000-08:00

I managed to throw out my back a bit yesterday, but today is a bit better, I have re-achieved homo erectus, although I think I am a sub-species (or whatever) of homo erectus incomodus - that would be a latin ending tossed on the Catalan word for uncomfortable.

In a desperate bid to stop the decline of my Catalan skills I went out this evening to a local group of music afficionados, which is nice because it's free and a nice group of people, although as much of the time is spent listening to music it is not the best milleu for improving my language skills, but it's also at a time I can go, so that is all good.

We were doing 'nadals', can you guess that one? Songs related to Christmas....we ended on a lovely not, the Hallelujah chorus from Handel's Messiah, technically for Easter, but what the heck.

Interestingly, one of the women was talking about in the past, when she was a child and the people in Barcelona, on Easter at 10am people would come out and bang together their pot lids and rattle the bars of the balcony railings. There was then debate about the significance of this with little resolution.

Bona nit!

Maybe I have to do this blog in both languages so I have to practice writing a little more. Not, however, on a day when I am posting at 12:30 at night. (the music thing goes from 10 - midnight! on a Monday!!! Welcome to Catalunya!!!!!!)

Now this is good news!

2011-12-11T00:13:00.000-08:00

I think.

They managed a deal for the climate talks in Durban. Is it a good deal? I don't know, but at least it didn't collapse.

On a silly note, the dog is snoring, which he rarely does. Sounds funny.

I think I have to double post

2011-12-10T14:52:00.000-08:00

But you know what, I'm not going to.

We got our tree up today, I have to admit that reforming the branches into tree shape was not a part of my childhood Christmas tradition, but tobogganing a tree out of the woods (at an Xmas tree farm) is not really an option here, as there is still lettuce growing in our garden.

The tree is WILDLY overdecorated, we made decorations here, we had decorations in Canada and on the boat, which have all been amalgamated on a rather moderate sized tree....looks .... exuberant.

Kids are happy. Lovely day. Lovely lovely day. Slept in, drew, taught, hung out, walked the dog with a friend and her dogs, cooked, ate sat by the fire reading stories, decorated the tree and sang carols. One of my students even sang Oh Come All Ye Faithful in Latin! LOVELY!!!! he has a wonderful deep baritone voice.

PLUS the good guys just beat Madrid in MADRID!!! JEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEJEEEEEE!!!!!!!! The fireworks and horns in town are impressive.

However,

Seems poor kids in Toronto aren't going to be. Thanks Mr Ford, thanks Toronto. What were you thinking voting this man in? This is REALLY what we needed? Comments about the man's size are being resisted here. Almost.

God it makes me so angry.

RUST

2011-12-08T05:09:00.000-08:00

Amidst a kind of poo-y morning...guess who found something stinky to roll in and needed a bath before my first cup of tea (at 11am)? Yup...he's still wandering around feeling misused and confused.

Then I have some rip-snorting ideas for some paintings I want to work on, and I am just here to inform you that that old saw about use it or lose it? Don't know about that, but use it or it rusts up hard? That one is T.R.U.E. True!

I knew this was going to be trickly to start with, but this is seriously irritating.

Going high tech on some help for myself in getting this done.

Tree going up next weekend, which is only a day and a half away!

LOVE a super long mega-multi-span poooooont of a weekend.

YEAH!

Next day of the staycation!

2011-12-07T09:31:00.000-08:00

Another cultural day today after a very very slow and relaxed start to the morning.

Just about perfect that way!

There is a HUGE Miró exhibit in BCN right now, it has been to the Tate in London and I was jealous that it was there, and then discovered that it has traveled here! YEAH!

I really adore Miró's work, though the bulk of this had to do with his more surrealist period which is not my favourite aspect of the entire body. His later huge works with very very simple lines and shapes on them do more for me, though it was fascinating to discover that he really liked the work of the American Expressionists...and it was interesting looking at his work from that perspective.

