We arrived back safe and sound in our adopted home of Barcelona on the eve of Midsummer. It was a surreal day to return…(you can read about it in - jet lag & san joan) The weather has officially turned to the humid and hot days of July. It was an incredible two weeks and two days of travel around the US…San Francisco, Phoenix, and New York, but I have to say it is nice to be home. We want to thank everyone who entertained, housed, drove, and visited with us. We had a great time! For those people we didn’t have time to see or schedules just didn’t permit, we are sorry and hope maybe “next time”.

In May, a convergence of two events happened upon us here in Spain. Jason’s mother came for a visit and we had the opportunity to take her to visit the Girona Flower Festival. Girona is a beautiful city that sits on the union of two rivers, Ter and Onyar.

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Ahh how time flies. Spring fever and your bewitching breeze has had me floating through the months until now. Smacked awake with the hot and humid dog days of summer. Now for a little catch up, back to the past…A wonderful visit from our friend Noel (April 1 - 6) had us renting a car, braving the Spanish roads, and seeing some of the sights of the Costa Brava.

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Where does one go when you need to get away from the hustle and bustle of the city and breathe some fresh air? A house in the country sounds good, especially if you can find 8 other people to join in the adventure. A weekend away. After some searching we found the perfect place, beautiful and remote…El Roquer. A traditional Catalan rural casa built in the 16th century and nestled in the mountains around La Garrotxa. You might remember La Garrotxa from my previous post…Yo vs. El Volcán

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…usually somewhere between two to three times more than the “fire marshall” would have allowed. It was crazy! There were times when people were packed so tightly that moving became impossible, you merely swapped space with one of your new intimate best friends.

All of these photos came out looking really hazy. I am not sure if it was the camera or maybe just the night….

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Before going on a calçotada ‘the popular gastronomical fiesta of Catalunya’ it is important to first work up an appetite. So along with some friends in our Hiking and Outdoors Meetup Group we went for a walk, a stroll to see some 13th century castles.

The first…just outside the town of El Pont d’Armentera (where we soon would be returning for our feast of calçots). The ruins of the tiny village and castle of Selmella.

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I think we must have blanked out there for a bit. January and February feel like a blur. New Years, Carnival, and many other adventures…some which I would like to leave in the haze of the past.

Also as some of you have already noticed, part of our website is broken sigh and it looks like it will be down for awhile. Jason has to re-program a lot of the site Luckily it didn’t affect the blog…

A Catalan wish for our family and friends -

“menja bé, caga fort i no tinguis por a la mort!”
(Eat well, poop strong and don’t be afraid of death!)

So, yup, you guessed right - the Catalonian’s have a different outlook on Christmas. Lots of people throughout the world celebrate xmas with manger scenes, the three wise men show up, there’s baby Jesus (the reason for the season!), there’s usually a chicken so that the viewer knows that the baby jesus can eat eggs on the 26th.

But the Catalans have added an extra character - the “Caganer”. This adorable little scamp is often tucked away in some corner of the manger where he is not easily noticed. He’s hiding for a good reason. “Caganer” translates from Catalan to English as “pooper”, and that is exactly what our lil’ buddy is doing.

There’s an amazing variety of Caganers for sale at our local xmas market by the Catedral de Barcelona. Most of them are Barca footballers doing their fertilization thing, but you can also get George Bush, the angel Galadrial, even Santa Claus. You truly have not lived until you’ve seen a small plastic figurine of a squatting santa with his breeches down around his knees and a strained look on his tiny plastic face…

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Come and listen to a story
’bout the Snow Rocket
A fast mountaineer,
his skiing, they would mock it.

And then one day
he was racing down the slope,
Towards another skier
who’s safety had no hope.

Nacho that is, ex-ski instructor, ex-snow patrol.

Well the first thing you know,
ol Jason’s in a bind,
Skifolk said “Heeey cuidate!
You’ll hit him from behind!”
But twas too late,
Snow Rocket couldn’t stop,
And when the snow settled,
Nacho began to hop.

On one leg that is, jostled joint, knee high.

“Aw it’s fine, but you owe me a beer,
The day is almost over or so I hear.”
Skifolk said “Frozen slopes, time to flee.”
So they loaded up the car and headed back to sea.

Barcelona, that is. Gaudi, Ramblas, Pickpockets.

Well now’s time to say goodbye
to Jason and all his friends.
And they thank Andorra
fer kindly lettin’ ‘em in.
You’re all invited back again to this locality,
To have a heapin’ helpin’ of their hospitality.

Meetup Hiking Group that is. Ski awhile, don’t forget your bathing suit.

Y’all need it for the hot tub!

Sometimes you don’t know what you are looking at or standing on until after the fact. I knew that I had signed up to go on a hike through La Gorrotxa, but knew little about the this area of Catalunya. It was bound to be a beautiful walk through the woods, but doing it with 31 people trundling through the wilderness is a good way to not see any wildlife or have any quiet time. I couldn’t have been more wrong.
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