Almost the end of our time in Zaragoza

I'm posting some images from an amazing walk we took yesterday, mostly because they are pieces of a whole that is not recognizable. Maybe I'll post something about the context later.

Today we have a hectic social agenda, to say goodbye to people before we leave tomorrow. On Sunday, we'll drive to stay the night in Guadalajara, close to Madrid. Monday is travel day: up at 4AM to get to the airport at 5 for the 7AM flight. We return to Mpls by way of Paris. Somewhere over the Atlantic, we will (I hope) sleep for the eight hour flight as we turn back time 7 hours. We arrive at 1PM on the same day. Then: Shuttle to ramp, hope the car starts, home, to face the fact that the heat went out on my house-sitters, who got the gas people in quickly to do the repair on the boiler. God, I hope it works!

The Wild Parrots of Barcelona

I really loved the documentary movie The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill, because it gave me a a glimpse of my home town, San Francisco, as an ecosystem including interactions between people and birds. Mark Bittner told his story in a book, and the film gave rise to a new partnership between him and the filmmaker.

When we were in Barcelona, I saw similar parrots in the parks, nesting in palm trees, flying about, and I thought they were wonderful: colorful, cute, charming. But when we were at dinner, Blas mentioned that they are in fact an invasive species and that their aggression was causing harm to the local ecosystem. This made me realize that I had been looking at them from the perspective of a tourist and that the locals might have a different point of view (just as they might see the tourists as an invasive species with a negative impact on their ecosystem!)

This BBC story about the wild parrots of Barcelona here tells how the population of Quaker Parrots (cotorras, as they are commonly called in spanish) has grown to a couple of thousand since the seventies. One problem is that they eat every kind of plant, and have devoured some farmers' tomato crops! Apparently the "urban parrot" phenomenon (birds native to South America establishing colonies and thriving in New Northern climes) has been observed in San Diego and Los Angeles, Brooklyn, London, and many other cities. Some are worried about it because they compete with native birds, but others see this new niche as a way some parrots, which are threatened with extinction in their native lands, might survive in new places

A very informative site about urban parrots is City Parrots, which documents the survival of the very showy Scarlet Macaw in Holland, as well as collecting stories about parrots from around the world. I'll try to put up some pictures later.

Spring rivers rising

The other day, we were in Northfield and noticed how high the water in the river was running because of our recent rains. Now I read that the Rio Ebro is rising, but that Zaragoza has just missed a flood. Here is the Basilica del Pilar and the Ebro river.

News from Zaragoza

On New Year's Eve, we ate our twelve grapes in time with the bongs of the clock. I've gotten better at it--the first time I tried, I only managed to choke down five before I started laughing, but now I can speed-eat the grapes with the whole family.


An early Reyes present --we have a new friend, Muffin. He's only about half the size of Louis, but just as cute.

I took a quick trip to Barcelona to visit friends who are about to have a baby. We spent a little time in the sun at the Parc Guell,
On Friday evening, we went to the Cabalgata de Reyes, the big parade when the Three Kings and their entourage arrive in towns all over Spain (how do they do that?) and kids wave their letters hoping to give them to Gaspar, Melchor, and Baltasar in person. This year, the weather was mild and the parade route was mobbed.


Sus majestades left some cool presents by our shoes. Later, our friend Gail arrived from Minnesota, our first wedding guest from out of town, but not the last. We had these lovely fishies for lunch, and ate the Roscon for dessert.