Life: Idiotropic

Once upon a time I was a holiday control freak. Then, magically and without warning, I somehow mellowed slightly and have given up part of my holiday repertoire. It's strangely comfortable.

This year Tiara tidied up and decorated the house making three pumpkin bouquets. She also made the salad with salad dressing, the mashed potatoes, and the gravy.

Kirk deep fried a ham and a turkey. Next year he'll two 2 turkeys. This is the last year (for a while anyway) that I do one. My oven is just too small.

I did three pies (apple, pecan, and pumpkin) and a pumpkin trifle plus the turkey, stuffing, and little appetizers - nothing fancy. Friends brought wine, green beans, and chocolate cake.

It was a small gathering, but good. This year, I relaxed more than usual and enjoyed it a bit more. The little girls set the table and all colored pictures to put at each plate. This welcome sign is one that Arianna made for our front door.

Now quite suddenly the fall has come with a brisk air that makes sweaters button up and mittens stay on. And I'm suddenly quite thankful for the heated floors that we hadn't used until now and the ease of microwaved leftovers in the evening.

I'm thankful for two wonderful new friends who have brought my out of my hermitage. Two amazing ladies with whom the conversation never stops nor dulls. Who were introduced this Thanksgiving morning to my favorite coffee shop where we had a delicious cafe con leche since we all agreed that the Spanish just don't have the hang of cappuccino yet - no where except Starbucks, but who wants to go there when you can go local?

I'm thankful for the lady who was kind enough last week to drive all the way to Madrid to pick up turkeys and hams for all the Americans here. Thanksgiving day here and my kids are in school, my husband is working, but the house is getting cleaned by a sweet Romanian woman who comes once a week. I am very thankful for her. She left a foil package on my counter. Wolf's Tooth in her language. English? We don't know. But Tiara was sick last week, so Rosica brought this today. "Make it into a tea," she says. "It is good for the stomach." Clean house and pizza for dinner.

Thanksgiving, but we're not celebrating today, so I'm thankful that Elise is attending another Spanish birthday party - this one at the school, so she was led directly from class at the end of the day to the cafeteria where there's a gym upstairs. I came an hour later, checked on her, then sat down at the parents table - something that there always seems to be. A table laden with good coffee, water, sodas, snacks, and a delicious lemon pound cake. I'm thankful that I met another Spanish lady - Lola's mom who is friendly, speaks English well, and wants to have coffee one day. Another friend? May be.

There's a lot to be thankful for every day. Not just Thanksgiving day.

Yesterday I had to take 5 minutes in the car outside my favorite coffee shop to collect myself before going in. Logan had an appointment to be fixed. I thought I'd just drop her off and go, but they asked me to stay with her to calm her after they gave her a shot to relax her. So I stayed with her as she got limp, laid down, and barely held her eyes open to look up at me. They lifted her to the table then and I stayed with her while they shaved a bit of her leg, put in her IV, then shaved a large portion of her stomach. She was awake - aware, just unable to move. Killed me. They told me I could go and as I left, Logan lifted her heavy head, turned, and looked at me as I walked away. She's a dog. I'm really in trouble if my kids are ever really sick. Stupid me had to pause and look from the cracked door as they carried her out of that room and towards the operating room. She saw me too and turned to see me as they passed by.

That afternoon I picked her up. She was weak and obviously still drugged. Her tail didn't wag. She didn't make a sound. Seemed so ghostly. Walked crooked. Threw up some horrid bright yellow. Grossness. Tiara and I worried and stressed over her all night. She wouldn't keep water down. Nothing stayed down.

I've never been so happy to see a tail wag - by this morning, she was almost normal! Wagging tail and tiny moans. She's on an antibiotic and pain meds for over a week. Once she had food in her stomach, she was back to normal.

But... if you've seen Up, it's hard not to laugh now at our silly puppy with her "cone of shame." Poor thing was a mess the first day bumping into everything and getting stuck not knowing to back out. She isn't too much better now, but just pushes herself through. A miracle she's only gone through 2 cones this week.

It's almost December and it's still hot some days. You barely need a sweater in the morning and by afternoon, you're in short sleeves. There's very little evidence of fall at all, but here on my reed fence, we have our own small sign, the only green in my yard that has changed and are now falling by the handfuls, so I had to snap this picture quickly before our one sign of autumn falls.

