Christmas at Russ and Peg's

We had a wonderful Christmas. It was a perfect day to take a long walk, which we did. Then we ate, opened presents, ate, played with our presents, cooked, ate, and sat by the fire enjoying the evening. We are very lucky.

Early Christmas

Pam and James were here for the weekend. We put up the tree, shopped at the Farmers Market, went to the Thomas Center Art Show and bought stuff, hiked at the Prairie Creek Conservation Cemetery. All the rest of the time? We spent a lot of it eating, a lot of it talking, and some of it listening to music.

Bathroom Project Finished, Almost

The painting is done and the new toilet installed. Now I just need to find new shower curtains, towels and rugs. It ought to be the easy part. I hope it is

A Thanksgiving Week Project

Thanksgiving seems like a good time for a project. How about a rehab of the other bathroom? It was the last room with wallpaper. So very 1990s.

 

 

And now?

 Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.

Let the painting begin!

A Camino Class at Santa Fe College

 We are going to teach a class about Hiking the Camino as part of the Community Education offerings at Santa Fe College. Classes will be from 6:30 to 8:00 on Thursday evenings November 1, 8, and 15 on the campus in northwest Gainesville. The College charges $24 for the course.

Registration is open now. You can call 352-395-5193 to sign up. Online registration is also available.  Go to www.sfcollege.edu. Click on Community Education and scroll down to "Register Here" the course number is NAT 0094.1F.

The class is geared for people who are thinking of walking the Camino de Santiago de Compostela in Spain, or who just want to know about the nitty-gritty of going on this long distance hike. We will discuss the legends, history, and culture of the trail. 

The focus will be heavily on the practicalities, such as:

• How do you know where to start?
• How do you get there?
• Where do you sleep?
• What do you bring?
• How do you train for such a hike?
• Do you have to walk all 500 miles?
• How much time do you need?
• What does it cost?
• When is a good time of year to go?
• What do you eat?
• Are there rest rooms?
• Is it safe?
• Do you have to go with a group?
• Do you have to go alone?
• Do you meet interesting people?

If you saw the film The Way and were intrigued, or for some other reason the Camino is calling to you, come and learn more about it. It is an adventure to cherish.

Spanish Crocuses

These little crocuses seemed to be almost everywhere we walked this September in Spain. They were particularly abundant in the hard-packed soil of the trail. We aren't sure, but think they may be close relatives of the domesticated species used for harvesting saffron threads.

Leaving Madrid

A view of the Prado, unfortunately glimpsed only briefly on Sunday morning as we were rushing to catch the shuttle to the airport...maybe next year. Don't mind the image of the finger at the top of the photo; it must be my fault, because who could conceive of a design flaw in an iPhone?

Beginning the Trip Home

We bid goodbye to our pilgrim friends and we are off to the train station. Tonight Madrid. Tomorrow Gainesville.

Side Trip Cancelled by Rain

We'd planned a fun side trip to the former capital of Spain, Valladolid. This morning when the 5 of us met in the lobby to head to the bus station, the changed forecast was 80% chance of rain both there and here in Zamora. We decided to stay here where we have a hotel to take refuge in.

It never rained.

I guess that is good ... Although I hate to carry my poncho all this way and never use it ... How's that for a conundrum?

The 5 of us had breakfast together and then went separate ways until our pilgrim meal at 2:00.

Russ and I wandered the Romanesque building walking tour, visited the cathedral, and took pictures from the ramparts. Later I want to shop for a trinket to add to our Christmas tree decorations. I try to buy one memory per trip for the tree.

Wine and cheese with our pilgrims friends at 7:00. They will hang here until Sunday to avoid a forecast of heavy rain on the trail tomorrow. We are sorry to not be going on with them. Sunday's walk looks very pretty and not too rigorous in the guidebook.

But Florida calls and our tickets home are for Sunday.

