Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Spring in January......

Counting blessings:

A spectacular full moon on Sunday night.....even by Cachagua standards.

Two stunningly beautiful long morning hikes up the mountain with Grandpuppy. The poison oak is just starting to tip......so the trails are all clear. It will be a bumper crop of miner's lettuce and the sticky purple flower by all appearances. It is like walking in Ireland.

A mellow, calm Monday Night......financially quiet but packed with kind, appreciative guests and friends...

This time last year we were in Barcelona with Conall.......revelling in food and fun and comraderie.......and getting ready to visit San Sebastian for the Tamborrada on the 20th.

Oh, well!

A late AT&T and a panicky business environment put paid to a return visit......but it is not so bad.

Next Tuesday, at the Cuchara San Telmo in San Sebastian there will be pandemonium.

The Tamorrada is pandemonium all by itself: the Basques of San Sebastian sarcastically celebrating being conquered by Napoleon......and pointing out how well that worked out for him with dozens and dozens of parades of Napoleonic soldiers being closely followed and roundly mocked by further parades of milkmaids and chefs. The party goes for 36 hours.....and Cuchara San Telmo is a seismic center.

The first time we walked in for their famous tapas.....we got the full-on "fucking Americans" look from the football hooligan chefs and barman. Over their hand-chalked menu was an emphatic "BUSHIT!" Yankee, go home.....

I pulled up my sweater.......I was wearing the exact same shirt. Everyone cheered and we became fast friends.

Next Tuesday doubles down the Tamborrada with the Obama inauguration: the Tambobama! Luckily, the Cuchara San Telmo is pretty much a riot every night, so there is nothing breakable. It will be off the hook.

Spain will be going nuts on Tuesday. That whole Hope and Change thing resonates at least as well in Europe as here.

So......no matter how strange and scary it looks out there......there is much to rejoice over.

And......one more thing to be thankful for: the soundtrack for the inauguration

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