We were putting away all of the decorations from Christmas when suddenly…we heard a loud crash.
It seems that Pedro the Christmas turkey, (who does a nice rendition of Feliz Navidad), distraught that Christmas was over, flung himself from the shelf where he was perched all through the holidays, and had a temper tantrum.
I won’t go back in the box!
I’m not listening!
I SAID NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!
Well, alright. But only if I can take some leftover candy canes with me. And some rum balls.
And that cute little angel on the top of the tree.
The word “awesomeness”, which isn’t a word according to the dictionary, absolutely should be.
The word does appear in the Urban Dictionary…and let’s not forget, I did come from Queens, NY so that’s probably where I picked it up. Those streets in South Ozone Park can be rough and some of the language…whoa!!
Anyway, it might not be a bona fide word according to Merriam-Webster, but I think it should be. The awesomeness of a sunset….the awesomeness of witnessing a birth….the awesomeness of my kids and grandkids….the awesomeness of the Grand Canyon…the awesomeness of God.
New words are being added to the Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary as I type this. So one has to ask… how DOES a new word get into the dictionary? The answer is simple: USAGE! Apparently the editors of the dictionary read all kinds of publications – books, magazines, news articles – searching for contemporary words. Once a potential word is found, it is stored in the computer system as a “citation”. The word makes the jump from the citation area to the dictionary by having enough citations to show it is widely used. According to John Morse, president of the Springfield, Massachusetts based dictionary publisher, “A word has to be more than a flash-in-the-pan. It has to have staying power”.
This year, some new words that made it to Merriam-Webster so far this year are magnetic fishing, dawn chorus, sponcon, yeet, yanky, and adorkable (awwww…).
So here’s the deal. Start using the word “awesomeness” in your everyday interactions with people. Maybe in the year 2030 it will make it to the pages of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.
And in actuality, “awesomeness” is used in an article by Umair Hague from Harvard Business Publishing, a subsidiary of Harvard University, entitled “The Awesomeness Manifesto” written September 16, 2009. If I didn’t know any better, I would have guessed that Mr. Hague was referring to my blog!!
The women from Gotopless.org decided that men shouldn’t be the only ones allowed to strut their bare chests and have all the fun. So they staged a nationwide demonstration a few years ago for the right to go topless….and their bosom buddies from Asheville, North Carolina were right there joining the protest and proudly baring their breasts. “It isn’t against the law in North Carolina for women to walk around topless since the law only bans indecent exposure from the waist down,” said Wally Welch, a spokesperson for the Asheville police.
Livienne Love (really???? Livienne Love???), the local protest organizer was quoted as saying, “We just want to raise awareness about this inequality”.
The event planning committee, however, didn’t take into account that the Gateway Christian Community Church would be holding their Sunday services at the same time the topless demonstration was to take place. “They’ll be some distance apart,” said Jon Fillman, the city’s outdoor special events coordinator. And a spokesperson from the church added that if necessary, “they’ll completely turn their event so they’re facing the other direction.”
Wouldn’t it be a hooter (pun intended) if the Bible reading today was from Psalms 119…”Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things…” And, if it wasn’t, you can bet your sweet cupcakes those Christian men were on their knees praying it!!
Today the phone rang and my caller ID said “Dr. Chuck Noonan”. I don’t know any doctor named Chuck Noonan, but since I had just been for some routine lab tests, I answered, thinking it might be someone from the lab.
I picked up the phone and a cheerful voice announced “Dr. Chuck Noonan calling!”
When I didn’t answer right away he went on to say…”Uh..the veterinarian!”
It is always tempting to mess with a wrong number caller and say something rather glib…but I never do.
I should have said, “Are you located next door to the taxidermist? Because either way…I’d get my parrot back!”
Our flight back to the states was uneventful, but when we were walking to pick up our luggage, the fire alarm went off throughout the building. YIKES! It was very loud and continued to assault our ears for the better part of 20 minutes.
We picked up our car and stopped on the way home for McDonald’s, since there’s nothing like a burger and fries!
It was a wonderful trip and we really did delve into the history of Spain and Portugal in depth. Till next time… Adios!
This morning we took the bus to Sintra and Cascais and on the way our local guide talked about life in Portugal.
There are three types of health care for the public in Portugal. The first is the National Health Services. It’s designed to serve all people who contribute to the social security system. This is funded through general taxation, as well as social security contributions. The second type is known as the health subsystem program. It provides health insurance coverage to members of certain professions and organizations. Some of the most prominent groups covered under this stream include the police, the military, banking services, and public servants. The third type of care is voluntary private health insurance. While not as popular as it is in other countries, private medical insurance still plays an important role in Portuguese society.
