Parade

At last! Todd kindly uploaded my photos for me, since our internet connection wasn't strong enough to allow loading from the apartment (or the park outside our apartment, to be more accurate). So here are some photos from the parade at Festes de la Merce last weekend. The 10-year-old kids are apparently the ones who play devils and run with fire. It was fascinating to see, and it would never fly in the U.S. due to safety and legal concerns. But there's a lot of other stuff here that would never fly, too, and that's what makes it fun.

Circus

And here are a few photos from the tot circus. This was a lot of fun; clowns, puppet shows, plays, and trapeze acts, etc. over the course of two days. We weren't able to view much of it because Kiddo is too young to hang out for that long, but it was an impressive schedule of events and activities for the kids to try out for themselves.







We are headed home the day after tomorrow! It's difficult to believe that our adventure has ended so quickly, but it will be nice to return home, and I'll post some more photos and entries when I have a fast connection to work with.

Adios!

Need your scissors sharpened on the go?

Noticed this knife-sharpening bicycle in the old city the other day. Has sharpening been done this way for a very long time, or is this the brainchild of an entrepreneur? Either way, it’s pretty nifty.

Human castles and other (smaller) challenges

Today is one of those days when I really wish I spoke Catalan. I’m watching the human castles on TV as I write this: it’s really quite an amazing thing. I’d like to understand what is being said on the TV so I have a better comprehension of how the castles are made and what the builders say to eachother as they form them. A large group of very strong men pack in tightly around a central group of three men who are clasping arms. The man at the base are packed right up against eachother, with people in the center to stabilize the structure. It’s very carefully choreographed. All the builders seem to bite on their collars; I’m assuming that this practice helps them exert themselves entirely to the incredible strength that the building requires. Anyway, the structures are built in layers of usually three primary people, and once the first layer is densely packed the second layer begins to form. This layer also consists of a group of people supporting the central structure of three. Upon completion of the second layer the tower moves quickly. Very slim, increasingly smaller and younger people form the upper layers, and their bodies shake with the effort of balancing while supporting the layers above them. One person shouts directions from the ground. The people in each layer climb up the bodies of the lower layers to stand on the shoulders of the people below them. Once layers of about 7 people are reached, two children climb to complete the top: one kid crouches on the top layer of two people, and the other kid perches atop the first kid. But as soon as the last kid reaches the top, s/he thrusts her arm in the air and immediately starts sliding down the people below her, disassembling the structure as quickly as they can due to the incredible stress on the lowest levels. Everyone involves is so agile and strong and quick! What an amazing sight! There are many false starts, and the teams seem to help eachother out despite the competition – once a team reaches a height the other teams take turns trying to beat it. Sometimes the entire tower shakes as knees buckle and I am probably getting a better view of TV than I would get in person, but it certainly isn’t as fun as being there.

Since I don't have any photos to share, here's a link with one:

Todd took Bebe to the Gaudi park (Park Guell) without me today. I have an enormous headache and stayed home to rest. I think that carrying the baby and our gear all over the city every day is exhausting me. My body aches everywhere – even my fingers hurt! I was having chest pains for a while, but I think we determined that it’s just muscle pain – probably from the baby carrier or from swimming. Woe is me – such a tough life it is to live the life of leisure in Barcelona!

Anyway, the time and quiet also allow me to catch up with the blog and maybe even do a little crafting. I have a lot of photos to upload and haven’t had much success with posting them lately – either the program or our slow, sporadic connection are making it very difficult. Sorry there aren't any photos recently. There are lots on the computer, but I can't get them uploaded to the blog!

Yesterday we made another trip to the Picasso museum so Todd could have a quick look. Then we went to the beach for a little while, and later we went out for a walk and to find something to eat. Poor Bebe didn’t get to bed until almost 9 pm and took an unprecedented two-hour nap today as a result! So I guess I’m not the only one who has been worn out.

I’ve been working on a style post. The people of Barcelona have such flair, but it’s been difficult to capture it on camera. I’ve missed some fantastic outfits, but I’ll try to post some photos if I can get the upload to work.

One of the castles just fell – couldn’t tell if anyone was hurt, but it was frightening to see.

Tot circ and the parade

We seem to be having some trouble uploading photos today. The circus and the parade were terrific, and we got some ok photos to share.

