A fall juant - Quinta de la fuente del berro

There is a romantic style garden near my house that I have only been to 3 times despite having lived here for over a year now. It is a problem of distance. It is far enough from home that it seems like a long distance to walk to, and then go exploring in the gardens, but too close to pay to take public transport. It is a good way to get in a 6.5km walk though and I am going to try and go more often. 

If you would like to see some pictures of this park in the Spring, here is the last blog post I did about this park. 

Here in Madrid we are still in the final stages of autumn, even in early December.

This garden is not as grand as most I have been to, but it is still a reminder of the sense of past us US citizens crave. As I walked through the park today I wondered: "would this garden's historical features have been more impressive to me if I was just here for a visit? Am I starting to get used to seeing old buildings and that has taken away their impact? Or maybe becoming accustomed to the Europe-ness of my surroundings makes me now better able to single out the things of great beauty?" Food for thought. What do you think?

Talking about great beauty, this Gingko tree was straight from a fairy tale. It is really hard to get a picture that capture's it's beauty. It's golden leaves and the way that they fell 'just so' on the lush green grass underneath, made the whole journey more than worth it. I was not the only one it affected, there was a man walking my way who kept glancing back. I thought that he was waiting for a dog, but I never saw one.

Those rich people knew how to construct even their gardener's huts with style.

That antenna is one of the more recognizable in Madrid. Sometimes when I am across the city and I see it I realize just how small the footprint of Madrid is compared to some US cities.

What you can not tell from these photos is that it is so cold there is frost on the ground in the shade, yet the roses still bloom.

Madrid really has two seasons: hot & dry, and cold & wet. 

So there was my walk for this morning. Excuse well I go get out my dye-pot and get to work.

Art week -Day 2 and pictures from my morning walk

Things got a little hectic yesterday so I will post yesterday's finished object for my self-imposed design challenge today. I actually worked on two things, but I think that one is still a work in progress. However, with the caveat that I do not think that it is finished I will post a picture of it too. 

Also for those of you who are hear only to see pictures of Madrid. I took a series of photos on my morning walk today. These are not tourist photos, they are photos of the "true Madrid", a working class neighborhood.

First the walk:

I crossed the M30 for my walk today and is a photo looking back over it. One thing I love about Madrid is that most of the highways have lots of greenery. There is a layer of vegetation which is not only beautiful but probably helps with noise and pollution as well. 

Across the road is Las Ventas, the bull fighting rink.

Now with Las Ventas to my right I am going to cross a road that goes over the highway.

Down a typical backstreet...

And I come to the park that was my destination.

Here I am crossing another, this time pedestrian only, bridge over the highway.

Walking back along this pleasantly tree lined street I found.

OK, Art Challenge, day two: 

I worked for a long time yesterday on this little guy. I am still not happy with the shape, and frankly I am thinking of changing the color as well.

I think that longer legs and a bigger hump on the back would help. I mean, I do not mind that he looks cartoon-eske, there is just something I am not happy about. What do you think that needs fixing?

And here is a piece that was almost finished, and I decided to call it done.

It was part of my monster series.

The goal was to make something unusual and unexpected.

Quick and dirty photo tour of Chamberí

Malasaña part two

Where has the week gone? I have been very happily busy with some new ideas I hope to share soon, and apparently blogging about my day in Malasaña slipped my mind. If you are ever in Madrid and you want a day of being in a chic, artistic neighborhood with an older gentile European ambiance, Malasaña is where to go.

As it is just a 25 minute bus ride for me to get here I should really try and go more often. It started off as a day of running errands, but as is often the case here the shops we wanted were closed (the schedule of opening hours are flexible and not easy to find), or did not have what we were looking for. So we did as any Spaniard would do and relaxed and took in the neighborhood's charm.

First stop a precious little bar called "Casa Maravillas" for a quick second breakfast to keep up our strength. Fresh squeezed Valencia orange juice (which most bars have) a cortado, and pan con tomaca (a toasted baguette with fresh puréed tomato, sal and olive oil).

This is the street right outside the bar. How beautiful is the light here? I just point the camera aim, and Madrid does the rest. These next coupe photos are of a gental stroll through the neighborhood and Plaza de Dos de Mayo.

I love the colors of the buildings and even though it would drive me crazy to have such a small balcony, they add such charm.

We started walking toward Chambrí where we wanted to do more errands and have lunch.

We discovered another museum. We didn't feel inclined to go in due to time, but we will put the museum on the list for later. The outside is certainly pretty.

Sigh I love the doors of Europe.

And, look what I found! An Ikea add that features knitting on the night stand! 

We finished up the mornings walk at Tierra Burrito Bar, which is an American style build-your-own-Burrito bar, be still my beating heart, with four kinds of salsa and a good selection of beers from around the world (all of which is rare in Madrid). It did not occur to me until now that I had not had a burrito that I had not made since I was in Canada in July. Oh how my life has changed.