Congratulations!

[Valid RSS] This is a valid RSS feed.

Recommendations

This feed is valid, but interoperability with the widest range of feed readers could be improved by implementing the following recommendations.

Source: http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default?alt=rss

  1. <?xml version='1.0' encoding='UTF-8'?><rss xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" xmlns:openSearch="http://a9.com/-/spec/opensearchrss/1.0/" xmlns:blogger="http://schemas.google.com/blogger/2008" xmlns:georss="http://www.georss.org/georss" xmlns:gd="http://schemas.google.com/g/2005" xmlns:thr="http://purl.org/syndication/thread/1.0" version="2.0"><channel><atom:id>tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670</atom:id><lastBuildDate>Tue, 07 May 2024 17:46:49 +0000</lastBuildDate><category>teaching</category><category>learning</category><category>scottmerrick</category><category>education</category><category>ISTE</category><category>Nashville</category><category>Second Life</category><category>scott merrick</category><category>ISTE Virtual Environments Network</category><category>merrick</category><category>blogging</category><category>distance learning</category><category>professional development</category><category>virtual environments</category><category>blog</category><category>music</category><category>International Society for Technology in Education</category><category>MNPS Metro Nashville</category><category>travel</category><category>fiction</category><category>teaching and learning</category><category>NECC08</category><category>necc</category><category>snacks4thebrain</category><category>web 2.0</category><category>USN</category><category>art</category><category>conference</category><category>virtual worlds</category><category>MNPS Virtual School</category><category>virtual</category><category>educational technology</category><category>computing</category><category>#edchat</category><category>Spain</category><category>future technology</category><category>painting</category><category>podcast</category><category>vacation</category><category>web20</category><category>wiki</category><category>#iste13</category><category>David Warlick</category><category>NECC2008</category><category>cool music</category><category>fun</category><category>future education</category><category>poetry</category><category>teacher education</category><category>virtual school</category><category>James Morrison</category><category>SIGVE</category><category>change</category><category>computer</category><category>educational change</category><category>innovation</category><category>podcasting</category><category>profdev</category><category>second life events</category><category>twitter</category><category>Americana music</category><category>Colin Merrick</category><category>Cool second life events</category><category>ISTE VEN</category><category>K12</category><category>Los Gatos</category><category>University School of Nashville</category><category>Vanderbilt University</category><category>cool  video</category><category>cool video</category><category>learning and teaching</category><category>online learning</category><category>professional networking</category><category>running</category><category>short fiction</category><category>tennessee</category><category>&quot;get a clue&quot; scottmerrick</category><category>Espana</category><category>ISTE Island</category><category>ISTE Online Learning Network</category><category>NECC09</category><category>NECC2007</category><category>Vanderbilt</category><category>cultures</category><category>hospitality</category><category>n07s823</category><category>people</category><category>#iste16</category><category>Miranda Merrick</category><category>Peggy Sheehy</category><category>THE Journal</category><category>The Nations</category><category>Web 2.0 for Us</category><category>alaska</category><category>love</category><category>social media</category><category>virtual learning</category><category>#iste15</category><category>#iste17</category><category>#iste18</category><category>#iste19</category><category>@isteconnects</category><category>CSO</category><category>Charles Brindley</category><category>Public School</category><category>Will Richardson</category><category>artclectic</category><category>cool second life</category><category>covid-19</category><category>eduverse talks</category><category>facebook</category><category>family</category><category>folk music</category><category>middle tennessee</category><category>mnps</category><category>online learning institute</category><category>retirement</category><category>social networking</category><category>students</category><category>teachers</category><category>technology</category><category>windows podcasting</category><category>&quot;Open Education&quot;</category><category>#iste14</category><category>3di</category><category>EduMachinima</category><category>Google</category><category>K-4</category><category>Kevin Jarrett</category><category>Lee Ann Merrick</category><category>MUVE</category><category>PLN</category><category>Virtual Education Journal</category><category>acrylics</category><category>art show</category><category>birthday</category><category>conference reflections</category><category>conferences</category><category>cool second life places</category><category>elementary education</category><category>fishing</category><category>ghost story</category><category>global learning</category><category>history</category><category>hope</category><category>hundred dollar laptop</category><category>independent music</category><category>innovate</category><category>internet2</category><category>iste sigve</category><category>iste11</category><category>mnpsvs</category><category>prose</category><category>science</category><category>short story</category><category>songwriting</category><category>spring break</category><category>writing</category><category>&quot;second life&quot;</category><category>#iste10</category><category>#iste18 #notatiste2018</category><category>#iste2015</category><category>Andrew Wheelock</category><category>CDBaby</category><category>Center for Science Outreach</category><category>Chicago</category><category>Christmas</category><category>Clay Shirky</category><category>Educator&#39;s PLN</category><category>Friends</category><category>Hollywood</category><category>Howard Rheingold</category><category>I2FMM08</category><category>ISTE16</category><category>ISTE2016</category><category>IVC</category><category>James Paige Morrison</category><category>Last Frontier Band</category><category>Learning Games</category><category>McMurray Middle School</category><category>PBS</category><category>Quest Atlantis</category><category>ReactionGrid</category><category>SITE</category><category>Steve Hargadon</category><category>Tim Buell</category><category>Virtual Environments Journal</category><category>accreditation</category><category>acoustic guitar</category><category>acrylic painting</category><category>acting</category><category>awards</category><category>balance</category><category>beer</category><category>clever video</category><category>cool events</category><category>cool tools</category><category>creativity</category><category>edubloggercon07</category><category>education reform</category><category>elementary technology</category><category>flipvideo</category><category>funny</category><category>gaming</category><category>holidays</category><category>indie music</category><category>instructional technology</category><category>internet</category><category>internet safety</category><category>life</category><category>live performance</category><category>mandolin</category><category>n07s227</category><category>n08s987</category><category>nashville flood rain weather</category><category>nashville shakespeare festival</category><category>nature</category><category>necc09 scottmerrick ISTE slplayground</category><category>nyscate</category><category>original</category><category>retired</category><category>schools</category><category>science outreach</category><category>sledupotential</category><category>summer</category><category>tale</category><category>video</category><category>virtual neccers</category><category>vote</category><category>webinar</category><category>workshop</category><category>youtube</category><category>#PresentersofISTE</category><category>#hcn09</category><category>#iste11</category><category>#necc09</category><category>#notatiste</category><category>#notatiste19</category><category>#oli13</category><category>372wn</category><category>3rd and Lindsley</category><category>AdvancED</category><category>Alternative Folk</category><category>Baby Huey</category><category>Board of Directors</category><category>DU</category><category>Daniel Pink</category><category>Digital Nashville</category><category>DigitalNashville</category><category>ELL</category><category>Fall</category><category>Google Apps</category><category>Great Barrington</category><category>Here Comes Everybody</category><category>ISTE 2010</category><category>ISTE VEN Reunion 2020</category><category>ISTE15</category><category>ISTE2010</category><category>ITEC</category><category>Interactive Videoconferencing</category><category>Jane McGonigal</category><category>K-12</category><category>Lake Marrowbone</category><category>Lehman</category><category>Lower School</category><category>MagicMetalDesigns</category><category>Microsoft PDC Nashville</category><category>Montana</category><category>Music City</category><category>NAIS</category><category>NECC2009</category><category>New Orleans</category><category>News</category><category>Obama</category><category>Online Learning Network</category><category>OpenSim</category><category>PIE</category><category>Personal Learning Network</category><category>RSS</category><category>Ramapo Islands</category><category>Seamus</category><category>Seamus Morrison</category><category>Second Life Mooc</category><category>TED Talks</category><category>TEDTalks</category><category>TEDx</category><category>Theater</category><category>University of Denver</category><category>VUMC</category><category>Virtual Environments Network</category><category>WMOT</category><category>Wainhouse Research</category><category>Wes Fryer</category><category>West Nashville</category><category>acoustic</category><category>alternative</category><category>basal skin cancer</category><category>be good and have fun</category><category>beale street music festival</category><category>blogs</category><category>camping</category><category>cars</category><category>charitable</category><category>classroom20</category><category>clustrmaps</category><category>collaboration</category><category>cool pictures</category><category>copyright</category><category>creativelyfit</category><category>curriculum</category><category>death</category><category>deer</category><category>donate</category><category>drone video</category><category>drumming</category><category>ebc07sl</category><category>ebc08</category><category>education teaching</category><category>edutalk radio</category><category>edweb</category><category>election</category><category>election fraud</category><category>festival</category><category>global</category><category>godson</category><category>healing</category><category>healthcare</category><category>high school</category><category>iPhone</category><category>independent schools</category><category>iphotography</category><category>istesigve</category><category>jamparty4education</category><category>k12online07</category><category>keynote</category><category>laptop</category><category>listening</category><category>lives</category><category>loved ones</category><category>machinima</category><category>memphis</category><category>middle school</category><category>n08s350</category><category>ning</category><category>novella</category><category>online</category><category>outreach</category><category>pandemic</category><category>plurk</category><category>politics</category><category>proud dad</category><category>publishing</category><category>read aloud</category><category>recording</category><category>road trip</category><category>rock and roll</category><category>safety</category><category>scheduliberation</category><category>scottmerrick oh</category><category>scottmerrickdotnet</category><category>scottmerrrick</category><category>sharing</category><category>sledcc08</category><category>slideshare</category><category>son to the boy</category><category>songs</category><category>speaker series</category><category>speculativity</category><category>summer 2010</category><category>summercore</category><category>taistech08</category><category>theatre</category><category>time</category><category>virtual environments playground</category><category>webcast</category><category>webinars</category><category>winter break</category><category>woods</category><category>yoga</category><category>&quot;David Thornburg&quot;</category><category>&quot;Did You Know&quot;</category><category>&quot;Digital Nation&quot;</category><category>#FeeltheBern</category><category>#appleinsitutute10Boston</category><category>#educhat</category><category>#iste2014</category><category>#iste2017</category><category>#necc</category><category>#outthebox15</category><category>#pcnash2011</category><category>1979</category><category>2008</category><category>2035</category><category>24</category><category>3d</category><category>4th grade</category><category>615</category><category>A Sinatra Affair</category><category>AARP</category><category>ACDC</category><category>ACDCGiveItAllYouGotj</category><category>Academia 2.0</category><category>Alaska Song</category><category>Alec Couros</category><category>Alice Project</category><category>AltspaceVR</category><category>Amanda Shires</category><category>America</category><category>American Intercontintental University</category><category>Americana Folk Festival</category><category>AmericanaFest</category><category>Anchorage</category><category>Andrew Churches</category><category>Andy Wheelock</category><category>Ann Cook Calhoun</category><category>April Fools</category><category>Arkansas</category><category>Ask a Scientist</category><category>Aspirnauts</category><category>Autumn</category><category>Bad Ladies</category><category>Bebop</category><category>Beebop 2</category><category>Beer Advocate</category><category>Belmont University</category><category>Beloit College</category><category>Berkshire Botanical Garden</category><category>Berkshires</category><category>Bernie</category><category>Bernie Sanders</category><category>Bill Merrick</category><category>Billy Hudson</category><category>Blackbird</category><category>Blogger</category><category>Blogger&#39;s Hut</category><category>Bob Sprankle</category><category>Bob Wise</category><category>Brenda Stein</category><category>Brian C. Smith</category><category>Brodeo</category><category>COVID song</category><category>Calhoun</category><category>California</category><category>Casper</category><category>Celebrations</category><category>Charlie Chaplin</category><category>Chris Dede</category><category>Chris Jordan</category><category>Chris Lehmann</category><category>Chris Piehler</category><category>Chris Smither</category><category>Chris o&#39;Neal</category><category>Christmas at Belmont</category><category>Clay Burell</category><category>Cody&#39;s Diner</category><category>Commoncraft</category><category>Covid</category><category>Craft Brewed</category><category>Cumberland River</category><category>DEN</category><category>Danton Sherman</category><category>David Chatt</category><category>David Jakes</category><category>David Truss</category><category>December</category><category>Dell</category><category>Denver</category><category>Digital Nation</category><category>Dixie</category><category>Douglas Fodeman</category><category>EBOCES</category><category>EL</category><category>EPIC Leadership</category><category>ETAN</category><category>ETLO</category><category>Economist</category><category>Ed Merrick</category><category>Edwin A. Merrick</category><category>Einstein</category><category>Elf</category><category>Elluminate</category><category>Engage</category><category>English Learners</category><category>Ensworth</category><category>Ensworth High School</category><category>Eric Henn</category><category>España</category><category>EurWerks</category><category>Exodus Road</category><category>Father&#39;s Day</category><category>Fathers Day</category><category>Finally Friday</category><category>Fleep</category><category>Focus Session</category><category>Foreigner</category><category>GEC</category><category>Gary Stager</category><category>Geofff Feiler</category><category>Gerry Calhoun</category><category>Getty</category><category>Gibson Guitars</category><category>Global Education Conference</category><category>Global Warming</category><category>Google Community Standards</category><category>Google Wave</category><category>Gormans</category><category>Guild guitar</category><category>Haiti</category><category>Hank Williams Jr.</category><category>Harlem Children&#39;s Storefront School</category><category>Harvey relief</category><category>Heaven</category><category>Heist</category><category>Hillary</category><category>Housatonic River</category><category>Howie DiBlasi</category><category>Hurricane Harvey</category><category>ISTE 2014</category><category>ISTE 2016</category><category>ISTE 2017</category><category>ISTE SIGVE iste11</category><category>ISTE17</category><category>ISTE18</category><category>ISTE2011</category><category>ISTE2015</category><category>ISTE2017</category><category>Inauguration</category><category>Iraq war</category><category>Jackson Browne</category><category>Jammin&#39; at Hippie Jacks</category><category>Janine Lim</category><category>Jeff Agamenoni</category><category>Jeff Pointek</category><category>Jeff Utecht</category><category>Jeffersons</category><category>John Berger</category><category>John Prine</category><category>July 4 2022 flight cancelations</category><category>Karen Knox</category><category>Kathy Schrock</category><category>Kecia Ray</category><category>Kindergarten</category><category>Kitely</category><category>Kris Kristopherson</category><category>Lane Motor Museum</category><category>Larry Jacobs</category><category>Las Meninas</category><category>Leave Your Fears Here</category><category>Lee Ann</category><category>Leon Lederman</category><category>Lex Fridman</category><category>Linden Lab</category><category>Lively</category><category>Livingstone</category><category>Lochland Strings</category><category>MUVErs</category><category>Madrid</category><category>Maggie Marat</category><category>Marc Prensky</category><category>Maria H. Anderson</category><category>Marje Monroe</category><category>Marrowbone</category><category>Me</category><category>Merricks</category><category>Metropolitan Nashville and Davidson County</category><category>Miami</category><category>Michael Sharpe</category><category>Mick Jones</category><category>Moms Against Gun Violence</category><category>Moose Nuggets</category><category>Muddy Sunshine</category><category>NCAC</category><category>NCLB</category><category>NPR</category><category>NRA</category><category>NSYCATE</category><category>Nashville Tennessee</category><category>Nashville weather</category><category>Natchez Trace</category><category>Negroponte</category><category>New Years 2022</category><category>New Years Day</category><category>Newschannel5+</category><category>Nobel Prize</category><category>North Miami Beach</category><category>OLPC</category><category>Ow</category><category>P21</category><category>PHSPrincipal blog</category><category>Peabody College for Teachers</category><category>Periscope</category><category>Perritt&#39;s Path</category><category>Philadelphia</category><category>Picasso</category><category>Prairie Home Companion</category><category>President&#39;s Volunteer Service Award</category><category>Presidential primaries</category><category>Professor Spot</category><category>Puerto Vallarta</category><category>Quaker</category><category>Rainbow Valley</category><category>Randy Pausch</category><category>Remedy Drive</category><category>Richard Thomas</category><category>Rob Bigelow</category><category>Rocky Alvy</category><category>Rocky art</category><category>Roots Radio</category><category>SCandA</category><category>SIG</category><category>SIGTE</category><category>SLeducation</category><category>STEAM</category><category>STEM</category><category>Samply</category><category>SciCentral</category><category>Shannon Curry</category><category>Shaun McElroy</category><category>ShiftParadigm</category><category>Showing Up</category><category>Silo</category><category>Smart Car</category><category>Smartcenter</category><category>Space Above and Beyond</category><category>Spotify</category><category>Spotify Playlist</category><category>Spring</category><category>Stallworth</category><category>Steve Bettis</category><category>Steve Clark and Associates</category><category>Symbaloo</category><category>TLN</category><category>Talkshoe</category><category>Teacher of the Future</category><category>TechLearning.com</category><category>Teddy Confetti</category><category>Tennessee Primary Election</category><category>Tennessee State Prison</category><category>The Donald</category><category>The Little Tramp</category><category>The Nations Nashville</category><category>Titans</category><category>ToF</category><category>Todd Cerny</category><category>US POTUS</category><category>University of Texas</category><category>University of Western Australia</category><category>Uruguay</category><category>VEJ</category><category>VHS</category><category>VIStE</category><category>VTC</category><category>VWBPE</category><category>Velazquez</category><category>Vince Wyatt</category><category>VirBELA</category><category>Virginia Society for Technology in Education</category><category>Virtual Pioneers</category><category>Wagner James Au</category><category>Wall Street Journal</category><category>Weather in Nashville</category><category>Web Council</category><category>West Meade</category><category>West Park</category><category>Whitney Ferre&#39;</category><category>Whole Foods</category><category>Wordle</category><category>World of Warcraft</category><category>Worried Man</category><category>XO</category><category>Yazoo</category><category>You</category><category>abstract art</category><category>acceptable use</category><category>acetabulum</category><category>acoustic blues</category><category>activism</category><category>alaska repertory theater</category><category>amazon.com</category><category>animation</category><category>animoto</category><category>anniversary</category><category>anthropomorphism</category><category>anti-war</category><category>apocolypse</category><category>appreciation</category><category>artistsignal</category><category>auditions</category><category>automobiles</category><category>avatar</category><category>ballot</category><category>bastl10</category><category>beach</category><category>beachcomber</category><category>bears</category><category>benefit</category><category>best practices</category><category>birds</category><category>blended</category><category>bloom&#39;s taxonomy</category><category>blue heron</category><category>bob dylan</category><category>brain</category><category>bro&#39;deo</category><category>broadband</category><category>bush</category><category>busy</category><category>butterflies</category><category>cabin</category><category>cancer</category><category>caring</category><category>chatspeak</category><category>cheney</category><category>child cancer</category><category>children</category><category>children&#39;s literature</category><category>chill</category><category>cmconcs</category><category>collections</category><category>college prep</category><category>computer addiction</category><category>conclusion</category><category>congress</category><category>construction</category><category>content</category><category>controversial video</category><category>conversation</category><category>cool audio</category><category>cool internet sites</category><category>coolcatteacher</category><category>cooperation</category><category>country music</category><category>coveritlive</category><category>covid drafts</category><category>covid suite</category><category>creepy</category><category>dancin&#39;</category><category>david spencer</category><category>defund</category><category>diet</category><category>digital learning day</category><category>digital wave</category><category>diigo</category><category>divergent thinking</category><category>dog walking</category><category>dreams</category><category>drums</category><category>ebc07fs</category><category>ebc07mv</category><category>ebook</category><category>eclectic art</category><category>edchat</category><category>edublog awards</category><category>edublogger</category><category>edubloggercon</category><category>education nation</category><category>educaton week</category><category>edutalkradio</category><category>edweb.net</category><category>eliminated</category><category>embed</category><category>empathy</category><category>energy debate</category><category>entertainment</category><category>environment</category><category>epic2015</category><category>ethics</category><category>event</category><category>events</category><category>exercise</category><category>exploring</category><category>exsanguination</category><category>fair use</category><category>fantasy</category><category>father</category><category>fed up</category><category>filmmaking</category><category>films</category><category>flauntr</category><category>flood rain weather</category><category>folk</category><category>food</category><category>forest</category><category>free agent learners</category><category>free verse</category><category>french</category><category>funding</category><category>funny video</category><category>gallery</category><category>games</category><category>gamification</category><category>gates foundation</category><category>gifted</category><category>good beer</category><category>goodbeershow</category><category>grades</category><category>graduation2008</category><category>grasshopper</category><category>gratefulness</category><category>gravity arc</category><category>growing up</category><category>guitar</category><category>guitar recital</category><category>gun control</category><category>gun violence</category><category>health</category><category>help</category><category>high school art</category><category>homelessness</category><category>homeschooling</category><category>homeschools</category><category>hotlunchtray</category><category>house party</category><category>iTunes U</category><category>image editing</category><category>immersive</category><category>imogen heap</category><category>impeachment</category><category>independent</category><category>indie folk</category><category>initiatives</category><category>injury</category><category>inservice</category><category>instrumental</category><category>iste sigve teaching learning education</category><category>iste13</category><category>iste2014</category><category>it&#39;s all good</category><category>itunes</category><category>itunesu</category><category>jamparty</category><category>japan</category><category>jargon</category><category>jigsaw</category><category>journal</category><category>journalism</category><category>k12 online conference</category><category>k12online07tag</category><category>k12online08</category><category>k12online12</category><category>killing the blues</category><category>kindle</category><category>kindness</category><category>language instruction</category><category>lawmaker failure</category><category>leadership</category><category>learning drums</category><category>learning envrionments</category><category>legislation</category><category>leonards</category><category>links</category><category>literature</category><category>live music</category><category>liveblog</category><category>living</category><category>lobbying</category><category>local</category><category>long form podcast</category><category>love songs</category><category>lunacy</category><category>marriage</category><category>math</category><category>mcgonigal</category><category>meditation</category><category>memorial</category><category>memories</category><category>metaverse</category><category>micro-blog</category><category>millennials</category><category>minecraft</category><category>minecraft:ee</category><category>moo.com</category><category>moravec</category><category>mortality</category><category>mother&#39;s day</category><category>movies</category><category>mp3</category><category>museum</category><category>music collaboration</category><category>musician</category><category>mystery</category><category>narrative</category><category>nations</category><category>nationwide school systems strike</category><category>natural</category><category>nbc</category><category>neat pic</category><category>neat pics</category><category>neighborhood</category><category>nest</category><category>netvibes</category><category>networking</category><category>new homes</category><category>new music</category><category>notaholidayupdate</category><category>novel</category><category>novela</category><category>nscate</category><category>numbers</category><category>obituary</category><category>oil</category><category>online communities</category><category>online conference</category><category>online school</category><category>opinion</category><category>original music</category><category>pain</category><category>palate knives</category><category>panel</category><category>paper.li</category><category>parent meeting</category><category>pcn12</category><category>peace</category><category>peaceful</category><category>pearson learning</category><category>pedestrian bridge</category><category>perfect storm</category><category>photo sharing</category><category>photography</category><category>pi</category><category>piano</category><category>playlist</category><category>poison ivy</category><category>pop</category><category>portable</category><category>prank</category><category>prayer</category><category>presentation</category><category>presentations</category><category>preservice teacher education</category><category>presidential</category><category>profession</category><category>professional</category><category>progress</category><category>progressive</category><category>psych rock</category><category>public radio</category><category>puzzle</category><category>ramblings</category><category>readplease</category><category>reconnect</category><category>reflection</category><category>register</category><category>rehabilitation</category><category>research</category><category>resources</category><category>rest</category><category>retirment</category><category>retreat</category><category>review</category><category>richard III</category><category>richard the third</category><category>rock</category><category>rock music</category><category>roots music</category><category>rotorvideos</category><category>royalty free images</category><category>safe driving</category><category>school</category><category>school K-12</category><category>school for science and math</category><category>school reform</category><category>schooltube</category><category>scottmerrick painting</category><category>scottnecc08</category><category>second l</category><category>shakespeare</category><category>sigol</category><category>slcc</category><category>slcc08</category><category>sledcc</category><category>sleepshirt</category><category>slplayground</category><category>snow</category><category>social distancing</category><category>social justice</category><category>society30</category><category>steve bergen</category><category>story</category><category>summer 2022</category><category>summer reading</category><category>summer vacation 2008</category><category>sword swallowing</category><category>talent</category><category>tandberg</category><category>tasting</category><category>tcmtechnology</category><category>teachertube</category><category>tech tools</category><category>technology conference</category><category>tetc10</category><category>the 99 percent</category><category>the Prado</category><category>the economy stupid</category><category>the right thing</category><category>therapy</category><category>thinking</category><category>ties</category><category>timbuellmusic.com</category><category>tinwings</category><category>todaysmeet</category><category>tornado</category><category>tour</category><category>training</category><category>travels</category><category>trees</category><category>ustream</category><category>vacation 2009</category><category>vacationofalifetime</category><category>vicki davis</category><category>videoconferencing</category><category>videoem</category><category>virtual meeting</category><category>virtual. AIUonline</category><category>virtuall worlds</category><category>voting</category><category>web2.0</category><category>wedding</category><category>welding</category><category>whipplehill</category><category>winter</category><category>world storytelling day</category><category>yarn</category><category>yellowjacket</category><title>scottmerrickdotnet</title><description>&lt;i&gt;sharing, reflecting, and learning; working and playing and being here now&lt;/i&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/</link><managingEditor>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</managingEditor><generator>Blogger</generator><openSearch:totalResults>757</openSearch:totalResults><openSearch:startIndex>1</openSearch:startIndex><openSearch:itemsPerPage>25</openSearch:itemsPerPage><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-8229694566814261663</guid><pubDate>Sat, 04 May 2024 13:08:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-05-05T06:33:16.938-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">3rd and Lindsley</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">acoustic blues</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Chris Smither</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Finally Friday</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">live performance</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">music</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Nashville</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Roots Radio</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">WMOT</category><title>Chris Smither at Finally Friday!