Frankenkatzen

Poor Lucky had surgery last week.

They removed all of his teeth except the four canines.

And he had an abscess on the back of his neck, so they had to remove that, too.

Here's a shot of Lucky's stitches... I can sew better than that!

Now his new nickname is Frankenkatzen.

Here is Lucky relaxing on the balcony.

Ávila

Chris (roommate), Oscar (best friend of Chris), Johanne (Belgian), and I all took the Renfe train to Ávila last month.  Apparently, the town is famous for it's muralla (wall), cathedral, and egg yolk desserts!  "Yemas" means egg yolk and here are my travel buddies outside of a candy store.

Here we are at the muralla.  

patient zero.

 

An older lady sat with us at this site and chatted us up about her hometown, Ávila.  Apparently, if we had visited last fall we would have seen a 300 year old tree... now it had to be cut down because of a disease.  I did like the building though.  

Just hangin' around Ávila with the girls.

The castle look inspired this shot.  

Don't be scared, it's just a Good Friday procession

In their defense, Spain was sporting these costumes centuries before the KKK had even started.

The Jane in Spain had bad luck with the rain

 

Paella

Jane (aka Mom) visits Spain:  

renting bikes in Valencia

 

 

Valencia's very impressive aquarium

I took at least 8 pictures of this turtle.  It made me think of Jessie.

Some pelicans. 

Javea (after the storm passed) 

GILL AGREES TO PICK UP MURRAY AT AIRPORT

John Gill has agreed to pick up ex-wife, Jane Murray, at the Phila. airport on Wednesday, April 15th at 3 pm. When asked why he made this decision Gill said: "I felt bad no one else would pick her up. Besides, it sure beats busting my ass at work."  Gill has picked up Murray from the airport before as well as watched her little dog. When asked about the dog, Gill responded: "Initially he's no trouble but after a while he's a pain in the ass. The bad breath and the yipping start getting to you."  Gill had no comment when asked why Murray won't watch his dog, Boy.

Murray pictured here with Gill.  Date unknown.  

¿snow in Madrid?

We had a few inches of snow in the city and it made headlines.  The news broadcasters spoke of the snow as if were a blizzard.  In the teachers' lounge, everyone remarked that there hadn't been so much snow in over 10 years.  Outside, I watched all the kids in the playground making snowballs with no gloves.  That was the first time in their lives that they were able to throw snowballs at one another at recess.  How cute.  Then a crash against the window startled me... some of those little urchins had begun an attack against the teachers' lounge! 

Ice Skating!

On my birthday (well, actually November 30th) a bunch of us went ice skating.  That's me holding Jaime's hand as he tries his balance on the ice for the very first time in his 8 years of life.  The roster of skaters also included: my roommates, friends, and a bunch of English teachers from work.  Everyone came for 3 hours of ankle-wobbling enjoyment.  Cristina brought Clara (age 6), who acted as an alternate weight on my arm while Jaime wasn't serving as said weight.  I'm thrilled the kids tried ice skating for the first time, but I should have rotated arms because the next day I could barely move my right shoulder.