Rain

December 1

Day 52

Ok Dear Reader.

No more sunny, barefoot, pool heavy posts.

You don't care that the pool water is 60° when your air is 30°.

Fine.

That's over.  It's raining here and I just spent 15 minutes figuring out how to turn on a heater in a foreign land. 🙃 

I may even stumble out for my shot of espresso, cold and alone, while my beloved sleeps off his cold.

BUT not until I tell you about yesterday...

We picked up Joe in his current hometown, Huelva ,Spain.  Where even Cristóbal Colón is dwarfed by Holiday Cheer.

(Is Columbus' Spanish or Portuguese or Italian name the root word of 'colonizer'?)

Hmmm....

First, on our way there we saw lots of farms.  They are elaborate set ups like this.  

Acres of hoop houses with plants in pots, on tables, tucked in black plastic. Amazing amount of work to plant and maintain.

In Huelva there were acres of strawberries grown this way.

OK so, Huelva is built around marshes and salt flats.  We were fascinated because Tavira is snugged into different bays and marshy areas.  It's a new landscape for us.

If you look closely you will see Flamingos in there.  Joe says that in the spring this is their mating ground.  It must be a sea of pink.

Here are two with their heads out of the water. We waited a long time for that.  That bay must be full of shrimps.

Along with bays come beautiful beaches.

Tony looked over the edges of this walkway marveling at all the shells around us.

Little did we know what lay ahead....

Oh My Gosh.

Merry Christmas Children.

We must have been there an hour.

All that dark shadowy stuff on the beach are shells.  Layers and layers.  That must be why the seagulls are so fat around here...

Then we had lunch with Joe and his roommate, Sruti, who was fun and charming.  They were both so interesting that we forgot to take any pictures. 🙄

Then we got a video from Jaime of Maddie lying on the floor asking her to call us on her phone.  Jaime tried to explain it was the middle of the night wherever GMa and Papa were.  Maddie didn't get it and said "Pleeeeeeeeze" and "Why?"

Uggh.  Grandparent heartache 💔. 

So now we will sleep with the phones beside us, charged up and the ringer on loud.  No way does a grandkid not get a wish that we can grant.

Or a kid even.  But they are old enough to know about time zones.