2016 Week 29: Summer heat and weddings!

A week of the usual with summer heat and political tensions on the rise, bee stings, and a wedding or two.

Monday, before the meal, I walked way  back through Stephan and Karen's property and was surprised by the extent and height of their ancient woods, seemingly much older than ours.

When possible I join an exercise group that meets three times a week from 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. at the LightRider barn.
If the weather is nice we meet on the nearby pedestrian bridge.

Corpse pose (Photo credit: Jenni Webb)

One day this week, after that last restful pose, we discovered a special gift--a lovely rose, which I have enjoyed all week.

A little visitor joined me in the Wednesday afternoon. We enjoyed a non-stop sequence of activities.

Hmmm. . . where can I put this one?

Would you believe the tower is still standing days after Rebecca's visit. The sidewalk art, however, is almost gone.

We remembered our Basque girl's birthday this week, and how we celebrated her 17th here in Upland six years ago.

Amaia

We attended a wedding in Ohio on Saturday--another Basque connection. We met Courtney in 2013. She had just finished high school and joined the Circle Tour at the start of an internship to study Spanish and Euskera.

In a lovely outdoor ceremony, she married a young man from our town! And her maid of honor was her good friend from Oñati, Basque land, where she has been living the past year.

The ceremony

The reception

I felt sorry for the men in the wedding party, all wearing dark suits on such a very hot day.

Later I learned that our son Sam was swealtering in a tux at another wedding as best man.
Such is the beauty and peril of an outdoor event. Thankfully, there were no storms.

Photo credit: Kristie Koch

Mike had a couple setbacks this week:
1) the leg pain returned and shows up on his bicycle rides after ten miles but on the other leg!
2) reaction to bee stings worsened and we learned that allergies develop and escalate. He'd had no problems while working with the bee hives, until a storm blew in and rattled the guard bees.

Two accomplishments for me this week:
1) finished reading Tripping "A true story of Bible smugglers and how the East German Stasi tried to stop them." I was strongly impressed with how little we know of what is going on in the spiritual realm and how very dependent we are on God's direction for every move of our daily walk amidst the landmines of the enemy.
2) enhanced and printed the 250 pages of letters I wrote to my best friend over a period of 15 years!

Mirtha had carefully preserved all my correspondence in a neat binder. As I was trying to remember and write about my growing up years in Argentina, I asked to borrow the collection. My brother and SIL were the couriers. I had promised to return it with Ivan and Kim after their few months stay in the US. Then the housefire happened!

God must have valued those letters too! Amazingly they suffered minimal damage--some burnt edges and water marks, but still mostly readable.
I had scanned the lot before sending them back to Mirtha. But only now, after five years, did I begin to go through them seriously to glean many forgotten memories.

Are you working on any fun project?

Circle Tour 13: The Last Day in Donosti

Our last full day in the Basque Country is beginning to fade, so it is urgent that I make time to remember and record what the photos bring to mind. There were many beautiful moments, in spite of how unwell I felt.

It was a free day to explore the magnificent city, go shopping, and meet up with our Basque friends.

Barb and I often ended up together because we could maintain a similar pace, although on this day her energy level far surpassed mine. We walked and walked past the lovely beach area...

...and up by the Miramar Palace where the royals enjoyed many summers.

We walked and walked and observed how the ancient and modern blend and overlap in so many ways.

Saturday mornings the streets were buzzing with people and events.
We stood in front of the Town Hall (above) and watched wedding parties exiting with fan fare every twenty minutes.

On a pedestrian walkway downtown we came across musicians and people joining in with traditional dancing.

We were told that the fish market was a must-see. Very special, indeed. Multiple vendors atistically displayed every imaginable edible sea creature. Even the floors are works of art with mosaics that reflect the Basque fishing and whaling history.

We had walked and walked (Did I mention that already?) and I was ready for a break. We spotted a McDonald's and went in to sit a spell and have some tea and a bite to eat.

I think we headed back to our lodging after that, though Barb could have kept on walking...

When we arrived I must have felt like the statue of the Txantxillo in front of our hotel.
Santiago (James) Hernández Redondo, nicknamed "Txantxillo" is considered the most well-known person in San Sebastian of the latter half of the 20th century --a bag man who endeared himself to all with his quaint manners, his xylophone and peculiar way of begging for a "pesetíta". He died ten years ago and is still missed and remembered.

