7th October 2018
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| My dear Mother in Cambridge in the early 50's |
Last Sunday was quiet but busy. As you probably know I love my quiet time in the morning having breakfast and reading the news before everyone else gets up. As you also know I am refreshing my French and improving it by a weekly lesson with my daughter Olivia. Part of the process is learning a new expression every day from The Local France, most of them being coloquial.
Last Sunday's expression was "mince" which has nothing to do with mince meat. Mince itself means lean but it has an alternative and more euphemistic meaning. It is used instead of a swear word, a bit like we use "oh sugar" in English. It can also be used with "alors" like "zut alors" which is similar to words such as crikey or blimey. It can also be used to express disappointment. Another way of using it is as an adjective of affair or feat, such as "ce n'est pas une mince affaire" meaning it's no small matter.
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| Sunday's French word or expression of the day |
Sunday was quiet but busy as a guest was leaving and others arriving. It was Zaid, our Muslim guest from Sweden who was leaving that day. I will miss my chats with him about Shia Muslims and other issues around religion but he has promised to come back to see us. I wish him all the luck in the world in his first year of dentistry at the UEM University.
We went on our walk with Oli but didn't take Norah because she didn't look well at all. She had been off her food, looked in pain and had difficulty standing up and lying down. Thus we took her to the vet that morning where they took an X-ray and did a blood test. The X-ray showed a problem in her gut and we would get the results of the blood test later in the day. She was given two injections, one for the pain and one for the gut and we took her home. She looked very poorly and I was very sorry for her. She has leishmania, an illness caused by a mosquito bite of the same name which is very prevalent here. Dogs don't usually die of it but need treatment to keep it under control
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| Poor Norah unwell on Sunday |
Just as we got back from the vet, my new guests had arrived from Argentina. Marcelo, probably in his 40's and a business man had brought his parents, Matilde and her husband Adelino who were to visit Europe for the first time. They are in their 70's. Exhausted from the long flight and jet lag, they went straight to bed and we wouldn't see them until the evening. They would occupy Suzy's room and the "green room". That left me with a problem as Pierre, our red haired French guest, also a dental student, was returning that night. Thus we had to use Oli's room which is an exception. You see, my younger daughter wants to keep a foot in the house so to speak, so we don't rent out her room. That day would be an exception. We would be a very full house on Sunday and Monday night.
Meanwhile, Andrew, our Scottish lodger, who will be staying with us for 6 months, went to visit El Escorial, hike up the mountains and visit the Valley of the Fallen (Valle de los Caídos) where Franco is buried. The Government wants to remove the dictator's remains from the mausoleum so he may not be there for much longer.
Once we had settled the Argentinians in their rooms, I made lunch with the help of Zena. It was simple, "bitki" (Russian hamburgers) with vegetables from the Villaviciosa market.
Watching the news afterwards in our bedroom I was delighted to see and hear that a young Spanish woman, Ana Carrasco, aged 21 had made motorcycling history. She is the first woman to win a motorbike world title, the World Supersport 300 race. Well done for her, well done for Spain.
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| Ana Carrasco made motorcycling history on Sunday |
Later in the day there would be another sport victory for Spain. Alejandro Valverde, the 38 year old professional cyclist, from Murcia, won the Men's world race championship in Austria. I could use my new French expression here to describe his win; "mince alors". In any case Sunday was a great day for Spanish sport. That's pretty amazing for a cyclist aged 38.
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| Alejandro Valverde at the Finish line on Sunday |
While the cycling world was celebrating his victory, we read by the pool. Oli worked in our study on her up coming trip and TV report in New Mexico. Before leaving apart from preparing all the logistics, she also had to research a lot about the places she would visit. All I know about New Mexico is that it is on the border of Mexico and next to Texas and Arizona, that it once belonged to Mexico which once belonged to Spain and was called New Spain. It was the Spaniard Hernán Cortés who conquered the land and caused it to fall from the Aztec Empire. Today, centuries later, New Mexico is full of towns with Spanish names and the state has officially two languages, English and Spanish. That is the extent of my knowledge. No doubt Oli knows a whole lot more.