</title><description>I had a great experience yesterday at WMOT Roots Radio&#39;s weekly Finally Friday. Here&#39;s a snippet of video from the legendary &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Smither&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Chris Smither&lt;/a&gt; that demonstrates why. The Youtube description describes a lovely happy accident of weather, setting, and talent :)&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;The entire set should be available for viewing/listening in a day or two at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.wmot.org/show/finally-friday-radio-replay&quot;&gt;WMOT&#39;s &quot;On Demand&quot; website&lt;/a&gt;. Kudos also to FF stagemates &lt;a href=&quot;https://mustangsofthewest.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Mustangs of the West&lt;/a&gt; and Pi Jacobs!&lt;a href=&quot;https://pijacobs.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Pi Jacobs&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe frameborder=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;270&quot; src=&quot;https://youtube.com/embed/Rp4VHKtJWtk?si=PxiyTldLz8QvsTDz&quot; width=&quot;480&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Chris performed Finally Friday solo acoustic, and his new record, &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://smither.com/product/all-about-the-bones-2024/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;All About the Bones&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;, which released the same day, is a remarkable pleasure to listen to. Nuance of phrase, tidy and seemingly effortless fingerpicking, and fatherly voice makes me smile and cry at the same time. Give it a listen. If you want the record or CD, hit up his website. I&#39;m running out to Great Escape as soon as they have it in stock. It&#39;s already &lt;a href=&quot;https://open.spotify.com/album/7jwWqsd8VzJnj6jRL0c90H?si=cZA_z9GJQPO20YTnOnlN5Q&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;on Spotify&lt;/a&gt; if&#39;n that&#39;s the way you roll.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Read about the recording and personnel and such at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.gratefulweb.com/articles/chris-smither-folk-blues-legend-releases-his-20th-studio-album-all-about-bones&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Grateful Web&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2024/05/chris-smither-at-finally-friday.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/Rp4VHKtJWtk/default.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-2599975902258683224</guid><pubDate>Wed, 24 Apr 2024 19:17:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-04-24T14:17:19.528-05:00</atom:updated><title>Total Eclipse of the Middle Son</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;Or of &lt;i&gt;the &lt;/i&gt;sun, I should say...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzG_K0gbDsHPoer7RoqbBOAZXsbmZ_Bt1IC06HegQH44e9O_X4K0_dY72pd3W-6bNFdw4qGOBl1uFARCCO9_PSfitrfnmusKnFipFSw8H7SUzoKAxwv0qeSNmlD66FGi-BEbmmEJ-nv2QdphBrCYyRA7J-OGYHty7efpwK2lpe_g3X9OkqNso/s3938/IMG_1209.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2958&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3938&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzG_K0gbDsHPoer7RoqbBOAZXsbmZ_Bt1IC06HegQH44e9O_X4K0_dY72pd3W-6bNFdw4qGOBl1uFARCCO9_PSfitrfnmusKnFipFSw8H7SUzoKAxwv0qeSNmlD66FGi-BEbmmEJ-nv2QdphBrCYyRA7J-OGYHty7efpwK2lpe_g3X9OkqNso/s320/IMG_1209.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;The sun shows up the morning of April 8&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;This morning, casting about for a topic to wax upon, I recall the amazing camping trip I took up to my best buddy Rocky&#39;s childhood stomping grounds to view the Monday, April 8th total eclipse in totality. Nashville looked to be cloudy and was not in the predicted path, so up I went. Rocky had arranged for the younger brother of his best high school friend to allow me to camp on his substantial property just outside of Harrisburg, Illinois, itself the home of the very fine &lt;a href=&quot;https://thriveil.com/thrive-harrisburg/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Thrive Dispensary&lt;/a&gt; and the closest city to the huge farm his people owned and operated in his youth.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I left on Saturday around lunchtime, Casper the Friendly (Kia) Soul loaded with my camping gear, a cooler of beer and food, and my mandolin. It was smooth sailing up I-24 to Paducah, KY, where I stopped to explore a bit and discovered the extraordinary &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/paducahantiquemall/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Paducah Antique Mall&lt;/a&gt;, where I spent some time digging through a vast record collection and finally asked Randy, who I believe is the owner, if he had any Steve Goodman albums somewhere among the 20,000 or so in the store. It took him a while, but I was tickled to purchase a mint condition double compilation set called &quot;Essential Steve Goodman.&quot; That doesn&#39;t get me any closer to owning all the 17 studio albums, but it&#39;s a good listen, with a couple songs I hadn&#39;t heard.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I crossed that funky blue grated bridge into Illinois cruised on up State 145 to Harrisburg, where I drove around recalling some of the stories Rocky had told me when we spent a weekend up there last February, of course dropping in on Thrive just to look, heh heh. I also pulled off 145 to re-visit Shotgun Eddy&#39;s roadhouse, where I chatted with a lovely bartender human I&#39;d met our last visit and had a whiskey and a beer and a rockin&#39; Reuben Cheeseburger with a side of fried okra. Pic:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFfNvFbZkX-bWuLGq9PzBdc7FEm2367A0rc1y_lOF6LvdFahJ2ib4NR5fJXAb6fXkq-Nue8jd73AlMB8xwq0EwxRLvg-rl5W8NVD5_i9kLu_85yw89KSvU53DYqQzinWmNWSupl9CnsmbtzFwI9Z4UrxG_3M0HnUEfo7AIYVXFdofowiV6Lyon/s4032/IMG_1154.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFfNvFbZkX-bWuLGq9PzBdc7FEm2367A0rc1y_lOF6LvdFahJ2ib4NR5fJXAb6fXkq-Nue8jd73AlMB8xwq0EwxRLvg-rl5W8NVD5_i9kLu_85yw89KSvU53DYqQzinWmNWSupl9CnsmbtzFwI9Z4UrxG_3M0HnUEfo7AIYVXFdofowiV6Lyon/s320/IMG_1154.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Reuben Cheeseburger with fried okra at Eddy&#39;s&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;And one with my pal Sasquatch outside the bar:&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVivkECi5EFGhF2Wcr3o8WEIKW7kvnSpHZOZ8p73TVNlspIrH39qHyasmaL6jdzbsDXF3T1nmlxIiW6HfQ2FmrfJvgRe0wp8myJAPxQmGD5o4Y354l8XcRLbpKDXsFYIL7UZBV1hoUAiPdpxEoj0kTJRsxxBMx9iEwz1xzGzh-T5RnMEgo__gH/s3088/IMG_1155.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3088&quot; data-original-width=&quot;2316&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhVivkECi5EFGhF2Wcr3o8WEIKW7kvnSpHZOZ8p73TVNlspIrH39qHyasmaL6jdzbsDXF3T1nmlxIiW6HfQ2FmrfJvgRe0wp8myJAPxQmGD5o4Y354l8XcRLbpKDXsFYIL7UZBV1hoUAiPdpxEoj0kTJRsxxBMx9iEwz1xzGzh-T5RnMEgo__gH/s320/IMG_1155.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Me and Sasquatch&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;I had never met Jim, Rocky&#39;s friend, but he had previously texted me to come on out and he would direct me to the campsite he&#39;d prepped for me. My GPS took me to his address but I was following it and drove right past his clearly marked home driveway entrance to a gated gravel road, which took me back to his barn. Through the woods I saw the house, at the end of a 150 foot or so trail. I steered Casper down into the woods and onto that trail and muscled him through a little creek and back up onto the trail and up to the house. It was huge, with a broad manicured front yard, past which I saw an aggregate driveway and realized my mistake. I parked at the back yard lawn&#39;s edge, beside a cute little gardening shed, and walked up to the house, ringing the back doorbell. No answer, so I repeated the ring around at the front of the house.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Retracing our path to the road, I found the driveway and pulled up to the house, thinking I might just nap in the car, but I got a text that he was not at home, but he asked me to call him for directions to the campsite. I did, and he gave me those, but what I didn&#39;t realize was that he assumed I would park there and carry my gear down to the site, while all the time I was assuming he understood I was car camping. I don&#39;t do the pack-it-in thing. Retiree&#39;s rights.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I drove out the drive and returned to the barn, the trail, over the creek, and back up to the lawn&#39;s edge, continuing into the woods surrounding the house and maybe 200-300 yards down a woods trail to the campsite he cleared for me. It was at the edge of a clearing with a nice mostly flat spot for my tent, a beautiful steel fire pit, and handy strong oaks for my hammock. Through the woods below I could see a pond, surrounded with 8 foot tall grasses and covered by lily pods, water rippling in the afternoon breeze. I pitched my tent, hung my hammock, started a little cooking fire, and also set up my back hatch shelter extension tent and the little window screen for ventilation in case I decided at any time to move from tent to car for sleeping. I also expected some rain in the next couple days, which did appear briefly. I&#39;m glad I supplemented the tent fly with a tarp over all. Here&#39;s a video:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen=&#39;allowfullscreen&#39; webkitallowfullscreen=&#39;webkitallowfullscreen&#39; mozallowfullscreen=&#39;mozallowfullscreen&#39; width=&#39;320&#39; height=&#39;266&#39; src=&#39;https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzg6TE5Bsv3ySDfwmSi61m1Cc84DAvuKknM_gIg6KEYE-nIUJXgT2cgzvb5RtPn1k7Z9iumi6cXq_E&#39; class=&#39;b-hbp-video b-uploaded&#39; frameborder=&#39;0&#39;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;By the time I had all that set up, the sun had set back past the woods trail and the other slurry pond and I had a little fire going. I played mandolin, sat by the fire, and leaned my camp chair back to watch the sparkling stars in the heavens through the thin treetop border. It was probably 10 or so by the time I retired to the sleeping bag supported by my air mattress, and snuggled up in the dark tent for sleep. I awoke several times in the cold, but slept well overall.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Sunday morning dawned. Chilly and foggy, with the (literally) star of the day just rising and making itself known through clouds. As the morning wore on I cooked some eggs, sipped a beer, and enjoyed the rest of the early afternoon, playing mandolin with my Spotify and Van Morrison&#39;s &quot;Back to Skiffle&quot; album, one of my faves. I napped a bit in the hammock, mostly just enjoying the sunny blue sky and the steady breeze. I had no T-Mobile cell there in scenic rural Illinois, and that was okay by me.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I had no butter so I scrambled my eggs in Jack Daniels. It all seemed just right...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeyRvGuZ7s8Gdsa77kq6ktTRBSFHOYjdBCOMt3pQoZPWQFuzzu9UsiqDEbdgW4G6CBXIdtUySXBxLoqjDtK1_bMvGCJfnJ8a3WZvwyVdKeqmrnu3QSIIoWjmlJgZfLceHGc7SjnxbPAB0Cl3kNA9BfiFDcSeZyzMRoWnt53i1PQChBt4WXGxMB/s4032/IMG_1168.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;174&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeyRvGuZ7s8Gdsa77kq6ktTRBSFHOYjdBCOMt3pQoZPWQFuzzu9UsiqDEbdgW4G6CBXIdtUySXBxLoqjDtK1_bMvGCJfnJ8a3WZvwyVdKeqmrnu3QSIIoWjmlJgZfLceHGc7SjnxbPAB0Cl3kNA9BfiFDcSeZyzMRoWnt53i1PQChBt4WXGxMB/w131-h174/IMG_1168.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;131&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL1WqeMVqMmM6Yx_v3TwIDrijYxaVMi_9h-hK6WtZLi4E32YteMo3XhNK7ZOF8IQVy-Wo7Rvod33dPLjMLMM8z1RmnFFDzRPppc2bNRsutTyRiFwRyo5b5yfN28dThuLJNr8S_OqdJmvSeY-bQwaGEHimagDDMuj9I8VecOdWE5Wjb1j7b18R-/s4032/IMG_1170.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;174&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiL1WqeMVqMmM6Yx_v3TwIDrijYxaVMi_9h-hK6WtZLi4E32YteMo3XhNK7ZOF8IQVy-Wo7Rvod33dPLjMLMM8z1RmnFFDzRPppc2bNRsutTyRiFwRyo5b5yfN28dThuLJNr8S_OqdJmvSeY-bQwaGEHimagDDMuj9I8VecOdWE5Wjb1j7b18R-/w131-h174/IMG_1170.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;131&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I heard some stirrings up at the house but wasn&#39;t inclined to head up there, thinking it would be a bit awkward to meet Jim in person without Rocky, and he was on the way. I had received a text from him likely on data, but when I attempted to text back it was only &quot;message did not send&quot; time. He had expressed that Jim had some concern that I had likely driven over his septic system, and I had tried to let him know I did not drive over his lawn to get back there but had taken the barn trail. But no go. We ironed that out later. Jim was amazed I&#39;d gotten down and up that trail with my Kia front-wheel drive but there ya go. Now he knows me better: I&#39;d never dream of driving over someone&#39;s lawn without their permission and guidance! Certainly not that one, which was so tended and flawless I was a little hesitant even to walk on it!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Sometime around 11 or so Rocky texted again, saying he was up at the house with his lady, Carol, so I walked up to the house and met the Andersons, Jim and Jennifer/Jen. He was cordial and clearly a smart human and she was pretty and gracious, and we hit it off I spent the afternoon on the porch with new friends, including Greg and Matt, Jeff and Robin, and it was a beautiful day, even with a little rain. Keith showed up from Nashville, and Nathan and Jerusha and Robin and Jim&#39;s mom, visiting from her assisted living residence. Jim fried up a mess of fish filets and we gobbled them down. I retired to the campsite early and spent the night much as I had the previous one. In the morning came the dawn again. The sun came up amidst fog and clouds but the online apps predicted clearing and so it did. Early a.m. I hiked through the woods to the other pond, making it to its edge, and took some pictures because it was so stunningly picturesque.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgowqiqiHoRdjuRhJVbue3FNmw6MdiISD42mec-Pc3WRobRGVQrrdXwjHDzhJqCZGaBXsXoM7w_aLOAcJxd16i1iH7Lju3j3hbt7t8lJ9pTVfnvdYWK40y_Og5_-s8Ro8_yuyt_NndTirjwGzV7aAfAIuHutC0OUH43Q5CvvItFfdwINRg7L0Ji/s16032/IMG_1175.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3630&quot; data-original-width=&quot;16032&quot; height=&quot;135&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgowqiqiHoRdjuRhJVbue3FNmw6MdiISD42mec-Pc3WRobRGVQrrdXwjHDzhJqCZGaBXsXoM7w_aLOAcJxd16i1iH7Lju3j3hbt7t8lJ9pTVfnvdYWK40y_Og5_-s8Ro8_yuyt_NndTirjwGzV7aAfAIuHutC0OUH43Q5CvvItFfdwINRg7L0Ji/w602-h135/IMG_1175.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;602&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Coal slurry pond at the Anderson&#39;s&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Back at the site, I unhooked the tent extension from the wheels of the car (that could have been nasty, right?), tucked it into the open hatch, and picked my way up to the house. Rocky had walked down earlier and said there was a taco bar going, but I&#39;d already had some eggs and &lt;a href=&quot;https://tinwings.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Tinwings &lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;curry chicken salad.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;The party was starting. Totality was scheduled to begin a little after noon and first contact was like 10:08 a.m. I sat on the porch with everyone, two professional photographers setting up high end camera gear and Rocky situating his telescope with filter and ready to go. I set out sheets of drawing paper in case the &quot;snakes&quot; made their appearance (they did not, but they proved useful anyway. Colanders were set out. Nathan was playing his amplified electric guitar, beautifully, and I pulled out my mandolin and attempted rather lamely to pick along from the other side of the big porch. Toward eclipse time Jim fired up his green egg and started putting out hotdogs and then plump hamburgers and cheeseburgers for everyone. Jeanette was holding forth and a pleasure to chat with. Matt and Greg, who drove 19 hours from South Dakota, were in deep conversations with her. Molly and Maya (Rocky&#39;s two charming and endearingly precocious grandchildren) were talking with all the adults.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I had popped a little THC drop about an hour before the first contact and shared one with a new friend, and the effects added additional nuance to the way the light changed. It was like a stage set, with a technician in the wings making controlled tweaks to the lights, as things became preternaturally vivid, leading up to totality. A jet plane left a contrail that did not distract, but enhanced, like additional perspective. When totality hit, we all took off our eclipse glasses.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Some fun was had with the colanders after the totality had yielded to the point of last contact. I got this fun little video of that:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen=&#39;allowfullscreen&#39; webkitallowfullscreen=&#39;webkitallowfullscreen&#39; mozallowfullscreen=&#39;mozallowfullscreen&#39; width=&#39;320&#39; height=&#39;266&#39; src=&#39;https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dx0SEXqX4TwpkFIrWKAT4xIn28pO3CB64EoUigTYrW2lu7PKae3KEcDZqG-mQvC6wS4yWmDUsTVJS4&#39; class=&#39;b-hbp-video b-uploaded&#39; frameborder=&#39;0&#39;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoaTYQ21HAxx8msgx7E5vseCaD2GsGWuKMG_WHb6LC_4GKRm5D57FUVh8J7zg4Oc-TtVOGhCFOBQSyarEXkt9uW3cg9g1ExWKH2_6wFCVaV1JyldJKVTuzGGwgSPyXzJr4qu1W9bbRg8LvKsMjfgt5AgLdUdEST1dJ3iGIiEofDk0FViD5qFoM/s16350/IMG_1231.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3698&quot; data-original-width=&quot;16350&quot; height=&quot;128&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoaTYQ21HAxx8msgx7E5vseCaD2GsGWuKMG_WHb6LC_4GKRm5D57FUVh8J7zg4Oc-TtVOGhCFOBQSyarEXkt9uW3cg9g1ExWKH2_6wFCVaV1JyldJKVTuzGGwgSPyXzJr4qu1W9bbRg8LvKsMjfgt5AgLdUdEST1dJ3iGIiEofDk0FViD5qFoM/w568-h128/IMG_1231.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;568&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Pano in the Anderson&#39;s beautiful backyard&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFLNBOlkZQv8ikBCPSPoLSjwd7lzTdRCAxvv-7qZe-maqcCRrS7fltJdda-As3Zp2tQEIXCYgNOtPFYBi8HRqF2gnRT_yFAZw_-f0Bu0uows3XNQZ6myxzn8HLTBl0-9sZ9EIGYOSeWPskudFRTU0qBNae4Uq_Ka7-P0CsD6HeXEurWRZprkxE/s4032/IMG_1156.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFLNBOlkZQv8ikBCPSPoLSjwd7lzTdRCAxvv-7qZe-maqcCRrS7fltJdda-As3Zp2tQEIXCYgNOtPFYBi8HRqF2gnRT_yFAZw_-f0Bu0uows3XNQZ6myxzn8HLTBl0-9sZ9EIGYOSeWPskudFRTU0qBNae4Uq_Ka7-P0CsD6HeXEurWRZprkxE/s320/IMG_1156.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;the long shot&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZeOZXoK6q5ctUyKsfbUKJf-Ghq15zkmCRb2hlRMU_tKWtrit2d05aT-aQtx3evtDOxD8uUZOrXtRVsyjbDkzigniJgHDhXVPEgU510OqoNijrDXuQgNuTM-hqC45rcpICXyhS6irhhhwEOR7ewkwAoZQ9hx8siSVycVbRMK4kn7FWPWOag_ns/s16268/IMG_1243.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3624&quot; data-original-width=&quot;16268&quot; height=&quot;129&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZeOZXoK6q5ctUyKsfbUKJf-Ghq15zkmCRb2hlRMU_tKWtrit2d05aT-aQtx3evtDOxD8uUZOrXtRVsyjbDkzigniJgHDhXVPEgU510OqoNijrDXuQgNuTM-hqC45rcpICXyhS6irhhhwEOR7ewkwAoZQ9hx8siSVycVbRMK4kn7FWPWOag_ns/w579-h129/IMG_1243.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;579&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;the moneyshot pano after first contact&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I loved that &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jefffrazier.com/&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jeff Frazier&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt; and &lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tnmagazine.org/author/rconover/&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Robin Conover&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt; were there because that let me abandon my amateur iphotography and just relax into the enjoyment of the last total eclipse visible in the continental US for 20 years. I can&#39;t wait to see what they took during those spectacular moments.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Here&#39;s one I did take:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis1oSx4dL6S6oaFQc_raWq02VC2rgeyxeeNguB-jUsrv9MF1EaGrgGG1bGdm8VGmIg85J21fStaGhqSGr9QrrE2HsfuwMGWEPDX4TQaTpUS-cKjTb799DmZoTExLggGkqjllLQ3wKp_BIYyRHFjI5MPQZ9Yqq6nPWY3K7j_BCy_OeZ2dpoRECA/s4032/IMG_1236.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis1oSx4dL6S6oaFQc_raWq02VC2rgeyxeeNguB-jUsrv9MF1EaGrgGG1bGdm8VGmIg85J21fStaGhqSGr9QrrE2HsfuwMGWEPDX4TQaTpUS-cKjTb799DmZoTExLggGkqjllLQ3wKp_BIYyRHFjI5MPQZ9Yqq6nPWY3K7j_BCy_OeZ2dpoRECA/s320/IMG_1236.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Whoopee.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Several folks hit the road just as soon as&amp;nbsp; the sky was a normal sky again, particularly Matt and Greg, who had yet another 19 hour drive ahead of them.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I stayed the evening, sharing a pizza with the remaining partygoers, and having the unique and amazingly fun experience of playing mandolin with &lt;a href=&quot;https://dyer.vanderbilt.edu/our-staff/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Nathan Griffin&lt;/a&gt;&#39;s acoustic guitar and singing with him for probably an hour and a half at the kitchen table. That, my friends, challenged the eclipse for memorability, in my book.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I had chosen to break camp and move my car around to the driveway, planning to sleep in my car and leave as soon as I arose, because rain was predicted. I did not want to be packing up tent and all wet for the drive home. That was to prove a good decision, since I got to have a delightful walk to the road with Jeff Frazier to look at the stunning night sky. As we were returning to our cars, the clouds rolled in. I was awakened by raindrops on the tailgate tent extension around 6 a.m. and skedaddled (Jeff had already pulled out), driving across the state line into Kentucky and well into the morning. I made three stops. One for gas at Casey&#39;s in Harrisburg, where I pulled a dozen or more little seed ticks off my body in the bathroom, another a little side jag into Metropolis, where I got Hardee&#39;s drive through breakfast tacos and a snap of Superman in his eclipse glasses :)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8v8ov1jhQGiYYAhQ5uJLOQSjWGh7i5L3BmY3RhPeRH5e4OkAtf5h3-R5HQVSlHUX1uvQrZ0vcHOfkQ0DhdR9hc3Qu1cSzMZ6dMvuJsKZ6mzNZPl7HSKZCbnkRaEv38Aso8W_8uYlGjmZmWX36Sn17XnY_po-8vFGAmp3kJlxaYVuaGwEgfuq/s4032/IMG_1258.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhN8v8ov1jhQGiYYAhQ5uJLOQSjWGh7i5L3BmY3RhPeRH5e4OkAtf5h3-R5HQVSlHUX1uvQrZ0vcHOfkQ0DhdR9hc3Qu1cSzMZ6dMvuJsKZ6mzNZPl7HSKZCbnkRaEv38Aso8W_8uYlGjmZmWX36Sn17XnY_po-8vFGAmp3kJlxaYVuaGwEgfuq/s320/IMG_1258.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I made another detour to the Casey Jones Distillery near Hopkinsville to pick up a couple of bottles, one for Rocky, and was home by noon.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOXycq_ljFtLj1yEcOyjEtNdgH7_iVnw7W7VCuQp2-GclUqmTR7jzXbaGxE0VzBKH09HQpkiKsAVTsnDcKhmwmVEhvH9A8Ho4TuriXXeBa28J_TpbCW9Os7ZqxiRGE-BW9_ET5oEXyzrCtpc84GnT7zUOi8XP7IJdDQDq1-fd6gvtnA-IvV49v/s4032/IMG_1260.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOXycq_ljFtLj1yEcOyjEtNdgH7_iVnw7W7VCuQp2-GclUqmTR7jzXbaGxE0VzBKH09HQpkiKsAVTsnDcKhmwmVEhvH9A8Ho4TuriXXeBa28J_TpbCW9Os7ZqxiRGE-BW9_ET5oEXyzrCtpc84GnT7zUOi8XP7IJdDQDq1-fd6gvtnA-IvV49v/s320/IMG_1260.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;A good time. Was had. By all. Thanks to Jim and Jen Alexander for their hospitality and the memorable weekend in sunny southern Illinois! Thanks to everyone I met, all new friends, and to Rockyespecially,&amp;nbsp; for including me in the little &quot;Festival of the Sun&quot;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2024/04/total-eclipse-of-middle-son.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVzG_K0gbDsHPoer7RoqbBOAZXsbmZ_Bt1IC06HegQH44e9O_X4K0_dY72pd3W-6bNFdw4qGOBl1uFARCCO9_PSfitrfnmusKnFipFSw8H7SUzoKAxwv0qeSNmlD66FGi-BEbmmEJ-nv2QdphBrCYyRA7J-OGYHty7efpwK2lpe_g3X9OkqNso/s72-c/IMG_1209.HEIC" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-4189550756812198308</guid><pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2024 17:52:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-03-12T12:53:31.340-05:00</atom:updated><title>March Update</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;Well, well, well,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I haven&#39;t posted in a while, being otherwise distracted by life and such, so here is...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&#39;ve been painting. A lot. Looking at ways to both up my landscaping game and make my abstracts more accessible and moving. The biggest news, for anyone who might care (and you do or why the hey are you here?), is the loss of my longtime buddy, Watson. Watson succumbed to the hands of the Big Clock about a month ago, and as anyone who has lost a long-time pet can tell, you, it slayed me. That aforementioned clock has done what it does and moved on, and after a couple of weeks of weeping every day, and under the advisement and encouragement of my loved ones, Lee Ann and I began looking for a new companion. It was true that I was talking to myself perhaps a little too much, so empty seemed the house.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We worked with the folks at the &lt;a href=&quot;https://nashvillehumane.org/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Nashville Humane Association&lt;/a&gt; and they were wonderful. We placed a long and fee-required online application with the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.adoptagoldennashville.org/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Adopt a Golden&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;rescue; but we were lucky enough to find our new family member, Lemon, at Wags &amp;amp; Walks, a Hermitage, TN based operation before Adoptagolden had even contacted us back.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We met her in person at a Wags adoption fair held at &lt;a href=&quot;https://marblefoxbrewing.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Marble Fox Brewing Company&lt;/a&gt;. It was a Saturday morning at noon. Luckily, Lee Ann had already expressed our interest in her and that gave us an edge up when we arrived at precisely noon to find the W&amp;amp;W volunteers and their charges already in the company of a number of hopeful pet-finders. It took about 90 seconds of petting her before I nodded my head to Lee Ann and the lovely young lady who held Lemon&#39;s leash and we were on.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The W&amp;amp;W folks are the real deal, and after a consultation with their onsite adoption specialist we took her out to Lee Ann&#39;s car, loaded her into the front seat, and drove her home. Today is Tuesday, and we will have had her for 3 weeks come Saturday.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ_DUatRDJb_tIc4_sKMEYuVwEA-bBUwCad3pIF7YitQHIccw_5BcA1d_ChI7v8kOQihJCFs3Q9h6VUgs1t7yUEwg_MOAMJD0p89hL6rb0CXB92dLYtf2ylc9imkHlzBgbQTcZDEt0HgBWOeOQ9FhyphenhyphenXpUD__ggmwA92i3IfagwDxLX-jEdThuN/s4032/IMG_0686.heic&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ_DUatRDJb_tIc4_sKMEYuVwEA-bBUwCad3pIF7YitQHIccw_5BcA1d_ChI7v8kOQihJCFs3Q9h6VUgs1t7yUEwg_MOAMJD0p89hL6rb0CXB92dLYtf2ylc9imkHlzBgbQTcZDEt0HgBWOeOQ9FhyphenhyphenXpUD__ggmwA92i3IfagwDxLX-jEdThuN/s320/IMG_0686.heic&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQGuT3fikpaY20UJfuJXuLQLrEzYFNMS5UKcQxvCsuKsHO_zID4WZ5tNh3m6PCXx81Ni_S0fJ0ee29zZ88BvEkzibKoNx5Oj3LNha0CbO6h_NKdwkd3LPtpwf9rDLqCrZfx_QCH2oj_Kd0RSW13MhJs3bgOckxfvax3t5G88c4voHJoSYUY_vM/s4032/IMG_0713.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQGuT3fikpaY20UJfuJXuLQLrEzYFNMS5UKcQxvCsuKsHO_zID4WZ5tNh3m6PCXx81Ni_S0fJ0ee29zZ88BvEkzibKoNx5Oj3LNha0CbO6h_NKdwkd3LPtpwf9rDLqCrZfx_QCH2oj_Kd0RSW13MhJs3bgOckxfvax3t5G88c4voHJoSYUY_vM/s320/IMG_0713.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Called &quot;Mama Lemon&quot; by the W&amp;amp;W staff, likely named that by the partner shelter in Florence, Alabama where she was taken after being picked up as a stray, we think Lemon is a good name for her. After all, it was only used by people who cared for her, right? And it also makes available a plethora of nicknames--Lemon Cello, my Lemon Drop, my li&#39;l Lemon Meringue Pie.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;She&#39;s an excellent addition to Chez Merrique. She likes her crate, excepting for first thing upon awakening, when she howls the song of her people pretty reliably at 3:30-5:00 in the morning. She&#39;s smart and she&#39;s a great size, weighing in right at 70 pounds at an estimated 4 years old. I took her in for a two week check after becoming concerned with the look of her spay operation scar and the wonderful Dr. Roberts at Belle Meade Animal Hospital added 3 sutre staples to her incision. After a good regimen of the newly prescribed antibiotics and carefulness, I returned her just yesterday for the sutre removal; Dr. Roberts removed the staples and proclaimed her good to go &quot;for normal activity&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It&#39;s approaching 1 pm here in Nashville, and she is dozing on the floor at the top of the steps behind me. I&#39;m thinking I&#39;ll finish this, get her into my car, Casper (the Friendly Soul), and drive out to Cheatham Dam and Lake. We&#39;ll walk out there today instead of just around the blocks surrounding Chez Merrique. I&#39;ll paint later. If you want, check out the latest additions at &lt;a href=&quot;https://scottmerrickart.wixsite.com/myart/selected-work&quot;&gt;scottmerrick.me&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We&#39;re outta here. Gotta practice for future--and soon, I hope--camping!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2024/03/well-well-i-havent-posted-in-while.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJ_DUatRDJb_tIc4_sKMEYuVwEA-bBUwCad3pIF7YitQHIccw_5BcA1d_ChI7v8kOQihJCFs3Q9h6VUgs1t7yUEwg_MOAMJD0p89hL6rb0CXB92dLYtf2ylc9imkHlzBgbQTcZDEt0HgBWOeOQ9FhyphenhyphenXpUD__ggmwA92i3IfagwDxLX-jEdThuN/s72-c/IMG_0686.heic" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-7207670958171986149</guid><pubDate>Sun, 28 Jan 2024 15:37:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-01-28T13:32:00.673-06:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">art</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">art show</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">be good and have fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Charles Brindley</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Nashville</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">scottmerrick painting</category><title>Art Classes, Charles, and Painting</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;Okey dokey. It&#39;s almost the end of September and I&#39;m pretty good. (Cue the John Prine song).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I want to celebrate the patron&#39;s party opening for my painting master &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cbrindley.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Charles Brindley&lt;/a&gt;&#39;s show at the exclusive private Montgomery Bell Academy this past weekend. I&#39;m so missing his classes, even though with my cushy studio setup and fairly regular painting I&#39;m making progress. Here&#39;s my latest finished &quot;lakescape&quot; from my 2nd home in a boat on &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.facebook.com/MarrowboneLake/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Marrowbone Lake&lt;/a&gt; (don&#39;t I wish! What fun it would be to have a docked houseboat there, but it&#39;s a Tennessee Managed Fishing Lake, no docks, just rental boats and your own if you have the gear--no gas motors), from a photo I took in early fall of 2023. I&#39;ll also share an abstract that I finished this past week. More details at &lt;a href=&quot;http://scottmerrick.me&quot;&gt;scottmerrick.me&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0JP8sAM5L1wj1kx5NW_SRscboB_0eHDkaZvbQMFAdgzd025VLlEoYWtdn7talpTN8SkKibMGsLs6Lv2MVPhQV-CIqDpvut-NV0rQ-WJVmMjDcOB4if7JG-ii5rOr5-_GCaPBVxdxWYILrDb1n4YJBhnwXHGV350U9b8RnLcwMLuPL_lJn0Byr/s3507/IMG_0553.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2599&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3507&quot; height=&quot;237&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0JP8sAM5L1wj1kx5NW_SRscboB_0eHDkaZvbQMFAdgzd025VLlEoYWtdn7talpTN8SkKibMGsLs6Lv2MVPhQV-CIqDpvut-NV0rQ-WJVmMjDcOB4if7JG-ii5rOr5-_GCaPBVxdxWYILrDb1n4YJBhnwXHGV350U9b8RnLcwMLuPL_lJn0Byr/s320/IMG_0553.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&quot;morning marrowbone&quot;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlq1WaR3kqWXUX1hV_VaXAWEkY626Iz5stFuKAjwE6-qtrgD6u7tqO_DwBuzeszPPkZWAejofVnNQhREURyau2ju59S0pjl77Y8S7TV0z04Y9viC3DH4ycgcLZ7kWWDChilbYjRrm-D4byQvwSTIL6QlueUjk3XjCvOIpM2HgWXnkgbZvKDRhP/s3221/IMG_0571.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3221&quot; data-original-width=&quot;2407&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlq1WaR3kqWXUX1hV_VaXAWEkY626Iz5stFuKAjwE6-qtrgD6u7tqO_DwBuzeszPPkZWAejofVnNQhREURyau2ju59S0pjl77Y8S7TV0z04Y9viC3DH4ycgcLZ7kWWDChilbYjRrm-D4byQvwSTIL6QlueUjk3XjCvOIpM2HgWXnkgbZvKDRhP/s320/IMG_0571.