Okay.
So when we left off last, things were pretty bad.
Frayed nerves, no food, and grumpy grandpas were all coming to a head and only one thing could possibly save the day: Food...
Stupid Americans that we are, we had tried to get to get to a super market in a bigger town, believing in Capitalism as a way of life, and the endless desire to make money over the life-style favoring attitude of the Spanish to actually enjoy their lives and do the unthinkable and take off a holiday(!!??).
We were wrong.
On our way home (this is now sunday) we drove through a smaller town that we had hoped would have an open market, but did not.
What it did have was a shining beacon in a dark stormy night for any jet lagged, waylaid American family that was close to going over the edge and start fighting and possibly packing up their stuff and going home on the second day could find:
A pizza joint named after one of the most iconic hangouts in TV history! (Okay, but 90210 was pretty much a big deal for a little bit...)
So rain sodden as we were, gloomy, with so few prospects for dinner one minute, with one turn onto a random street those frowns were turned upside down. Or at least to a neutral position that wasn't frowning anymore...
We even made a friend across the street!
So with dinner assured (we even got a coffee and some tapas at a nearby cafe) we set home the conquering victors. One little stop at a gas station later we even had wine and enough beer to get drunk enough to wash down the bad taste in our mouths from the preceding 24 hours!
In other words, our vacation had officially begun!
Even grandpa begrudgingly began to smile...
With our attitudes properly adjusted, the fickle Spanish Gods smiled down upon us even further, and while the proprietor bade us to fill out our paper work (the whole while proclaiming innocence to the harrowing experiences of finding the place as it was supposedly "so easy" for everyone else...) her daughter Sabella, who is Thalia's age, showed us where all her toys were hidden, and through adorably broken english, had Thalia, Sage and I follow her up the hill to the housekeepers that had rescued us' house. From above on a rainy day one could only dream of the autumnal wonders that this town and house in particular would possess...
With dreams of wool sweaters, warm spiced wine and freshly slaughtered pork sloshing around in my still-summer head, we climbed to the top of the hill and were rewarded with the next best thing: Galician eggs!
Sabella, whom was clearly more at home around the chicken coup in the backyard of Lida, our housekeeper-in-shining-armor, than my usually not timid kids were, led us into the hen house to show the girls the baby chickens. On the way out she excitedly remembered to show us something, which turned out to be about 6 still warm, just-laid eggs.
Lida, our first-gear-getting-into saviour begged us to keep them, so now not only dinner was taken care of, but we now had of some of the best eggs in the world to break our fast upon the morrow look forward to as well...
That night, after the admittedly terrible pizza was gone along with most of the wine and all of the beer I settled onto the couch to watch the Barca/Real Madrid game after-which I fell asleep with a smile on my lips, dreaming of all the possibilities that the week presented, none of which were unrealized, except for the "becoming best friends with Messi" one, but that's what next times are for, right?
And speaking of "next times" I'll see you at one.
Soon, I promise.
Until then, rest assured that I've got a lot of stuff going on, including a re-trip to Vermont this weekend for Liz and I's nine year(!!) anniversary, and sadly, the thing I might be looking forward to even more, my new iPhone 4S coming on friday...
But it's not all smartphones and weekend trips, I've got a bunch more posts from Spain, and then a bunch of good and typical not-surprising news to share after that regarding life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness (you all know how "American Dreamy" I am...).
So until then, pasta manana!
n*
Post Script: I forgot to post this before I left last week, and just want to confirm that the iPhone 4s is awesome! Also, and far less importantly than a smartphone, I just wanted to thank my wonderful, beautiful partner in life and criminally bad taste in television (her! not me!) of nine years for a wonderful weekend!! I don't often admit to having feelings other than distaste, anger, and woe on this special little blog of mine, but I truly do love you more than anything ever, and am so happy to be going through this bullshit sham of a life with you. Once all the incarnations of the "real" housewives are off the air I may even be able to be in the same room as you when the television is on. Really though, thank you for most of a decade of mostly great things, and I can't wait to see what the future holds for both of us individually, but especially for "us" together as a family. I love you!
