And then I saw this:
I also saw this:
Overall not a bad day of seeing things.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
Quite the Retreat
Parque del Buen Retiro is a former Monastery/Royal Gardens or Retreat in what used to be the outskirts of Madrid. It is now very close to Madrid's city center and would be, I guess, the equivalent of NYC's Central Park.
It is filled with trees and absolutely gorgeous. We didn't see half of the park during the few hours we were there. It was beautiful and peaceful. Lots of families hanging out before going home from school. And LOTS and LOTS of green.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Do you know what this is?
It is two mini palmeras con chocolate but SIN nata. I hope to have a palmera con chocolate Y con nata soon.
Tuesday, October 25, 2011
Peanut butter is a liquid.
I offered to take things to Spain for my friends Paco & Star as well as for a woman in my ward whose son is serving in the Barcelona Mission. And since we'd be meeting up with Matt at his Barcelona dance event, I offered to bring some books for him to sell at the event. All of this resulted in about 65 pounds that Lynda and I split up between our checked luggage. I decided to put the heaviest box in my carry-on.
The security process was an ordeal as the line I chose had a man barely ambulatory man going through security with 7 trays of belongings and his tiny dog. The person in front of me went around the man just as he was grabbing his dog from its carrier. This move must have startled him a bit as he almost fell over as she breezed past him.
The people behind me were grunting and shuffling around impatiently in a non-verbal attempt to get me to jump the queue as well so they could do the same and get on with rushing to get a seat in the boarding area. I couldn't bring myself to do it for several reasons: I felt bad for the guy...here he was, in sweat pants and shirt, barefoot, dog in arms, hobbling his way to the scanner. I wanted him to preserve a little dignity. 2. I'm a klutz. I'd probably knock him (and his little dog too) to the floor by nicking him with the corner of my heavy carry-on. 3. It didn't seem like the right thing to do. I think Grandma Ev would have been disappointed if I couldn't be patient for 3 minutes. So I waited.
On the other side (after I was body scanned), as I was waiting for my trays to appear and Little Dog Man was collecting his overabundance, I heard someone announce: Someone forgot to remove their liquids! "Oh," I thought, "they found where I put my tiny one ounce tube of sunscreen I tossed in my personal bag at the last minute and couldn't find it to have it scanned separately." But when the TSA agent came towards me it was my carry-on she was carrying, not my personal item. As she disassembled the contents (with minimal disruption, thank you packing cubes!) she opened the shoe box containing the heavy items for the missionary and said: that's what it was!
Peanut butter, when packaged alone in its plastic jar and protective plastic wrap, is a liquid and had to be abandoned at security. However, when enveloped in chocolate and transported in a pliable plastic bag, peanut butter suddenly becomes a solid...as is evidenced by the Reese's peanut butter cups Lynda was allowed to pass through security without so much as a batted eye.
Behold the power of chocolate and pliable plastic!
The security process was an ordeal as the line I chose had a man barely ambulatory man going through security with 7 trays of belongings and his tiny dog. The person in front of me went around the man just as he was grabbing his dog from its carrier. This move must have startled him a bit as he almost fell over as she breezed past him.
The people behind me were grunting and shuffling around impatiently in a non-verbal attempt to get me to jump the queue as well so they could do the same and get on with rushing to get a seat in the boarding area. I couldn't bring myself to do it for several reasons: I felt bad for the guy...here he was, in sweat pants and shirt, barefoot, dog in arms, hobbling his way to the scanner. I wanted him to preserve a little dignity. 2. I'm a klutz. I'd probably knock him (and his little dog too) to the floor by nicking him with the corner of my heavy carry-on. 3. It didn't seem like the right thing to do. I think Grandma Ev would have been disappointed if I couldn't be patient for 3 minutes. So I waited.
