La Balesquida

Here is a photo of some very happy Asturian children! Ok, they were probably happy until the strange Americana started following them. A true Asturian would probably know from the costumes of these kids what area they are from. Sadly I am just an Asturian "wannabe". Fiesta La Balesquida in Oviedo is a long tradition for my husband's family. We take a picnic lunch of "pregnant rolls" (a small loaf of bread with a chorizo sausage baked inside) queso and an empanada. After we watch the parade we follow the procession to Parque San Fransisco where the town council gives a bottle of red wine to everyone. We find an empty spot in the grass and eat and drink then we lie in the grass and let the cathedral bells play us to sleep for our afternoon siesta along with hundreds of other families.............................

La colada

Let me tell you about two fascinating ladies in Asturias. Chari on the left is the wife of Miguel's best friend Fernando. She is a French teacher and dance instructor. (Andalusian dance I think) Chari has traveled the world, she lets me play dress up in her gorgeous dance costume's, she always smells good and when she says "claro" and "si si" I want to speak just like her! Chari is so kind and responsible that she will always designate herself the driver, thus drinking chamomile tea and non alcoholic beers all night.

Carmen is a high school math teacher, she is quiet and lovely. When I speak my version of Spanglish she never corrects me and always seems to know what I am trying to say! We walk through the streets at night window shopping cosmetics, home furnishings and shoes. I smile at her and she smiles at me.

Veguin, Asturias, España

Next to my husbands house is this tiny park. My son and his friends spent a lot of time talking and spitting endless bags of sunflower seeds here. I have sat here in the evenings to watch the sun set on the mountain side. But mostly I have viewed countless dogs poop here from my bedroom window. The structure on the left is a memorial to 4 miners from Veguin that lost their lives in the coal mine during the early 80's. The structure on the right is a replica of a Asturian Horreo pronounced Oreo, like the cookie. A horreo is a barn, the top used to store grains free from rodents and the bottom used to store everything else. I will post pictures of real horreos next time.

Cudillero

I will never forget the first time I saw Cudillero! I had never seen a town like it before. I am told its nickname is The town of the hanging houses, I can't imagine being old with hip or knee problems and living here. I get very cranky when I am forced to walk up hill. I am however very lovely to get along with when I am walking downhill. Cudillero is a fishing port, and it's so amazing to watch the boats come in with their daily catch. I had a incredible seafood soup (sopa de marisco) at a restaurant by the harbor. It had chunks of crab, claw and shell included, clams, whole bodies of shrimp, chunks of white fish, mussels and no idea what else. It was FABULOUS. I am sure the rest of the meal was good as well but WOW, I really recommend the soup! By the way....this is a photo of my beautiful suegra y suegro. Te quiero y te echo mucho de menos!!! Ta luego y besos.

Las Caldes

One morning during breakfast my husband asked me if I would like to go see a castle? "Are you kidding" what American isn't enchanted by a castle!

" Its a long walk for you " he said

" Bring it on , I can handle it" I replied....To make a long story even longer, I guesstimate that we hiked 7 or 8 miles that day, (one way) If I remember correctly I started complaining at about mile marker 3. When we started to get close to the castle I started perking up!

"OMG I see it!!" I literally had goosebumps, I was so excited!

We stopped for pictures on a narrow bridge over a beautiful clear river with this gorgeous castle as a background.

"OK lets go eat lunch now" my father in law said and started to walk away.

Whaaaat? We just walked 8 miles to view a castle from afar? I stress the afar! The long and short of it was YES, that's exactly what we did.

" Oh I thought you knew that we couldn't go in" Miguel said (was it my imagination, he wasn't looking me in the eye!) To this day I will never forget how deceived I felt. I was so mad at the time but now I can smile every time I see a picture of "my almost castle" Miguel knows me well however and plied me with a 4 course meal, plenty of cider, vino and strong coffee and it wasn't a completely horrible 8 mile hike home......

Mi Padre

I love love this photo of mi padre. This is the lovely fishing village of Lastres. If you enlarge this picture you can see the old cannons in the background, once used to protect the town from pirates and other enemies! My dad was the 1st person from the U.S that I have ever taken with me and it was a wonderful bonding time for me. I hadn't ever seen him so happy and curious about things before. He did not stop saying "what incredible engineers the Romans were,"and he was amazed by the European clothing..... it was so funny to find my big , tough cowboy dad in a dress boutique inquiring about a Jean Paul Gaultier evening gown. The rest of that day he kept muttering "where the hell would a woman wear a get-up like that?" I love you dad.

I didn't do it.

Last week Rafael found some old mice poison that we didn't realize was in our basement. Tanner and I rushed him to the vet hospital where his stomach was pumped not once but twice! He was given charcoal and a vitamin k injection. It ended up costing 200 dollars, twice the amount i paid for him! The vet scolded us for letting him eat onions which apparently were found in his stomach contents as well as the poison........... I am such a bad mother. No idea where he got a hold of the onion! By the way... we will all be happy to see his head grow into his new ears!

Mis Amigos de Veguin

Spending the past 5 summers in Asturias, España has allowed me to make some very good friends. Two however standout. Here are my 2 best friends from Veguin, Asturias. Jose Calvillo Gomez is 93 years old. He was an officer in the Spanish Civil War. He was injured badly in a grenade attack and 2 soldiers put him on a stretcher to carry him to safety, one of the soldiers was shot and killed dead while saving my friend. Jose has had both heels on his feet badly damaged as a result of the grenade, but still walks all over town with the help of his cane. His favorite food is garlic soup and I love him. We try to meet as often as we can in one of the bars in town while he enjoys a glass of wine and I usually enjoy several bottles of sidra. My other friend is the beautiful Minerva named after a Greek goddess. Minerva owned Bar Corea for several years and that is the place where my Spanish excelled to new levels! I go there in the morning before lunch to read the newspapers visit with everyone ...and drink sidra. Minerva lives across the street from our house and will hang a flag out her kitchen window to say hello. I enjoy Sunday nights when we can get together in Bar Corea , her cousin Ovi now owns it. They have a huge family of women and its so much fun to get together and laugh and eat and drink sidra. If anybody in Veguin reads this post , please buy Jose a drink and give him a kiss from me. Traducción: Si alguien de Veguín lee esto, por favor que le den un beso de mi parte.

Mis tres niños

Miguel found an old computer with even older pictures in its hard drive, it was a trip down memory lane.... These are mis tres niños. I look at this photo and I remember being so tired. I didn't think they would ever grow up. Wow am I sad for thinking that, I regret not taking the time to play with them more. I am so proud of them. I was blessed wasn't I?! By the way, we were jolted out of a deep sleep at 12:30 last night by the terrifying blare of tornado sirens. Trust me, it's not a pleasant way to wake up!

Bush & Castro

No me gusta George W. Bush

Happy memories

This is one of my favorite places in Spain, its quiet, beautiful and free to visit. Many times it comes with my own private bartender! This is the backyard of mi suegros. (in laws) I have taken many afternoon siestas under the hazelnut trees here. One nice memory I have is finding my dad, my husband and my father in law all sleeping soundly after a typical feast prepared by Mari (my mother in law.) I love to pick lemon leaves and crush them under my nose..... When I tire of lemons I move on to the lavender and rosemary bushes. If I get hungry I have a choice of pears, apples, cherries, strawberries, figs, or hazelnuts. When I get thirsty my father in law will gladly pour me a vaso de sidra (glass of cider.) I am a pampered princess....