The Full House.....

It is a rare event to have Quinta Quince full but it appears we will be doing that this October of 2018, quite unexpectedly too!  And not with just Quinces either.

We typically invite about anyone to come join us at our place in Spain.  Our friend Duke has been on the invitation list for years but life just does not seem support such travel plans.  It’s just too far away and expensive to make plans for everyone. So, we really don’t have many visitors.  Even Vaughn’s family has an open invitation but the brother and sisters she has on her good side have never accepted.

We try to get to Spain once or twice a year and stay weeks at least if not months.  It is for the same reasons, it’s a long way to go and expensive.  But we also have connections here as the familial home built by my parents nearly 50 years ago was absorbed by us about 15 years ago and their ashes slowly move down the escarpment to join the Mediterranean Sea.

So here I am sipping coffee as the sun is about to rise, getting ready to drive to Valencia this morning.  Lewie and Teresa are expected to arrive there shortly, we hope, from Lisbon.  But you see, they were expected yesterday and therein changes in our plans are necessitated but fortunate!

There plans were to be here two weeks and upon their departure we were expecting the arrival of Mary and Howard.  They are fellow boaters from Florida and now drive Vaughn’s old BMW.  How’s that for some  interesting connections?  We reacquainted with them last year as we passed their boat docked at a project house the had just purchased.

But we are also expecting the arrival of Gabby and a mystery guest.  We have not told any of these guests that the others would join in on the Quinta Quinta experience, just go with the flow!  Gabrielle actually knows Lewis and T from our connection at Plaza Towers in Grand Rapids where she works.  She is expected to arrive with a schoolmate.

So, for years now we have known Gabby since we passed through the lobby of the condominiums regularly.  We stayed for months in Lewie’s condo , our adopted home on the river in west Michigan.  After that we renovated and sold two condo’s there these last few years.  I called it therapy work.  But it is where our connections with Gabrielle began.

At some point in this journey, we learned that Gabs was a teacher in training and learning spanish.  She learned I knew a lick of Spanish and that we had a home in Spain.  She said that she had plans to go there for immersion into the language.

So, recently we sold our condo at the towers and were emptying out the las bits of shit that accumulates behind your back.  Here was Gabby opening the doors for us.  She tells us her plans are now to be in Spain soon, studying in Salamanca, home of the oldest school in Spain.  Of course, I invite her to come to Javea which is my custom.

Well, the only reason I know Salamanca is the oldest school in Spain is that I connected with our new neighbor below who bought the round house built by the architect Antonio.  He is also Antonio!  He lives in Valencia, but speaks english well, and had spent a year in Michigan helping repair his broken son who is wheelchair bound.  When I tell him Gabrielle will be coming he gives me that knowledge.  He also says his father owns the house below his and that he thinks it was built before ours in 1965.

 

So, after three weeks here, we anticipated the arrival of the Pitsches.  But no, they missed their flight to Alicante and spent the night in Lisbon.  We hope they are rested and happier today.  But you see, since they missed the flight connection and their entire ticket was cancelled.  It’s another long story but they now are staying longer.

We have room for 8.  Three double beds and a pair of twins.  So a full house it will be, with everyone accommodated nicely.  We look forward to this gathering of friends and the connection possibilities!

Nazdar!

Jim

PS .....if you are blind copied on this little ditty, this is your reinvitation to join the Xabia fiestas.  We are now taking bookings for both May and June, 2019.  

Enjoy Every Sandwich.

&

As Colin said, 

May you have love, money & health AND the time to enjoy them.  He died 87 years after 1916.

&

Always pick good days to travel.