...and the kids are bickering. The sun is shining outside. It's absolutely gorgeous and unseasonably warm. The beach is calling.

I need some time with my weekend husband - we see each other so little these days, so 10 minutes away lies El Nazareth, a nice place with a tiny patio right on the boardwalk near a playground where the children can play and Kirk and I can enjoy tapas and a glass of wine.

The change of scenery stops the bickering. The kids kick their shoes off and play, excited when the Spanish children can say "hello." Kirk and I watch the sky turn pink over calamari, ensalata valenciana, and the house white.

Clementines. Mandarinas. And so many more varieties that I can't name. They surround me. There is no where that I can go here where I don't see field after field of these sweet fragrant citrus. And sometimes, you can even smell it on the wind.

Today we drove just outside our neighborhood - only a kilometer from our house, to a small nursery and asked if we could pick some oranges. They brought us a case, told us to twist them carefully and not to pull or the soft peel will come off as well, and to trim stems or they will stab the other oranges. Don't pick ones that are overly orange - and a little green is ok. They will be delicious. And we were set loose. The kids loved it getting excited over the really big ones and the really tiny ones. The only drawback is that unlike the blueberries of last year, we can't freeze these, so we are limited by how many we can eat in the next few days.

Kirk brought them to the counter. Three men picked through them, looked at each one making sure they were good ones and trimming the stems that the girls missed in their enthusiasm for picking. I asked to pay. No, not this time. A case of free oranges that we picked ourselves. Amazing.

I love this place. They know me there now - I go often for plants. And they are always so friendly. The girls loved picking. I told them we'll go every week until the season is over or we're sick of oranges... what ever happens first. The flavor - more intense than any orange I've ever tasted. Oh so good. I won't tire quickly.

PHOTOS of the GIRLS picking: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165455&id=674507268&l=55dcef0ccc

Apparently, when the Plaza de Toros isn't full of cape waving and pawing at the ground, it's quite the event center. Last week, the Feria Gastronomica, this week a Medieval Market, and in just a couple weeks, a circus complete with trained seals and dancers. The really cool thing about the first couple is that they've been free - to enter, at least.

Today I took all 4 girls with me. We took the train as usual - much cheaper that trying to park in the city and much less stressful. Stepped out of Valencia Nord, looked to the right at the impressive Plaza de Toros and saw the juggler right away. Street artists never get old when you're 5, 7, and 8. Juggling while riding a unicycle and making strange faces is about the coolest thing ever. Well, almost. This guy got beat out by a really nice collection of hawks and owls at the tent behind him. A nice start to our day. My little girls are amazed and impressed by these birds.

The corridors around in the center of the plaza were filled with vendors as well... a happy cheese lady selling a rich creamy goat cheese not like any French goat cheese I've ever eaten, a dejected elf man not sitting in his booth of elves and fairies, but sitting on the bench big artificial ears and all looking down and adjusting his little green "skirt," and rough looking cotton candy maker who coddled a very "home made" looking cigarette between two fingers while stirring the sugar with the other hand. Oh so much there... lots of leather, wooden toys, jewelry - much big and gaudy, but pretty- herbs, teas, foods. We walked the outer loop, looking at almost every booth - 5 girls in the bunch, go figure.

Tiara and I had to laugh because we'd seen most of the exact same food vendors there last week at the Feria Gastronomica, but with different "decor" and much different attire. Last week they dressed professionally and had "normal" displays - classy even. Today straw covered the floor, lamps hung from many stalls and scarves with bright colors and sequins. And the vendors all dressed in medieval garb - even the fancy award winning cheese guy who posed rather haughtily in front of his own 5' photo the week before. Today, no photo - just a "award winning cheese" sign written in a Cyrillic style font.

Shopping with girls - they want everything. And they all wanted swords or bow and arrows. Tiara and I wanted to buy them jewelry - pretty murano glass heart pendants or these beautifully hand painted copper pendants. We argued... but jewelry lasts forever! You can hang it on the tree, in your window, or wear it on a bracelet or a necklace. Nope. No twisting their arms. Eventually they all left happy. Elise with a wooden hatchet (a toy one, of course), Luci with the polished tip of a bull's horn hanging as a pendant on a leather cord, and Arianna with a fairy sitting on a little ball that glows in different colors when you turn it on. At least only one has a weapon, so there won't be any major battles in the back yard.

