A minor major personal success

It is probably ridiculous to most of those in the younger

generation, but for me it was really like a wall:

Every time I wanted to print something from my PC,

my bye-bye old printer came up as first choice.

It was very irritating, but I felt overwhelmed.

That was the kind of situation I would have let my son

solve if he was here, but he is not.

So last night I decided to try, and believe or not,

I succeeded.

There is always this old basic fear that if I do

"something wrong", the whole PC will collapse, but

then it didn't happen!

A tiny step for humanity, a major step for me.

Surprise meeting!

Kate, in her thoughts at least: Hmmm.....

I have seen this family on TV!

Holding her newly acquired Sponge-Bob from the antique mall and looking at Daddy.

Sponge-Bob's eyes.....

Homer's eyes......

Maybe Sponge-Bob is a relative?

What fun it is to play in a tent!

So what is a renaissance fair?

When my son invited me to a renaissance fair in Bristol,

Wisconsin, I thought we were going to some antique mall.

Seeing all the cars parked in some huge fields, I slowly

understood that this was something else.

Some of those who parked their cars, then came out

dressed in costumes.

Not an antique mall, for sure!

The entrance looked like this, so I forgot I was in

Wisconsin and remembered visits to England and

even to Germany.

We had come to the Renaissance Faire in Bristol!

In many ways you are on a set, with buildings that

probably have no real backside, but I loved walking

along, looking at each building. There were shops of

every kind you could imagine for such a place.

As people needed cash, the ATM machine had been

built into a more timely little building. ;-)

There were performers of all kinds, and many dressed

up in costumes that may or may not, have been

typical for that time.

It was very funny to see some of those "historical"

persons talking on their cellphones!

I loved it, despite all the phoniness.

It was pure fun!

http://www.renfaire.com/

A old tunnel in a back garden in Spain

Imagine coming in from the street to this inner court

and to the garden where I stood when I took this photo.

Then, in that back garden, you could walk down into

some really old tunnel/s.

A boy of around ten held a torch as we entered the

tunnel and walked inwards.

It was like being transferred to another time.

Spooky!

Then everything became pitch black, so I never saw

how far you could go.

Where had the tunnel/s originally led too?

Who had built them?

Had they been used in wars for hiding or escaping?

The kids and those of us with - perhaps -

a childish imagination and much fantasy,

loved it!

PS. One of the family members with connection to this

house wrote, after reading this:

They say that in the past the old tunnel of the back garden connected

the house with the castle of the village, but this is just a beautiful fairytale:

in my opinion the most probable use of the tunnel was simply to

keep wine bottles.

Yes, I stayed one night in Madrid

This summer has been full of wonderful experiences.

I must nearly pinch myself to believe I stayed one night

in the home of a wonderful couple who live in central

Madrid.

I looked down on the streets and the houses, and felt

that this is a very special city and country.

In the evening my hosts took me for a walk.

Different light than these morning photos, but

still the same special atmosphere.

I really hope to be back in Spain again!

Thank you so much to my gracious hosts!

A Monsoon Shower

This was one of the small details that made my stay at

the Yotel at Heathrow very successful.

I rented the cabin twice, once for ten hours, and then

for four hours.

In both cases taking a warm monsoon shower was

a wonderful experience. I had never even heard about

such big showerheads before.

Now I would like to find the seaweed-sage showersoap

they had there.

Any ideas?