Happy Birthday, Bonnie!

Happy Birthday, Bonnie! 

I start this birthday greeting with a picture of you and Grandma. She was a great communicator, and you have certainly inherited that gene. Painting, drawing, writing letters, email, social media—you keep in touch with family and friends around the world.

 That is such a commendable thing to do, and we so appreciate hearing what is happening in your life and watching the children grow up and live their lives. I love that you not only created these "Quote Cards" but that you sent them all out to people of whom they made you think.  They are very imaginative.

Now for a little nostalgia. The back of this one indicates you are just past your first birthday, so we were still in Rota.

Second birthday. Three little girls with birthdays within one week of one another. Puerto House.

With Mom, all dressed up for your second birthday party. 

Puerto de Santa Maria. 

Three years old. Chipiona. Birthday with the YWAM/Dilaram community. 

 Of course, that beautiful house with its marvelous tile is gone now, replaced by apartments, from what we've been told. Here's a shot on the front steps right before we were transferred to Gaeta.

It was such fun surprising you last year for your birthday. 

Kudos to Rory for a wonderful plan.

 And of course, the party he threw was nonpareil. 

So glad we could be there.

I'll finish with a couple of fun ones. There were so many people in your life who blessed you in so many ways, and Uncle Bob was/is certainly one of them. I love this picture. He looks so peaceful, and you look a bit mischievous.

 I came across this picture in my searches today. Of course, it is you modeling the hole in your windshield and kidding me about my penchant for using gray tape on everything. 

We celebrate you today and every day and wish you all the best in this new year of life.

Tapas in Denver

El Señor Sol  (303) 455-2500 • 2301 7th St

 It's a Mexican Restaurant, but we go there for the excellent Spanish Tapas Menu.

 Nice spread of authentic Spanish tapas.

Happy 6th of May!

As I pointed out in my Seis de Mayo post last year, Cinco de Mayo. is not as important a date in our family as Seis de Mayo (the 6th of May). Many, many (!) years ago, my brother, John, was born on that date, and not nearly as many years ago, I met my wife, Kathy, on that auspicious date. Johnny and Jimmy (as we were then called) one Christmas in front of the tree.

Dad, Johnny and I with Puppies. My beautiful wife posing in Cadiz, Andalucia, Spain just months after arriving in Spain for our first tour of duty at the Rota Naval Base.
My still-beautiful wife in our "mile-high" living room a few years ago.
A day of celebration for our family, the 6th of May. Happy Birthday, my brother. Happy Anniversary of our Meeting, my wife!

Spain Wins World Cup

Congratulations, Spain!

The Osborne Bull

Osborne Bull
Grupo de Osborne

This symbol of Spain always makes me nostalgic for our home of 10 wondrous years.

Another favorite place.

La Tienda, the best of Spain in America

What's a blog for if not to share your favorite things with your readers?

And one of our very favorite things is the store operated by our dear friends, Don and Ruth Harris, and their family. If you're looking to taste the flavors of Spain and to learn of that country's customs and traditions, check out their online store, La Tienda. They have been operating successfully online for twelve years, and we have taken full advantage of their offerings of Spanish products during that time. Now, they are opening a retail store in the Williamsburg, Virginia area. We wish we could be there for the grand opening, but alas, Colorado is a long way from Virginia.

We were stationed with the Harrises years ago in Rota, Spain, and neither family has lost its fondness for that country and its people. The Harrises have perpetuated that love and connection with Spain and things Spanish through their wonderful store, online and now on land. We wish them the best and encourage anyone looking for Spanish goodies of any kind to check out their site.

Grand Opening of the La Tienda Retail Store

La Tienda recently announced the opening of its new retail store in Williamsburg, Virginia! After 12 years of offering the best of Spain through its web site, they are excited to provide their loyal customers a retail experience that is worth the journey.

Located on Jamestown Road, just two miles from Colonial Williamsburg, the new store is in the historic brick Whitehall building. Featuring wood floors, skylight and a wine tasting room, it is a place they can truly welcome you for a visit. And with over 2,000 feet of floor space, there is plenty of room to browse their hundreds of authentic Spanish foods, wines and ceramics.

Join the Grand Opening celebration on Thursday, December 10th, from 10 AM - 7 PM. There will be Spanish food to sample throughout the day, and they'll be tasting Spanish wines at 3 PM. They'll be sampling food and wine again on Saturday from 12 noon - 6 PM. They will be open Saturdays and Sundays during the holiday season. So if you can't make it Thursday, please visit over the weekend to sample Spain's best and see what their new store has to offer!

Grand Opening Celebration
Thursday, December 10th, 10 AM - 7 PM
Wine tasting: 3 PM
Saturday, December 12th, 12 noon - 6 PM

Location
1325 Jamestown Road, Williamsburg VAPhone: 757-345-5623
Get Google Map and directions

Holiday Hours
Tuesday - Thursday, 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Friday - Saturday, 9:00 AM - 7:00 PM
Sunday, 11:00 AM - 6:00 PM
Monday, closed

Check out La Tienda for wonderful gifts for the holidays.

A top selection of tapas.

Paella supplies.

A fine selection of wines, cheeses, olives.

Items like their padron peppers.

Check out La Tienda at www.tienda.com.

Other things you may want to check out:
Articles and tips about Spain and Spanish cooking
Coffee
Kitchen and Table Items
Mantecados and Polvorones
Toiletries and Bath Products
and many, many more.

Congratulations to the Harrises on a wonderful store and the opening of their first brick and mortar establishment. For more on this fascinating family, find a picture and story here.

Our Old Chipiona Home

Friends recently made available pictures that brought back wonderful memories from our time in southern Spain in the mid-1970s.

Here is the front of our beautiful mansion/community house in Chipiona, Andalucia.

