Musings

First time a pilot came out to apologize for a late flight—he did it twice, over the mic to all, then walked around and took questions. [Really: last night, but first part of flight in essence.]

First high-elevation corporate witticism I had to “share.” [We left about three hours late; our destination: Madrid.]

Best airline food I’ve ever eaten. Yum. Truly.

We took off in the rental car, headed north, and the first time we hit a dirt road we saw our first caballero.

First Roman villa. This is a late one, and the central courtyard-garden still sports a tree.

First five-arch Medieval bridge. Last modified in 1973.

First Neanderthal cave cluster (mostly protected from the elements with a roof or with small openings—fenced, so we couldn’t get closer).

First fabulous sky of the trip.

First mystery. Sign says the water isn’t potable.

First dramatic bottleneck/pass we’ve driven through.

First night’s hotel room view.

We’re getting into the swing of the Spanish lifestyle: we will dine tonight at 8:30; only two more hours to wait. Over and out.

Posted at 12:28 PM | 2 Comments »

We dined this evening on hoppin’ john slightly re-imagined, which I sure hope still qualifies to give us good mojo for 2025. The black-eyed peas were fresh, mmmm. I lightly cooked the collards. The grain is off piste—it’s wild rice, which of course isn’t rice botanically…. The broth of all three was from some turkey thigh bones I held back for this evening.

Posted at 9:05 PM | Comments Off on Fiber-loaded augury

I went down memory lane today and came up with this sunrise from October back when we were up in northern Michigan. What I was actually spending time delving into was the excavations in Cova del Toll and Cova del Teixoneres…although the caves are right next to each other, the excavated remains date to very different periods…early no-humans, then Neanderthal, then some human stuff. Cave deposits can be terribly complicated to figure out, and I’m only superficially delving into these (apologies)…anyway, pondering a sunrise is far easier.

Posted at 9:56 PM | Comments Off on Looking about

I’ve heard of tea towels now and then, and now I have one. I still don’t know the role they play in tea-time—to coddle the pot, perhaps? Speaking of time (or herbal thyme, here in French on this tea towel of “Paree”), isn’t that the essence of life?

Thanks for this thoughtful gift; you know who you are!

Posted at 8:02 PM | Comments Off on French time/thym

By some prominent calendars this is an important eve, as in the fading day before a day of huge import…so here’s a sky pic of the eve-sky that the Apple-land algorithm has made “lighter” than it was to my eyeballs standing there looking up. In short: stars! evening!

Posted at 9:34 PM | Comments Off on Starlightbright

We just finished watching a season/year of Top Chef, if you can’t tell/figure out this visual clue.

Posted at 7:50 PM | Comments Off on Still avoiding USA political news

Street seating decoration…bar bow…or barbeau? I don’t speak French and my sense of its etymology is…poor. But I think barbeau is related to barbed, like a type of fish-face. This, however, is an inexpensive fake-velvet bow on the separator-fence of a neighborhood tavern. So, bar-bow?

Posted at 9:30 PM | Comments Off on What’s in a name?

Isn’t this a fab wreath! [It’s the neighbor’s, along with many other wonderful decorations, some even real and smelling…wonderfully evergreen.]

This makes a fine still-life, no?

Posted at 8:16 PM | Comments Off on Mantel, wreath, candlesticks

All too often, the fine print is sooooo important.

Posted at 8:39 PM | Comments Off on Who’s the boss?

Cut flowers are usually shipped miles, often by air. Also, they are often irrigated, including if grown in a hot-house (or similar). Thus, cut flowers are not-green green…and essentially represent a transfer of water from one part of the world to another…where they are thrown out, or sometimes composted (probably with chemicals (herbicides?) on them).

Posted at 9:50 PM | Comments Off on But they’re pretty