I guess you'll just have to take my word for it - but maybe someday soon I can share the photos. Here's the only one I've been able to load so far:

What's Going On

So today, as planned, we spent some time at the Picasso Museum. Little didn’t think much of it and after viewing only two rooms she took a nap, waking near the very end of the exhibit. I, on the other hand, enjoyed the collection. It was most certainly strongest in Picasso’s earlier work, but it was interesting to see how talented he was technically from an early age and how his work developed.

The museum consists of four medieval buildings with an amazing courtyard and vaulted lower level which are in themselves worth a visit. There was no way to do justice to the space with a photograph. I wouldn’t even try.

Since it was such a beautiful day (and every day here is, unless it’s raining), we walked home via the park. Good thing we did; we found a fabulous boxer dog named Linda (“Leenda”) and her person playing ball near the Museum of Natural History. Leenda was most certainly the highlight of Bebe’s week: she laughed hysterically every time Leenda jumped up the catch the tennis ball her person was throwing and bouncing for her, and Leenda and her nice person kindly kept Bebe entertained for about five minutes before we headed home. They promised to be at the same location, same time tomorrow. We won’t force them to entertain us again, but I’m glad Bebe had such a good time. People in the park were stopping to watch her laugh!

Tomorrow begins the Festes de la Merce, a festival unique to Barcelona. Festivities include free concerts, human castles, folk dancing (ah, yes, we remember that from last weekend), a fire race (!?!), fireworks, and parades of “giants and big heads”! I quote from the guidebook: “Nostra Senyora de la Merce was elevated to co-patron of the city after she single-handedly beat off a plague of locusts in 1637!” So there you have it: four days of celebration for the strangest story I’ve ever heard. How does one single-handedly fight off locusts? Perhaps the fireworks, firecrackers, and fire parade are my answer: tune in later for photos, assuming Bebe is amenable to the schedule and I can stand the crowds. Too bad Todd has to work during the day; a shopkeeper told me that it is illegal for most stores to be open for the holiday!

And final news for the day: Bebe is officially crawling! It suddenly clicked for her, and she’s having a wonderful time chasing down my magazines, lunch, or whatever I’m doing at the moment. We’ve babyproofed the Barcelona apartment as much as we can (there’s not much in it, so it wasn’t too difficult), but babyproofing the New York apartment will be another story. How does one babyproof a cat?

Tomorrow’s tentative schedule:

The Great Ciutadella Circus
An ancient military stronghold, the Citadel was demolished to make way for the city’s first large park. During La Mercè, this public space becomes a huge circus accommodating some of the biggest circus companies in Catalonia, accompanied by international guests. You can also find activities for children there.

Cavalcada de la Mercè (La Mercè Parade)
This is the biggest street parade in the whole of La Mercè Festival, with giants from different points of Catalonia. In addition, in order to commemorate the fourth centenary of Don Quixote, this year there will be images of the good knight of La Mancha from all over Spain.

A brief update

It certainly is strange to be in a large metropolitan European area and be so isolated from the English language! With no phone, no internet, no English on TV or radio, very few English speakers, and only the Financial Times to read (I found it yesterday – the only English newspaper I’ve seen since we arrived), I should be speaking Spanish or Catalan in no time!

We’ve been spending most days exploring various parts of the city, and yesterday I needed a break – I’m physically tired from carrying Bebe in her carrier and all our necessities in the diaper bag. We went to the park and discovered the fountain was working!

Bebe is nearly crawling now. Her legs are doing the right thing, but she hasn’t quite gotten the feel for the combined arms and legs. She does a lot of grunting and “caterpillaring”: inching her way forward by pushing her butt in the air and then collapsing on her stomach over and over again. And she’s making quite a bit of progress this way! I suspect that by next weekend she’ll be in full terror mode. Right now I need to keep a close eye on her because she moves straightaway for the coffee table in the apartment and bumps her face on the edges when she collapses during her crawling.

Last weekend we found a street festival for the commemoration of Catalunyan history. A few photos are attached. And no, we didn't really let Bebe drink the beer, but it made a good photo!






Today Bebe and I went to the Museum of Textiles and Costumes in the old city. It was an ok collection, not great. I think that tomorrow we’ll go to the Gaudi Park in the north side of the city.

