They look at the art, banners, tiles.
The interior is over the top, the appearance from the outside barren.
Silken Ties
Like A Blue Thread
about bocairent, spain,
I surprised myself and stopped to write this post. “Over the top inside, barren outside” (on the surface, what’s visible). It can apply to so much, yet it is untrue! Sigh, reminds me of the already written post about my mother, which I intended to post last week.
🤓 Having trouble typing fast and accurately because I turned off spelling and grammar correction over a week ago to re-read Like A Blue Thread! Noticed improper changes while writing A Tale To Tell, so I am going back to my roots and watching the screen a bit more while I write. I took a typing course shortly after having my son (to get out of the house) and can type without reading the keyboard, although I think I can’t— so false also!
Have had Spain as a subject for months, but
where do I begin?
You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step.
Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
I had always wanted to visit Spain. Never thought I would get to do so, ever. I come from a humble background, had just enough, and never allowed my dreams to motivate me. I just dreamed (dream) them. Finny, my step-mom, has also always wanted to go to Spain since she was young. It is a dream of mine (another, one of many) to go with her. Double sigh. Anyway, I traveled to Spain a few times for work. I usually scheduled an extra day or two before and after a business trip. Airfares were cheaper if one arrived or left during the week. So I got away with it. The hotel cost and my miserly meals didn’t cost more — I seldom dined at fancy restaurants, preferring little holes in the walls. Might have also been that I got away with so much! The owner of the company liked me 😊. Anyway, I worked in Barcelona, Valencia, and Bocairent — absolute jewels! Sometimes, I think about it and am shocked that it was me.
i am fortunate to have experienced so much
What surprised me most on the first trip was the dual languages of Spanish and Catalán, spoken in most of Eastern Spain, where I went. I thought Spanish was the only language spoken (plus Basque, which is only spoken in a tiny triangular territory straddling France). The second surprise were comments from one of the reps at dinner on my first night there.
“I love the way you speak Spanish.” Our accents are so different! I would have expected the opposite, as I presumed our Spanish diluted. But, as I have learned, my Spanish is not typical because of my background. I lost the language for a few years after moving to the States, as I immersed myself in English to keep my head above water in high school (I started my freshman year when I arrived), then began to speak it again in college with South American friends. So, it is a thing by itself: a mixture of accents. My English is the same — I have an accent no one has yet deciphered. I get asked if it’s this or that, never ever Spanish.
digressed
Comment no 2: “How do you feel about being here after what the Spanish did to the islands?” I was floored. First: it happened over 500 years ago and has nothing to do with me or the Spaniards of today. I may hold a grudge at times but try not to. It is one of the admonishments I received from my mother when I was a child, which I remember as if it happened today. She said it would keep one bitter and perpetuate the wrong. Woof, right? Wonder if she remembers it . . .
i continue to digress — my hands running amok on the keyboard
Second (back to the reason I was floored @ the islands comment, sorry): Spain, to me, was the mother country, always. It was almost an honor to be there. So I fell in love with Spain, as I did later with Scotland. I believe in my heart ❤️ I have Scottish blood in my veins.
There is something special in the air in most of the countries I visited, something akin to it, particular to the place, different from what I know, yet with the same quality. Could it be what I brought (and bring) to foreign places, be they in the US or abroad? Probably, most of the time, yes.
is that what we do with people?
Most probably, yes. Not only with people but also with circumstances. What we bring to the table is what we eat and spew (I prefer the synonyms exude + spurt). Getting philosophical and grammatical and haven’t had breakfast yet.
What does this have to do with Spain!?!
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