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;239&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&quot;that very moment&quot;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;All that said, I&#39;m missing seeing him once a week for a full day of open studio, he having lost his lease at Scarritt-Bennett Center, right across from the school where I taught for 14 years, USN. It&#39;s a long story but suffice it to say his scores of students are disappointed in that property&#39;s handling of the situation. He&#39;s been there for over 10 years, y&#39;all.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Anyway, we&#39;ve all been looking for locations for class locations, and I gather from our discussions that Charles may be sneaking up on one. Fingers crossed.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The opening was wonderful. There were probably 200 people attending, maybe more, and I got to see many of my fellow students, all of us pretty much in the &quot;older&quot; category, all them creative and filled with life and curiosity and a drive to make. Love all of them. We didn&#39;t stay long, but the show runs through March 2, though it&#39;s &quot;appointment only&quot; entry. I&#39;ll sure as hell make an appointment and go back. There are also a bunch of events that I will be attending. I have an iphone snap I took to share with my pal Rocky that details them. Hope to see some friends and you, if you can make any of them and are interested in the painterly arts. I don&#39;t believe rsvp is required for those, but if you read the fine print you&#39;ll see that you need an appointment to view the exhibit. I HIGHLY suggest you do so.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHwar3bDnMW5lDlQp5lT1stMNfHpHMZ2Pu9pOO_TNtbMUPR8LlFftt2Z5DltgdlYEyYCmYoYrr_OO4q8GjmkV67nI73eDwnNoU1tagub_f-REDBTZYaejELjdxAhAYsVz-dXKaBJJlfRPgz9CWLads2A4HFMHQbPhjpApNG1YvPORQW_tht7Ka/s4032/IMG_0568.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;504&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHwar3bDnMW5lDlQp5lT1stMNfHpHMZ2Pu9pOO_TNtbMUPR8LlFftt2Z5DltgdlYEyYCmYoYrr_OO4q8GjmkV67nI73eDwnNoU1tagub_f-REDBTZYaejELjdxAhAYsVz-dXKaBJJlfRPgz9CWLads2A4HFMHQbPhjpApNG1YvPORQW_tht7Ka/w378-h504/IMG_0568.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;378&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;That&#39;s all for this morning. Rocky just texted me to join him for breakfast at Mama D&#39;s in Ashland City and I have to get out of my jammies and into the car. Darn it and yay, I say. Be well.&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2024/01/dokey.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0JP8sAM5L1wj1kx5NW_SRscboB_0eHDkaZvbQMFAdgzd025VLlEoYWtdn7talpTN8SkKibMGsLs6Lv2MVPhQV-CIqDpvut-NV0rQ-WJVmMjDcOB4if7JG-ii5rOr5-_GCaPBVxdxWYILrDb1n4YJBhnwXHGV350U9b8RnLcwMLuPL_lJn0Byr/s72-c/IMG_0553.HEIC" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-6818516843933273954</guid><pubDate>Thu, 18 Jan 2024 18:00:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-01-18T12:00:47.604-06:00</atom:updated><title>Goodbye my buddy, goodbye...</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-large;&quot;&gt;I&lt;/span&gt;t&#39;s with a heavy heart that I sit down to add a final post celebrating my late best friend&#39;s life and passing. Sitting in my study, in a house that&#39;s quiet, with silent shrouds of snow on the ground and buildings of the neighborhood outside, I miss him.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Now it&#39;s just me. No handsome huge white dog underfoot or begging for treats or whining for a walk, just me. And yes, we have hundreds, possibly thousands of photos of the boy, but I only wish to post one of them here.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Last night I fell asleep on my back with my feet spread wide, savoring the memory of him flopping down, immediately asleep, hugged by my legs. I awoke in the morning in the same position; but, of course, there was no Watson.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lee Ann and I traveled to Denver for the holidays, returning home on New Years Eve Eve, me in agony with my first bout with gout, Watson somehow not himself. His buddy AJ spent the weekend with us last weekend, while our friends Matt and Anitra did their annual Chattanooga city trip, celebrating their anniversary, and Watson sank into what I can only describe as a deep depression.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;His appetite was okay but waned after AJ had left us, and he was continuing what Taylor, another friend who housesat whilst we were in Denver, had described as &quot;drinking lots of water&quot;. Friday we took him to the vet, who kept him overnight for IV fluids and diagnosis. We picked him up around noon on Saturday with a good deal of medication and instructions for dealing with rampant diabetes and a super high sugar level. On Tuesday, after MLK Day, we took him back. He had not eaten since Sunday morning, and even then only a cup or so of diabetic formula canned food.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;After that? Nothing. He was interested in nothing, receptive but not actively so to petting, drinking water and peeing in the yard, but mostly laying and sleeping. The vet was not optimystic, and we understood that any remediation she might try would only at best prolong the inevitable. He was on track to starve to death.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We sat with him, on the floor in a corner of the small examination room, until he was gone.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&#39;m tired of crying. I&#39;m crying now. I imagine that will taper off with time, but it&#39;s still with me a couple days after losing him. No one can do more than will time. I&#39;m breathing through it, more or less successfully, painting, doing my lower back and shoulder prescribed physical therapies, painting, playing some music, working a large jigsaw puzzle, cleaning the house, and listening to my remarkably escapist Outlander book IV,&lt;i&gt; Drums of Autumn&lt;/i&gt;. I also recently downloaded Steam for my PC and a series of Steam-driven Tomb Raider games. I&#39;m tired. I&#39;m sad. But I&#39;m okay. I&#39;m okay, or will be. Here&#39;s the picture:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWD0leNCVjoOpv8_fTjeIF6ShjutyYHUEPEpYQQLLRV-yvSnXxqfskdjstD99_-WY9oj4M2d8r9kWzytxZot0PnDJpEoebhnv0YD6pzbnZTnINGTJlfEmNTzT-7I8bUsvsDo0uu186TkkYUImAQYf8MvvkPJ2x39cx8Ud5Vwpuc-s7HiMN5W8c/s957/IMG_4904.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;957&quot; data-original-width=&quot;718&quot; height=&quot;468&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWD0leNCVjoOpv8_fTjeIF6ShjutyYHUEPEpYQQLLRV-yvSnXxqfskdjstD99_-WY9oj4M2d8r9kWzytxZot0PnDJpEoebhnv0YD6pzbnZTnINGTJlfEmNTzT-7I8bUsvsDo0uu186TkkYUImAQYf8MvvkPJ2x39cx8Ud5Vwpuc-s7HiMN5W8c/w351-h468/IMG_4904.jpg&quot; width=&quot;351&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Bye, buddy.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2024/01/goodbye-my-buddy-goodbye.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWD0leNCVjoOpv8_fTjeIF6ShjutyYHUEPEpYQQLLRV-yvSnXxqfskdjstD99_-WY9oj4M2d8r9kWzytxZot0PnDJpEoebhnv0YD6pzbnZTnINGTJlfEmNTzT-7I8bUsvsDo0uu186TkkYUImAQYf8MvvkPJ2x39cx8Ud5Vwpuc-s7HiMN5W8c/s72-w351-h468-c/IMG_4904.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-3319348997739011778</guid><pubDate>Sun, 07 Jan 2024 12:46:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-01-07T17:17:53.755-06:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">acrylics</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">eclectic art</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">original</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">painting</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">scott merrick</category><title>scottmerrickdotme is live!</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;So, I&#39;ve been working on this for a few months, along with painting, traveling, and recuperating from a near devastating first bout with gout. Here it is:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguRW6W8ajVCtnsw_eG5QDo6x5UtQrDfEnQHr2dVHai8EtDbam79FPA9GbjI7UpTz1DgPyqd-ytsYiP0z2TWXSqrqMmOoNNw8ya5ZDBZgeBXr_kPm_jErkFZ3g42lKYJmLVc3zmhc7fD4lqZB3pmh3r4EtlyYrUDsui2AK74k2hI3JmhgWsMdhc/s1389/Screenshot%202024-01-07%20064236.png&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;777&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1389&quot; height=&quot;295&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguRW6W8ajVCtnsw_eG5QDo6x5UtQrDfEnQHr2dVHai8EtDbam79FPA9GbjI7UpTz1DgPyqd-ytsYiP0z2TWXSqrqMmOoNNw8ya5ZDBZgeBXr_kPm_jErkFZ3g42lKYJmLVc3zmhc7fD4lqZB3pmh3r4EtlyYrUDsui2AK74k2hI3JmhgWsMdhc/w527-h295/Screenshot%202024-01-07%20064236.png&quot; width=&quot;527&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://scottmerrick.me&quot;&gt;https://scottmerrick.me&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;I&#39;d appreciate it if you&#39;d take a minute to click around and look and if you see anything not working or have any recommendations to make it better, pop me a comment in &quot;Contact&quot;. That is all. For now. :)&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2024/01/scottmerrickdotme.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguRW6W8ajVCtnsw_eG5QDo6x5UtQrDfEnQHr2dVHai8EtDbam79FPA9GbjI7UpTz1DgPyqd-ytsYiP0z2TWXSqrqMmOoNNw8ya5ZDBZgeBXr_kPm_jErkFZ3g42lKYJmLVc3zmhc7fD4lqZB3pmh3r4EtlyYrUDsui2AK74k2hI3JmhgWsMdhc/s72-w527-h295-c/Screenshot%202024-01-07%20064236.png" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-9059249959273275690</guid><pubDate>Tue, 19 Dec 2023 14:16:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-12-19T15:04:41.062-06:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Christmas</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">funny</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">holidays</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">music</category><title>Happy Holidays!</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;Yeah, that. Happy Holidays. I agree with Instagram&#39;s Rodney D Norman: &quot;...Just enjoy whatever you can, as long as you can.&quot; Well said, me guru...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;Enjoy this:
  2. &lt;iframe allow=&quot;autoplay&quot; frameborder=&quot;no&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; scrolling=&quot;no&quot; src=&quot;https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/playlists/67958875&amp;amp;color=%23ff5500&amp;amp;auto_play=false&amp;amp;hide_related=false&amp;amp;show_comments=true&amp;amp;show_user=true&amp;amp;show_reposts=false&amp;amp;show_teaser=true&amp;amp;visual=true&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;color: #cccccc; font-family: Interstate, &amp;quot;Lucida Grande&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Lucida Sans Unicode&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Lucida Sans&amp;quot;, Garuda, Verdana, Tahoma, sans-serif; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 100; line-break: anywhere; overflow: hidden; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap; word-break: normal;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://soundcloud.com/scott-merrick&quot; style=&quot;color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; title=&quot;Scott Merrick&quot;&gt;Scott Merrick&lt;/a&gt; · &lt;a href=&quot;https://soundcloud.com/scott-merrick/sets/have-a-scott-christmas&quot; style=&quot;color: #cccccc; text-decoration: none;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; title=&quot;Have a Very Scotty Christmas!&quot;&gt;Have a Very Scotty Christmas!&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;
  3. </description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/12/happy-holidays-2023.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-6782137759730282244</guid><pubDate>Mon, 11 Dec 2023 21:03:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2024-02-02T10:33:04.872-06:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cultures</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Espana</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">hospitality</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">people</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travel</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">vacation</category><title>(Spain, Final!)</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;Okay, well, that was a noble attempt, but now it&#39;s, what? December 11? I&#39;ve had no indications anyone is reading this and I have to confess that so much is going on elsewhere that I&#39;ve abandoned the goal of chronicling this amazing trip in detail. I&#39;ll bullet list important memories here to summarize the rest of it, though. Just for me.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;DAY VII&lt;/li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Day at leisure to explore Sevilla, which we did, much to our delight.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Evening cooking class at a private apartment, hosted by our hostess, Patricia Terry, very relaxed and lots of good conversation and food&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;DAY VIII&lt;/li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Up early to meet driver and host, the incomparable Anna.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;A drive through the Natural Park of Grazalema, almost all the way to the southern tip of Spain (~30 miles as the crow flies)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;a stop at an ancient but still functioning olive oil mill, Molino tradicional de aceite El Callejón&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;another at a boutique cheesery, where we had to don shoe covers to protect the sanitary floors&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Lunch at a lovely local cafe in Ubrique, Cadiz region&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;A final stop at a small winery, functioning for 6 generations, before the long drive back to our hotel, where we canceled our reservations at the hotel&#39;s Restaurante San Fernando and went out for tapas locally&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;DAY IX&lt;/li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Lazy morning at the hotel breakfast in the inner courtyard&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Transfer to Seville Airport via private driver and flight to San Sebastian&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Short chauffeured drive to the Hotel De Londres Y De Inglaterra on the beach, 3 floors up, in center of the building&amp;nbsp;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHptK-y0RkJ14YO1OU8EbawEZsP4r1VnHmz_qGAJPMVkHz8ieumBlYM4sr0ffLo8V97O1Y5O9-lE7iIlRzjMYzRzdktaZtsGSay9fbHwej0sh-PVVkjT1lIE-mVI6Zn_CbMnolwpz9j7kVGJwo2YVO3h2JCCim3vcilIj7eDzhOF1c02waeRJ7/s2000/Londres.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1333&quot; data-original-width=&quot;2000&quot; height=&quot;213&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHptK-y0RkJ14YO1OU8EbawEZsP4r1VnHmz_qGAJPMVkHz8ieumBlYM4sr0ffLo8V97O1Y5O9-lE7iIlRzjMYzRzdktaZtsGSay9fbHwej0sh-PVVkjT1lIE-mVI6Zn_CbMnolwpz9j7kVGJwo2YVO3h2JCCim3vcilIj7eDzhOF1c02waeRJ7/s320/Londres.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Hotel De Londres&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;A nap with our window open, then dinner at a tapas cafe a block away.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Cocktails in the bar at the window overlooking the beach and sleep&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;DAY X&lt;/li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;A drive up to Biarritz, France with our lovely guide, Esther&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;A walking tour of the tiny village of Pasajes and also one of Hondarribia, on the banks of the river Bidasoa, a natural frontier between France and Spain&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Lunch on the porch of Les Baigneuses de Biarritz, some tasty ribeye steak and veggies, overlooking the Bay of Biscay, maybe 80 miles south of Bordeaux&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Drive back to San Sebastian with an evening at leisure before dinner at Narru, beneath the Arbaso Hotel&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;A casual walkabout back to retire at our lovely hotel room&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;One morning I awakened to an amazing panorama off our balcony, a rainbow over the harbor, literally at our feet. I later completed a painting of it, which was fun to do but doesn&#39;t really convey its majesty:&lt;/li&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKPHZMY89BRHH4pYjY6xClArl00C748zgqtx55CqU9_79JZMbI2m73UboCnEvcC553gBDJlQjbPTknecayc2yo4oFyk1wJK12sMZa0eZ2BH_-OjaV8V9YeaaK3LEC2i4KHGOAzKtkTh19L3cXfe7iJZ0etX41b_4gv5T69LI0ewHRnRjhmCMT/s1056/san%20sebastian%20morning%20rainbow.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;787&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1056&quot; height=&quot;238&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjbKPHZMY89BRHH4pYjY6xClArl00C748zgqtx55CqU9_79JZMbI2m73UboCnEvcC553gBDJlQjbPTknecayc2yo4oFyk1wJK12sMZa0eZ2BH_-OjaV8V9YeaaK3LEC2i4KHGOAzKtkTh19L3cXfe7iJZ0etX41b_4gv5T69LI0ewHRnRjhmCMT/s320/san%20sebastian%20morning%20rainbow.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&quot;san sebastian rainbow&quot;, 18x24 acrylics on stretched fabric, by Scott Merrick, in the collection of the artist&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;DAY XI&lt;/li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;La Rioja winery tastings and visits&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Tour and tastings at Bodega Toro de Oná, marvelous technology, the bug hotel (sketched later)&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLz9pKy3TzdEfeBcxGDlK9hhFbsQ5GcLpsqG-5RVgwZgKxJBFOIRA6I-alxXjxmOjeg7QQmGJaOFSl1eLkmEzMdjoc1WpV-CSilPvMoggyJ7SR5mketjXXrcq-Pu3YzxarR7OTPDmsmKX853iR-H3lOdd_YAaPAVTXmh8C1lBpN_COI0Ep9-OL/s1199/riojas%20bughouse.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;912&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1199&quot; height=&quot;243&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLz9pKy3TzdEfeBcxGDlK9hhFbsQ5GcLpsqG-5RVgwZgKxJBFOIRA6I-alxXjxmOjeg7QQmGJaOFSl1eLkmEzMdjoc1WpV-CSilPvMoggyJ7SR5mketjXXrcq-Pu3YzxarR7OTPDmsmKX853iR-H3lOdd_YAaPAVTXmh8C1lBpN_COI0Ep9-OL/s320/riojas%20bughouse.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&quot;bughouse&quot; at Bodega de Toro Oná, Rioja, by Scott Merrick, pencil on paper, in the artist&#39;s collection&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;Lunch at the architectural wonder Marques de Riscal Winery and Hotel Hiribidea&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Tour of Bodegas Tritium in Cenicero, with its ancient wine cellar and wines aged under the sea in clay bottles (we brought one home and it&#39;s still aging on our family room shelf&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Transfer via chauffeured car back to the Londes&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Cab to cooking class, private, just us and the young chef, at&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;DAY XII&lt;/li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;We arose early to be packed up and breakfasted in the hotel before hailing a cab at 6:15 am to drive us to the train station (only about a mile away from the hotel&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;By 7:20 am we were high-speed training to Barcelona (2 &quot;comfort tickets&quot; provided)&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;We met our guide and our driver who took us via that reliable black Mercedes to our boutique hotel in Barcelona, the 5-starr Serras, which proudly boasts of its home as Pablo Picasso&#39;s first studio&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Am afternoon nap after investigating the rooftop pool (maybe thrice the size of our hot tub at home), the Picasso Library, and our room itself, all was luxurious, even the enclosed view of the bustling alleyway beneath our room&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;We canceled our reservations at Amar, just because it looked a bit too stuffy and formal for our mood. A trusted concierge in the Serras suggested a brief walk to &lt;a href=&quot;https://llamber.com/carta-solida/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Llamber&lt;/a&gt;, a charming restaurant where we sat at a two-top in the window overlooking the cobblestone pedestrian street. We continued to trust those recommendations, and we returned to Llamber for our last dinner in Spain. Again, a lovely walk home to Serras&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;DAY XIII&lt;/li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;We slept in a bit and had our breakfast at the hotel -- breakfasts were always included at each hotel we stayed in and they were always stellar, setting us up for those long days of exploring&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;From roughly 10-2 we toured the historical center of Barcelona with Marta. Marta was a doppelganger for Lee Ann&#39;s late stepmom, but she was very informative and&amp;nbsp; any discomfort was soon dispelled&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;A brief stop into a museum which contained a beautiful diorama of ancient Barcelona&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Temple D&#39;August&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Dancing Egg fountain&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The Picasso Museum, WONDERFUL&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Finished with Marta at Basilica of Santa Maria del Mar&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;3-7 Foodie walking tour with Regina&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Poopy man store, cheesecake at Ixtar Pena, a stop at&amp;nbsp;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;DAY XIV&lt;/li&gt;&lt;ul&gt;&lt;li&gt;We had a morning at leisure and discovered (once again via concierge) El Nou Ramonet, a little restaurant off the beach that was full of local families and smaller groups--LOVED that place and its food and hospitality:&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3drID-in6ONlRhjWshw6VkTJykjf_GFVEc2qwaC9KW-vww5BWGTwfnYZnfN3Wtb5XI4xiq0VNkkLO5TosMWJBuZwC9pRz8QlFe3hkTZKZT2H_bfwm5dPQ5n6W4sz7g5n1gWcmozay4D4EiwxR00V2X4qZVgIY1rrddmSUnap4iAmyOauYiD1d/s843/garlicshrimpelnouramonet.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;843&quot; data-original-width=&quot;632&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3drID-in6ONlRhjWshw6VkTJykjf_GFVEc2qwaC9KW-vww5BWGTwfnYZnfN3Wtb5XI4xiq0VNkkLO5TosMWJBuZwC9pRz8QlFe3hkTZKZT2H_bfwm5dPQ5n6W4sz7g5n1gWcmozay4D4EiwxR00V2X4qZVgIY1rrddmSUnap4iAmyOauYiD1d/s320/garlicshrimpelnouramonet.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;El Nou Ramonet&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;There&#39;s more, including a foodie tour with Albert, @stuntmanbarcelona on Instagram, then a lovely afternoon with Aina, @thepaellamama, driving up to Alberti Noya, Spain&#39;s first fully organic winery&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Shipping a case of Cava and wines home to dear old Nashville&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;The final day, flying home via Chicago&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Our first less than cordial welcome in Chicago&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;Home!&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div&gt;I have overlooked some things, misplaced some, and done a few much less justice than they deserved, but yeah, the chronicle is done. Yay.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/12/spain-final.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHptK-y0RkJ14YO1OU8EbawEZsP4r1VnHmz_qGAJPMVkHz8ieumBlYM4sr0ffLo8V97O1Y5O9-lE7iIlRzjMYzRzdktaZtsGSay9fbHwej0sh-PVVkjT1lIE-mVI6Zn_CbMnolwpz9j7kVGJwo2YVO3h2JCCim3vcilIj7eDzhOF1c02waeRJ7/s72-c/Londres.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-4143751272385748107</guid><pubDate>Sun, 08 Oct 2023 15:54:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-12T07:28:59.290-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cultures</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Espana</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">hospitality</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">people</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travel</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">vacation</category><title>Sevilla and the Alfonso XIII: (Spain, Part VI)</title><description>&lt;p&gt;So, a month has passed since posting last, but I remain determined to persevere.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Since last post I have&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;li&gt;camped overnight at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.recreation.gov/camping/gateways/384&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Cheatham Lock and Dam Campground&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;enjoyed a tasting &quot;tour&quot; at &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nashvillebarrelco.com/home&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Nashville Barrel Company&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;journeyed to Smith County for Matt and Anitra&#39;s annual (my first) &quot;CAMP-o-REE&quot; and slept three nights on their mountain ridgetop, enjoying new friends and music and that big ol&#39; Harvest Moon&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li&gt;completed my destined-to-be famous painting I call &quot;friendly monster&quot;&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXTDnFiM7npwLC0yPLkfu4IBRH3eizpnKghqh3Ai1qAsmuobMQrm2um4HgHz4S9pzSRIuDtpT4m6ib1O3FixdFG8BCHv1YygB8iL86UyE95G-u36r7a0zHUJdW-Wv3sxJolC8Z6TcQg4xZuIGelFU1Y0KbZY0k_cCb21QkN5Jq4V1I1t4ckhNY/s4032/IMG_4657.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;195&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXTDnFiM7npwLC0yPLkfu4IBRH3eizpnKghqh3Ai1qAsmuobMQrm2um4HgHz4S9pzSRIuDtpT4m6ib1O3FixdFG8BCHv1YygB8iL86UyE95G-u36r7a0zHUJdW-Wv3sxJolC8Z6TcQg4xZuIGelFU1Y0KbZY0k_cCb21QkN5Jq4V1I1t4ckhNY/w147-h195/IMG_4657.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;147&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;camping at the dam&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6Oh61z9ZOli7sPZ6Exv4gVjdeBmVVp-BzvQCRrJsBLiPJd0OZs1JgHjHqcR4m7zeJHZMvLsfSMGP0PPg_a31VXXZbd5mwfGLgLnFeALtAESwG1lSj4mH-034EpF8itJDBbHAP8xL4gc8kLLEhSYbvuB_VwFuEDI2hOZXzM6-1am7fRKiyCAx/s4032/IMG_4725.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;203&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh6Oh61z9ZOli7sPZ6Exv4gVjdeBmVVp-BzvQCRrJsBLiPJd0OZs1JgHjHqcR4m7zeJHZMvLsfSMGP0PPg_a31VXXZbd5mwfGLgLnFeALtAESwG1lSj4mH-034EpF8itJDBbHAP8xL4gc8kLLEhSYbvuB_VwFuEDI2hOZXzM6-1am7fRKiyCAx/w152-h203/IMG_4725.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;152&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Harvest Moon Oct 2023&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQKSZ_N2xvsNkWXT5i2rUA3TOfqFRhdmhiWDnX-qgKAUd049Ms8d863ur_SsVxOtaTZKRboZmjVqYlihClWURHA0uLGLPBqbZcZg6y1RxJu4-UGsEkaUviZqFMnc5Y7nCMKF1tQ5SawVH5gsMlmaNKjEnjn9Rw-mJ7dUeyLCs2cZOl29Cq8Dk/s803/friendlymonster.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;803&quot; data-original-width=&quot;597&quot; height=&quot;203&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoQKSZ_N2xvsNkWXT5i2rUA3TOfqFRhdmhiWDnX-qgKAUd049Ms8d863ur_SsVxOtaTZKRboZmjVqYlihClWURHA0uLGLPBqbZcZg6y1RxJu4-UGsEkaUviZqFMnc5Y7nCMKF1tQ5SawVH5gsMlmaNKjEnjn9Rw-mJ7dUeyLCs2cZOl29Cq8Dk/w151-h203/friendlymonster.jpg&quot; width=&quot;151&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;friendly monster&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;I have also continued work on my artworks website, &quot;scottmerrickdotme&quot; where if you just have to make an offer on an original SGM (I don&#39;t put prices on my work, but I am for sale) , there&#39;s a contact form to do so. Just click the screengrab below to visit.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://scottmerrick.me&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1081&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1921&quot; height=&quot;177&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpVv215N-HSSl5zPf5eOFCKYGst8-LXSQTiQ2UveqRvg2otRWROwQMZnRqPg5ZZw7r0TYOsT5ZJQXddQ__wWo7UZ6sqZ0Y61U1lvP0W1rlCQwVZ5AfLrlZbB9uIK6TJywJ0GH07myqM8Y7akk8N6gnr3lmicFk3hhUP9WMdwklRuFArhNpbTap/w316-h177/Screenshot%20scottdotme.png&quot; width=&quot;316&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;But a chill Sunday morning it is, here at Chez Merrique, and I&#39;m a&#39;gonna drink some coffee (half-caff, French Pressed) and get &#39;er done before memories of the trip of a lifetime have receded into another cavern of past experience so far they are unfetchable.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Ah, Sevilla. Seville, you say tomato I say tomato. I like the &quot;y&quot; pronunciation, and you can make your own mind up with help from &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTFgCS01Y7k&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;a brief YouTube video on the topic&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;One of my favorite aspects of this journey was that everytime we set foot in a new accommodation, we were pleasantly surprised in good ways. This place, the Hotel Alfonso XII, a Luxury Collection Hotel, was well named. It was, in a word, opulent. Shoutout again to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rhtraveldesign.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;RH Travel Design&lt;/a&gt;! We checked in after leaving our black-suited driver and his new black Mercedez after having been picked up at the train station. He had been proficient in English and described some of the buildings we passed en route, many of them remnants of the &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seville_Expo_%2792&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;World Expo in 1992&lt;/a&gt;, regal and beautiful. Inside, a young man who checked us in was Belgian with great English, and he explained when we told him where we were from that he spent a year as an exchange student with a family and at school right down the road in Franklin, TN. One world.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A funny aside, we got up to our hotel room and it was set up with two queen beds and we were unable to make any lights work. I took the (opulent) stairway down the two floors to the desk, where the clerk from Brussels explained that we had to slip the card door key into the slot at the room entrance. That also activated the AC unit which defaulted to a default setting upon its card being removed. It&#39;s clearly an environmentally friendly system which also shuts to default when the double balcony doors were opened. Smart. As opposed to us, LOL.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At the end of my &lt;a href=&quot;https://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/09/cordoba-and-seville-day-1-spain-part-v.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;most recent Spain post&lt;/a&gt;, I shared the first photo in the large Google album I took while I sat in the Lobby as we had awaited our luggage being delivered to our lovely room. There are a lot of Sevilla pics, because we LOVED Sevilla. We got to the room in late afternoon, so I think we may have napped, then awakened and gone in search of dinner. We got a few hints from the concierge, then stepped out into the City. Hungry, we turned down a side street past the post office, as directed, to find a couple seats at a newly opened tapas eatery, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thefork.com/restaurant/el-postiguillo-r671515&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Postiguillo&lt;/a&gt;. It was crankin&#39; busy, and we enjoyed some delicious tapas with a wine and a beer, Estrella Damm, of course. A couple pics:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQiDFKWWoqDWngX-ETXuZdqotV5fc-hi-IP2DISCJ7QlUDyJX95L9H_b1qVbZuOuHrAxpb4VF1ESyg95YiiTEEIUHWn5Z2AnoqdhSveLGWj_OeRVVGCnCNxjJ4qdLp5pkQoUEDxcvZmScS1XqanB5BL9STj9xweV_a1BTTJ4dYIXHjx9XHI8KH/s4032/IMG_3403.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;191&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQiDFKWWoqDWngX-ETXuZdqotV5fc-hi-IP2DISCJ7QlUDyJX95L9H_b1qVbZuOuHrAxpb4VF1ESyg95YiiTEEIUHWn5Z2AnoqdhSveLGWj_OeRVVGCnCNxjJ4qdLp5pkQoUEDxcvZmScS1XqanB5BL9STj9xweV_a1BTTJ4dYIXHjx9XHI8KH/w144-h191/IMG_3403.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;144&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;My love at Postiguillo&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipV0muHQjgOTX3y9WdiGhyr__Smxy3CoxZE_bV1PEi0E7Im7zuT-M3KbyeqZdw_svRvkjTm8X2Or0HijtV5GGdR4ydqlc96w76Ax-AUbx4hZZRhn3O8xDHWqiw-467onSyU8AbMw4q3mfSWATtN4uLRKGhHe0m5z8xjtzkWsHSPg4Tn6A7QrHs/s4032/IMG_3399.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipV0muHQjgOTX3y9WdiGhyr__Smxy3CoxZE_bV1PEi0E7Im7zuT-M3KbyeqZdw_svRvkjTm8X2Or0HijtV5GGdR4ydqlc96w76Ax-AUbx4hZZRhn3O8xDHWqiw-467onSyU8AbMw4q3mfSWATtN4uLRKGhHe0m5z8xjtzkWsHSPg4Tn6A7QrHs/w240-h320/IMG_3399.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;It began raining just before we finished up our meal, and of course we did not bring rain gear to dinner, so we braved the steady downfall and pulled off a side alley into a cute little restaurant/bar called Vuella for cover about halfway to the hotel. Wine and beer, of course, were mandatory as we waited out the hard rain then made the rest of the way &quot;home&quot; through a light drizzle.&amp;nbsp;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAR49sXgQwP4WRmWAZzhHvdpN_SgicYmWqC2_UWlKn68HX77HeGSV7cr9_YtENY6yetbZyrfjiDLhlrxDZqUKe18Q0FpGnyBrfOkJ33ZEaYMLTY3PtuLMGlhiPnCvYzLGSPe5Jxj1nHCzb3tdCml9LN4W2TtqG25_jQRNw8ruS0Qbmsea5Fnfv/s4032/IMG_3405.