November Already!?!?!?

Just realized that Summer is over.  Actually, I missed the start of Summer, since my last post was the 24th of May but, then, it's summer here most of the year.  So what's been going on since then?



There was the trip to the Bacolod for my 50th High School reunion.  A whirlwind trip of eight days, three of which were spent in airports, in the air or on trains.  Had a great time catching up with classmates, most of whom I hadn't seen for fifty years.  How they got old, I don't know.  We ate too much, drank too much and stayed up way too late, but it was a worthwhile trip.

Then it was off to Maine for the MS Society bike ride and all-too-short visits with the family and friends.  Having sold my car and motorcycle, I had to cycle from home to home, which was fun and kept me in good shape.  My only complaint was about a ruined wheel caused by hitting a pot hole during a thunderstorm in Augusta.  I was enjoying the downhill rush in whitewater until the impact. Didn't get up to Oakland or the County to visit friends, as I didn't have the time to cycle there.  My stay was only 28 days long, but couch-surfing from Bruce and Sylvia's to Nick's and Shan's and Dyl's took up most of the trip.

Ten days after my return, Is and I took a bus trip to Viella in the Pyrennes, spending six days in the cool mountains, winding up and down hills that would daunt most cyclists, but are actually a big draw for those looking for a challenge.  One side trip was to Luchon, in France, which was the site of one of this year's Tour de France.

There were at least three bike tours to Puerto Mazzaron, Sierra de Espuña and La Colonia de Santa Eulalia, all involving many kilometers, much good food and moderate quantities of beer and wine. They all helped push my total toward my goal of 12,000 km for the year.  Sounds like a lot, but one of our group, Tom Tychesen from Norway, set a world record for the month of July by cycling 6276.6 Kilometers-more than half what I will do for the year.

October brought the olive harvest and a couple of batches.  My tree produced only five, but they will be ready for eating in eleven days, and I will do so with gusto.  I have since found out that, though olive trees self-pollinate, they produce much more when they cross-polinate.  I see another tree in my future.  The second batch was harvested from public trees (with permission from the ayuntamiento or town hall) and will be ready 12 December, all 298 of them.  If the experiment is a success, we will do many more next fall.





We had a two week exhibition at the town library, started Spanish classes again, joined a drawing class, a T'ai Chi group (the latter two done individually) and went to Madrid for a couple of days to renew Is' Philippine passport and meet old friends.  Naturally we visited our favorite restaurants and caught a couple of art exhibits.

And that brings me up to date.

May 24 Update

When I opened up the bog to do this update, I found that I hadn't finished the post about our exhibition.  It's now done and can be seen right after this.

Toward the end of April, I took three days off from the exhibition, leaving Is to man the fort while I led a four-man bicycle assault on the Sierra de Espuña in the Region of Murcia, about 90 km. away.  The peak is 1585 meters up, just 21 fewer than Mt. Katahdin.  Unfortunately, I could not get to the peak; being a law-abiding person, I stopped at the big sign forbidding further trespass.  The armed military guards didn't scare me.  The thought of having my bike confiscated and walking back to the hotel did.  It had taken me two and a half hours to grind my way to the top, from the hotel.  The exhilarating descent only took me 56 minutes.  I could have done it faster, but being alone, I used caution as there was nobody to pick up the pieces.

After a celebratory pint, Dave and I headed north toward Cieza through some really beautiful country with vineyards, almond and citrus orchards as well as wild , mountainous vistas.  Below is a shot of Dave doing a long climb out of the Mula River Valley.  On the far mountain range in the background you can see the peak of Espuña just to the left  of Dave.  

We reached Cieza, had a couple of re-hydration beers and found a good hotel right in the centre of town.  After a much-needed shower and a short siesta, we headed for a recommended restaurant; only to find it closed.  Either it was closed on Mondays or we were too early for dinner (at 8:30 pm?!?).  After asking a helpful shopkeeper, we dined at his favorite eatery, washing the fare down with a very good house wine called  Ribera del Segura.  We are only one province away and the Segura runs right past us here, but I can't find the wine here.  Good excuse to go back.  The next day we headed home through the Ricote Valley which, in itself, is worth a few days exploring.  Knackered, we arrived home in the early evening, saddle-sore and very thirsty.  Medicinal re-hydration was necessary.

