Flamenco at Our Hotel

Our hotel's restaurant features a Flamenco night on Sundays starting at 8:30. Since that's long after the kids' bedtime, we had to go to the show in shifts. My wife went first. She came back after about half an hour to make sure I could see some of the first set, which may have been the only set. I rushed over to the restaurant. Things were still going strong.

Flamenco dancing (and the music) is quite amazing. The dancers have a lot of dramatic postures and the stompy sort of dancing that gets the audience excited. Even when the guitarist and the lady singer had a duet, the two dancers were still stomping out an electric rhythm. The guy dancer (whom my wife christened The Dread Pirate Roberts) had athletic machismo.

Flamenco dancers on the stage!

Toward the end of the set, one of the ladies came down into the audience and chose the guy at the table next to me. He went up with her.

You can dance with me, but not too close!

Fastest dance ever!

You can see the seriousness on the lady's face and the high energy that made even the audience member blurry.

Then the other lady came into the audience and picked me! I like to think I did well. Luckily, there is no photographic evidence one way or another. I had a good time, which makes it a good in my book. Some moves I could pick up easily, others seemed a bit awkward. At one point I was wondering if she was doing a move only for girls, a little jump forward on both feet. She naturally had a satisfying stomp. When I did it in my sneakers, it was much less impressive. I heard the band and dancers laughing and chatting the in back room after they were done. Were they chatting about us?

My wife was sad to have missed my Flamenco debut. Maybe in a few years the kids will be old enough to stay up and see an early show. Of course, 8:30 is ridiculously early in Spanish culture, where dancing usually doesn't start till much later. This show was definitely for tourists and certainly lots of fun.

Spanish Hotel Playground

One of the important criteria for hotels is that a playground is nearby. This criteria achieved "met expectations" when we found the playground across the street was part of our hotel. It would have "exceeded expectations" but the gate to the playground was locked and we had to ask the front desk to send someone to open it for us.

Nice size and plenty of sunshine and shade

J and L enjoyed the slide, though J wanted L to ride down with him. The only problem was she didn't want to. They made a compromise by riding on the see-saw.

L and J laugh it up

Mommy and L laugh it up

My wife was unavailable for comment after I put that last picture into the post. I believe her exact words were, "I'm not speaking to you."

Speaking of perilous actions, J had no worries climbing the blue climber multiple times. He was even happy to get his photograph at the top.

King of the mountain

Our only worry was going to the playground as the first thing we did on vacation. The last time that happened (in Portugal) the kids only wanted to go to the playground every day for the rest of the trip. Luckily they loved going on adventures this time, so we were not in so much trouble.

Snowman #1, 2013

I don't know if we will make other snowmen in the future this year, but I thought that I'd be optimistic. We've had a whole weekend of snow on and off. Our earlier attempts failed because of our snowicidal children who would stomp any snowball larger than hand-held size. Any time my wife would get a bigger ball J and L came along and tromped the ball with their boots. On Monday, L was inside for the early construction and J was less snowicidal. So he and Mommy were able to make a snowman.

J and the Snowman

L's contribution was much more positive than earlier in the weekend. Instead of giving the snowman the boot, she gave him a hat.

Putting on the finishing touch

Snowman 2013.1!

Then the children went back to the swing set. While J was going back and forth, he wanted to catch a snowflake on his tongue. He said it didn't taste very good.

"Help out!!!" L shouts.

It was another fun snow day in Yorkshire. All the more so for J, whose school had posted at 7:45 a.m. "Probably opening on time." He wailed and moaned like he was undergoing the torments of Hell. The school must have heard a lot of wails and gnashing of teeth from all over town, because at 8:00 a.m. they posted "No school today." There was much rejoicing.

Our Spanish Hotel

Our hotel in Spain was the Grangefield Oasis Club. We got a great deal paying a low weekly rate. It was nice and Spanish-looking, but catered quite a bit to English-speaking customers.

Our hotel

The room was a two-bedroom apartment with a foldout couch, so it could easily have accommodated two people more than our family of four. We had a nice kitchen which meant we could make our own meals if we wanted to (like our far-too-early-for-us-adults breakfasts and our far-too-early-for-Spanish-dining dinners (eating dinner at 5:30? Spanish restaurants often don't open till 8!). One night a cat snuck into our kitchen window for no apparent reason.

Cat spying on us?

The main draw for the children was the pools at the hotel. The outdoor pools looked lovely but were a bit chilly. The air temperature was in the 60s Fahrenheit or teens Celsius.

Outdoor pools must be great when the weather gets warmer

Luckily, the indoor pool is heated (as is the indoor jacuzzi and sauna) and we did a lot of swimming in there. Every afternoon we would take advantage. We met  another family there and played games like Marco Polo or Sharks and Fishes. As usual, L loved warming up in the bubbly jacuzzi. The sign leading into the pool was interesting to us. At first we thought it meant "no speedos," but they just wanted people to dress properly in the lobby on the way to the indoor pool.

I bet it's hard to smoke while swimming

The other important criteria for the children was a playground, which was also provided by the hotel and we will see in the next post!

Snow Day January 2013

Alas, this snow day did not fall on a weekday, so that my wife would have had a free day from work. It was a Saturday, she was home anyway. We had a leisurely early breakfast and then loitered in the house a while until we went out into the back garden.

J made a beeline for the swing set. He did not ride on them. Instead, he imagined them as a shield from the snowballs thrown by the rest of the family (we didn't gang up on him, I swear!).

J and the snowy swing set

To swing or not to swing, that is the question...

