Cordoba

Today we day-tripped to Córdoba to see the Mezquita which was, at one time, the second-largest mosque in the world. Construction of the mosque started in 784 A.D. and was reconsecrated a Christian church in 1236.

It’s a magnificent sight to see and well worth the 45 minutes it takes to ride the AVE train from Seville.

After wandering around outside for a bit we purchased our tickets for admission and went inside. You should see this place with the marble floors and the amazing arches…

It’s amazing that the Christian’s preserved so much of the original mosque. Of course they had to change it up a bit and put a Christian altar smack dab in the middle of it along with various other ornamentation, but they kept the original Mihrab which once contained an original copy of the Koran and relics of the prophet Mohammad (an arm bone)

It was indeed a wonderful place to visit. Sadly, there’s not much else to see in Córdoba. It’s kind of a one-trick-pony kind of town, but if you’re in the neighborhood (Seville) there’s really no excuse for not making the effort to get over there and see the Mezquita.

Cathedral And Bell Tower


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The Cathedral in Seville is the third largest church in Europe (behind St. Peter’s in Rome and St. Paul’s in London) and the largest Gothic building in Europe.

Dimly lit and with flash photography not being allowed, it’s hard to shoot. Even then, it’s hard to capture the sheer immensity of this structure.

The cathedral houses one thing I was glad to be able to capture, the Tomb Of Christopher Columbus


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That thing is magnificent! Even if there’s no actual proof that the remains of Christopher Columbus actually reside in the monument…

Some parts of the cathedral are grim and gloomy

While others are a bit more bright and hopeful

There was one thing Cynthia kept going on and on about and that was climbing the The Giralda which is the bell tower of the cathedral. At 320 feet, it’s daunting to consider for old fogies like ourselves

Fortunately it a series of ramps leading to the top rather than many, many tiny little stone steps as I recall was the case in the York Minster when we climbed that years ago.

The climb is worth it, though. Just for the view


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We’re resting now. Tomorrow there is talk of taking the train to Cordoba

Night Life

Cynthia has never been a night owl. She’s usually down for the count by 9:30 or 10:00 pm and would certainly NEVER consider going out for a bite to eat at 10:00 on a Sunday night.

Not so in Madrid. This town has changed her.

We got back from Segovia and I was beat. I laid down and napped for a few hours only to wake up to the sounds of Cynthia changing clothes. She said she’d like to go out for a walk and maybe have a bocadillo (sandwich) and maybe a sangria.

I got up and got dressed and we headed out. The evening weather was absolutely perfect. No coat was needed and we were perfectly comfortable.

We walked over to the Plaza Mayor and found a table at the restaurant we discovered the previous night and sat down. We ordered our food and sangria and sat to watch the worlds go by.

Many, many people wandering the square. Young lovers walking hand in hand, a group of old ladies all sitting beneath one of the lamps in the square who I would bet are there each Sunday night, odd groups of tourists here and there. Simply magical.

And the music! There was this band starting to play near us. Just 3 guys. I got up to take a picture as a 4th was arriving.


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I figured since he had an upright bass and there was already an upright bass player he was just going to talk to someone and move on.

Nope.

By the time I took this picture there were 3 upright bass players.


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By the time we moved on there were about 12 musicians in total. Horns, percussion, guitar and the three bass players. And they were good, too! Swing music with heavy Latin overtones. They would be a huge hit at the Continental Club for sure!

Madrid – El Dia Segundo

We stayed up a bit late last night. It was fun to wander the streets and take in the sites after sunset. I am happy to have access to several Starbucks as it’s a great value on a huge cup of coffee.


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This morning we woke up much later than we anticipated. It seemed that it should only be around 7:30 am but was, in fact, 9:30 am. We were obviously more tired than we thought.

We got up, got dressed and walked past the Palacio de Comunicaciones on our way to the obligatory visit to the Museo del Prado


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The line to get into the museum was not too bad, even at the late hour. I was most pleased to see The Garden Of Delights by Hieronymus Bosch.

Now we’re back at the hotel for siesta and contemplating our next move.

Houston Press 2007 Best Of Houston

Best Pirate Band (2007)
Flying Fish Sailors

From their name to their repertoire, historical nautical themes permeate all that the Flying Fish Sailors do. Each of their albums features a sea shanty or four, and even shanties about such landlubberly subjects as mowing the lawn, and U-Haul trucks. (If you ask them nicely, they’ll don “pseudo-pirate” attire for a gig.)

Guitarist Jay Lee fondly recalls playing a set on the tall ship Elissa in Galveston “” “When we would do the sea shanties, the volunteers on the Elissa knew the words and they would sing along, and it was really cool,” he remembers. So far, that’s been their only show on the briny deep, but they’ve played hundreds of gigs on land. “We’ve laid siege to every place from the Red Lion to the Mucky Duck and boarded many a bar,” Lee says. As the Sea Captain on The Simpsons might put it, “Arrr, this be the yarrest band thar be.”

Ojo Rojo

I’m officially on vacation. We don’t fly out till Thursday, but it has begun. We felt it would be good to take a day before we left and tie up some loose ends so that’s what tomorrow is for.

We are in the final countdown and running through the go/no go sequence for launch before our flight on Thursday and we hit a minor snag.

Cynthia had noticed her eye turning very red Sunday evening. I assumed it to be a subconjunctival hemorrhage and probably not anything to worry about. Cynthia was not so sure.

On Monday it got a little worse and when we woke up this morning Cynthia informed me that it had gotten much worse and began to panic a bit. It was decided that she would go to the eye doctor as soon as his office opened and she would let him have a look.

I endeavored to stay positive and upbeat. Still, if there was a serious medical problem it would obviously put the trip we have been planning for the last 6 months in jeopardy.

I was sticking with my amateur diagnosis as Cynthia pursued the advice of someone who actually studied medicine. There was a tense moment when she called and said “I have good news and I have bad news.” I asked for the bad news and she told me that as bad as it looked now, it was going to look a lot worse over the next few weeks.

I asked for the good news and she confirmed that it was a subconjunctival hemorrhage and her doctor had said it wasn’t serious and that she should not worry and that she would be fine to travel.

Yay! Cynthia’s going to be ok!
Yay! The trip is still on!

The eye really doesn’t look that bad. She has to hold the eyelid open before you can really see the problem. The doctor says it’s normal for these things to grow as the eye heals so it may well spread over a larger part of the eye and become more noticeable.

On the plus side, Cynthia’s not in any pain and it’s not affecting her vision. She is worried it will show up in th the holiday photos. Several people, including my boss and Cynthia’s doctor, tried to reassure us by suggesting some photoshopping to clean up our vacation photos if what we are now affectionately calling Cynthia’s Eye Bubo showed up in any of them.

On a side note, spare yourself the squirmy discomfort of performing a Google image search on the term “subconjunctival hemorrhage” as the results are rather distressing.

Houston Roller Derby – Governor’s Cup

I’ve decided the candid shots are better than the actions shots for me.
I can capture action but it’s just not that compelling to me.
Besides, there’s several photographers there who seem to specialize in the action shots.

The new lens came through in a big way:


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