La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
Embroidery is one of San Geraldo’s many gifts. (He excels at anything he sets his mind to.) Even My Mother the Dowager Duchess, a needlework master who created works so intricate they’re mistaken for paintings, could never find fault with his work. And she inspected it in minute detail. Today’s photos are of the Christmas ornaments SG made beginning in 1982. He had never attempted embroidery before that time. He put my initials on the rocking horse and the next year on the snowman. He thought he initialed them all for me. I thought he did so only the first year. We were both wrong. I created the reindeer, but it’s obviously not the same quality. I don’t have the patience for needlework. Maybe it’s the lack of freedom. Maybe it takes too long. Is it done yet?
Our new mattress arrived yesterday evening. We’ve never owned a viscoelastic mattress before. It came rolled up in a box and is now expanding itself to its final dimensions. It grew in minutes from its tall, narrow, heavy box to a large, dense mattress. It’s a hybrid, so one layer is coils. I’ll share it with you in the coming days.
San Geraldo is working away on his plans for our Christmas Eve menu. We went yesterday to Fuengirola’s shopping mall to see if we could find some ingredients, plus a larger cake plate for the kransekake he plans to make. We didn’t find the cake plate. But that’s not a crisis. We’ve got options, and I’ll try some other shops today. We did find the ingredients. SG is cooking a mostly Norwegian Christmas dinner. It was very confusing trying to find Norwegian ingredients in an enormous Carrefour supermarket. I was translating the English-language Norwegian ingredients to Spanish. I then ended up in a large international foods section where I had to find the ingredients in Norwegian. We also needed English bitter ale, which I found — in Spanish — among the foods from Argentina (and not among the foods from England).
Our friend Isa has already made 40 of her award-winning (we awarded her) croquettes. I’ve rearranged the furniture to make room for the table for seven, only to discover we both like the rearrangement better than the original. So the house will be staying this way. Obviously, I have many more photos to share.
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El bordado es uno de los muchos regalos de San Geraldo. (Sobresale en todo lo que se propone). Incluso Mi Madre La Duquesa Viuda, una maestra de la costura que creó obras tan intrincadas que se confunden con pinturas, nunca pudo encontrar fallas en su trabajo. Y ella lo inspeccionó minuciosamente. Las fotos de hoy son de los adornos navideños que hizo SG a partir de 1982. Nunca había intentado bordar antes de ese momento. Puso mis iniciales en el caballito balancín y al año siguiente en el muñeco de nieve. Pensó que las había puesto todas mis iniciales. Pensé que lo hizo sólo el primer año. Ambos estábamos equivocados. Creé el reno, pero obviamente no es de la misma calidad. No tengo paciencia para la costura. Tal vez sea la falta de libertad. Tal vez lleva demasiado tiempo. ¿Ya está hecho?
Nuestro nuevo colchón llegó ayer por la noche. Nunca antes habíamos tenido un colchón viscoelástico. Llegó enrollado en una caja y ahora se está expandiendo a sus dimensiones finales. Creció en minutos desde su caja alta, estrecha y pesada hasta convertirse en un colchón grande, denso y pesado. Es un híbrido, por lo que una capa son bobinas. Lo compartiré con ustedes en los próximos días.
San Geraldo está trabajando en sus planes para nuestro menú de la noche buena. Ayer fuimos al centro comercial de Fuengirola, Parque Miramar, a ver si encontrábamos algunos ingredientes, además de un plato de tarta más grande para el kransekake que tiene pensado hacer. No encontramos el plato de tarta. Pero eso no es una crisis. Tenemos opciones, y probaré algunas otras tiendas hoy. Encontramos los ingredientes. SG está cocinando una cena navideña principalmente noruega. Fue muy confuso tratar de encontrar ingredientes noruegos en un enorme supermercado Carrefour. Estaba traduciendo los ingredientes noruegos del idioma inglés al español. Luego terminé en una gran sección de alimentos internacionales donde tuve que encontrar los ingredientes en noruego. También necesitábamos English bitter ale [cerveza amarga inglesa], que encontré —en español— entre las comidas de Argentina (y no entre las comidas de Inglaterra).
Nuestra amiga Isa ya ha hecho 40 de sus premiadas (la premiamos) croquetas. He reorganizado los muebles para hacer espacio para la mesa para siete, solo para descubrir que a ambos nos gusta más el reordenamiento que el original. Así que la casa se quedará así. Obviamente, tengo muchas más fotos para compartir.
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• We found this kit somewhere and never finished it. So my mother did it during a visit in the ’90s.