He was also an ardent Catalan nationalist, and much of his work is political in nature. Loved it.

We went to the Miró museum, who have quite sensibly made the cost of an annual membership the same as a singe adult entry, so the man and I are now annual members....

Youngest has gone off to see the fall colours overnight....I imagine they will see them in the light tomorrow though....and we're hanging around by the fire cooking and computering.

Still more holidays to come! I'm happy.

Cheers

O

Should have written this post BEFORE I took the night time cold medicine

2011-12-06T14:02:00.000-08:00

Everything is sloooowing down and getting very heavy.

Hopefully this is the last night I will need to take it. urgh.

I had a brilliant post in mind, but it has faded away on me.

It is amazing how little you can get done in a day when you're on vacation, wonderful isn't it! Though I actually did work this morning, it seems like a different day. Helps the two hour nap I had.....kind of divides it all up.

The girls are gunning for mushrooms, they want me to buy them so they can roast them over the fire tomorrow night. Hard to say no to that, isn't it!

As it is an official statutory holiday here again...(another on Thursday)...it was hunting day again so no walks in the hills for his Chuckiness who keeps looking at me accusingly.

I really have to post in the morning these days. This post maybe could be called stream of consciousness, but it's really more like a trickle.

More later. (tomorrow)

Hope you had a good one,

O

What a lovely day

2011-12-05T14:04:00.000-08:00

if only I weren't coughing up a lung!!!!

We went off to Caixa Forum and saw some truly lovely Impressionist works from the Clark Institute in Massachusetts.....(spelling that only took three shots!).

He was part of the Singer family, as in the sewing machines and had lots of money and the two of them had extremely good taste. If you're in BCN before mid-Feb...go.

While we were there, Eldest wanted to go and see the exhibit about the costumes from the Russian Ballet, who seem to have spent quite a bit of time in Spain. There are costumes there designed by Miró, Picasso (which seems to be when he met one of his wives, Olga, the ballet dancer) Matisse and more. Most amazing exhibit. There were also the costumes from Stravinsky's Rites of Spring, the ballet that caused a riot when it opened. Radiolab has a piece about it here....just amazing. This is actually a fascinating piece looking at music, and what it is made of and how it touches us sometimes emotionally and neurologically....the piece about the Rites of Spring comes in at about the 30 minute mark, but it's worth listening to the whole show.

Here it is:

We all staggered home in a roundabout sort of way, doing a wee bit of shopping enroute, then had a fire, a delicious dinner, a game of clue and stories by the fire.

Weekend just keeps going on! Though I have to work for a couple of hours tomorrow. Not the end of the world.

Hope yours was a good one too!

They didn't win

2011-12-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

but you should have seen Youngest dodging and weaving her way up the court with the ball! Something she has been a little nervous to do in the past but gave it a go in a game setting today...very cool.

Youngest and I are both down with nasty coughs/colds, so we were trying not to spread the plague in the car of the nice folks who gave us a lift to the game. Why kids basketball games have to involve a drive of over an hour each way, I am somewhat confused by, but whatever.

Ever seen Labyrinth? Good flick that, saw it with the kids this evening.

May put the kids through some culture tomorrow, see what happens.

Christmas is leaping up on us, somewhat alarmingly rapidly. Good grief!

Well, we all made it to the long long multi-span bridge of a weekend.

2011-12-03T10:45:00.000-08:00

And thank goodness.

I fell into bed last night with the ripe beginnings of a cold....rather inevitable given what we've been up to...and I am now enjoying the full rich bubbling nuances of every moment of it.

I did manage to change my work tomorrow so I can go to Youngest's basketball game, maybe the only one I see this year. Sadly, we have to get up at 6am as it is an out of town game...as far out of town as we will get this year, and it has to be an early game too....

Still glad I get to see her play.

We've got a couple of museums lined up...I've got some work and if I start breathing again, some painting!!!

Sounds like a good one.

Got a book I want to read

2011-12-01T15:23:00.000-08:00

A new-to-me Oliver Sacks, The Island of the Colour Blind.

