July flies by...

Can anyone tell me where the time goes? I can't believe that it's practically August!

Excuse my blogging absence. I've been away for the past two weeks. Angelines's mom rented a flat at the beach for all of us to share and so I've been here in La Roda for a total of three days in the past two weeks; it's been great.

The little flat was right on the beach with a large terraza and a view of the Mediterranean... (are you envious yet??). It wasn't hard to get used to the routine: breakfast, sunscreen, beach, lunch, beach, evening run, shower, dinner, bed. Almost all of us got the chance to spend at least a few days there. Only Angelines's eldest sister was unable to make it.

Everyone enjoyed the break from daily routine and the chance to relax by the sea, but most importantly, my mother-in-law had a blast. The minute we set down our suitcases inside and she'd had a chance to look around the place she said, "I could stay here all summer! If we could just win the lottery!..." :) She's been reluctant to do much of anything in terms of "fun" since her husband died a year and a half ago, so this was a big deal for her and she enjoyed herself immensely.

It is amazing, however, how much work goes into a vacation like this one. I felt very much like an adult as I was helping my mother and sister-in-law cook and clean. Making daily shopping lists, thinking about the menu for the day/week, and cleaning up after every meal are just some of the things I think most of us are oblivious to when we're kids on vacation. When I was little I had to keep my stuff relatively organized and clear my plate after each meal at the most... Such days are long gone, and I feel so much older!

Our nephews.

This was the daily set-up...not bad, eh?

The view from our terraza.

In these two weeks of beach bumming, my blog isn't the only thing that's been neglected--I have only been able to water my struggling tomatoes on the weekends! There are little green tomatoes on the vine and I know that now is when they need more water than ever, especially with the heat, but somehow they've managed to survive. Now that I'm home for a while I'm hoping that daily watering will get them back on track for some homegrown gazpacho in August. :) Next week I'm planning to dig up my potatoes. We'll see if this year I have bite-sized taters again or if all my spring excavation made the difference to get some real potatoes.

Aside from a nice tan, my time away from home without internet access has got me reading again. I'm afraid I've been through quite a dry spell for the past few years, only reading one or two books a year. So far since my visit to the States I've finished three and am 300 pages into a fourth. :) It feels good to have a book!

My summer reading list so far:

Granda de Leyenda, Manuel Laurino

Dancing at the Rascal Fair, Ivan Doig

The Time Traveler's Wife, Audrey Niffenegger

Currently I'm reading El Medico (The Physician), by Noah Gordon.

The Time Traveler's Wife is one that I especially recommend. It's wonderfully crafted and tells a beautiful, thought provoking story about time, life and love. I've spent quite a lot of time thinking about this one since I finished it; you'll probably hear more about it in another post. It's a book I would like to read again.

Hugs and kisses from a sunny (HOT) Spain.

Campeones del Mundo!!!!

I think the facts and picture speak for themselves. This is Jesus of the Sacred Heart in the square on the main street in town with a Spanish flag bib. ;)

Campeones, campeones, oe oe oe!!!!!

It was a hard-fought win; we did it!

Ready as Ever

Just to keep with tradition, though I don't normally consider myself superstitious, I'm going to make a quick pre-game post. ;) There isn't much news to report. Things here are slowly reaching the pinnacle of excitement...only to be topped by a Spanish win, of course.

(Do you love this picture??? The Spanish flag symbolically composed of tulips...)

Spain, being a country so divided geographically and even culturally--the most obvious examples being Basque and Catalan sepratists--has come together beautifully behind the Spanish team. The patriotic chant: "Yo soy Espanol, Espanol, Espanol..." can be heard from Barcelona to Bilbao and from Madrid to Ceuta and Melia. Spanish flags, usually flown with caution because of association with Franco's facist government, are currently waving from nearly every balcony, displayed in car windows or off the antennas; from American eyes, it looks like the 4th of July in red and yellow. :)

My friends even composed a Sevillana for the Spanish team:

Espana va por el mundo,

como un equipo, senor.

Como un equipo, senor,

Espana va por el mundo...

Como un equipo, Senor.

Y tiene ademas mi Espana,

a la mejor aficcion!

Sus colores rojo y gualda,

Sus colores de Espana,

Sus colres de Espana

Ganamos el mudial

porque juega con Holanda!

...translation:

Spain goes around the world like a team, sir.

Like a team, Spain goes around the world

And, what's more, my Spain has the best fans!

Her colors red and gold, the colors of Spain.

We'll win the World Cup because we play Holland!

I'll be watching the game in the bar with Angelines. I think this time I'll take the camera to catch some of the Spanish fever for you all.

Viva Espana!

Viva La Roja!

Podemos, si!

There's no Place Like Home...

There's no place like home; but in my case where is that? I'll leave it to you to decide: La Roda, Portland or Portola. ;)

Wherever home is, it feels good to be back here in Andalucia, although I'm sure most of that has to do with the air-conditioner we invested in last summer! Fourteen hours of sun can turn my little piso into an oven and when the daily temperatures consistently reach the low hundreds for the better part of the day, I'm glad to set the air at 80 and entertain myself indoors. This here is the origin of the Spanish siesta: there's not a lot to do in the middle of the day except sleep and wait for the sun to go down.