For the most part, the first six months of your salary out of the year goes towards the taxes for the socialized medicine and for education. But in actuality, the year is really 14 months and not 12 months since you are paid a vacation month bonus as well as a Christmas month bonus.
Education is free for elementary and college but you can pay to attend the better private schools if you have the grades.
With health care, if it is an emergency or a serious illness, you are seen right away, but if it is elected surgery or just because you want to see a doctor, you have you wait.
We drove to Sintra, a town Lord Byron called “the most beautiful in the world”. We began at the Royal Palace, which dates back to the Middle Ages. It was the residence of the Islamic Moorish rulers of the region. Nothing built during Moorish rule or during the reign of the first Portuguese kings survived. What they think is the earliest surviving part of the palace is the Royal Chapel, possibly built in the 14th century. The chapel was under renovation when we were there, but we were able to see the ceiling with the doves of peace painted in squares to resemble tile work.
We toured the many rooms, and two of interest were what looked like bedrooms. There was a huge bed in the room called a state bed. These beds were used for major “events” such as marriage, birth and death. These events were deemed so important, that witnesses would have to be present and would stand around the bed while the event took place.
We saw the Swan Room because of all the painted swans on the ceiling, which was the symbol of the house of the groom. There was also the Magpie Room with magpies painted all over the ceiling with the emblem “por bem” (for honor) in their beaks. Our guide said that King John I was caught kissing a lady while he waited for his queen. The gossip of the kiss spread throughout the palace by the ladies of the court. To put a stop to the gossip, the king decorated the ceiling with as many magpies as there were women in the court.
The rooms were elegant as were the furnishings, and we had to climb many curved staircases to get to the top rooms. The view was beautiful though as it overlooked all of the rooftops and we could see the ruins of a Moorish castle in the distance.
We got did some shopping, enjoyed a pastel de nata and some Portuguese coffee, and then it was back on the bus. Since is was Halloween, I gave out Hershey candy bars to everyone. The local guide and the bus driver really enjoyed them.
We then drove to Cascais, a beautiful seaside town along the Atlantic ocean. It is known for tourism as well as for hosting many international events for surfing and sailing. The town has many restaurants and we stopped in one for a bowl of soup. Then we went across the street to Santini’s which is supposed to serve the best gelato in Portugal. We weren’t impressed.
The Farewell Dinner took place tonight, and before hand, we sampled some porto wine and our guide thanked us for coming to his country. We walked to the restaurant for the dinner and said goodbye to all the travelers. Tomorrow we are up at 5 to make our flight back to the states.
View from the Royal Palace entrance way
The swan ceiling
Tiles
State bed
Heraldic Hall with the coat of arms of Portuguese royalty and tile work showing scenes of the 18th century
Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world and a very beautiful one.
We went on a bus tour around Lisbon with a local guide, seeing all the historic sites. We saw many monuments of people along the way and I couldn’t remember who all of them were. There is a monument of some Portuguese historical figure in every plaza.
Our first stop was the Monument of The Discoveries that celebrates the Portuguese Age of Discovery during the 15th and 16th centuries. The monument has Henry the Navigator at the helm, with 33 figures comprising explorers, cartographers, artists, scientists, and missionaries. In the distance we could see the 25 de Abril Bridge, which is a suspension bridge connecting the city of Lisbon to the municipality of Almada. The bridge is the sister bridge to the Golden Gate Bridge as the design is very similar. In the distance we could see The Sanctuary of Christ the King, a Catholic monument that overlooks the city of Lisbon with outstretched arms. It was modeled after the Christ the Redeemer statue in Rio de Janeiro. The statue was built to express gratitude that Portugal was spared destruction during WW II.
We saw the The Jerónimos Monastery that was erected in the early 1500s and is classified as a UNESCO World Heritage site. We also visited the Tower of Belem, a 16th-century fortification that served as a point of embarkation and disembarkation for Portuguese explorers. It also is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The amazing thing about these buildings is they survived the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, which struck on the morning of November 1, The Feast of All Saints Day. The earthquake caused a tsunami as well as fires and almost completely destroyed Lisbon. There is something to be said about the architecture of these buildings for sure.
Many of the buildings are covered in beautiful tiles. These painted tiles are called azulejos and were introduced by the Moors. They are quite beautiful and are on many buildings throughout the city.
Juanjo treated us all to a delicious tart called Pastéis de nata, and he went to the only bakery that makes the authentic ones to get them for us. The tart is a flaky pastry filled with an egg cream. They were delicious!!
