Creep in, said the witch, and see if it is properly heated, so that we can shut the bread in

 Just in case you are wondering: yes, we celebrated the great Carnival season here in Spain last week.

 It is kind of a great event in the whole country but, in this little northern corner, it is something truly special.

We have our own traditional celebrations which include four days of non-stopping party with lots of food and crazy regional costumes. 

And the reason why it is so different from the rest of the country is that we (and I am very proud of it) have Celtic roots. 

Maybe that´s what makes me get dress as a witch every year, our folklore is deeply coloured by beldam stories. 

And when I say every year I really mean it. 

As time goes by, I collected more than a dozen witch hats. Believe or not, my parents have a fitted cabinet in my room that they call The Wicked Witch of the East cupboard and I suspect that:

1. They are going to sell them all as soon as I move to the UK to recover the ridiculously huge space the hats occupy.

2. If I try to keep the hats in there it will constitute a solid evidence of my mania.

3. I will finish my days at Arkham Asylum, where I´ll be known as The Dark Witch Hat Lady or something like that.

  

Going back to the party itself and, unfortunately for us this time,  

The Great God of Rain decided to spoil the fun.

We had a wet weekend and just one day of sunlight (well, indeed I am trying to keep the positive tone because calling sunlight to that sinister bunch of clouds we had all over the week is a little otherwordly).

The Gentle One and I really did our best to mantain the festive spirit considering the circumstances.

We went out for a walk in our costumes and even tried to go and see the parade, but it became pretty much like a nightmare with all the windy, cold and wet atmosphere. After a while we had to acknowledge our defeat and, as good soldiers, we retired into the warm and charming nineteenth century club, when one can simply spend hours by drinking tea and eating chocolate cake (which of course we did).

I think I didn´t have enough of masks, but I am happy I will have the chance to repeat it next month:

Some wonderful people is organizing a victorian-inspired masquerade for March in one of the most beautiful baroque palaces of my city. So if you are planning to visit Spain this Spring, that can be definitely the opportunity to step aside from crowded beaches and doing something memorable.

The Aurum Masquerade

Tell me, do you celebrate the carnival season in your country?

You can´t trust water: Even a straight stick turns crooked in it.

 

As any other human being on Earth who needs a proper job to survive, I love weekends. 

They are full of all kind of promises: never ending catnaps, romantic walks under the moonlight, tons of good movies waiting to be watched in a sofa & pop corn session... 

Weekends are so nice because they represent a small portion of time in which we can be who we really are, and do what we truly want to.

Usually, my weekends (which thanks to providence last from Friday to Sunday, as long as I don´t have to attend university seminars or work) consist on a relaxing and healthy diet of good books, quiet conversations with my fiancé, and some eventual wine night at home with friends. 

Nothing out of the ordinary.

But this Saturday the impossible came about: it wasn´t raining!

Yes, yes, I know what you are thinking. Not that special, huh? Well, you´re wrong.

Do you know that song from Jane Siberry called "It Can´t Rain all the Time"? I am sure she didn´t know about the north of Spain. In this corner of the world it does rain every winter, ALL winter. We don´t have snow or killing low temperatures, that´s right, but it rains. A lot. There are days in which I think I could go to work by swimming. And I am not the only one who has this kind of feelings about water here. 

But you learn how to live with it because, well, we are the water people. 

Even the rest of Spanish think that about us.

But on Saturday there was no raining prediction, so I inmediately asked to The Gentle One about going out for a while. No umbrella? Where must I sign, sir?

And there we went.

Although there were some clouds in the sky (fine, it was very cloudy), we had a walk ad took some pictures.

I wanted to wear that beautiful coat that my mother-in-law gave me for Christmas because there was no water that could ruin it this time.

But we run out of camera battery soon (we were so excited about the lack of water that totally forgot about recharging batteries). As a consequence we strolled a little bit more and went for a good cup of coffee to our favourite place ♥

And then the second unexpected thing of the day took place.

It was so warm up there, and the music was so soft, and the sofa so comfy, and the delicious vanilla and almond tea was so relaxing... that I fell asleep. 

It was just for a second and It had never happened to me before, but for an instant I was totally asleep.  

I think I was truly tired after a long week at work, I have no other theory, (unless the charming waitress put some drugs on my tea to steal my pretty new coat, but I can not prove it and I don´t want you to think I am a little crazy paranoid lady). Yes, that was a joke.

So I had to stand my man laughing at me for a while.

Fair enough. I would also laugh at him in that situation.

Did you ever experienced a so funny and ridiculous moment in a public place?