Cousin Connie's Apple Jelly

Mermelada de manzana de mi prima Connie.

Connie has a talent in the kitchen in the most traditional and wonderful way. She and I share our love of baking, but I've never put down jams, jellies and other canned produce like she has. I'm a big fan of hers and of all that comes out of her kitchen, like her Apple Jelly.

Connie tiene tanto talento para la cocina al modo más tradicional y maravilloso. Compartimos el amor por la pastelería y hornear, aunque nunca he podido hacer mermeladas y conservas de otros productos de la huerta como ella. Soy muy fan de ella y de todo lo que sale de su cocina, como su Mermelada de Manzana.

Connie, your sweetheart, Bob, looks as all-American as the the candy-apple red around him. I know we'd like him just by looking at him. Besides, don't we gals all love a man in the kitchen?

Connie, tu cariño, Bob, tiene el aspecto de ser tan todo-Americano, como el color rojo-manzana a su alrededor. Sé, simplemente mirándolo, que nos caeríamos bien.  Además, a nosotras las chicas, nos encantan los hombres en la cocina, verdad?

This 3-legged metal strainer and wooden pestle remind me so much of my grandmother and mother and how it was stored in our garage for each season of syrup and pie making. Good memories.

Este colador de metal de 3 patas y una maja de madera me recuerdan tanto a mi abuela y a mi madre y cómo yo lo almacenaba en nuestro garaje para cada temporada de hacer siropes y tartas. Muy buenos recuerdos.

Oh, Connie, I know I should be looking at the jelly in this picture, but I'm lusting after that beautiful red bowl perched on top of the toaster. I have two like it, a very small orange one and a larger forest green one. They're my favourites.

Oh, Connie, sé que debo mirar la mermelada en esta foto, pero en lugar de ello estoy deseando ese hermoso bowl rojo encaramado en lo alto de la tostadora. Tengo dos como él, uno muy pequeño de color naranja y otro más grande verde del bosque. Son mis favoritos.

Jelly jars lined up look like pure gold in the afternoon sunlight.
Alineados los tarros de mermelada parecen puro oro en los rayos del sol del atardecer.

Deciding Everything By Coffee

"We decide everything here by coffee; business, holidays, even our husbands."
"Aquí decidimos todo con el café los negocios, las vacaciones e incluso, los maridos."

It's a grey, rainy day and we woke up, looked at each and telepathically said, "café, café and chocolate with churros." It's Saturday, after all.

Fiesta de Las Marías

Esta noche no alumbra
La farola del mar,
Esta noche no alumbra
Porque no tiene gas...*

The Third Sunday of every September the townsfolk of Santa María de Guía , or Guía for short, celebrate La Rama de las Marías. The Virgen María of the town, dressed in green silk and brocade, is carried out of the church and carried through the town in homage, before returning her to the church.

This celebration commemorates when, in the 18th century, the town and surrounding area were devastated by a plague of locusts. To rid themselves of the locusts, the locals fervently prayed to the Virgen María that she would rid them of this blight, and, according to legend, she did. The island festival begins and ends by the blowing of conch shells.

The town, elaborately decorated with palm branches, fruits, gourds and all sorts of island produce, shares local rum, cheese, cooked and baked goods and more with each other and bystanders, like us.

Guía is famous for its queso de flor, or flower cheese.

A beautiful day, bright with colour, song and joyous goodwill to all.

* An Isa, a type of song and dance most characteristic of the Canary Islands. Google the first line and you can listen to a sampling. My own video didn't turn out. Musically speaking, the Isa is part played and part sung, begun by four lines or chords followed by instrumental accompaniment. It's a happy chant sung in parades during the "stops." There are endless varieties of the basic theme in the Islands because it's a genre that allows a lot of improvisation and lots of melodic and rhythmic assimilation.

Sostenible, Biológico, Requetebueno

A boxful of the best of the region and more organic goodies. My favourite this purchase is the sesame oil.

Trader Joe's in León, buying organice produce and picking up La Semilla Cooperative order. A happy sight.

Everything weighed and ready to go. Picking up our orders is a bright mid-week moment.

The Secret Life of Bees

“Every little thing wants to be loved.”

Copied pages from the book in a black tea/coffee ground wash to "age stain" their loo

A beautiful narrative, written like honey 

with slow-Southern talk thats knits the emotions 

of racial tensions, adolescence, young love, social injustice 

all into a cohesive and passionate tale.