Take me away Oliver! Looking forward to a ride...enthusiasm, fascination, amazement and awe, all in one papery bundle.

Oh, and this is pretty cool too...about words with no etymology. Neat concept. Wonder if they feel alien or orphaned? Or maybe something shinier and brighter than either of those options. Unique and astonishing.

We knew

2011-11-30T14:09:00.001-08:00

But oh my goodness this week is Looooooooooong

Fortunately we are coming into a very long long long weekend. In Catalan, a long weekend is called a pont, or a bridge. This one is more like an aqueduct..... a super-pont. We have a six day weekend coming up, then we go to work and school on Friday, and then another weekend rolls around.

I love living here.

Have I mentioned that before?

I had a post in mind....

2011-11-29T14:47:00.000-08:00

now I mostly have sleep in mind, so you get more photos.....

First up, the alps from the plane:

A Toronto river on a warm Nov day:

Fall leaves in High Park:

A detail from Zurich:

See if you can guess this place

2011-11-28T13:46:00.000-08:00

We had a 7 hour (deliberate) layover in this city, and ran in for a half-zombified wonderful wander around in the beautiful sunshine....

Note to self

2011-11-25T13:50:00.000-08:00

If I ever visit the Ontario Science Center again and it is packed out with school groups in the entryway, I will immediately turn around and leave. It will not improve.

This is not to say that I did not enjoy my time with my sister, nephews and brother in law, but it might have been more fun and a lot easier on the nerves and ears if we had gone to High Park and the Adventure playground instead.

We did indeed go to High Park after a quick trip to Timmy's, lay in the sunshine, drank mocha, coffee and icecaps respectively alongside a few timbits and it was WONDERFUL....walked home in the beautiful fall weather.

Lovely lovely lovely. Kids got on brilliantly, and a beautiful day....though my ears felt pressurised, like I'd been flying by the time we left. Oh the noise.

Whoa

2011-11-25T04:41:00.000-08:00

Chagall exhibit? Awesome. Sometimes a painting just GRABS you. Then if you're lucky, there's another. We were lucky.

Stomping our favourite stomping grounds.....favourite restaurants........

Seeing family.

Not sleeping NEARLY enough.

Missing Chuck.

My nephews are in town, so more fun to be had.

barely time to breathe let alone post

2011-11-23T16:33:00.000-08:00

Dr says my optic nerves are nasty, not a surprise, and I've another visit scheduled for June to keep an eye on them (heh heh heh)

Family is all in town and more arriving, my sister and her kids and husband, my folks, my great aunt, us, my Dad's cousin, distant relatives on my Mom's side, went out to see my uncle and aunt today......just a whole big mass of family that doesn't happen all that often for us.

Joy.

The days are packed, and packed with fun.

Today in our travels we went to see an old steam engine pump, that was seriously neat. Built in the 18somethings, and it still goes today if they pump it out. Then we also went to the Hamilton War Plane museum...that was cool, my Uncle and my Dad's cousin know a lot about planes, and I have to go back with the man and my Dad who know a ton too......

Next summer.

Good fun. Hope you're all doing well out there!

We're in TO

2011-11-21T04:57:00.000-08:00

Yes indeed...To it is for a week....celebrating a family member's 100th no less.

So, yesterday a big breakfast, a good skate, we got new shoes for Youngest and the man, got groceries and I went to some alternative dance last night. All in bed by 7:30 pm and up at 5am, trying not to get TOOOOO far around on the jet lag so we function better when we get back in Spain.

This morning I called out to the girls asking if they wanted to go walk the dog. They both said that yes, they would. A minute or two later they realised that his Chuckiness isn't with us. So we walked an imaginary dog instead. There are a lovely group of dog walkers I meet every morning in the summer and they are still here in the winter too....so off we went. Stopping at some poles for Chuck to pee and throwing some pinecones too. Eldest even wore here clown nose for the event....we were getting on the subway yesterday, unaware that it was the Santa Claus parade, and if you bought a clown nose kids rode free...so the kids had to wear them on the subway, they were totally game, and Eldest had hers in her pocket this morning. Kept her nose warmer!

