A week after getting our first three, I went to the feed store and picked up a fourth chick, an Ameracauna (the kind that lay blue-green eggs). Her name is Mandy (yes, another character on Ugly Betty).  I was a little worried that integrating her into the existing group would be a problem so I had set up a little fenced area for her to hang out in. It turns out that like human babies, chicks don’t have the pecking-order issues that adults do.

Betty, Hilda and Willy looked at her curiously for a few minutes and went back to their business. If anything, our new Mandy is the terrorist of the group, waiting until everyone is asleep before she decides they’ve made the mistake of being between her and the water or the best way to get to her napping spot is over them. Mostly they’re getting along wonderfully.

It’s been amazing to watch the girls grow almost hourly. Just a week older, they’re twice the size of the little one and their feathers are coming in quickly. Those fuzzy butts are now showing the idea of tail feathers and the first set of wing feathers are more impressive. They’re very calm about being in my hand so fear no chick abuse while taking these shots:

This is just a lovely group of chicks to have around. From left to right: Betty, Hilda, Willy and Mandy.

For those of you waiting for me to finish up our round-the-world-trip posts, please be patient. Every time I sit down at the computer, I get distracted by our girls who are living right next to my desk. More often than not, I wind up just watching them instead.

Ah, chicken butt. Beaks and fuzzy butts are the two things that look pretty much the same from chickhood on up.

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Well everyone made it through their first night. The temperature in the terrarium stayed a constant 95 degrees. Betty is pecking at everything to see if it’s worth eating, including the new feathers on her sisters. She also seems to be very good at finding bits of feed that’s wandered into Hilda and Willy’s fluff.  Poor Hilda just wanted to take a nap this morning, but other two apparently have a different schedule.

I think you can see a change from yesterday. The new “real” feathers are more visible on their wings and the girls are  certainly gaining weight.

	Willy

	Betty

	Hilda

After our long trip it was comforting to see everything was pretty much the same. The roses are coming into bloom, there are plenty of oranges on the trees, and the sourdough starter is still alive. And yet it feels a little off …there aren’t more animals around. Milton, the dear, is a pretty quiet dog and doesn’t take up as much space as Zack used to. Then there were the chickens whose presence took up a surprising amount of room. I’ve particularly missed watching them doing their morning inspection of the back yard during my morning coffee. Well that changed yesterday with a trip to the feed store in the rain to inspect the horse troughs full of peeping chicks.

Here are our new girls:

Willy is a Golden-Lace Wyandotte, and in about six months, she’ll be laying medium-brown eggs. I chose her because of the glamorous look of the mature bird. (Willy is short for Wilhemina.)

Those of a certain age might recall Foghorn J. Leghorn, ruler of the Looney Tunes barnyard. Hilda here is a distant cousin being a Barred Leghorn. Since everybody seems to be focusing on brown eggs, it seemed like a fun idea to get white ones. I’m a little apprehensive as Leghorns don’t have the best reputation as backyard pets. Hopefully our hand-raising will make her less flighty.

Leghorn chickens, by the way. are named for the city of Leghorn, better known to us as Livorno. And instead of saying “leg horn”, we’re really supposed to say “leggern”.

And finally we have Betty, a Maran (French in origin). She is probably of the Cuckoo variety, developing the black and white barring like Hilda when she feathers out.  The color of her eggshells will be a very rich brown.

They’re all two or three days old. They took to the warm terrarium where they’ll stay for about month very well, quickly figuring out where the food and water are. Betty seems a little delicate, hopefully just from the long trip. It’s alarming, then hilarious to watch them dashing about only to suddenly drop to the floor to take a nap.

Our feed store has posted a schedule of chick arrivals online so I’ve been able to pore over descriptions and choose the ones for us. It would be nice to get an Ameracauna to complete the egg-color spectrum when next week’s shipment comes in. Her name will be Mandy (as in Amanda).

If it’s not obvious yet, they’re all named after the women on Ugly Betty.

[Concord Feed & Fuel’s chick arrival dates]

No, we didn’t disappear in Spain a couple of weeks ago. The rest of our trip was as fascinating and wonderful as the part before, although with some major “incidents”. I’ll write about those soon.