Later we got a call from Norah's vet, Noelia. She had the partial results of the blood test which showed she had no infection but acute anemia possibly by the mosquito leishmania. We went to get all the medicines she prescribed but as the local chemist didn't stock them, went to the clinic where Noelia prepared everything Norah would need and give us the instructions on how to medicate her. It wasn't easy as she wasn't eating. It was my Father's streaks of bacon with the pills inside that did the trick in the end as she would eat them hahaha.
After she had had all her medicine, we set about making our dinner. I made duck and mango salad. Meanwhile, our Argentinian guests were up. Marcelo had gone out to buy food to make a barbecue or an "asado" as they call it over there. His parents made their "mate" (herbal drink typical of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay) and sat by the pool.
Later when we were in bed we could smell the meat they were grilling on the barbecue. They must have finished eating at 1 in the morning. I suppose, sadly, this time, Norah was not begging for some of their food. I hoped she would get better soon.
Monday was 1st October, a new month but also a date etched in my mind because it was on 1st October 1999 that my dear Mother died. That was 19 years ago and she was aged 79 but I shall never forget her of course. She is always in my thoughts. What an amazing and wonderful person she was. It is difficult to describe her. Size wise, she was a large woman, measuring at least 5.10" and with a shoe size 8. She had long legs and beautiful hands. The only thing I have inherited from her were her green eyes. Of aristocratic origin and Russian parents she had a difficult early life due to the Russian Revolution and 2nd World War. She ended up in England when the war finished and after working as a refugee cleaning hospitals she finally got residency and even worked for a short stint with the BBC with Voice of Bulgaria. Later she met my Father in Cambridge where they both worked as teachers in secret classes of Russian to future British spies. That makes for a story of its own which one day I shall write. It was her personality that made her sparkle. She was slightly bohemian, slightly academic but with a foot on the ground too. I have never met anyone so gregarious as her who made friends with anyone she met, be they king or pauper. She would walk barefoot, a British custom she loved. One day in Callosa where my parents bought a modest house in the 70's, she was walking barefoot in the street when a small gypsy child, also barefoot, asked her if she was poor too. She used to love telling this story. I don't have many photos of her but love one taken in the early 50's in Cambridge where we were born and which I have chosen to illustrate this week's blog post.
1st October was also the day the French singer of Armenian origin, Charles Aznavour died. My Mother loved him but preferred Edith Piaf. Aznavour died aged 94 this Monday, the last of the great French singers. He was on stage practically to the end of his life. I loved his crooning voice. RIP Charles Aznavour
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| RIP Charles Aznavour |
Norah was still unwell on Monday. We gave her her medication, including pain killers. Despite feeling awful, she insisted on going on our 6 km walk. We took her but would have preferred to keep her at home. We would monitor her all day.
Suzy rang me when we got back. She called me on Whatsapp Video and it was lovely to see her face. She seemed in great spirits. We do miss her and should talk more often.
She called just before we went to the Villaviciosa fruit and vegetable market. We are now going there every Monday. Here is Eladio by the stall where we bought most of our provisions. We ended up taking 2 whole crates home. This time, I am sure it will last the week.
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| Eladio at the fruit and veg market on Monday |
We came home to unload everything with not much room in our fridge as 2 shelves were devoted to guests staying with us.
I made lunch which we had as always with my Father. Later we had a quick siesta and then retired to terrace by the pool. There was no sign of our guests. Andrew was at work, the Argentinians were on a city tour in Madrid and we simply did not see Pierre, our French dentistry student. I didn't see them but I did get a new Airbnb reservation that afternoon, my first for November. It was from a couple from the UK, nice.
I read for a while but was interrupted by 2 calls. One was from Gloria from my events agency. She rang to invite me to lunch on Thursday. It was quite good timing as I have to give her and her sisters a briefing for a series of launch activities with a new customer. Then I got a call from one of my other customers with an urgent assignment for this Friday. It felt good to be busy again.
We had dinner early and ate on the kitchen terrace which seemed chillier that night. Well, after all it is already October. Thus we were early to bed. We watched a new film on Netflix called The Chosen. It's about the assassination of Trotsky in Mexico and right up our street.
Tuesday came and poor Norah was worse. She was crying in pain so as soon as Eladio was up and ready, we took her to the vet. While I waited for him, I looked up my French expression of the day. It was an easy one but new for me. "Cést parti" means literally it left but is used to mean "let's go" in general or, a bit like "on y va", "off we go". So off we went to the vet.
