Fish fry at Bobbio’s!
I had the day off!
In Spain, one of the things that’s set at several levels of government is holidays. The national government sets however many they have, then regional governments, then townships. This year, a holiday that’s “local” for Euskadi happens to fall on a Sunday, so the regional government went and picked a different one for each of the three provinces. I’d found out that July 4th was a day off work for me, but didn’t know why: talking with the family who owns the hotel I’m staying at, the two men had no idea but the woman (wife to one, sister to the other) knew it was “of course, it’s Bizkaia’s patron saint! Berriotxoa!” and both men “¡ay joder! Berriotxoa! :smack:” Mentioning it to my mother brought an “ah! Must be Valentín de Berriochoa!” with no further explanation.
Turns out it was a Dominican from Ellorio (aka Llodio - the village which hosts Bilbao’s airport), who was bishop of the Philippines and of Tonkin, where he was decapitated in 1861, thus being considered a martyr.
So from having a day off at work I ended up reading minibios of yet another guy from hereabouts who travelled to the farthest reaches of the world.
I took advantage of the day off to go clear up some stuff with my local IRS (sigh, I’m not completely done yet but at least at this point it’s clear that it’s them who owe me money, and they actually intend to pay - one of these months), donate blood (I couldn’t due to slightly low BP but I got a “+ -” cap and I was able to sign up as a possible bone marrow donor), visit Caritas’ raffle (a Sanfermines tradition of very long standing) and take a car trip to Bermeo. Barely “to”: when I entered the village I got a distinct feeling that, as someone who doesn’t speak a lick of Basque, I wasn’t particularly welcome and any attempt to ask for directions to the seaside might end up getting me pointed towards Ceuta - so I left. I’d seen other places where the immense majority of signs were in Basque, but never one with not a single non-Basque word in sight.
In the Caritas raffle, about half the tickets are “collect for prizes”: I got two glass tupperwares in exactly the shape and size that was in my to-buy list (yay, 5 points each) and a small reusable shopping bag (this year’s 2-pointer), along with a pair of kitchen scissors, a length of vacuum-packaged chistorra and a pack of home-style chocolate chip cookies that’s going to get shared around at work on the 7th (all these as direct prizes; the 7th is the feast of San Fermín, in whose honor we do crazy stuff like run around with bulls and take care for free of foreign morons who’ve bashed their brains against our floors). Everything else is numbers for raffles: a car, an electric motorbike, a cruise for two (those three got given to a couple in their 20s), money to spend in Pamplona’s old-town shops (I know a few where I’d be perfectly able to drop the whole amount in a couple of trips). Half the fun of it is looking through the prizes, all of which are donated by local companies 
Since there’s still quite a bit of day left Over There:
Happy 4th, y’all!
Happy 4th of July, eh?
Thanks Sunspace. And a belated Happy Canada Day to you.
Heh, Bobbio. Now we just need a new member whose name is Croaker. What?
We’re missing the Doo Dah parade to work in the garden. We kinda got on a roll, so we’re going with it.
Taking a break for lunch now.
I’ve still got one more load of laundry to do. After a while.
Off to eat, then back to the garden.
Hugs.
GT
Happy three days after Canada Day, eh? 
Here. Baking bread. Anyone surprised?
I can relate to the prednisone hate. I’ve been put on massive doses several times, and it has been a nightmare each time. I would sweat so much I could solve the drought in half a dozen states.
I need to warp up my loom very badly (I have a commission that’s been hanging over my head for way too long) but I’m only 9 days out from abdominal surgery to repair stuff that didn’t heal from a cancer surgery, and my get up and go is pretty feeble. I keep staring at it. Telekinesis would be a real help about now.
One thing I do plan to do is work on a baby blanket for a girl that I taught this year who got pregnant and dropped out about March. Babies having babies.
:eek:
I found a tick that I must have picked up when I went fishing. Luckily, it had not latched on to suck my vital bodily fluids.
And yay, something came apart under the sink and the water for the dishwasher started spurting all over the kitchen floor. 
At least I was inside and could turn it off before too much water dripped out.
BBBobbio ick on the tick! :eek:
gt ick on the leak! :eek:
In from the pool. We started hearin’ rumbles off in the distance. Comin’ in assures we will not have rain. 
I’s hongry so off to make food substances. Ok, nuke some burgers, steam some corn on the cob and yank out the N.O.T. out of the fridge.
Oh and just cause… ogbligatroy durknen psot.
Home again, home again, jiggety jog! Happy to be home with all my sweet dogs! They mobbed us! It was fabulous. Nothing like unconditional love. They didn’t eat much, though.
We’ve had a wonderful time. It was so good to see everyone, and relax with no chores for a couple of days.
Yesterday, Tom and I went out to the farmer’s markets in Fredericksburg, and got peaches and tomatoes. We also visited Luchenbach, TX. It’s a tiny little place. It was around 10:00 am, and they were gearing up for a concert at 1:00. We bought souvenirs and took lots of pictures. I’ll post pictures later, when I’m rested up.
Happy 4th, everyone! Thank goodness for the fireworks ban. No noise tonight!
Must be Domestic Crisis Monday. VWife’s closet committed suicide, and I spent the afternoon replacing the shelf and hanging bar. :rolleyes:
We’re going out for steak dinner, yum. Honey got an extra day at home, for the holiday, and boy that’s been nice.
No domestic crises in the Tower today, but the day ain’t over yet!
Laundry in off the lines - I got et alive by skeeters. Daughter came by and picked up her crap. I’m done for today. Tomorrow, I have to clear all the stuff off the counters downstairs because the cabinets have to come out on Wednesday. With luck, I’ll be loading the computers into my car tomorrow to pass to a coworker. So yay!
We’re not going to watch any fireworks - too muggy and too much traffic to deal with. bah humbug… 
At least this will be a short work week.
ok - now I’m afraid to run mine (I haven’t in a while; I’ve been using paper & plastic ware)
It’s domestic crisis Monday in the MMP. For me it was a shower head that fell apart. Fortunately I had a spare so I have a new but the same shower head.
All’s right with the world. Tomorrow is back to irk alas but like MOOOOOOM said, it’s a short week. Yay for that.
I shall now go lie upon the bed and watch teevee for a bit. I’s tahrd!
Nitey Nite Y’all!
I had my domestic crisis yesterday. I made the mistake of washing my car and doing the laundry. Some of the towels didn’t dry all the way in the big dryer at the laundromat, so I hung them out on the back porch with some skirts and things that couldn’t go in the dryer at all. So of course it starts to rain. Fortunately it only lasted thirty minutes, but that was enough to ensure that the towels had to stay outside until almost 8:00.
Half day of drug stress, half day of pool sloth. Nelly’s not doing well, it might be that time.
{{{{{{{{dogbutler & Nelly}}}}}}}}
{{{{{Nelly}}}}}
{{{{{doggio}}}}}
Katy saw Computer Boy take his backpack with him to the store and she gave him the “you’re not leaving too?” stare. Yep, she’s got the anxiety. I’m trying to get her to sleep in the bedroom with me, but she’s having none of it. I’m just an auxiliary person, not one of Her People.
Hopefully my inconsiderate neighbors will all go inside soon. Tomorrow’s another day at the ol’ daily grind.
ETA: And, as indicated, Katy was having none of the sleeping in the bedroom. She ran back downstairs so she’ll be ready to yell at the next person down to fill her food bowl.