Return to the Scene of the Slime

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Photo of Tom on bike at Sant MardiForgive 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.

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A Boy and a Boat

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Photo of Tom with Ictineo I

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.

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The Skinny on Spain

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Photo of thin Spanish girl

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.

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A Bounty of Affection

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Photo of birthday cake decoration

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.

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Wilfred the Hairy

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Statue of Wilfred the Hairy

They say that Anthony Weiner is likely to announce his candidacy for Mayor of New York City next week. Could anything be more bizarre? Yes, of course: they could elect him.

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Ay Ay Ay Guapas!

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Photo of goods at market

My guilty pleasure is: street markets. I absolutely haunt the one in the park next door: La Devesa.

This market shows up every Tuesday and Saturday morning, and for some reason I always see things I haven’t seen before.

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What the Portland Rose Festival Cudda Been

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Temps de Flors signThis year they’re separated by only a week. They both began as small celebrations of flowers. Nowadays, one carpets the city with parades and carnivals. The other just carpets the city with flowers.

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The Return of The Spanish Patient

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Picture of patio party

If you’ve been reading along, you know that Tom visited many floors of the Dr. Josep Trueta Hospital — Emergency, Neurology, three different intensive care units, and Cardiology – as though trying to figure out whether Orthopedics or Gastroenterology might be worth a try. He could have been a Secret Shopper for Spain’s Department of Health.

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“No Sh*t Sherlock!”

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Steve Brown's watercolor of the Girona cathedral in the rain.

Wherein Tom discovers a new strategy for the advance of immersion language learning in Spain.

I counted fourteen gowned sycophants in the room, buzzing about a solitary, supine individual like bees in a hive. At their center — it chafes my sensibilities to type this — playing the role of the queen, was me.

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