We had to carry her in her bed as she couldn't get out. Luckily we were attended to as soon as we got there. Norah was examined and then admitted to hospital. They took her blood test and at least the anemia was down which meant she wouldn't have to have a blood transfusion. Later in the morning her vet, Noelia, rang with the results of all the tests. It seems she has an irritated pancreas which can be treated but also a bag of liquid has formed possibly by one of her ovaries and she will have to be castrated. But she also had a problem with her back, a problem she had as a puppy. I think that was what was causing the pain. She was put on stronger pain killers (methadone believe it or not) and during the day perked up, got out of her bed or cage should i say, walked and even ate. We went to see her in the early evening and even took her out for a walk.
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| Norah when we went to see her on Tuesday evening |
Unlike little Pippa, she made no complaints when we left. Beagles are so submissive and can put up with anything. Poor Norah.
When we left Norah at the clinic in the morning, we drove home and then took the other dogs for our walk. They must have wondered where she was. The rest of the morning was quiet but busy. I had to work on preparations for a press conference on Friday.
Finally on Tuesday morning we saw our "ghost guest", Pierre who had returned on Sunday night. The dear boy had brought us all sorts of different patés from his native Pau. He doesn't eat breakfast nor did he cook at home so we hardly every see him. That morning we also saw off our Argentinian Airbnb guests who were leaving for Portugal. The son was taking them to his Adelino's father's village in the north of Portugal. It was to be an emotional trip for the son, Marcelo's parents. They were great guests.
The afternoon was quiet, I worked but I also read and at 6 left for the hairdresser to have my eyelashes tinted; something I tried for the first time about a month ago. It was over and done pretty fast and now my eyelashes look as though they have mascara on them.
I was home on time for our visit to see Norah and was happy to see her in better spirits than in the morning.
Dinner was late but soon we were in our bedroom and in bed watching the news and later a film about spies in the 2nd world war on Amazon Prime which was just up our street. If you are interested it is called "The catcher was a spy" and it is based on a real story.
Wednesday came and October progressed but it has still been nice and warm this week. I was up early as usual. And, as usual, I looked up the French expression of the Day on The Local France. Wednesday's was one I knew, hurray, "tant pis" meaning never mind, too bad, what a shame or a pity.
Straight afterwards, as usual again, I read the news and the headlines on Google and from The Times, the BBC and El Pais. I was a bit cross to read Real Madrid had lost their opening Champions League match against CSKA Moscow. That's now 4 matches in a row they have lost if you count last night's in the Liga against Eibar. Barcelona would win theirs against Tottenham Hotspurs the next day. I was also unhappy to read more news about the alleged rape case by Cristiano Ronaldo. That's the dark side of football. Kathryn Mayorga accuses him of raping her in a Las Vegas Hotel in 2009. Despite an out of court settlement with him, to apparently silence her claims, inspired by the #MeToo movement, she has gone ahead and accused him. He denies it. If he really did rape her, that will be the end of his career. He is apparently using a "reputation management company" as well as lawyers to defend him. We are seeing and hearing a lot more about these type of companies these days. I hope I never need one. Their speciality is a spin off from PR, but not my sort of PR I can tell you.
On the subject of PR, I had a pending press release to write and I have to say I am always more inspired early in the morning. I had written it and sent it off for approval by 8 o'clock, just as Eladio was getting up. It was a good feeling, to have it out of the way, by the time we were on our walk. It was to be a walk without poor Norah who was still at the vet hospital.
Later that morning I rang Noelia, Norah's vet, to get the latest. She was better but still very wobbly. They think and I think too that the pain comes from a problem in her back, one she had when she was very young. But there's more as I wrote earlier and in the coming days she would have an MRI to see from which organ the liquid is coming from. Poor old thing. She will be 10 in November or December so is getting on and we need to care of her. Veterinary expenses are probably as high as dental fees and this week only we spent nearly 1000 euros on her tests, medicines and hospital stay. Now we shall have to face bills for neutering her and whatever else is needed. Well, it's all worth it for our dearest beagle Norah.
With work out of the way, I was able to relax on the sofas by the pool with my book. That day I finished The Fist of God by Frederick Forsyth about Irak's invasion of Kuwait and the supposed weapons of mass destruction or rather the search for their nuclear weapons. It's a good story but far too military and sometimes makes for boring reading if you are not interested in military jets or weapons and the technical descriptions of them.
