José and I took advantage of the holiday on Monday (Día de la Hispanidad) and went hiking at Cotos in the Sierra de Guadarrama above Madrid. I discovered that I am much more out-of-shape than I thought. But we had a great time and enjoyed some beautiful scenery and fresh air. And the old-time train which takes you into the mountains, was fun.
And now that José is back living in Madrid, we hope to be able to do a lot more of this type of thing.
Once again I participated in Ciclonudista, Madrid’s annual bike ride and protest. The intention is to increase visibility of cyclist and demand more facilities such as bike lanes and rack in the city center. And the nudity is symbolic of how exposed we feel to traffic. This year José joined me as well on his new little, slick folding bike. There are pictures for those brave enough (or foolish enough) to look.
Here are the pictures from José’s birthday party which we had at home last Saturday. He was celebrating his 34th year. What a baby!
Thanks to all of you who helped me celebrate my birthday (or rather birthmonth as I plan to celebrate all month). The gifts, emails, cards, calls and text messages were all appreciated. And especially to those who came out to the party at my house. We had 30 people eating drinking and dances, and I think an excellent time was had by all. Definitely by me. See the photographic proof.
I’m so excited! I just finished reading my first novel in Spanish. Sure I’ve been reading newspapers, magazines and the Internet in Spanish for a long time. (And I’ve started and stopped several book). But this is different. 400 plus pages different. If fact, I started and stopped this one a couple of times as well.
The book, by the way, was El muchacho persa/The Persian Boy which is an historical novel about the life of Alexander the Great told from the perspective of his Persian eunuch-servant-lover. Quite interesting. And thanks to Jesus for recommending it and lending me his cherished copy.
Friday D and his rap group performed to open up a weekend Hip Hop festival in a plaza here in Madrid. The event was very well atended and the kids did a great job. Particularly D, and I’m not just saying that as a parent. (Those who know me, know very well that I would tell you if he had sucked.) He really rose to the occasion. And more importantly, he seems to have had a great time doing it. Sorry y’all missed.
Some photos of my latest paintings. Hope you like.
I’ve been doing some more painting. So here is more proof of my complete lack of talent. But it was fun. Especially as this one was a gift for José, who graciously hung it in his living room above the sofa.
Pedals, wheels, dicks and boobs. They were all on display Saturday when around a thousand bikers took to the streets of central Madrid to protest the lack of bicycle facilities in the city. And we went ‘au natural’ to make the point of how ‘exposed’ we are to vehicular traffic. Yes, I said ‘we’. My friend Jesus and I joined in the protest/fun. For me it was about bike safety and facilities, exercise and of course a chance to let it all hang out where normally I couldn’t.
We rode for about 2 and half hours covering most of the major streets throug the center/downtown area, starting at city hall and ending at the royal palace. Don’t know if either the mayor or king saw us but many people did. And most of them have the photos to prove it. I was disappointed that I was not shown in any of the major newspapers’ pictures. Though as the only black amoung the thousand, I definitely stood out. I also, took lots of photos but don’t look at them if you don’t care to see me nude. You have been warned.
And interesting thing happened yesterday to D. While taking out the trash he ran into a local celebrity. That’s not the interesting part, yet. The celeb was Andrés Montes. You probably don’t know the name but he is a soccer announcer and is basically the John Madden of soccer. ‘The’ announcer and authority. He lives in our neighborhood and we see him occasionally but never bother him. Well, here is the interesting part. He stops D and asks, ‘Hey aren’t you that kid from the rap group that’s in all the news lately’? Guess I’m living with a celeb.
By the way check out the info on D’s rap group here. It’s in Spanish, so deal with it and read it anyway. It’s my kid! They recently launched their first CD and it is being received very well here. There’s more on YouTube under ‘mi generapcion’.
