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I spent the rainy, stormy weekend last week, tackling a 1000-piece jigsaw puzzle with mounting frustration. Normally, I breeze through these things, having grown up in a household where we almost always had a puzzle set up in the corner of the living room for most of my young life. (It was as close to Europe as my family ever got.)
Not this time. This particular puzzle of a well-known Serrat painting, had, essentially, only two defining puzzle shapes. In other words, every piece fit into multiple spots. Consequently, I found myself removing, replacing, and resetting nearly as many pieces as I was successfully placing, as I slowly, SLOWLY(!) slogged along. Not good and NOT fun.
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Early Tuesday morning, I met a few friends and we headed to the SF Flower Market to purchase flowers for an upcoming garden show. (I'm still unclear as to how I "volunteered," but there you go.) Novices at best, we made our way through the mart in quick time, deciding on a color theme, and plunking down our money as if we knew what we were doing before heading back to my house to "design" our arrangement. (Fake it 'til you make it.)
For all the gardening I do (and I do A LOT!) flower arranging isn't a skill set I naturally possess. I fall more into the category of shove several bunches of one gorgeous variety (tulips, peonies, dogwood, and ranunculus are currently in season) into an attractive vessel, et voila, instant beauty! Hola! I'm back from a quick trip to Espana, having taken advantage of a pause in my schedule to visit my sister, Jill, in her new apartment (and in her new life) in the historic "Gotic" neighborhood of Barcelona, where she's officially an "expat," retired, and absolutely thriving! (Thank you Sarah, Kate and Elizabeth for the coverage.)
Barcelona is a walker's paradise (flat and scenic), so we'd start the day with a stroll on the beach with her dog, Luna, find a local "cafeteria" for a "cafe con leche," and then explore the numerous museums, cathedrals, markets, art galleries and shops along the way before retiring in the late afternoon. One evening, we took a cooking class where we learned to make paella and potato tortillas (potato omelettes), and on another day, we met up with a group of like-minded travelers for a "Gaudi Bicycle Tour" around the city that was capped off by a stop at the world famous "La Sagrada Familia" (The Holy Family). |
AuthorJulie Gardner, has been writing The Perspective for 19 years and has published more than 850 humorous but always informative, essays on life and real estate.
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