Lunch should be mentioned and I always mention it because it's when we spend time with my 99 year old Father. One day this week he was telling us about when he worked for the Imperial Tobacco Company in Bristol. He amazingly remembered the exact date he started. I think he said 15th April 1935!! When he joined the company he was given loads of free tobacco and he told us he quit smoking on was it 8th or 9th August 1941. What a memory.
Later we watched the news. This week has seen a lot of disturbances in Catalonia after the 1st anniversary of the illegal referendum last year. There has even been violence, this time from the radical CDR (Committee for the Defense of the Republic) pro independence groups who tried to attack the parliament. They had to be held back by the Catalan police themselves, the Mossos d'Escuadra. Later the CDR called for the resignation of the President of the Catalan Government, Quim Torra which is pretty ironic as it was he who spurred the CDR on in their demonstrations. What an ugly picture all this paints.
But on the other side of the world, many people were suffering and many had died after the earthquake and a tsunami on the island of Sulawesi. The death toll is above 1600. Well, to add insult to injury the poor islanders suffered another natural disaster on Wednesday. A volcano erupted on the same island believe it or not.
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| Smoke from the volcano eruption in Indonesia on Wednesday |
According to the media "Mount Soputan spewed a massive column of ash more than 6.000 metres into the sky". It was possibly accelerated by the earthquake. As you know, my older daughter, Suzy, is living in Indonesia, in Bali but thankfully for us and for her, Sulawesi is 1800 km away. But she will live in danger of an earthquake and volcano eruption in Bali itself anytime as the whole area is located in what is known as "the ring of fire"; "a major area in the basin of the Pacific Ocean where many earthquakes and volcanic eruptions occur. About 90% of the world's earthquakes occur along the Ring of Fire.
The afternoon was quiet. I had a few work related calls, one funnily enough with my previous company. The call was with my successor, the new Communications Director of the company, It felt funny but he's a nice chap so no bones to pick with him. I know I have lots of readers from my previous company so cheers guys if you are reading this. While he was working at an office all day, I had done my work for the day and was able to have time with my husband by the pool reading. I don't think I could ever go back to a 9 to 5 job or should I say 9 to 8 job as those are the typical hours in Spain. No, definitely not. A lot of my work these days is Airbnb. That afternoon I got yet another reservation, this time from a student called Lourdes from Pamplona. She would be coming on Friday for one night only, the day before a group of 7 was coming from León. Yes, Airbnb keeps me very busy indeed.
After the calls, I started on Frederick Forsyth's latest book, "The Fox" about computer hacking and hoped there would not be too many technical descriptions.
Later I made our dinner which we would take to Olivia's house to have with her on her last night here before she left for New Mexico on Thursday morning. We won't see her again until she is back in about 9 days time. I made a chicken and mango salad and took along Pierre's lovely patés from Pau, including my favourite, "rillette". I first discovered it at the "Cousinades" in France these last 3 years and love it. Yes, it's full of fat, I know, but the taste is so special.
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| The "rilette" paté Pierre brought for us from Pau along with other patés. Just delicious |
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| Dinner at Oli's on Wednesday night |
We made it a day at about 10.30 and said goodbye to our lovely and capable journalist daughter who was off to the USA to shoot and coordinate her next programme. I remarked to my husband while driving back, just how proud I am of her. He is too, of course.
We were home on time to start watching another film. The genre was again World War II, one we never tire of. The film, Operation Finale, is about the catching of the notorious Nazi and orchestrator of the "Final Solution", Adolf Eichmann. He is played by Ben Kingsley.
Thursday came and the first thing I saw on my phone that morning - well the first thing I do in the morning is look at it. Don't you? - was an invitation to a prize giving ceremony at the Madrid Stock Exchange, a beautiful old building by the Ritz Hotel. It was the Carlos Humanes financial journalist prize and will be given to a friend and neighbour too, Mariano Guindal. None less than the Spanish Treasury Minister will be handing it to him. You may notice I never use people's surnames unless they are famous or dead in my blog, but in the media world in Spain, Mariano is king. Nearing 70, he has worked for La Vanguardia for many years and has followed Spanish politics and economics since a young and budding reporter, uncovering many famous affairs or scandals. Eladio, Oli and I will be honoured to attend. We know him and his family through my work of course but have become friends too. The girls used to teach his young adopted son from China, little San, and give him extra coaching after school and became very close to him. I'm really looking forward to the event which, no doubt, will be the highlight of next week.