That's about it from here. We're meeting a lot of the local people in the neighborhood, and every afternoon we sit outside the school with the other children and their parents. This is clearly the highlight of Bebe's day: she bounces up and down and squeals when she sees the kids playing. We've made good friends with the other children in our building, who are very curious about the strange lady and la nina who don't speak Catalan.

Five wonders of the Barcelona world as revealed to Liesl

1. The miracle that Bebe has somehow put herself on exactly the same schedule she keeps at home despite the six-hour time change. Up at 7:00, three half-hour naps during the day, down at 7:00 (er, 19:00, that is).
2. The miracle that I still can’t sleep at night despite that very same time change. What is it with me, Bebe and sleep?
3. The miracle that neither Todd nor I have bashed our shins on the platform bed that’s twice the size of the bedroom it’s in. Todd has the advantage of going to bed once a night and getting dressed in the other room in the mornings, thus minimizing his potential contact with this deadly series of sharp edges and corners. I, due to 1 and 2 above, in addition to those three daily naps for Bebe, am in and out of the room constantly. Prepare the icepacks and bandages – contact will inevitably be made with much swearing and gnashing of teeth.
4. The miracle that I can have complete conversations with Barcelonian parents when we don’t speak the same language. Todd thinks I’m making this stuff up, but I had a long conversation with a woman the other day who was pushing twins who were seven months old. Turns out she only speaks Catalan, but we understood each other perfectly when discussing the babies. Go figure.
5. The not-so-amazing miracle that the U.S. is one of the most productive nations of the world. This is suddenly no surprise when one discovers that most shops and businesses in Spain (and France, and Italy) keep the weirdest hours, closing down for most of the afternoon for lunch. And the worst part is that the hours are inconsistent, apparently dictated solely by the whim of the shopkeeper. After three days of trying unsuccessfully to buy a cell phone I have officially decided I don’t need or want one, so at least this lack of productivity has saved us some money!

Anyway, after several days of zero contact with the world due to my lack of cell phone and continued lack of internet access, here are some photos. Perhaps I’ll post more whinings and descriptions of our goings-on later; perhaps I won’t.

Our day

Getting excited about laundry

I’m considering filling my luggage with boxes of Spanish laundry detergent when we return home – the idea of grabbing a few pastillas of soap on my way down to the laundry room is just too cool! So much better than lugging the entire bottle/box with me for a couple of loads.

No photos today

But the good news is that Bebe slept her best EVER last night! I could hardly believe it - just when I thought it was as bad as I could stand it, she woke only twice last night! AND we went out for dinner tonight; no McDonalds takeout!!!

We did a little sightseeing and shopping today, but we didn't see anything that hasn't been photographed many, many times before (Gaudi, Gaudi, Gaudi). We also tried to purchase a cell phone but got tired of waiting, so I still don't have a phone. I'm thinking this might be just fine, but we'll try again tomorrow. And we successfully navigated the metro system with a stroller and no espagnol, so we did pretty well, I think.

Tomorrow I'm thinking maybe the beach and a seaside walk will be enough excitement for us. We've been looking for a playground that has baby swings with no success to date. But Little loves watching all the school children in our neighborhood, so maybe that's excitement enough. We spent a little time this evening watching a group of kids skip rope, and bebe could hardly contain herself; screaming with excitement, you'd think she was going to join in!

We kept her entertained at dinner by letting her drink out of our water glasses; she'd never had water with gas before and thought it was really great - after she was done making faces from the fizz. And as always, she charmed the waitstaff and flirted with everyone in the restaurant. We're beginning to wonder whose child this is: they aren't our genes!

Another 2 days

Yesterday we spent a good deal of time walking through the old city – I can’t wait to go back! Parts of Barcelona are built on ancient Roman walls, and there are so many terrific narrow streets to explore. Some areas of the old city have been adopted by the fashion folk, with funky little boutiques and stores along the way, so I’m looking forward to exploring the neighborhood and the shops some more.

Today we spent an hour or so at the beach, but Little is still having a tough time adjusting to the time change and wasn’t willing to nap before we went, so she was a little grumpy on the sand. She did finally fall asleep and Todd and I took turns swimming in the ocean while she napped.






