Friday, January 20, 2006

January Update


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Debby is busy making new cabin cushion covers over the next few (?) days. We had ordered the material two weeks ago; it arrived Monday. Brian is helping a little (measuring and moral support) but has to get away a lot to an internet cafe to blog..
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Three Kings Day was held (throughout Spain) on 6th January - a public holiday more hallowed than Xmas Day itself. The day of present giving and a huge parade (on the 5th) through the city where candies are thrown from floats. 10 000 kilos of candy! No kidding. It was like a cattle stampede. Parents even took their 3 month olds and gathered up bags of the stuff.
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A couple of Canadian rowers from Vancouver stopped by Chinook yesterday to say hello. Young guys on the Canadian team. They are in training here - not a bad place to train... We think Deb´s son Andy knows one of them.
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Watched a rowing race between Sevilla and another city last Sunday (from the boat - went right past us).
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Went to a Flamenco dance exhibition 10 days ago - a real dancer who has had years of training. Quite amazing. We had been to a local bar (from 12 midnight - that's when it opened - until 3 a.m. when the smoke finally drove us home. The locals all do the dancing - called "Sevillana" an easier less complicated dance.
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We have tickets to Cirque du Soleil for the 31st Jan - looking forward to it. It is the Chinese troupe.
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Going to a Robbie Burns Night on the 25th hosted by a local cruiser-club member in their home. Haggis, scotch, bagpipes and poetry... hmmm... can we handle that in Spain - Roberto Burnso...
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Photo: Debby getting roasted chestnuts

Getting the blog pages up and running
has been Brian´s major "chore" over the last week in the local internet cafe. All are pretty well finished, but will never be finished, alway s edited and photos exchanged, added etc.... If you have any suggestions about any of them please let´s know. They (the Blogs) are not advertised on the WWW so only friends and family know about them, but if you want to pass on Chinook`s blog site to anyone who may be interested, that is fine with us.


Then there are those overdue boat chores that have to be done yet...

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Christmas and New Year

Photo: the gang at the Christmas table


We had a very different Christmas this year. Usually we fly back to Ontario to see family and friends, but this year we decided to remain in Spain, aboard Chinook. We had recently seen 3 out of the 4 boys. Culturally, we reasoned there would be a tremendous amount of stuff for us to see and do. Besides, the climate here in Sevilla has it all over Ontario....

The other sailboats here in the Club Nautico all got together for an International Christmas Day meal planned for 3 p.m. We took a roast leg of lamb and a pavlova desert, the New Zealand thing to do. Also Nanaimo bars: Debbys Canadian chocolate desert. The other Canadian boat, Masala brought the roasted turkey and a salad. The Brits did sausages, roasted potatoes and a plum pudding. The American boat brought a delicious fish soup and a huge salad. Mucho vino was consumed, Xmas music was playing in the background, the weather was warm, everyone had a very nice time and ate heaps and heaps...

Photo: Brian getting first patanque lessons while Debby looks on disinterestedly
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We spent New Years Eve quietly on Chinook rather foolishly NOT going downtown Sevilla to see what action was happening. We were woken at midnight with the fireworks, the Spanish LOVE fireworks... went on and on and on....

New Years Day we played patanque with all of the boaters from 4 until 6, then went back to the Belgian boat Pamina for drinks which lasted until 1:30 a.m. An impromptu pot luck meal including another roast leg of lamb which Brian had been cooking for us and pork and potatoes and more Nanaimo bars and mucho mas mas vino....
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Brian carving the leg o lamb
while Debby models her Xmas outfit

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