Glass, wine and sandwiches

Sitting at an outdoor cafe this morning, I was listening to all the lottery ticket vendors. I think they test them for the loudest voices -- they are everywhere, coming up to everyone. They aren't obnoxious, they move on if you don't buy, but, boy, are they LOUD!

On Trip Advisor, the most popular place to see in Malaga is the Museum of Glass and Crystal. I had to look on Google maps to find the place and, after I started the tour, I found out why. It is housed in 18th century home of an Italian ship builder, a huge 3 story building with a central patio with a skylight on the second level. It is privately owned by 2 Englishmen and a Spaniard and, besides the beautiful displays of glass from the Phoenician times until today, it is filled with the ancestral furniture, paintings and rugs from the 3 owners. Not very interesting, you think?? Think again. It is fascinating and, when you are given a tour by one of the owners, very intimate. The reason it's so difficult to find is, according to our tour guide, that it is privately owned and operated with no money or interference from the city government. In retribution, the city has not put any direction signs up, as it has for many other sites and museums.

After a delicious lunch of an Iberian ham and cheese sandwich with a glass of house white wine, I headed to the Museum of Wine. Malaga used to have quite the reputation for its wine -- not so much anymore. They are trying to rectify that, but, in the meanwhile, they have established this museum and wine store. It's very small, only 2 stories. The ground level has the wine store and displays of the many different wine labels used throughout the history of Malaga wine. From the Muslim times (they seemed to make an exception to alcohol here!) through the sacramental wine made for the church to the present, the labels are artwork. Upstairs is a history of the making of wine in Malaga and an illustrated
demonstration of how wine is made. The tickets included a tasting of two wines. The woman behind the counter was charming. Her name is Sara and, after talking a bit, told me she and her fiancé will be coming to Pasadena sometime in the next 2 years. Her boyfriend is studying car design and wants to go the Art Center. I gave her my email, so I'll see!

Back to the wine -- we got a glass of naturally sweet wine and a glass of fortified wine. Very tasty! It was pouring rain when I left, so I hustled back to the hotel. It is supposed to be clear tomorrow.

Malaga

I slept until noon!! Bad form for the first day...
After a breakfast of cafe au lait and a ham and cheese sandwich, I started walking. It's quite a beautiful city and very easy to get around. The weather is perfect == around the mid 60sF (15C) and blue skies. I made it to the Cathedral, the Roman ruins and the birthplace of Picasso, which is a museum now with photos of him as a child and some furniture from back when he lived there. Because I started out so late, I missed out on some shopping because the stores close between 2 to 5 PM, but I did manage to find a scarf (I left mine in the car...).

I had a coffee in a cafe around 2:30 and was soon surrounded by ladies. It started with 3, then 2 more, then 3 more -- all so happy to see each other, chatting away all together. I caught some words -- ninos, carne (?) and mi amore -- but it was hard to hear anyone with them all talking at the same time. 3 more ladies showed up and they all went inside for a meal. I love moments like that.
I started at the Museo Picasso, only opened since 2003. A lot of the family donated their personal art works and pottery. It's housed in an old palace and in the basement are ruins of the old Phoenician city walls. The artworks are amazing, even though I'm not a huge fan of the artist.

Day 2: I found my way to the next museum -- the Museo Carmen Thyssen. This is the big art museum in Malaga, with works from the 1200's up through the Abstract style. There are a lot of early Spanish artists on display -- several scenes of Spanish life and lots of lovely women with the tiniest feet you've every seen. This museum is also in an old palace with each floor showing a particular era of art. On the top floor was the special exhibit of Impressionists. I don't know why, but the Impressionists always make me smile. Manet, Courbet, Sisley, Monet -- just beautiful!! I stopped in the Museo Cafe for some lunch -- a couple of tapas dishes and a Coke for 6 euros. Yum!

I had gone online to search for yarn stores (of course!) and found a couple in the old town and, in my broken Spanish, managed to buy some yarn!! (I know you're not surprised...) I also needed a stitch marker and could not figure out how to say it. Another lady at the counter helped me out, but they didn't have any in the shop. (By the way, it is marcador de punto.)

