Black Lives Matter

Once again they are leading the way, they are showing us what has to change in our societies, they are saying no to racism, they are saying all lives matter including black lives.
They have always been a step ahead of us.  From their suffering they have created music. So much so that  blues, jazz, spirituals, soul, rap and hip hop are quintessentially the sound of  America.
Their music is probably the only weapon they have ever used,

THE JOYS OF SPRING

Lola has shared these gems from her walk around Sanse.

And Gloria has shared these. We are very privileged to have so much parkland in Sanse. You can walk cross country to the sports centre and see trees and flowers like the ones below.

More Wilde Flowers

True blue by the roadside

Wilde roses

Our Favourite Trees

This tree stands majestic in its solitude.

The beautiful photo is  by Luis Vioque.

Lola loves these ancient yew trees. 

Where will you find them?  In Sanabria. In Zamora.

It is a magic tree. El Tejo milenario.

Fabiola loves all trees indiscriminately and has sent us this stunning  picture.

                     Laura has sent us her favourite tree. It is the national tree of Venezuela.

                                             El Araguaney or Golden Trumpet tree

Pino canario

The trees have definitely benefitted from our confinement to flourish and bloom as you can see. 

Sweet smelling tree of paradise

Tree bows to reach us

Old tree and young friend   

The evergreen oak or encina

Our beautiful woodland

This woodland in San Sebastián De Los Reyes of pine trees and evergreen oaks is called La Dehesa Boyal

Una luz se apaga

Asociación Educativa Oscar Wilde
We deeply regret the loss of a dear friend and  the wife of our vice president José.
Rosa passed away on May  4^th 2020.

When we started out on this venture we were very lucky that our families tolerated our different escapades and even joined us at the occasional pub quiz and on the occasional walk, as Rosa did.

It seems that we Irish share a common bond of not taking life too seriously with our friends from Galicia.
We will miss you, Rosa.
May you rest in peace.

To forget time, to forget life, to be at peace…for love is always with you, and love is stronger than death is.

Oscar Wilde

April showers bring May flowers.

Luis V has shared these beauties who have accomapanied him during confinement.

May flowers

Better together

And Gloria has immortalized las rosas de la Rosa 

Smell the roses

Pink roses

Yellow roses

Two tones

Perfect red rose

Wilde flowers ASEDOW PHOTO GALLERY 2020

This riot of colour was taken about a week ago in Malta.

Wild flowers courtesy of Jonathan

Clump of daisies Courtesy of Audrey

Courtesy of Audrey

Yellow Alyssum  by Audrey

Wilde flowers in the garden from Patricia in France

Meadow flowers from Lola

Nature in all its glory courtesy of Lola

Ilaria's pic. Isn't this beautiful?

Another beautiful one from Angela

Sweet smelling hawthorn flowers

The chirping  birds  in the trees  seem very happy to see us again as confinement rules for COVID 19 eased a little here in Spain.
We arrived just in time to see the end of the hawthorn in bloom.

Día Del Libro 2020

Don Quijote De la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

Part One

 This book spans the 16^th and 17th century and it is a gateway in time to the past we have in common here in Europe. Cervantes’ life was full of mishaps and adventure so there could be no better source to draw on and one story tumbles into another. It is a bundle of fun.

Sancho Panza is carried away as much as  Don Quijote by the make believe world of knights in shining armour and damsels in distress  and wizardly tricks. Although his reason tells him one thing, wishful thinking leads him to follow his master’s many madcap adventures. Sancho listens in awe to his erudite speech and code of chivalry.

He is eventually declared by Don Quijote to be the best knight’s squire in the world.

Sancho is totally distraught when at the end of part one it looks like his master has died.

 ‘¡Oh flor de la caballería!’ he laments.

Happily this is not the case and they all return safely to their village in La Mancha. Sancho exclaims to his wife, Juana Panza (because in La Mancha it is the custom for wives to take their husband’s surname the writer tells us)

‘No hay cosa más gustosa  del mundo que ser un hombre honrado escudero de un caballero andante buscador de aventuras.’

 Climbing mountains, visiting castles, penetrating woods, staying at inns for free because …

‘Por la ley natural están todos los que viven obligados a favorecer a los caballeros andantes.’

The walls and fortifications all over Europe and North Africa evoke a time when people were inspired as much by faith as by the stories of knights errant to take up arms and seek adventure. Don Quijote evokes the golden age of chivalry. The way forward was

Iglesia   Mar o Casa Real

The writer asks the readers to give the same credit to this book as they would to all the other books of chivalry, implying that they are every bit as absurd.

We have a parallel history all over Europe and in the same way that the Romans left their legacy all over the continent and North Africa so has the age of chivalry. Thus a tiny village in Ávila is called Santa María De Los Caballeros.

Chapter (39) describes a  sea battle in the Mediterranean and may well reflect Cervantes’ own experience. We meet a seafarer named Juan whose travels seeking service with Juan De Austria in the year 1574 take him to Cyprus, Venice, Naples and Constantinople. He arrives just when Spain loses the Tunisian port of La Goleta and he is captured at sea while trying to rescue the galley ship named Malta  He eventually escapes and reaches Málaga. On his way home to Leon with his bride to be, Zoraida, they stop at an inn where they  meet  a jolly crowd of good company and he too tells his story.

 The author Miguel de Cervantes was also held captive in Algeria after his participation in the Battle of Lepanto in 1571, a very important victory for Christian Europe. The letters of recommendation he carried from Juan de Austria, meant that the ransom for his release was very high. Fortunately for us, the order of Trinitarians paid it.

Delusions of grandeur and difficulty distinguishing fact from fiction are prevalent nowadays too and people are still easily led to prefer a good story rather than look for the truth.

But we will continue our journey with our two heroes.

‘Con todo esto, volvieron al camino real, y siguieron por él a la ventura, sin otro designio alguno.’

This novel published in 1605 is remarkable in that it still has us laughing at the folly of its main character while enjoying his wonderful noble ambitions.
It is a very up to date situation comedy with a wealth of colourful characters.

I fight against giants. Injustice. Fear. Ignorance

OUR FAVOURITE WEBSITES

People are doing really interesting things. We want to share the artistic endeavours of our friends and family on our blog.

Here to start off you can enjoy photos by one of our members, Luis.

PHOTOS!

http://www.luisvioque.com/

https://www.instagram.com/luisvioque/?hl=es

READING!

Biddy’s nephew in Malta, Jonathan writes paints and produces films but now has felt the need to express his thoughts about what is happening to us.

                                               www.jonaedynking.com/the-new-day

TRAVELLING!

Josephine Olivia, Biddy’s niece from The U.S.A. knows how to travel on a shoestring, how to avoid the crowds and yet see all the must see places.

She is a great travelling companion as you will see.

Then, as you know,  all travelling came to a standstill.

                                                                 secrettouristsociety.com

VIDEO!

STAY AT HOME! 

This video comes from Artist In Residence Nacho Paswal  or Ignacio Muñoz Pascual  who hails from San Sebastián De Los Reyes.

Take 30 minutes to watch it. He has great faith in his gourds’ ability to infect the world with a new virus that will save not only the planet but mankind.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIGeL5EpsMI

Funny gourd mania

EXHIBITIONS

Luis has suggested this link to all the past exhibitions in the Juan March Foundation such as the one we attended three years ago about the Arts & Crafts movement in Britain. Here you will be able to browse through their publications

William Morris Company at Juan March

Here comes the sun