Irish Music!

Final night in Westport

We enjoyed our final night in Westport at Hoban's Pub, a spot

frequented by the locals. The traditional Irish music

was a treat and the crowd was totally into the experience.

I have decided that I have finally found "my people!"

Tomorrow we take the 7:15 AM bus to Galway,

the 10:40 bus to Shannon,

the 14:40 plane to Glasgow, Scotland,

the first available train to Edinburgh and

a tram to our hotel.

We'll be scouting Edinburgh for Ian, who wants to

visit Scotland someday!

One Check Off My Bucket List!

Croagh Patrick

We did one of the hardest hikes we've ever done! We climbed Croagh Patrick!!! We were the only ones of our group who made it to the top. Here we are sitting behind the church that is built at the top of the mountain.

Beautiful Ireland!

We went on our first Ireland walk today in Galway County. Beth and I are standing by Killary Fjord, the only fjord in Ireland. We walked over the grounds of the Kylemore Abbey before setting out on a 7 mile hike around the south side of the fjord. It was beautiful pasture land with free-roaming black-faced Connemara sheep,  ruins of old houses and dry stone fences. Fishing for salmon and sea trout and raising mussels are all very important to the economy today. The trail we walked is called the famine trail. So many people were starving during the potato famine but Queen Victoria would not allow food to be given away. It had to be earned. The men who were healthy enough to work made a stone embankment so that a path could be created across the sides of the mountain. At the end of the day they were given a bowl of watery soup for their pay. No money was given to them.

Red Light District

Amsterdam is famous for it's so-called Red Light District.

You aren't even supposed to take pictures. 

Well, I did take a picture of the Red Light and I don't really know what all the fuss is about.

Here it is...

A Picture Worth a Thousand Words

A picture can be worth a thousand words...

                    ...or even just one big long one!         Chew on that...

The Subtleties of Language

Amsterdam:

 You've all been to a "Stop and Go" for a soft drink or some chips, right? The Eindhoven Airport, Netherlands has a similar shop called the "Take it...and Leave."

Why does that sound so much more hostile than 'stop and go'? The subtleties of language are what make language study so difficult. Remind me to tell you about a favorite missionary game, "My worst language bloopers." It's really funny!

Exploring with Merry & Stephanie

     Yesterday I bid farewell to one of my favorite spots in Spain. It is just an hour from Camarma and I often take others there for refreshment and renewal. This time I stopped at another little town which I had never been to, so it was fun to get to complete that desire. First we stopped at La Cabrera, the town I had not been to. It is nestled in a little valley with the Rio Dulce (Sweet River) running through the town. They have diverted the water in one area to make a side stream and have a trout 'criadera' or nursery.

     Next we went to my favorite little town, Pelegrina. It is situated on a hill overlooking a beautiful valley. The ruins of a 12th century castle stand guard over the village. There are sometimes sheep grazing the hills, the fields are full of wild flowers in the spring and early summer, and on a hidden trail you can walk down to a little glen where a farmer has cherry and apple trees, a stream and the most beautiful vegetable garden I have ever seen. I want to live there!

     We drove on about 8 kilometers to Siguenza, a medieval town with quite a history. They were having a medieval faire which was an unexpected treat. We ate from the various stands and tried everything from sausages to crepes! Yeah, I feel a little queasy today.

     Finally we drove through the countryside to Medinaceli, another small medieval village where we took pictures of ourselves by a 2nd century Roman arch, an Arab arch from the days the Moors ruled this part of Spain, and saw Roman mosaics from the first century. We bought candy, bread and sweet butter, something this area is famous for. (I'll take any excuse to buy butter.) We had such a wonderful time, met some very friendly villagers, and felt like we had spent a 5 star day! That is saying a lot since Merry has lived in Spain for 30 years and Stephanie has been here for 4 or 5 years. (By the way, Merry is from Bothell for those of you who know the PNW and she is an expert on Spanish history. A great travel companion! Stephanie is a dear friend and is from Boulder, Colorado.)