By then, it was starting to get dark and cold. I stopped at Taormina Gelatoria for ice cream and a coffee. Great way to end the day. I still get lost a bit, but it's a very manageable place. There is an off and on tour bus, but I haven't found the need to use it!

Heading for Spain

Dec. 15, 2013

I am in Amsterdam airport waiting for my next flight. I'm off to Spain and Morocco for the holidays. I'll be joining a tour through Exodus in Malaga, Spain on the 22nd, getting me to Marrakech, Morocco by New Year's Eve. It was a kind of last minute decision to take this trip, but something told me it was the thing to do (not like I need much encouragement to travel!).
The weather will be cool and rainy most of the time, but I'm looking forward to that after the heat wave we've been having at home.
I should get into Malaga about 8 PM local time. Malaga is on the south east coast of Spain, part of the Costa del Sol in Andalucia, most famous for being the birthplace of Picasso. You can visit his old family home and there is an art museum dedicated to his work. I'll be on my own for a few days before the tour starts to go exploring and check out the museums and shops. I left my scarf back in LA in the car, so I'll have a reason to buy one in Spain!
I'm trying to stay awake now and it's not easy!

Ukeing in Paradise is Over

I'm sitting at the airport in Honolulu waiting for my flight home. The week went by so fast!

Here I am with my "band", third from the left.

The whole retreat experience was fun, exhausting, hot, sweaty, humid and amazing. I learned a lot, but am not sure how much I will retain! We had 5 sessions to attend every day and not much time to jam or process. My "band" did OK on Friday night, but we wanted to go back to Uncle Roberts, so Brit, Natalie, Joe and I all ditched the "sing along" and "open mic" performances.

Uncle Roberts was dead! We got there around 9:15 and the band was playing, but there were maybe 10 people in the audience. The bar was open, we ordered, sat down and listened to the music. They were fantastic. They played until 10 or so and us girls went up to tell them how much we enjoyed the music. They were happy for the compliments. I asked if they had a CD and was told they "were working on one." I asked what the band's name was so I could look it up and was told "you will only be able to get it here." Shoot!

Earlier in the day we had a field trip to the home and workshop of Chuck Moore, an incredible ukulele luthier, and his wife, Bonnie, who makes beautiful jewelry. They live on some gorgeous property outside Pahoa with their 2 dogs. We got a crash course in how Chuck makes his ukes (some had been on display at the visitor's center in Hilo), from how he chooses the wood to how he makes the inlay designs out of abalone shell and other materials, cut with his handheld jeweler's saw. For amazing pictures, check out his web site at http://www.moorebettahukes.com/

Their home is fabulous -- the kitchen has Koa wood cabinets that Chuck custom made and is completely open to the back garden, with a huge mango tree growing through the middle of the room. They have a "tree house" built over the kitchen in the mango tree and, up there, you can see the ocean. The second bathroom is also open -- the tub looks out into the garden and the toilet has a ukulele hung on the wall so you can practice while sitting there.

Bonnie's workshop is back to back with Chuck's and her jewelry is silver set with semi precious stones. They are wonderful people, so welcoming and accommodating. We drank passion fruit juice that Bonnie had fresh squeezed from their tree and, even though it was the last of the season's crop, she said she was glad to share with us. Most of the group was anxious to get back for the next session, but Brit, Natalie and I wanted to stay forever. I asked if I could move in and they said, "Sure!" Hmmmm...

I'll say more about the last day in Hilo in the next post.
(Photos courtesy of Brit O.)

Uke Camp

It's day 3 at Uke Camp. I've been playing every day and my fingers are sore, but I don't care! We've all been assigned groups to play in the Jam session on the last day and have "band practice" every afternoon. I've got a great band leader in Sarah Maisel, who is fabulous. Natalie and Brit got into other bands, so we'll see who comes out on top!

Yesterday included a trip to Hilo to Hilo Ukulele and Guitar Shop, owned by a Scottish guy(!). Wow. What a selection! But I refrained and only bought some music.

