Team Base Revelry

Last evening at the BMW ORACLE Racing base, Leslie and Meg standing by as we feted our old AC friend, Bob "The Fish" Fisher (GBR, journalist/ historian), on the occasion of his 72nd birthday. Full story on the team blog.

Starbucks

Valencia now has not one but two Starbucks. We paid a quick visit to the newest one on Sunday when touring Rachel around downtown. Rachel has lived all her life in the USA, has even been to Seattle, but, LOL, the first time she went to a Starbucks was today in Spain....

For Grandma Jan and Sister Ruth

Saturday evening "deener" at Casa Ehman. Nice Argentine beef marinated by Leslie and grilled to near perfektion on the barbecue.



Meg and Rachel in front of USA-61, the 2000-era Cup boat now used as a "show boat", outside of the BMW ORACLE Team Base in the Port America's Cup in Valencia on Sunday.



To think that TFE Sr and Jan are only 20 years older than Jr, yet Jr is 40 years older than Meg. Yikes, Meg, you got old-fart parents! Photo by Rachel.

Self-portrait

Photo Meg took of herself just playing around with Rachel's nice Canon A630 digicam at the dinner table last evening.

In Too Deep

After a Saturday night sleepover, band practice at our home this morning. From left Meg, Hayley Braun (USA), Rebecca Norberg (SWE), whose father sails with United Internet Germany), and Rosie Huhtamaki (FIN). Yesterday we re-arranged the living room furniture to accommodate a bandstand with a café ambience.



Name of the fledgling combo: "In Too Deep" (we won't ask). When we took this snap they were working up their first original song, yet to be named, written by Meg. No doubt about love and teenage angst. Yesterday, they were in town at the Aqua Mall all afternoon, at the teen nightclub "Guru" until 2300, then watched movies here at Casa Ehman until the wee hours. Not pictured, posse members Meggie Davison (AUS/NZL) whose dad sails with Alinghi, and Mikkel Bank (DEN), whose dad skippers United Internet Team Germany.

The Breakfast Club

Used to be that Sunday morning breakfast at our home would be sailing friends who were in town and staying with us (wherever in the world we were living); these days it is more likely Meg's pals following an overnight. The gentleman, Mikkel Bank (DEN, son of German AC team skipper Jesper Bank), had gone home Saturday night (see previous post) but returned mid-morning Sunday in time for a little brekkie with the ladies. Obviously he knows which side his bread is buttered on.

Kids' Kitchen Klatch

23:45 Saturday in the kitchen here at home in VLC, the multi-culti klatch of kids has just come back from the junior nightclub "Guru" after yet again another evening of dancing there. Countries represented 'round the table: AUS, CAN, DEN, FIN, NZL, SWE, USA.

Meg's French Connection (UK)

Summer has returned to VLC, at least for a few days. Today I was back to shorts and flip flops for the first time since late November, and most of the afternoon Meg and her friends were outside in the yard playing badminton, soccer and basketball.

I did get Meg to stand still long enough to model the French Connection UK t-shirt I brought back for her from London last weekend which, hurray, she likes -- even though it does not have the brand's FCUK initials displayed in big letters across the chest or back as often that company's clothing does.

No way, Meg, not while you are living under OUR roof!

Yikes, they grow up too fast. And, speaking of connections, the Wilson-Ehman heritage becomes more evident with each passing month. Who does she look more like these days, Leslie's sister Jonalee or my sister Cristine?

Christmas Posse

Last week after the final soccer session of the year, Hayley Braun had her teammates over to bake Christmas cookies -- as if you couldn't tell given the somewhat messy appearances (of this normally pristine group) due to a "flour fight."


From left: Alisee (FRA), Hayley (USA), Anna (ESP), Alex (NZL), Meg (USA), Olivia (NZL), Rosa (FIN) and Emily (AUS) -- an international bake-off if ever there was one.

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.

She Shoots, She Scores!

Well, sometimes. Meg is a striker on her local club football team, and they play twice a week -- often with a boys team of the same age.

A number of her AC and school friends play on the same team, so soccer nights are also a bit of a gathering for the parents as well. The kids are well coached (in Spanish), and have a lot fun.

They go on break now for a couple weeks over the holidays, and then are back at it when school resumes the second week of January.



Meg, middle row, second from the right, between Olivia Davidson (left) and Hayley Braun (right), daughters of BMW ORACLE Racing teammates Grant Davidson and Brenda Opperman (NZL), and JB and Kelley Braun (USA).

Shoe Queens

Warm, sunny weather has returned to VLC this weekend with temps in the mid-20s (75F) and hardly a cloud in the sky. The ladies (from left: Hayley, Meg, Meggie and Rebecca) shoot some hoops -- all in Converse sneakers, albeit different colours -- before heading to Bonaire shopping mall, "prolly to buy more shoes, Dad."



Converse Queens: clockwise from lower left, Meggie, Meg, Rebecca and Hayley.

Musical Skills

Here's a test that for sure Grandma Jan, Lynn Hill (Grandpa Tom's partner), sister Ruth and Meg will enjoy, and others of you who are musically inclined -- or think that you might be:

http://jakemandell.com/2006/test-your-musical-skills-in-6-minutes/



Grandma Jan grooving to Diana Krall on my Palm, in a January '05 photo. She plays the guitar, too, and wrote lots of skits and songs for yacht club and school functions when we were growing up. A good influence on the rest of -- a musical diamond in the rough.



Lynn Hill is a superb piano player who, when not lawyering. plays professionally. Last we knew she was the choirmaster at the Webster United Church of Christ. Tom Sr. reminds us that Lynn is a good organ player as well. Summer 2004 photo from an apres-race jam session at Portage YC.



Speaking of roses on a piano, Meg is an accomplished if sometimes unwilling piano player, shown here at a party at our home in Valencia last Thanksgiving in a duet. These days she would rather play the guitar, and does so skillfully.



Sister Ruth, when not playing with her snakes or keeping things on track in the office at Portage YC, sings in the choir at Webster Church -- and just about any other time someone picks up a guitar. This is a summer 2004 photo at Ruth's farm in Michigan.



They keep a guitar for us at the Lambrusceria Ristorante (a.k.a. "The Docks") here in Valencia for the occasional after-dinner jam session. This phone-cam photo is from a dinner there last week in which our new friend "Tony" -- a very talented street musician from Bulgaria -- joined in on his sax.

Junior Ministry People...

...or so the popular dance club Guru calls the 14-17yo crowd admitted on Friday and Saturday nights from 1900 to 2200 (national ID card or passport required). Photo above taken as Rebecca (SWE), Hayley (USA), Meggie (AUS) and Meg were heading to Guru, as they often do on Saturday nights, where they will will meet up with a number of their other AC and school friends. Hayley's father took them; I get to go pick them up afterwards at, where else, the Ben & Jerry's in the mall outside the club where they like to relax with an apres-club helado. Still kids after all, thank goodness.