Lunch at a Turkish place that Tiara and I love which miraculously has something that each of the girls likes, and back home for a relaxing evening of cuddling on the couch and watching Beverly Hills Chihuahua.

More Photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165268&id=674507268&l=1894355224

So there are days when I feel amazing, confident, and wear the crown of Domestic Goddess with pride. And there are days when I feel like the wicked witch with the house collapsing on me, enslaved to chores with no end.

This week I had both... Monday, a goddess, cleaned, scrubbed, redecorated, cooked - even made home made focaccia, and entertained a new friend. Monday was good. Monday I was in charge.

Today, the dog knocked over the strawberry jam, so I had to pick jam covered glass out of her mouth and off the freshly mopped (then remopped) floor. Then, running late because it was one of "those" mornings, I opened my gate to find that some critter had torn open one of the LARGE garden bags full of smaller bags of kitchen garbage and decorated the street with orange and avocado skins all in front of my home. Nice. This is because the 6 plus large vans that have been parked outside my house for the last 2 week solid working on the house across the street keep parking slightly in front of my gate and block the trash, so the garbage men too lazy to really look, obviously missed it. Kids to school, then I'm outside my house with a broom and dustpan glaring at the workers and sweeping up moldy nasty garbage. The cat won't stop playing with my computer cables, the dog keeps barking, and I really think I ought to just climb back into bed. It's one of "those" days already.

At least it's just this one day. The rest of the week was a dentist appointment with a new dentist for us who works in a building that requires identification and a security pass to get by reception. Dr. Gomez is a Spaniard whose first name is German. Pronounced Herr Mann, it is particularly funny because he was born in Germany, lived there for 32 years, and speaks German better than Spanish or his near perfect English. Nice guy, nice wife, good job. They got Elise to submit to her first full cleaning ever and by the time we left, Claudia, his wife, had arms covered in stickers and colorful ink autographs from my younger three.

Beyond dentists, I had the joy (really) of going to an International Spouses coffee and laughing with the other moms about the strange accent that our kids are learning. My little girls are speaking English in this strange sing songy way - speaking English as if they were speaking Spanish. But MaMAAA. Crazy. Also had a nice 2 hour coffee with a new friend - 2 hours of non-stop conversation. That was needed.

So, I'll count my blessings. A lot of garbage means we're well fed, right? And I do now have 3 hams and 5 turkeys divided amongst my three freezers. Life is good and I'm sort of ready for the holidays. Just need to order some candy canes.

A couple weeks ago at my husband’s promotion ceremony, Colonel Manning turned to my 14 year old daughter and said, “thank you.” He went on to acknowledge the sacrifices that she’s made to support her father and her country for the last 14 years.

Neither of us had ever heard such simple, yet powerful words before. We thank our military members all the time. Moving tributes are created and passed along through email and Facebook posts. We smile and nod at uniformed service members at airports and in restaurants. And occasionally we stop and think about the spouses and might show them our gratitude as well.

But the kids? We have high expectations for them. We expect them to adapt, to deal with what comes their way, to change schools every 2-3 years. “They’re tough,” we say. “They can handle this.” And they can. And they do. They live the life and step up to the challenges. They make sacrifices willingly without question or complaint. They go months without fathers or mothers - sometimes both.

How many birthday parties and Christmases has Kirk missed for my 4 girls. The soccer games, school plays, graduations, dance recitals. So many days pass with a fan club of one.
They move just when they’ve gotten comfortable. They change cities, states, countries. They go to different schools - now with different languages and a different system. They miss homecoming, prom - the “American high school” experience. To us, they are little things, to them, it’s much more significant.

We tell them that they’re learning new things, new cultures, and that this is all a wonderful experience. Sometimes, we just need to give them a hug and say “thank you.”

My husband has a busy job. He’s only home on the weekends and those fly by way too quickly. My girls rarely complain. They might only see their dad 1/3 of the year and fly into his arms at each reunion with smiles and giggles.