I think I'm still cold from that walk. It's nicer out there at 6am in July, I must say. Today: visits, banks, schools, phones and drs.

Go big or go home!

Breakfast

2011-11-20T05:37:00.000-08:00

We all woke up super hungry.,.....very very very hungry at 7am.

We went out for breakfast. I had a steak, 3 eggs, hashbrowns and dark rye toast with a big big glass of OJ. The girls had gigantic waffles with whipped cream, strawberries, strawberry jam, butter and syrop, then some. We bought olive bread, challah, and cheese buns on the way home.

We're going skating in a few minutes.

Can you guess where we are? It ain't Catalunya, I can tell you that.

Gerhard Richter exhibit

2011-11-18T14:08:00.000-08:00

Went to the Tate Modern on the weekend in London, and I have to say it was marvelous.

I went to another Richter exhibit at the National Portrait gallery back in 2009 with Nomad, and I was left a little cold. There is no doubt that he is an absolutely masterful painter; however the majority of his work in that exhibit was figurative and honestly left me rather cold. Some of the work was in and of itself quite cold and deliberately so.

Then I discovered that he does abstracts, and he does abstracts that I LOVE....LOVE LOVE LOVE.......

So when I found out about this exhibit I was quite excited and we went and it was marvelous.

My favourites of his works are the 'squeegy paintings' where he uses large reenforced sheets of plexiglass to apply gobs of paints in layers over the works, many of which are enormous....and beautiful.

We weren't allowed to take photos in main exhibition, but the Tate Modern has a series of 6 large paintings called the Cage series, after John Cage the composer who Richter was listening to as he worked on them and these were on display in a separate section that allowed photography without a flash.

Stunning.

A detail:

Some more detail:

and more:

Oh, it would be lovely to have the money to splash that much paint around.

Look at the layers and intricacy.....that's all over the painting. What a treat.

A couple of random people in the gallery to give you some idea of the size of these things.

Should you get the chance to see his work anywhere....GO!

language challenges

2011-11-17T14:18:00.000-08:00

One of the difficult bits of learning Catalan, well I imagine any language with gendered nouns, is not only remembering them, which is hard enough, but sometimes they don't seem to make sense.

Eggs for instance are masculine in Catalan. I cannot think of anything that is more profoundly feminine than an egg, but there it is.

I got a good laugh today, and so did my co-workers, because the word for an arm is masculine, but I cannot get myself to call it, 'el meu braç' that would be a masculine article, el, followed by a masculine possessive adjective, meu, followed by an arm.

Let me tell you, I am a woman, so it seems to me that my arm would be female too. In fact it is, right down to the DNA....and it isn't a 17" pipe for that matter either. Distinctly female looking but masculine it is.

Maybe I should take up weights again and I'll get my head around the idea.

The economy

2011-11-16T15:01:00.000-08:00

I read today about a brilliant idea that congress has to pass legislation to shut down any internet site that hosts copyrighted material. Nice.

The US apparently really does want to re-enter the dark ages. Creationist, the tea party, Palin, economic self-destruction and this display of truly and overwhelmingly antiquated ideology. Hmmm, some folks criticize China around it's internet policy, no? Wonder how much the congressmen and women were paid for this?

You hear people going on and on and on about the economy. About how the majority of these problems have been brought about by a few handfuls of men. Hmmm, seems none of them need prosecution. Yet, you know, when my daughter tells me that here, in this village, in her school, there is a family trying to get by on 27 Euros a month after they pay for rent, I wonder why that is.

When my own children are affected by this economic downturn - nice euphemism for an almighty fuck up, no - it makes me angry.