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAR49sXgQwP4WRmWAZzhHvdpN_SgicYmWqC2_UWlKn68HX77HeGSV7cr9_YtENY6yetbZyrfjiDLhlrxDZqUKe18Q0FpGnyBrfOkJ33ZEaYMLTY3PtuLMGlhiPnCvYzLGSPe5Jxj1nHCzb3tdCml9LN4W2TtqG25_jQRNw8ruS0Qbmsea5Fnfv/s320/IMG_3405.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;My love being cute in the Spanish rain&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;We took the lift up this time, which of course was opulently appointed:&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9wPqJKTktP4ae72uDf5YAQ8jI05jsED9xCAbv35IfCZjhuOIbbRAT7RE6guQDau8J1aNn-rqsJLX_tfJwWh0QdEKG1HF3NdunS6tB6Dia6bjY_MimgPDalkAIDRekXpaRwjTaAzlzHx-zcAqyuC2Kk3P8eK0RYiuIpf8L9ohiw5y_wrov-uVD/s4032/IMG_3407.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9wPqJKTktP4ae72uDf5YAQ8jI05jsED9xCAbv35IfCZjhuOIbbRAT7RE6guQDau8J1aNn-rqsJLX_tfJwWh0QdEKG1HF3NdunS6tB6Dia6bjY_MimgPDalkAIDRekXpaRwjTaAzlzHx-zcAqyuC2Kk3P8eK0RYiuIpf8L9ohiw5y_wrov-uVD/s320/IMG_3407.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Opulent private ride to our Opulent room&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;We turned in early, watching an episode or two of &quot;The Diplomat&quot; on Lee Ann&#39;s Macbook before sleeping well. I awakened early, as usual, and we took our time bathing and dressing to head down for a lovely breakfast, served in the bar. We were hungry, and the offerings did not disappoint, Cava and all.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUbyy82J6AbKyll3yJ8SHHd2ZwRXsiNU5PssAE7gJ9jaJStxuO2XmCewxmiA7O1J54K9dVbCbSQghiCSEGZKmj6oWPKFrZQASgt_8SwlAW1IMNj5tvzSFLT5FveSKyIcwVm0NHPn-5Za2YfBSrZbCieBtDdaL-NSWHGIezXkkOzyLqq0CFh8a/s4032/IMG_3408.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYUbyy82J6AbKyll3yJ8SHHd2ZwRXsiNU5PssAE7gJ9jaJStxuO2XmCewxmiA7O1J54K9dVbCbSQghiCSEGZKmj6oWPKFrZQASgt_8SwlAW1IMNj5tvzSFLT5FveSKyIcwVm0NHPn-5Za2YfBSrZbCieBtDdaL-NSWHGIezXkkOzyLqq0CFh8a/s320/IMG_3408.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Breakfast at the Alfonso XIII&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisrFCYdcRNxVE0rA08LU4pam6zZE24Zn3jNUnGPOQ3lFrx5F-EdJGV9odjwcDoRR8VxHdRpFnFjmIPFC6aOkPulxC4IbFmTLcWjnsLceSxB5SRr3SoQW-y6cjVwRDh-rpr3x1Lgb7YIzq37Nt7nNxcdbcN90aIXZOekYLuVVXbC1sjpaBIjzjr/s4032/IMG_3409.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEisrFCYdcRNxVE0rA08LU4pam6zZE24Zn3jNUnGPOQ3lFrx5F-EdJGV9odjwcDoRR8VxHdRpFnFjmIPFC6aOkPulxC4IbFmTLcWjnsLceSxB5SRr3SoQW-y6cjVwRDh-rpr3x1Lgb7YIzq37Nt7nNxcdbcN90aIXZOekYLuVVXbC1sjpaBIjzjr/s320/IMG_3409.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;The lobby on our floor of the hotel. Cozy, eh?&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;After breakfast, we met our guide for the day, Virginia, in the Alfonso lobby downstairs. She was every bit as interesting as had been each of our guides, and she took us into and through the oldest Royal Palace still in use, the Real Alcazar de Seville. According to&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.alcazarsevilla.org/en/history/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt; its website&#39;s History page&lt;/a&gt;, it was initially ordered built in 913 AD.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #4f4f4f; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;The compound which makes up the Royal Alcazar of Seville was founded in the early Middle-Ages, when the ancient Roman city of Hispalis, the Spali of Gothic times, evolved to be re-named Ixbilia. According to the most trustworthy sources, it was at the beginning of the tenth century – in 913, to be specific – that the Caliph of Cordoba, Abdurrahman III an-Nasir, ordered new government premises, the Dar al-Imara, to be built on the southern flank of the city. Previously, the ruling al-Andalus powers had been seated inside the Low-Roman-Empire city centre, not far from the Hispalis Mosque, where the Collegiate Church of El Salvador now stands.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/span&gt;I can now proudly say that I visited Ixbilia. Subsequent ruling cultures added to and revised (a unifying cross-cultural pattern in this fantastic city) until we see what we saw that day. About midway through our tour of it, Virginia had us stand and look into what was once the throne room, and asked us if we recognized it. We did not, but now we plan to revisit Game of Thrones and enjoy having been at the site where such, dare I say &quot;opulent&quot;, a set was reimagined in fictional history. &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/88KDh_JCKj0&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Watch a behind the scenes video from HBO for episode 42&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;of Game of Thrones. &lt;/i&gt;I took a load of pics at the palace, but you can see similar ones in &lt;a href=&quot;https://maps.app.goo.gl/BKDaqMdCYUshVNCL8&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;the Google Maps entry for it&lt;/a&gt;, in the Reviews section. Of course you can see mine in the big ol&#39; España&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://photos.app.goo.gl/1pgKa41RFxPhgvt36&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Google Album from our trip&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Virginia took us through the historic Jewish district, as we marveled at the understated but clearly visible richness of the architecture, then we made our way back to our Alfonso. Our last location with her was the Cathedral de Sevilla, a massive structure whose history repeats the multi-cultural architectural patterns of so many iconic buildings in Savilla, and where I learned where much of the precious metals taken from the Americas by the Spanish invaders went. This structure is all silver and gold plated, and much of it solid, y&#39;all:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtc5YEnRb8T8AW9l3OR9JFx3lBb0gRUR5GTr4R_2f8klgB_8It451_NtroNJQtLNejY1kVIYDleiXiIvMAAN9oNuWMwhGEmKzoiG6LdeifpBoKcY5o8i7Y1Oe8M9VnfxRS9XjOO89jtLEp6vYjD_GTTJ-IyktYZyaMn6p5Zf-uTnI61bcWcKDn/s4032/IMG_3419.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;560&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtc5YEnRb8T8AW9l3OR9JFx3lBb0gRUR5GTr4R_2f8klgB_8It451_NtroNJQtLNejY1kVIYDleiXiIvMAAN9oNuWMwhGEmKzoiG6LdeifpBoKcY5o8i7Y1Oe8M9VnfxRS9XjOO89jtLEp6vYjD_GTTJ-IyktYZyaMn6p5Zf-uTnI61bcWcKDn/w420-h560/IMG_3419.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;420&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Alter de Plata at Catedral de Sevilla&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;We also saw &quot;the&quot; burial place of Chris Columbus, the only one of the three worldwide burial places&amp;nbsp; that has been DNA verified to contain at least some of his remains, reportedly about the quantity of a fingernail. That&#39;s &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna12871458&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;a story in and of itself&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;We parted ways with our Virginia and instantly discovered that we were both starving. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.casarobles.es/en/the-restaurant&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Casa Robles&lt;/a&gt; to the rescue!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;i&gt;NOTE: Weesh, this was a long day. I&#39;m taking a stretch and coming back to finish. My butt&#39;s getting sore from sitting and my dog is fed up with me sitting and typing and clicking! I&#39;m going to go ahead and publish this and come back after to finish it. There&#39;s only an afternoon walk, a nap, an almost private Flamenco music and dance show, a failed dinner reservation and great stumble-upon dinner recovery to come!&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;I&#39;m back. Let&#39;s power through this together. After the awesome late lunch&amp;nbsp; (not late for Spain!) we had scheduled an &quot;Afternoon at Leisure.&quot; That it was. We moseyed back to our hotel and laid down for a nap or two. We both snoozed, and awakened refreshed and ready for our 6:00 to 8:00pm Flamenco show at Pura Esencia, a ten-minute walk from the hotel, over the Guadalquivir River bridge. We ate a snack at a little cafe next door, which was memorable only because we ate at a little table on the sidewalk and there was a raucous group of young men inside playing foosball. We thought at first that the yelling came from a group watching a soccer game on television, but when I went inside to pay the bill I laughed at the truth.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;We didn&#39;t realize how intimate Pure Esencia would be; but we had our tickets, which included two drinks apiece, and were tickled that the place had seating only for 14. The guitar player opened on the tiny stage just a few feet away from our tiny table, and he was brilliant. A male singer came out and ended his guitar-accompanied set with the entrance of a powerful male dancer, then came onstage the female dancer (everyone was in traditional clothing) who set the little &quot;crowd&quot; on fire. Such drama, such rhythm, such beauty and tradition. It was exciting, &lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;fun, a&lt;/span&gt;nd a new memory made. Here&#39;s a 32 second snippet Lee Ann grabbed:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe allowfullscreen=&#39;allowfullscreen&#39; webkitallowfullscreen=&#39;webkitallowfullscreen&#39; mozallowfullscreen=&#39;mozallowfullscreen&#39; width=&#39;320&#39; height=&#39;266&#39; src=&#39;https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwHe8FmZnNjMd6AIw7tmc3cMfu-hqSRWpocjcd2zAJxNN9nsfLaDHum2ll478eDpnrKgMDpdLwIH0Q&#39; class=&#39;b-hbp-video b-uploaded&#39; frameborder=&#39;0&#39;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;We had plenty of time before our 9:30 pm dinner reservation at Recoveco. It was to be a bust. We moseyed across the beautiful bridge to our hotel, then grabbed a taxi to the heart of Sevilla. Its website bills it as&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: verdana; font-size: small; font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;s&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;pacious, cozy &lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span face=&quot;Lato, sans-serif&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; font-size: small; font-weight: bold; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;and warm for a dynamic sensory experience.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;b style=&quot;font-family: Lato, sans-serif; font-size: small;&quot;&gt;Refurbished with respect for the traditional Sevillian architecture and suitable for a lunch or dinner where the tranquility in the enjoyment of the food and the professional attention is the protagonist. &lt;/b&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Well&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span face=&quot;Lato, sans-serif&quot;&gt;, &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;we found it none of those. We were seated in a very small two-top inside what was essentially a tiny room off the lobby of a hotel. There was a couple across from us, who never spoke to one another the entire time, but the place was pretty much otherwise empty. During pre-planning we had grown the expectation of an open, rooftop dining space with lovely views. The server took his time getting our order for a beer and a wine, took his time delivering them, and took so much of his time getting back with food menus we stood without a word and walked back to the hotel lobby receptionist who had first directed us to the restaurant. We asked to see the rooftop space, were told they were booked there for the night but we could take the elevator up just to look. The receptionist was professional in demeanor but the manager who escorted us up on the elevator was curt and unfriendly. It was indeed a lovely looking place. We left. While walking away, we were both a bit flaming mad. Lee Ann&#39;s cell phone rang, and it was Recoveco. They wanted a credit card payment for the two drinks. Ha. Can service get any worse? She gave it to them.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;We settled down, walked sort of pointlessly through the streets, and were drawn to loud and wonderful jazz playing somewhere. It turned out that it was issuing from a humongus sculpture/building affectionately known to residents as The Mushrooms.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;text-destacado&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: rgba(2, 31, 60, 0.87); font-family: stolzl, sans-serif; line-height: 28px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px 0px 1rem;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Known as &quot;Las setas&quot; (&quot;The Mushrooms&quot;), it is the largest wooden structure in the world.&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #021f3c;&quot;&gt;Opened in 2011, the work of German architect Jürgen Mayer is 26 metres high. The structure is made up of six large parasols in the shape of mushrooms, and it affords fantastic views of Seville from the walkway/viewing point. There is also a restaurant. The Antiquarium is situated in the basement, containing important Roman archaeological remains. The area in which it is built includes a market and a raised square where different kinds of events take place.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #021f3c; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt; &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #021f3c;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;From&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;color: #021f3c;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.spain.info/en/places-of-interest/metropol-parasol&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;https://www.spain.info/en/places-of-interest/metropol-parasol&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPUbYD01zWyhGAHRrh4Z0zQ91_dePvI6ctD4XMzh4SixJa0J02Euf-iKIvOtcZFnbKTsB2xy9jUlD6H0Q_c6KOtIR4fKj0uamwEjBz_FyhY2mC-AzJ-wJYagxTpZ31OrNmcXMKibuRP8Xf5bVgulzoNFNwlm5fRzfyiNxYkWui1DueZ2XhyphenhyphenjO7/s1076/1076px-Metropolparasolnov2011001.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;720&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1076&quot; height=&quot;214&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPUbYD01zWyhGAHRrh4Z0zQ91_dePvI6ctD4XMzh4SixJa0J02Euf-iKIvOtcZFnbKTsB2xy9jUlD6H0Q_c6KOtIR4fKj0uamwEjBz_FyhY2mC-AzJ-wJYagxTpZ31OrNmcXMKibuRP8Xf5bVgulzoNFNwlm5fRzfyiNxYkWui1DueZ2XhyphenhyphenjO7/s320/1076px-Metropolparasolnov2011001.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;By Anual - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, &lt;a href=&quot;https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17308935&quot;&gt;https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=17308935&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;The music was top-notch and we listened for a good while, basking in the cool night company of the throngs of locals and tourists. We were getting hungry though, so we strolled some more in what we thought might be the direction of&amp;nbsp; the Alfonso and lo and behold, right across from the Mushroom we spied a cute little place called &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.lamalvaloca.es/quienes-somos/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;La Malvaloca&lt;/a&gt;. We sat at a cheery little two-top, in a buzzing environment that was anything but sterile (see above) and had a lovely little tasting meal of tapas with wine and beer. Our walk &quot;home&quot; was relaxed and chatty and fun and we held hands the whole wild--yes, I was that old American with the beautiful young bride walking in a bubble on a Spanish Boulevard. Cherish the time.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;Okay! We took a cab home, had a tasty adult beverage in the Alfonso bar, slept like drunken babies, and I awoke the next morning to write down some notes and preview the day&#39;s (Sunday&#39;s) itinerary before embracing it with the love of my life on this trip of a lifetime. Here&#39;s what I could see across the opulent room as the morning Sevilla light filtered in to welcome us to its Spanish loveliness.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpzbi8r-g-kD5__gqMXcHyBlhbza_wSMeLFVjoGGMzpJn0Ym7ORr5dj_0sBDzxL6yVguxp-bW1Z7qGu319Gl4DZEgiomCK9iSG5-sfDiscEYF7SlSrLIpcHxpG4TrMljzu7RdaFGvH28VPiBfFH9ohR5gFMftNcVXGE8VXRxXYMeYA5cm0rAz/s4032/70756410777__B8D0B633-D2F4-4594-ABBB-CB3A2675A382.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNpzbi8r-g-kD5__gqMXcHyBlhbza_wSMeLFVjoGGMzpJn0Ym7ORr5dj_0sBDzxL6yVguxp-bW1Z7qGu319Gl4DZEgiomCK9iSG5-sfDiscEYF7SlSrLIpcHxpG4TrMljzu7RdaFGvH28VPiBfFH9ohR5gFMftNcVXGE8VXRxXYMeYA5cm0rAz/s320/70756410777__B8D0B633-D2F4-4594-ABBB-CB3A2675A382.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;My lovely denying the morning light :)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;It was going to be another relaxing day. Yay. See you for day seven, next post.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box; vertical-align: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/10/sevilla-and-alfonso-xiii-spain-part-vi.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXTDnFiM7npwLC0yPLkfu4IBRH3eizpnKghqh3Ai1qAsmuobMQrm2um4HgHz4S9pzSRIuDtpT4m6ib1O3FixdFG8BCHv1YygB8iL86UyE95G-u36r7a0zHUJdW-Wv3sxJolC8Z6TcQg4xZuIGelFU1Y0KbZY0k_cCb21QkN5Jq4V1I1t4ckhNY/s72-w147-h195-c/IMG_4657.HEIC" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-8782058514309373291</guid><pubDate>Sun, 10 Sep 2023 12:59:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-08T15:03:11.614-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">iPhone</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">iphotography</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">jigsaw</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Nashville</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">nations</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">neighborhood</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">puzzle</category><title>water, a jigsaw puzzle from the nations nashville neighborhood</title><description>&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;4&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;float: right;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&amp;amp;pid=1d17c48faf82&quot; style=&quot;clear: right; display: inline-block; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; position: relative;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;preview of &amp;quot;water&amp;quot;&quot; src=&quot;https://im.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=img&amp;amp;pid=1d17c48faf82&amp;amp;size=160&quot; style=&quot;box-shadow: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.4) 2px 2px 4px; display: block; text-align: center;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;The Nations Nashville &quot;water&quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;J&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;ust found a neat way to indulge a strange habit of mine! I walk my dog every day and we love to see patterns in our neighborhood. It can take dozens of finds to compile a single montage of a theme, and the first one I&#39;ve compiled features what I believe the next world war will be fought over. I worked hard on it and sent one to Shutterstock for printing, but the iPhone resolution can&#39;t be made high enough to do the montage pixel justice. Just today, I found &lt;a href=&quot;https://jigsawplanet.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Jigsaw Planet&lt;/a&gt;;&amp;nbsp;and here&#39;s &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&amp;amp;pid=1d17c48faf82&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;the first installment&lt;/a&gt; , the pics compiled in Powerpoint and saved as a &lt;i&gt;.jpg&lt;/i&gt;. More to come on this blog. I remain in search of a platform that doesn&#39;t require that I yield rights to my work, but it&#39;s really just a fun hobby at the moment and I&#39;m not really concerned with that at the mo&#39;. I also think that those folks deserve whatever they can earn for creating such a fun and easy to use content creation platform!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Tip: Challenge yourself (or make it easier) by changing the number of pieces with the &quot;Play As&quot; function on the site!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;display: inline-block; margin: 1em; text-align: center; width: 160px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;bottom: 4px; display: inline-block; filter: drop-shadow(1px 1px 2px #000); font: bold 120% Verdana, sans-serif; position: absolute; right: 4px; text-align: center; white-space: nowrap;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.jigsawplanet.com/?rc=play&amp;amp;pid=1d17c48faf82&quot; style=&quot;display: inline-block; position: relative;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: white; vertical-align: middle;&quot;&gt;30&lt;/span&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;piece&quot; src=&quot;https://www.jigsawplanet.com/img/shapes/10.svg&quot; style=&quot;height: 1.5em; vertical-align: middle; width: 1.5em;&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/09/water-jigsaw-puzzle.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-1632354644067613209</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Sep 2023 14:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-10-08T10:33:04.940-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cultures</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Espana</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">hospitality</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">people</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travel</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">vacation</category><title>Cordoba and Sevilla Day 1: (Spain Part V)</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;OkaaaaaaAAY,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;If you have read this far, please forgive me for rambling. If you intend to read further, please extend your forgiveness into that furtherness. It&#39;s taken me over seven decades to develop my voice, and whether you like it or would rather leave it, it&#39;s my voice. I love you either way.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Speaking of love, we felt a lot of it in Spain. As I may have mentioned, we had few to none encounters with crankiness, rudeness, or fear in our three weeks in Espa&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; box-sizing: border-box;&quot;&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;ña. It took until our arrival at the airport in Chicago on our way home to meet admittedly overworked, underpaid, and clearly unhappy service people. We also had our first &lt;/span&gt;egregiously&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;overpriced food and beverage there. But that&#39;s for later. Now&#39;s for now!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The train ride:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We packed up the next morning since we had until 11:00 to meet our driver. Yes, another very nice black-suited man in a new black Mercedez. A note about packing and transitions: my wife is great at the former, and surprisingly great at the latter on our trip. We travel exceedingly well together. I hope to do more of it. Our next trip will be a week in Denver at Christmastime, and both our grown children and both of their partners, their people, will also be there at Jim and Amy&#39;s historic home across from University Park. But I digress. Lee Ann had purchased packing bags into which we could separate shirts, shorts, undergarments, etc. for easy packing and unpacking. It works like a charm and I highly recommend it. For our 3 weeks, I carried a backpack and she a carry-on and we had two large zippered pieces of luggage. I also carried a gig bag containing my Kala tenor ukulele, which I did play of an evening once in a while.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoH62p4R2Nai3lw4aFU97SJAHXUpr5rwvj95MwQqu88P0jTTKDMynVEC1rNE6yR1ulRU06kHxZEq2We3xYoiryHDf3Kk-PjGM29aQLAlKDwH_d2NbjNUESfLeM4izREasUWPjuOjW0ZOT8CFsq0B_v5EWma-i4MwnWWO8HyUZi77q1b4Xn5Ce/s969/cordobatrain.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;969&quot; data-original-width=&quot;728&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoH62p4R2Nai3lw4aFU97SJAHXUpr5rwvj95MwQqu88P0jTTKDMynVEC1rNE6yR1ulRU06kHxZEq2We3xYoiryHDf3Kk-PjGM29aQLAlKDwH_d2NbjNUESfLeM4izREasUWPjuOjW0ZOT8CFsq0B_v5EWma-i4MwnWWO8HyUZi77q1b4Xn5Ce/s320/cordobatrain.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;View out our window as we left the vast plains of Spain and neared the south-central hill country&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;A final and predictably delicious breakfast in the room off the courtyard, and we headed out to the lobby where we met our driver and headed just a mile or two away from the hotel to the train station. For the uninitiated, we learned by doing. There was no gate number on our travel information and there&#39;s a reason for that: gates are not announced until 30-20 minutes before boarding. I don&#39;t know exactly how that gate assignment gig works, but I am certain I never want to have to do it! After asking someone in a uniform, we learned that crucial fact and chilled out before a monitor screen until our gate was announced. In Madrid one has to get to the gate with one&#39;s luggage, queue up in a line once the destination&#39;s gate is announced, then get down a 45 degree escalator with it all and into the assigned train car. We did so, and were seated in our premium seats, ready to go. Here&#39;s the text from our travel info:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote style=&quot;color: #052530; font-family: proxima-nova, sans-serif; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;Note: There is NO luggage assistance to help with your luggage inside or outside the train at Madrid-Puerta de Atocha train station. Your driver cannot access the platform without a valid train ticket.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;It was true, but like anything, the second time we would do it, it was much easier. Something about undone experiences and their done &quot;next times,&quot; yes?&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4WI_QBozPydo8Fl3bGF7KUyAmmgiYw2HypB9dKLAY5h7WKuv40X4Jcv5xmiLD_q5ekQmgw6U8HxiqT9nyy-LaNGLLjAJEKytVlWZ9VQ5tJCW6yGpkuZ5OmWHW6d0uZv9nat-sTveVVzUsuU711gfuFG6jS8OTcIG5iBS9KBAHOPpSQ8ToeaQ/s969/trainfood.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;969&quot; data-original-width=&quot;728&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjO4WI_QBozPydo8Fl3bGF7KUyAmmgiYw2HypB9dKLAY5h7WKuv40X4Jcv5xmiLD_q5ekQmgw6U8HxiqT9nyy-LaNGLLjAJEKytVlWZ9VQ5tJCW6yGpkuZ5OmWHW6d0uZv9nat-sTveVVzUsuU711gfuFG6jS8OTcIG5iBS9KBAHOPpSQ8ToeaQ/s320/trainfood.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Trainfood, eggplant, tasted a little better than it looked and kept me alive&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #052530; font-family: inherit;&quot;&gt;The two hour train ride was largely uneventful but absolutely beautiful. It reminded me a little of the UHaul truck drive my son Colin and I had experienced the previous summer, with the vast plains, agricultural vistas turning hilly and inspirational in scope; and I slept a little, listened to my book (&lt;i&gt;Dragonfly in Amber&lt;/i&gt; from the &lt;i&gt;Outlander&lt;/i&gt; series--big recommend) with &lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;airpods from my phone. It is in fact a high speed train, but caveat: it stops frequently along its route. In relatively short order we were in Cordoba.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;Off the train we were greeted by a porter with a cart and our guide for the day, Carmen. She was in character and professionalism similar to our other wonderful guides, and I doubt if I will ever hear the word &quot;jello&quot; without remembering her. Explanation to come.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;First stop, &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alc%C3%A1zar_de_los_Reyes_Cristianos&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Alcazar de los Reyes Cristianos&lt;/a&gt;, &quot;Castle of the Christian Monarchs&quot;.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzajQrhERfuDkv3IdTEusMXNJnjd3ScKgxEfPAgKgizBRInIn2k1jthfMq0IOPdpU1LUb1TaBKke7JAtMdy51O2uEzAAJIz5i-0RH5_LMubHXyR_KlXOdZ075V2DvFP-4R6G2EIu83PddqWO-nC-nsnXqEm_rmqGs8L2MqYYYDn0TnFYOTUUdP/s1292/alcazar%20delos%20reyes%20cristianos%20sign.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;969&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1292&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzajQrhERfuDkv3IdTEusMXNJnjd3ScKgxEfPAgKgizBRInIn2k1jthfMq0IOPdpU1LUb1TaBKke7JAtMdy51O2uEzAAJIz5i-0RH5_LMubHXyR_KlXOdZ075V2DvFP-4R6G2EIu83PddqWO-nC-nsnXqEm_rmqGs8L2MqYYYDn0TnFYOTUUdP/s320/alcazar%20delos%20reyes%20cristianos%20sign.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;After winding our way through the castle, which contains some reconstructed murals originally created as flooring, on the walls, we toured the garden.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #052530; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;We left the garden and strolled up the street by the river to view the ancient Roman bridge built there.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2aBlnkQ2DvjsmIDnYM3ZqQw48PtwZZSzDzaLiNijMHR8OND5i5HX0CHV_1PScM1DVMKrW7HepEfvwROXs-P5oD9miPhEQpaVoiaBdld38GAOff2ao1JrWy4XWxsZoUmiXhKfc2SpPu_GFhXV2rrCrbAIWcSbsB7VR7BouMIkDj3fM3FDh8PYB/s1292/roman%20bridge.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;969&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1292&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2aBlnkQ2DvjsmIDnYM3ZqQw48PtwZZSzDzaLiNijMHR8OND5i5HX0CHV_1PScM1DVMKrW7HepEfvwROXs-P5oD9miPhEQpaVoiaBdld38GAOff2ao1JrWy4XWxsZoUmiXhKfc2SpPu_GFhXV2rrCrbAIWcSbsB7VR7BouMIkDj3fM3FDh8PYB/s320/roman%20bridge.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;Then we made our way past the former gate into Cordoba, where we took a comprehensive tour of the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba. There are some great pics in &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mosque%E2%80%93Cathedral_of_C%C3%B3rdoba&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;the Wikipedia article,&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;but I want to share this one, snapped by Carmen:&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFIE61iSp0VMjLrm3NxvV-EXXkEsSpT8AaPAkeaQ5tIrXWXC7PaQqQVzINxWJdBm83XcdarB50EwIbh4qo7ENtcy7W7iM-6fW0n9L1yEiOHMjgLlcFIXetux4ECJ38lsGelKSBJvDgBIHj-5CRvQfU7_TxhglD8g6ZMowr5v0dt2FtT10-tpLG/s969/alcazar%20delos%20reyes%20cristianos%20cathedral.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;969&quot; data-original-width=&quot;728&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFIE61iSp0VMjLrm3NxvV-EXXkEsSpT8AaPAkeaQ5tIrXWXC7PaQqQVzINxWJdBm83XcdarB50EwIbh4qo7ENtcy7W7iM-6fW0n9L1yEiOHMjgLlcFIXetux4ECJ38lsGelKSBJvDgBIHj-5CRvQfU7_TxhglD8g6ZMowr5v0dt2FtT10-tpLG/s320/alcazar%20delos%20reyes%20cristianos%20cathedral.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;Not &lt;/b&gt;on Wikipedia, this little huggy pic hints at the majesty of the architecture, containing substantial stylistic contributions from Visigoths, Romans, and finally, Christians.&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;We learned that it was one of the first sites of the Spanish Inquisition and that its construction as a fortress for the Goths began in the year 785. It underwent many changes and additions as the various cultures controlled the city. Carmen also took us through the Jewish neighborhood. Cordoba has a long history and it is nothing short of fascinating.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;Oh, Jello: When we were walking up into the city from the river and the famed Roman Bridge, Carmen noted that the walls and streets all had a yellow tint, from the clay by the river that was used to construct them. &quot;I love the jello, everywhere,&quot; she said. It made us smile every time she said it that way!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;We parted ways with Carmen a few blocks later, and our driver, cordial and pleasant and knowledgeable, hauled us on into Sevilla, where we checked into opulence. A pic of the lobby and the courtyard in our hotel, which we would love, where I took my first picture in Sevilla:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPjMRPQ85jjU5uX6xnUrR6LQHPmgwVP77_EwwocwCjrIiJAXX-OGQfEpj3zKs9kkMXBAQntRLvJeVekWjvy6wZ75eudym_YT4sFtaZ9xW_gNecCSPAcaPJgHPu0cv7NvTOR4vS2yUQbNkwrs2dsiZI3w-RJZPgQnOMDU8w6X9HmRtqGlAfZZbo/s969/lobby%20in%20Sevilla.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;969&quot; data-original-width=&quot;728&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPjMRPQ85jjU5uX6xnUrR6LQHPmgwVP77_EwwocwCjrIiJAXX-OGQfEpj3zKs9kkMXBAQntRLvJeVekWjvy6wZ75eudym_YT4sFtaZ9xW_gNecCSPAcaPJgHPu0cv7NvTOR4vS2yUQbNkwrs2dsiZI3w-RJZPgQnOMDU8w6X9HmRtqGlAfZZbo/s320/lobby%20in%20Sevilla.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: inherit; font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Lobby of the&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #052530; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; min-width: 1px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Alfonso XIII, a Luxury Collection&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #052530; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; min-width: 1px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #052530; font-feature-settings: inherit; font-kerning: inherit; font-optical-sizing: inherit; font-stretch: inherit; font-variant-alternates: inherit; font-variant-east-asian: inherit; font-variant-numeric: inherit; font-variation-settings: inherit; line-height: inherit; margin: 0px; min-height: 1px; min-width: 1px; padding: 0px; text-align: start; vertical-align: baseline;&quot;&gt;Hotel (5*)&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;I will pick back up next post with our hotel and evening in Sevilla, and continue on into the following day of our trip of a lifetime. Stay well, safe, and spoil yourself. This from a couple who has done it. Cheers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;color: #052530;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #052530; font-size: 16px;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/09/cordoba-and-seville-day-1-spain-part-v.