Oviedo Day Three

 Wednesday, August 12. -  Eclipse Day!

It's a leisurely start to the day, which is good since yesterday was quite exhausting!  I even skipped yoga, settling for a shower and some minor stretching before emerging from my cacoon!  When I can hear talking in the kitchen I know at least two people are up and I can pretty much guarantee that it will be Jenny and Ginger!  Our open windows are at ninety degrees from one another, so it's easy to hear.

Ole is finally off work for a change and all six of us are going into town for bakery shopping for breakffast and food shopping for the eclipse party tonight!  We take the car for the groceries and because some of us just don't want to climb another hill!  I drive in with Ole because I haven't really gotten a chance to talk with him! We park at the Lidl and wait for the rest of the family.

We check out a couple of bakeries and return to the kids' favorite, Casadiella & Café.  Casadiella is the name of a special Asturian delicacy. We make some selections and let Jenny figure out the rest because everything just looks to good to leave in the shop and that's not practical!!

Then there's a stop at the butcher's, which also has some vegetables, for the peppers that Jenny will fix for party.  You can't touch them yourself, you have to let the store employee get them for you! 

Now for the grocery shopping, which will be a two-step process. First we all go into the Lidl for the major shopping.  We all carry our treasures out to the car for Ole and at least one person to take home.  Stu and Ginger opt for the first ride while Amanda, Jenny, and I go into the fancy grocery store, the Mercadona, (kind of like I go to Aldi's and then Publix if necessary!) By the time we're finished Ole has returned for the second trip home.

Such wide aisles in the Mercadona!

So many kinds of sidra!

Frog skin melon and its delicious!

This is so clever!  The wheels lock into the grooves so you don't have to hang
on as you're moving up to the second floor!

Freshly squeezed OJ anyone?

Jenny says there is nothing for us to do but eat pastries!  Oh dear!

People won't be here before four o'clock, so there is time to straighten, clean the kitchen, and get ready.  That really means Jenny cooking and Ole experimenting with more cocktails, although Jenny has created a drinks menu in watercolor!

About five o'clock the horde arrives.  I think we total about fourteen eclipse seekers!  Ole and Jenny's fencing teacher and his wife are here and she is wearing the most appropriate dress with suns and moons! There is the one guy who actually lives in Oviedo and wanted to return the kids' generosity by baking six small pizzas as his contribution.  There are friends of friends who are in town just for the eclipse and are musicians, so there is singing outside.  There are sidra throwing lessons. And, of course, there are fencers so the evening includes several bouts.  Ole and Stu get to fence each other which is a treat for them.  Ole fences his coach and there is a promise for him not to create a widow! And there are classical fencing lessons for the sport fencer.

                                                              Stu put Amanda on the spot!

                                                             Tyler can come back anytime!!

                                                               Willow's back is gorgeous!

                                                            And the sidra lessons begin!

                                             First Ole demonstrates, then everyone gets a shot!

               This is the face we all make the first time!  Except people like Ole, Stu, and Amanda!

                                                                          That's better!!

The actual procedure calls for aerating the sidra by throwing it into the cup, but only one mouthful, drinking it down in one swallow, and tossing the last bit over your shoulder.  This last bit was when you only had one glass and you used the alcohol to rinse the rim before passing it on.

Time to move the table to the other patio, facing the setting sun.

And as for the eclipse itself...we had such heavy cloud cover that we never saw the sun, covered or not. But it did get incredibly dark! The birds fell silent and the temperature dropped! We watched a bit of the TV coverage leading up to it, went outside to experience it, then the music started in the yard with one guitar that got passed around and Willow who sings and plays. The fencing overlapped the music and presently it became the main attraction.  It was heading toward full dark when Jenny was convinced to fence Stu, so those photos are even worse than the rest...but she has proof that she did it!

And throughout the afternoon and evening there was continual eating and drinking!  In addition to the sidra, Ole is mixing cocktails and the table is loaded with so many goodies.  Jenny cooked a bunch and there are the fresh hot pizzas straight from the oven and it seems everyone else brought things too! Later in the evening ribs appeared from somewhere and at some point people located the desserts! Basically it was just a fabulous party!

Everyone finally winds down and we all just plop down in the closest chair.  I think the kids are going to stay up and play Exploding Kittens (until 4:30!) but it's after midnight and I can't go another step! No one even feels too bad about missing the main event.  The main event turned out to be enjoying people and their pass times!