We have “made it” past the winter season. Now, those of you who really know me are scratching their heads, trying to figure out the last sentence. I am a winter-lover, the kind of person who greets winter storm warnings with a warm, fuzzy feeling. I love winter. Winter to me is fireplaces, snowshoeing, lots and lots and lots of skiing, darts, apres-ski gigs, and a world full of white , with more white falling as I watch mesmerized through my living room or classroom windows.
We had none of that here.
Zaragoza is, as I’ve said repeatedly, a very dry place. It gets somewhat cold, and is consistently windy, but that’s about it for winter. It snowed in Zaragoza twice this winter, and the longest that the snow lasted was a few hours. No one has a fireplace. I haven’t played a gig since last June. All of the dart boards that I have found this year (even in the “Irish” pubs) are the hideous electronic kind that I liken to a mirage of an oasis in the desert; the kind that that turns to sand just as you reach down to drink. I have been skiing here this winter, and the skiing has been really great. Ben and I skied at three outstanding Pyrenees ski areas this winter, for a total of 12 days for Ben and 6 for me (Andee and Chaia skied one day too). But six days of skiing for me usually means a week in which I skied both Saturday and Sunday. It was great, but it was a bit of a tease as well.
So winter is over. Hurray! On with spring, and spring brought us a visitor. Frances Soctomah came all the way from Bethel to photograph some of the shmoogly-googly-gillions of churches and castles to be found in and around Zaragoza, for her Senior Point project. I spent a couple of days with her, showing her around to some of my favorite places, visiting some local sights, and going to Jaca and Huesca to see the cathedrals there. While here, and staying with Alejandro’s family, Frances also got to sit in on my classes (I’m sorry she missed the one on abortion, she would have been fascinated).
After Frances left, we got to spent time with some other visitors (we are now entering the final phase of our year in Spain, the part of the year when lots of people come to see us): My mother-in-law and her sister. We couldn’t have asked for more gracious guests, and we took them to all of our favorite tapas haunts, historical sights, and Barcelona. Pat (my mother-in-law) and Paula (her sister) traveled, while here, to Jaca and to Madrid while we finished up our week leading into spring break, otherwise known as Semana Santa (holy week).
THAT week will have to wait for my next entry, but suffice to say for now that it will include a trip to Valencia, and several days on the beach.
Here, to end, is a photo of one of the manymanymanyMANY Holy Thursday processions in Zaragoza:
Hmmmmm........