The big Farmers Market is in Hilo on Wednesdays, so we strolled around afterwards, looking at the fruits, veggies and tie-dyed T shirts. I bought some presents (hee hee) and then we decided to go get some lunch. The resort had provided sack lunches, so while us girls were in the ukulele store, Joe found a homeless woman with a couple of dogs and gave all 4 lunches to her. She said thanks and god bless you, so I feel we all were blessed.

We went to the fish market for lunch. It was highly rated in Natalie's Lonely Planet guide and it was exactly that -- a fish market with an outdoor window to order a meal. There were wooden benches and tables outside to sit and enjoy the ocean breeze. It was DELICIOUS! Joe and Brit had the healthy grilled ono and Natalie and I had the fried tempura shrimp and ono. All the meals come with 2 big scoops of white rice and a side of green salad or the very Hawaiian macaroni salad, made with macaroni, potatoes and, I think I detected some tuna.

They were having an exhibit of handmade ukuleles at the visitor's center. They were all so beautiful, many with inlaid abalone and/or wood on the body and on the head. The display contained about 40 ukes, all different sizes and were made of Kona wood (of course), spruce, mango -- anything! One of my favorites was a little soprano uke made from some of the koa wood from the torn down Kamehakameha Hotel.

Last night, though, was the best. Natalie and Joe brought some bottles of wine over to our hut and we had fun talking about surfing, dishing the other people here at the camp and how hippie-dippy the place was. On the schedule for the evening was an outing to the closest town (Pahoa) to see the evening Farmer's Market and have a drink at Uncle Roberts Awa Bar. After a few glasses of wine, we decided to try and find the place. NO PROBLEM. There were cars parked on either side of the road for about a mile. It was really hopping! The bar is an outdoor setup at the end of the road and on the outdoor stage were 5 huge Hawaiian guys playing some amazing music on guitars and ukuleles. (Someone at the camp told us this morning that those guys were all related and I believe it. It sounded like they had been playing together for years.)

Natalie found a lady who was selling a dish her grandmother used to make for her when she was a kid and hasn't had since -- Hamburger Curry. She was gracious enough to share with me. It was delicious. Back at the bar, Natalie asked the bartender to make us her best drink -- it was an Hawaiian Sunrise. I'm not sure what was in it, but it was yummy -- fruity, coconutty with who knows how many different kinds of alcohol. We danced the night away -- it was amazing and so much fun. We found out this morning they are doing it all again on Friday night and we may have to be there.

It's an interesting group at the camp. Mostly older people and they are mostly very serious about playing. Some of them are pretty good, but most, I'd say, are about the same level as we are or even less experienced. Some of them Brit refers to as "old biddies" and they are rigid and demanding, but all the instructors are great. We all eat together at the covered outdoor patio, along with another group here -- something to do with body balance and energy. You can imagine.

Today was terrific. I woke up to a torrent of rain on the roof. I had a massage this afternoon and am now waiting for Natalie and Joe to show up with more wine. Life is good.

Ukulele time!

We spent the day yesterday with Natalie and Joe. We were going to go to Wal-Mart (Ugh!) for MuMus, but Hilo Hattie's was right across the street, so we went there instead. I got 2 short sleeveless dresses and Natalie and Brit each got one. One of the dresses I got has little ukuleles all over it! No muumuus though... I don't think I can pull off a muumuu.

The classes start today. I was a dope -- I forgot to pack a camera! I'm using the one on the phone and Brit said I could use hers.

The WiFi here is pretty weak, so Brit and I are surfing madly at 6 AM. Our phones also get no reception. As Joe said, this is a "hippie petting zoo", almost completely off the grid!

I will try to take some photos today.

Hawaii!!

It's finally come -- my trip to the Big Island starts today! I'm going to the West Coast Ukulele Retreat with the friends I took ukulele lessons with -- Natalie, her husband, Joe, and Brit. I'm rooming with Brit. I'm so excited!! Hawaii and ukulele together -- too much fun!