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidoH62p4R2Nai3lw4aFU97SJAHXUpr5rwvj95MwQqu88P0jTTKDMynVEC1rNE6yR1ulRU06kHxZEq2We3xYoiryHDf3Kk-PjGM29aQLAlKDwH_d2NbjNUESfLeM4izREasUWPjuOjW0ZOT8CFsq0B_v5EWma-i4MwnWWO8HyUZi77q1b4Xn5Ce/s72-c/cordobatrain.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-3297070435691779552</guid><pubDate>Fri, 08 Sep 2023 12:13:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-09-08T07:13:34.892-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cultures</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Espana</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">hospitality</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">people</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travel</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">vacation</category><title>Madrid Day 4 (Spain: Part IV)</title><description>&lt;p&gt;I awakened late, for me, on June 1. It was a beautiful sunny Thursday morning, our fourth day in España.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lee Ann lay buried in the luxurious zillion count sheets of our king-sized bed. Well, it was actually two doubles pushed together with a bigger-than-king-size mattress pad. I spent some time at the little balcony enjoying the street sounds and watching folks across the tiny street awakening and opening their own balconies to the glory of their city. Stretching, breathing the air thousands of miles away from my native Tennessee.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;The balconies in Spanish cities are small affairs, perhaps 18 inches deep and a little wider than the doors and their windows. I don&#39;t recall who mentioned it first, it was likely our Pablo, but some structures have rounded bottom railings to accommodate the puffy dresses of the aristocracy. The other thing I learned is that if you look up, they recede every so slightly in from the street from the second floor to the top. This is to let in the light, as streets in the city centers, the oldest parts of the city, are very narrow. It was also interesting that the lower floors were the most prestigious, as they afforded more visibility on their balconies during pageants or&amp;nbsp; other events that brought city dwellers into the streets. This is particularly evident in the many squares peppering the city centers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We took our time freshening up and enjoying the luxurious bathroom design, which featured a luxurious (there&#39;s that word again) bathtub with a shower encased in a glass chamber through which one could see the opulent bathroom.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61_XOxw99WRgHFjDdjWE1eTAd6q45BmA3XqfSWd2rpVK1QaJOi9gslzQJWJPJKLZT47y6q8y7igwHoQq1JtxqfBQTbRxOu6-32sRdYA7o9r52RqNI8poye2ev4iSdMbUEl411DGlbwt_8yocIheWZDQwX4Vr4mvNpacayZf9UfMUcI4ptFp3a/s4032/IMG_3319.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61_XOxw99WRgHFjDdjWE1eTAd6q45BmA3XqfSWd2rpVK1QaJOi9gslzQJWJPJKLZT47y6q8y7igwHoQq1JtxqfBQTbRxOu6-32sRdYA7o9r52RqNI8poye2ev4iSdMbUEl411DGlbwt_8yocIheWZDQwX4Vr4mvNpacayZf9UfMUcI4ptFp3a/s320/IMG_3319.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Bathroom bliss at Palacio de los Duques Gran Melia in Madrid&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;We had nowhere we had to be until 7:45, when we would meet up with Beltran in the lobby for a tapas hop around the city. So our second breakfast it was, and we took it in a different room, which bordered a lovely inner courtyard garden which later would be filled with conference attendees in socializing mode. This morning we couldn&#39;t help but notice that the crisply uniformed servers all very pretty women, wore their hair in uniform tight buns; and all of them, to a one, carried an air reminiscent of the pretties in the classic Robert Palmer &lt;i&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XcATvu5f9vE&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&quot;Addicted to Love&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/i&gt; video. This would be magnified when what looked like outside talent hostesses appeared when the Fortune 500 conference moved in that night, and those women, uniformly tall and brunette, all wore tight black uniforms and deep red lipstick. That song was in my head for the rest of the week, until it was erased by the beauty of San Sebastian. &lt;b&gt;WARNING: Don&#39;t click the link in that title or it will be in yours all day.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Back up at the room, we made a plan for the day. We had purposely made this day a &quot;day of leisure&quot; to explore on our own and get a nap after an early snack dinner to shake off our jet lag and prep for our tapas adventure. It was in the low 80s and sunny, and explore we did. Pablo had told us that though the marketplace in the Old City was inarguably historic and interesting, there was one in another part of the city that the nannies and mothers shopped which was worth exploring for its lush wares, so we took a cab to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.mercadodelapaz.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Mercado de la Paz&lt;/a&gt;, walked around there, marveling at the fresh food, and then walked back to to hotel through the park, where a huge book fair was taking place, with hundreds of publisher stalls and hundreds of people. All the books were, of course, en Español.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnynQpOKUhj8KeKf2Utyo03M-PEVE8cri0lwyith1dZtk6r2UicAVSbXhMTHFCNONfYjAsI9gmcuEBdY4kd8uEIgqVSOJ12FmHJA5kqZNs3n_BpXxlIxAKQucOxtM_xtdMblcjxdQrmc7jVzYlODnretB8_fxFbmZ5KvQa0nnVmnnW-J61bo2U/s3465/IMG_3309.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3465&quot; data-original-width=&quot;2654&quot; height=&quot;216&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnynQpOKUhj8KeKf2Utyo03M-PEVE8cri0lwyith1dZtk6r2UicAVSbXhMTHFCNONfYjAsI9gmcuEBdY4kd8uEIgqVSOJ12FmHJA5kqZNs3n_BpXxlIxAKQucOxtM_xtdMblcjxdQrmc7jVzYlODnretB8_fxFbmZ5KvQa0nnVmnnW-J61bo2U/w166-h216/IMG_3309.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;166&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;From Mercado de la Paz. Beautiful stuff.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF2W1WjO776doxe8pTG-0dl3jJ3hft1PENS3pz76HuJ6MMcAucwQAluhiZ0eV5BMYztCyK8jGvSYLgVf4UEkDz58ZzsLnKe5ncMJHpCVMMWO28pFUGmm34meOh3RKCjuDrvKzudC1116GOU-kHwa-rexFXebq9M_toyxEkAPQlK_4dZ3OTYBuY/s4032/IMG_3310.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;214&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiF2W1WjO776doxe8pTG-0dl3jJ3hft1PENS3pz76HuJ6MMcAucwQAluhiZ0eV5BMYztCyK8jGvSYLgVf4UEkDz58ZzsLnKe5ncMJHpCVMMWO28pFUGmm34meOh3RKCjuDrvKzudC1116GOU-kHwa-rexFXebq9M_toyxEkAPQlK_4dZ3OTYBuY/w161-h214/IMG_3310.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;161&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;once a fish&quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;At the hotel, down we went for another little nap after playing the only games of Bananagrams we would play on the trip. I, of course, lost every game.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCpeR86CpkzfgvUvDLuWVd69qPLIT0GaWn5yfQxTaCDwxhzRdUX1koaJdqjGJb3cL5I4k_Io4m6O1EZmUzXyFh2E_oFPAUK3bj6_d1RDhEKNpD91mf494m7oTFd70ertSsHjXaEvvIdsV8Hh1p1wgwG4nw6IKX4zBmGSAsuUM3aGygFF7Ez0DV/s4032/IMG_3318.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;162&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCpeR86CpkzfgvUvDLuWVd69qPLIT0GaWn5yfQxTaCDwxhzRdUX1koaJdqjGJb3cL5I4k_Io4m6O1EZmUzXyFh2E_oFPAUK3bj6_d1RDhEKNpD91mf494m7oTFd70ertSsHjXaEvvIdsV8Hh1p1wgwG4nw6IKX4zBmGSAsuUM3aGygFF7Ez0DV/w216-h162/IMG_3318.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;216&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Up from our nap, we dressed, got presentable, and headed downstairs to meet our guide for our next scheduled event, &quot;Evening Tapas Tasting with a Local Insider.&quot; Beltran Caruncho is another charming human--gracious, well spoken, and knowledgeable to a tee. He took us to four places for four very different dining experiences. He had planned to pass through the open market but decided to pass since we had already been through it on our own. That would allow us more time at the other destinations. They were: 1) &lt;a href=&quot;https://english.saladedespiece.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Sala De Espiece&lt;/a&gt;, 2) XXXXXXXX&amp;nbsp; 3)&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://restaurantelacastela.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Restaurante La Castela&lt;/a&gt;, and 3) &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.los5mejores.com/tabernas/tapasporbarriosyzonas/retiro_menorca/taberna-y-media-2/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Taberna &amp;amp; Media&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Briefly now, Scotty me boyo, briefly:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPS_EeG5nralfFsgkKa_q71wpPooqYhzt4I0jPoYlyqlChlSIKbhYnT5mwhcCl-jfS7mURV45w0jJOivyKfmGU0ccksQmjqAhtpVD2J-S2iNjGk5jLpQ77atmsD55isSyzfSE_F7CI_LEAaRZneOXRa19Q1Ly_ItYA2BodbupnQ5gUiOhqHQ0Z/s320/IMG_3326.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Beltran, our guide par excellence!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://photos.app.goo.gl/WHYsfEtFfRY7o8bz8&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinXzrDDuI254UNa9-yo5A3aSb2kzW9_lWFoAoEqP4CPcUElTMlao_Sy2NJWpZ81LMZCoeSoaVJ_l16FYf5LE3zgunJmJMouFbtmOuulOD7RrJL_q5yWDENZUV6bBRptS7A5N0CoP-yeyCbg_45fTN0pFrx8swkld5gg5BQE0aqaUedvpmBqzbt/s320/IMG_3337.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Sala De Despiece was so brilliantly alive that if it had not been for Beltran we may have been completely overwhelmed. He described the restaurant, the clientele (apparently completely local excepting ourselves ) as we drank our beverages and could not stop smiling. We sipped a class of wine or two while we were pampered as celebrities down at the far interior by a tapas creation station. It all shows in&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://photos.app.goo.gl/WHYsfEtFfRY7o8bz8&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;the Google album I made just of the Beltran tapas hop&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;because we had a great deal of pic and some interesting video from that night.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Our second tasting was at the vibrant hot spot &lt;a href=&quot;https://thepointsoflife.boardingarea.com/el-doble-happiest-hour-in-madrid-and-theres-fresh-seafood/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;El Doble&lt;/a&gt;. It was casual, bustling, bright, loud, and jovial, and the garlic butter sauteed shrimp was to die for. Beltran told us that locals called the torn fresh bread we called (in Tennessee parlance) a &quot;soppy,&quot; a &quot;Spanish submarine.&quot; Hilarious, and omg delicious. Here&#39;s a good time for you to open that &lt;a href=&quot;https://photos.app.goo.gl/WHYsfEtFfRY7o8bz8&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;google album&lt;/a&gt;, if you have not thus far. You&#39;ll see that shrimp I mentioned and hear the din yourself! FUN.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPS_EeG5nralfFsgkKa_q71wpPooqYhzt4I0jPoYlyqlChlSIKbhYnT5mwhcCl-jfS7mURV45w0jJOivyKfmGU0ccksQmjqAhtpVD2J-S2iNjGk5jLpQ77atmsD55isSyzfSE_F7CI_LEAaRZneOXRa19Q1Ly_ItYA2BodbupnQ5gUiOhqHQ0Z/s4032/IMG_3326.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;strike&gt;&lt;/strike&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;Lee Ann opined that the owner looked a little grumpy, and Beltran agreed, adding that he only smiles when posing for pictures with customers/admirers. I&#39;m not sure because I see he smiles a bit in the video and he was immensely gracious when asked for a pic. Here&#39;s that admirers food groupies photo with us and Jesus! :)&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuUR18tdW4NW8bcW85Znvrhnp3M0QZmSJk9hHaeQ6ZeZuu6fUFTnIc70oeRKxkw28bsyIVkg6ZnzUekzLSNZuuS_qJ5rSbe7sb78danH_Qhq6Cub7-5njirhlzXKq-NsUIfGbshhPj_XgT0tAc7dzyk1khtKOqP1Qw0Xa3bts5f4zwT06FX2k/s969/Selice.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;969&quot; data-original-width=&quot;728&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmuUR18tdW4NW8bcW85Znvrhnp3M0QZmSJk9hHaeQ6ZeZuu6fUFTnIc70oeRKxkw28bsyIVkg6ZnzUekzLSNZuuS_qJ5rSbe7sb78danH_Qhq6Cub7-5njirhlzXKq-NsUIfGbshhPj_XgT0tAc7dzyk1khtKOqP1Qw0Xa3bts5f4zwT06FX2k/s320/Selice.jpg&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Big smiles at El Doble&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;From there we walked to&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;http://restaurantelacastela.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Restaurante La Castela&lt;/a&gt;, Beltran telling us about the Michelle Obama visit in 2016. She wanted local tapas and refused to allow Security to clear the place out for her visit. She wanted to dine with the people and feel that oh so comfy vibe that the place is famous for. There are pics from our dining there, and a couple good videos, at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://photos.app.goo.gl/WHYsfEtFfRY7o8bz8&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;the Google album of the Beltran tapas hop&lt;/a&gt;, but here&#39;s one memorable snap behind the bar just before we departed. I recall we had oxtail for the first time; but, for sure, not the last!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDgwb5Fh0OEsPcBBPT8Zx2jGMV3TvD5gg3QwKYYFR_2KUmgOsNft1etOUuFO8W7F-aWYIOVOypmS-lDBNo3zGJ2lpDu7i-u8Ho2pYhFJ8Rf-cE5glw1jsMZD0uxa0uDKDb4XiYZzg5P7ukLXsBndrzVQxgWZZtHs7r2xiw1FyJwum7i1L-x1x/s1292/IMG_2764.jpg&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;969&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1292&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeDgwb5Fh0OEsPcBBPT8Zx2jGMV3TvD5gg3QwKYYFR_2KUmgOsNft1etOUuFO8W7F-aWYIOVOypmS-lDBNo3zGJ2lpDu7i-u8Ho2pYhFJ8Rf-cE5glw1jsMZD0uxa0uDKDb4XiYZzg5P7ukLXsBndrzVQxgWZZtHs7r2xiw1FyJwum7i1L-x1x/s320/IMG_2764.jpg&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;The crew at La Castela!&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;We closed our night out around midnight, at the bar at another popular tapas foodery nearby. Amazingly, it was full at midnight. Not amazing to Beltran, since a portion of the culinary-loving Madrid population is just midway through their own tapas hops around that time. I honestly have no memory of what we ate there. We may have just had a cocktail, a night-hat, a closer. There was a full restaurant, cozy as can be, around the corner from the bar, but we sat at the bar and debriefed with our new best friend Beltran. It had been lovely.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;We parted ways, grabbed a cab back to the land of the giant Velasqueses, maybe watched some of &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.google.com/search?q=where+to+watch+the+diplomat&amp;amp;rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS1034US1034&amp;amp;oq=watch+The+Diplomat&amp;amp;aqs=chrome.1.0i512l10.8975j0j15&amp;amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;amp;ie=UTF-8&amp;amp;si=ACFMAn94WTi12B2Vb82L0JjWBcqkaeLm5_v7SsJOhV0k-BpVnjJAJlvjtbQdk6Wvm2Usrkvd554eDnGp2yph3yGsuQQA00nZrZOtT-reqBmhTEy37T439o8cBVcsMk6sGhS61O8T-f2e39wayrjUysqAYZfvD-yl3yHLGpFT1o1uc_jkMzQqHYbvLHPmFTK9zi5dAy7Rx4vGXsIggVtgDRm9P2TD2obwow%3D%3D&amp;amp;ictx=1&amp;amp;ved=2ahUKEwii3_Lyt4-BAxUtnWoFHQJwD8cQyNoBKAB6BAgTEAA&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;The Diplomat&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/a&gt; on Lee Ann&#39;s laptop (an aside: most of the hotels we stayed in had clunky interfaces for streaming media on the room displays. Be sure to have several electrical convertors if you venture to Spain (and a you-friendly laptop for media). We snuggled together and slipped into dreamland.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Tomorrow we would be Leaving on a Jet Train. JK, but &lt;a href=&quot;https://open.spotify.com/album/3CDM5os6kA4y6mYYGukMIZ?si=WM3R1eSPTaS6qEVmKjHbIw&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;listen, just for fun&lt;/a&gt;. No: we would be leaving on a high-speed train ride to Cordoba, then to Seville via automobile. Yes: another black Mercedes, another driver, two new guides, and another glorious couple of stops on that trip of our dreams.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;Catch ya later.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/09/madrid-day-4-spain-part-iv.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh61_XOxw99WRgHFjDdjWE1eTAd6q45BmA3XqfSWd2rpVK1QaJOi9gslzQJWJPJKLZT47y6q8y7igwHoQq1JtxqfBQTbRxOu6-32sRdYA7o9r52RqNI8poye2ev4iSdMbUEl411DGlbwt_8yocIheWZDQwX4Vr4mvNpacayZf9UfMUcI4ptFp3a/s72-c/IMG_3319.HEIC" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-4638177007703953240</guid><pubDate>Thu, 24 Aug 2023 16:17:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-08-24T11:38:10.556-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">drumming</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">learning drums</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">music collaboration</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">recording</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Samply</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Tim Buell</category><title>Tim Buell (Creator Spotlight)</title><description>&lt;div&gt;HEY! This is my son-in-law who is extraordinarily talented in myriad ways! You&#39;re welcome!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;iframe frameborder=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;270&quot; src=&quot;https://youtube.com/embed/CfMn5l2AGUM?si=EL5OBPSUHgpBxFu4&quot; width=&quot;480&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;If you find it of value to your knowledge system, there&#39;s more &lt;a href=&quot;https://youtu.be/CfMn5l2AGUM?si=nCK3PNzxv__ElRHC&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;at YouTube&lt;/a&gt; and of course at &lt;a href=&quot;https://timbuellmusic.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Tim&#39;s website&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;If you are a musician and want to play with a free online collaboration app: &lt;a href=&quot;https://samply.app&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Grab it&lt;/a&gt;!&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/08/tim-buell-creator-spotlight.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/CfMn5l2AGUM/default.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-5375772581778164279</guid><pubDate>Sat, 12 Aug 2023 20:42:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-08-28T07:09:13.952-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cultures</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Espana</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">hospitality</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">people</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travel</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">vacation</category><title>Madrid Day 2 (Spain: Part III)</title><description>&lt;p&gt;What the...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It&#39;s 12 August, 2023 and I haven&#39;t even gotten started, not really, with our second day of our 17 day journey across Spain. Hmmmmm.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&#39;m gonna drop it, I think.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Well.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Okay. No. Here goes...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpDC-X6aZ2dJlRpJGF14YOcgmw6aXbYH3vun-Z359bk2Oj413b8H6Q_n9tzmzTdkMKl5SGVMHHy2-ogpzTlWlOzb8n6EHM7sipibVX3HF7DCv_T8W671IPu0qWwhVC2WB-hNqy0wo8c7yk9wrWTxgMrd5JckdpwGi5r9bQLz7Gia-kcTtvOX-/s4032/IMG_3267.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpDC-X6aZ2dJlRpJGF14YOcgmw6aXbYH3vun-Z359bk2Oj413b8H6Q_n9tzmzTdkMKl5SGVMHHy2-ogpzTlWlOzb8n6EHM7sipibVX3HF7DCv_T8W671IPu0qWwhVC2WB-hNqy0wo8c7yk9wrWTxgMrd5JckdpwGi5r9bQLz7Gia-kcTtvOX-/s320/IMG_3267.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;View from our Palacio balcony&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;We awakened in our lovely hotel and made our way to the hotel bar where we filled our plates with lovely food and sat at a lovely table. It took another day before we realized we could get breakfast to order, but honestly the buffet was quite, well, lovely.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOY8gBs9ckUlRKv1CcALM_otyzgqHVM1IkXbub2mZGRVuuUnyLF6z_rhXf7cnsN3cYtHMdmUTwAy1Tcb4jSgsHJNB0lq9VVNcBaK6FkJYeXwm4gjIVluMzvEYbypp6kRjgn42KU4bbLiCeFhyCECm3dIF4RzSIXxyWZcu0Z8hNw8uuPECymOkM/s4032/IMG_3269.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjOY8gBs9ckUlRKv1CcALM_otyzgqHVM1IkXbub2mZGRVuuUnyLF6z_rhXf7cnsN3cYtHMdmUTwAy1Tcb4jSgsHJNB0lq9VVNcBaK6FkJYeXwm4gjIVluMzvEYbypp6kRjgn42KU4bbLiCeFhyCECm3dIF4RzSIXxyWZcu0Z8hNw8uuPECymOkM/s320/IMG_3269.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;We enjoyed a delicious breakfast, then met our first guide in the hotel lobby. Pablo was gracious, funny, and smart, and he immediately said he&#39;d flipped our day (we had two tours with him that day) so that we were going to the Prado in the morning, not in the afternoon as our schedule predicted. The lines at the National Palace were overflowing with tourists and school groups and his experience told him this was the thing to do. I loved him already. I&#39;m a fan of flexibility, and the wonders of the day proved him right. The Palace was only a few blocks from our hotel, and we passed it by for later, heading instead to the Prado. Indicative of Pablo&#39;s teacher mind-set (he has a masters degree in Art History), here is my first picture taken on our first guided tour in Spain:&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXLP3Mn1k2DSEpp4nxxUv1F9QSK4PctmNzZltAaoiYwIYzTHJiH_wS6ZU2rA4wEnsmRicNs-Sx_idLITc5428kwlQ2lz44iqZZWvFgikEm7STrhssS_xm8-wLN5qZ9IMiAM3g0-_anlAb_bL81Frx2bOprxkg6KqycslBm76YkJStrUOd0Yhc/s4032/IMG_3270.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnXLP3Mn1k2DSEpp4nxxUv1F9QSK4PctmNzZltAaoiYwIYzTHJiH_wS6ZU2rA4wEnsmRicNs-Sx_idLITc5428kwlQ2lz44iqZZWvFgikEm7STrhssS_xm8-wLN5qZ9IMiAM3g0-_anlAb_bL81Frx2bOprxkg6KqycslBm76YkJStrUOd0Yhc/s320/IMG_3270.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;Pablo&#39;s first pop quiz: &quot;What kind of tree is this?&quot;&lt;br /&gt;Answer:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; font-style: italic; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiowONtC3rKuVQakzH4rFMgUKgt1lNEnWKZGqgn2v5BsCjWj3ytADnrJ12iF24M9_DWn34I3NiElHj-F1MQ5f_pSXoHZ-MiHNe_AGSS4ai9keKWVv7CDxmy9DMcye0rYEULBq4VUrb6TcYfFD7k5_8K8LSKiMDvMBaKXwRg5DWifcxiufgo_5kW/s223/Screenshot%202023-08-12%20091826.png&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;36&quot; data-original-width=&quot;223&quot; height=&quot;20&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiowONtC3rKuVQakzH4rFMgUKgt1lNEnWKZGqgn2v5BsCjWj3ytADnrJ12iF24M9_DWn34I3NiElHj-F1MQ5f_pSXoHZ-MiHNe_AGSS4ai9keKWVv7CDxmy9DMcye0rYEULBq4VUrb6TcYfFD7k5_8K8LSKiMDvMBaKXwRg5DWifcxiufgo_5kW/w130-h20/Screenshot%202023-08-12%20091826.png&quot; width=&quot;130&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; font-size: x-large; font-style: italic; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: medium; font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;If you will notice the severely trimmed older growth, it&#39;s the result of &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Filomena&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Storm Filomena&lt;/a&gt;, the disastrous snow storm at the break of 2021 which crippled the city with the biggest snowfall in over 50 years, resulting in over 150,000 trees being destroyed or severely damaged. Estimates were that over 450,000 more trees were damaged or killed in the surrounding woodlands, including the National Forest that snuggles up to the western boundaries of the city. Once Pablo had focused our attention to that, we saw evidences of it throughout the city. We continued to walk and chat, briefly and only briefly to discuss American politics and Spanish political divide, strikingly similar to ours with its ultra-conservatives and liberals/leftists. The players change but it really is all about money and power wherever you go, isn&#39;t it? The story of the current King Filipe VI, a powerful cultural icon but politically not so, and his dethroned father the former king, is just fascinating. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61502609&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Here&#39;s a good related article from BBC&lt;/a&gt;. Consider it a teaser. You&#39;re welcome.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; font-size: x-large; font-style: italic; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: medium; font-style: normal;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Let&#39;s see. We wended our way through Madrid&#39;s streets, making our way to the Prado. Along the way we stopped at a hilltop park to view a panorama of the city to the west. Of course I had to try to capture it but the pano does not do justice to the vista of city and not-too-distant National Park.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2S6Ip2nZCFBi9pz3DX018rHxjpcnbjtRRgBQqfrk74m0en02DFyLMuvA-Eim6hJTDoQVc4Jckn9WZCFOrlIDFE4Co7kK5Q93q1paWQ4RI6RfXXfcINKPCB0y89sPjUzQXiwDsZf3n3X_yFaCyqHlY6sbqQkDHeQBSE3H-xl_fbStdj_eEEik/s8402/IMG_3271.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3832&quot; data-original-width=&quot;8402&quot; height=&quot;293&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik2S6Ip2nZCFBi9pz3DX018rHxjpcnbjtRRgBQqfrk74m0en02DFyLMuvA-Eim6hJTDoQVc4Jckn9WZCFOrlIDFE4Co7kK5Q93q1paWQ4RI6RfXXfcINKPCB0y89sPjUzQXiwDsZf3n3X_yFaCyqHlY6sbqQkDHeQBSE3H-xl_fbStdj_eEEik/w640-h293/IMG_3271.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/06/puerta-barroca-en-el-dia-internacional.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;I&#39;ve already blogged about the Prado visit, but if you missed it, here.&lt;/a&gt; The time we spent there was focused and immersive and couldn&#39;t have been better. I can&#39;t imagine just buying a ticket and being overwhelmed by it all. Thank you, again, Pablo.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Then there was that little happy accident where Velazquez&#39;s &quot;&lt;i&gt;Los Meninas&lt;/i&gt;&quot; completely stole my focus and then again in&lt;a href=&quot;https://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/06/and-later-in-barcelona-at-picasso-museum.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt; the roomful of derivative paintings in the Picasso museum the next day&lt;/a&gt;, all inspired by that Velazquez. An epiphanous series of events.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;One thing I neglected to mention in the earlier post was the final stop within the Prado. We had walked the museum in a focused way, and I really enjoyed watching the painters copying the masterpieces. Pablo told us they got a museum pass for something like two months and could store their work within in between visits to paint/study/copy. Here&#39;s one artist working on a reproduction of a big Rubens:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1EgqOltHig443cIiq9TBMrIMxdKjUv7W9GD4oq5dEjAUHd1Hl_Dn7KMSN9TGWk39cNbgo1DUn2wf6ZbMRsngz5MclF-ZsdKKe3AvANt5JqWEXjVwHz8lGjF1hafsHBCfXb2aLeGCrVV0ITTy1LbtoZtmQMqvPqSN4wdc0jw2xvAaLNBt1nbd8/s4032/IMG_3284.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh1EgqOltHig443cIiq9TBMrIMxdKjUv7W9GD4oq5dEjAUHd1Hl_Dn7KMSN9TGWk39cNbgo1DUn2wf6ZbMRsngz5MclF-ZsdKKe3AvANt5JqWEXjVwHz8lGjF1hafsHBCfXb2aLeGCrVV0ITTy1LbtoZtmQMqvPqSN4wdc0jw2xvAaLNBt1nbd8/s320/IMG_3284.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Now that&#39;s a fearless artist! Copying Rubens&#39; &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.atxfinearts.com/blogs/news/the-judgement-of-paris-rubens&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&quot;The Judgement of Paris&quot;&lt;/a&gt; in the Prado.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;Finally we descended stairs to visit the Goya &quot;Black Paintings&quot; exhibit. I have no photos but this was another intensely moving experience for me, and the story behind them is another fantastic learning experience. &lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Paintings&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;I suggest you click on over to Wikipedia for that.&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;Pablo related the story of Francisco Goya&#39;s embittered isolation in a country house and his use of the walls in the house for canvases upon which the near-deaf painter expressed just that: despair and embitterment. The story of the reclamation of these works of art is in itself a fascinating read. All 14 of them are available for viewing online at the above-mentioned Wikipedia article.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;Here&#39;s the one that brought tears to my own eyes, but you may have a dark favorite of your own.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6nZmyDPgm92nBC98iaKhlhFtfusoH8VfZiBz6hE5DEG7oS_tiFqeOGo_Y9VTm7thXMXOha36shm7s1gcrXc4MmNu6oe0sr2BduUvGs76PKu5aUkSLH9a4FvhX-wR9WnjwHkNzTm5v4hblFU8LbI5nlOTvF31zPn7ZDmKs2yCEjv9_2OI-rsNO/s2952/Goya_Dog.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2952&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1739&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6nZmyDPgm92nBC98iaKhlhFtfusoH8VfZiBz6hE5DEG7oS_tiFqeOGo_Y9VTm7thXMXOha36shm7s1gcrXc4MmNu6oe0sr2BduUvGs76PKu5aUkSLH9a4FvhX-wR9WnjwHkNzTm5v4hblFU8LbI5nlOTvF31zPn7ZDmKs2yCEjv9_2OI-rsNO/s320/Goya_Dog.jpg&quot; width=&quot;189&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Goya: Dog&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;I know it&#39;s a dog. But there in the company of the other thirteen despairing images, it hurt in context.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;We parted company with our guide and lunched in the square of a nearby neighborhood and had some good grub.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPRj6g5xxKfc1aCshF1WyXjRrLGw-S5ZKo4fCx89t_a0bQ3TZrg1Wn2eD6k9diPQaKHWMnAJcnF4_88n3IPll2lvX3jk-cve64FYQHQs1p3pnE6GNdaTj3jXX0vEXA7nhA5z3aH3JKSinLj3d2CbRYsoK0TIFjLyyDIG2CQ0B5UsdfbBGXp6g6/s4032/IMG_3287.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;227&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPRj6g5xxKfc1aCshF1WyXjRrLGw-S5ZKo4fCx89t_a0bQ3TZrg1Wn2eD6k9diPQaKHWMnAJcnF4_88n3IPll2lvX3jk-cve64FYQHQs1p3pnE6GNdaTj3jXX0vEXA7nhA5z3aH3JKSinLj3d2CbRYsoK0TIFjLyyDIG2CQ0B5UsdfbBGXp6g6/w170-h227/IMG_3287.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;170&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmf_F4_7qp5qVCjT7EOo9bq5GLFSaxvZdw-jtdIG_TsQ7Rpg3cCGV902oAkVBOmEx-8u9XQwwMCzQIIUmBmd_PF6BJLhLz98AgWY7J9yEBAmyQE_zph6MGOnv4BcLgg9NeLddEtcIEGNUmoq5q4TJwUqEoEmCVDvLoEtPUiJ0EQfFtwMEHf1TJ/s4032/IMG_3290.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;173&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmf_F4_7qp5qVCjT7EOo9bq5GLFSaxvZdw-jtdIG_TsQ7Rpg3cCGV902oAkVBOmEx-8u9XQwwMCzQIIUmBmd_PF6BJLhLz98AgWY7J9yEBAmyQE_zph6MGOnv4BcLgg9NeLddEtcIEGNUmoq5q4TJwUqEoEmCVDvLoEtPUiJ0EQfFtwMEHf1TJ/w231-h173/IMG_3290.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;231&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt; After lunch, we met back up with him outside our hotel for round two of the day. The Royal Palace:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.patrimonionacional.es/en/visita/royal-palace-madrid&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The official website&lt;/a&gt; has this to say by way of introduction:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: #ececec; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;The Royal Palace of Madrid is the largest in Western Europe and one of the largest in the world. With over 135,000 square metres and 3,418 rooms, it has witnessed centuries of Spanish history. It is one of the few official seat of a Head of State that is open to the public. Almost 2 million visitors come every year to discover its rooms, works of art and treasures that are unique in the world.&quot;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;You know, I don&#39;t think I&#39;ll go into great detail about that tour, but it was, as expected, liberally described by Pablo as we toured, from the multitude of clocks, to the reappearance of Hercules statuary and other art featuring him in many of the rooms, to the giant painting of current King Felipe VI and the story behind his marriage to his wife, formerly a national news anchor. The official website is maybe a little clunky to navigate but it has very detailed information and images of the vast collection of historical objects in the building. Well worth the time for us.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We bid farewell to Pablo, hit the hotel for a quick nap, arose and cabbed to our dinner reservation at Lobito De Mar, an upscale but casual fine dining experience and a project of famed chef Dani Garcia. I&#39;ll admit we may have been too tired to really enjoy that first epicurean stop, but it was fine, and I loved the foodery&#39;s commitment to the oceans of the world. We had some awesome shrimp on tableside-prepared guacamole, hake, a fish new to me, and I believe that&#39;s sea bass in the last shot. &lt;a href=&quot;https://grupodanigarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/CARTAS/LOBITO/MADRID/EN/LOBITOMADRID_CARTA.pdf?16918732431&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Here&#39;s a menu for your perusal.