Traveling companion

Casey has been a marvelous traveling companion throught this trip. What do travelers do most together? Eat of course! Here is Casey on four different "terasses" in Seville and Cordoba.

Seville

Here are is a selection of pictures for my day in Seville.

At the Plaza de Espagna, already feeling nostalgic about my time in Cadiz!

The real Alcazar. This is the palace where the real Spanish royalty live... at least when they are in Seville.

The cathedral of Seville is a cacaphonic affaire as we discovered are many of the churches in the south of Spain. Most of them are built out of the remains of mosques that were there when the christians took over in the 12th century and then added to through the next centuries. It is as if they have never really figured out what they want to be.

What is Spain without the terasse in every plaza?

This is a procession that we happened onto in our first night in Seville. There was a very large marching band, dozens of candle holders, an immense cross, and this bedangeled bed with the crucified Jesus on top. We tried to find out what the special occasion was but all that we could gather was that it was some church's procession. They seem to do them quite often. It is different to be in a country where religion still plays a big part of people's lives.

Routine du matin

Les matins se suivent et se ressemblent souvent dans la maisonnée de la rue Fabre. Quand la maman n'est pas là, c'est papa qui amènent les petites à leurs école et garderie respectives. Lily doit arriver à 8h10 à la maternelle sans faute, tandis qu'Alice peut arriver n'importe quand avant 9h30 à sa garderie Les Ateliers. On met donc la priorité sur les préparatifs de Princesse Lily, qui doit être habillée, nourrie et coiffée prestement. Les cheveux de Lily ayant beaucoup poussé récemment, on peut maintenant lui faire une couette de cheval, comme celle que Gabriela lui fait ici (vous ne trouvez pas que Lily ressemble fichtrement à sa mère avec les cheveux attachés comme ça?).

Plus souvent qu'autrement, Papa amène Alice avec elle pour reconduire Lily à son école et ils enchaînent ensuite tous les deux vers la garderie. Mais parfois, comme sur la photo du haut, ils décident de faire un petit retour à la maison pour jouer encore un peu ou terminer une oeuvre en cours, avant de se rendre à Les Ateliers pour la journée...

Plaza de la Catedral - Cadiz

We are in a different land!

Trees in Cadiz

What a strange collection of trees we saw in Cadiz! I will have to bring a tree book along to identify them next time. Many of them were so big that they were not easy to photograph. Here are a few. If anyone knows what they are I would love to know. 

Hotel Francia y Paris - Cadiz

Here is our "home" in Cadiz. It is a very grand building right in the middle of the old town and the festival tough we discovered that the insides left something to be desired!

Show in Cadiz

We have an eventful show last night! After all of us getting here with all the effort that that involved, not to mention the work on the show it's self, we almost had to cancel because Pilar was very sick. She managed to make it through just about all the piece with only one emergency exit! The audience did not know that anything was wrong. It made for a very attentive spirit on the stage.

Arriving in Jerez

Here we are, four intrepid travelers (Me, Casey, Karine, Ben) emerging into the Spanish south. We managed to make it with all our bags from Bilbao to Barcelona and from Barcelona to Jerez. Here we are waiting for a bus that will take us to the train that will take us to Cadiz. We discovered that the European discount airlines are not designed for people who are traveling with a month's worth of belongings as well as light and sound equipment and sets and costumes. Or at least we discovered how these companies make their money!!

Lily's flu: a special kind of H1N1?

Lily has stayed home for the last two days and will remain here tomorrow too because she came down with some fever in her class on Monday. But as always, her symptoms were extremely short-lived (no more fever yesterday and today) and she remains her joyful self through it all. Is it a regular flu or the new H1N1 variety? I have no idea, but all I can say is that her Happiness is at Level 1 and her Niceness is at prime level 1 as well...!

Basque cuisine

Here I am (as Eric asked asked for more pictures of me), venturing into the more exotic basque cuisine. We had bacalau pil pil, which is cod soaked in olive oil, and squid in it's own black ink and pig's feet! All was remarkably tasty though I would not eat it every day.

