05 Wednesday Jun 2013
The New Orleans Big Head float at the Tournament of Roses Parade, 2008. Credit: Wikimedia Commons.
There are more places than you would think that are into big heads. The Tournament of Roses Parade (above) comes to mind. Portland’s Rose Festival (my home town) comes to mind too. New Orleans, Ann Arbor, Vancouver – they all have parades with big heads. It’s a Big Head epidemic.
03 Monday Jun 2013
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Tossa de Mar as it appeared in the 1940s or 1950s.
Tossa de Mar has been home for somebody since the Neolithic days, continuously populated through the early Iberians to the Romans … and now we’re only up to 100 BC.
So Vila Vella enceinte, the ancient walled city located within Tossa de Mar and the only fortified medieval town still standing on the coast of Catalonia, is a journey back in time – way back (Vila Vella was built in 1200 BC). On the first summery day of the season, we climbed up the hill with our friends Vicens and Jeannette to wander within and on top of the ancient walls.
01 Saturday Jun 2013
Posted in Accommodations, Travel
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We Americans suffer unnecessarily when it comes to cell phones. Things are changing, but there is resistance. And why shouldn’t there be? There’s money to be had!
30 Thursday May 2013
Panorama of Girona taken from the wall’s north tower. Click to enlarge (all photos).
During recorded history, Girona has undergone twenty-five sieges and has been captured seven times. Defending against the bad guys has been the name of the game since the First Century BC, when the Romans began construction of a wall around the city. Over the years the wall was fortified: slots were added to accommodate bows with arrows; towers were built to house heavier artillery; the wall kept getting higher.
28 Tuesday May 2013
Posted in Travel
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People in Girona often ask us “Why three months in Girona?” True, if we were just visiting landmarks and museums in the city, that would take about three days. While some people travel for art and some for food, we are in it for the people. We stay a long time in order to make relationships that we hope will be enlightening and longstanding. We are curious and communicative by nature and profession; we like to learn about the world through the people that live here. But only if we really like hanging out with them as well.
27 Monday May 2013
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Does Martha Stewart still say, “It’s a good thing”? Hearing her say that on her TV show soured me on the expression forever, yet there are so many occasions when I could use the phrase. This is one of them.
24 Friday May 2013
Forgive my tawdry attempt to attract your attention with that headline. The “slime” I refer to is a subdural hematoma, which we’ve discussed on these pages before. (If you share a vulgar interest in items corporeal with, say, twelve-year-old boys, you can search for the YouTube video of the removal of a subdural hematoma yourself. You have been warned.)
The “scene” is L’Escala, Spain, the captivating seaside town we visited in April where my personal subdural hematoma experience began. We returned to L’Escala yesterday for an overnight visit. The place is far too charming to condemn just because I encountered a medical event there; and besides, our last visit was, well, sorta cut short.
21 Tuesday May 2013
Posted in Travel
There was once a time that I was a tour guide aboard the USS Blueback – a US submarine docked in downtown Portland. I confess: I am a submarine junkie. There aren’t many of us. I made a video of the Blueback in my early days of movie making. It’s here.
20 Monday May 2013
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Most Spanish people we see are not fat. A disclaimer: We see only city people, and they are usually skinnier because of the walking and the peer pressure. However, I have some ideas about why the Spanish are svelte.
19 Sunday May 2013
Posted in Travel
Yesterday was birthday number 69. Sixty-nine! Having just survived two life-threatening events, I am keeping my bald head above water in an ocean of feelings, defeating whirlpools of self-pity amidst the contemplation of mortality.
The Expat Almanac 