&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_w_jnFIi1b0Kt5c3p3KsuKTgTPhp6JMZaAXHlvxVXmyBQlrP-vnc51kpBGjqDH-82w4vjtXW7_MZMnWrYNncvfbyv9H62M_rCVdPA-01Ogpb4Z4msVlw3VJqvWKu0EF2M-3MmpNUHeVfK49Te5HoLbdjlrqgVhW2cxHCa24Fhb3Ph6oCfYOWT/s4032/IMG_3302.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;166&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_w_jnFIi1b0Kt5c3p3KsuKTgTPhp6JMZaAXHlvxVXmyBQlrP-vnc51kpBGjqDH-82w4vjtXW7_MZMnWrYNncvfbyv9H62M_rCVdPA-01Ogpb4Z4msVlw3VJqvWKu0EF2M-3MmpNUHeVfK49Te5HoLbdjlrqgVhW2cxHCa24Fhb3Ph6oCfYOWT/w125-h166/IMG_3302.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;125&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLr63n7Ge0jbXRmr4btyOBk3QvnTPaiznIB7tPW4_s6tgktiuq-L2z5DIPxDKoREyLDSXhcAOeuT5o4kKYWg1hndYAYotxPwQFbBROJMlfDuh6c9Ryrf2IuGMjgDEeMXduhtESLd6jZYEo3O2xyvIdcFabVbhqaLhV79uc8ElG2FAYCI3zycTM/s4032/IMG_3301.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;166&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLr63n7Ge0jbXRmr4btyOBk3QvnTPaiznIB7tPW4_s6tgktiuq-L2z5DIPxDKoREyLDSXhcAOeuT5o4kKYWg1hndYAYotxPwQFbBROJMlfDuh6c9Ryrf2IuGMjgDEeMXduhtESLd6jZYEo3O2xyvIdcFabVbhqaLhV79uc8ElG2FAYCI3zycTM/w125-h166/IMG_3301.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;125&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSmbic_hehLql3Ik7l4ncwpr7S1vmZdvoN6EXDyUoAqrmxXIxgd2G89ZYhxeI1VYM6Iz2ib8BXVyLy38Whe636SUp5ojgB3BIs74bgQ8ZL5_JHf3B1uB2vb2MOCyklv2M5oO-Mp5ny0fEuLDuMmX2MKQRX6dFR7zBVz4ntInHwC_QNqJ7XIjtk/s4032/IMG_3298.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;166&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSmbic_hehLql3Ik7l4ncwpr7S1vmZdvoN6EXDyUoAqrmxXIxgd2G89ZYhxeI1VYM6Iz2ib8BXVyLy38Whe636SUp5ojgB3BIs74bgQ8ZL5_JHf3B1uB2vb2MOCyklv2M5oO-Mp5ny0fEuLDuMmX2MKQRX6dFR7zBVz4ntInHwC_QNqJ7XIjtk/w125-h166/IMG_3298.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;125&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPRp43HZkXCf-I986vjugvqnaHy8eXXBhx0oAFkQdJSDEjXdO-GAYGVH1d8cNxuqGz_iixncyD26CxskLV1ekgDidS-AR31PhMouEl-bDc8iqF4a8NHwVD_4Ws48uM4mmcAAqV5smwtQ5k_JO0G3QjJR84VOytz3FyPhLQswcIjUNxw3oAJnrz/s4032/IMG_3304.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;166&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPRp43HZkXCf-I986vjugvqnaHy8eXXBhx0oAFkQdJSDEjXdO-GAYGVH1d8cNxuqGz_iixncyD26CxskLV1ekgDidS-AR31PhMouEl-bDc8iqF4a8NHwVD_4Ws48uM4mmcAAqV5smwtQ5k_JO0G3QjJR84VOytz3FyPhLQswcIjUNxw3oAJnrz/w125-h166/IMG_3304.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;125&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;And here&#39;s a quote from me, jotted down online while I was still attempting to keep up with notes on places visited on Google Maps: &lt;i&gt;&quot;&lt;span face=&quot;Roboto, Arial, sans-serif&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #70757a; font-size: 14px; white-space-collapse: preserve;&quot;&gt;Interesting small place with reservations, sat at a small 2-top, had hake for the first time. Good service, but I don&#39;t know, a little fussy and maybe I was not really caught up from flying. Sort of a fuzzy memory of not having enjoyed it as much as I perhaps should have.&quot;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Taking a pass on dessert, we caught another cab home. There are ~60,000 cabs in Madrid and it&#39;s really the way to go if you don&#39;t have to go far. Every single cab driver was nice and hospitable. Only once or twice in our cabbing experience did we feel we were taken circuitous routs to inflate the cost, but that may have been a reach since we didn&#39;t know the traffic in Madrid, which seems active pretty much all the time and is riddled with tiny tiny streets.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; font-size: x-large; font-style: italic; text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I&#39;ll stop here, as my lovely daughter and her lovely husband are coming over in a few minutes so my lovely wife can join us out somewhere for a lovely dinner after her lovely day of work. Stay lovely and morrrrrrre later!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/08/madrid-day-2-spain-part-iii.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggpDC-X6aZ2dJlRpJGF14YOcgmw6aXbYH3vun-Z359bk2Oj413b8H6Q_n9tzmzTdkMKl5SGVMHHy2-ogpzTlWlOzb8n6EHM7sipibVX3HF7DCv_T8W671IPu0qWwhVC2WB-hNqy0wo8c7yk9wrWTxgMrd5JckdpwGi5r9bQLz7Gia-kcTtvOX-/s72-c/IMG_3267.HEIC" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-1688070362640808694</guid><pubDate>Tue, 18 Jul 2023 19:30:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-08-28T07:06:54.217-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cultures</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Espana</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">hospitality</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">people</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travel</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">vacation</category><title>Madrid (Spain, Part II)</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;B&lt;/span&gt;efore&lt;b&gt; &lt;/b&gt;we get to Day 2, we should comment on the rest of our first day in Spain, dontcha think?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It was quite fine.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Checking into the Palacio went well. We sat in chairs in the lobby of the Palacio de los Duques Gran Melia underneath an imposing mural of the aforementioned Marguerite and checked in. We were, of course, tired from our transatlantic flight and, maybe partly influenced by the freely flowing Cava during the process, we simply said yes when asked if we wanted the upgrade to access for a &quot;private room&quot; lounge on the lobby floor with tapas and an open bar. Breakfast was also included but we went for that upgrade. I think it was a good thing but Lee Ann thinks we should not have done it. We did use it several times and it was relaxing and mostly very private. It also hosted our one and only Bananagrams games on the trip.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We were led to our room and it was beautiful. Pretty spacious, a beautiful 3rd floor balcony view of Madrid, and a huge portrait of just the Marguerite. We spent some time in the room unpacking and, adhering to advice we had been given about jet lag, fiddled about the room before walking down the street to a music store suggested by our hotel baggage handler on seeing my uke, then on through charming graffitied streets lined with small cafes and shops to the Royal Palace (which we would tour on day 2), awash with tourists but not in a crowded way, on down the hill past the Senado de Espanol, classical buildings, a square where a group of Asian dancers were being filmed in front of a fountain. Finally, maybe an hour after leaving the hotel, very very tired, we made our way through narrow streets and alleys back to hotel, on the way to the room checking out the hotel&#39;s rooftop:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyBCdra8Dn4Pjb_sinDX9B67v_ScAgD6zv5Sdtmdyj2hafRvsxRv5qV-7dQljWhOQEbb-oU2OTeVwxqCtrlASYzZ-eIDEs_O5SINGKB-ALo6L4qxNPLuKb6REjRRquG0R5DmHwGfal7FwgPxmx3imAsFZRhIkPaLlOohAt-N7QbFIyPdHVgZPa/s16054/IMG_3262.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3701&quot; data-original-width=&quot;16054&quot; height=&quot;142&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyBCdra8Dn4Pjb_sinDX9B67v_ScAgD6zv5Sdtmdyj2hafRvsxRv5qV-7dQljWhOQEbb-oU2OTeVwxqCtrlASYzZ-eIDEs_O5SINGKB-ALo6L4qxNPLuKb6REjRRquG0R5DmHwGfal7FwgPxmx3imAsFZRhIkPaLlOohAt-N7QbFIyPdHVgZPa/w617-h142/IMG_3262.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;617&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Back in the room, we ordered room service food, a roasted avocado with rice and a club sandwich on naan with unripe red tomato and something like cheese wiz (fries were good but how can you screw up fries?) and a beer from the mini-bar (I could not find opener in the room so I pried it open with a table knife). It was the only truly disappointing meal we were served on our trip. We slept for 2 hours, per jet lag advice, arose and walked again, this time after soliciting the direction of Catherine, our concierge on duty (Grace&#39;s shift was over). Catherine&#39;s advice led us to picturesque and charming streetways thronging with pedestrians, to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g187514-d6367286-Reviews-Mercado_de_San_Miguel-Madrid.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Marketplace San Miguel&lt;/a&gt;, the tourist version of a market, but cred-heavy because it was built on the bones of the first marketplace in Madrid.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I got an Estrella Damm beer&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiVtzB9JEth-JmIoVR8vTelcZe8m8TWfEnoYAcCqCxhSxRN2HTQ3I_a6uf29Q5Sbr_jgzZN2svH2UCS4eRhj4Hpa0UCIACVJc0dMnprfYOWaSuuGYOdgGpK-mG4EJhx2vp78MKT8nDb5pltm7AN1N2952NwW1fhxXFaZLhjLoFSWAvOBRUOuST&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;296&quot; data-original-width=&quot;170&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgiVtzB9JEth-JmIoVR8vTelcZe8m8TWfEnoYAcCqCxhSxRN2HTQ3I_a6uf29Q5Sbr_jgzZN2svH2UCS4eRhj4Hpa0UCIACVJc0dMnprfYOWaSuuGYOdgGpK-mG4EJhx2vp78MKT8nDb5pltm7AN1N2952NwW1fhxXFaZLhjLoFSWAvOBRUOuST&quot; width=&quot;138&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;Spain&#39;s Beer,&quot; Estrella Damm&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;(my fave Spanish beer so far) and Lee Ann had a glass of a nice white wine. We found it interesting how one would get a glass at one vendor then leave the empty anywhere in the market. We learned later that the vendors sorted all that out at the end of each night. We wended our way through crowds of tourists and (some) locals enjoying tapas at the market, then returned to Daniel&#39;s oyster bar booth where we split 8 freakin&#39; delicious oysters.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: justify;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ANf7EbN0QUaz2HBl2yH2an5cZ-pqPOe6rHCX9qfm3E_cOOzFD2BkboFSWwZPGZpN7zOqMCBO5FuiNqk70z7wGUijQH7WwnrCLW_Pc122E8N1ywcMVZ13WBsoxMDpF8vtbVxq12IKbt88hWnpdhvtaF888Q5glAylCeMeiFQiePlQM6BIZR-B/s969/Daniel&#39;s%20oysters.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;969&quot; data-original-width=&quot;728&quot; height=&quot;183&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7ANf7EbN0QUaz2HBl2yH2an5cZ-pqPOe6rHCX9qfm3E_cOOzFD2BkboFSWwZPGZpN7zOqMCBO5FuiNqk70z7wGUijQH7WwnrCLW_Pc122E8N1ywcMVZ13WBsoxMDpF8vtbVxq12IKbt88hWnpdhvtaF888Q5glAylCeMeiFQiePlQM6BIZR-B/w137-h183/Daniel&#39;s%20oysters.jpg&quot; width=&quot;137&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;table cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQ5UdgxAHd7X-Mc3HaTfla8emelB12zI9pWqp8UwndEv_lIkXfxhEqmU3W_GMKhBa6pPUNgwBWJzc7869aXzNARuOlfIbsIiH1e8NLR3C5NjBtN-D_X47ZQ_gGMIOUPTfugELmibKfG7L0G-HIQq8slfdJRS3Xx83ppby24kgDm6fF4BqJw8K/s1292/marketplacemadrid.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;969&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1292&quot; height=&quot;183&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCQ5UdgxAHd7X-Mc3HaTfla8emelB12zI9pWqp8UwndEv_lIkXfxhEqmU3W_GMKhBa6pPUNgwBWJzc7869aXzNARuOlfIbsIiH1e8NLR3C5NjBtN-D_X47ZQ_gGMIOUPTfugELmibKfG7L0G-HIQq8slfdJRS3Xx83ppby24kgDm6fF4BqJw8K/w245-h183/marketplacemadrid.jpg&quot; width=&quot;245&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Marketplace San Miquel, Madrid, ES&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Getting tired, but just happy to be out in the world together, we&amp;nbsp; walked back to hotel in light but steady rain, stopping in at the Royal Church of Saint James and Saint John the Baptist in the Plaza de Santiago (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://bit.ly/churchofjamesandjohn&quot; style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;https://bit.ly/churchofjamesandjohn&lt;/a&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;).&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We stopped at that &quot;private room&quot; and realize we were too zonked to go to Four Seasons Hotel so we cancelled our reservation (our dinner the next night was one of several gourmet restaurants run by Dani Garcia and his first had been at that hotel). Up to the comfy room, we passed out. I am so in love with my honey.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Next, Day 2. Really.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/07/madrid-spain-part-ii.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyBCdra8Dn4Pjb_sinDX9B67v_ScAgD6zv5Sdtmdyj2hafRvsxRv5qV-7dQljWhOQEbb-oU2OTeVwxqCtrlASYzZ-eIDEs_O5SINGKB-ALo6L4qxNPLuKb6REjRRquG0R5DmHwGfal7FwgPxmx3imAsFZRhIkPaLlOohAt-N7QbFIyPdHVgZPa/s72-w617-h142-c/IMG_3262.HEIC" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-6596694393604794152</guid><pubDate>Tue, 04 Jul 2023 13:15:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-07-17T13:02:57.305-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">cultures</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Espana</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fun</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">hospitality</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">people</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travel</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">vacation</category><title>July the Fourth Be With You -- Spain, Part I</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;O&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/span&gt;kay, it doesn&#39;t have the same weight as &quot;May the Fourth...&quot; but here we are. Nearly mid-way through a very hot summer and up at dawn on the sofa downstairs where I flopped down around 3 in the morning after walking my neurotic but much loved Watson downstairs.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;He doesn&#39;t do it every morning, but enough that Lee Ann and I have a tacit understanding that we will take turns dealing with it. Sometimes that might mean cajoling all nearly 90 pounds of him back up onto the bed with our partner and re-retiring upon said bed; sometimes it means padding down the steps with him because he has just told us, in that psychically conveyed way that dogs have of saying, for example, &quot;Hey Dad, Hey Dad, it&#39;s time to move downstairs but I need ya to come with me because just because...&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We&#39;re lucky that our leather sectional sofa is very comfy. We slept all night on it twice last week, and come to think of it he didn&#39;t once slap his tail against the blinds and say it was time to go upstairs...hmmmm...&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Lots of ellipses in life...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;So, I likely won&#39;t get this posted today but I did want to begin reflecting on our 17 day trip to Spain. I&#39;ve posted on Instagerm (sic) the two drawings I did but I&#39;ll put &#39;em in the blog as I come to them in the space/time continuum I&#39;m beginning to travel as I write. This is all for me, by the way, so you don&#39;t have to keep reading. But...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Day 1 &lt;/b&gt;was a travel day and we had packed up the day before and had our luggage by the door when we arose early. We had done a pretty good job of getting things in the 3 bags and two carry-ons we were taking. I also carried my tenor ukulele. No paints or mediums, just a sketchbook and a little box of pencils. We took a Lyft and boy was that ride &quot;interesting.&quot; Gary picked us up in his (I think) Toyota Corolla, a black coupe, which was fitted out for pandemic with a plexi barrier between front and back. Of course he had a full-sized skeleton in the passenger seat up front and a paper fan hanging on the plexi for for passenger air conditioning. Now, some Uber and Lyft drivers are humans of few words. Not Gary. We knew everything about him by the time we unloaded at BNA curbside, including his recent medical history and the fact that he was a production designer who set up shows for Jimmy Buffet and others and was driving Lyft because he had developed chronic back issues. It was the non-stop Gary Show the whole way, and it provided a colorful beginning. Lee Ann has a few pics but we&#39;ll just leave Gary to your imagination.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why were we going to Spain anyway? Well, because it had been oh around two or three decades since we had taken a really serious vacation together, and because I am &quot;retired&quot; and Lee Ann works most of her waking hours feeding Nashville at her grab-and-go gourmet kitchen and store, &lt;a href=&quot;https://tinwings.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Tinwings&lt;/a&gt;. I am so completely proud of her and thankful that she embraces a calling that so beautifully satisfies her drive to care for others and her creativity in any kitchen. She has been in that historic little building on 51st Avenue North for nearly eight years and she just purchased her portion of it, no longer dependent on a landlord&#39;s whims and fortunes for the security of herself and her &quot;other family&quot; of creatives, (David, Anitra, Taylor, Ashley, Daniel, and Loren) the close-knit group of humans who work with her and for her. And hey, whilst we&#39;re at it, &lt;a href=&quot;https://favchef.com/2023/lee-ann-merrick&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;vote for her in a current competition for recognition as the world-class chef that she is&lt;/a&gt;.&amp;nbsp; &lt;i&gt;(Note: she placed 6th in the top five, which, considering we did not throw any money in it, was a darned good showing. You can click that previous link to see her results and competitor page.)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We wanted time together and neither of us had ever been to&amp;nbsp;&lt;span face=&quot;sans-serif&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #202122; font-size: 14px; font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;España&lt;/span&gt;. Did we wing it? No. Absolutely not. A couple Lee Ann knew who had traveled together there had very highly recommended &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rhtraveldesign.com/what-we-do&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;RH Travel Design&lt;/a&gt; and we contacted them. They planned it all with several phone call meetings along the way, and they did it marvelously. RH Travel = Very Highly Recommended, I am happy to pass along. We started this whole process, btw, fully a year ago. Planning? Priceless. Shoutout to the immensely capable and helpful Rachel, Brian, and Mia!&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At BNA curbside, we checked our bags through to Manilla. Our porter at the curbside was the first person I gave a shiny copper (&quot;gold(en)&quot;) dollar coin, explaining that I am a very lucky man and that the coin should be considered a piece of my luck all for them. This was to be a thread for taxi drivers, doormen, servers, and guides during our journey. I began somewhere along the way to believe I was giving out actual good luck. Perhaps I was. I hope so. We also tipped accordingly, with Euros, as perceived appropriate. We&#39;ll talk about tipping, which was to be a thing of its own overseas.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We passed through Security easily and found ourselves near the gate, at Tennessee Rickhouse, a bar at the airport, for one celebratory beverage. &lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQa_85CX5MI5p-t-sHvhsBsl-EbrLY1lb2k-HAqvDfSRxGfQ53shgx0KHHgNrTk7MjTJC888AXMH4-WI579nnT-AVcX4Ylqz6rg_joKfpSHr98GykSxt7_Iqp90-uu3QnyY_Kav-PEpJFTZXpZGOYa4d2xLqGrQFLU_QgyNDK10loBHJp81rJY/s4032/IMG_3224.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQa_85CX5MI5p-t-sHvhsBsl-EbrLY1lb2k-HAqvDfSRxGfQ53shgx0KHHgNrTk7MjTJC888AXMH4-WI579nnT-AVcX4Ylqz6rg_joKfpSHr98GykSxt7_Iqp90-uu3QnyY_Kav-PEpJFTZXpZGOYa4d2xLqGrQFLU_QgyNDK10loBHJp81rJY/s320/IMG_3224.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;We boarded the American Airlines flight without incident an settled into cushy first class seats for the first time. Yes, it was that kind of trip, and I am not mad at that. In fact, if I had my way, that would be all I&#39;d ever fly. Looking forward from that moment, it would be the Chicago airport on the way home from Barcelona before any harsh realities of domestic travel slapped us in the faces again.&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;At Charlotte our transatlantic flight was delayed over two hours due to &quot;some problem with a jet prop, y&#39;all, I don&#39;t know nothing about nfixin&#39; no airplane,&quot; as the airline attendant said over the intercom speaker at our first gate. We allowed as how it was good they isolated that on the ground, right?&amp;nbsp; The debarkation gate was changed to another terminal, requiring a goodly trek to a plane that wasn&#39;t there yet. In about another hour we boarded, again in Group A, this time Business Class, and experienced those extraordinary space pods that would encase us in our transatlantic flights. That was the shiz! Although we sat across an aisle from one another, we still could lean up and beam at one another across that aisle, and the completely reclining seats, the pillows, and the blankets took good care of us between the meals and the beverages, the movies, and the extensive music offerings, all of which kept us entertained at will. I watched &quot;The Subtle Art of Not Giving a Fuck&quot; movie and a couple Austin City Limits, including one featuring James Taylor. I also listened to a Soccer Mommy album, one of the two they offered. I did sleep, but maybe only 3 hours, and I did willfully ignore the common wisdom to refrain from alcohol. They were serving complimentary Woodford Reserve, after all.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhixypTkJmYbHPCXN2d3Q3dAmL6_JzWpkpl62rJlnHOsMRsn6slwG5FOFUH8UYm0NJ06-UuavuA2TUv3S30ZigeJYt2KQ6mroqnAOtGf2yq3yZC3WvVhAnmfLS3vw-9SgFpHMVU9mafgYiOrZgAq-LGCcZRQXQYidJpzvMyowoS470gx23ZpYNe/s4032/IMG_3239.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhixypTkJmYbHPCXN2d3Q3dAmL6_JzWpkpl62rJlnHOsMRsn6slwG5FOFUH8UYm0NJ06-UuavuA2TUv3S30ZigeJYt2KQ6mroqnAOtGf2yq3yZC3WvVhAnmfLS3vw-9SgFpHMVU9mafgYiOrZgAq-LGCcZRQXQYidJpzvMyowoS470gx23ZpYNe/s320/IMG_3239.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;Later, we landed in Madrid. I had a weird moment once the seat belt sign was off where I could not locate my freakin&#39; shoes. I had stowed them in the upper bin before sleeping. But then...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AW7VVqUNefK1TRT164clI95APYmL4ICARoLEjGCRO1SYkUcbQT96blSwKFZCIYhCbUXiIRQbHPc7SdKXbSjxPCNpwxQNd6B9IJ07bdJfKnW0Wkgq91euvH2AcdqlH4qCPJPZJwN0wNfrpE4Al40gAMvgk_VLDfrgJYFS22GM1O7BeX0CS2zD/s4032/IMG_3249.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_AW7VVqUNefK1TRT164clI95APYmL4ICARoLEjGCRO1SYkUcbQT96blSwKFZCIYhCbUXiIRQbHPc7SdKXbSjxPCNpwxQNd6B9IJ07bdJfKnW0Wkgq91euvH2AcdqlH4qCPJPZJwN0wNfrpE4Al40gAMvgk_VLDfrgJYFS22GM1O7BeX0CS2zD/s320/IMG_3249.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Here&#39;s where we knew we had done ourselves a super solid by working with RH. At the 787&#39;s exit door--not at baggage, not at the gate, but at the freaking exit door--we were met by a tall handsome man named Javier, wearing a crisp black suit, who opened a stairwell door right off the plane and escorted us down one flight of steps to a parking lot where another man in a crisp black suit awaited with a crisp (lol) black Mercedes-Benz. He introduced himself and took our carry-ons, stowing them in the spotless trunk of the car, and we drove around and around airport roads until we ended up a a building wherein polite ladies greeted us and led us to the VIP waiting room.&amp;nbsp;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn-JEpNPUEuEgbw4Dj-I3i_05r58o-NvWm_DK2zppnK82fvmNKQKelK3_jyXIUOL0vJq5Xnm9w0OtK__e9Hg_9TjeUZLkmEh2X7c6NTddEb5QznyoCZxXe9Drb7pMTfBttMQ58jX0W6htXAeXKgCmWpK3kLNChUIybxYpAcBnYMLNnhT14z-Q3/s16276/IMG_3251.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3744&quot; data-original-width=&quot;16276&quot; height=&quot;99&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjn-JEpNPUEuEgbw4Dj-I3i_05r58o-NvWm_DK2zppnK82fvmNKQKelK3_jyXIUOL0vJq5Xnm9w0OtK__e9Hg_9TjeUZLkmEh2X7c6NTddEb5QznyoCZxXe9Drb7pMTfBttMQ58jX0W6htXAeXKgCmWpK3kLNChUIybxYpAcBnYMLNnhT14z-Q3/w430-h99/IMG_3251.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;430&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;On the way we stopped at a desk and had our passport stamped by a uniformed customs official, and our man Javier took our passports. Inside, we availed ourselves of the plush bathroom facilities and sat on a sofa for I swear not 15 minutes, sipping cold bottles of water, until we were fetched again and led to the car, into the spotless trunk of which were being placed our three bags. Into the car, up the highway, into Madrid with its plethora of cars and scooters and motorbikes, and into the tight winding streets of the Old City to our first of four hotels, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.melia.com/en/hotels/spain/madrid/palacio-de-los-duques-gran-melia?esl-k=sem-google%7Cns%7Cc622791439649%7Cme%7Ckgran%20melia%20palacio%20de%20los%20duques%7Cp%7Ct%7Cdc%7Ca119626433890%7Cg13788936368&amp;amp;&amp;amp;gad=1&amp;amp;gclsrc=ds&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Palacio de los Duques Gran Melia&lt;/a&gt;, the Palace of the Dukes. Yes, it was once an actual palace. No lie.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcKkoGmNcHyXNltzWBbWmP4GE-jf00DrS6lJ63CSPsZjxQG0N3HJJi9YFuBlWcDl9nDeeF3IIFFNC8gAfjtgDtoRd-WfdIUCqFMmg0KzAU4SuH7wchAj9vmyUwAJuBJbuMO8et8EwhZ_wtEEZ_9J7gEfWeINupoz-iuwFmI8vv_LDZIpMsDlJ/s4032/IMG_3257.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGcKkoGmNcHyXNltzWBbWmP4GE-jf00DrS6lJ63CSPsZjxQG0N3HJJi9YFuBlWcDl9nDeeF3IIFFNC8gAfjtgDtoRd-WfdIUCqFMmg0KzAU4SuH7wchAj9vmyUwAJuBJbuMO8et8EwhZ_wtEEZ_9J7gEfWeINupoz-iuwFmI8vv_LDZIpMsDlJ/s320/IMG_3257.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;I can see it will be a while before I get through these next two weeks, but I&#39;m up for it. Right now my lovely human&#39;s morning alarm is starting to go off and I need to take her coffee. She&#39;s off work for the holiday and for the week and her sister Amy and Jim, my brother-in-law, will be arriving at that trusty old BNA in two hours and change. I&#39;ll carry on beginning with the &lt;a href=&quot;https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Marguerite-Th%C3%A9r%C3%A8se_d%27Autriche_-_Diego_Velasquez.jpg&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Hotel de Marguerite&lt;/a&gt; (my nickname) next post.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq0bbvptWrLriNtF40hr9mY3KlFLMVoSQGieT6DixGPz83ciCUJuYEm1paOBabTRn8XEUm90PNGa8HP94SrzbvufF48pXx_aCTWaHqxRUTx2Xp6chBq_htEVtnSLp-S4WRvX2xKikTjWauoRGP6PuMUV6PpIS1-COHx5HoJuiyI5Kzcn2Lo0WD/s4032/70714713368__DBC33142-1EAC-4962-A81D-7E7EFEAF016A.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgq0bbvptWrLriNtF40hr9mY3KlFLMVoSQGieT6DixGPz83ciCUJuYEm1paOBabTRn8XEUm90PNGa8HP94SrzbvufF48pXx_aCTWaHqxRUTx2Xp6chBq_htEVtnSLp-S4WRvX2xKikTjWauoRGP6PuMUV6PpIS1-COHx5HoJuiyI5Kzcn2Lo0WD/s320/70714713368__DBC33142-1EAC-4962-A81D-7E7EFEAF016A.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;(&quot;She&#39;s in there somewhere&quot;, toward the end of our jet lag nap!)&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;Stay safe and well, y&#39;all. Oh, yeah, that &quot;y&#39;all&quot; is just &quot;me&quot;. I&#39;m writing this to me. Well, okay, Stay well and safe, Scotty me lad.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/07/july-fourth-be-with-you-spain-part-i.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQa_85CX5MI5p-t-sHvhsBsl-EbrLY1lb2k-HAqvDfSRxGfQ53shgx0KHHgNrTk7MjTJC888AXMH4-WI579nnT-AVcX4Ylqz6rg_joKfpSHr98GykSxt7_Iqp90-uu3QnyY_Kav-PEpJFTZXpZGOYa4d2xLqGrQFLU_QgyNDK10loBHJp81rJY/s72-c/IMG_3224.HEIC" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-4730119135179787873</guid><pubDate>Sat, 17 Jun 2023 11:29:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-06-17T06:29:23.541-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">España</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">love</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Nashville Tennessee</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">poetry</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travel</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">writing</category><title>We are Soooo Home</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;Ah, we are safely back in our tidy little hideaway in the Nations Nashville. Heavy sigh. Deep breath. Lungs full of gratitude for both the gift of travel and the treasure of home.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I don&#39;t know if I believe in jet lag.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;It&#39;s 5:42 Central Daylight Saving Time. What are we saving? The daylight doesn&#39;t care.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;We have been on &lt;i&gt;terra firma&lt;/i&gt;&amp;nbsp;in Nashville for around 32 hours and I&#39;m up feeling pretty durned good at right around my usual time to arise. I did my ~40 yoga breaths quietly in bed, stretched, spent some time reflecting on whatever I reflected upon, and quietly arose, slipped on my royal blue cotton tee sleepshirt, and padded into my studio to lay down a poem. I suppose our nearly three weeks in Spain has enriched my connection with words and with whatever it is inside me that shapes my use of them.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Don&#39;t get me wrong, I&#39;m usually pretty connected, but...&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;If I have learned&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;anything&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;it is this:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;Every living being&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;with whom I have shared love&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;in any way&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;has remained,&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;is with me now&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;in my memory,&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;in my heart, in my...&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;what is that? My soul?&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;Those whom I have hated&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;are nothing,&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;are gone,&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;are wisps,&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;are past&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;wrong turns,&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;wrong items&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;on my life&#39;s&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;long&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;list.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;If I have learned&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;anything&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;it is this.&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Ahem. Well. There&#39;s that. This little ditty came to me while I contemplated the old dog who had slowly arisen and made his way to the bedroom rug from his time asleep safely between my love and me. I then (and autonomically) moved closer to her beneath the sheets and she cupped her hand into mine again without willing the touch, just fingers to fingers drawn together like soft flesh and bone magnets. I continued breathing and laid awash with love, just breathing and loving, giving and receiving&amp;nbsp; precisely like inhaling and exhaling, like love. The word &quot;living&quot; is the only correction I made to it, considering, as I should, of course, that old dog, and other loves not &quot;human&quot;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;And yes, I will use as many commas as I would like. They are necessary to indicate the meter. In case you&#39;ve forgotten, my poetry (and much of my prose) must be read aloud to really work. It&#39;s a fault, a limitation, I know.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;^^^^^^^^^@@@@@@@@^^^^^^^^^&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Stay tuned. I&#39;m thinking the next few posts will summarize our fantastical nearly three weeks in&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #303336; font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: times;&quot;&gt;España.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #303336; font-variant-ligatures: no-common-ligatures;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: times;&quot;&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAF_rUgRH-jBnNPhG6dRPUMyY9aZzO2gvpDX4KHxaUjNaNyJxusdgId9EbojpIUHgAYLo8yOlBgIXoBv7LdOlv8Xa2JJMF2-NZMPiy7ZTkX2dXSOxaKcPF0DxS4qAvoYlQbYAzo88KQ5KFXOFlV8fssnRtrG54o6Y3QRIGzl-BYgkNACCfAw&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img alt=&quot;&quot; data-original-height=&quot;365&quot; data-original-width=&quot;467&quot; height=&quot;312&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAF_rUgRH-jBnNPhG6dRPUMyY9aZzO2gvpDX4KHxaUjNaNyJxusdgId9EbojpIUHgAYLo8yOlBgIXoBv7LdOlv8Xa2JJMF2-NZMPiy7ZTkX2dXSOxaKcPF0DxS4qAvoYlQbYAzo88KQ5KFXOFlV8fssnRtrG54o6Y3QRIGzl-BYgkNACCfAw=w399-h312&quot; width=&quot;399&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;san sebastian&quot;, 2023, pencil on sketch paper, completed after a photo taken from Hotel Londes&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/06/we-are-soooo-home.