• Encontramos este kit en alguna parte y nunca lo terminamos. Entonces mi madre lo hizo durante una visita en los años 90.
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Great work, I’d never have the hand eye coordination for that detail. Shopping in two languages is a challenge, in three – I’d need chocolate and a nap.
David:
I had both chocolate AND a nap!
Very fine work indeed! My grandfather used to tell me, “What is worth doing, is worth doing well.”
Jim:
My grandfather never offered words of wisdom.
Taht darn SG is quite talented! Lovely.
Bob:
He really is. Whatever he sets his mind to.
Give us some info re: the mattress. Is it heavy weight? Do you find you sweat from the foam? I know I’m fussy. Would love to know about his product?!!
Ron:
It’s made by a German company, Emma. We bought the Emma Hybrid Premium+. Slept on it last night for the first time and both had a good night’s sleep. It’s got at least 5 different layers including microcoils. And it’s supposed to be advanced in regulating body heat. I found it amazingly comfortable this first night.
All the embroidered ornaments are gorgeous and impressive! What keepsake treasures! I used to do cross-stitch many years ago but I don’t think my eyes would be good enough now to take it up again.
Debra:
SG’s mother did a Merry Christmas counted cross-stitch that I put away someplace “safe” last year. I haven’t found it yet. My mother continued to knit and do embroidery well into her late 80s. She had a sort of hospital bed table that she kept in front of the sofa where she watched TV and she attached a giant magnifying ring light to it.
Cute ornaments! I like the reindeer, with his little red nose. I made a needlepoint pillow once when I was in my 20s — and in the Peace Corps, with lots of spare time — and I have no desire to do it again.
Steve:
Yeah, it’s just something that doesn’t capture my interest as as hobby. My brother was taught to hook rugs when he was in his teens and I often helped. I found I could easily get “hooked” (no pun intended) on that.
Don’t forget all the drink requirements for your dinner. I overlooked that aspect and am now panicking as to what people would want to drink on the day and where and how to get it all in. Soft drinks/beer/white wine/red wine/ pudding wine? We too are 7 but it’s a lot of food and drink to bring in for one meal/one day. Oh…la…la as they say here. Christmas eh… how did it come to this? LOL. Don’t you just ‘love ‘ it … not!
Love, love, love the embroidery. Such patience. It’s supposed to be very meditative and good for the brain.
Karen:
Oh, no worries. SG has a list a mile long.
It’s hard enough to shop for specialty ingredients in one language, let alone three, so kudos to you! I like the embroidered and cross-stitched ornaments made by SG, you and your Mom — it’s interesting to learn about others’ traditions! Sounds like you’ll have a full house for Xmas dinner too — will Moose and Dudo be at the kids’ table?
Tundra Bunny:
Moose and Dudo will probably spend most of the day in SG’s office or on the terrace. They’re not huge fans of “people.”
The ornaments are beautiful. It’s excellent work. No wonder your mother approved. I embroider, but only very simple things. I look forward to reading about the mostly Norwegian Christmas dinner.
Love,
Janie
janiejunebug:
Poor SG is still trying to track down a couple of ingredients. Probably should have started a month ago.
WOW! Impressive needle work by San Geraldo. Yours is great as well.
Shirley:
Mine is fun. His are great.
Pretty amazing handiwork! Lovely. May you find all the provisions you’re seeking, and may the tables hold it all!
Jonathan:
He’s a man of many talents!
They’re all beautiful! Such talent. Such patience.
Walt the Fourth:
And his stitches are so consistent and precise. No surprise. His printing is the same, like a typewriter (only smaller).
I’m with you, I don’t think I’d have the patience to do needlework. There all pretty ornaments…. but I’m adoring the reindeer.
And till I worked at the showroom; I had no knowledge of mattresses. Shocking right??? Well, some experience, lmao!!!!! But I had never seen a mattress come in a narrow box before, and then expand. It still seems odd to me. Two brands we have for the display beds is Purple and Nectar, and they both do as you described. And I so don’t get the Purple. I laid on it and found it very odd feeling, being on a series of plastic, crate cubes in a grid like system. The bed isn’t comfortable, and the pillows are heavy as hell.
Mistress Borghese:
Thanks regarding the reindeer. It’s a fun ornament. SG would have done a much more precise job.
When I saw online that the mattress arrived rolled up in a box, I thought “what crap.” But it’s a high-quality mattress, highly rated. So I read more. Last night was our first night and I absolutely loved it. VERY comfortable. No crate cubes in a grid. We still have our original pillows. I didn’t want to spend €1,000 on new pillows from the same company.