I must have rested some before our long-awaited visit to our dear friends in Hondarribia. Alberto came by around 6 p.m. and drove us all to their gated community. We were allowed to see their piso (apartment) in spite of the remodelling mess, which he called un desastre. Of course we didn't care, we were delighted to spend time with his family, Edurne and the girls.

Alberto pointing out their third floor apartment; the lovely sisters appearing from upstairs--Amaia and Eider

All of us refers to Dane and Laurie, who had been with us the first time in 2010 (read more about that visit and see where we stayed in an old post--Arantxa's Place), their son Stefan and Dane's mother Barb.

We walked with our friends to revisit the familiar places and see what was new. Looks like Dane really needed that little break!

Two new things: 1) the walk-in clinic (ambulatorio) where Edurne now works is in the top floor of the Itsas Etxea pictured on the right; 2) the big blue boat Imanol is refurbishing as a retirement hobby.

In our previous visit Edurne's practice was in a temporary building while the new clinic was under construction. (For more go to Zorionak, Edurne!)

Later that evening, closer to the customary late dinner hour, we wound our way to the old part of town and eventually ended up at the sociedad gastronómica where some of the friends have a membership. There we met up with more friends and family and had a wonderful meal and delightful conversation.

Notice who are wearing aprons. Only men are allowed in the kitchen. (I think I like that!)

(To read and see more go to Eating Experiences in Euskadi.)

The crowd was a little different from our previous visit. We met some family members for the first time.

A memorable evening that ended all too soon.

We walked through the old city wall, said our goodbyes and began to disperse.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Circle Tour 13: in San Sebastián

We started our rest day as usual with a group meeting. The student residence where we stayed was only a few blocks away from Jeff's apartment, so he chose that day to carry his heavy book bag and share with us his favorites for learning about the Basque people--their history, culture and how to live and work among them.

We were free to do whatever, go wherever. Most of us were getting together with our Basque friends--the SUSA students, their families and friends.

The Normal, Illinois, group were invited to dinner at a sociedad gastronómica where one of the SUSA parents was a member. The three or four students hosted by Jacob's Well church got together with their friends and families and provided a most amazing meal event. I believe it was on top of one of the hills surrounding Donostia (Basque for San Sebastián) somewhere up by the tower.

Notice the 2016 inscription on the hillside. We read on a sign downtown, that the city has been chosen as the European Capital of Culture for 2016.

DSS (Donostia/San Sebastián) claims to have an incomparable view. I wrote about it after our visit three years ago: El marco incomparable.

As the groups began to disperse, the few of us left went with Jeff to see some of the sights.
First we stopped by his place to drop off the heavy book bag.

We walked the rest of the morning, revisited some of the spots our host Alberto had taken us to on our previous visit (see Donostia) and saw some new ones.

The Beach

Interesting Architecture

The Good Shepherd Church

Notice Eduardo Chillida's Cross of the Peace

Jeff took us to his favorite Italian restaurant for the Menú del Día--great food and conversation.

La Mamma

Our friends from Hondarribia were able to come and spend the evening with us: Amaia and her parents, and good friends Gonzalo, Elena and daughter Zara.

Our girl Amaia

We walked and talked, enjoyed the beautiful weather and views.

At the other end of the beach we got a close-up view of the Peine del Viento, another Chillida sculpture. Can you see the three parts?

At the appropriate time in our wanderings we ended up at a pleasant outdoor restaurant. Surprisingly, or maybe not so unusual, the weather turned chilly quite quickly.

Alberto, Michael, Edurne, Gonzalo, Zara, Elena, Amaia

Alberto and Gonzalo work at the hospital in Donostia. We visited there three years ago. Read about it here:
The Hospital

So that was our wonderful long day in San Sebastián.

Eguzki-lore

Eguzki-lore

Our friends in Basque Country, Amaia's family, made us a gift. They said it took a year to 'cultivate'. It is the real thing, nothing fake. A dried sunflower arranged in the hundreds-of-years-old traditional manner to create a house ornament meant to ward off evil spirits.

