19 Saturday Nov 2011
Today’s Photohunt theme is “wet / rain”.
Am cheating today because this photo was actually taken by my friend Juan at his fabulous restaurant Vineria San Telmo. Some people just always want to sit outside on the terraza…. am assuming he was English. 🙂
03 Thursday Nov 2011
Forget equinoxes and time changes, for me autumn doesn’t officially arrive until the first day I have to put on shoes. Which was today. Had to go out to the hospital this morning for the monthly chemo port cleaning and, while the heavy overnight rain had stopped, it was still a bit blustery and coolish. Dammit. I didn’t need to wear a jacket, but bare legs and mostly bare feet seemed like pushing it, so out came the dreaded tights and the (very dusty) purple shoes.
Not bad, I guess, but some years I’ve managed to keep wearing sandals until the last week of November. Basically it depends on if it rains.
Anyhow, I got a taxi over to the hospital. It’s different since they changed the port cleaning location – I used to go to the chemo infusion room in the evenings when they weren’t so busy and now I go to the blood lab building between 12-1pm. It’s actually a bit better not having to go to the chemo room, but it’s still a monthly reminder of THE CANCER and that the reason I have to keep this port in for five years is that they expect that I’m going to need it again…
But not today. There were two nurses on duty when I walked in and they immediately asked why I was dressed totally in black. I said I wasn’t, that I was wearing purple shoes and red earrings, but that didn’t satisfy them. Then I realised they must have thought I was in mourning, so I told them I was mourning the sun. Cracked them up. And they also relaxed, no longer worried I was a recent widow on top of having a chemo port in my chest.
So now that it’s autumn (it’s not officially winter until the Christmas lights are turned on) I need to go through my pathetic array of “warm clothing” and see what I can pull together. Even though it actually got up to 20º this afternoon. But I don’t want to buy anything new until I lose another ten kilos…
How’s the weather where you are?
23 Sunday Oct 2011
Posted in weather
Took this pic late this morning on my terrace…
I was a bit miffed because, after almost two months since the last major rainfall here, I wasn’t happy about it happening again on my Sunday off. Anticipating a rainy weekend – and possibly entire rainy week ahead – I did four loads of washing yesterday so I could get things dry. Such an exciting life I lead. But the rain held off yesterday. And almost did today…
At midday Nog and I went out for a walk to check out a couple of new tapas bars in Triana – well, at least they were new to me. I’ve had so many tapas tours this month that I haven’t had time to go out and research new places for my Sevilla Tapas blog. So after the black clouds dispersed we made our way across the river. Turned out the first stop was closed on Sunday, so then we went to try out the second one. And well… at 2.15pm on a Sunday there wasn’t one person in the place, which did not bode well. As we were backing out of there I saw the owner of the tapas bar next door – Las Golondrinas – which is one of my all-time favourites. So we decided to just have a nice non-working lunch there. And it was lovely. The owner Paco kept coming over to suggest dishes and make sure we had drinks. We even got to try a couple of new tapas. And then… the skies opened up and we could barely see across the street. No problem. We ordered another round of drinks and a tapita and waited out the deluge…
Now back at home totally slobbing out and quite enjoying it.
How is your Sunday going?
11 Tuesday Oct 2011
After a very hectic week with nine Sevilla Tapas Tours in eight days (Nog did three of them) it was nice to just relax and spend yesterday evening out walking around. The weather was perfect – still warm enough for sandals but with a lovely breeze – and the streets were pleasantly busy. Lots of people out for tapas.
Actually, my first stop was a “business meeting” with Juan to discuss some new ideas for his Vineria San Telmo blog, though it was really more of a social visit and chat over a glass of Botani. Nog came too as he is becoming more involved with my tapas stuff and it’s good for him to see what I do and to know the people I work with. After a pleasant hour with Juan we were on our way out and I spotted the group of six people I’d taken out the night before having dinner on the Vineria terraza. I went over to say hello and then sneakily got Juan to surprise them with a bottle of rosado from me – the looks on their faces made my day!
After checking to see if an ex-client of mine was at her restaurant (she wasn’t, as usual, which is kind of why she’s an ex-client) we wandered through barrio Santa Cruz on our way to stop number three, Albarama and Puracepa, to speak to the manager who’d asked me to translate their new menus. Then we decided to have a small snack at Puracepa, the amazing ensaladilla and pretty glass of rosado you can see above.
The ensaladilla is always served with these really cool forks that I’ve been coveting for years, so last night I asked the manager if I could buy two of them. He said they were actually running short of them because that design had been discontinued and they can’t get any more. So I said no problem, I’d just swipe a couple the next time I came. And then when I paid the bill Juanma brought my change on a tray with two forks wrapped in a napkin. Ha.
On the way out we ran into Juan Carlos, the owner of Albarama, Puracepa and the fabulous new cocktail bar Lab4, who was sitting outside on the terraza with a group of friends. He called me over to introduce me to the fellow who owns the building that Puracepa and Lab4 are in, saying that he wanted English classes(!!), and he also confirmed that he wanted to get two groups together for Nog’s Restaurant English classes (!!!). Then we chatted a bit with José Manolo (“call me Joseph”), the doorman at Lab4, who is lovely. And I thought – wow, I’m really in like Flynn with this whole gang now! – and all just because I’m chatty and show a real interest in what they’re doing.
It also ocurred to me walking home that I’d just spend my “day off” evening out working! And well, what better work to have than exactly what you’d want to be doing anyhow? This has been a dream of mine ever since I first left home at age 15 and started working – whew! Have finally made it! Now just have to get it to pay a bit better…
07 Wednesday Sep 2011
Last Friday afternoon I took a taxi from the hospital to the Plaza Alfalfa, a square near my house, so that I could pick up the various drugs I needed at the pharmacy there. While inside the skies opened and this very unsummerlike scene left me stranded while Nog raced home to get umbrellas so I could get home as soon as possible without getting soaked through.
All that week up until Sunday the weather was lovely and fresh, with a couple of rainstorms to clean the air. But this week The Heat is back. At the moment the thermometer reads 32º in my livingroom but I refuse to turn on the airconditioning because another thing waiting for me when I got home was a 173€ electricity bill for August (!!!). I’m still in shock. That is just for one month! And I only used the aircon for maybe three hours a day in August. So for the rest of the summer I’m just going to sweat it out and look forward to the cooler weather to arrive. Though I could do without another rainy winter…
casa azahar 