Theatre in Bilbao

Here is La Fundicion, where we performed in Bilbao, a very tiny space that was crammed to the limit both on and off stage. It was too bad that we didn't have an extra show or two as they had to turn away many people at the door.

Back in Bilbao

Here I am , back in Bilbao (the famous Guggenheim in the background). It is rare and very nice to come back to the same place two years in a row! It feels a little like coming home. All I need is my family!!!

Fabre Street Philosophy Club

In preparation for the upcoming visit of Professor Cole Harris, two great philosophers are joining minds in trying to reach the ultimate truth about cookies and time. First truth: Gabriela's oatmeal cookies rock! Another great truth is captured in the following irrefragable dialogue:

"Demain, c'est aujourd'hui" -- Prof Alice Maharishi Taillefer

"Hier, aujourd'hui c'était demain" -- Prof Lily Descartes Taillefer

Fabre Street Yoga Club

Like mother, like daughter. Lily gives her sisters a yoga class with the postures she learned in kindergarten (and some of her own invention!).

Thank you, Meo !

Thank you, Meo, for the lovely cut-out dolls book from Hawaii ! Lily and I have been playing with our two paper dolls over and over since it arrived by the mail.
Here's a drawing I made of YOU, Meo, at my daycare. (the black dot is the belly button and the squares are boxes and treasures!)

Getting ready

Our first performance of the new version of Fragil is tomorrow. Here you have Blanca warming up in the morning when the technicians were supposed to be doing the set up (or so we understood) and above you see the technicians setting to work just as we were set to begin rehearsal. They were a jolly crew and very good but none of them spoke english and I ended up trying my hand at some translating for our technical director Karine who doesn't speak Spanish.  It is going to be a long day tomorrow!!

Casey in the morning

Here is Casey (my room-mate and the artistic director of MD) in her habitual morning state.

Robert and Co.

Here you have: Victor (video), Marc (music), Pilar (dancer), and Blanca (choreographer)

... and Robert.

A little modern help

The old city of Vitoria is built on a hill. They have made the life of residents easier by building these rolling side walks. I am not sure that they are improving the health of the residents but a least they have made them interesting to look at with their twisting geometric shapes.

Lily's class at the Museum

Lily's class went to the Musée d'art contemporain this morning, accompanied by their teacher Lisianne (standing in the white lab coat) and myself. We saw two exhibitions and then had a lovely workshop in one of their superb sunlit studios, overlooking the Place des Arts esplanade.

Mommy is not the only one creating works of art in a Museum ! :-)

Rehearsal

Here are Pilar and Benoît in rehearsal today.

Windows

I can't get over these windows! This is where we are dancing from outside and in.

Trees!

We didn't start rehearsal this morning until 11 so I had time for a walk. I passed through walkway after walkway of magnificent trees.  I think these are plane  trees. Am I right?

Out my window

We have two windows in our little attic room; one the tiny one you saw from the outside, the other a big skylight. It is very nice to wake up to the bright sky in the morning. This morning we also woke up to a cement mixer right outside. They seem to be fixing things all over the city. No sign of the recession!

Meanwhile, back at the house...

In the absence of our most enthusiastic food appreciator (maman Rachel, on tour in Spain), the proposed meals still try to impress the discerning tastebuds of the remaining bunch. Here on the picture, a variation on Jamie Oliver's experimental duck-with-pomegranate warm salad... which managed to provoke a few favorable grunts later on.

Artium

This is the Art Gallery where we will be performing. Marvelous space both inside and out.

Mama in Spain

This is the view (Front and back) of our marvelous B+B in Vitoria - Los Arquilos. Our front door is in behind the first archway in the front view and Casey and my little window is the tiny white box second from the end at the back, just under the eve.

Halloween 2009

Voici quelques photos croquées sur le vif par Gabriela de nos deux petites fées des fleurs, merveilleusement costumées par notre cher ami Marc et accompagnées de leur sorcière-marraine Marie-Claude !

Un petit aller-retour sur notre rue Fabre a suffi pour remplir les paniers de bonbons et les coeurs de joyeux souvenirs.