They no longer hold that belief. We have the One who created the sunflower to walk through life with us and guard us from evil.

Surprisingly, this lovingly crafted gift, though fragile made the trip safely in a perfect size cardboard box.

We are home, sleeping in our own bed, catching up on our reality here in the USA while trying to process our experience in the Basque Country, and healing. Mike, who fell on his tail bone twice, went to the chiropractor for some adjustment, and I got sick the last day, had no voice or hearing on the trip back, so went to my doctor.

Home again!

Sunday, July 17th
The trip back was problem free and almost a direct flight, with an hour stop in Phoenix, Arizona.
Stephan and Karen were waiting for us in Indy at 3:30 pm. After everyone was dropped off at their own place, we went to ours, the old homestead that is, to see what it looked like.

I fed and played with the cat, grateful for the neighbor who came over every day in our absence, then walked back toward the 'house',...

...watched Mike water the heavy-laden tomato plants, and harvested some lettuce, basil and cilantro. Yum.

Reconstruction is still on hold. Also the big oak tree is still standing. A tree expert said it will not survive the damage, so we've hired someone to take it down and split the wood. The top part ought to be enough fire wood for a long winter or two. He is to leave an 8 foot stump for Stephan to carve. Someone suggested Smoky the Bear...NOT! Any better ideas?

Monday, July 18th
Busy post-vacation, settling-back-in-type day broken up by two happy encuentros: 
1) Ivanhoes, where we joined Dane and Laurie to treat Libe, our new young friend from the Basque Country.
2) Monday Night Meal. It was great to get together with friends and family again. It was sushi night.

Look at that Cookies and Cream sundae!

We are so enjoying sharing this time with her and talking about our friends back in País Vasco.

Oh, and we also picked up a rental car for me. Now we have a month to replace my vehicle.

Tuesday, July 19th
Not one day goes by without some expression of care and love. On this day an artist neighbor came with beautiful hand-built ceramic gifts she made for each of us. We are humbled by so much kindness, and very grateful for the new closeness we feel with many.

We're having some trouble adjusting to the three hour time difference of the last two weeks. We tend to go to bed very late and have a hard time getting up early.

Wednesday, July 20th
We had arranged to have Libe and her American family over for dinner along with Dane and Laurie.

Following the Basque custom we set two plates, salad first...

...then, after removing those plates, the main course.

Remembering that the last two years we celebrated Amaia's birthday, we had planned to have a cake in her honor.
I thought of making a cupcake birthday cake. Only one problem, I realized at a late hour that we had not yet replaced the lost muffin pans. I had to call a neighbor. I baked three types of cupcakes and the girls arranged and decorated the 'birthday cake' with an A and B for Amaia's initials. We didn't have little candles, but found a big one for the middle.

Then we did the unthinkable, we phoned, woke the family up, and sang Zorionak zuri (the Happy Birthday in euskera) to Amaia. We first had the idea around 6 pm our time, when we realized it was already her birthday in Spain. Libe had assured us she would not be in bed yet at midnight, but we didn't get around to calling till much later. Big mistake. ¡Pobre Amaia y familia!

However, we very much enjoyed the evening, and the cake, at her expense.

We watched all the photos Laurie took when we traveled to Spain a year ago, a few hundred. Libe was fascinated to see familiar places and people, even class mates and friends, and her parents as well. I fear the other guests were somewhat bored. The four of us who made the trip truly enjoyed reliving those days.

Thursday, July 21st
I have gone back over our days in Las Vegas and posted more photos and stories this week and hope to continue next week. The memories double the pleasure. There is another motive as well--to get into a writing routine. Once I've met my goal for the day, I seem to be more efficient with all the other things that need to be done.
By evening the dining room table was covered with deodorized books from the ozone closet and sorted into piles. They have since found a place or destination, and other books are going through the process.

Friday, July 22nd
Mike was gone two days with the robotics team at the annual summer competition in Indianapolis, the IRI.

Saturday, July 23rd
The mulch delivered in the driveway will have to wait till next week to fill in where the weedkiller worked almost too well. However, the hot dry spell has left all the lawns looking very sad.

We thought it was hot in Las Vegas, but it has been not much better here, dangerously hot in fact.