Evening with Wayne Thiebaud

Re: Taco Truck

This is just TOO cute! What an awesome job this committee has done...I can't wait until tomorrow night!
Linda

On Nov 17, 2010, at 3:44 PM, Tina Home wrote:

> This was made out of cardboard from the US post office. Thanks to Sandra Machado and Lori Nelson. We are ready for tomorrow's Day of the Dead event!
> Celebrate and remember.

Last leg

Final departure from Las Vegas. Lauren was awarded a flamingo lamp for
being such a great guide in Zion. Las Flamingas love her!

Our bags arrived!!

United. Airlines came through and our bags arrived in St. George, Utah
at 1:00 (Central Standard Time) this morning. YIPEE!! We were
mystified how the dried "mint tea," Iberian ham and half wheel of
cheese cleared customs. Haven't opened the slippers suitcase yet...
Off to hike Zion in pink Flamingo feathers with a flock of women from
all over the USA. It's our patriotic duty.

Back to the States in One Piece!

Long Ago and far away

We woke up at 3:30 some morning long ago in a country far away, packed ourselves (and a charming, vagabond Backroads friend who was returning home to spend a month looking through his "stuff" and making soup)into a taxi towards the shiny, modern Barcellona airport. Zipped throught security, but delayed take-off put us into Brussels very late. Lauren ( having been throught four other security checks) was busted while the other inspector had to read ALL my 3oz. cosmetic bottle ingredients. BARELY made the flight (we were driven out to the plane waiting on the tarmack). After a 2 1/2 flight delay (I have no issue with fixing mechanical problems if we are going to be over an ocean) they gave us an assurance that our connections would be "protected." No mention of what would happen to our luggage. Somewhere in the world there is a backpack and two suitcases of Moroccan slippers, art books, Iberian ham, cheese from Montserrat Monastery, Sahara sand and our clothes for our Flamingo Fling (don't ask) weekend in Zion National Park. O'hare airport is a nightmare: 45 minute security lines, five frenetic terminals, surley staff and mistyped Boarding Passes. Lauren is convinced that United is becoming Untied.

Off to Vegas...in a center seat flanked by 300 lb gamblers

Heard Jerry Brown and Barbara Boxer, and Giants won! Our problems are a hill of beans compared to historic victories.

Welcome back to America! We may have to go to Walmart to celebrate.

Goodbye Gaudi!!

Goodbye Gaudi!
Done with Dali!
Bye Bye Barcelona!
See you soon!

Custom designs

There is a thrilling shop here in Barcellona called DESIGUAL that
makes "custom" clothes. The basic coats, pants, vests, dresses, etc.
for man and women are wild combinations of patterns and textures then
you can choose the buttons, trim or accents and they attach them right
there. It's like the best on anthropolgie and WICKED.
A totally fun experience!!!!

Dali-Doodling

Sometimes placemats make the best canvas. Inspired by Dali, we drew on our placemats at lunch. Here is a drawing of Tina by Lauren while waiting for Tapas :) Did you know that Dali would carry around a glass cup in his pocket everywhere he went so that he would see like the impressionists?

Virtual Cheering!

Craig, my brother in law and Lauren's uncle is doing the NYC Marathon,
half way around the world!! Corre Craig Corre! Wish him luck!

Unexpected Art Surprise?!?

The Art Surprise? Well, it's one piece of art from well known Spanish
artists and a collection of Egyptian mummies....hmmm?

Two minutes too late

Back in Barcelona and fully rested, we decided to take the train and
tram up to the monastery at Montserrat. Alas... we walked to the
station and missed the train by exactly two minutes, waited an hour in
the Parc Joan Miro then caught the next train out of town. The
monastery is perched on the serrated (serrat) mountains up so high one
can see the snow-capped Pyrennes and even Mallorca. Remembering that
Lauren just rode over them and into France last week we offered a
prayer of Thanksgiving to the Black Madonna and lit a candle for one
of the Backroads leaders.
The vertiginous tram down was two minutes late for the train back to
Barcellona, but hot chocolate was a delightful compensation for yet
another wait.
Back at The Market Hotel (a hidden treasure in the city) we met
Lauren's host,Gabrielle, for a Metro ride to an authentic tapas dinner
near the Cathedral. Of course, we missed the Metro by two minutes.
All in all, these six critical minutes actually ended up not in
disappointments but in new friendships, walks in parks and some
SERIOUS digital photo editing.
Blog readers will, however, have to indicate their interest in
reliving our adventures by commenting on our blog. We're happy to
share any of the 667 photos with anyone. ( Most of Morocco looks like
an Anthropology catalogue)

Tomorrow is our last full day in this glorious and friendly country -
the thought of leaving is truly spainful.

