Xmas at Valley View

 Wow - it seems like we just got here and it's Christmas already! How did that happen?

We had Thanksgiving dinner with Jeff and Diane and their friends Danny and Janice who had come down for a visit.

Our not-so-feral cat Fluff was back right away, wanting to know when we were going to feed her!

She is now very pregnant - we're expecting her to disappear any day now to have her kittens.

Binghi and Tom wasted no time in cranking up the tile shop.

Tom has new binocular magnifiers which help a lot with precision cutting.

Tom's first project was creating a background and border for the tile piece that our friends

Steve and Marilyn Trebacz created when they visited a couple of years ago.

Binghi started out with one side of one of the porch beams and is now working on a second beam.

No picture of the second beam yet...

Tom built a funky little table to go next to the barbecue. 

The base is some trimming from our screw pine.

Now Tom is working on a Whimsey Hall sign over the front door.

JC has been working on quilt projects and new cushions for our chairs.

Perfect for watching sunsets!

We've been terribly remiss in taking pictures of our plants, but here is a picture of one of our Agaves beginning to bloom. It really looks like gigantic asparagus!

Now we head into pyro season with lots of friends coming down to shoot New Years Eve shows. Tom won't be doing a show - he decided that his 75th birthday seemed like a good excuse to retire.

January will be exciting as Tina, Jake and Becca Spiegel are coming down for a visit followed by Janet Mara in February. We're always happy to have visitors - that means you!

Have a happy holiday season and a great new year!

Barcelona - Part 3

 Saturday we took the funicular up Mont Juic. Not a lot of pictures that day but you do get a fabulous view of Barcelona spread out below you from the fort.

 Sunday was a busy day, starting with the Picasso Museum. Really amazing with huge numbers of paintings and drawings from early in his life. He was a very skilled painter by the time he was 14! Who knew?

We then tried to go to the Chocolate Museum, but arrived there 5 minutes before closing. Bummer! But the narrow streets of the old town are very cool.

We finished up the afternoon by touring the Palau de Musica. It is totally amazing, with nonstop ornamentation.

Back to the apartment for a short nap, then dinner - have I mentioned that the food has been fantastic? - and then back to the Palau de Musica for a performance of the Grand Gala Flamenco. An outstanding evening of music and dance. No pictures allowed - sorry!

Monday was Gaudi’s Casa Batllo. We saw the outside of this unbelievable building when we were here in 1978, but this time we got to tour the inside too. Absolutely jaw-droppingly incredible!

We had plunked for the “gold” tour, which let us in to a few rooms furnished with the original pieces.

Up on the roof we got to see his fantastic “dragon” rooftop tile work up close.

A late dinner had us up late enough to see the Sagrada Familia lit up.

Tuesday was Parque Guell day. We had been a little concerned about how to get there - no Metro stops near the park - but it turned out that the V19 bus ran from right outside our door to a few minutes walk from the park. This was the only time we had signed up for a guided tour. There were supposed to be 14 people in our group, but most of them were no-shows and it was just us and one other couple and their toddler. Our guide Mark was very good and made the tour very interesting.

Tomorrow is our last full day, and we don’t really have a plan for it yet…