Picnic at La Pedriza with TEAM

Yesterday I was included in the TEAM mission groups' picnic to one of my favorite local spots. I thought I'd include a couple of pictures but there are a few more at my Picasa site: http://picasaweb.google.com/bisbell if you'd like to see more. We had a great time talking, eating and enjoying the refreshingly cool water in the stream. So cold!

Centering-Where I'm Headed

Hi from Spain! 

     This is to answer the question many of you have asked me, "What are you going to do now?"

Well, I have decided to set up house in Wichita, Kansas. (Seeing green from envy?) Fellow missions workers here in Spain want someone in their home while they are here next school year. I currently have no home. It was a match made in heaven! So, my new home for the coming months of September through May will be in the CENTER of the country. This is good because my family is so spread out over the United States I cannot possibly be near everyone. By living in Wichita I will be fairly equidistant from all of them. Depending on whether you are a glass half-full or a glass half-empty person; it will either be close to everyone or far away from everyone!

Here are some "distance from Wichita" stats:

Bay City, TX (Dad, sister)                           680 miles          10 hrs 40 min

Woodsfield, OH (near cousins)                  977 miles          15 hrs 11 min

Cleveland, OH (aunt, uncle, cousin)          992 miles          15 hrs 15 min

New York, NY (kids & grandsons)          1,398 miles          22 hrs

Santa Monica, CA (kids)                           1,504 miles          21 hrs 21 min

Bellevue, WA (Ian, sister)                        1,834 miles          26 hours

Frankly, now that I look at it, it's a little depressing. (Maybe I shouldn't have looked up those stats.) However, when I think of Wichita I think STEAK, clean environment, good people and a highly rated city in which to live. So I'm looking forward to the experience and to the new people I will meet. And, I will get to continue some friendships I have made here in Spain. Besides, I love people from the Midwest. (I sorta' am one, yea Beautiful Ohio!)

The plus side is that if I drive to see family and you live on one of those routes, I will stop and say hello. Well, that's a plus for me, at least. Hope to see you soon!

Summer Begins with VBS

Hi everyone! Summer has come to Spain and I spend most of the day sitting in my apartment in front of the fans. We don't have air conditioning here and there is a fine art to keeping your house cool; an art I have not mastered. It involves shutting all the blinds and windows to keep out the sun, which makes me feel like I'm in a cage. You can only really work physically at night or in the early morning-reading and television seem to be all I'm up for and I don't even really want to travel around Spain as it is so hot. I am a sissy from the Northwest!

Vacation Bible School was fun and we had several students from Baylor studying Spanish here in Madrid who helped during the morning sessions. They were a great bunch of kids and were very much appreciated. We all think we can speak Spanish until we actually have to talk to real Spaniards-then it all falls apart! Especially with kids. They are very hard to understand.

Here is a picture of my "pit crew" who were mostly Spanish speakers. Our theme was "The Incredible Race" and we had a great time! The other picture is of a little 3-year-old boy who made me cry! He reminded me so much of Ian at that age it broke my heart!

Other things going on besides a week of VBS:

* Tonight I am going to a flamenco concert in Madrid with a friend from school. I love flamenco music and dance so I wanted to go one more time before I have to leave Spain.

* Sunday night I went to a friend's house to watch the Eurocup 2008 futbol (soccer) finals where Spain was the victor over Germany 1-0. If you heard a loud noise on Sunday, it was the din of Spain rejoicing over the win! It was crazy!

* Last Saturday a friend and I spent a wonderful day in Madrid shopping for an upcoming missions conference. (Gifts for the speakers, etc.) I got in a few things for my grandsons, too. They are never far from my mind.

I have just a few more days in Spain and feel very sad about ending this wonderful experience. I have to focus on what lies ahead, and the joy of being home again with family and friends. I leave Madrid for a trip to Holland, Ireland and Scotland on July 15th. I return to Madrid July 29th to get my luggage and Ivy and then fly to New York to visit the kids there. After that, I have a blurry image of the future! A little unsettling but this is all I can handle for the moment.

Hope to hear from you and hope to see you soon!