Our Favourite websites Update

The European Space Agency

It is not just the glorious pictures that we like here, but also the beautiful texts that accompany them. 

Funny gourd mania

Nacho's dog Mapoe  comes to our rescue

Gourds, pumpkins or squash? They are here to  brighten up your day.

Poor trees

 This tree was splendid in May.

May 2020

After the confinement.

However, it was a very unpleasant shock to see the destruction of so many trees after the snow.

The same tree January  2021

On the other side

Pine trees seem to be the most vulnerable to the heavy snow we had in Madrid recently and yet we always associate pine trees with Christmas time. Maybe it is because this one is el pino canario, and as its  name indicates, more suited to warmer climates. Certainly they were very badly damaged by the snow. Time will tell if they can heal and return to their former glory.

From De Profundis

The poor are wise, more charitable, more kind, more sensitive than we are. In their eyes prison is a tragedy in a man's life, a misfortune, a casuality, something that calls for sympathy in others. They speak of one who is in prison as of one who is 'in trouble' simply. It is the phrase they always use, and the expression has the perfect wisdom of love in it.

                                                                              Oscar Wilde

 The Snowfall 

First there was a silence, then the birds began fluttering from tree to tree and then the neighbours started appearing to try and trudge through snow that was knee high and see what they could do about it.

It was the third day, a Sunday, the sun had come out, the sky was clearing and everybody set to work after the luxury of a weekend of snow like we had never seen before.

On the second day, a Saturday, snow lovers in Madrid were able to take out their skis, their snowboards their sleighs even huskies because many people in Madrid are well equipped for the snow. (Spain has a family of Olympic skiing champions who live in a town in the nearby sierra.) Others ploughed through the snow falling clumsily but enjoying every minute.

Instead of visiting the snow in the sierra, the snow had come to visit the city dwellers at a time when there were many restrictions of movement because of COVID, on the weekend after the muted visit of the Reyes Magos. It was a beautiful compensation and indeed it felt like a gift.

On the first day of snow, Friday the 8^th young people were out having fun in the snow but that night it was clear that the city would be covered in a blanket of snow. It snowed all night and we had half a metre of snow on Saturday the 9^th. The pictures of La Puerta Del Sol looked like a picture by Breughel.

Now it all has to be cleared up but in the meantime robins, sparrows, wagtails, pigeons, magpies, hoopoes and other birds appear out of nowhere to keep us company and  sing merrily probably looking for food and make the workload lighter.

Madrid is also a paradise for birdwatchers. 

 

 

Le gach dea  ghuí i gchomhair na nollag agus na hathbhlian.

I hope this says:

 Wishing you a very happy Christmas and New Year

It is Irish. 

At ASEDOW we love languages.

Christmas

Merry Christmas 

Sing along with Slade and this hit from 1973.

Christmas is over in some countries on the 26th and parents can relax and children  play with their toys during  the Christmas holidays. Not so in Spain where they still celebrate Old Christmas day, the Epiphany, on the 6th January.

This means that children have to wait until the 6th January to receive their presents as this is the day when  the three kings, the three wise men arrived in Bethlehem bringing their gifts to the child that was going to save the world,

The night before the 6th January in Spain and in Spanish speaking countries there are parades with floats carrying wondrous scenes from children's stories to attract and captivate the children who are lining the streets with their families. But the main attraction are the magnificent  floats carrying Melchor, Gaspar and Baltasar, the three kings from the East. It is dark when the parades cabalgatas finish and everyone rushes home with the sweets they have gathered from the parade. Unlike the song above, the children do not hang a stocking on the wall. They put their shoe outside the bedroom door and the magic happens. Year after year. It is a tradition so embedded in their culture that few can make sense of Father Christmas or Santa Claus as we call him in Ireland. The magic goes on  from one generation to the next in Spain where everyone believes in los Reyes Magos.

The question is  ¿Qué te han traído los Reyes Magos? not  'What did Santa bring you?' but  'What did the three Kings bring you?'

  

TAKE YOUR SEATS

 XIII 2020 Cine Derechos Humanos programa   

Here is the programme of this year's Human Rights Film Festival 2020 in San Sebastián De Los Reyes.

It will be held from December 3rd  to  December 8th  .

They are new releases.

These films are a window on the world.

This year they will take us to Chile, Mexico and Brazil as well as Spain and you will have the opportunity to discuss the content with their creators.

RESPECT

Jean Monnet, one of the founders of the European Union, then known as The Common Market, was asked whether, on looking back, there was anything that he would change. He  thought and replied , ‘Yes, I think we should have begun with culture.’

These are the bare bones of a story told by the former Minister of Education for Éire, Ruairi Quinn on his visit to the Irish Embassy in Madrid some time ago.

Where to start?

With languages for example. 

With travel. 

With the UNWTO slogan of Travel, Enjoy Respect.

With stories.

With science.

With sport.

With music.

With cultural exchanges.

With gastronomy.

With films.

With respect for our differences.

Day and night are two sides of the same coin.

Hippies used to sing this song. United we stand. Divided we fall. We really have to unite on making this world a better place.

Let's work together

Brotherhood of man

Sharing some happiness

We can never underestimate the peace and love that  we share with our animal friends.

This is a middle aged dog whose owner sadly died of COVID. Ana adopted it around May, a wonderful thing to do.

Here she is wearing Ana's nephew's sunglasses. 

'This is a very cute picture from our point of view,' says Ana.

And so it is.:)

This beautiful, sleek and venerable black cat is Stephanie. 

One day Audrey will tell us how much her company has meant to Michael and herself over the years.

Below is a picture of the calm and peace our animal friends transmit.

Family dogs, Dido and Tralla.

PAZ Y AMIGOS