Smingus Dingus

Courtesy of today's Valencia Life newsletter:

+ Easter Island was named as such by Dutch explorer Jacob Roggeveen, who discovered it on Easter Day 1772.

+ The Easter Rebellion was a revolt that shook Ireland in 1916.

+ Rabbits are used at Easter to celebrate fertility.

+ Easter in Poland is called Smingus Dingus and consists of people pouring or spraying water over each other.

+ The Easter Egg Hunt is based on a German fable where eggs were coloured so they could be easily identified in case of famine.

At Least It Was Not Tit for Tat

Today sister Ruth in Michigan wrote saying, "Hey, check it out! My way of celebrating the New Year! Happy New Year yo All!!!!!"

Attached to the email was this pic....


Photo courtesy of Ruth's daughter Rebecca Stevens (Blackberry phone-cam).

In reply to a follow-up email from your Ed., Ruth confirmed, "Oh, it's very real. I drew the original myself, colored it in with the pencils Mom gave me a few years ago. You're welcome to blog it. Dad hasn't seen it yet but I'll probably just 'get a little too warm' [in the PYC office where she holds down the fort] and slip off my sweater here soon so he can see it."

Now, Meg, don't get any ideas.

Not sure where the photo was taken. However, one suspects it may been taken at a family birthday deener at the Outback Steak House over the weekend, because this afternoon we also received this email from Grandma Jan:

Big family b'day party for Rachel last Sat. at the Outback. Fun affair. Martin and Sue and their crew, Ruth and Alan and theirs, Scope and me. Rebecca is engaged as you probably know as is Dave (M&S's foster son). No wedding dates set yet.

Snow today! Not a lot but enough to make the world pretty. I will go out to see if it needs shoveling. Maybe a broom will work.

Well, mom, good luck shoveling or brooming, or both. Another beaut day here in Spain, albeit a little cool -- only in the 60's F. ;)

Happy New Year...

...from Valencia. 1955 photo by David Douglas Duncan.

Reflections

Grandpa Tom sent this nice bit to the EFB as his holiday contribution...

If we could reduce the world's population to a village of precisely 100 people, with all existing human ratios remaining the same, the demographics would look something like this:

60 Asians
12 Europeans
5 US Americans and Canadians
8 Latin Americans
14 Africans

49 would be female
51 would be male

82 would be non-white
18 white

89 heterosexual
11 homosexual

33 would be Christian
67 would be non-Christian

5 would control 32% of the entire world 's wealth and all of them would be U.S. citizens

80 would live in substandard housing

24 would not have any electricity (and of the 76 who do have electricity, most would only use it for light at night)

67 would be unable to read

1 (only one) would have a college education.

50 would be malnourished and 1 dying of starvation

33 would be without access to a safe water supply

1 would have HIV

1 near death
2 would be near birth

7 people would have access to the Internet

If you take a look at the world from this condensed perspective,
the need for acceptance, understanding and education becomes evident.

Think of it!

If you woke up this morning with more health than sickness,
you are luckier than the million that will not survive this week.

If you have never experienced a war, a loneliness of an imprisonment, an agony of tortures or a famine, you are happier than 500 million persons in this world.

If you are able to go to church, mosque or synagogue without fear of harassment, arrest, torture or death, you are happier than 3 billion persons in this world.

If there is a meal in your refrigerator, if you are dressed and have shoes, if you have a bed and a roof above your head, you are better off than 75% of people in this world.

If your parents are still alive and still married, then you are a rarity.

If you have a bank account, money in your purse, and there is some savings in the bank, you belong to 8% of well-provided people in this world.

If you read this text, you are blessed three times as much because someone has thought of you.

You do not belong to those 2 billion people who cannot read and... you have your computer!

So be grateful and:

+ Work like you don't need money,

+ Love like you've never been hurt,

+ Dance like nobody's watching,

+ Sing like nobody's listening,

+ Be surprised like you were born yesterday,

+ Tell the truth and you don't have to remember anything, and

+ Live like it's Heaven (whatever that is or supposed to be) on Earth.




Generational reflections: Grandpa Tom and Meg on the tractor at Portage Yacht Club a few years back.

Happy Boxing Day

For those of you wondering about the origin of today's "Boxing Day" holiday celebrated in the British Commonwealth, check this post on the Challenger Commission site.

Happy Holidays

VLC, 0100 Mon 25 Dec

As expected, and as usual with any holiday here in Spain, the neighborhood fireworks started a few minutes before midnight and are still going off an hour later, albeit now at least only sporadically. Regardless, there is no point yet in trying to sleep. So same as we did this time last year, we'll post a few pics. Can you tell which were taken with the 8 megapixel Canon digital-SLR, and with the VGA (.3 megapixel) Palm Treo 680 phone cam?

This from last night when some of Meg's friends ended up here at the house when the teen nightclub "Guru" was not able to open due to a power outage. That's our BMW ORACLE Racing teammate Grant Davidson (NZL) in back, he having provided the taxi service. Second from the right is, of course, Leslie. That's Grant's daughter, Olivia, on the right who, like Meg, also attends Caxton College.

Obviously, flaired pants (yes, what we all used to call bell-bottoms) are no longer in vogue -- to which we can only say "good riddance" for at least, one hopes, another 30 years.



Yesterday we found a decent live, short-needle pine tree in the local nursery and managed to jam it in the back of the BMW 1-series to get it home. Notice the rather simple means the gentleman is employing to bind the tree for hatch-back transport.



Today the markets were actually open for a few hours, which is most unusual in Spain on a Sunday. Meg and I went to pick up a few things for Leslie and for the stockings (to be later "hung by the chimney with care"). Along with half of Puzol, we ran into our good friends and neighbors Lars Boecking (GER, left), marketing director for the South African team, Shosholoza, and Meg's close friend Hayley Braun (USA) with her mother Kelley. JB Braun (not pictured) is a BMW ORACLE Racing colleague. He is our "aerodynamics coordinator," which means he is in charge of anything above that water (mast and sails, etc.) that could make the boat go fast -- or slow.



Tonight, after a spectacularly good turkey dinner that Leslie had spent much of the weekend preparing, we decorated the tree. It will go in the ground when the holidays are over. The homemade star has been at the top of our trees for more than, yikes, 30 years. And is that what you call a bad hair day or what? Photo by Meg.



The tree tonight in all its modest glory.

Amber couldn't care less about all the fuss with the tree, happy to settle down for a long winter's cat nap complete with a companion added by Meg, who took this photo as well.

We Wish You a Merry Christmas

This we first saw this clip courtesy of our old sailing friend Bob "Buddha" Billingham. As Buddha said, "No way!" See for yourself....


Now that's a proper juggling act if ever there was one.