Miro Miro on the wall

We are now staying in Hotel Residance in Cadaquez in Northern Spain in
the Costa Brava region. It just ooooozes art history. Miro, Picasso,
Lorca, Mattise and their favorite surreal son, Salvadore Dali, "slept"
here. The lobby is filled with dog-eared art books, essays,
overstuffed chairs, worn oriental carpets and old Christie's auction
catalogues. "Original" Dali prints and 100's of photos line the walls.
It's a bit of a shrine to the art gang in a town that looks and feels
like Carmel - only with cobblestones, muchas casas blancas on the
hilly streets and the smell of paella everywhere.

A Day of Dily-Daling

Hello Dali!!!!

Hello Dali!!!

Just finished exploring the Dali Museum in Figueres in Northern Spain.

There are no words...so Spectacular will have to do!

Off to Cadaques to see his studio and where he hung out with Picasso,
Matisse and the gang. Rumor has it that Picasso stayed in our hotel.
Hopefully our noses will be in the same place when we wake up in the
morning....

L & T

Smiling and Stylish

We got out of town without a burka but do have an entire suitcase full
of Aladdin slippers!

Back in Black! :)

Hotel Review

After our night in the desert in tents that smelled like camels and
the nights at the riad in Marrakech, I've determined that students,
adventurers and folks who are "voluntarily unemployed" are better
suited to sleeping ( I think the term is "crashing") in hostels and
curling up on airport floors. Not that I don't like a night of
blinking or constant neon light, but at this point in my travel
journey I am quite content to have a a bit of quiet, no bed bugs,
fewer hookers outside the front door and no need for triple locks on
the doors.

Don't need a Hilton, just a 3 minute hot shower.

Travel Day to Spain!

We love Ryan Air! For less than 100 Euro, you can travel from the
desert of Morocco to the coast of Northern Spain!!

Drawing of the carpet salesman

Here is a drawing of the man who sold us a magic carpet in Morocco.
Okay, it wasn't magical but the experience definitely was!

Arabic Lesson!

Back in Northern Spain

While we loved the colors, excitement, smells and food of Morocco, we
have to admit that we are relieved to be back in Spain. Lauren's
fluent spanish, a recognizable alphabet and fashions we could consider
wearing to work make this feel like home. I was always more than a bit
uneasy and when Lauren went out by herself on the last night, even our
host was nervous. She returned having bumped into one of her Backroads
buddies.

Got up at 4:30 a.m. scramble through the alleys to the taxi, took a
cheap (25 euro) plane to Madrid, another to Gironda, then train to
Figueres - the apex of the Dali Triangle. The Theatro Dali is two
minutes away!! So tomorrow we go there and then, hopefully, out to the
tip of a peninsula on La Costa Brava to see his studio. When the
fishermen painted their boats, he encouraged them to clean their
brushes on his front door. Do not try this at home!

Off to get tapas and my first glass of Spanish wine. A person can only
drink so much mint tea.

Sugar and spices

Our host, Ali, has prepared a traditional Berber dinner for me. He
uses 44 spices just for ordinary meals. Lauren's taken off to the
Internet cafe to print our Boarding Passes ( if you don't have them,
it's 45 euros extra at the airport).
The blue and white container is the sugar bowl. One vizar of old
wanted marble for his palace so he traded it pound for pound for
sugar. The palace is astonishing- as is the diabetic rate here
Du hibouk
Tina

Hamming it up in the Hammam

Ali sent us off to the neighborhood Hammam where we were led into a
huge slippery tiled room to be steamed, lathered in black moroccan
beldi soap, exfloiated with a rough kissa glove, coated in local
ghassoul clay, scraped with pumice, hair slimed with henna, rinsed in
hot water and swaddled in scarves to wend our way home. Some women
happily go there 3 times a week to relax, gossip and be cleansed "hair
to toes." At 60 dirhams (one dirham is twelve cents) it is cheaper
than a Starbucks habit and certainly much healthier.
We read an inscription in the Marakesh Museum: "For my life, I choose
to be happy because it is good for my health."
Here's to Health and Hammams

Cooking with Ali

Tonight we are staying with chef and jazz extraordinare, Ali Iaazane
in the Medina. We have the honor of staying at his Riad, located in
the center near the famous Djemma El Fna. We met him through a carpet
salesmen down the street and have been having a wonderful time. He
shared his inside knowledge with us by introducing us to an authentic
16th century Hamam down the street and cooking. No tourist Hamam for
us! He is a musician for the British Council and the Master Drummers
of Africa. So cool! We are now sitting down to a home cooked meal of
Tagine in the courtyard of his Riad. If you are planning a trip to
Morocco, be sure to put Riad Iaazane on your list. (www.riaddariaazane.com
)