We did some more touring and then went back to the hotel and had lunch on the 8th floor overlooking the city. The lunch was delicious and included a large salad, a cod, egg, and potato dish that was outstanding, and a delicious custard dessert with cinnamon. It also included wine. All for 24 euros. We asked for bread and the waiter brought olives and cheese to eat with it. It was a wonderful culinary afternoon.
At 3:30 we meet our guide for a walking tour of old Lisbon, seeing many sites and we also took the Gloria Funicula up a 17.7% steep incline.
We saw the Church of Saint Dominic. The sacristy and altar survived the great earthquake, but in 1959, a fire ravaged the church burning the wooden ceiling and valuable paintings. The marks of the fire, particularly the black soot, was left on the church walls as a reminder of the fire. When we walked into the church, I gasped when I saw the devastation. It was eerie and powerful seeing the walls in the state they were in.
We walked under the Santa Justa lift – the elevator that takes you to the top of the hill if you don’t want to walk or take the tram.
We continued our walk on the sidewalks, which isn’t easy to do as they are made of tiles which are rather uneven and slippery. You constantly have to look down for fear you will turn your ankle. The sidewalks in the entire city are made of these tiles and most of the streets are cobblestones. Our guide said the street cobblestones are to keep the traffic from speeding thru the streets. When it rains, it is really slippery and between the sidewalks, the cobblestones, and the steep hills to climb and descend, it’s not a fun place to walk. But the city is so beautiful, you have to overlook it!
We had a light dinner at a restaurant and then it was off to bed.
A street in Lisbon.
Tiles on the sidewalks
Tiles on the buildings
Tower of Belem
Monument of the Discoveries
25 de Abril Bridge and the statue The Sanctuary of Christ the King in the distance
The Jerónimos Monastery
The delicious Pastéis de nata
Our view from the restaurant
The street tiles
Church of Saint Dominic that was ravaged by fire
Saint Dominic church
Gloria Funicula
View from the top
You can see the street cobblestones and the sidewalk tiles and how tricky they are to walk on.
First off, there are a few things I forgot to mention in previous posts.
We tried seafood paella at a restaurant in Torremolinos, but actually real authentic paella is made from rabbit and snails. I’m glad we had the seafoods version.
Another interesting tidbit is that the word Spain actually translates to “the land of the rabbits” because some of its early settlers named it “Ispania,” from the Carthaginian word sphan, meaning rabbit, as rabbits apparently were plentiful when the early settlers arrived.
Today we left the hotel early as we had a long drive ahead of us to Portugal. We enjoyed seeing the countryside along the way and of course we stopped a few times at rest stops to have a “technical stop” (potty break) and to get a little snack.
At one rest stop, a bus was next to our bus, and then it went on its way. Sadly, when that bus pulled into the next rest stop, and the passengers and driver got off to use the restrooms, thieves broke into their bus and stole as much as they could grab of the personal possessions of the tourists. Wallets and passports were taken. What a horrible thing to happen. We found out about it because it was the same bus company that we are using and that driver radioed our driver to alert him. We were very lucky it didn’t happen to us! (Although, I always take my bag with me whenever I leave the bus, leaving nothing to chance.)
While traveling, we saw many cork trees along the roadside. Many of the trees had numbers on them, and our guide explained that the numbers tell the year of when the last harvesting of the cork took place. The cork is stripped off for the first time when the tree is 25 years old. Afterwards, it can be harvested every nine years. Many items are made of cork… pocketbooks to shoes to jackets and so much more. We will get the opportunity in Lisbon to go to some stores that specialize in cork merchandise.
We arrived at our first destination – a working horse farm in the region of Alentejo. It had rained hard while we were driving to the farm, so the bus could not navigate the dirt road to the home, for fear we would get stuck in the mud. So, the owner of the farm, Maria, along with a taxi cab, drove us all in shifts up to the home. Fortunately, the rain held off.
We toured Maria’s beautiful home and then we were invited into another building to enjoy a home cooked meal. We had delicious vegetable soup, chicken, rice, and salad, plenty of wine, and a delicious ice cream dessert.
After lunch, we entered yet another building and listened to Maria tell us about her life. The horse farm had been in her family for years, but in the 1970’s, the communists entered that region of Portugal and took over the homes and farms. The soldiers marched in with guns and told Maria, who was 18 years old, and her husband that they had two weeks to take their children and vacate their home. They weren’t allowed to take anything with them and had to leave the horses, the furniture, and most of their belongings.
After about three years, a new regime came about and realized what a hardship the people whose homes were taken over by the communists was, and they were allowed back. Sadly, the inside of their home was burned as well as all of their furniture, and their prized horses had been sold. The house was still standing as it was made of stucco, so they started over trying to rebuild their lives. They scoured the countryside in search of their horses and when they found them, they had to purchase them back.