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgAF_rUgRH-jBnNPhG6dRPUMyY9aZzO2gvpDX4KHxaUjNaNyJxusdgId9EbojpIUHgAYLo8yOlBgIXoBv7LdOlv8Xa2JJMF2-NZMPiy7ZTkX2dXSOxaKcPF0DxS4qAvoYlQbYAzo88KQ5KFXOFlV8fssnRtrG54o6Y3QRIGzl-BYgkNACCfAw=s72-w399-h312-c" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-8444129977010878910</guid><pubDate>Mon, 12 Jun 2023 06:02:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-06-12T01:07:04.393-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">art</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Las Meninas</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Picasso</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travels</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Velazquez</category><title>And later, in Barcelona, at the Picasso Museum...</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;there&#39;s this:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj43w3tiNkWEM-AdN2gXBUuLBAgsZHnBUqD5WiAGMpa_F0Av4DIGPGPfnTEzKQQ3mcKFfrt8tkV67fUjR4lgMNRjXclntbMRSSHKS0TxeCtwNkWG6Jm2THCLC16YBWlO1wyYQ3y9hCkGzgf65GoGyezG-ps_FrwRi1n0jUmdqjnm7Lh0f0t_g/s1067/picassmeninasbw.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;789&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1067&quot; height=&quot;474&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj43w3tiNkWEM-AdN2gXBUuLBAgsZHnBUqD5WiAGMpa_F0Av4DIGPGPfnTEzKQQ3mcKFfrt8tkV67fUjR4lgMNRjXclntbMRSSHKS0TxeCtwNkWG6Jm2THCLC16YBWlO1wyYQ3y9hCkGzgf65GoGyezG-ps_FrwRi1n0jUmdqjnm7Lh0f0t_g/w640-h474/picassmeninasbw.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;from&amp;nbsp;https://uploads3.wikiart.org/images/pablo-picasso/las-meninas-velazquez-1957-4.jpg&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;There is a room &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;full &lt;/i&gt;&lt;/b&gt;of paintings by the artist formerly known as P. Ruiz-Picasso that document his absolute obsession with Velazquez&#39;s Las Meninas, and later paintings continued to suggest that that did not abate. After my earlier fixation with the Velázquez painting at the Prado, I was charmed and fascinated by the master&#39;s consuming one, and perhaps a little smugly justified. Here, the subject and one of scores of interpretations/variations. Did that room demonstrate that the notoriously egotistical master was humbled? Maybe. I feel that perhaps he felt the balances in the paintings were iconic, sort of the Golden Mean, but not.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A story by our guide, Marta Rioge. Some time ago, two of her clients were told that they were to see the Picasso Museum here in Barcelona that day on their walking tour, as we had been. We were all for it, but that couple said, &quot;Oh no, we don&#39;t want to see that. We don&#39;t like Picasso.&quot; It seems that a friend of theirs, an architect, had shown the painter an unearthed clay object that he was immensely proud of having discovered, whereupon Picasso dipped his fingers in paint and dragged them across the clay treasure, remarking, &quot;There. That is now very valuable.&quot; Great story, I think. Another that Marta shared is that Picasso famously once remarked that &quot;If I grew up to be a soldier, I would be a general. If I grew to be a clergyman, I would be the Pope. I grew up to be Picasso.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XLcGwxZzfRn2pA0nAS8Q_aarTquNtyQv3J07wC8dcy1-1QhLeZc1mHH0UL8OM-3smWX7ACy-27WB6SMkwvpkWcd2q_80-UBX7WrvhsBnag7LJjwp_okzEElSIrq0TuPKKgBGq091PPbyOoL7Wz8HEnK3mcO8-Hv9bNhVwpXl35cdo470Bw/s1054/valezquezpicasso.jpg&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;642&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1054&quot; height=&quot;390&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5XLcGwxZzfRn2pA0nAS8Q_aarTquNtyQv3J07wC8dcy1-1QhLeZc1mHH0UL8OM-3smWX7ACy-27WB6SMkwvpkWcd2q_80-UBX7WrvhsBnag7LJjwp_okzEElSIrq0TuPKKgBGq091PPbyOoL7Wz8HEnK3mcO8-Hv9bNhVwpXl35cdo470Bw/w640-h390/valezquezpicasso.jpg&quot; width=&quot;640&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Side by side Las Meninias, the original by Velasquez, and Pablo Picasso&#39;s &quot;copy&quot;, untitled by the painter, as were all his paintings (from&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;https://i.pinimg.com/originals/f2/21/e9/f221e90671a5245412616446f2debdb2.jpg)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/06/and-later-in-barcelona-at-picasso-museum.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj43w3tiNkWEM-AdN2gXBUuLBAgsZHnBUqD5WiAGMpa_F0Av4DIGPGPfnTEzKQQ3mcKFfrt8tkV67fUjR4lgMNRjXclntbMRSSHKS0TxeCtwNkWG6Jm2THCLC16YBWlO1wyYQ3y9hCkGzgf65GoGyezG-ps_FrwRi1n0jUmdqjnm7Lh0f0t_g/s72-w640-h474-c/picassmeninasbw.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-7184865993516618291</guid><pubDate>Thu, 01 Jun 2023 07:43:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-06-01T02:43:25.160-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">art</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">history</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Madrid</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Merricks</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">the Prado</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travel</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">vacationofalifetime</category><title>Puerta Barroca en el Día Internacional de los Museos</title><description>&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Our stellar guide for yesterday&#39;s exploration of Madrid--which included a perfect visit to the Prado National Art museum--created with his husband and installed with a team of 10 this amazingly beautiful &quot;Baroque Door&quot; piece. How fun that Pablo shared it with us before we entered the incredible repository of Spanish art and then proceeded to blow American minds with his historical knowledge and expertise around the history of the museum and the artists whose masterpieces inhabit it. Watch this awesome celebration of his &lt;i&gt;own &lt;/i&gt;work:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe frameborder=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;270&quot; src=&quot;https://youtube.com/embed/jHrcfrP_GRo&quot; width=&quot;480&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Our 2+ hour long tour focused on the works of Goya, El Greco, Velazquez, and Reubens and I&#39;ll never look at any pictures of those paintings the same again thanks to Pablo. Here is one of our favorites, the &quot;metapainting&quot; &quot;Las Meninas&quot;, by Velazquez. It&#39;s experimental nature was a hard fought win by the artist, whose main assignments were primarily traditional (though masterful) portraits for the King. Lee Ann had to come back for me after they proceeded on and I remained standing there, glued to its magic:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFI2ATW6yuWX2qTE-bzS8TQ-nNUebRtyWsFhKBrSZkJUktBWsqDcw6Dae02Gl-_SMT1-byQsq00vIxj19YisrfhEc7SdWeEikHgZ11ddgd6UUp1OUJFYMi7e3pUIJJxjyPlQ3mfes7cgBdP7RrOJwWm4eD0AaJv2vw54v227FDww0Kxn3H7g/s1080/938px-Las_Meninas,_by_Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez,_from_Prado_in_Google_Earth.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1080&quot; data-original-width=&quot;938&quot; height=&quot;640&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFI2ATW6yuWX2qTE-bzS8TQ-nNUebRtyWsFhKBrSZkJUktBWsqDcw6Dae02Gl-_SMT1-byQsq00vIxj19YisrfhEc7SdWeEikHgZ11ddgd6UUp1OUJFYMi7e3pUIJJxjyPlQ3mfes7cgBdP7RrOJwWm4eD0AaJv2vw54v227FDww0Kxn3H7g/w556-h640/938px-Las_Meninas,_by_Diego_Vel%C3%A1zquez,_from_Prado_in_Google_Earth.jpg&quot; width=&quot;556&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;By Diego Velázquez - The Prado in Google Earth: Home - 7th level of zoom, JPEG compression quality: Photoshop 8., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22600614&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;As an aside, our stellar Madrid hotel, the &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.melia.com/es/hoteles/espana/madrid/palacio-de-los-duques-gran-melia&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Palacio de los Duques&lt;/a&gt;, is a renovated castle which is Velazques themed. That little girl&#39;s face is at almost every turn in the beautiful building!&amp;nbsp; I will probably never perceive a frozen Margarita the same.&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/06/puerta-barroca-en-el-dia-internacional.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/jHrcfrP_GRo/default.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-8689493569826800757</guid><pubDate>Thu, 25 May 2023 11:21:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-05-25T06:21:37.812-05:00</atom:updated><title></title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;i&gt;(cross-posted from &lt;a href=&quot;https://scheduliberated.blogspot.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;scheduliberated&lt;/a&gt;)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&amp;nbsp;Here&#39;s what I&#39;ll do here.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&#39;ll post at least every year.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Okay, it&#39;s my 73rd today and I&#39;m going fishing in a bit. Just got led back to this (now understood as an) &quot;annublog&quot; by a post about a teacher friend&#39;s retirement from her teaching career and reread the single post here (cross-posted at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://scottmerrick.blogspot.com&quot;&gt;scottmerrickdotnet&lt;/a&gt;); and I&#39;m feeling pretty good about it. I will have completed my first year of &quot;retirement&quot; in a couple days. In a couple days after that, I fly to Spain with my lovely lovely for over two weeks of luxury travel and culinary and culture exploration (shoutout to&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rhtraveldesign.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;RH Travel&lt;/a&gt;).&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;NOTE:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;If you&#39;re a web trolling miner for thievery, we have good friends living in our home to take care of our mean old dog, who is trained to take a leg off if need be. My friends are both martial arts experts and armed to the teeth. There. JK of course, but not.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have to hit the lake but I do want to say here that I have had a wonderful year. I&#39;ve completed a Peloton class on meditation, and one on yoga, both taken to refresh my dedication to both. The meditation one stuck as I am practicing daily. The yoga was surprisingly painful but I completed it, and I incorporate elements of it in everyday movements and in the care with which I approach them. I&#39;m still cycling on the machine, but the discovery of classes I can take at computer was a good one. The meditation one may be life-changing for you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I am painting like a madman (chronicled at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://scottmerrick.blogspot.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;scottmerrickdotnet&lt;/a&gt;), I&#39;ve written songs, I&#39;ve taken masterclass.com classes from John Legend, Futura, Santana, and Jake Shimabukuro; and mandolin classes from Sierra Hull at artistworks.com. I&#39;ve blogged a bunch, and I&#39;ve read/listened to a number of great podcasts and books, most notably many of Lex Fridman&#39;s long-form interview podcasts and my son-in-law&#39;s &quot;You&#39;re Good Get Better&quot; drumming jewel.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&#39;ve camped, I&#39;ve attended a great concert at&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.thecaverns.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;The Caverns&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;(focused on my music crush Sierra Ferrell but with other great Americana folks) and several Finally Fridays from WMOT at 3rd and Lindsley. I traveled to visit my dear brother Ed at his home in Montgomery, Texas, camping in Arkansas on the way and staying with a high school friend in Hot Springs on the way home. Just last week my dear son Colin came into town and we fished, saw Caroline Polachek with Edith Cain at the Ryman, and brewery crawled and just spent good time together. I&#39;m going to head up to his territory, Missoula, Montana, in September, for the Montana version of the week.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;In short, and I will be short, because the out of doors is calling and Lee Ann&#39;s alarm is going off, repeatedly as is her wont, in the next room--if you are interested in what scheduliberation looks like, keep up with my primary blog, easily found at scottmerrick.net. It&#39;s been up for a long time but this new leg of my life is grand, great, godly, and gee-wiz happy and I&#39;m digging chronicling it.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;You fashion your own life, whatever stage it be, and don&#39;t let anyone slip you negative vibes. I highly recommend it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here&#39;s a work in progress, from a photo taken a month ago at Cheatham Lake Campground:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpcxMb99wqPHliJR2VfeyOsUQX3T-pKTJ7jktoEGiTAgH1je704a2_6TfiHTVCrTjRIE2XDtXuZ5Jef8YGX91rmZIacy2qa7xJZZqP16xt3B0dUUf1zztJ9ciqCGw3KobUYoVm8ddKSZ25Y2R1weqijH8-urgUabedhaSqNPOgHBdCF5PtFuHHgjia/s2016/IMG_3193.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2016&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1512&quot; height=&quot;400&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpcxMb99wqPHliJR2VfeyOsUQX3T-pKTJ7jktoEGiTAgH1je704a2_6TfiHTVCrTjRIE2XDtXuZ5Jef8YGX91rmZIacy2qa7xJZZqP16xt3B0dUUf1zztJ9ciqCGw3KobUYoVm8ddKSZ25Y2R1weqijH8-urgUabedhaSqNPOgHBdCF5PtFuHHgjia/w300-h400/IMG_3193.jpg&quot; width=&quot;300&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;wip, &quot;from the campsite&quot;, acrylics on canvas, by Scott Merrick, 2023&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;See ya,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Scott&lt;/p&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/05/cross-posted-from-scheduliberated-what.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhpcxMb99wqPHliJR2VfeyOsUQX3T-pKTJ7jktoEGiTAgH1je704a2_6TfiHTVCrTjRIE2XDtXuZ5Jef8YGX91rmZIacy2qa7xJZZqP16xt3B0dUUf1zztJ9ciqCGw3KobUYoVm8ddKSZ25Y2R1weqijH8-urgUabedhaSqNPOgHBdCF5PtFuHHgjia/s72-w300-h400-c/IMG_3193.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-3447531502748318038</guid><pubDate>Tue, 16 May 2023 15:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-05-16T10:18:45.545-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">abstract art</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">acrylic painting</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">blogging</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Charles Brindley</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Colin Merrick</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">education</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fiction</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">music</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">poetry</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">short fiction</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">songwriting</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spain</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">travel</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">writing</category><title>Summer, here, and we prep for travel</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;W&lt;/span&gt;ell, well, well (again), here we are once more. Me and my imaginary readers.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Wait. I know you&#39;re real and I know how grateful I am for you. Let me pop over to my online Gratefulness Journal to say that.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Back.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;My boy Colin is in town from his hometown of choice, Missoula Montana. I am so happy to be in the same room, car, or Nashville venue with this centered, talented, and kind human being. I miss him every day when I am not, but I am happy with his decision to live in that beautiful place. I remember when I lived in Anchorage lo those many years ago I hardly spoke and never saw either of my parents for over 5 years. Thank god that&#39;s not the case with either of my magic children. Here&#39;s me and Colin at table in our Nations Nashville home:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_psmK2KcMNZkKIc1R6iLRHjuwsBap07kYkf_RToRlya7SROBvtOirTgkU-vh2Vm1tmK2FUe6GL4aOUJCXhL43pt2tha2i1qsPuiVdYkclQFA2iqSAtdVJ58BDG6ENSpF7nglTJ0e4pixpApj3MceOkx11ha4y-UMk7wekHNaJ0hzdTZMmA/s782/IMG_3102.PNG&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;782&quot; data-original-width=&quot;756&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_psmK2KcMNZkKIc1R6iLRHjuwsBap07kYkf_RToRlya7SROBvtOirTgkU-vh2Vm1tmK2FUe6GL4aOUJCXhL43pt2tha2i1qsPuiVdYkclQFA2iqSAtdVJ58BDG6ENSpF7nglTJ0e4pixpApj3MceOkx11ha4y-UMk7wekHNaJ0hzdTZMmA/s320/IMG_3102.PNG&quot; width=&quot;309&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;scott and colin at Chez Merrique, courtesy of Tim Buell&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;And a pic of both our children, smooching on their beautiful mom, on our paradisial back porch:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXs8uiYLn-rEDx7tDpZt7RP3o2SUzuGjdadpZugDBhZiLa0gfL-mwYTHaP6Y3REK5a9K91qKll0d9Etw45NvBpMZH2PBOuypr3J3lamRp195Jrh-5prR8pjSANWhEErX1ds2XCBzth-D4xuCi6Sa1Yeuy6IzouXY5ZIGwEcT_Q0v4QsA9DA/s3022/IMG_3099.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3022&quot; data-original-width=&quot;1739&quot; height=&quot;400&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFXs8uiYLn-rEDx7tDpZt7RP3o2SUzuGjdadpZugDBhZiLa0gfL-mwYTHaP6Y3REK5a9K91qKll0d9Etw45NvBpMZH2PBOuypr3J3lamRp195Jrh-5prR8pjSANWhEErX1ds2XCBzth-D4xuCi6Sa1Yeuy6IzouXY5ZIGwEcT_Q0v4QsA9DA/w230-h400/IMG_3099.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;230&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;Colin, and Miranda Lee smooching mom on Mothers Day&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;Why do I blog, still, after so long? It should be obvious: blogging provides a consistent wandering ripple throughout my years and helps me clear my head and honor my thoughts and those of others. Look back on some posts, from 2005 on, and see for yourself. Take a look at &lt;a href=&quot;https://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/search?q=gus&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;a short story&lt;/a&gt;, my &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.amazon.com/Lives-Scott-Gardner-Merrick-ebook/dp/B0014JKC36&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;novel&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;(available on Amazon in both Kindle and paperback), my &lt;a href=&quot;https://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2020/08/running.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;novella&lt;/a&gt;, or &lt;a href=&quot;http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2021/01/have-been-doing-little-opinionizing.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;a post about the future of education&lt;/a&gt;, my bailiwick for nearly 30 years, an &lt;a href=&quot;http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2021/06/first-release-from-covid-drafts.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;original song&lt;/a&gt;, or jump around for a &lt;a href=&quot;http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2012/11/a-poem-from-my-morning-walk-as-always.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;poem&lt;/a&gt; or two. It&#39;s all there. As my dear sis-in-law Amy explains to my cherished wife, &quot;It&#39;s his book.&quot;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;That&#39;s a simplification, of course, as the blog contains most of my books, but I like it. Many of my links have gone dead, as platforms used for photo sharing, news sites, and other blogs have crapped out and been nullified; but I likely won&#39;t take up the goal of revising anything from 18 years ago to present. I prefer to be here now. It&#39;s my thing. But a perusal of past posts will reveal some trends and share some good past, and may be of historical use to the alien researchers who follow us.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;These past couple weeks I&#39;ve been working on an abstract that I am as of yesterday calling finished. Why do so many of these efforts result in color studies and shapes that are full of motion and energy? I don&#39;t know, really, but I&#39;m calling this one &quot;terminal ascension,&quot; and it may be whatever it may be to you. I see things and suggestions of events and natural phenomena in this piece. My mentor, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cbrindley.com/artist/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Charles Brindley&lt;/a&gt;, hasn&#39;t seen this, as I completed it at home. There is a lot underneath it, and a concentration on tensions of both texture and color, and I had fun with the palette knives and the brushes. I have promised myself to seek some softness and peace in my next abstract, but here is&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicJJkrRQcpIKg5F8Ly3jggnV8k-4efl83VOFCmbRfHWyccT24AJ-uhntQOATrDmU44LTKJ3zpVc8dIxJ1nJiUXk5-gJO-XwzB-G6eXrNfia1YriMOzqAVtoqZolWum79OKZzwfetsknf0LUWWbGnUTUVz7qE8yXu5SjubuNsLq6l3yMbMXZQ/s3248/IMG_3112.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3248&quot; data-original-width=&quot;2672&quot; height=&quot;400&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEicJJkrRQcpIKg5F8Ly3jggnV8k-4efl83VOFCmbRfHWyccT24AJ-uhntQOATrDmU44LTKJ3zpVc8dIxJ1nJiUXk5-gJO-XwzB-G6eXrNfia1YriMOzqAVtoqZolWum79OKZzwfetsknf0LUWWbGnUTUVz7qE8yXu5SjubuNsLq6l3yMbMXZQ/w329-h400/IMG_3112.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;329&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;terminal ascension&quot;, photo of 16x20 acrylic painting by scott merrick&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;On the more realistic side, a study of dusk at Cheatham Lake, my preferred local camping waterside, is underway. Charles has helped with this one with cutting insights on contrast and underpainting, along with color mixing suggestions. It&#39;s not finished but it is sneaking up on it, a process that is undercut every time I see something new in the iPhoto I took that delicious evening. I want to express calm here. Maybe that&#39;s the thing aforementioned: I work for expressing peace in my landscapes and my left-behind work, like &quot;on the inside&quot; and &quot;rocky&#39;s ridge from rocky&#39;s ridge.&quot; Anyway, definitely a WIP, here is&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ovrbpKBfcCqva-sioNTrKumJ0llZgQusP1ijcIx9XesITShIft4RAStyqPvQivMdZ_hxjnRWeKg3HeJQoYIvmyt1HhlmI5Thty0JOfcaMRedhjyM6cGogGueAtyL1Xqq52SZ6egRlv1f_LHUVRIeRa3UUjbp8rPkEOAEuB9Yvu-HJIXctg/s3421/IMG_3113.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3421&quot; data-original-width=&quot;2759&quot; height=&quot;400&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6ovrbpKBfcCqva-sioNTrKumJ0llZgQusP1ijcIx9XesITShIft4RAStyqPvQivMdZ_hxjnRWeKg3HeJQoYIvmyt1HhlmI5Thty0JOfcaMRedhjyM6cGogGueAtyL1Xqq52SZ6egRlv1f_LHUVRIeRa3UUjbp8rPkEOAEuB9Yvu-HJIXctg/w323-h400/IMG_3113.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;323&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&quot;dusk @ cheatham lake&quot;, photo of a work in progress, acrylics on&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;16x20&amp;nbsp;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;canvas by scott merrick&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&#39;ll end with a little humorousity (&lt;i&gt;sic&lt;/i&gt;). My dear love-of-my-life was messing around in my studio closet, rearranging things as she will, and this painting on up-cycled scrap treated lumber (a medium I may well revisit) was maybe precariously propped up on the door trip above the closet door. I&#39;m not sure how, but it decided to drop from its perch right on her noggin, falling to the floor. I&#39;m not sure if it broke on her head or on the floor, but break it did. This one doesn&#39;t have a name, as is sometimes my wont, but, anyway, I propped it up on the floor and in between the two halves I placed a curio I purchased in a thrift store years ago, an incense burner just tacky enough to have caught my eye. I sort of like the staging and may do some media work to make it a permanent piece. What should I call it?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimI4AH093J2IvJnSgNJVyu7HNCVETNrQe6i9G9evA9dgtgUykxIwtaa9icVI90WHbBN4xzHTFgXg8pijsjrMMRrpG8uknh9P3iwyud5Zl1HjeK0Y00Lq7yGG1-zfi0YPE2AbhkTmSmRsPIBCa3J-i6OZaoG49huFk8zTMQ12q0_p50XNjPUA/s4032/IMG_3111.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;300&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimI4AH093J2IvJnSgNJVyu7HNCVETNrQe6i9G9evA9dgtgUykxIwtaa9icVI90WHbBN4xzHTFgXg8pijsjrMMRrpG8uknh9P3iwyud5Zl1HjeK0Y00Lq7yGG1-zfi0YPE2AbhkTmSmRsPIBCa3J-i6OZaoG49huFk8zTMQ12q0_p50XNjPUA/w400-h300/IMG_3111.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&quot;untitled&quot;, acrylics on treated scrap lumber, by scott merrick&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;We are journeying overseas in a couple of weeks, for a couple of weeks. We&#39;ll be in Spain excepting for one brief outing into France near San Sebastian, staying in only 4 overnight hotels over a period of 17 days, and hopping from one to the other via train and plain. The trip was planned through consultations with the (&lt;i&gt;highly &lt;/i&gt;recommended)&amp;nbsp;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.rhtraveldesign.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;RH Travel Design&lt;/a&gt; here in Nashville, and we are soooooo looking forward to it. It&#39;s all upscale accommodations and travel, and we both are expecting, literally, the trip of a lifetime. There are LOTS of food, wine, cultural, and art experiences built in along the way, along with ample down time to explore or just relax together. I&#39;ll be documenting, most likely, but don&#39;t hold me to that, and don&#39;t expect anything while it&#39;s underway. I plan to be here now, there, in my most present ways. Think good thoughts about safe travel for us--we are all in.&amp;nbsp;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;For all the slum bag lurker thieves out there, our good friends Matt and Anitra will be staying here with our killer dog Watson, and the NCA alarm system will be in use. Don&#39;t even think about it.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;To everyone else, regardless of your politics or any other enlightened or misguided beliefs, I hope your days will be good and that you will remain safe and well and alive as we roll around the center of the planet and circle around the good ol&#39; sun.&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/05/summer-here-and-we-prep-for-travel.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiw_psmK2KcMNZkKIc1R6iLRHjuwsBap07kYkf_RToRlya7SROBvtOirTgkU-vh2Vm1tmK2FUe6GL4aOUJCXhL43pt2tha2i1qsPuiVdYkclQFA2iqSAtdVJ58BDG6ENSpF7nglTJ0e4pixpApj3MceOkx11ha4y-UMk7wekHNaJ0hzdTZMmA/s72-c/IMG_3102.PNG" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-4923969527968045254</guid><pubDate>Sat, 29 Apr 2023 13:28:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-05-03T08:48:21.038-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">acrylic painting</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Blogger</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Charles Brindley</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">exsanguination</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Google Community Standards</category><title>Okay, well, I can make it monthly :)</title><description>&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: large;&quot;&gt;W&lt;/span&gt;ell, well, well, here it is--nearly a month after the previous post. Who would have thought I would be so busy in retirement from the education game that I would be reduced to posting so infrequently. It is a good thing, though!&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;b&gt;Been painting.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I have re-upped for &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cbrindley.com/classes/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Charles Brindley&#39;s open studio class at Scarritt Bennett Conference Center&lt;/a&gt; right across the street from my workplace of 14 years, USN. This semester, instead of attending twice a week for three hours a pop, I am clearing the calendar for fishing and camping so I go once a week for 3-6 hours. Here is an abstract I call &quot;exsanguination,&quot; which &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.dictionary.com/browse/exsanguination&quot;&gt;dictionary.com&lt;/a&gt; defines as:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;[ eks-sang-gw&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;uh&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;-&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;bold&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; font-size: x-small; font-weight: bold;&quot;&gt;ney&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;-sh&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; font-size: x-small; font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;uh&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;n ]&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-1ff36h2 e1wg9v5m3&quot; style=&quot;-webkit-box-flex: 1; box-sizing: border-box; flex-grow: 1;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;color: #1a1a1a; font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;noun&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;one-click-content css-nnyc96 e1q3nk1v1&quot; data-linkid=&quot;nn1ov4&quot; data-term=&quot;the&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; cursor: pointer; position: relative; z-index: 1;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;the act or process of draining or losing blood:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;one-click-content css-nnyc96 e1q3nk1v1&quot; data-linkid=&quot;nn1ov4&quot; data-term=&quot;the&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; cursor: pointer; position: relative; z-index: 1;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; data-linkid=&quot;nn1ov4&quot; data-term=&quot;extreme&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-style: italic; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;With an extreme mite infestation, up to 6% of a bird’s blood can be drained daily, causing it to become anemic or even die by exsanguination.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;one-click-content css-nnyc96 e1q3nk1v1&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; cursor: pointer; position: relative; z-index: 1;&quot;&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;the act or process of bleeding to death:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;one-click-content css-nnyc96 e1q3nk1v1&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; cursor: pointer; position: relative; z-index: 1;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-style: italic; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;The consequences can range from minor blood loss to exsanguination.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-size: 16px; font-style: italic;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6yjQQk5FTx68utQrJbrcj7tPZq4BdwDJQiAhefEeRP7q7YYOmKRf2NzdY9cOaqPeN1AVO8syrMEyl3FrdhFbVMV-2f-q0E3j0il-wLfgQl7G5Om-LOuyk10nMBVhtPHo1dM7JBCPPNMoCYY1F0JfC4RDjmOB-inuTlQ09GELU49bdvVlyQ/s2880/IMG_2996.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2253&quot; data-original-width=&quot;2880&quot; height=&quot;313&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6yjQQk5FTx68utQrJbrcj7tPZq4BdwDJQiAhefEeRP7q7YYOmKRf2NzdY9cOaqPeN1AVO8syrMEyl3FrdhFbVMV-2f-q0E3j0il-wLfgQl7G5Om-LOuyk10nMBVhtPHo1dM7JBCPPNMoCYY1F0JfC4RDjmOB-inuTlQ09GELU49bdvVlyQ/w400-h313/IMG_2996.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;exsanguination&quot;, acrylic on 16x20 stretched canvas, by Scott Merrick, 2023&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I do enjoy me some abstract acrylic painting, because I like to play with textures and shapes. My abstracts often have layers and layers as I struggle to draw out intimated meaning potential. The name came after the painting had been completed, beginning with a coined one, &quot;sinmagination.&quot; Funny how trains of thought can derail into meaningful connections.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I was working on a portrait of my best buddy Watson alongside the work on &lt;i&gt;exsanguination&lt;/i&gt;. This one hopes to convey his lovely smile. I have had two sets of people tell me emphatically that he resembles Matt Damon. I see it, I see it.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOzm1epaTExrdfy3DYzTY-Wt4Enc62ikKx2woRBThl2p5po1qUHnm9vP9GADBenzA-6j9luZMccE_0nkZFoF6Xqqrl2OXocqWX-YZ_5BNVGi9P7AEae6JjQx2hPtCBTDhxEpeF1o-NpqqT7lhO9R5z7Zsaxl-y1AG7qbMpLbXY6kz3NT39Jg/s2956/IMG_3001.HEIC&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;2956&quot; data-original-width=&quot;2327&quot; height=&quot;400&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOzm1epaTExrdfy3DYzTY-Wt4Enc62ikKx2woRBThl2p5po1qUHnm9vP9GADBenzA-6j9luZMccE_0nkZFoF6Xqqrl2OXocqWX-YZ_5BNVGi9P7AEae6JjQx2hPtCBTDhxEpeF1o-NpqqT7lhO9R5z7Zsaxl-y1AG7qbMpLbXY6kz3NT39Jg/w315-h400/IMG_3001.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;315&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;Watson&quot;, acrylics on 16x20 stretched canvas, by Scott Merrick, 2023&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I will say here that I have been getting the odd notice that Google has put a warning notice in front of several posts in my &quot;&lt;a href=&quot;https://scottsecondlife.blogspot.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Oh! Virtual Learning!