I am so proud of them. And this Thanksgiving season, I will be especially thankful for them. Not only because they’re my daughters, but because they are strong young Americans who sacrifice daily for their country proudly, and act as young diplomats at their school showing the children there who Americans are and what America is really like.

Tell me I'm crazy, hallucinating, whatever. But I saw a penguin at the beach on Sunday.

He was there, swimming in the shallows near the shore, ducking down, swimming lightening fast completely visible under the clear water, then just as quickly, he ducked under and swam away fast enough and far enough that though 6 of us were straining to see him, we never did see him resurface.

Some birds dive for fish, but this guy was swimming fast and for prolonged periods. He's a penguin. But I googled penguins in Spain and learned that penguins only exist in the wild south of the equator.

So, Spanish folks out there... anyone missing a pet penguin? Last seen swimming near the Port at Sagunto.

PHOTOS FROM TODAY: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=163504&id=674507268&l=7331b6bbd6

Thankful for friends who come to visit thus forcing me to get out and do something a bit different. Today Kirk stayed home with the little girls so they could have a quiet day and he could get ready for a TDY and I jumped on a train with Julie and Tiara to see what we could find inside the Plaza de Toros.

Bulls, you say? You might think that inside the large Plaza de Toros next to Valencia's historic train station, you'd find cheering crowds, angry bulls, and a few brave matadors swirling some brightly colored capes. Today the crowds had their mouths too full to cheer. Today there was a large covered tent (why oh why would you have a dark covered tent here of all places, I have no idea!) inside the Plaza de Toros filled with vendor upon vendor of food! ;) And samples both free and not. Outside we bought 12 yellow tickets packed nicely in a cheap plastic grocery type bag with a napkin, 3 toothpicks, a small plastic plate, and a 2.5' tall clear plastic cup. The we just had to wander around looking for booths that had the same yellow signs hanging, give them a ticket and see what lands upon your plate. Olives, Spanish ham, sausages, cheese, cheesecake, wine, horchata, granizado, torron, candies, chocolates... the list goes on.

And it was pretty good. I was a tiny bit disappointed. On the outside ring of the plaza, there were tons of vendors... half junky souvenir stuff including hash pops and cannabis suckers, then the other half sold hot food... pizza in a cone, grilled meats, skewers, olives, yummy, yummy stuff. I sorta thought that those same places were inside - that's what I'd been told. But inside there weren't any hot foods and though the wine was delicious, it was difficult to find 12 different things to try. After a while, the meat and cheese though delicious just gets too heavy - too much. And most of the sweets aren't good enough to even have firsts let along seconds. At many sweet booths we got one sample and shared it 3 ways. Really, my favorite booth sold wine - and I don't drink much.

The absolutely most delicious things today - a very light chocolate chip cheesecake - the Spanish cheesecakes are light and not very sweet, a half-dry white wine, and the olives that we bought to bring home.

Stuffed and needing to show Julie just a bit more of the city than a covered tent, we headed towards Plaza de Ayuntamiento, wandered around the Rodin statues there that are part of a free art exhibit - all with rather horrified faces. Then found ourselves at Starbucks for a coffee. Walked to Plaza de la Reina, to the market, then back around to the train station to head back to Puzol. It was nice. Valencia is such a beautiful city - so small and easy to navigate. Friendly, clean, and comfortable. I'm very happy to live so close.

Ok, so since I'm horribly behind I think instead of progressing in order, I'll start here, stay current and back track as well, so that you may have to flip back a bit to see photos of the castle in Xativa and other random things... but at least I'll be able to sit down now and confess with great regret that after 4 years of living in Europe, Tiara and I have officially completely lost any shred of talent we once had for shopping.

Oh the glow of walking out of the mall with large rustling paper bags looped over each arm. To balance them just so. To hear them swish from side to side. To unwrap each item from it's paper, hold it up, admire it, then place it carefully away. The pride of a bargain had. The joy of something new. That great mall smell. And the joy of ordering several really unhealthy things from a food court. Sushi, Italian, something strange on stick.

Yesterday, a day off of school for Tiara, we decided to "hit the mall" and headed to what its website claims is the "biggest shopping mall in southern Europe." Oh I sure hope not. Not large, but ok, adequate, this mall contained all things odd with the few shreds of normalcy woefully out of financial reach. This after checking my account and seeing that the 68 Euro in plants translated to $102, looking at price tags was a bit sobering.

