September 27-October 2, 2011: Spain Pre-Party
We flew in to Malaga, Spain from Las Vegas via Minneapolis and
Paris, arriving after spending 22 hours in airports and airplanes. Lars Helge was there to meet us, and transported us and our excessive luggage the
100
kilometers to the east to his villa, Casa Emilie, near the tiny village of Itrabo. Tove
would arrive the next day, so it was just the three of us. Barb and I had
a long nap, and then awoke to enjoy the quiet end of day on the side of the
mountain. There was no wind. No insects. Absolutely no sound.
None. One doesn't realize how much noise one lives in until it is absent.
Totally absent. Eerie. Presumably, whatever "normal" noises that were
generated by the surroundings were absorbed by the huge valley that lies
immediately to the west of our villa. Here is a panorama of that immense
valley, taken from our patio, and a sunset picture in the same direction (of
course):
In the early days after our arrival, we were all busy preparing for the party.
Lars Helge and I trimmed his three palm trees. Barb and Lars Helge washed
the dust off the front gate and the railing around the rear patio. Lars
Helge vacuumed the pool, and washed the rim. After Tove arrived we visited
a nursery and picked up some flowers to refresh the beds around the pool.
We had several grocery-shopping expeditions, on one of which we bought a Serrano ham
and a stand on which to carve it. On the day after Tove arrived, Barb and
I took the rental car back to Malaga and picked up Barb's good friends Monica and Lynne
who arrived from America.
Later that day, Rasmus and Kari arrived, driving their own car. They had
been vacationing in France and Spain and were also delivering a special machine
designed to crack the shells of almonds. More about that later.
Many of the guests arrived earlier than the official start of
the party. Those present drove down to Salobrena one day, where we briefly
beachified and had lunch at a Chinese restaurant. Most ordered beer, and
the unfortunate waitress arrived with a large platter carrying the drinks.
She stumbled against something and the platter tipped, spilling the beer onto
the table and also onto the even-more-unfortunate Kari. (See photo below.)
By the evening immediately before the official start of the
party, everyone had arrived. We all gathered at Casa Emilia for the
typically-late* evening meal, and in the course of the evening managed to
consume 13 bottles of wine. (See photo below.)
*Lunches in Spain are often the main meal of the day, and take
place around 2 or 3 pm in the afternoon. The evening meal doesn't
occur until 8 or 9 pm, and often later. We all adopted this
time-table while we were in Spain.
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Most of the front of Casa Emilia hides behind a wall...
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Barbara cleaning patio rails
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Barb and Lars Helge cleaning the front gate
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Lars Helge cleaning the pool
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Planting flowers in the beds along the pool
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Lars Helge and Barb also found time to do a little "sitting and thinking"
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Barb, Lars Helge and Tove admire a recently-planted fig tree that replaced a sick almond tree
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Monica, Lynne and Chuck with "welcoming drinks"
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Stand used to hold the hams that are so popular in Spain
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Ham mounted and ready to be carved
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Lars Helge attacking the delicious beast
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Gathered in Salobrena for lunch at the Chinese Restaurant
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Kari displays the scene of the accident
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Bottles from our first night together
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Scene along the dirt road as we enjoy one of our morning walks
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Kari, Rasmus and Lars Helge "paa tur"
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Village of Itrabo as seen from Casa Emilia
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Narrow street in Itrabo
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