It didn’t seem we’d been gone for over two months, but walking in the door, looking at two months of piled-up mail and two months of weeds in the backyard, it’s obvious some time has passed.

I’ll be catching up on the rest of the trip over the next week or so. Meanwhile, thanks for reading about our exploits!

   Tom and Dale

But first, 2 things. Barcelona has a bike-share system called Bicing that looks fantastic. You pay a yearly fee of about $60 and for that you can use these bikes which are everywhere. There are time limits to prevent hogging, and it seems there’s always a bike available. The other thing is nostalgic: almost across the street from the hotel is a Spar Market, a convenience store that used to be the world’s largest grocery chain. I used to be groceries at one of these in Austria for many years during the summer.

So today is our chance to see a some buildings done by Barcelona’s defining architect, Antoni Gaudi. Working in a style called Modernisme, much like the familiar Art Nouveau, this school of aesthetics softened the industrial revolution, bring nature into the work, and, enjoyably, avoided straight lines and sharp corners.

Gaudi’s first public works, oddly enough, are two lampposts in the Placa Reial, right near our hotel, so that’s where we went first. They’re fine, but not quite revolutionary. The dragon and Valkyrie helmet are nice touches though.

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Heading out of the old city, we went to the Block of Discord, where the Casa Batllo is located. Now get this…Casa Batllo is a remodelling job. Before and after:

Can you imagine the client presentations? “I’m going to redo the facade with balconies that look like skulls with iron eyelashes, bones propping the windows open, a dragon’s back on the roof with a bulb of garlic. All that will be decorated with pretty flowers done in mosaics. Oh, also some fantastic chimneys on top that no one will ever see.”

The inside is even better with not a single straight line in sight, a jellyfish chandelier that swirls outward to meet the walls and windows, another ceiling with just the idea of a light fixture emerging, a fireplace that looks like a mushroom with seating for two. It’s a hodgepodge of things that shouldn’t be in a single place but somehow it all hangs together beautifully.

Although everything we saw today was spectacular, at the end we agreed this was our favorite of them all.

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La Pedrera (The Quarry), or Casa Mila, is a large apartment complex with waves of balconies and windows on the outside as well as rollercoasters of chimneys up top. It’s not as riotous and outrageous as the last place, which is probably why it wasn’t our favorite.

The deep courtyard is beautiful, but once inside the building itself, I was surprised to see things got a little boring. They’ve decorated some apartments with period furnishings, but that only made it less interesting.

The roof was pretty spiffy and even had a view of, off in the distance, the Sagrada Familia church.

It was time for lunch so we had our first paella in Spain. It turns out in Barcelona they don’t use saffron for any of their many paellas so this was unexpectedly brown. It tasted pretty good, if heavy on the salt. I’m sure we’ll find better.

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Barcelona’s iconic image is Sagrada Familia, a church that Gaudi started, but never finished. Nor did he expect to. As originally intended, it’s completely financed by donations so it’s taking a while to complete. From the looks of things, it might not be for quite a while.  I’m not sure why, the building is going on following the general shape Gaudi envisioned, but with designs by other architects. Our first view was of the Passion façade, angular and severe.

Now this is really strange, but there’s a resemblance between the church spires we see here and the temples we saw in Khajuarho, India. Surely it’s just a coincidence.

Much better is the facade Gaudi actually completed, the one depicting the nativity, complete with angelic orchestra (but really, is there any other kind?).

There’s probably some religious significance to this turtle, but it’s more fun just to giggle at its predicament.

We took one of the elevators up, well-warned. It’s easy to see why some people might have problems. Once up there we could cross the bridge between spires very high in the air. At least taking the stairs down was easier.

looking up

	looking down

Unsurprisingly, the interior is far from done, but in place are Gaudi’s columns that branch out like trees reaching toward the sky.

It was interesting to see a little of Gaudi’s work process. He would drape chains upside down to shape and arrange his characteristic arches. If you look at the dangling stuff upside down, the building takes shape. Sort of.

Having had quite enough visual activity for the day, we decided to go eat. Dinner was another tapas bar, a little calmer, so I’m able to show you some of our eats. The light red Spanish wine was simple and delicious. We had, among other things, salt cod (bacalhau) fritters, fantastic goat cheese, chorizo and, unfortunately (Tom tried to warn me, but too late), a fresh blood sausage (ick ick ick). Another glass of wine took most of that away though.