When I go by occupy London, and it is so pathetic, I am saddened. Honestly, there is hypocrisy there, I too should be out occupying Barcelona, because if we all did, maybe they'd listen. Or not.

But I have to make a living. I don't have the ability to go out and sit in a square and not earn anything. I have to work. So what's to do?

The news media can be so inflammatory, to the point of creating difficulties...I read a piece today where they stated that many southern Europeans are withdrawing their money from local banks, as in Spanish, Italian etc...banks and investing further north. Can this help? Is this true? Is it another case of the rich (oh I sound SO Marxist) getting their money out and safe and the rest are left to swing?

Feeling a mite bitter this evening and more than a little worried.

Why have there been no trials about the hacking in the UK? Why have none of these financial types been brought to court outside of Iceland? Why can the entertainment industry buy congress to pass a bill that is so completely unenforceable and ridiculous when something meaningful really should be done?

You don't know what to think....is this just another recession and things will pick up as they always do? You know that economic theory about things going in cycles; or is this a sign of a busted system. A system invested in the near future with no vision for further along, a system where petty crime is vigorously prosecuted, but the crime of creating global want is just fine?

Shouldn't there be some kind of international economic crimes tribunal? I'd pay tax dollars for that.

Sorry for the gap there

2011-11-15T00:04:00.000-08:00

but you see, I was away. Let's see if you can guess where!

This is novel

2011-11-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

I was hoping against hope that I would have a backlogged post I could use, I am so very tired this evening......and I do! This was written on Monday morning I think. I feel like the posts have been a bit lame of late, sorry about that....life is taking up a lot of my attention and leaving me pretty wiped at the end of the day.

Long walk tomorrow! YEAH!

I cannot remember the last time I was at home all by myself. Well, aside from Chuck the howling lovelorn.

It is odd, and quiet and strange.

With the man out of work, he is home a lot, which has been an utter delight. Definitely the upside to the whole thing, but this morning he has started some kind of computer course and he is off to that every morning this week. We'll sign him up for Spanish in the new year as well.

Back to the point though.

I have been painting this morning (really freaking awfully, but still, it's good). Reading, just fine there.

Hanging out.

It feels odd, and feels odd that it feels odd, if you can understand that.

We have sunshine again too, which I can only be gleeful about. I shouldn't whine about rain, but we've had enough. For me.

Mixed? Nah, mostly good

2011-11-09T13:35:00.000-08:00

Hmm, Chuck is on day 5 of howling and whining. How long can that dog stay in heat? She keeps swinging by the house to keep his hopes up too.

We had lunch outside today in the pati...now that was a pleasure and nine tenths. The nap after lunch, that was the final tenth.

Man, the economy here may SUCK, but they've got a great lunchtime routine. Nice and long, come home with the family, eat well together and then a nap before going back to work.

There's a sensible way to tackle the middle of the day.

Oh, and the morning? That was pretty darned good too. Went into BCN on my own, went and got some tea, had a lovely walk in the sunshine and went to MACBA, the modern art museum.

I have to say. Video installations as art leave me c.o.l.d. cold. Ho hum.

Some sculpture, fine. Big installations, as in room installations, I am SO there with you. Ultimately though, painting is what makes my fiddle sing. There were some decent Barcelós, a Basquait, and a painting by an artist whose name escapes me, but whose work was very cool. Oh, and a Gerhart Richter...one of his abstracts which I really like. Some of his pieces, meh, not so much, but the abstracts are really something to write home about.

Gotta say, overall, a pretty darned good day.

Hope yours was good too.

Cheers,

O

Memory is a weird thing

2011-11-06T14:16:00.000-08:00

Something I noticed this morning when I was out walking the dog. I was listening to a podcast that I had listened to the day before when walking the dog and I was trying to skip through it to get to the ending of the show which I hadn't heard. As I scrollled through, listening to the fragments of the show, I could remember exactly where I had been in the walk the day before when I had listened to each section. Exactly where I was.

