BNC again!

More random shots of buildings.....

Cool table leg...

An illegal shot of cops in action...we can't take these here now.

Pretty, no?  A damp mint leaf squeezed into a cushy napkin!

A day in BCN

Had almost no time as I was on course, but I'm going in tomorrow too...!!!!!

Here's some of what I saw:

And a free photo of Chuck, cause the photo was on the camera and he's cute.

Went walking again today!

Yesterday was lovely, work, hang out at the rock climbing gym with youngest, friends over for dinner.....then today, a walk.  Hmmmmm

Nothing spectacular today, walking around where we live, but you know what?  Where we live is pretty great too. 

See?

That picture?  That's a pair of Sequoias!!!!  Really!  Ah hour and a bit walk from my house.  I never knew, how weird is that.

A friend showed me the way there, and his dog (and Chuck) shared a bit of my lunch and they both shared Chuck's.

Meet Zeus:

The sequoias again, can I just say that it is something of a challenge to get a decent photo of a sequoia.  Am I the only one who feels that Sequoia ought to be written with a capital?

There were plane trees scattered around, and they were a most spectacular orange colour, which you can kind of see in this photo...possibly a fungus?

The almonds are in bloom.  Life is so wonderful.  The cherries are close behind.

Something I love

Something I LOVE about being here?

Almond trees.  They are blooming now.  In February.  Anyone who has not been through a harsh Northern winter cannot begin to understand how miraculous it feels to see blooms in February!

I'll post a photo soon.

Catherine of Aragon

Spent about an hour today with a friend trying to unwind the history and lives of Catherine of Aragon, Henry the VIII, Anne Bolyne, Lady Jane Grey, etc, etc, etc


The excitement was greater cause the source of facts we were using were on his phone, in Spanish, which he was translating into English, as we were doing our language exchange and it was the English time, but was having trouble with him and her, he and she.  Imagine, Henry the XIII, the multiple wives, the children, the other descendents and the person describing it is messing up the genders?

Funny as all hell, and somewhat confusing.

I did come out of it, with new knowledge, some of which I should have known, for instance I had Bloody Mary, Mary I, Catherine's daughter mixed up with Mary Queen of Scots.  And some I didn't know, like my boundless admiration for Elizabeth in refusing to marry.

Good on you!  One tough lady that.

Most impressive.

It really does seem that she simply refused. 

There, in the end I did post for today.  Now off to read and draw!

Good night!

I have vowed to myself

That I will post more, and draw every day. 

Well, this is a post, kinda.

But if I'm sort of choosing between a real post vs drawing and reading.

I think the latter two are winning, so...

Hope you had a good one.

Cheers,

O

Running with Youngest

Youngest has started running with me, and after three weeks, we have a problem.  She is now much faster than me.  Ho hum.  That 30 year or so age gap rears it's head!

Problem is we run in the mountains, which is WAY more fun that anywhere else, but it also means that I want her to kinda sorta stick with me, and that we kinda don't want her to go on her own.  SO today, she was feeling FAST and I was p.l.o.d.d.i.n.g......but sad.  She had to run like a puppy dog, run ahead, turn around, run back and find me, then run ahead again.

I would say on the whole that puppies enjoy that rather more than teenage girls do.  I also have to say that it wasn't a whole lot of fun for me either.  I wasn't running with her, but didn't feel I could run my own pace, or stop if I wanted to. 

We're working on a solution. 

I will also put today's drawing up in a bit.

Youngest is having a party

Small one, but it's noisy downstairs, so instead of reading or painting, I am burning away my time on fb, though in fact I am chatting with my daughter and my aunt, as well as my sis a bit and some friends, so I'm not sure it's all bad...but still....

Then I noticed, in passing, that someone I knew had posted on a page of someone they knew about 28 drawings later, for February, and I think that that is a very good idea indeed.  Going to post them here.
 These sorts of daily things work well for me.  Activate the blog and get my sorry butt up drawing again!

....a moment later.....  a clear sign it's been too long since I last drew anything....the sketchbook I always keep beside the bed?  Can't find it.  Hmmmmmm.....

WOW

I have just spent a whole bunch of time cruising through the MoMA drawings online....that was some time very well spent!

So, here's today's!

Casa Batlló

I'd never gone.  It's a house by Gaudí in BCN that we had never ever visited, cause it is so expensive to get into!  Well, prices have gone up on most museums, but as I was saving it to visit when friends want to go....Monday was my day!  We had a bunch of friends in BCN who wanted to see it....and I was so glad.

There is a 5 Euro discount if you are from BCN, so I was trying to talk them into it......at one point I even pointed out to them that I was speaking CATALAN....c'mon, cut me some slack...I've learned the damned language, that ought to be worth a 5 Euro discount, no?

They thought so...after I showed them my library card so they could see I was at least from nearby!

In we went.  As always, with Gaudí, it was spectacular. 

Here, I'll show you:

Lovely, no?

delusions?

I have recently met two people who left me kind of amazed.

They are both in the 19 - 22 range.  Both studying.

One, wants to be a translator, she said.  She copies everything in class, never does the exercises and never speaks anything but her own native language (not even the other language here - Catalan).  She has, at best, about 40 years before she masters another language.  A translator. Cause they make so much money, she said.  I'm not sure which of those delusions is the greater.  Unless she meant a simultaneous translator.  They do make decent coin, but purportedly go bonkers after about a decade -  decade and a half.

The other?  Going to school to be a personal trainer.  He smokes.  A lot.   He does no sports.   At. All.  Played some football as a kid, and used to skateboard.  

Really?

This sounds very negative, and I am really questioning posting it, cause I feel kinda mean explaining this.  But, honestly, I don't understand their view of the world, how they think this will work? 

I am...mystified.