Around seven, people start creeping outside to do any shopping that was forgotten during the morning hours. By nine, when at least one side of the street is shady, people congregate on the benches and curbs to chat, eat sunflower seeds and people watch. There's even an expression for that here in Andalucia: tomar el fresquito (literally: taking the coolness...although "coolness" often amounts to about 92 degrees!). The older people put out chairs from the house or folding beach chairs and sit in the doorway until late into the night. Some people even bring their TV out into the street and sit around on the sidewalk watching TV until mid-night. It's certainly a different way of living.

And that brings me back around to my visit West. It's such fun to go with Angelines because although there are things that shock me about going back to the States, there is nothing like being with someone who's seeing it for the first time. We went together in 2008, but there were still a few things that shocked her this time around: automatic toilet seat covers in Chicago O'Hare Int'l Airport, self check-out at the grocery store, u-pick berries and the high price of wine! She couldn't get over the fact that an average glass of wine costs at least $6; in Spain one euro fifty is probably the average and if it's really good stuff it might be as much as three or four.

This time, however, she wasn't scandalized (too much so) by large portion sizes or 20% tips. Slowly my little Spaniard is learning how to get along in America. ;)

Our visit was too short, as I think it always will be; but I was pleased that we were able to squeeze so much and so many people into our two weeks and not manage to stress ourselves. In Portland I got to do just about everything I had my heart set on prior to the trip: a visit to the Gorge, Sauvie Island berry picking, bar-hopping on East Burn., long conversations over good food, a visit to the fam. and even a run around N. Portland. I am pleased that Angelines likes Portland as much as I do. She much prefers it to San Francisco...so I hold out hope that in some distant future we might return to live in Oregon for a time.

When we got down to Cali is when we were really able to relax. Very little sight-seeing and just some quality time with my family. I played catch with my dad for the first time in probably ten years, rode my "colt" who is now very nearly six years old (!), walked our crazy German Short-hairs, went to the Mill Pond with Maggie, hiked into Lakes Basin, teased and laughed with my sisters. It was a wonderful visit.

And now I'm back here in my quiet piso, blogging away the afternoon until I can go outside. My rosemary and aloe vera have grown incredibly in these two weeks, and I'm pleased to report that my tomatoes and potatoes haven't died either--photos forthcoming. :)

It's good to have been home. It's good to be home.

Quotes to Ponder

"...nadie es del sitio donde ve la luz primera sino donde surge al amor y la gracia..."

"...no one is from the place where he first sees light, but rather where he finds love and grace..."

Granada de Leyenda, "Juan de Dios, si Dios quisiere", Manuel Laurino

---

"Persons we had been all our lives and persons becoming new to ourselves. How are past and present able to live in the same instant and together pass into the future?"

Dancing at the Rascal Fair, Ivan Doig

---

I came across both of these quotes in my vacation reading and they jumped off the page at me: What does it mean to be from somewhere? How do we reflect that somewhere in who we are and what parts of where we go stay with us to make us new and different to ourselves? We are in a constant state of change (is that an oxymoron): forging and striving for the future, but simultaneously reflecting our roots, our past, and our culture in a beautiful mix called individuality.

That's my team!

Just quickly before I get to unpacking bags...

GO SPAIN!!

My friends couldn't understand why Angelines and I were never very satisfied after the games we watched from Portland and Portola--the team wasn't playing like we both knew they were capable of playing! As I said in my last post, they had been playing just slightly better than the other team...just good enough to get through to the next game; they weren't, however, playing well by any means.

Last night that changed. Last night we saw the defending Euro-Cup Champions in all their glory! There were a few mistakes, but the Spaniards came onto the field like bulls into the ring, (Excuse the cliché) and quite frankly I think Germany was scared from the first minute. Spain had never made semi-finals before and they knew that last night's game was now-or-never--that's exactly how they played. I don't know the stats. for ball possession, but I'd wager it was at least a good 60-40 for Spain.

You can imagine the celebration last night! We were all so tense during the game. Everyone was shouting and jumping and screaming at the TV with each of Spain's near goals. Iker Casillas (Spanish keeper) made a great save that nearly gave us all heart attacks! When one of our defender, Puyol, marked the first goal of the game for Spain in the 74 min, we went NUTS!

When the whistle finally blew for the end of the game everything broke loose! People were driving around town waving flags and honking for a good hour, there were bottle rockets set off, everyone was jumping, shouting, hugging, singing--craziness! It was great. And I'm so glad Angelines and I got to see that game here. :)

Viva La Roja!!

I know you all want to hear about my visit back to the States... but as you can imagine, the only thing any of us are thinking about at the moment is the semi-final World Cup game today: Spain vs. Germany.

I think that probably despite jet-lag, we're going to head out to watch the game con la gente. Spain has never made it this far in a World Cup competition... nor have they ever had such a good chance of winning. It would be a shame to watch such an historic event from home!

I am confident in our team, but truth be told a bit nervous. Germany has been playing great ball so far and Spain has just been doing enough to get through to the next game. Their last game was better, but I still think they haven't entirely gotten back on their game since the loss against Switzerland. We'll see how tonight's match goes.

Apparently in Germany they have an octopus that predicts the outcomes of all the German games and it said Spain would come out victorious! The fans on TV are wearing their Spanish team jerseys and a few are sporting stuffed octopie.

Viva La Roja!