I first met Mariano when he was part of a press trip I took to see the Motorola factory near Edinburgh, in Easter Inch. We stayed at the amazing Gleneagles Hotel. It must have been the mid 90's and being a die hard journalist set in old ways, he wouldn't use a mobile phone. And there I was taking him on a press trip all about them. That was until, during his trip, his newspaper, La Vanguardia, went on strike for the first time ever. Well, being editor-in-chief of the economy section, he needed to talk to the paper and fast. Thus I offered him my phone and he used it. It was possibly the first time he had ever touched one. Once back in Madrid, I think I gave him one and I do know that from then on he became an avid fan. So, yes, it was lovely to receive the invitation.
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| So pleased for Marinao. |
On the topic of prizes, I was pleased to read that the Nobel Physics prize was being awarded to a woman for the first time in 55 years. It has gone to Donna Strickland from Canada along with two other men colleagues. The prize is for their discoveries in laser physics, especially applied, I think, to laser eye treatment. I wonder if that was what was used on me when I had it done on my left eye this summer after the cataract surgery hadn't worked completely. By the way, I can see very well now as the laser surgery did the trick. I just need glasses for very small print.
It was on Thursday morning that Oli and her cameraman colleague left Madrid Barajas on an American Airlines plane to Dallas. The flight would take 10 hours - the whole of our day - and from the capital of Texas they would have to take another flight to Albuquerque. The poor girl would be shattered I know but of course is on an exciting mission and is young, so I'm sure she got over her jet lag quickly. Here she is at the beginning of the flight that morning.
We went on our walk and of course missed Norah. She was my concern that morning. I rang shortly after 11 to get the day's update. She was better but had been administered strong pain killers such as methadone and tramadol. I went to see her as I had to sign the consent form to sedate her for an MRI. Maybe I shouldn't have gone as when we opened the door she was peaceful. However, as soon as she saw me she cried in a doggy way that nearly broke my heart. Noelia, her vet, later rang me to say she should stay another night at the hospital. Poor old Norah. I bet she thought I was coming to bring her home and I wasn't.
I had lots of work to do that morning for one of my clients on a couple of press releases. I also had a lunch scheduled with the girls from QuintaEsencia, my events agency. However they had to cancel it until next week. That left me a bit in the lurch as Eladio was off to see his friend Roberto and then have lunch with his brother in Madrid where he went to see his mother. On the off chance she was free, I rang my best friend Fátima. She was free, so the two of us had a lovely girly lunch together at a little Asturian restaurant nearby. She brightened up my day.
Pippa was happy to see me come home. Eladio wasn't back yet and so I changed into relaxing clothes, slept a short siesta - about 20 minutes - then came down to the pool terrace to continue my riveting new Frederick Forsyth book, The Fox. Eladio was back by 5 and would later join me.
We had an early dinner, still out on the terrace and an early night, as usual.
I didn't get news about Olivia's arrival until I was up on Friday morning. She had arrived safely in Albuquerque via Dallas probably while we were asleep. We wouldn't hear from her again until about 2.30 pm our time when she was just getting up to have her breakfast at 6.30 am her time. She later sent us a photo of herself in Albuquerque which she said was a lovely city. The climate is similar to Madrid.
She told me she had difficulty understanding some of the Americans there when she had spoken to them on the phone for different filming permits. I'm sure that's because of a very strong accent. I cannot understand the Texans from the state next to New Mexico so no doubt, their accent must be similar. Later when we finally were in touch, she told us she had had a nightmare at immigration in Dallas. Her cameraman had trouble going through immigration, although later he was admitted and they only just caught their ongoing plane by the skin of their teeth. Olivia had trouble too, despite her UK passport, and it was because she was carrying an apple. A huge fuss was made over the apple. I hate US immigration. It's so humiliating and frustrating and the officials or agents don't give a damn if you are going to miss your plane or not. She arrived in Albuquerque pretty stressed out and not to mention tired but thankfully she had a good night's sleep and was fine the next day.
