More views of Feria in Jerez

 

Costume of a coachman

Sorry for the blur…I took the shot before I realized she was posing for me.

***

A long time ago, I recorded a song (composed by my cousin, Scott) with the lyrics:

“Enjoy what you’re doing when you’re doing it.

There’s something great in everything you do.”

For me, that’s the theme of Andalucia.  The people seem to savor whatever they’re doing, whether it’s having an espresso in a cafe, shooting the breeze with a friend on a street corner, or buying vegetables at the market.

Last night, at Juan’s Taberna, we watched the town perk up after the afternoon siesta.  The same old men sit on the bench on Calle Ancha.  I wonder how many times they’ve heard each other’s stories?  It’s a pleasant life here in Sanlucar.

Feria in Jerez de la Frontera

The feria in Jerez is all about horses and dressing up–and also about drinking and dancing the sevillana.  There is a wide promenade in the fairgrounds where the horses parade.  Some are saddled, some pull carriages, but all are exquisite animals, braided and tasseled and shining.

Fairgoers can have their photographs taken with a horse, as above, or buy a ride in a carriage.  All along the promenade are the big booths called casetas where one can get drinks and tapas, or a meal, and dance.  Further along are the rides.  Here the noise is ear-shattering.

And of course, there’s food: churros y chocolate, tortilla de patatas, helado, and many variations of ham and sausage sandwiches.

Let me try to describe the most ingenious ride.  Four or five huge tubes of plastic float in a large pool of water.  They look almost like tubes of bubble wrap.  Kids go inside the tubes and run, like hamsters on a wheel.  The tube spins; the kids fall down.  Fun!

This gentleman looked so very Spanish.  He reminded me of my ex-father-in-law.  Check out the stirrups.  After I took his picture, he did crack a smile.

On the way to the parking lot, we saw this couple heading into the feria.

Wandering around Villa Horacia, where we are living, I noticed this tile on one of the houses:

It really made me laugh. It also made me appreciate that the people who live here actually took the time to buy a tile and insert it in the wall of their house.

If homeowners choose a name for their house, maybe they order a tile made to display it.  So that would mean there are places–workshops or factories–that cater to this particular custom.  Here are some more:

It pleases me no end that the people of Sanlucar name their houses.  What a wonderful custom!

This is the front yard of our current digs in Sanlucar.  Olive tree on one side and lemon tree in bloom on the other.  

The same olive tree seen from the living room window.

Here’s Pat with our handy “rolser” that we take to go to the nearby market.

I remember “bottle brush” bushes from my childhood in Los Angeles, but this tree was something new for me.

The days here in Sanlucar are rich and warm and slow.  The bread is too good, the produce colorful and tasty.  

And then there’s the ice cream…

Prado del Rey   Part 3

As we strolled along a street in Prado del Rey, I snapped a photo of the shawl in this window.  Little did I know then that it was only a preview of the inspired decorations we’d see later.

After the show, we headed down into town for some food.  On the way were these nasturtiums.

But then!  The yarn bombing began.  First, the lampposts sported crocheted sweaters.  That was amusing, but nothing unusual.  However, the art flying overhead was captivating and gasp-worthy.

What a fabulous idea, to put a quilt in the sky!

Or colored spiderwebs!

Or lacy umbrellas!

As the sun set, umbrellas swung above, and we found a noisy, busy tapas bar where we enjoyed drinks and delicacies.

What a day!

Prado del Rey   Part 2

Horses are big in Andalusia.  None actually attended this festival day, but the fancy saddle kept their presence.  Next week at the feria in Jerez, there will be many beautiful horses.

This woman caught my eye.  She is my idea of a Spanish gitana, although she may be from somewhere else entirely.

The statue was on the stage during the play, but the men moved it off before the dancing began.

    

From the left, dancer Noelia, singer Lola, and guitarist Miguel.

And Anna added in after her dance.  As yet I’m unable to post videos on this blog, so check my Facebook page for the action.

What a pleasure to return to our favorite plaza in Sanlucar!

On Friday evening, the families were out in the plaza, having beer and tapas or ice cream.  It was way too early for dinner. We watched the kids chase the pigeons, and the teenagers cruising.

I had forgotten some of the many things that delight me here.  My nose gets a lot of interesting activity because the Spanish like cologne.  People pass by and I get a whiff of something lovely.  The jasmine sends out fragrance in the evenings.  The lemon trees in our house’s yard are blossoming.  Also, there’s the smell of fermenting or spilled manzanilla (like port, but special to this area) when we walk by a warehouse.  And the garbage.  And the sewage plant.  And the scent of detergent from the clothes dryers.

A trip to the Mercadona supermarket provided several minutes of entertainment as we watched the orange juice machine at work.  It cuts, squeezes and dispenses fresh orange juice into the bottles displayed at left.  Smells great.

It’s a whole different adventure coming back to a place and town that are familiar.  Except for the house where we are living.  The same lovely couple who loaned us their home last time moved into a larger place down the street.  It’s a really big house, but more about that next time.

 

Dodger

by Terry Pratchett

Harper Collins, 2012

Michael L. Prinz Award Honor Book

 

Dodger, by Terry Pratchett, offers a delightful romp through 19^th century London. The reader encounters many famous personages as s/he follows Dodger in and out of the sewers and streets of the city. We meet Charlie Dickens, Sir Robert Peel, Sweeney Todd, and even Queen Victoria.

I guess I’m very late in discovering Pratchett. He has written tons of books in his Discworld series. I don’t know if I’m ready to plunge into such a huge collection. But Dodger was really fun to read, clever and humorous, and the language was superb.

Bone Gap

by Laura Ruby

Balzer & Bray, Harper Collins, 2015

ALA Michael L. Printz award for excellence in young adult literature

National Book Award finalist

 

I picked up Bone Gap from the library shelf because it had two awards on the cover. The story held my attention, particularly because there was MAGIC involved.

Brothers Finn and Sean O’Sullivan live alone. Their mother left a few years ago to start a new life in Oregon. Young, beautiful Roza appears in their barn and stays on, but then goes missing.

Finn knows Roza was kidnapped–actually saw her speaking to the man and getting into his car–but he can’t recall the man’s face. No one believes Finn.

How Finn continues his search for Roza, and what he learns about himself, includes beekeepers, a magical horse, and other surprises.

Ruby tells a good tale of “love and loss, magic and mystery, regret and forgiveness.”

 

*The book is definitely young adult level.

Jennifer Castle, YA Author

An article about Jennifer Castle in our local paper prompted me to search for her books in the teen section of Elting Library.

First I zoomed through her award-winner, The Beginning of After, about a teen that loses her family in a car accident. That was so good that I jumped into You Look Different in Real Life.  This story’s characters are teens who have participated in a documentary that filmed their lives every five years. The first two films, when they were five and eleven years old, were hugely popular. Now the students are sixteen years old. Castle explores their relationships and how each of them reacts to another filming.

I couldn’t get hold of the next book, What Happens Now, so I read her latest, Together at Midnight. Of the three books, I liked the first two best. In her stories, Castle deals with serious life situations and changes. I can almost hear her asking questions. How does a young woman deal with losing her parents and her brother? What is it like to be famous because you were filmed at age five and eleven? Will you agree to being filmed now that you are sixteen? What do you do if you have a learning disability, but everyone expects you to go to college? What if you are gay and your family is super-conservative?

For me, the character’s voices were totally authentic. I can’t wait to get my hands on What Happens Now.