Last Day on the Trail

Less wind, 40 degrees when we started and mid-50s by noon, partly cloudy skies, wide open vistas across rolling, harvested farms, a shepherd and flock of sheep running across a field and then road ahead of us just too far to capture on camera but close enough to hear all the sheep bells clanging and pick out the black sheep from the white, one smelly barn to walk past with 3 barking dogs tied not as securely as I would have liked but securely enough...we got by unharmed, about 12 miles to Zamora.

Our new Hungarian friends had bused ahead because of a sore leg and found a new, clean, inexpensive hostel and great restaurant. They met us at the medieval bridge onto town...so for once we didn't get lost entering a city.

When we got to the hotel, they had champagne and little sandwiches waiting! What a treat.

We rested, ate a wonderful meal, visited the albergue where we might volunteer sometime, saw the city on foot, bought cheese and had a cheese feast at the hotel on the evening. The bus riders had, bless their hearts, brought some wine from El Cubo albergue so we had that too. Great day.

The Prettiest Walk Yet

Low 40s with 20-30 mph winds this morning as we left our fun albergue about 8:30. We (us, the Canadian, and the Hungarians) spent yesterday evening enjoying pthe homemade wine of the albergue owner and his stories of breeding Arabian horses and opening the albergue in August. Never let it be said that having no common language makes communication impossible. We used the I-translate app to go from Spanish to Hungarian to English all evening. Great fun.

The photos show how lovely our walk was today. What a change..mid80s last week and blazing sun to downright cold this week and dramatic cloudiness.

On the trail we saw 2 foxes, kite (not a swallowtail but equally big), a big, loose, barking, black, sheep dog with sheep ... but happily he wanted to bite only passing cars, not pilgrims, corn fields in irrigation, sunflower field ready for harvest, vast panoramic vistas ... And not many hills. Perfect.

Two albergues in this town ... bonanza ... but one had smelly bathrooms. We are in the other one with 5 bunk beds. So far 4 men...Russ , our Canadian friend, a Frenchmen, and a Spaniard plus me. We each get a lower bunk :)

Tomorrow ... Zamora.

This Camino Keeps Hitting Us With the Unexpected

Under threatening, ominous, low-hanging clouds we ventured out into, believe it or not, a cold, windy morning at 8:00. It was still quite dark.

We had stayed up talking with the 10 roommates in the 8-bed albergue long past dark. The Irish couple pulled the 8th mattress off the bunk and slept together on it on the living room floor. The Japanese pilgrim curled himself into the settee...better than an airplane seat, said he.

It was still dark when we all stirred about 7:30. We got on the trail about 8:00. It was a gradual and relentless 12 mile hike over rolling hills and took us about 5 hours. It would have been better with a cafe bar along the way or some smashing scenery. But it was pretty much just a long walk.

We are in El Cubo del Vino which is tiny. We stopped at the first albergue and paid 24€ for a room with two lumpy beds. The Hungarians and the Canadian are also here. We had our pilgrim dinner with them in town. The Hungarians treated us to guappo.

Now it is siesta time. At 5:00 the stores will reopen and we will buy ingredientS for an evening fiesta. It is still cold and blowing at about 30mph. Rain is forecast. A few days ago we were suffering heat stroke. What next??

The photos show the trail today and our albergue under the day's dramatic sky.

A Little Albergue in the Middle of Nowhere

Tonight we will stay in an albergue with 4 bunks beds, 2 toilets and 2 showers. Everything else in town is closed for vacation. So far there are 9 people...2 French, 2 Irish, 2 Americans, 1 Canadian, 2 Hungarians. Oooops. The hospitalero says 1 must leave. It is 12 miles to the next town. Good luck kicking one of us out. We're sticking together!

The weather has taken a turn to cooler. It was a great walk to get here. If only it were spring and green this would be beautiful.

Oh heavens ... A Japanese man just arrived! He does not speak Spanish, English, French. I'm glad we were here first!

The photos show the walk today and the albergue