Odds and Ends

I have not been writing too much lately, so I will write about some of the things that have happened since I last wrote.

The girls had a great time in New Orleans, and later at Sandy's in Utah. They were celebrating their 50th and 45th birthday, and then in Utah, Thanksgiving. It makes me happy that they get along so well and have fun together :)

On Thanksgiving Day, Marv had to go to dialysis early. We took a big tray of cookies from Sam's to the staff at Fresenius, because we are thankful for all the care they give their patients. They are a good crew.

I didn't feel like cooking and for some reason I felt like having a "traditional" Thanksgiving meal. I called Mimi's Restaurant and ordered a Thanksgiving feast for 2 and went to pick it up after Marvin got home. It was very good: tender sliced turkey over dressing, mashed potatoes with turkey gravy, green bean casserole with onion rings on top, and bourbon sweet potatoes with toasted pecans. For dessert we chose bourbon pecan pie. And of course, Cava. The whole meal was really tasty.

Our dishwasher broke down, well actually the handle to open it broke and the whole front needed to be replaced. so we decided to buy a new one instead. Now we're waiting for it to be installed.

In other news, I'm getting  ready to welcome Sonia and Nicole. They will spend Christmas here along with Lizzie, Sandy, Marty and Tristan. I'm a little anxious.  I have talked to Sonia and reminded her that it's not going to be the same as when she was here last time. She says the most important thing is to be here with all of us, but naturally they want to  do a lot of sightseeing, too. They will take the touristic bus to see Los Angeles, Hollywood, Santa Monica etc.  Also want to go to Disneyland, and Nicole's main request is to go to the Millenium dance studio in Studio City (by Hollywood) and take a hip hop class.  They will go to San Diego to spend New Year's Eve with Lizzie. They will be here December 21st to January 3rd. Not a long time to do everything she wants to do. We'll see.

And last but not least, my sister Nuri, all of 75 years old, fell off the steps after leaving Monica's house, and she broke her tibia and fibula, and had to be rushed to the hospital where she had surgery (her bones were sticking out of her leg) and now she has a cast in her left leg and needs to be in repose for about 3 months. She's staying with Monica because she cannot take care of herself. I wonder is she's going to be a good patient  ;)

 Need to start Thinking Christmas now!

Happy Birthday Lizzie!

The elusive moon

Tonight the moon is closer to the earth than it has been in the last 68 years, it won't be as close again until 2034. This is a SUPER MOON.

I have been excited to see it. I wish I was in the desert or someplace where it was dark and clear. I thought of going to the beach and see the sunset and then the moon rise.

I remember one evening  we were driving from Twin Falls to Burley, and all of a sudden I look just ahead of me and a HUGE orange yellow ball was straddling the freeway. My heart stopped for a minute, it was such an awesome sight.  I saw my best moons when I lived in Idaho, probably because of the altitude and the clear skies.

Today I started wondering where would be the best place to see the moon in all its glory. Marv suggested Hillsborough drive, but there's no parking places there,  also at the end of Alicante there's a park and maybe that would be a good place, overlooking the West Coyote Hills, but there were having  sports nights at the park and the field lights were very bright so it was no good. I kept driving around (Lulu was with me) and ended up  by LMHS. We got out and walked around little. It was dark but no moon anywhere. We drove around some more, and still no Moon. Finally I gave up and went to Pizza Hut and ordered a pizza to go for dinner as per Marv's request.

As I was driving up my driveway, I look ahead, and there it was, the elusive super moon shining brightly!  

Not exactly how I wanted to see it, but it was very nice anyway.

That's probably how I'd like to have seen the super moon, lucky Australians!

Patio clean up

I had not heard from my friend N for a while, so I called him to meet me Saturday for lunch at Long Beach. Instead, we decided he would come to my home and take care of the Jacuzzi.

He came around 1PM and we had lunch at home (leftover roast for him, a roast beef taco for me) then he just went outside and started to go crazy with the hose, washing the patio area inside and out much to the displeasure of Lulu, she kept her distance from the water.

While he was doing that, I started taking care of my plants, transplanting some  etc. Then it was time to go pick up Marv.

When we got back, I saw he had started emptying the Jacuzzi. That took quite a while, then scrubbing the inside and filling it again. It is now ready to use in time for the guests ;)

I asked N to stay for dinner, and after much discussion, Marv suggested pizza, so out we went to pizza Hut to get a meat lovers pizza and brought it home.  While we ate, they watched  a Western and I went to my room. Later they both were talking about politics so I just said it was time to call it a day.

Pretty boring post, but this way I have a record of when the Jacuzzi has been taken care of  :)

Dia de Todos los Santos

All Saint's Day is celebrated in Spain on November 1.

This is the day that many families go to the cemetery and bring flowers to their dear departed.

In our family, my grandmother (yaya) was about the only one that followed the tradition, every year she'd go to the cemetery with her niece (Matildeta) and basically spent the whole day there. Some years my mother would go along with some of her sisters. I remember  going a few times, and running around with my cousins..

The cemetery in Barcelona is pretty awesome. When I was a teenager as part of my school requirements, we had to do some volunteer work. My friend Titina and I chose to work at an orphanage which was very close to the cemetery in Montjuich. Some days we took a few kids to have lunch at the cemetery, it had nice areas with flowers and grass and it was quiet and peaceful. I vividly remember one time when a grave digger started digging on a spot next to where we were having a picnic. We gave him a sandwich and a drink, he was thankful, it's hard work to dig a grave.

The best thing about all Saint's Day was all the sweets typical of the holiday. At home my father would buy panellets of different kinds, my favorites where the pine nut ones.

Another one was buñuelos de viento, thanks Sandy for reminding me of those sweets. My grandmother  made them not only this day but for other holidays. They are very similar to cream puffs, only they are fried instead of baked, they could also be filled with cream or chocolate.

The other thing I remember doing on this day, is going to see the play "Don Juan Tenorio"by Jose Zorrilla, which was performed only on this day. Usually  I went with my mother and her sisters to see it. All the theaters in the city performed the play that night. It's the legend of Don Juan.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Juan_Tenorio

Even now I can recite this part where Don Juan talks about himself and his adventures

Yo a las cabañas bajé,

yo a los palacios subí,

yo los claustros escalé

y en todas partes dejé

memoria amarga de mí.