It's A Letter

You see, any story could arise from this image. But to tell a story inspiration is a must and my well is very dry tonight. If I had the will to write, I imagine I would say this man came to Barcelona, was visiting Sant Jaume square after meandering the "solitary" streets of the old Gothic quarter when suddenly he decided to open the secret letter that someone had left at the hotel desk that morning. "Gosh, I told them I had paid for that and they are charging me twice". No, that's irrelevant and too common!. What can I say?. He was a musician, yes, an orchestra conductor, mentally rehearsing tonight's score. Wait, maybe he's just following some route on a map, a sort of Da Vinci code. Hum, no fountains or secret church entrance in this square. Perhaps he was a lost Manga artist drawing some new character. Well, you know what, why don't you finish the story for me. It's A Letter...

If you need inspiration for more irrelevant things to add to my irrelevant story please check this Monthy Python video first: It's A Tree (specially the introduction!)

Feeding Your Child: Extreme Methods

If you have a child you may recall how hard it was to make them swallow their first baby food. This is our friends' baby daughter. I took the liberty of taking some macros of the feeding act. I have never seen such stubborn child before. No wonder her mother had to use the pacifier to push the food into her mouth and stop her from spitting it. I guess patience is a must in cases like this. You can try singing, chasing her mouth from left to right, calling your spoon names of well known cartoon characters like Tweety, Mickey, imitating sounds of every mean of transportation you know of, trains, motorbikes, etc. You can act like a clown or simply make use of this extreme method, using the pacifier as a stopper. Here are some real tips to feed your child.

Reflections on a Wine Porron

Wine is served sometimes in recipients like this at food market stalls and they are known as a porron. George Orwell gave a great definition of this typical Catalan container: "…and drank out of a dreadful thing called a porron. A porron is a sort of glass bottle with a pointed spout from which a thin jet of wine spurts out whenever you tip it up; you can thus drink from a distance, without touching it with your lips, and it can be passed from hand to hand. I went on strike and demanded a drinking-cup as soon as I saw a porron in use. To my eye the things were altogether too like bed-bottles, especially when they were filled with white wine" (Wikipedia). The porron is available for possible clients to quench their thirst while they try samples of some products and make up their minds. More than often, they finally buy something, now that the stall owner has treated them so well, although some people take a good sip, eat all they can and leave empty handed. There are authentic professionals doing this, but the fact they are over there fluttering around attracts more possible consumers so we can say they act as bait. Well, as an anecdote, that's me reflected on the porron of this Monistrol market stall.