Olivia will have been happy to know about the winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize. There was talk of it going to Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump or even Puigdemont, God forbid, but sanity prevailed and it went to far more deserving people. It was awarded to the anti rape in war activists Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege. Nadia is an Iraqui Azidi who was actually captured and raped by ISIS. She went on to tell her story in a plea for help against rape as a weapon in war. Denis Mukwege is a brave Congolese gynecologist who tries to repair women who have been raped in that country which is known as the "rape capital of the world". I can't think of anyone more deserving of this prize than them. They are very brave people.
Life continued as normal here. We went on our walk after which I had some work to do. That day my customer, Adamo, had a press conference up in the lovely wine region of Spain, La Rioja. I had supervised the arrangements and written the press release. Thus, I was happy to see quite a lot of coverage coming out later even though it was only local news. The announcement was about Adamo and Knet's plans to deploy fiber across the region. Adamo had recently acquired the local operator Knet.
That morning I got another Airbnb reservation, this time from a Portuguese couple coming on Sunday. It was going to be full house as on Saturday 7 people from León were coming for the night. They would leave on Sunday and the Portuguese will come tonight and leave on Wednesday. Then on Wednesday my 3 Russians are coming for 4 nights and will coincide with my Lebanese guests from Brussels coming next Friday. Airbnb is my main work at the moment and I am astonished how we have had full house since July until now and the end of October. No doubt things will quieten down in November. In the afternoon, Pierre, our French guests who I called our invisible guest, announced he was leaving to go to France as he couldn't find accommodation here over the weekend. We were sad to see him go and hope to see him again. He would be replaced by a young Spanish girl from Pamplona on Friday night.
As Pierre was leaving, we were leaving too but to go and pick up Norah and bring her home. We were dying to bring her home as I know she must have been so frustrated after 3 days and nights in a cage at the hospital. It was such a joy for her and for us when she was finally given to us with a whole load of instructions on her medicines. We shall be going back on Tuesday, hopefully, to get her MRI results. The first thing I did when we got home was to bathe her, something she needed a lot. The other dogs were pleased to have her home too and we were also pleased to see that she looked so much better.
That night, after giving her meds, at least 8 different types, including 2 injections, we got ready to go out to dinner. It was Friday night so time for dinner out and my prize of the week. We decided on Tony Roma's an American fast food place which is not good for the figure but has good comfort food. It was closed for renovation when we got there so we opted for another similar "joint" called Foster's Hollywood nearby in Majadahonda. Here we feasted on onion rings, a meat dish and then an amazing brownie. I left feeling full and a bit guilty. Amazingly, I slept well that night and didn't have a headache when I got up.
I was up on Saturday at 5.30. Oh dear. On the other hand I had loads to do and I would have more time to do it in. I had to prepare lunch, prepare everything for the arrival of our 7 guests, do the food shopping and all by 12.30 when Helene would be coming for my French lesson. I felt dizzy with all the things I had to do.
It was amazing but we did everything just on time for my French lesson. As Oli was away, we had a conversation class instead of using the exercise and grammar books. Just as the lesson finished, I got another Airbnb booking which means that today I will have 3 new guests, a couple from Portugal and an English gentleman from Poole. The latter is coming to see his son who is studying at the University here. So it will be full house again tonight. Eladio had his tasks too and swept the leaves, mowed the front lawn and cleaned the pool just in case the children coming with the group of people from León (Cistierna) wanted to bathe.
The group arrived just as we were finishing our lunch which was good timing. They are a group of 2 families and the lady who booked called Goretti, after an Italian saint I think, told us later she works at the local train station as station master. The kids were excited to be in our house and one of them asked me why we had such a big one. I was a bit stuck for an answer. Once they were settled in, they went out again for lunch and we suggested Ginos which they later told us they loved. We, in turn, went up to our room to watch the news and take a siesta.
