La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
Do kids still have autograph books for “momentous” occasions? Not for meeting celebrities but for big events like leaving grade school for junior high? Or junior high for high school? I doubt it. I even had an autograph book when I was 10 and we moved from Long Island to Brooklyn. I also had a paperback book called “Yours Till Niagara Falls: A Book of Autograph Verses” containing suggestions for poems and insults. I don’t know if this one was in there or if I found it in Mad Magazine: “When it rains, I think of you. Drip. Drip. Drip.”
That’s all it’s been doing lately. Drip. Drip. Drip. I tried going for a walk despite the rain Tuesday. I rationalized that I was wearing my rain gear. All ridiculously designer labelled. Hoka Gortex all-weather shoes. A Northface rain jacket with hood over a Nike lycra shirt and Puma running pants. What I didn’t consider was that the Pumas weren’t waterproof. Nor was my Calvin Klein underwear. Another torrential thunderstorm hit when I was only 15 minutes from home. My pants quickly soaked through and the water ran down inside my waterproof boots soaking my not-waterproof socks. I waited in a doorway for the worst to pass and I headed home.
Wednesday was better. Merchi was here cleaning in the afternoon, and it wasn’t raining at the time. I had a coffee out with San Geraldo and I then left him at the cafe with his book while I went walking. I walked for two hours and only got drizzled on a couple of times. When I got home, the steady rain returned and it’s back with a vengeance today. It’s getting old. But the trees and flowers are happy, and the moment the sun returns it will be glorious.
Today I started by taking a taxi to the hospital to get my routine blood work done. It was pouring with rain. I’d already had breakfast, the rain has eased off a bit, and I’m about to run a couple of errands in the hopes of avoiding another deluge.
I’ve included four brief videos. The first was taken from our terrace Monday before the wind increased and blew the rain directly onto terrace and I had to run inside. The second and third were taken Tuesday when I found shelter. And the final was done Wednesday when I walked out on the Roman bridge and watched the muddy flow of the river. Several locals have told me they’ve never seen it rain so incessantly for so many days. And it looks like it will be like this for at least another several days. But, are we complaining? Hell yes!
¿Los niños todavía tienen libros de autógrafos para ocasiones “trascendentales”? No para conocer famosos, sino para grandes eventos como dejar la primaria para la secundaria. ¿O la secundaria para la preparatoria? Lo dudo. Un poema popular fue: “Cuando llueve, pienso en ti. Goteo. Goteo. Goteo”.
Eso es todo lo que ha estado haciendo últimamente. Goteo. Goteo. Goteo. Intenté salir a caminar a pesar de la lluvia del martes. Me di cuenta de que llevaba mi ropa impermeable. Toda ridículamente de marca. Zapatos Hoka Gortex para todo clima. Una chaqueta impermeable Northface con capucha sobre una camiseta de licra Nike y pantalones de correr Puma. Lo que no consideré fue que los Pumas no eran impermeables. Tampoco lo era mi ropa interior Calvin Klein. Otra tormenta torrencial golpeó cuando estaba a solo 15 minutos de casa. Mis pantalones se empaparon rápidamente y el agua corrió dentro de mis botas impermeables empapando mis calcetines no impermeables. Esperé en un portal a que pasara lo peor y me dirigí a casa.
El miércoles estuvo mejor. Merchi estaba aquí limpiando por la tarde y no llovía. Salí a tomar un café con San Geraldo y luego lo dejé en la cafetería con su libro mientras caminaba. Caminé dos horas y solo me llovió un par de veces. Al llegar a casa, volvió la lluvia constante y hoy ha vuelto con más fuerza. Ya se está haciendo vieja. Pero los árboles y las flores están felices, y en cuanto vuelva el sol será glorioso.
Hoy empecé tomando un taxi al hospital para hacerme los análisis de sangre habituales. Llovió a cántaros. Ya desayuné, la lluvia ha amainado un poco y estoy a punto de hacer un par de recados con la esperanza de no verme envuelto en otro diluvio.
