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| Happy 2015! |
2015:
Already?? After our disco-themed
New Year’s bash, a knock came at the door at 11 am, just as we were all stumbling
out of bed. There was our friend
Ignacio, bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, ready to pay off his debt to Todd. He had bet Todd that, during our visit to the
Spanish side of Rota’s base, Todd could not land vertically in the Harrier
jet’s flight simulator. Now, a Harrier
is not your average fighter jet: It has
the capacity to rotate its jet engines downward so that it can land like a
helicopter on an aircraft carrier. But
Todd, with his dual fixed-wing and helicopter licenses, nailed it the first
time, much to Ignacio’s surprise.
Ignacio lost the bet and found himself obligated to do all the dishes
from the party!
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| Todd gets some well-timed advice |
Of course, on the first day of the New Year
you have an obligatory dip in the ocean to wash off the sins and troubles of
the old year and start fresh and clean. So
after we cleaned up (with Ignacio at the helm it went quickly!), we headed out
to Las Redes beach for a swim. Then a
delicious lunch of leftovers at Montse’s house.
Only the most hardy brave these cold waters!
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| Into the water...OUT OF THE WATER! |
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| All clean, all fresh, all good |
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| Non-swimming sinners |
Of course, Suzi’s arrival meant that the
band was back together, and so we booked ourselves a gig at our first-ever
locale, Bar Milord. Juan, the owner, was
delighted to accommodate us, and all our friends assured us that we sounded
“the best ever.” We love our fans. Watch for a return appearance sometime at the
end of June this year.
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| Touring soon in a city near you |
January 6th and the Dubrows’
flight from Party Central was approaching much too fast. We needed another party. Ado’s birthday, coming up on January 12th,
was the perfect excuse to have a farewell birthday bash at friend Kell’s
house. Kell scared up a clambake, and we
celebrated Ado’s 7th year with a scavenger hunt and a kooky piñata.
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| A scary Aunt Steph Special |
So the Rico-Dubrows left, and the house
again became very quiet. We stripped the
beds, straightened up, and headed out to Bádajoz and Alburquerque to our friend
Isaac and Paloma’s finca (country
house) to celebrate the matanza. Again,
it was a lovely time, but rather subdued due to Paloma’s mother’s death, which
came on the heels of a sudden pancreatic cancer diagnosis. Which I understood only too well. We brought the girls this time, and they
loved the peculiar chozo that we
stayed in.
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| Making chorizo the old-fashioned way |
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| Hanging in the chozo |
Speaking of mothers, Todd got a surprise
trip to Boston. His mother, Linda,
seemed to be worsening. Linda has had an
ongoing, very slow degenerative brain disease over the last 30 years. She lives with Mark, Todd’s brother, outside
of Boston in Westford. She was having
difficulty eating or drinking, so Todd flew out Space-A. But she recovered nicely (a virus, perhaps?)
and Todd had a great visit in snowy New England.
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| Linda's 75th birthday |
To wind up the month, we zoomed off to an
impromptu ski vacation while Todd was in Boston. The Spanish Sierra Nevada was having the best
snow season in years, and we were itching to ski. So off the girls and I went with our friends
Mati, Trev, and his daughter Narissa, and skied our hearts out. A beautiful day with excellent snow and the
worst traffic jam I’ve ever seen getting off the mountain!
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| All bundled up |
Thank goodness Todd got home, because I came
down with the worst sickness I’ve had in years.
The day he arrived, I landed in bed for several days, getting up only to
practice for a small gig we’d booked. It
took me two weeks to recover. Here’s to
a healthier Spring!
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| Happy New Year! |