Mommy chose a more secure location for her shield.

Playset or fortification....you decide!

L was more of a pacifist, just wanting to sled around in the yard. I dragged her in the sled for a while, then she dragged Diego.

Dragging Little Diego (we have a bigger Diego action figure) to....

...the shed!

L continued her cherubic pursuits by making snow angels.

Not too bad!

I think some snow got in her shirt...brrr!

Tricky upside-down angel

J made a snow angel too. By that point we were all fairly frigid and ready to warm up inside.

After lunch and some videos, we went out again, this time to the local park for sledding. The slopes had been used quite a bit before we got there. Lots of grass was visible. That didn't stop the dozen or so children still there. We joined in the fun. We found an even better slope further in the park. We finished up with some playing on the playground equipment. Then we went back home to have more hot beverages and bask in our warm memories.

Iglesia de San Sebastian, Antequera, Spain

The Church of Saint Sebastian is located in the heart of Antequera. Built in the 1500s, the church follows the Renaissance styling of the time with many Roman overtones. Over the door are Saints Peter, Paul and Sebastian, as well as the coat of arms of Emperor Charles V. The fountain in the plaza also dates from the 1500s. The exterior has a striking baroque-mudejar tower built in the 1700s.

Iglesia de San Sebastian

Personally, I think the saints should be over the coats of arms

The interior has a choir right in the middle, so that upon entering visitors and pilgrims see a wooden wall of altars (the opposite side is the back wall of the choir).

Ornate wooden wall

The choir didn't slant, my photo did

The choir takes up half the nave, leaving just a short distance to the main altar.

Nave

Main altar

Modest yet posh nativity

Many of the side altars are also highly ornate, following the baroque emphasis on exaggerated motion and ornate detail.

One altar to Our Lady

Beautiful statue of Our Lady

Altar with many saints

Some newer decorations adorn the walls and acknowledge recent saints and blesseds.

St. Josemarie Escriva, Founder of Opus Dei

Blessed Pope John Paul II, hiding in the shadows

The baptismal font was surprisingly plain.

Baptismal font

Who was Saint Sebastian?

Sebastian was born in southern France in the mid-200s. He became a soldier in the Roman army and was appointed as a captain in the Praetorian Guard under Diocletian and Maximian. Both were unaware he was a Christian. He encouraged two brothers, Mark and Marcellian, to remain true to their faith on the eve of their martyrdom. He also healed a deaf woman, whose cure inspired 78 immediate conversions. He also converted Chromatius, the local prefect, who set all his prisoners free and retired to the country. Diocletian ordered that Sebastian be tied to a stake and shot to death with arrows. He was shot full of arrows and left for dead. When the widow Irene of Rome came to take care of his body, she found him still alive. She nursed him back to health. In 268, Sebastian found Emperor Diocletian and denounced him for his cruelty to Christians. Diocletian had Sebastian beaten to death. His body was buried on the Appian Way outside of Rome. He is the patron of archers, athletes, and soldiers and is invoked against the plague. His feast day is January 20th.

Book Review: Avengers: The Origin

Book Review: Avengers: The Origin by Joe Casey and Phil Noto

Avengers: The Origin is another reboot/update of a classic superhero comic. It came out as a five-issue series in 2010, probably in anticipation of the release of Joss Whedon's [Marvel's] The Avengers [Assemble] movie. This graphic novel also tells the story of how the Avengers first formed, but is more of a throw-back to the comic book origin than a follow-on to a bunch of superhero movies.

As in the movie, Loki is the main bad guy, though here he is merely trying to get revenge on Thor because he really doesn't like his brother. And he's been banished to The Isle of Silence by Odin. Loki still causes problems for Thor by manipulating events on Earth. He gets a fairly articulate Hulk to go on a rampage, drawing a fistful of heroes to southwest America to find and contain the Hulk. Those heroes are Thor, Ironman, Ant Man, and The Wasp.

Non-comic readers probably are scratching their heads at the mention of Ant Man and The Wasp. Ant Man does in fact communicate with ants and is able to control them (much like Aquaman with fist), but he's also a brilliant scientist and can shrink himself down to ant-size. The Wasp is his girlfriend (they get married soon after The Avengers are formed in the 1960s comics) and she has similar control over flying insects and her size. What she lacks in scientific brilliance is made up for by her willingness to jump into any exciting and dangerous situation for some action.

As in the movie, the heroes do not work together at first and they have no idea of the bigger picture. Unlike the movie, Bruce Banner is nowhere to be seen, as if the Hulk can't revert to Banner. Thor eventually battles Loki while the other heroes battle the Hulk. The conflicts get resolved neatly and the heroes are united by the end.

The story moves along at a reasonable pace though it is not too exciting. The discussion at the end among the heroes of what their group's mission will be and how they will relate to the government is interesting. The art is okay but not in any way remarkable, except that the style mimics the 1960s visuals, especially with Ironman's first, boxy gold armor and Hulk a bit like a green Frankenstein's monster. Overall, there isn't enough high stakes, great action or cleverness to make the book really shine. I found it mediocre.

SAMPLE TEXT:
Thor, as he is fighting multiple Lokis on the Isle of Silence: The swarm will not deter me, half-brother--behold my righteous fury! [he smashes a bunch of fake Lokis] Enough of your tricks! Mjolnir will have the final say--and properly smite your army of evil! [his hammer Mjolnir smites the army of evil] And so! the truth is revealed--and you have nowhere left to hide!
Loki: I only cringe from your constant blustering, Thor!

That made me laugh out loud.