Would you like to hear about Burger King and Pizza Hut in Barcelona? We’ve been trying to go out to eat, since there is so much wonderful food in this city. But every night our plans are ruined by a 2 foot 2 inch dictator of schedules. I swear we’re going to get her onto some sort a predictable schedule so we can eat some real food!

Barcelona at day 2

So we arrived in Barcelona without incident. Little had a tough time on the plane – she can usually fly without any trouble and falls asleep as soon as the place takes off, but I think the extended length of the flight (7 hours, plus an hour lined up on the runway before takeoff) was a little more difficult for her. In the end she managed to sleep, but she woke frequently and probably slept very lightly as a result.

I, of course, didn’t sleep at all due to tending the baby. Ah well, we both did a good deal of sleeping upon arrival, and two days later Little is still catching up. She slept all night (a huge surprise to me – I was anticipating being up with her for most of the night and was pleased to get a full night’s sleep instead) and slept most of the first and second days here. I’m hoping that by tomorrow she will be more rested and willing to explore the city.

We located the grocery store just two blocks from our apartment and found the necessities: European-style yogurt for me, Diet Coke and coffee for Todd (they call Diet Coke “Coke Light” here). But baby food is a different story: all the baby foods here are blends of various fruits or vegetables with sugar, salt, corn starch, and a lot of other unnecessary additions. Why would you need to add sugar to strained pears? They aren’t sweet enough already? We purchased a jar of mixed vegetables and I tried it before feeding Little last night; it was awful, and I don’t blame her for refusing to eat it. So I’ve resorted to making her food. Fortunately I bought a food mill while we were in Michigan and brought it along on the off chance that we couldn’t find decent baby food. Today I made strained zucchini and strained peaches. She will only eat the zucchini if it’s mixed with peaches, so this will be an interesting experiment for us. I told Todd that if we were ever to move here I know what business I would be starting for myself! Hard to believe that a greater selection of baby foods isn’t available. But I suppose I sound like a spoiled New Yorker (or at least a spoiled American) when I say that.

We did manage to get out of the apartment a few times today: once to the grocery store again for more water and a few things we didn’t get last night. A longer trip was through the old city and over to the World Trade Center (odd to be going there, coming from New York) where Todd is working. I snapped a few quick photos as we were working our way across town but didn’t bother with the camera once we reached the tourist attractions near the port. I did need a photo of the building where Todd is working; he was telling me yesterday how he could look out the window and directly into the window of a cruise ship, but I didn’t understand how literally he was speaking until I saw the ship parked right next to his building. I don’t think they’re more than a sidewalk away from each other!



But Little had a meltdown after we met Todd and were preparing to explore the city, so we ended up back at the apartment for a nap, and we managed only a final trip down to the beach (just 4 blocks away!) before she went to bed. No Catalonian dinner for us, since restaurants here don’t open for dinner until at least 8pm.

Unfortunately it’s 11:30 and she’s wide awake, so we’ll see what happens tonight and tomorrow!

Pink pig for applique

When I was home last month one of my sisters was sorting through the childhood artwork my Mom had saved for her and decided to throw this out. I snagged it because it's so adorable - wouldn't it make a great applique on baby clothing?!

Crazy quilt bib

Poor Little; yesterday and today she just hasn't been herself. We think she's cutting her first tooth: grumpy, drooling, biting everything is sight, a slight fever. And now she has to spend the night on an airplane! This should be fun for everyone. I'm packing lots of baby Tylenol and her teddy bear.

Anyway, when I told Grandma about how the baby's clothing is often drenched with drool lately, she made this darling crazy quilt bib. I traced a bib that fit well and sent the shape to her; she then used that shape as the template for the piecing. And as she was making it we discussed the idea that a side fastening bib would be more convenient and practical, but neither of us had much success with revising the bib template.




So you can imagine how pleased I was when we returned home from our visit and my YesAsia order arrived in the mail - this bib pattern was included in For Sweet Baby (isbn-07-246385-X). More about this fantastic book in another post, but I'm sending a copy of the template to Grandma for her files!