He incluido cuatro vídeos breves. El primero lo grabé desde nuestra terraza el lunes, antes de que el viento arreciara y llevara la lluvia directamente a la terraza, por lo que tuve que entrar corriendo. El segundo y el tercero los grabé el martes, cuando encontré refugio. Y el último lo hice el miércoles, cuando salí al puente romano y observé el lodoso fluir del río. Varios vecinos me han dicho que nunca habían visto llover tan incesantemente durante tantos días. Y parece que seguirá así al menos varios días más. Pero, ¿nos quejamos? ¡Claro que sí!
• El parque finalmente llegó al punto de saturación.
• Alguien debería decirle que no la necesitamos en este momento.
Miércoles sin lluvia. Pero la vaca Ale-Hop siempre está preparada.
Click the thumbnails to enlarge.
Haz clic en las miniaturas para ampliar.
Wow, a lot of rain! When I think of Spain, I think of sun, not downpours! Kids still do sign yearbooks. Every year at the middle school where I taught, there would be a signing party for 30 minutes the last week of school. It was CHAOS. There would always be inappropriate things written, despite the warnings from teachers. Yearbooks would get stolen, etc. Ah, another reminder why I am glad I am retired!
Michael:
There are some very rainy regions in Spain. This isn’t one of them, although you couldn’t prove it right now. It’s still raining. I’m speaking specifically of autograph books, not yearbooks. Smaller with nothing but blank pages in various colors waiting to be filled with clever sayings, poems, and heart-felt notes. I’m going crazy right now because I scanned my Long Island to Brooklyn one and my going to Junior High one, and can’t find the images! I also can’t find the original books.
Oh, when you wrote autograph, my mind sped back to my teaching days and kids writing their “autographs”. Good luck with the rainy weather. I hope the sun returns soon.
Michael:
I figured that was the case. We saw a lot of sun during lunch. For an entire 7 minutes.
So happy to see the Ale-Hop cow again! Thank you!
When I was in Grade 3, our teacher went on a trip to Montreal and brought back small gifts for all of us students. The boys got miniature Canadiens hockey sticks. The girls got Autograph Books. I still have mine, full of fun little verses and inscriptions. I should do a post on it sometime. “If I had your picture / I’d treat it very nice / I’d hang it in the barn / To scare away the mice.”
Debra:
Those are fun gifts from the teacher. Would you have liked a hockey stick? Funny no one wrote about barns in any of my autograph books.
No, I was fine with the autograph book. Today I’d want the hockey stick though. The barn/mice verse was what my brother wrote, the sentimental little bastard.
Debra:
I didn’t know you had a brother! Very clever little bastard.
I have my grandmothers autograph book from the 20’s, it has a bunch of family history in it. Looks like it is time to go singing in the rain. https://youtu.be/swloMVFALXw?si=KElwCeZGJbrxvN9G
David:
I have an autograph book of my mother’s. I had mine but can’t find them now.
That IS a lot of muddy water running down stream!
And, I may be wrong, but are those the Famous Waterfall Steps of Cordoba??
I thought I saw a salmon trying to swim upstream!
Bob:
The river is normally very low and calm here. That’s more commonly known as Córdoba Falls, a popular spot for honeymoons.
THAT is a lot of rain! Extensive flooding?
Still, even with the rain, you live in one beautiful city.
Jim:
Flooding down in Málage Province, but I haven’t heard of any here. It’s still raining, so there’s still time.
That is some rain! Pouring down the steps. Oh well, the plants will love it, if they don’t float away. April showers in March.
Boud:
A new water garden was recently planted across the street. It’s already thriving. I look forward to sharing photos some sunny day.
Intense dampitude. At the first college I taught at, we had an older building that would get a foot of water in it at heavy Florida rains. The provost once said that the building had “moisture issues”. We’ve used that term to refer to massive flooding ever since.
wickedhamster:
Ha! Málaga Province is having moisture issues. Come to think of it, our main bathroom is, as well. We noticed a water spot in the ceiling and it’s coming from the roof.