On the other side (after I was body scanned), as I was waiting for my trays to appear and Little Dog Man was collecting his overabundance, I heard someone announce: Someone forgot to remove their liquids! "Oh," I thought, "they found where I put my tiny one ounce tube of sunscreen I tossed in my personal bag at the last minute and couldn't find it to have it scanned separately." But when the TSA agent came towards me it was my carry-on she was carrying, not my personal item. As she disassembled the contents (with minimal disruption, thank you packing cubes!) she opened the shoe box containing the heavy items for the missionary and said: that's what it was!
Peanut butter, when packaged alone in its plastic jar and protective plastic wrap, is a liquid and had to be abandoned at security. However, when enveloped in chocolate and transported in a pliable plastic bag, peanut butter suddenly becomes a solid...as is evidenced by the Reese's peanut butter cups Lynda was allowed to pass through security without so much as a batted eye.
Behold the power of chocolate and pliable plastic!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Orange and berries
While on Bainbridge we saw a lot of orange and blackberries. Chinese lantern flowers are sprouting all over.
But not as all over as the blackberries. These were quite a distance from the pedestrian dock. Any branch within arm's reach was picked clean of berries. Katherine told me before I moved here that blackberry bushes were ubiquitous - that they grow anywhere they can find a spot of land. And boy was she right. The other day on my way to work I saw a few guys with buckets along side the road picking blackberries from the wild bushes that line the road. I imagined they were taking them home to make a pie that they were then taking to their Mom who lives in a retirement community and no longer has a kitchen of her own. What a couple of nice guys.
More orange flowers. No clue what kind these are, I just like them. There's such great variety here. You really should come visit.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
This isn't a zoo...
My sister Debbie came to visit recently. We did the Bainbridge Island trip - all of my favorite things to do on the island. We ate brunch at Cafe Nola, walked along the shore then had ice cream at Mora.
There was a dock we were able to amble down and get a bit closer to the water and the boats. We lamented that our parents sold the sailboat we were barely ever on. We discussed House Hunters International where a couple was looking for a houseboat. We took photos (see above).
As I was taking the above photo.
Debbie was taking this photo.
The woman, who I assume lives on this houseboat, came out on her deck and muttered, just loud enough for me to hear her - but not Debbie who was a few feet away, "This isn't a zoo, you can move on now."
I almost keeled over with laughter at her passive/aggressive comment. And I imagined how different this story would be if relayed by her: "So Saturday I was doing some cleaning around the house and these two women came walking down the dock, stopped a few feet from my house and just talked. And talked. And they kept talking. I had hidden in the house for fear that they might say Hello or smile at me - and who has time for those types of pleasantries? I had to sit in my house for a good 5 minutes. Finally, just as I couldn't stand it any longer, I decided to give them a piece of my mind and told them to move along, that this wasn't a zoo for you to gawk at the people living in houseboats. That sure told them...they finally ran off. Dumb tourists!"
I love people. The world would be a pretty boring place if it weren't for all of the people (except for the Vatican museum...that place is overwhelming with interesting AND lousy with people).
There was a dock we were able to amble down and get a bit closer to the water and the boats. We lamented that our parents sold the sailboat we were barely ever on. We discussed House Hunters International where a couple was looking for a houseboat. We took photos (see above).
As I was taking the above photo.
Debbie was taking this photo.
The woman, who I assume lives on this houseboat, came out on her deck and muttered, just loud enough for me to hear her - but not Debbie who was a few feet away, "This isn't a zoo, you can move on now."
I almost keeled over with laughter at her passive/aggressive comment. And I imagined how different this story would be if relayed by her: "So Saturday I was doing some cleaning around the house and these two women came walking down the dock, stopped a few feet from my house and just talked. And talked. And they kept talking. I had hidden in the house for fear that they might say Hello or smile at me - and who has time for those types of pleasantries? I had to sit in my house for a good 5 minutes. Finally, just as I couldn't stand it any longer, I decided to give them a piece of my mind and told them to move along, that this wasn't a zoo for you to gawk at the people living in houseboats. That sure told them...they finally ran off. Dumb tourists!"
I love people. The world would be a pretty boring place if it weren't for all of the people (except for the Vatican museum...that place is overwhelming with interesting AND lousy with people).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)