Unfortunately, the house was torn down in favor of apartment buildings in the 1980s.


From the balcony overlooking the celebration below. The Spanish tile in this house is the same as that found in the renowned Plaza de España in Seville, Spain.


"Our" beautiful stretch of beach on the Costa de la Luz in Chipiona.

Another view of the beach with the cathedral in the background.

A typical get-together at the Chipiona house, sharing food and fellowship with family and friends around the dinner table.

They say the more things change, the more they stay the same. Here we are in Colorado over 30 years later, sharing with family and friends around a fine feast!

Foods of the World—Spain

Let's go to Spain ! Oh how I wish I really could ... but for now, I'll have to make do with just going there in my kitchen !! And on the beans blog ... in your kitchens !!

To get you started, I'm going to give you the link for a wonderful website that has amazing recipes. The people who run this site are friends of our family from way back !!

If you live in the States or Canada you can even order food from them ... but I'm really just directing you to the recipe section ! There's some yummy stuff in there !!

So ... get your research hats on. Find your recipe. Get cooking and photographing and posting ... I can't wait to see what you all do !!

(click on the La Tienda "photo" to go to the website ...)

Our daughter, Bonnie, is running a month of Spanish recipes on her recipe blog, called Pass the Beans, Please...A Collection of Extremely Healthy, Yet Surprisingly Tasty Recipes. The above is from that site. Check it out, and check out La Tienda, the best of Spain in America. It really is!

Bonnie's Beans Blog Bids for Best

This is a copy of a post on Bonnie's Food Blog, called Pass the Beans, Please (see link at right).

Bloggers Choice Awards ...

This is Michelle, my friend that I've only maybe met when we swam on the same swim team, in Spain, as kids. Remember when she posted the review of this blog on my highschool's alumni blog ? The one she started, maintains and does such a great job with ...Well, now she has nominated us for the Best Food Blog on the blogger's choice awards website !! How cool is that !?!

If you think this is the Best Food Blog ... click on the button above and cast your vote !! I just did ! That give us two votes ... me and Michelle !! ha ha. Have a look around while you are there. I saw Pioneer Woman Cooks is in the top three. One of my favorite food blogs that I've been reading for ages now ! Tried some great recipes from there too !! Not that I'm gonna vote for her ... I think she's popular enough already !! Thanks Michelle for your nomination and vote !

So, if you have any interest in Food, Spain, our daughter in Australia, Blogger's Choice Awards, or some new recipes, check out Bonnie's Beans Blog.

A is for Antipodes

The first time I heard the word antipodes was in a class during my naval career. The word was mispronounced by the person who used it (and didn’t know what it meant). Everyone turned to me since I was known for an obsession with words. I had never heard it, but naturally had a dictionary close at hand and looked it up. We found out the proper pronunciation does not rhyme with Shanty Codes but rather with Euripides, putting the accent on the second syllable, i.e. an-TIP-uh-deez. The definition of the word is “any two places that are situated diametrically opposite one another on the earth's surface.” From Greek through Latin, the word means literally “the feet opposite.” So the people at the antipodes (on the other side of the earth) have their feet opposite us.

The Antipodes, when used as a proper noun, refers to Australia and New Zealand since they have their feet diametrically opposite to the people of England. British sailors apparently coined the word in the 19th century. (Note: Strictly speaking Australia and New Zealand are not at the exact antipodes of Great Britain. Wikepedia has an interesting map and article here.)

The word antipodes can also refer to “the exact opposite or contrary of something” (as can antipode, a word coined by back-formation from antipodes).

Antipodes reminds me of a related "pod" word, tetrapod. Literally meaning "four feet," some 10,000 tetrapods were used in the construction of the Rota Naval Station. Carefully placed to provide a seawall to protect a large artificial harbor entrance, the tetrapod became the station's symbol. We were stationed in Rota for a total of 10 wonderful years.

The picture below is from the Stars and Stripes newspaper from April 26, 2006.

Ted Rohde ©Stars and Stripes

Rota, Spain, September 9, 1957: Huge concrete tetrapods are piled up on the beach at Rota, site of a new U.S.-Spanish naval base. The French-designed tetrapods, weighing between 8 and 25 tons each, were used to break up wave action and absorb the ocean's eroding energy.

For more information on the Rota Naval Station, check out the website here. (Warning to my family: don't spend too much time on this site. You'll get homesick!) (Note: The main Naval Station site seems to be down for some reason. I have substituted another web site.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BONNIE!

It is the 6th of April in Australia, and that means Bonnie is another year wiser!

Happy Birthday!

Here are a few memories from years gone by. . .

Puerto de Santa Maria, España (late 80's)

View of the beach at Puerto Sherry

The Bull Ring

Osborne Bodega

Gianola, Italia, Thirty Years Ago!

View of Old Gaeta from the Sea

Another View of Old Gaeta

Putting Our Kids on a Pedestal

Here are Ellie, Jimmy, and Bonnie at the Forum in Rome. We took this picture while stationed in Italy sometime between 1976 and 1979. Comment: Well, Bonnie pointed out to me that this must have been closer to 1979 than 1976, since Ellie was born in 1977. Then my Mom wrote and said that this happened on the trip that she and my sister, Lori, made to Italy in 1979. So, there you have it.

This is the picture that inspired the original pedestal picture. Kathy saw it years later (in the 90's) in Nikko, Japan.

Years later, at Italica, outside Sevilla, Spain, we put our kids on pedestals again. Here's Jimmy. You can read more about Italica here: http://www.andalucia.com/cities/seville/italica.htm

Here's Ellie at Italica.

Here's Hannah posing at Italica.

Yeah, I know, that's not Bonnie. We're not quite sure why we couldn't find a picture of Bonnie, but for some reason we put me on a pedestal at Italica.