After the exhibition closed, we started packing and getting ready to meet Nick & Susan in Bilbao.  We headed to Madrid a day before, so that Is could go to the American embassy and secure a visa.  The train ride to Bilbao was a change, as we were heading away from the dry, semi-arid centre of Spain, into the lush Northwest.  It was good to see green mountains and hills again, but I dreaded the thought of continuous rain which friends had encountered the week before.  Luck was with us-the weather was fine.

As is proper, we ate too much and forced ourselves to walk it off...while searching for another good restaurant.  The food, as expected, was fine, quite different than that we find on the Costa Blanca and the local wines were all good, of course.

And then, on Friday, the 9th we headed back to Madrid to continue our "Moveable Feast" double birthday celebration.  We had more excellent meals, meeting Cely Teves and Ching and Pipe for a couple of them.  Ching, or Frances Luzuriaga lived across the street from Nick and me in Victorias, Negros Occidental when we were teenagers.  I hadn't seen Ching in 49 years.  

"Stop!!!" warned Don Quixote, "You'll crack your carbon bike frame.  Basta!  No more overeating."  So we went shopping, finding all sorts of not-really-so-necessary souvenirs with which to stuff our already-stretched luggage.  On the 12th, we hopped the train again for home.  The celebration continued with more fine, but less expensive meals cooked mostly at home; paella, steamed dorada, bbq'ed chicken and grilled mackerel. If it weren't for the cycling, I'd weigh 200 kilos.

Hasta Pronto... 

Dispatch from Cuevas del Rodeo

We opened our joint exhibit at the Cuevas Del Rodeo in Rojales on 6 April.  The weather was perfect, clear, bright and not too hot.

Vanessa, a resident artist who works in the cave next door enjoys a glass of "tinto" while checking out my Sagrada Familia  tryptich.  A fellow from Germany later stood in front of it for fifteen minutes.  No cigar, though.

Is taking a lunch break on the day before setup.  All-in-all, we had a fun, successful experience.  We sold four paintings and three prints of Banago River #7, plus many reproductions of various paintings, imbeded in souvenir gadgets such as key fobs, bottle openers, coasters and T-shirts.  We had at least 384 visitors, having lost count during the opening.

Still not used to flowers in Winter

Bloomin' Poppies

Summer here is pretty much devoid of flowers, and in many places, green.  Right now, the jade plants have loads of white flowers, the lemons and oranges are being harvested, the pansies bloom daily and everything is a different shade of green.  It's still winter.
A couple of days ago I was cycling in shorts and a summer jersey, sweating like mad.  Today was sweater-cool, but sunny.  At least it's clear.
In anticipation of our upcoming trip to Galicia, on the northeast corner of the peninsula, I checked their weather.  It was dismaying to see that two weeks of rain were expected with a couple of "partly sunny" days.  Oh, well, we're looking forward to different cuisine, scenery and a new dialect to try and fathom.

The mountain I cycled up yesterday

At least it felt that way when I got home.  I am finally over the cold and misery that Is brought back from the UK before Christmas, and yesterday decided to go out and play with the fast boys.  92 kilometers and much heavy breathing later,  I limped back to Algorfa alone.  I slowly drifted off the rear of the peloton somewhere near Orihuela and watched as they disappeared at a enviable clip.  I guess my hill training needs to be increased.

Tonight is the annual Burns by Bike dinner to celebrate Robert Burns.  It's presented by a contingent of Scots who ride and train with us.  I was planning to go on my Pub bike, but was convinced that it was not advisable to cycle the back roads on Saturday night-especially after quaffing a wee bit of the "Old Country". I'm tempted, despite warnings, to try the haggis.

Been working on a number of painting and collages and have a lot more lurking in the deep, dark recesses of my mind.  Reminds me of someone who used to ask me if I found that thought "in there", pointing at my head.  Why, yes, I did!