I could not, however, remember what I was listening to at any given point of the walk. If I thought about being at a particular corner I was entirely unable to conjure even the faintest idea of what I had heard, but with the story, instantly and effortlessly I knew.

Weird, eh?

Memory of place could be accessed by story, but not story by place.

Our minds are a baffling place.

Chuck is tiiiiired.

2011-11-05T16:20:00.000-07:00

You see, he was out with me for a walk when he met up with his girlfriend again, indeed she came and found him, much to their mutual delight.

Once I got him inside, and left her out, which took a little doing, he set up to howl. And howl, and howl and howl.

Indeed, he has howled or whined on and off, and mostly on, for the entire day.

That is a lie, he took a break from it when I had a nap and had a nap too; and then started off again.

Very tired puppy this evening (thankfully).

We looked up how long her attractions would last. Looking like a bit of a long haul for us all.

Goodness.

Milk

2011-11-04T16:36:00.000-07:00

It seems such a generic basic kinda thing. White, usually cold. Basic a staple. Unchanging.

Then we got here and started buying different brands of milk.

This shouldn't be a surprise in fact. I know that milks change their flavours depending on what the milk producer is eating at that time, be they bovine or otherwise. What is really interesting here is that the milk producers are sufficiently small, and local, that the different brands actually have different flavours.

Our personal favourite is ATO, though the Condis brand is fine. I have to say that the Condis brand (a Catalan? chain of supermarkets owned in Angola the man says) is a big enough buyer that the milk basically has that ubiquitous milk taste, but the other smaller brands? ATO lists 7 dairy farmers that supply them with their milk. Seven. Now I am not naïve enough to really believe that these 7 farmers are small farms, they must have hundreds of cattle each, but the reality is that the milk has a distinctive flavour. Another brand, Pasqual, has a different flavour again, one that Youngest can. not. stand. She won't drink it. This is a much bigger company than ATO, and the flavour is quite different.

Interesting. I think anyway.

I've never noticed flavour differences in milk in Canada. Ever. We once had fresh milk on a farm in Germany, it may have been unpasturized straight from the cow, I was too young to remember, but I do remember it tasting quite different, but that may have also been because it was also full fat milk and we normally had 2%.

My poor kids live on skimmed, and are basically happy, but MUCH prefer the fattier milk.

I also have some suspicions that skimmed milk here is not as skimmed as Canadian skimmed, no blueish overtones and you can get a milk mustache. I wonder if the different brands have different fat levels too.

Hmmm, something to look into. I know we once got some milk that had olive oil added to it. Seems weird, no? Very different taste there, I can tell you.

Cheek

2011-11-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

In no event, even if we are negligent, will we be liable for any loss of data, or any indirect, consequential, special, aggravated, punitive or exemplary damages whatsoever, in whole or in part, (including any business interruption, loss of profits, data, information, opportunity, revenues, goodwill or any other commercial or economic loss), caused to you, regardless of the cause of action, even if we have been advised of the possibility of such damages

Found this in part of the forms from my bank. Good lord, no?

Wish I could get people to agree to something like this.

Seems a weeeee bit cheeky to me, no?

Sometimes, it's amazing what's interesting

2011-11-02T15:27:00.000-07:00

I am something of a podcast junkie.

I listened initially for two reasons, one, to maintain my English, I know that sounds odd, but when you only ever speak to your family, your level, and specifically, your vocabulary starts to diminish. I used to find myself back in Canada struggling to come up with words for things. So, in came the podcasts to prevent this impoverishment.

Later I have done much the same thing in Catalan. I listen to increase vocab and keep my ear tunes, particularly in Canada in the summer, but year round too.

Then it turns out there are some AMAZING podcasts out there.

There are a lot that I know I will like, cause they are on topics I am interested in, such as A Way with Words, which Beth introduced me too, and some of the book podcasts, such as the Guardian book podcast and The Next Chapter from the CBC, there are some that I listen to when I can't sleep, they are just that right balance of charm, peace and interest that they stop the churning mind, my two best for this are Coast and Country and Scotland Outdoors, both from the BBC.