Her husband passed away in his 40’s, and she, with her 6 boys, rebuilt the farm and continued the breeding of the different breeds of horses.
She is now very wealthy and her boys have their own ranches. The boys help her with her farm, the training of the horses, the finances, and one son is the vet for the horses.
She talked about how the stallions and mares are bred and how they keep careful track of the lineage so that their isn’t inbreeding. They sell the horses… The cheapest can run $10,000 and the best horses can bring in over $50,000. She sells the horses all over the world after the horses have had three years of training on the ranch.
After her talk, we were treated to a horse show. The horses were gorgeous and they went through their paces beautifully.
It was a very interesting day and we enjoyed Maria, the horse farm, and the luncheon very much.
Lisbon was another few hours away, but we finally arrived at our hotel, checked in and had a doner kebab at a local stand and then it was off to bed.
After breakfast we boarded the bus for a tour of the city of Seville. Seville is the fourth largest city in Spain and the birthplace of flamenco dancing.
The city is quite beautiful and we saw many of the buildings that were erected by different countries when they participated in the 1992 World’s Fair which ran from April to October of that year.
Today is Saturday, so many Spaniards were out and about and the town was bustling. We saw the beautiful Alamillo Bridge that crosses the Guadalquivir River. The bridge was built as part of the infrastructure improvements for the ’92 World’s Fair.
Our bus took us to the Santa Cruz area and we all left the bus for a walking tour of the area. Santa Cruz was the former Jewish Quarter of the city. The streets are narrow and the buildings are whitewashed and filled with flowers hanging over the balconies. Orange trees line the streets and there are many restaurants offering tapas. There are also shops selling ceramics and souvenirs.
We also visited the Plaza de Espana, a beautiful plaza showcasing tiled alcoves of Spain’s provences, beautiful bridges over the canal, and the Vicente Traver fountain. The Plaza has been the filming location of some popular movies, including scenes from Lawrence of Arabia.
Our next stop was the magnificent Cathedral of Seville also known as The Cathedral of Saint Mary of the See. It is a Roman Catholic cathedral and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. It is one of the largest cathedrals in the world. Ferdinand and Isabella’s only son was baptized in the Cathedral in 1478 and Christopher Columbus is also buried there.
The cathedral has 80 chapels, and one of the chapels contains a famous painting entitled The Vision of St. Anthony by the artist Murillo. In 1874, it was discovered that part of the painting was cut out and stolen – the part depicting St Anthony. Someone in 1875 attempted to sell the piece and a gallery owner in New York City, Hermann Schaus, recognized the painting, purchased it, and then contacted the Spanish consulate to arrange for the painting to be returned. Apparently, the thieves were never caught, but the segment of the painting that was returned was added back to the original painting by a restorer.
The Cathedral is truly beautiful and it was amazing to see the height of the ornate ceilings, the columns, the chapels, the organ, and the stained glass windows.
We took a tram back to the hotel and Allan and I enjoyed a beef taco tapas… That wasn’t really a taco but rather delicious tender beef on bread with gravy.
We went back to the hotel to get ready for an evening of dinner and flamenco presentation which was wonderful. The dancing is elegant and expressive and the guitar music enhances the performance as does the singer. The two guitar players played classical guitars with 6 strings.
Accompanying the guitars is a singer called a cantaor, and he introduces the dancers with what almost sounds like chanting. The songs are expressive and sung with deep feeling.
The dancers enter the stage and with intense emotion, expressive use of arms, hands, and facial expressions, they begin the powerful rhythmic stamping of their feet. The dancers’ feet move about quickly and it’s amazing the amount of energy they put into each dance. The costumes are colorful and the dresses are made so that the dancer can kick her feet and not get tangled in the ruffles.
A flamenco dancer chatted with us and explained the dance, the costumes, and showed us how she uses castinets. She told us her tap shoes are custom made and she showed us her hair accessories and how she puts the flowers in her hair for the performances. She brought out a beautiful fringed scarf and showed us how the scarf is used in the performances, almost like a matador’s cape.
It was a wonderful day!
The buildings of the World’s Fair
The Plaza
The fountain
Santa Cruz
The Cathedral
The tall columns
The remains of Christopher Columbus
The main altar
The portion of St Anthony was stolen. You can see the dark line above him where the stolen part was restored.
St Francis of Assisi
We took the tram back to the hotel and Allan and I enjoyed delicious tapas at a local restaurant.
The flamenco dancer telling us about the costumes
We weren’t allowed to take photos during the performance, but we were able to take some shots afterwards.
