Close to Perfect!

Jim Gregory 

Tonight's Anchorage

Nice quiet evening.  

Sending best wishes to my nephew Mike Beasley for a fast recovery!!

Menorca Maxi

The regatta is over and most boats were gone before sunset last night. Off to the next event, or destination.

Jim Gregory 

Front Row Seats

Two J-Boats sail past Morpheus on the way to the race course.

Jim Gregory 

Mahon, Menorca

And look what went sailing by today!!

Jim Gregory 

Mahon, Menorca

This is our harbor tonight. An incredibly historic maritime port which has been occupied by the Romans, Moors, French, British, and Spanish. 

Great to be moving again!!

Auto no worky.

Auto decided he didn't want to leave! We are fixing....

Feria de Sevilla

Leaving Barcelona Tomorrow

I'll admit that there have been times that I thought we might never escape from Barcelona.

 It is such a great city, and the perfect place for visitors to join us.  (Visitors while in Barcelona have included Deb's brother Dan, Deb's sister Nina, Suzanne Rischman, Denise Quackenbush, and most recently Dave and Betty Rasmussen.)

Last year, we came for what we thought would be a week maybe two.  And we ended up staying a month and a half before flying home for six months.  Now, we've returned and spent another two weeks putting the boat back together.  Tomorrow, we leave!!  Really, this time I mean it.

Our friends Ulf and Sara from Seville are arriving this evening.  We plan to head out tomorrow afternoon with them onboard for one or more weeks cruising the Balearic Islands.  Menorca will be our first and primary destination.  Majorca (probably Palma) will also be part of the tour.

If all goes as planned two weeks down the road, Deb and I will point the bow towards France and will leave not only Barcelona, but Spain behind for a while.

I suspect we will return at some point.  We have certainly enjoyed every bit of our time here in Spain!

-Jim

Jim Gregory 

Marina Badalona

Ham

Deb and I were just talking over dinner about the fact that today having dinner while sitting under a collection of twenty plus pigs legs seems "normal". 

It wasn't that long ago that we would have been disgusted by the very thought. 

Humm.....

A perfect end.

This is the view from my bedroom for La Feria. Gracias a Ulf y Sara para toda!!!! I had the best time. Feria was beautiful. The horses were awe inspiring. My accommodations were so central and comfortable! And I totally love Sevilla! Gracias!

A Great Mothers Day!

It wasn't "The Best" since I wasn't with my men, but it was pretty darn good. I spent the day at the Rejonedor, or the bull fights on horse back. It was an education to watch these horses fight the bulls. Loved every minute.

Party Time in Badelona

As always, the Spanish know fireworks.  Our displays at home don't come close.  Not even the same game.

Lost & Found

Hey Mike Wallach!!  From one long suffering fan to another. Look what I found!!

Jim Gregory 

What I'm doing on Sunday

Just bought tickets. In the shade! So excited!

More...

The carriages and coaches were beautiful. Everything from single surries to full stage coaches. Even a street cleaner/washer pulled by mules. There were single carriages, 2 in hands, 4 horse and 3 & 2's. Black, White and Bay Andalusians, Friesians, Spanish Cattle horses (tall and lean), matched teams of mules, Carmelo's, Pintos, and Standard Bred's. What a blast!

Sent from my iPhone

To see and be seen!

The Feria is amazing! The whole point is to go see and be seen, and to eat, drink and dance. There are horses and carriages and mules and people and music and dancing everywhere.

 It honestly looks like lunch time in New York City on a crowded day. Traffic jams of horses, with people all dressed in suits and ties or traditional flamenco dress cutting through the traffic.

American horses would have freaked out, but these Spanish horses just wait and stand and squeeze through spaces I would never have thought a carriage would fit. Amazing.

The Seville Faire

Deb appears too be distracted and too busy to post updates from Seville to the blog.   So, as a public service I will pass along her last message to me. 

"OMG!  I'm in heaven.  More cool horses in one place than I've ever seen in my life. It's amazing!

Dresses, carriages, horses.  3y/O kids side saddle on horses.  

Wow!!"

It sounds to me like we may be moving to Spain....

-Jim

I'm in heaven!

This is too cool.

Here's the video...

Here's the video of the gate lighting up.

OK. This was amazing!

This is the gateway to the Feria. It must be 5 stories high. It was a fantastic sight when they turned on the lights last night at midnight.

On my way to Sevilla!💃💃

Debbie here:

I'm off to Sevilla for the Feria! For those of you who know San Diego, I think it's going to be a little like the San Diego Exposition, on steroids. I am meeting our Sevilla friends, Sara and Ulf. Sara says I have to wear the traditional garb. We will see...

I've left Jim in Barcelona to finish putting the boat back together after our 6 month "vacation" in the US. Lucky me! I did help for the last three days.

If I get lost, look for mE under the Don Diego tower!

Putting her back together!!

It was a busy day here in Badalona, Spain. Lots of cleaning, organizing, and reinstalls. 

But, what I really want to talk about is my new wireless remote control for our anchor windlass. 

Instead of paying $375 for the official Lewmar Wireless Remote Kit, I purchased "non branded" parts on Amazon and built my own.  I spent a total of $27 and it is installed and working!!!  That's $348 of free money.  

Time for some tapas and a cervesa or two!!

Jim

Jim Gregory