“There is nothing perfect...only life.”

“And when you get down to it, Lily, that is the only purpose grand enough for a human life. Not just to love but to persist in love.”

“...women make the best beekeepers, 'cause they have a special ability built into them to love creatures that sting. It comes from years of loving children and husbands.”

Skinny and fatty bee surrounded by honeycomb hexagons filled with best quotes. In blue is Enrique's simple bee sketch highlighting my bees' need to a thorax, otherwise hidden. I'd like to call that artistic interpretation. He called it impossible, considering the science of a bee, and I tend to agree.

“Someone who thinks death is the scariest thing doesn't know a thing about life.”

“It is the peculiar nature of the world to go on spinning no matter what sort of heartbreak is happening.”

“After you get stung, you can't get unstung, no matter how much you whine about it.”

“Nothing is fair in this world. You might as well get that straight right now”

“There's nothing like a song about lost love to remind you how everything precious can slip from the hinges where you've hung it so careful.”

“The hardest thing on earth is choosing what matters.”

“People can start out one way, and by the time life gets through with them they end up completely different.”

“I'll write this all down for you," I said. "I'll put it in a story." I don't know if that's what he wanted to ask me, but it's something everybody wants--for someone to see the hurt done to them and set it down like it matters.”

A Spanish review.

Tordesillas, RIP Rompesuelas

Today we went to the hospital in León where I was seen for a minor surgery, two more suspicious skin cancers removed. I was poked and cut, and felt a little sorry for myself, momentarily. But, it was nothing compared to what poor Rompesuelas felt this morning. Big and noble, he was chosen as the token animal to be speared to death in an annual medieval tradition called "Toro de la Vega." Only celebrated in the town of Tordesillas (province of Valladolid, Spain) and celebrated early each year, it consists of a hunt of a trophy bull in order to finally spear it to death.

Hoy fuimos al hospital de León, donde me hicieron una pequeña cirugía quitándome dos cánceres de piel que parecían sospechosos. Me clavaron, me cortaron y sentí un poco de pena por mi misma momentaneamente. Pero no fue nada en comparación con lo que sentía hoy el pobre Rompesuelas. Grande y noble, fue el 'animal elegido' para ser arrojado a la muerte en una tradición medieval que se llama, "Toro de la Vega." Afortunadamente, hoy en día solo se celebra en un pueblo, Tordesillas (Valladolid, España.) 

 

Hundreds of lancers chase Rompesuelas, some on horseback, trying to lance him to death. First, he was released to run through the streets of the town and led to an open field by the runners and participants. According to the rules, if he had managed to run outside the boundaries of the tournament, or if the lancers had not been able to kill him, he would have been 'pardoned' and released.

Cientos de lanceros persiguieron a Rompesuelas, algunos a caballo, tratando de herirle hasta la muerte. Primero, fue soltado para correr por las calles de la ciudad y siguió un recorrido hasta llegar a un campo abierto con los corredores y participantes. De acuerdo con las reglas, si se hubiera salido fuera de los límites del torneo, o si los lanceros no hubieran sido capaces de matarlo, habría sido "perdonado" y puesto en libertad.

Increasingly, this festival has acquired increasing notoriety as most Spanish people don't believe in the torture of animals such as results here.  They protest against the cruelty and suffering of the bull and the negative image of the town and the whole country created by the survival of this tradition into the 21st century.

Cada vez más, este festival ha adquirido grande notoriedad ya que una gran mayoría de los españoles no creen en la tortura de los animales como se ve aquí.  Protestan contra la crueldad y sufrimiento del toro y la imagen negativa del pueblo e incluso el país entero por una tradición antigua que ha sobrevivido hasta el siglo XXI.

 As dice Enrique, "Just because it's a tradition doesn't mean you have to continue it."
In this case I couldn't agree more.

Como dice Enrique, "Solo porque es una tradición no quiere decir que hay que continuarla."
En este caso, no podría estar más de acuerdo.
http://dichossuaves.blogspot.com.es/2013/09/saving-ferdinand.html

Street Art Cataluña

My collection of street art in Cataluña is growing. Every time we visit Tarragona and Barcelona there is a new surprise just down some obscure alley or narrow street or even in the stark open spaces for all to readily see.