Love Massimo Dutti, but must hit the sales only. Couldn't find anything in Zara as far as clothes were concerned - not unless I'm in the market for a peacock feather belt - but Zara Home is amazingly nice. I think that sums it up, actually. The clothes are terrifying. Saw a skinny girl in floral leggings and a short top. Blech. Horrible. Saw denim harem pants with saggy low crotches covered in garish bright buttons and patches. Saw a man's face blown up so huge on the wall that you could see (without trying) each pore and even the finest facial hair including the eyebrow strands begging to be plucked. Really, my hope for each of you is that you never suffer a fate like this. Faces should only be so big.

But, on the other hand, curtains, pillows, candles, comforters, and other home decor items and nice, fun, beautiful, classy... I love it. Great finds for my home. May be I should go VonTrapp and start sewing my clothes from these Spanish curtains. Might be the only way to dress nice here.

Bad food court. Bad selection. World's worst gyros. Blech. Sad. Very sad. They had an ice cream shop. We didn't even try it. Shame on us.

But we did shop. Badly. I found a comforter for Luci and a few other tiny things. Tiara - my beautiful fashionista teenager - my lover of clothes and all things accessory - didn't buy a single clothing item. Instead, my zany girl bought soap for a friend and 2 garbage cans (see photo).

She went to the mall and left with trash cans. Not good.

Today we tried again.

Giggled and laughed and cheered like school girls when we found an old pile of bruised squishy pumpkins! The first we've seen in Spain. 3.50 for a small one. Crazy! But still... it's almost Thanksgiving... pumpkins are tradition... we MUST have our pumpkin bouquets... so we left with 3. Won't do the conversion on that one. Saw REAL Christmas trees too! Charlie Brown would be proud. All small, thin, sparsely branched, potted (which is good, I guess... we could reuse it), but crazy expensive. The "big" ones were 100 Euro. Went to another "mall" next door which turned out to be nothing but a movie theater, a bowling alley, a grocery store, and a very nicely laid out circle of restaurants with 5 little tiny shops sprinkled among them - and all the shops were closed.

Two days of shopping and we have garbage cans and pumpkins, a comforter for Luci (shhh, it's a surprise), and a big bag of dog food. This is just sad.

Just another Tuesday. Tiara's sick for the second day with a fever and this, the week that she was going to miss three days anyway because of a class trip that she's not doing, now she's missing the whole week. The good thing about Tiara being sick, as opposed to another one of my many children (this is an old mother Hubbard kind of day), is that she can sleep at home alone all day and I can do exciting things like the much anticipated... oil change.

A chore I dread. Mind numbing wait. Killing time. I don't like car places in general. And I was a tad bit nervous about this one because Kirk told me that the oil absolutely had to be changed from the top and not from the bottom and if they did it wrong that my car could explode. Of course, there was a more technical explanation, but that's what I got out of it. So I asked the lady who signed me in who asked the guy who said they had the right equipment. Yes? Oh goody. So I start to walk away, feel that nagging feeling, stopped, turned back, and told the mechanic guy at the place - one who was actually changing the oil on another car, "See that grey van out there??? You have to change it from the top. Yes, it's really important. From the top. Ok? Yes. Ok." So of course, just as I return from my excursion I see a guy take a wrench and walk over to the underside of my van which had conveniently been hoisted up in the air. "Excuse me? Please. You can't change the oil from the bottom. Only from the top. Ok?" He confers with another guy. I hear something to the effect that I could take it somewhere else, but not to me - they lowered the van and changed it from the top. So... 5 folks now involved. Will I have to do this each time? Crazy.

But... all worth it. A) Because they did it right, so I won't explode any time soon. And B) Because I got to spend 2 frivolously wonderful hours walking on a palm tree lined beach, picking up shells, and photographing the beach, the boats, and the beautifully colored buildings and Venice-like scenes of the marina. Thought about shopping. Almost stopped for coffee. But just walking was so much better.

So. Need to change oil again? Next week? Every week? Pick me, pick me! I'll go!

More Photos here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=165775&id=674507268&l=9755029e9b