&lt;/a&gt;&quot; educational blog, which is no longer being updated but did run from 2007 to 2014, with a random update after that in 2019. I leave it up as an archive to everything I and my small but driven band of merry pranksters did in our efforts to bring the Metaverse to educational use, yes we did, during that period. Those were some days, and we tried intensely and we tried with all we had. The fact that the Metaverse has experienced a flop of epic proportions in the last several years is simply testament to the steadfastness with which human beings cling to the past. Here we are, still educating the masses to be factory workers, grouping them by manufacture date, giving worksheets and tests and grades, in rooms which, even though they may be furnished with chairs arranged in ways other than rows (but often are not), are still rooms.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;I have mildly revised those few posts and hit the &quot;request review&quot; button for Google but, really? Google, check your Community Standards and if you are going to put a post behind a firewall try specifying what the alleged offense may be, not just telling the blogger to review the guidelines and make changes. Seriously.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;luna-example italic&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; color: #4a4a4a; display: block; font-size: 16px; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;That&#39;s it for today. I&#39;m off to continue working on the perfection of my &quot;retirement.&quot; Cheerio!&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-ev43ai ea1n8qa0&quot; style=&quot;-webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; display: flex; flex-wrap: wrap; font-size: 14px;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-x8ezj7 e15jzgbm5&quot; data-headword-buttons-container=&quot;true&quot; data-slug=&quot;exsanguination&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; flex-direction: row;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-bjn8wh e15jzgbm0&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;&quot;&gt;&lt;button aria-label=&quot;save word&quot; class=&quot;css-1jjtf5b e15jzgbm3&quot; data-outlined-star-button=&quot;true&quot; style=&quot;appearance: button; background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; border-color: initial; border-style: none; border-width: initial; cursor: pointer; display: initial; font-family: inherit; font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.15; margin: 0px 0px 0px 8px; overflow: visible; padding: 0px; position: relative;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-1vr7vmn e15jzgbm2&quot; style=&quot;-webkit-box-align: center; align-items: center; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex;&quot;&gt;&lt;span class=&quot;dropdown-arrow-icon css-jfavdo e15jzgbm1&quot; data-save-word-down-arrow=&quot;true&quot; face=&quot;dictionary-fonticon&quot; font-size=&quot;24px&quot; style=&quot;border: none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #1a1a1a; display: inline-block; font-size: 24px; height: 24px; margin-bottom: 2px; transition: transform 0.3s ease 0s; vertical-align: text-bottom; visibility: hidden; width: 24px;&quot;&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/button&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-1eoy87d e1wg9v5m4&quot; style=&quot;-webkit-box-pack: justify; box-sizing: border-box; display: flex; font-size: 14px; justify-content: space-between;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-1ohnur3 e1wg9v5m2&quot; style=&quot;align-self: flex-end; box-sizing: border-box; flex-basis: 129px; flex-shrink: 0; margin-left: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-v1ygcs e1wg9v5m0&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box;&quot;&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;css-bjn8wh e2bl8oz3&quot; style=&quot;box-sizing: border-box; position: relative;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/04/okay-well-i-can-make-it-monthly.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY6yjQQk5FTx68utQrJbrcj7tPZq4BdwDJQiAhefEeRP7q7YYOmKRf2NzdY9cOaqPeN1AVO8syrMEyl3FrdhFbVMV-2f-q0E3j0il-wLfgQl7G5Om-LOuyk10nMBVhtPHo1dM7JBCPPNMoCYY1F0JfC4RDjmOB-inuTlQ09GELU49bdvVlyQ/s72-w400-h313-c/IMG_2996.HEIC" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-6454106158836671809</guid><pubDate>Thu, 30 Mar 2023 14:18:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-03-30T10:07:30.008-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">fed up</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">gun violence</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">lawmaker failure</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Moms Against Gun Violence</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">nationwide school systems strike</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">NRA</category><title>Nationwide Parent/Teacher Strike?</title><description>&lt;p&gt;This post is in frustrated response to the murderous killing spree that took place Monday in a K-6 private elementary school about 7 miles from my home. It happened in the school connected to the church where my daughter&#39;s independent vocal choir regularly sings. See &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.npr.org/2023/03/28/1166482479/nashville-school-shooting-covenant-what-we-know&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;details at NPR&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;A conversation the next day with my dear friend Rocky Alvey brought up this question, which has been bugging me since. I share it here:&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Why is no one calling for a nationwide parent/teacher strike against &lt;u&gt;all &lt;/u&gt;school systems? Parents should not have to drop their children off five days a week fearing that they will not survive the day. Nor should teachers or school staff have to go to work daily with the same fears.&amp;nbsp;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Think about it. Someone has to. And I must admit that I am too old to pursue this. Step up. In any way you can.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Strike end conditions include but are not limited to &lt;b&gt;&lt;u&gt;total &lt;/u&gt;&lt;/b&gt;ban of automatic weapons by federal, local, and state legislatures and the immediate recall of all such weapons with state-funded compensation for their cost. Send the NRA and their puppet politicians back to the woods with a properly thought out, funded, and implemented online education strategy with true online teacher training, much more than the couple zoom sessions and a &quot;good luck&quot; that the Covid crisis generated, along with commensurate losses in learning. Power/support the strike with a shared set of curriculum and other resources in small homeschool groups utilizing itinerate teachers who, along with their charges, also don&#39;t ever again need to fear if they will survive the day.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://news.yahoo.com/what-can-an-ar-15-do-to-the-human-body-a-trauma-surgeon-explains-204850785.html?guccounter=1&amp;amp;guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly9kdWNrZHVja2dvLmNvbS8&amp;amp;guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAJxQxGAnwMMz2l3u4ZZXAQHU__p6Ia_5wobVQCthOpAuULSxISb5BHsIoovj2UrIjyZMA8PUbPYGsYHyeYQAWCVZaE1MLlaUgJtszb1Kq7cD7odF2SaH-r6ILETzCtjFOsmBXky3WrqIyHZgRFk2gVnZr1l9kcGM-WvEXLByucLw&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #1d2228;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-family: times;&quot;&gt;Following the Uvalde school massacre, Dr. Bindi Naik-Mathuria&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span face=&quot;&amp;quot;YahooSans VF&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;Yahoo Sans&amp;quot;, YahooSans, &amp;quot;Helvetica Neue&amp;quot;, Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif&quot; style=&quot;background-color: white; color: #1d2228; font-size: 18.005px;&quot;&gt;,&lt;/span&gt;&amp;nbsp;trauma physician at Baylor College Hospital, told Yahoo News that the wounds inflicted by AR-type weapons are &quot;virtually unsurvivable.&quot;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;I wrote this yesterday and if you can navigate the non-scanning lines with care, come up with your own melody and share it with me. Or read it aloud like a poem. A song to consider:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;Because They Could&amp;nbsp;&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;by Scott Merrick&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;(soto voce introduction:)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;You were so profoundly broken&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;in ways that went unspoken&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;that you kept it from your family&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;until you didn&#39;t.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;(forcefully:)&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Emilie, Hallie, William:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Audrey, why&#39;d you have to kill them?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;I&#39;m writing this not because I want to&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;but because I have to&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;I didn&#39;t know you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;No one did.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Get off your lazy ass&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;and to the polls&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Send the NRA&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;back to the woods&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;vote them out of office&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;get their guilty hands out of our lives&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;the shooter killed those kids&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;because they could.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;And it&#39;s your fault&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;And it&#39;s my fault&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;They couldn&#39;t use those guns&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;if those guns could not be bought&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;And it&#39;s their fault&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;and it&#39;s our fault&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;They couldn&#39;t fire those guns&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;if those guns could not be bought.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;I&#39;m crying now&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;for those three children&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;and their families&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;and the others that you killed,&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;the hearts your bullets stopped&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;forever and the cops&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;who you forced to take your life&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;with your last free will&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Emilie, Hallie, William:&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Why&#39;d you have to kill them?&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;I&#39;m writing this not because I want to&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;but because I have to&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;I didn&#39;t know you.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;No one did.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Get off your lazy ass&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;and to the polls&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Send those puppet politicians&amp;nbsp;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;back to the woods&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;vote them out of office&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;get their guilty hands out of our lives&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;the shooter killed those kids&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;because they&amp;nbsp; could.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;And it&#39;s your fault&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;And it&#39;s my fault&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;They couldn&#39;t use those guns&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;if those guns could not be bought&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;And it&#39;s their fault&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;and it&#39;s our fault&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;They couldn&#39;t fire those guns&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;if those guns could not be bought.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;They couldn&#39;t fire those guns&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;if those guns could not be bought.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;They couldn&#39;t fire those guns&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;if those guns could not be bought.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;Raw Links:&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://momsdemandaction.org/resources/&quot;&gt;https://momsdemandaction.org/resources/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.alternet.org/tennessee-senator-prayers-nashville-victims/&quot;&gt;https://www.alternet.org/tennessee-senator-prayers-nashville-victims/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_congressional_candidates_who_received_campaign_money_from_the_National_Rifle_Association&quot;&gt;https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_congressional_candidates_who_received_campaign_money_from_the_National_Rifle_Association&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;And a list of US Republican senators who received funding from the NRA and related PACs, &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.newsweek.com/republican-senators-nra-funding-texas-school-shooting-uvalde-1710332&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;from Newsweek:&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;h2 style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; font-family: &amp;quot;Roboto Condensed&amp;quot;, sans-serif; font-size: 33px; line-height: 33px; list-style: outside none none; margin: 0px 0px 10px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px; position: relative;&quot;&gt;Republican Senators Who Receive Funding From the NRA&lt;/h2&gt;&lt;ul style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; background-color: white; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; color: #222222; font-family: &amp;quot;Helvetica Neue&amp;quot;, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 20px; list-style: decimal; margin: 20px 0px 20px 45px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Mitt Romney (Utah) $13,647,676&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Richard Burr (North Carolina) $6,987,380&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Roy Blunt (Missouri) $4,555,722&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Thom Tillis (North Carolina) $4,421,333&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Marco Rubio (Florida) $3,303,355&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Joni Ernst (Iowa) $3,124,773&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Rob Portman (Ohio) $3,063,327&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Todd C. Young (Indiana) $2,897,582&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Bill Cassidy (Louisiana) $2,867,074&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Tom Cotton (Arkansas) $1,968,714&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Pat Toomey (Pennsylvania) $1,475,448&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Josh Hawley (Missouri) $1,391,548&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Marsha Blackburn (Tennessee) $1,306,130&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Ron Johnson (Wisconsin) $1,269,486&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Mitch McConnell (Kentucky) $1,267,139&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Mike Braun (Indiana) $1,249,967&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;John Thune (South Dakota) $638,942&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Shelley Moore Capito (West Virginia) $341,738&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Richard Shelby (Alabama) $258,514&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Chuck Grassley (Iowa) $226,007&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;John Neely Kennedy (Louisiana) $215,788&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Ted Cruz (Texas) $176,274&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) $146,262&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Steve Daines (Montana) $123,711&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Cindy Hyde-Smith (Mississippi) $109,547&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Roger Wicker (Mississippi) $106,680&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Rand Paul (Kentucky) $104,456&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Mike Rounds (South Dakota) $95,049&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;John Boozman (Arkansas) $82,352&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;John Cornyn (Texas) $78,945&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Ben Sasse (Nebraska) $68,623&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Jim Inhofe (Oklahoma) $66,758&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Lindsey Graham (South Carolina) $55,961&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Mike Crapo (Idaho) $55,039&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Jerry Moran (Kansas) $34,718&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;John Barrasso (Wyoming) $26,989&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;John Hoeven (North Dakota) $22,050&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Susan Collins (Maine) $19,638&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;James Lankford (Oklahoma) $18,955&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Jim Risch (Idaho) $18,850&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Tim Scott (South Carolina) $18,513&lt;/li&gt;&lt;li style=&quot;-webkit-font-smoothing: antialiased; border: 0px none; box-sizing: border-box; line-height: 1.4em; list-style: disc; margin: 9px 0px; outline: none 0px; padding: 0px;&quot;&gt;Kevin Cramer (North Dakota) $13,255&lt;/li&gt;&lt;/ul&gt;&lt;p style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Be well and share.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/03/action-now.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-302988176809944270</guid><pubDate>Wed, 22 Mar 2023 19:44:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-03-22T14:44:22.718-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Lex Fridman</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">long form podcast</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Shannon Curry</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Spotify</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">youtube</category><title>Lex Fridman Talks with Dr. Shannon Curry: Johnny Depp &amp; Amber Heard Trial, Marriage, Dating &amp; Love ...</title><description>&lt;div&gt;I&#39;ve been listening to &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.bing.com/ck/a?!&amp;amp;&amp;amp;p=3e275dba1f006a5bJmltdHM9MTY3OTQ0MzIwMCZpZ3VpZD0xNjc0NzBmOS01YTBhLTZjNTAtMjc3Zi02Mjk1NWI3NDZkMWQmaW5zaWQ9NTY1NA&amp;amp;ptn=3&amp;amp;hsh=3&amp;amp;fclid=167470f9-5a0a-6c50-277f-62955b746d1d&amp;amp;psq=lex+friedman&amp;amp;u=a1aHR0cHM6Ly9sZXhmcmlkbWFuLmNvbS8&amp;amp;ntb=1&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Lex Fridman&lt;/a&gt; podcasts for months now, ever since my buddy Rocky suggested the episode about climate change that is a &quot;sort of&quot; debate between Bjorn Lomberg and Andrew Revkin. That podcast, Fridman&#39;s #339, was staggering to me, running 4 hours, 10 minutes. It was really my first foray into &quot;long form&quot; interviews, and I liked it. Since then, I&#39;ve listened to his shows with Noam Chomsky, Ray Kurzweil, Michael Saylor, and Elon Musk. He comes to controversial topics with a heavy emphasis on empathy, love, kindness, and so appeals to me. The genius of the long form allows MUCH more depth in conversation, and it&#39;s a habit I&#39;m glad to have in my Scheduliberation.&amp;nbsp;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;That said, I want to recommend this episode to Anyone, Everyone, and you. Insights on Shannon Curry&#39;s views of everything in the title and more are absolutely worth the listen. AND it&#39;s a relatively brief one at just around two hours.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;I listen on Spotify, but you can listen and also watch on YouTube. You&#39;re welcome. Here:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;iframe frameborder=&quot;0&quot; height=&quot;270&quot; src=&quot;https://youtube.com/embed/qtOKrG_wK5A&quot; width=&quot;480&quot;&gt;&lt;/iframe&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Happy Spring, and carry on, safe and well always...&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/03/lex-fridman-talks-with-dr-shannon-curry.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://img.youtube.com/vi/qtOKrG_wK5A/default.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item><item><guid isPermaLink="false">tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20373670.post-285518299329594978</guid><pubDate>Sat, 18 Mar 2023 13:31:00 +0000</pubDate><atom:updated>2023-03-18T08:32:13.659-05:00</atom:updated><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">art</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">creativity</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">life</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">music</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">Nashville</category><category domain="http://www.blogger.com/atom/ns#">tinwings</category><title>Chilly Saturday Morning at Chez Merrique</title><description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-large;&quot;&gt;W&lt;/span&gt;ell well well. Early Saturday morning and I&#39;ll be taking out o&#39; here in a couple hours to do deliveries for &lt;a href=&quot;https://tinwings.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Tinwings&lt;/a&gt;, the glorious gourmet grab-and-go market conceived and made golden by my lovely wife. I&#39;m the back-up delivery guy, and her former delivery person is herself taking off for a 3 month chef gig in Greenland (!) tomorrow. It&#39;ll be fine, and the sky is blue and though it&#39;s chilly outside again I do love to drive all over my hometown and leave amazing, delicious food fare on doorsteps of some of the hundreds of clients who partake of her scrumptiousness regularly.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ofFD10Hsbvz8wvFWmEIwX5W1irweuPwXyAS4EnlHmb8nMekrRjCyn5ZKfO5R_Ssc6VYHMC89UgC0FZEF5YThN_arYQaB_plPeWop_FJ1IeAMgTyVxTlbiZU60EDFt-9sOg5NfnLY9-i09otEqadF9JF4XO0HFnw44Iw24hYR6oZ3CZwcFQ/s2400/fridge3.jpg&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;1600&quot; data-original-width=&quot;2400&quot; height=&quot;266&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ofFD10Hsbvz8wvFWmEIwX5W1irweuPwXyAS4EnlHmb8nMekrRjCyn5ZKfO5R_Ssc6VYHMC89UgC0FZEF5YThN_arYQaB_plPeWop_FJ1IeAMgTyVxTlbiZU60EDFt-9sOg5NfnLY9-i09otEqadF9JF4XO0HFnw44Iw24hYR6oZ3CZwcFQ/w400-h266/fridge3.jpg&quot; width=&quot;400&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Tinwings in The Nations Nashville&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;We went to a live performance in the tiny Basement venue Thursday, to see and hear a solo performance by &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.tommyprine.com/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Tommy Prine&lt;/a&gt;, and we were treated to one song featuring guest star Amanda Shires. What a treat, the whole thing. Tommy&#39;s first LP will release in late June and we were lucky to have heard many of its songs. I&#39;ll tell you this: Tommy has inherited his father&#39;s gift for storytelling with metaphore, irony, and humor, but he has &lt;i&gt;&lt;b&gt;already &lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;proven that he has his own distinct voice, and it&#39;s beautiful and I am now a hardcore fan. I taught him every week for years in my University School of Nashville computer lab and I am so proud of hisgrownupself. As we were leaving after he said, &quot;Mr. Merrick, thank you for coming,&quot; and I responded, &quot;Ha, you can call me Scott.&quot; Made me smile. And I did say hi to Amanda just before leaving, introducing her to my honey. Amanda sometimes comes by to work in Charles&#39;s open studio class and she is, besides being a powerhouse superstar musician and singer, a &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17861186474065608/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;hugely talented painter.&lt;/a&gt;&amp;nbsp;She is also one of the nicest human beings it has been my pleasure to meet.&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17861186474065608/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;I&#39;m currently working on a couple paintings, and I made good progress on my 16x20 painting of my best pal Watson last week. &lt;a href=&quot;https://www.cbrindley.com/artist/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Charles Brindley&lt;/a&gt;&#39;s painting class at Scarritt Bennett Center has been on break for a few weeks and starts up next week, so Wednesday I took the hour or so at his invitation I drove up to his home in Adairville, Kentucky and spent a few hours painting under his supervision/tutelage. I got home with this improved version of mah boy (note that some of what you see is visual &quot;notes&quot; for me to revise, but I&#39;m increasingly happier with it):&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQo6pv0ak11S9KdsSccKbZHahsi14T0ZWnUxDTfcvAupsSm_UGCCkzoO6daclHOdhosH1BxmJu-lodxZpPVJfyulO7oNnQq__DR_U4FW13e5PTOX1yPXCpcsnncuiVisbXN0MpSC2GnowNfVC-WU_k-6CTPFzsApVqy8jxz9c7TFERa94dgg/s4032/IMG_2671.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;4032&quot; data-original-width=&quot;3024&quot; height=&quot;320&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQo6pv0ak11S9KdsSccKbZHahsi14T0ZWnUxDTfcvAupsSm_UGCCkzoO6daclHOdhosH1BxmJu-lodxZpPVJfyulO7oNnQq__DR_U4FW13e5PTOX1yPXCpcsnncuiVisbXN0MpSC2GnowNfVC-WU_k-6CTPFzsApVqy8jxz9c7TFERa94dgg/s320/IMG_2671.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;240&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;Watson&quot;, in progress&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: left;&quot;&gt;And Charles gave me some great ideas for directions I can pursue on this abstract, which I am thinking will be dubbed &quot;metronome&quot;:&lt;/div&gt;&lt;table align=&quot;center&quot; cellpadding=&quot;0&quot; cellspacing=&quot;0&quot; class=&quot;tr-caption-container&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;tbody&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNKwp7R08hyAIXvBiIRbQzBN2aLutNXoUo_XFXkfqoyhSsC-YR_YA5r_x9vZLlnSQqL3zSkiJZpzj9xahMDXMA5TdG4gmO0tOg1tMUC95xFqx3nIUMu-SkMplXr5MPPGszrvDtMa49HiYQFcKi-bns5-mwVlAE1KjOlWD03siLfFTMHUUdxA/s4032/IMG_2672.HEIC&quot; imageanchor=&quot;1&quot; style=&quot;margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;&quot;&gt;&lt;img border=&quot;0&quot; data-original-height=&quot;3024&quot; data-original-width=&quot;4032&quot; height=&quot;240&quot; src=&quot;https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNKwp7R08hyAIXvBiIRbQzBN2aLutNXoUo_XFXkfqoyhSsC-YR_YA5r_x9vZLlnSQqL3zSkiJZpzj9xahMDXMA5TdG4gmO0tOg1tMUC95xFqx3nIUMu-SkMplXr5MPPGszrvDtMa49HiYQFcKi-bns5-mwVlAE1KjOlWD03siLfFTMHUUdxA/s320/IMG_2672.HEIC&quot; width=&quot;320&quot; /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;tr&gt;&lt;td class=&quot;tr-caption&quot; style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: x-small;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;&quot;metronome&quot;, in progress&lt;br /&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/td&gt;&lt;/tr&gt;&lt;/tbody&gt;&lt;/table&gt;&lt;div&gt;Lastly, for now, I&#39;ve been doing some recording, and this one below kinda fun, I think. I&#39;m not happy with my melody line yet, or the recording quality (Audacity with a USB mic on my Dell All-in-One computer) but I&#39;m confident it will get there. Here&#39;s the lyrics I&#39;m working with. Can you envision a melody for it? I may just keep what I&#39;ve got and enhance it with other instruments but I&#39;m open to hear a rough recording. Post it here in a comment...&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;Goin&#39; Somewhere&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;i&gt;by Scott Merrick&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;pre&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;We&#39;re walking in the morning&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Breathing in the freshest air&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;We&#39;re walking in the morning&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Looking &#39;round to see what&#39;s there&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;And in the sky&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;a jet plane&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;flying high&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somebody goin&#39; somewhere.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;It&#39;s all of life we&#39;re livin&#39;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;We laugh we cry we don&#39;t give up&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Whatever we are given&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Reachin&#39; out to scoop it up&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;And in the sky&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;a jet plane&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;flying high&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somebody goin&#39; somewhere.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere a baby cries&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere a lover sighs&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere laughter&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere tears&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere a song begins&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere a train comes in&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere hope&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere good cheer.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;BRIDGE&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere the darkest night&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere the sun is bright&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere you&#39;re home&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere it&#39;s time&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere friends arrive&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere no compromise&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere alone&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somewhere just fine.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt; We&#39;re sitting on the back porch&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Talking out the day&#39;s events&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;We&#39;re sitting on the back porch&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Wonderin&#39; where the weekend went&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;And in the sky&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;a jet plane&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;flying high&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;Somebody goin&#39; somewhere.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;That&#39;s it for this morning. Gonna feed Watson, toss on some warm layers, and drive around Nashville.&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: left;&quot;&gt;Happy Birthday to my magical godson, Seamus. I miss y&#39;all but we&#39;ll be gettin&#39; out your way someday soon&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/pre&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;div style=&quot;text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;div class=&quot;separator&quot; style=&quot;clear: both; text-align: center;&quot;&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;div&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;&lt;/div&gt;</description><link>http://scottmerrick.blogspot.com/2023/03/w-ell-well-well.html</link><author>noreply@blogger.com (Scott Merrick)</author><media:thumbnail xmlns:media="http://search.yahoo.com/mrss/" url="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj7ofFD10Hsbvz8wvFWmEIwX5W1irweuPwXyAS4EnlHmb8nMekrRjCyn5ZKfO5R_Ssc6VYHMC89UgC0FZEF5YThN_arYQaB_plPeWop_FJ1IeAMgTyVxTlbiZU60EDFt-9sOg5NfnLY9-i09otEqadF9JF4XO0HFnw44Iw24hYR6oZ3CZwcFQ/s72-w400-h266-c/fridge3.jpg" height="72" width="72"/><thr:total>0</thr:total></item></channel></rss>

If you would like to create a banner that links to this page (i.e. this validation result), do the following:

  1. Download the "valid RSS" banner.

  2. Upload the image to your own server. (This step is important. Please do not link directly to the image on this server.)

  3. Add this HTML to your page (change the image src attribute if necessary):

If you would like to create a text link instead, here is the URL you can use:

http://www.feedvalidator.org/check.cgi?url=http%3A//scottmerrick.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default%3Falt%3Drss

Home · About · News · Docs · Terms

 
Copyright © 2002-9 Sam Ruby, Mark Pilgrim, Joseph Walton, and Phil Ringnalda