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HATS FOR SALE...

Judy has made 50 some knit caps since our visit to the yarn factory in southern France...back in late January. But how to show them To you all at home? I tried laying them out on the top of a double bed...impressive but photographically dull. So I thought, lets have her wear all of them at once. So here she is looking a bit like Marge Simpson (and the Cat in the Hat) meets Whistlers' Mother...

I've sold ten "busking" out on the street in Portugal and we've given away or traded many more...we'll keep you posted on our new cottage industry. She's making inspired works of art... each cap is a one of a kind....there's not another in the world like them.

JUDY:

YIKES! It's April and we've been gone for over 4 months. As I look back on the last two months I'm alternately in awe of how much we've done, how little we've done, and how the world has changed.

We've found a travel rhythm that works, and we're both content.

I LOVE the yarn we bought by the kilo. In fact, I just today used up the last of it. While in hibernation or more correctly estivation (according to my old college professor) I've managed to knit over 50 hats!

Kev says he'll be the marketer, salesman, manager - I do the knitting and he'll do the rest. We have a lot of fun thinking up names for the hats including: "heavenly headgear makes happy heads", or "Heilige Huete" (holy hats in German)...it's fun to see them come together and a wonderful way to meet the locals.

I was a self-proclaimed prisoner of Cadaques - it was great. The wind was howling, most of the restaurants and venues were closed, but we were very happy. We even spent some time looking at possible rentals thinking we might stay for over a month. Dali is the 'Godfather' of this area. Never having been a Salvador Dali fan I found his museum in Figueras (Dali's birthplace - a 30 minute drive from Cadaques) to be absolutely outstanding.

Cadaques is a picture postcard artsy fartsy town. We had fun being there but decided to hit the road in search of warmer weather.

We stopped at Girona on our way to Barcelona. It was the first of our "Jewish" heritage stops. Girona is historically important as the center for the schools that taught the Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism). There's also a lovely old Jewish Quarter and small museum. We opted to visit a museum about the history of the motion picture - guess who spent all day in there!

Barcelona is a big exciting city. There's a ton to see and do- almost too much for me. We loved the art and took in the Picasso Museum and one of my personal favorites, the Miro Museum. The Romanesque art at the Museum of Catalonia was remarkable. I sometimes forget how inspirational the Spaniards have been for me in terms of making art. Especially El Greco - but I'm jumping the gun...we haven't gotten there yet.

The best part about Barcelona was having Jason fly in from Munich to join us for part of his semester break. After his arrival we looked at a few apartments and decided instead to hit the road. It was truly one of those let's get in the car and head south...not really sure of where we were headed.

We drove all day with 2 brief stops and along the way decided to head to Granada. Visiting the Alhambra was a dream come true for me. One of those places I saw pictures of as a kid and thought wouldn't it be great to go there one day. That day was February 14th 2003.

It was time to stay in one place for a while and Kev suggested Tarifa. The southern most tip of Spain. We arrived after a lunchtime stop in Gibraltar to see the rock and the Barbary apes.

To be honest I wasn't too keen when we first arrived but he said give it a chance, and I did. The powers that be were smiling upon us by guiding us to the restaurant Morilla where we asked the proprietor Francisco if he knew of any long term rentals in the area...he had a place in the country, and we loved it at first sight. We stayed over a month. Away from the world with a Mediterranean view, in sight of Moroccan Mountains, and lots of four-footed animals freely roaming... it was wonderful.

Using our country cottage as a base we explored some beautiful beaches (Bolonia was the best) and Andulusian white-washed, mountain villages -

Ronda was my favorite town with a population of about 40,000 about the size of Bremerton and Arles...but it was Spain and the final frontier for banditos- it was dramatic physically with it's phenomenal gorge and old Moorish town romantic ruins. Spontaneously, we spent the night at the Parador overlooking their incredible ravine - add the fact that Ronda is the home of a school for the art of bullfighting, and bingo... a spot both Kev and I were smitten with.

Back in Tarifa... did a fair amount of sight-seeing in the area - my favorite days were spent at Bolonia beach, or knitting* and cooking in our hilltop cottage, reading science fiction and dancing with Kev to our newly acquired "music system".

*Knitting is more than making things. It's very zen for me - allows me to imagine plays, poems, paintings and philosophical ideas...that sounds way more than it really is...when I knit I sometimes become "Walter Mitty"esque imagining myself in all kinds of situations. I've started to keep a notebook to journal these thoughts...complete with memos to myself and others. And then the icing on the cake...(or the hat on the head), I get to see them on people and watch how their faces light-up. Kev has been documenting these and I love seeing them.

Having Jason with us for the first 2 weeks was an absolute delight. He and Kev had a lot of fun doing guy things. Plus, we all had the time to hang out, talk about things, and take lots of fun pictures of Jason, the model...I was glad to not have to be the only model in the family.

Gosh...after Tarifa we hit the highway once again. In Cordoba we found some great art and statues including one of a gigantic Greyhound and Kev took a photo for Terry who loves them (Greyhounds). He also took one of me with Maimonides telling me I'd come full circle (I was born at Maimonides Hospital in NYC).

Lots going on in Sevilla. We changed our hotel 3 times, met some cool people, toured the city on foot and by horse-drawn carriage and celebrated my 51st birthday. Sometimes I have trouble believing how much has happened.

Kev:

We'll try to keep you better posted in the coming weeks...I got a little Behind in Spain but time seemed a lot slower there somehow. Next stop: Portugal.

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