The main news on Saturday was the sudden death of Montserrat Caballé, the Spanish singer and soprano, known to her fans as "la superba" .Well, she was superb that's for sure and is up in the league of Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland, although Caballé was very modest, insisting she was not a "diva". She was a very large lady and had a huge sense of humour but will be remembered forever for her voice. According to the NYT which wrote a beautiful obituary which you can read here, "Stereo Review magazine said of Ms. Caballé in 1992, "one of the most beautiful voices ever to issue from a human throat". I totally agree. Condolences poured in from all corners of the world for the Spanish renowned soprano who died in a hospital in Barcelona aged 85 after battling with a problem with her gallbladder. For non opera fans she will be remembered forever for her duet with Freddy Mercury of the song Barcelona, the theme tune for that city's, her city's, Olympic Games in 1992. I was shocked when I heard the news and felt that Spain had lost a huge music ambassador and icon. All I can say is "adios Montserrat Caballé", you will be sorely missed and never forgotten.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world or more concretely in New Mexico, Oli was out shooting at the Albuquerque International Balloon fiesta or festival, one of the biggest if not the biggest in the world. In order to go up in one of the balloons, she and her cameraman had to get up at 3 or so in the morning. That would have been to assure there was no wind. And here she is with lots of balloons in the background.
After our siesta, we went to sit and read in the garden, preferring to leave the pool to our guests. As I had expected, the kids swam. We read quietly until it was time for dinner. Our guests went out for dinner which meant the house was quiet last night. After the news we watched 2 documentaries about the life and death of the Spanish soprano singer one of which included a very recent interview with her. What a lovely and modest woman she was considering she reached the top of her career. We learned from the interview that she came from the very bottom, as in post war Spain her parents were poor and were even evicted three times from their house. While she learned music from her Father's meager wages, she vowed to sing well enough to bring money and food to the house. She did much more than that but her beginnings forever kept her head in perspective.
And today my friends is Sunday. It's quite early in the morning and I have lots to do, with guests leaving and guests coming. So I shall sign off here now, publish this and give a printed copy to my Father.
Wishing you all a great day and week ahead, all the best until next time,
Masha
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| Oli leaving Madrid on a "jet plane" on Thursday morning for Dallas and then Alburquerque |
I had lots of work to do that morning for one of my clients on a couple of press releases. I also had a lunch scheduled with the girls from QuintaEsencia, my events agency. However they had to cancel it until next week. That left me a bit in the lurch as Eladio was off to see his friend Roberto and then have lunch with his brother in Madrid where he went to see his mother. On the off chance she was free, I rang my best friend Fátima. She was free, so the two of us had a lovely girly lunch together at a little Asturian restaurant nearby. She brightened up my day.
Pippa was happy to see me come home. Eladio wasn't back yet and so I changed into relaxing clothes, slept a short siesta - about 20 minutes - then came down to the pool terrace to continue my riveting new Frederick Forsyth book, The Fox. Eladio was back by 5 and would later join me.
We had an early dinner, still out on the terrace and an early night, as usual.
I didn't get news about Olivia's arrival until I was up on Friday morning. She had arrived safely in Albuquerque via Dallas probably while we were asleep. We wouldn't hear from her again until about 2.30 pm our time when she was just getting up to have her breakfast at 6.30 am her time. She later sent us a photo of herself in Albuquerque which she said was a lovely city. The climate is similar to Madrid.
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| Oli in Albuquerque on Friday |
Olivia will have been happy to know about the winners of this year's Nobel Peace Prize. There was talk of it going to Kim Jong-Un and Donald Trump or even Puigdemont, God forbid, but sanity prevailed and it went to far more deserving people. It was awarded to the anti rape in war activists Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege. Nadia is an Iraqui Azidi who was actually captured and raped by ISIS. She went on to tell her story in a plea for help against rape as a weapon in war. Denis Mukwege is a brave Congolese gynecologist who tries to repair women who have been raped in that country which is known as the "rape capital of the world". I can't think of anyone more deserving of this prize than them. They are very brave people.
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| Nadia Murad and Denis Mukwege |
That morning I got another Airbnb reservation, this time from a Portuguese couple coming on Sunday. It was going to be full house as on Saturday 7 people from León were coming for the night. They would leave on Sunday and the Portuguese will come tonight and leave on Wednesday. Then on Wednesday my 3 Russians are coming for 4 nights and will coincide with my Lebanese guests from Brussels coming next Friday. Airbnb is my main work at the moment and I am astonished how we have had full house since July until now and the end of October. No doubt things will quieten down in November. In the afternoon, Pierre, our French guests who I called our invisible guest, announced he was leaving to go to France as he couldn't find accommodation here over the weekend. We were sad to see him go and hope to see him again. He would be replaced by a young Spanish girl from Pamplona on Friday night.