Then there are some that I have found that are simply brilliant, well, one in particular, WNYC Radiolab...I've sung their praises before.

Then there are some that seem so unlikely. This one was the inspiration for this post. Wired magazine, which I am coming to adore, has a podcast they call Storyboard (though if you read this though, finding podcasts on your site is WAY too difficult) and particularly, this show was riveting. It's all about how whiskey is made.....not something that really interests me at all as I don't drink, but there is something about a person who is passionate about a topic that I find endlessly interesting, and something about curiosity that I adore, and the guy who hosts the show is nothing if not curious, and then there is the geekiness of it all....and it is geeky, but there is something about that sort of geeky impulse that is compelling too. I am probably not marketing this sucker well, but it was fabulous.

I do love it when you find yourself drawn into a show or an individual program that you would otherwise not have the least interest in. Lovely.

Chuck's girlfriend comes a calling!

2011-11-01T04:29:00.000-07:00

Wondering if Chuck could come and ahhhh play.

Chuck was ready for a little sport.

We were mean and didn't let him out. Indeed we closed the outer door eventually. You know, no soliciting.

Halloween!!!!

2011-10-31T14:43:00.000-07:00

The Mona Lisa headdress for youngest:

Pumpkins!!!!

BOO!

Chuckster aka Valentino

2011-10-31T02:01:00.000-07:00

Yep, he's teaching my girls about the nature of boys.

Seems there's a dog in heat in the village. He has taken to abandoning us mid-walk to go and hang out with this oh so willing, but distressingly tall girl.

I had to go back out with the man to catch him this morning, cause he was so delightfully engaged with some of the happier aspects of a doggy's life. She followed us all the way home, tempting him, well offering him many, ah, opportunities. It's an interesting way to walk a dog, that.

Since we have got him home, he has panted, drooled and spent the last 45 minutes smelling himself over and lasciviously licking at whatever part of his body he can still smell her on. Feet, back, knees, forelegs....

A most satisfying morning, t'would seem.

Now all he needs is a nap.

Lovely quiet Sunday.....

2011-10-30T14:15:00.000-07:00

This is the second day of a four day weekend....a small slice of heaven indeed.

Today was spent basically hanging around together...though Youngest has abandoned us for a sleep-over at a friend's house.

The highlight of the day was the creation of Youngest's costume for the trick or treating tomorrow evening. A tradition that is only just appearing here in the last couple of years. We - the man and I - were a little hesitant about this. The difficulty is that there is a Catalan tradition of the Castanyada on the same night, and the kids prefer Halloween....I have had some comments about folks who DO NOT LIKE Halloween starting up.

However, a group of Youngest's friends went out last year, and they are going out again this year.....would be strange if the only N American in the crowd didn't go....

So the costume.

She's going as the Mona Lisa, and it is turning out quite well. We've used an old frame and glue gunned crinkly shiny gold wrapping paper to it, cut out a shape around her head from cardboard and painted that like the background in the painting. Eldest is going to do her best to do the makeup, erasing eyebrows and eyelashes and giving an orange-green cast to her skin.

Good fun.

Completed

2011-10-29T11:43:00.000-07:00

Finished this piece today, in that I mounted it and then the man and I hung it.....all good stuff and I am delighted to have it up!

Gotta love creative framing. Saves so much money and adds so much interest.

Orphaned pumpkins

2011-10-28T14:40:00.000-07:00

I meant to have a photo of the pumpkins we have, ready for Halloween....but I didn't get to that today.

Seems, however, that they are somewhat orphaned. We bought one big one and five small, for the house and the two kids plus two friends and an extra to save and cook later, but instead of the small Halloween party we'd talked about seems they are going out trick or treating, what the local villagers will think of this I am not sure, though apparently some of them went last year and it was fine.

Good thing we all like pumpkin pie. Seems we'll be eating a lot!