Waiting

This is a sketch I did while waiting for something. It seems as though I've done a lot of waiting lately, and I've a lot of doodles to show for it. It is now a habit to carry a sketchbook & pencils. As soon as I queue up in a line, out they come and something appears on paper. Whether it is good or bad is not the question. The important thing is that I didn't fall asleep and lose my place in line.
But, I digress. On July 11, I paid my fee and started the application process for my residencia. After I waited in a queue or other extranjeros (foreigners) with the completed paperwork, I was told that they could not process the application there in Orihuela. I had to do it in Alicante. So I went there and after the mandatory "take a number and wait over there" was told that I had to bring in a marriage certificate that had been validated by the civil authorities in Pasig City, PI, then by the Department of Foreign Affairs (1 week) and the Spanish Embassy in Manila (4 weeks).
Once that had been done, the certificate had to be notarized anhd authenticated by the British Consulate in Alicante, then sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Madrid (6 weeks)for a stamp. We then turned it in to the Guardia Civil who neglected to keep the copies we provided, so they sent us a letter to bring in the papers. This added 30 days to the standard 30 day wait, and once we got that straightened out, we were told to wait for a letter which would arrive in about thirty days with an appointment date to see the National Police for fingerprinting & photo submission. We finally did that ans were told that I could pick up my ID card in thirty days-in Orihuela where I started. That will be on December 15th.
Not bad-They let me stay in-country despite the maximum 90-day allowance for Americans. Aside from the waiting, the experience was a whole lot more pleasant than the manner in which Isabel was treated by the US government. Cheaper, by far, as well.
Other examples of waiting: "five minutes" for lost luggage in Barcelona took 4 hours. "Five minutes" for an e-mail with description of a substitute easel is currently passing the 4-hour mark. "next month" for internet connection took about three months.
I think I should buy a couple more sketchbooks.

Travelling Buddha has found a home

This is a sketch for a painting I want to do "someday". It is filed with the other sketches that never got developed. What is the solution? Drop everything and paint until you collapse, get it done, run out of wine...? If a work of art is never started and no one ever sees it, would it have been a good one?

Baby Eels

These are baby eels, fried in garlic and olive oile and served as an appetizer. They actually tasted much better once I learned that they were actually eel-substitute, otherwise known as Surimi. The real things are hard to find and prohibitively expensive. I gave thanks for that; too close to snakes for my blood. The wine is a LaMancha red of unknown parentage, but head and shoulders above a $6 bottle from a well known purveyor in Portland-for only Eu.0.99 (about $1.35). Asparagus, greens, potato salad-all grown locally, reasonably priced and brought to us weekly by the itinerant market.

Mid-November in Comunidad Valenciana

Last weekend Is and I climbed a third of the way up this mountain, Pico de Aguilas. with a friend from Redovan, the town at the foot. When I say climbed, I don't mean with ropes and chains as the students at the climbing school were using. We hiked up in beautiful weather, taxing our flat-land shoes and ankles. I hope to do the whole thing once I get the proper footwear and companion(s) who won't sprint ahead as I plod up it. I kept remembering a climb in the White Mountains that I did with Dyl & Kris. Up wasn't so bad, but down left me hobbling.

Cold and rainy today-winter is here. While it is not New England cold, it is bad enough for one whose blood has thinned to the consistency of a cheap LaMancha red, which by the way, is not hard on the palate. It certainly is easy on the pocket; allowing me to go out and buy a winter coat. Maybe I'll hold off on that, bundle up with second-hand stuff from one of the local markets and bring back one of the many nice ones lying useless in Westbrook, if I fly back mid-March.

That's one option that is being closely examined currently. Tax time approaches and I need to do some serious consulting with my accountant in Caribou. The rapacious eagle still demands its pound of flesh-I just hope a proctologist can give me an appointment shortly thereafter.

Anyway...will be doing some web-surfing for plane tickets and let everyone know when/if it becomes a reality. In the meantime I'll be cycling in all but the downpours and trying to paint otherwise.

Ramblin' On, again...

After what seemed like an eternity, we finally got our internet hookup in Fontana 1. It was first proposed for around August, then September, then October and on the second of this month we got it. Prior to that we had been using a neighbor's wireless, with his permission, whenever the right stars aligned. The other alternative was a trip to La Taberna, in town, and sit in a noisy bar, swilling beer and hooking up to their freebie. Not a good way to do internet banking, and on the wrong night you could be deafened by the Brits cheering on their favourite "footie" team. The beer was good though.

Highlights of the summer were the Valencia trip with Nick & Susan, and their visit. There was also the day, When Cecilia was here to visit, when I crashed the car twice. No injuries but to pride and wallets. We did discover a great local restaurant in the village of Mojon, while waiting for the first wrecker. Cooking was done over an open wood fire, wine was out of a jug and the hospitality was without fault. Jose, the proprietor, was gracious, explaining (in Spanish) all the foods and how he was cooking them. The waitress was Ukrainian and funny, and the patrons were curious but not intrusive. We were the only "extranjeros" there, and the only English-speakers. Somehow we managed to order a meal of chicken,lamb, sausage, potatoes, salad, red wine, bread and beer, consume it and leave in good graces. We took Nick & Susan back there for a repeat to which we added quail.

I'm throwing in some photos of lost tourists, sculpture form a Valencian museum of modern art and Is' birthday cake which I made. It looked like a real cake, but the icing wasn't shiny so she was suspicious. Actually it was four packs of one of her favourite candies, wrapped in a cake-shape and covered with plaster, candles and all.
Not very appetizing until one cracked open the plaster and unwrapped the Turron Alicante.