Gunternation

Saw this rainbow on the way to the DART coming home from work last night.

We’ve yet to address all the Barcelona teaser topics we posted. I didn’t expect any votes to learn more about Catalan Independence. I should have remembered about you history buffs out there. I can tell you Catalonia was once part of Spain, and now it is basically not. Bill may post more about this later.

Also, a confession: I am the annoying American that doesn’t speak Spanish. Surprised? Even Bill was making fun of my weak attempts: Qwat-Tro! Of course Bill wasn’t exactly chatting up the Spaniards either. But I did grow up watching Carrascolendas; I could have retained a useful phrase or two. (Further confession: I used to get annoyed with Carrascolendas because I couldn’t understand the Spanish, but these were pre-cable days. You watched PBS or nothing.) But Barcelona is such a lovely city full of such lovely food, I regretted that I couldn’t communicate more respectfully with its inhabitants.

The Picasso Museum in Barcelona focuses on Pablo Ruiz Picasso’s formative years, leading up to the cubist works that have come to represent him. Picasso’s family moved to Barcelona when he was a teenager. He studied there for a few years before moving to Madrid. Picasso continued to return to Barcelona, to visit family and occasionally work in studios there. We saw a special exhibit of paintings that Picasso had collected. Many of the paintings were by contemporaries–Renoir, Cézanne, Rousseau, Matisse, Degas–and were acquired from trades with other artists, agents and gallery owners. Picasso kept many of these canvasses stacked around his studio, amid his own work and his collection of carved African figures. I especially enjoyed his Las Meninas series, as well as seeing his artistic progression and forays into sculpture and ceramics.

We spent our last day in Spain at Barceloneta, a beach on the Mediterranean coast. We love the pace of beach life and enjoyed an afternoon of wandering along the boardwalk and eating cheese sandwiches, olives and bacalao (salt cod) on one of the many restaurant patios. (Bill is a slightly larger bacalao fan than I am.)

We touched the Mediterranean.

I’ll leave our tales of Barcelona with the dish that completes many Barcelona evenings–churros con chocolate. We found ourselves on our last day having not yet indulged in this chocolatey goodness, so we vowed to stop at the first joint with a Churros con Chocolate sign in the window. It happened to be around 5:00 in a cafe near the beach. The few occupied tables appeared to be finishing up lunch, and in one instance, a bottle of whiskey. A woman brought us two mugs of think, hot, rich chocolate, almost a pudding. The churros had a slight crunch, and were of course, deadly dipped in the chocolate.

Coda: I’ll post a pic of me since this post is a bit Bill-centric. This is atop Montjuïc.

My goals for my first week of work were 1) survive, 2) arrive on time, 3) wear appropriate clothing, and 4) not nap at my desk. Happy to report: I succeeded at all four.

My chance of survival was buoyed by the three-day work week. Monday off for St. Paddy and today for Good Friday. We’re off Easter Monday as well. I’m appreciating the opportunity to work up to the full five days. My door-to-door commute is about an hour, with Bill dropping me at the station. I’ll be working 9-5:30. Bill’s had to start waking up earlier to get me to the 8:12 train. I’ve been walking home in the evenings, but I really appreciate the lift in the mornings.

I don’t know if this week was truly indicative of train crowdedness. Schools are on break, so a lot of people might have been off work. Might be worse next week. This week was fine. Actually got a seat on the way in yesterday morning. The walk is pleasant enough. It does help one wake up. I created a map for the cartographiles out there.

View Larger Map

I’ve been exploring during my lunch breaks. Tons of places to grab a sandwich, or even a slice. Really looking forward to spring days to eat in the park.

We had a casual day on Thursday (usually Fridays), so that made wardrobe choices that much easier. I still need another pair of comfortable, dressy-enough shoes. I think Bill and I might trek to the mall tomorrow. Bill took one pair of slacks to the dry cleaners for me–€8.95 ($13.50)! That’s crazy, right? Gotta check out other cleaners.

So, what about the actual work? It’s going to be great!

Dear Williamson County,

I have just received my jury summons dated February 27 and I am sorry to inform you that I will be unable to report to the county courthouse Monday morning at 8:30 AM. I do know how to get to the courthouse because I paid a speeding ticket there in 2000. It was my first and only ticket. By the way, did you know I haven’t driven in five months? Really need to get out there and master the whole left side thing. Anyway, although my job does provide time off for jury duty, I believe the transportation costs would be prohibitive. Do you do any kind of reimbursement? I’d need around $2500 probably, plus food and lodging.

I have to ask you, justice system, why now? This is my first summons, after 20 years of responsible adulthood. All those years I wandered aimlessly looking for ways to apply my keen listening skills, capacity for compassion, and fairly logical mind to serve the better good. Recent tests have shown that I’m moving more toward a J in my Myers Briggs designation, so yeah, you’re really missing out. (Can one wander with aim? Perhaps you can poll the jury pool and get back to me.)

I tried to call today but the office is closed for Good Friday. I’ll try again Monday, but please please please don’t revoke my citizenship! Or be mad.

Cheers,
Sharon

A few sights and sounds from Dublin’s St. Patrick’s Day Parade.

The spectacle of the parade was more interesting than the parade itself. Tons of people, tons of green. We got to Dame street around 11:30. The parade started in Parnell Square at noon and turned onto Dame around 1:00. We stayed until nearly the end, I think. Our feet were numb from coldness and inactivity. By the way, the band in red, white and blue is Huntsville High (I think), a rival of Bill’s high school alma mater. I didn’t take any footage of Auburn U; the band in orange caps is from Illinois.

We ducked into a little cafe off Grafton for paninis. Very happy to eat sitting at a table and use indoor restroom facilities. We walked through St. Stephens, which was littered with folks in green amid the blooming daffodils and hyacinth. We heard a little music at the official céilí and wandered through the crowds waiting for carnival rides at Merrion Square. Sadly, there were no funnel cakes.

It was a beautiful day, especially when the sun was shining. The sun is starting to feel warm, so we know spring is near.

Every Dub we talked to said, “Yeah, you need to go to the parade. Once.” And now we have!