14 Apr 2008.  1:08pm. I sit at the small table outside the little café, situated just south of the Great Pool in the Parque del Buen Retiro .  It's a beautiful day, the vast azure sky dotted by friendly, fluffy clouds, making their quiet pilgrimage across the countryside.  It's almost as though Madrid wants to say to me, 'Look!  I'm not so bad, after all!  Enjoy your last day here!' A cool breeze blows by, rippling the face of the shallow pool, breaking u...

Happy Thanksgiving, JU. I hope you enjoy some time with your loved ones, eating food that you don't get to eat often enough . . . I'm grateful for a lot of you. I'm grateful for your friendship, over the (almost) 2 years I've been posting on this site. You know who you are, but I'll shout out to a few (and don't be offended if you're not on the list, please) First off, to BlueDev and Cedarbird. Two finer siblings you'd never find. To those who used to post here, and with whom I ...