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Montjuïc, Barcelona’s hill with a very strange name (Mountain of the Jews), is where we headed this morning. Now well into the second half of our trip, we’re glad not to have to trudge uphill and took advantage of the funicular ride. Once the short trip through the tunnel was over, we had a fine view of the city looking inland.

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Pleasant small parks abound on Montjuic and we had nice stroll in one that’s next to the Miró Museum. They’re very clean and tidy perhaps due in part to the attractive reminders scattered around. I like how they seem to invite you to look at them and comprehend the message.

One way that Barcelona is very different from other places we’ve visited is the generous selection of museums, particularly the ones devoted to a single artist. The most important one on the hill today and the main reason for our visit is the Fundación Joan Miró, whose collection of his paintings, drawing, sculpture, textiles and ceramics numbers over 20 000 pieces.  The building itself is a big collection of geometric forms full of variations on a single color, white, sort of like the cryptic monochromatic backgrounds Miró used in his paintings. Right by entrance is one of those whimsical E.T.-like sculptures.

As soon as you enter there’s a room with some textiles that Miró created for the museum, including this very 3D one, which is about 25 feet in length.

We enjoyed our education in the painter’s work over his lifetime, particularly the dream paintings which we’d never seen before. There were some surprising, somewhat unpleasant paintings reacting to the Spanish Civil War, also some canvases that anticipate graffiti art. Miró believed that sculptures belonged outside, so there’s a rooftop gallery for enjoying them in the open air (where pictures are allowed). Of course I appreciated the recurring motif of eggs in the art, as in the sculpture “Man & Woman”.

Miró’s images are in Barcelona’s eye every day from the public statues to the anchor mosaic in the Rambla even to the logo he designed for La Caixa, a bank. (The logo might represent a man dropping a coin into a piggy bank.)

The museum was totally worth the hours we spent there. Very enjoyable.

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Practically right next door is the 1992 Olympic Stadium with a museum about those Olympics and the Olympic movement in general.

But first, if you’ve never seen or heard it, you have to check out the song that Tom was whistling the tune more and more the closer we got to Barcelona. This duet was intended to be the Olympic theme song (Freddie Mercury died before the Olympics, but it was performed with his taped voice). Besides Freddie Mercury, it has Montserrat Caballé! It’s a mystery why the song isn’t featured prominently (or at all) in the museum.

We thought it was going to be just goofy when the first thing we saw was a big room of foosball tables.

It did get better though with interesting displays old barbells, ancient sports shoes, and actual Olympics torches.

There are a lot of nifty multimedia displays, such as the ones where you can try to match Carl Lewis’ pace displayed in racing lights on the floor, or attempt a record high jump or ponder whether trying to beat the doping machine is really worth it.

Everything was accompanied by the silly, emotionally manipulative and sappy music tv loves to use for “big” sporting events.

We did learn two very interesting tidbits: the five colors of the Olympic flag’s rings – at least one of those colors appears in every flag of all the nations of the world. Also: Richard Strauss composed an Olympic anthem for the Hitler Olympics.

Outside we enjoyed the old stadium. Who’d have thought we’d visit 2 Olympics sites on this trip? (The other was Beijing.)

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There was yet more to see on this Mount of the Jews. Once again we were happy to avoid an uphill walk by using a handy gondola to get the medieval castle (sadly the site of some of Franco’s more dastardly crimes). Up on top there was a collection of old artillery which someone liked a lot.

The castle is attractive now and the way they turned the stereotypical moat into a nice garden is very pretty.

Views of the city include loading docks, a weird building that looks like Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors and a tele-radio tower that looks like a spaceship on its launchpad.

Nearby is the Miramar outlook, another scenic viewpoint, but at that point we were just as happy to look at the very lovely pavement, artwork using recycled bits and pieces.

So that’s what we saw today

Being so close to the Rambla, there’s no choice but to promenade. Unlike most thoroughfares, the Rambla doesn’t seem to be used to go from one place to another place. A place to hang out is more like it. There are a lot of odd street “performers” who put on strange costumes, stand on boxes and wait until they get some change to do something.