Eeeeeeeek!
wickedhamster:
It was actually fun. If only I had water-proof pants!
Trust me- kids can barely write their own names these days without a keyboard, much less witty and pithy messages. This is the way it is.
You definitely win the gold medal for walking two hours, even in “just” a drizzle. I commend you, sir!
You are so right about how glorious it will be when the sun comes back out.
I cannot tell you how much I love that watering lady sculpture and the flower pots she attends to.
Ms. Moon
Ms. Moon:
I love the watering can lady. She looks even better wet. So many great sculptures and artworks around town. I’m amazed at the amount of walking I’m able to do again. And Córdoba makes it so much fun, something new to explore every day.
Holy bejeebers, that’s a lot of rain!
I had to double check what you wrote about where the first video was taken, since… you can’t even see the mountains, it’s so clouded over! Thanks for including us in your walks, Mitchell 🙂 (And, no, I’m sure kids don’t have autograph books anymore, though they do still do yearbooks, and get people to sign those.)
Judy C:
Yes, I forgot to mention the invisible mountains. They come and go throughout the day. These walks are a wonder. My walks in Fuengirola were fun, but became routine. Here, there’s so much to discover every time.
The rain in Spain stays mainly on the plain?
You pipped me at the post, Mr/Ms Anonymous! That is exactly what I was going to say… Jx
Anonymous:
The rain in Spain right now is not keeping to the plane.
We’ve been having the same kind of weather ….. dark, gloomy, drip drip drip off/on since the end of last week. I’ve never had an autograph book, and close as I recall ever seeing autographs being collected was when, graduating high schools, we’d run around asking friends to autograph our yearbook.
Shirley:
I still have my junior high and high school yearbooks.
Rain hits differently depending on the day, time, and my mood. Sometimes I love it, sometimes I hate it. And, sometimes, I dance naked in it!
Sassybear:
Dancing naked in a warm summer rain sounds good
I like the water flowing down the steps. Easy for me to say from my nice, dry home.
Kelly:
The water flowing down the step was exciting. But we’ve reached our limit with this weather… and it’s still rainy.
I assume those were your all-weather shoes in that one video. They seem to be holding up all right, even if the rest of your clothes aren’t.
Kirk:
Oh, yeah, the shoes are made with Gore-Tex and are exceptional. If only I had water-proof pants, I would have been fine.
Complain all you want. I know the rain gets old.
Love,
Janie
janiejunebug:
The weather feels oppressive. But we’ll survive.
Hi Mitch, I don’t like to push the “like-button” on this one, but I do appreciate your message(s)! Stay dry!
Oops, anonymous is Jan from Perth…
Jan from Perth:
You can always push “like.” I’ll know what you mean. But I do love seeing your name here. We had 7 minutes of bright blue sky mixed with the clouds two hours ago. Not anymore! Tomorrow is “supposed to be sunny.” Sunday more rain and drear.
Your mention of autograph books reminded me of one that I discovered after my Mum died. It belonged to her Mum and was full of messages, amazing drawings and even paintings from her friends. Just a small book, normal autograph book size. At the back was a tiny envelope stuck on a page and inside that was a letter..written in very small writing. It was dated 1891 and addressed to my Grandmother, who would have been 1 year old at the time. It wished her a safe journey as she was going visiting somewhere with her parents for the first time. It also wished her a good life ” if you should grow up to become a woman” !! I guess in those days many children didn’t survive to do that. I think most of the other entries were from around 1910. I can’t check as I gave it to my daughter in law a few years ago.
Frances:
What a magical find. After my mother died, I found her junior high school autograph book. Interesting, but nothing as magical as that. Such an odd thing to say “if you should grow up to become a woman.” Even if many children didn’t survive to adulthood, it probably didn’t need to be said.
PS…. that comment re autograph book was me……Frances!
I always forget that for some reason my name doesn’t come up on your blog comments.