I had a nice day in Madrid and got to visit with friends at Mercado San Anton. Three Spaniards (Maria and her husband Emi, and Carol), one Bulgarian (Alex) and one British ex-pat (Richard) joined me for drinks and tapas. It was nice to catch up on the past. Carol just that week gave notice that after four years, she is resigning her job and looking for a new job. She does not have one in place yet, but is open to new adventures. In a humorous photo, I caught Emi reaching across his wife Maria to massage a sore spot on Carol's neck.
Maria and Emi left first, then Maria came back with a nice gift for me - a bottle of olive oil and three vacuum packed samples of different Iberian hams. When the rest of us were ready to leave, we found that Maria and Emi had also paid the tab for the drinks and tapas.
I had a quiet evening Saturday, and figured out what to do with my gifts. I do not like to check bags with the airline, but to take the olive oil, that is what I had to do - pack it in my suitcase and prepare to check the bad. I did the same with the ham - but was pretty sure that it would cause a problem, as it would be seized by USDA as not allowable into the USA. I packed it and debated whether to give up two packs and try to sneak the third one into the USA. But then I thought better of it and decided that honesty was the best policy.
So I made it back to Arizona late Sunday evening - did I mention it was a long day? After getting up before 6:00 a.m. Spain time, I arrived home in Phoenix around 11:00 p.m. Arizona time - there is an eight hour time difference between the two locations. Monday, I did laundry and school work and tried to get reoriented after jet lag. Tuesday, I did my usual day at the Desert Botanical Garden as a docent. There was one change. We sold the silver Volvo on Feb. 14, so until we get the blue Volvo out to Phoenix at the end of April, I have no car. That means riding my bike the mile to the light rail, 40 minutes on the light rail, then two plus miles on bike to the Garden. And the same afterwards. This is a significant difference from the 15-20 minute ride in the car.
I was scheduled to fly from Phoenix to Burlington on Wednesday and had seats in first class on USAir on both flights. But the weather forecast showed a big storm in the mid-Atlantic region and USAir allowed free re-booking of flights. So I re-booked from Wednesday Mar. 6 to Thursday Mar. 7. Seats were in coach. And now I am back in Vermont. I expected snow, but was disappointed to see much more brown than white. Here are some photos taken while walking the dog this morning. The pose with him on the table is similar to an earlier post where I took a photo of him on the table in the middle of a snow storm.
And now it is off to JSC for meetings about the class that includes a trip to Brazil in May.
I had a quiet evening Saturday, and figured out what to do with my gifts. I do not like to check bags with the airline, but to take the olive oil, that is what I had to do - pack it in my suitcase and prepare to check the bad. I did the same with the ham - but was pretty sure that it would cause a problem, as it would be seized by USDA as not allowable into the USA. I packed it and debated whether to give up two packs and try to sneak the third one into the USA. But then I thought better of it and decided that honesty was the best policy.
So I made it back to Arizona late Sunday evening - did I mention it was a long day? After getting up before 6:00 a.m. Spain time, I arrived home in Phoenix around 11:00 p.m. Arizona time - there is an eight hour time difference between the two locations. Monday, I did laundry and school work and tried to get reoriented after jet lag. Tuesday, I did my usual day at the Desert Botanical Garden as a docent. There was one change. We sold the silver Volvo on Feb. 14, so until we get the blue Volvo out to Phoenix at the end of April, I have no car. That means riding my bike the mile to the light rail, 40 minutes on the light rail, then two plus miles on bike to the Garden. And the same afterwards. This is a significant difference from the 15-20 minute ride in the car.
I was scheduled to fly from Phoenix to Burlington on Wednesday and had seats in first class on USAir on both flights. But the weather forecast showed a big storm in the mid-Atlantic region and USAir allowed free re-booking of flights. So I re-booked from Wednesday Mar. 6 to Thursday Mar. 7. Seats were in coach. And now I am back in Vermont. I expected snow, but was disappointed to see much more brown than white. Here are some photos taken while walking the dog this morning. The pose with him on the table is similar to an earlier post where I took a photo of him on the table in the middle of a snow storm.
And now it is off to JSC for meetings about the class that includes a trip to Brazil in May.
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