There are a lot of beautiful buildings along the way, little places to shop and places to sit and watch the world go by.

At the bottom of the Rambla is a the monument to Columbus, who returned here from his fateful voyage. He’s pointing in a direction that is not towards the New World, but I guess you’re supposed to glean the general idea.

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Actually, it seemed he was pointing at those open-top tour buses waiting nearby. Still a little hung over from yesterday’s long trip, we decide to go for an easy sightseeing option today.

You might remember that a similar trip in Istanbul was rather pointless…here in Barcelona, the hop on-hop off was a fun way to see a lot of things in just a few hours, although by the end we were pretty cold. A lot of very famous-looking places flew in and out of view, particularly the Modernisme creations of Gaudi, Montaner and Cadafalch.

In the Eixample, one of the city’s districts, there’s a street park dedicated to a famous son, Pablo Casals.

Another of Barcelona’s multitudes of famous offspring, Juan Miro a constant presence. Check out how huge this sculpture is in comparison to the people at its base.

Even the street lamps are lovely. The audio guide on the bus pointed out that the benches at their base use the same broken tile technique that Gaudi was fond of.

And as if they were speaking directly to us and our trip, some buddhist prayer flags flapped from a balcony.

Near the end of our ride, we saw what must surely be the big ticket in town, Gaudi’s as-yet unfinished cathedral, Sagrada Familia.

Speaking of Gaudi, peeking over our balcony this morning, I was surprised  at the long line waiting to get into the the Palau Güell, right across from our room. After the bus ride, we headed in to see what was going on. An early product of the very fruitful patron/artist relationship between Güell and Gaudí, the townhouse has been mostly closed for years. The only part accessible today is the gloomy brickwork of the stables in the basement.

The best part of the public visit is what’s out on the street.

The very best part, of course, is what we can see from our room, I guess we’re pretty lucky to have an architectural masterpiece just outside the window.

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Tonight we had delicious, genuine tapas in a crowded bar, much too crowded to go snapping off a bunch of photos. I had some really great sidre, or hard cider whose bubbly-ness is enhanced by the pour, which takes place with showmanship from a great height. The plates were tantalizingly strung out along the entire bar for the taking. Warm ones appeared regularly being paraded through the hungry crowd. Just for review, tapas started as a ‘cover’ for your drink to keep it clean, usually with a piece of bread. Places got fancy and put good stuff on top, and held it in place with toothpicks. Like stacks of empty plates at dim sum, your bill is tallied up by counting the toothpicks left on your plate.

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And finally, for no particular a reason, the stairway of our hotel, with my shoes.

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After an eleven-hour trip from Kenya, we finally arrived in Barcelona. The connection from the airport by train and subway is extremely easy but we encountered an alarming hiccup: some guys tried to pickpocket Tom. It was a ruse that’s happened to us before years ago in France. As you board a crowded train burdened with luggage, someone stops in front of you blocking the way. From behind you’re jostled by someone else who slips their hand into your pocket or bag. This time we had a much happier ending than our French adventure as Tom, who managed to stay alert, foiled the dastardly thieves and sent them scurrying.

Maybe his victory over the evildoers kept him so handsome and fresh-looking after the long journey.

Just off the Rambla, a grand boulevard that leads from the heart of Barcelona down to the Mediterranean, our hotel is across a narrow street from the Palau Güell, the only building the great architect Gaudi actually completed. Our room, number 423, has a privileged view of some of his signature fairy chimneys. A unique view as it turns out since only a handful of rooms have this view and the Palau is mostly closed (including the roof) to the public during a long renovation. Lucky us!

We tottered out to the Rambla for our first meal of adequate tapas consisting of patates bravas (fried potatoes with a spicy garlic sauce) and calamari. I have a feeling we’ll have better, but Tom really liked his sangria.

Leaving the national park, we saw one more big game animal, the wildebeest. These are two of the group that live year-round here, but during the Great Migration, the grasslands disappear from view as multitudes of these animals pass through.

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Arriving back in Nairobi, we were very sad to say goodbye to our safari guide, Nicholas, a truly great guy we’re glad to have known.

With only hours to go before catching our next flight at 4 in the morning, we were glad the company had put us in a luxurious suite.