Projects for the road

I needed to bring along a few projects to keep me busy while we're away, so here's what I packed:





Garnet Hill has this great citrus patterned sheets and shower curtain that they featured on a recent cover. I was inspired to try my hand at applique and decided to make a cosmetic bag. My grandma showed me a really great way to do applique when I was visiting her last week - she actually showed me three different ways, but the stitches almost don't show at all with one of her methods. I've finished all appliqueing all the little citrus sections on one side, and I'm planning to do the other side the same way.


I really loved how this little cosmetic bag looks too, and I used it as a starting point for another cosmetic bag/pencil bag made entirely of ribbons lined up edge to edge. Grandma suggested that it would be fun to weave the ribbons together, so maybe the next cosmetic bag project will attempt something along those lines.



And the third project is - surprise! another cosmetic bag! - also inspired by the same Japanese craft book - see the top little green bag in this photo. What is it with me and cosmetic bags right now? I really don't even use them, but I suppose they might be handy for all the junk I throw into the diaper bag and then can't locate - lip balm, cell phone, etc. They might also make nice Christmas gifts. Not like me to be working on something so far in advance, however.

Instant gratification

Now that Little is getting bigger and sleeps a little better for naps and at night, I'm feeling ready to tackle some larger projects. But earlier this summer, when I had very little time to myself, I needed some instant gratification and found that embellishing tshirts was the perfect small project. Here are some of my favorites:





On this tshirt I painted the white flowers and then stitched on top of the paint. I used mailing labels as the stencil for the paint - they worked really well and could even be re-used once or twice.





I cut out the neckline on this tshirt and added a ribbon straight down the front and the back. The ribbon is attached via hand stitching in a zigzag pattern.




This tshirt was a lot of fun to make. I painted the body of the dragonfly and then added all the details (legs, wings, antenna) with embroidery stitches. The flight pattern is stitched as well.




This one took quite a bit of time. I cut out the neckline and stitched additional pieces of fabric onto the neck, leaving raw edges and visible knots at the beginning and ends of each thread, a la Project Alabama.

Clearly I need to take better photos of my work. But at least you get the idea here.

Completed sewing projects

While we were visiting family in Michigan last week I had an opportunity to complete a few sewing projects.

I bought the paisley skirt last year and liked it so much I decided to make a similar skirt in black. I found the fabric at B&J (as always) - it's a beautiful silk/linen blend. And I made the pattern based on the original skirt. I didn't sew it as neatly as I intended to - I'm a bit of a perfectionist, and it really irritates me when I try to hem a flared skirt and have to ease in the extra fabric. Also, the yoke/waistband and its facing didn't lie as smoothly as I thought they would. But I'm reasonably happy with it. Sorry the photos aren't so great; I just pulled the skirt out of my luggage, so the skirt is all wrinkled, and the light in our apartment isn't so great.





The camisole is from the Japanese book isbn4-579-11043-9 that I saw here and then found at Kinokuniya. I added a tiny loop at the back seam and attached a really long self tie to it so that it can be cinched down and be a little less voluminous. I think it's sort of fun to have the option to wear it with and without the tie. Sorry again for the bad photos.

Summer tote

Last summer, before I was pregnant and sick and exhausted, I decided I needed a summer bag. Nothing leather (i.e. heavy and sticky in New York heat and humidity) and not the ubiquitous LL Bean tote bag: I needed something sort of fun, lightweight, and colorful. And this is what I came up with:





The solid and striped canvas fabrics are from my favorite fabric store, B&J, here in NYC. I didn't buy much, but I was happy that I had enough left over to make the little cosmetic case.

The bag turned out well, and I like it a lot, but it wasn't easy to make. Especially with a standard sewing machine - I really needed a long-arm machine to construct and to do a lot of the topstitching.

Anyway, I'm in the midst of packing for our three-week adventure in Barcelona and I came across the bag. Thought it would be fun to post something about it now that this summer is almost over and I'm starting to pull out the fall clothing, etc. It's too bad I didn't use the tote bag this summer, but it's not really stroller-friendly or helpful for carrying diaper bag-type items. Maybe next year, or the year after that...

Regarding Barcelona, Todd is working on a project there for the foreseeable future, and rather than fly back and forth on weekends to see us, it will be more fun for us and less exhausting for him if Little and I go there for a while. I'm looking forward to exploring the city, which is rumored to be very walkable. And who knows, maybe I'll find some great fabric and craft stores!