As Pierre was leaving, we were leaving too but to go and pick up Norah and bring her home. We were dying to bring her home as I know she must have been so frustrated after 3 days and nights in a cage at the hospital. It was such a joy for her and for us when she was finally given to us with a whole load of instructions on her medicines. We shall be going back on Tuesday, hopefully, to get her MRI results. The first thing I did when we got home was to bathe her, something she needed a lot. The other dogs were pleased to have her home too and we were also pleased to see that she looked so much better.
That night, after giving her meds, at least 8 different types, including 2 injections, we got ready to go out to dinner. It was Friday night so time for dinner out and my prize of the week. We decided on Tony Roma's an American fast food place which is not good for the figure but has good comfort food. It was closed for renovation when we got there so we opted for another similar "joint" called Foster's Hollywood nearby in Majadahonda. Here we feasted on onion rings, a meat dish and then an amazing brownie. I left feeling full and a bit guilty. Amazingly, I slept well that night and didn't have a headache when I got up.
I was up on Saturday at 5.30. Oh dear. On the other hand I had loads to do and I would have more time to do it in. I had to prepare lunch, prepare everything for the arrival of our 7 guests, do the food shopping and all by 12.30 when Helene would be coming for my French lesson. I felt dizzy with all the things I had to do.
It was amazing but we did everything just on time for my French lesson. As Oli was away, we had a conversation class instead of using the exercise and grammar books. Just as the lesson finished, I got another Airbnb booking which means that today I will have 3 new guests, a couple from Portugal and an English gentleman from Poole. The latter is coming to see his son who is studying at the University here. So it will be full house again tonight. Eladio had his tasks too and swept the leaves, mowed the front lawn and cleaned the pool just in case the children coming with the group of people from León (Cistierna) wanted to bathe.
The group arrived just as we were finishing our lunch which was good timing. They are a group of 2 families and the lady who booked called Goretti, after an Italian saint I think, told us later she works at the local train station as station master. The kids were excited to be in our house and one of them asked me why we had such a big one. I was a bit stuck for an answer. Once they were settled in, they went out again for lunch and we suggested Ginos which they later told us they loved. We, in turn, went up to our room to watch the news and take a siesta.
The main news on Saturday was the sudden death of Montserrat Caballé, the Spanish singer and soprano, known to her fans as "la superba" .Well, she was superb that's for sure and is up in the league of Maria Callas and Joan Sutherland, although Caballé was very modest, insisting she was not a "diva". She was a very large lady and had a huge sense of humour but will be remembered forever for her voice. According to the NYT which wrote a beautiful obituary which you can read here, "Stereo Review magazine said of Ms. Caballé in 1992, "one of the most beautiful voices ever to issue from a human throat". I totally agree. Condolences poured in from all corners of the world for the Spanish renowned soprano who died in a hospital in Barcelona aged 85 after battling with a problem with her gallbladder. For non opera fans she will be remembered forever for her duet with Freddy Mercury of the song Barcelona, the theme tune for that city's, her city's, Olympic Games in 1992. I was shocked when I heard the news and felt that Spain had lost a huge music ambassador and icon. All I can say is "adios Montserrat Caballé", you will be sorely missed and never forgotten.
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| Adios Montserrat Caballè |
After our siesta, we went to sit and read in the garden, preferring to leave the pool to our guests. As I had expected, the kids swam. We read quietly until it was time for dinner. Our guests went out for dinner which meant the house was quiet last night. After the news we watched 2 documentaries about the life and death of the Spanish soprano singer one of which included a very recent interview with her. What a lovely and modest woman she was considering she reached the top of her career. We learned from the interview that she came from the very bottom, as in post war Spain her parents were poor and were even evicted three times from their house. While she learned music from her Father's meager wages, she vowed to sing well enough to bring money and food to the house. She did much more than that but her beginnings forever kept her head in perspective.
And today my friends is Sunday. It's quite early in the morning and I have lots to do, with guests leaving and guests coming. So I shall sign off here now, publish this and give a printed copy to my Father.
Wishing you all a great day and week ahead, all the best until next time,
Masha
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