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They had also come up with a way to hide fluorescent tubes. (Beijing was similarly clever.)

Going out for a Sunday stroll, we found an aircraft hangar right in the middle of a city block. The city has grown up around it and it’s now used for the central market.

The Masai market in front of city hall (in case you go) is much more fun.

Nairobi’s downtown has a groovy collection of 60s and 70s vintage buildings.

Gaggles of people in their Sunday finery promenaded this afternoon. We stopped beneath a third-floor church and listened to their fantastic choir. Around another corner was an enthusiastic outdoor service. We gradually realized that Kenyans haven’t known the terrible prejudice African-Americans have faced. The difference was very noticeable. Also that we were very much in the minority.

Kenyan’s government, like many in Africa, is notoriously and profoundly corrupt. It would be nice if these weren’t just window dressing and indicate change might come soon.

So we say asante (thank you) to a beautiful country…we definitely hope to return someday.

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This morning’s game drive met the dawn on the Masai Mara. We were hoping to catch some of the nocturnal animals before they disappeared for the day.

After staring at a large herd of buffalo who stared back at us, we saw a couple of those night creatures, a bat-eared fox and a jackal

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Out for a morning stroll were a pair of Masai ostriches and a mother elephant with her calf.

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It was a good day for catching sight of colorful birds. (The secretary bird is called that because when it raises the quill feathers at the back of its head, they look like pens stuck in it’s hair.)

	secretary bird [maplink]

Guinea fowl [maplink]		lilac-breasted roller [maplink]

crowned crane [maplink]		ground hornbill [maplink]

The sausage tree is named for for its huge seed pods. They’re collected when they fall to the ground by the Masai and used for a version of local beer. (Truly foul.)

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Another beautiful and unusual tree, the giant euphorbia:

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Before breaking for lunch we visited a traditional village of the Masai. A group of Masai warriors met us, insisting that we we join in the dancing and singing. We felt a little foolish, but have to admit it was fun.

They were much better than us at the jumping dance, a little competition the winner of which will get a woman.

The sharp-eyed will see guys with long-hair and those without.  Those with the long hair are the actual working warriors and each is a bachelor. They act not against human enemies but instead the nightly visits by lions and hyenas trying to get at the cattle and sheep. Using their bright red outfits, clubs, knives and very loud voices, they keep the predators outside the boma, or fenced compound. (The predators aren’t as frequent during the great migration which is the lions’ all-you-can-eat wildebeest buffet.)

Some other things we learned about the Masai this morningi:

• One husband (now 97 years old) is the head of the family. He has 7 wives and 37 children (19 girls, 18 boys). (Polygamy is legal throughout Kenya.)
• everyone in the compound is of the same family – men with more than a couple of wives have to move out and start their own boma
• young men in school and married men shave their heads
• circumcision happens for boys at age 11, during which they must remain silent. there’s a  2-day celebration. unfortunately, they also practice female circumcision
• newborn calves live in the houses with the people
• they eat cow meat, drink cow milk. babies have cow fat – the entire animal is used. they also drink cow blood, tapping a vein (from which the cow recovers). they eat no vegetables. in spite of this unbalanced diet, they have excellent teeth.
• chickens and sheep are raised for sale only
• the Masai can move anywhere they want. there is no concept of property ownership
• Masai beer although bad-tasting, is very strong – we were a little alarmed by a drunk man waving around a stout club.

The houses are built by the women-folk. Except for guarding the boma, it seems like they do absolutely everything else around here as well.

The houses, which last about 4 years, are built of cow poo! They don’t smell in the least. Amazing. The Masai were generous in letting us stomp around their homes and very friendly as well.

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There were two more game highlights for us today during the drives through the beautiful Mara. Lucky once again, we were extremely close to two young lions from the same pride taking a nap.

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We were also privileged with a much better view of the extremely rare black rhino.

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It turns out the game lodge has its own boma where they had an outdoor feast for the guests tonight. After being greeted with cups of that awful beer, the rest of the meal was pretty good, including roasted goat, banana stew, sweet potatoes completely unlike any I’ve see at home, and ugali dumplings. For dessert they had, of all things, a yule log.

Another very good day in Kenya.