tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-14412413778086129592024-03-13T03:12:21.093-07:00Greg Gilbert Sabbatical BlogGreg Gilbert's sabbatical year 2015-2016 in Sevilla, Spain, with trips to Denmark, Istanbul, Greece, and more. A mix of family activities, scientific work, and stuff that happens along the way. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.comBlogger37125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-609412690654177682018-07-11T09:23:00.000-07:002018-07-11T09:23:16.963-07:00Yunnan Province, China 2018<b>Yunnan Province, China</b><br />
<i>Sunday 1 July 2018. </i><br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BXjxjXtWZEA/W0Ykjx311EI/AAAAAAAAHF4/_uWPEU7CYsoQ2RHeF1pXMDfZ2qUTfnBLACLcBGAs/s1600/AtDaliU.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="960" data-original-width="1280" height="240" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BXjxjXtWZEA/W0Ykjx311EI/AAAAAAAAHF4/_uWPEU7CYsoQ2RHeF1pXMDfZ2qUTfnBLACLcBGAs/s320/AtDaliU.jpg" width="320" /></a>We head off to Yunnan with a gang of eight -- Minxia and Sichi and Minxia's mom; Yi and Miao; and the three of us. Two flights with a brief layover in Kunming. Everyone was so excited to go to Dali because it is beautiful and cool at a higher elevation. Turns out YouJun, a professor at Dali University, had done his PhD in the Yu lab and so was really close friends with everyone, and he spent most of our week in Yunnan with us. We stayed in the ancient town, at the south end of Yuer St., and spent a lot of time wandering among the many thousands of tourists, checking out shops, eating over-the-bridge noodles, flower cakes, and any interesting street foods we found. <br />
<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iswvPl-VKZY/W0Yk08sM7dI/AAAAAAAAHGA/OJ24TKzJ0GkVM8NxVMblGOrPqBF1hS18gCLcBGAs/s1600/DaliOldTown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-iswvPl-VKZY/W0Yk08sM7dI/AAAAAAAAHGA/OJ24TKzJ0GkVM8NxVMblGOrPqBF1hS18gCLcBGAs/s320/DaliOldTown.jpg" width="240" /></a>Eli and I have been keeping track of the westerners we've seen since arriving in China. We are now up to 7, including our time in Shanghai and Guangzhou. Even surrounded by many thousands of tourists, there are remarkably few non-Chinese. <br />
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<i>Monday 2 July 2018. </i><br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fx5CUg-79dE/W0YlE5BuATI/AAAAAAAAHGI/b_g-oJ3yXDc-h3juZrAEUOLBBJv3OjrYwCLcBGAs/s1600/EarlyMorningDaliAncientCity.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fx5CUg-79dE/W0YlE5BuATI/AAAAAAAAHGI/b_g-oJ3yXDc-h3juZrAEUOLBBJv3OjrYwCLcBGAs/s200/EarlyMorningDaliAncientCity.jpg" width="150" /></a>Fun to walk through the ancient Dali city before breakfast while everyone is setting out their vegetables and warm buns and wares for sale. Inspiring seeing groups of older people doing Tai Chi or Square Dancing, sometimes to a disco beat with line dancing.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-73dh4AVDiuU/W0YlVx7xoTI/AAAAAAAAHGQ/d9qVWuGFDuY-ZTv3A_0mYWfqETmJkyk0wCLcBGAs/s1600/ErhaiLake.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="116" data-original-width="420" height="88" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-73dh4AVDiuU/W0YlVx7xoTI/AAAAAAAAHGQ/d9qVWuGFDuY-ZTv3A_0mYWfqETmJkyk0wCLcBGAs/s320/ErhaiLake.jpg" width="320" /></a>After breakfast all piled into a rented van and drove all the way around Lake Erhai. We were struck on the drive in from the airport how many large new buildings seems unfinished, and we learned why. The shoreline of Erhai has been developing rapidly in recent years, with lots of largish hotels lining the shoreline. But President Xi visited Dali a while ago and declared it was a jewel that needed to be protected from the influx of pollution and development pressure, so ordered all the lake-shore hotels closed. There they stand, abandoned. From our inquiries, there doesn't seem to be any plan to tear them down, or convert them, just let them stand. We thought they could be readily turned into awesome, green, limnology research centers.<br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-duiLR8Q0x4w/W0YlV85XK8I/AAAAAAAAHGU/QX5ORrf-jfkKoimwhQqNsFZZPfbEawBsACLcBGAs/s1600/ErhaiAgriculture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="1253" height="189" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-duiLR8Q0x4w/W0YlV85XK8I/AAAAAAAAHGU/QX5ORrf-jfkKoimwhQqNsFZZPfbEawBsACLcBGAs/s320/ErhaiAgriculture.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
Still, there the land around the lake is extremely fertile -- deep rich black soil, with thriving and diverse agriculture. Our Bai driver said it was nearly all organic.<br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F8LCdc9RuQY/W0YlWFOiiZI/AAAAAAAAHGY/BcFZHRIgAHMYJAl3VvGuUitwoPvIVFfagCLcBGAs/s1600/FishermanErhai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="133" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-F8LCdc9RuQY/W0YlWFOiiZI/AAAAAAAAHGY/BcFZHRIgAHMYJAl3VvGuUitwoPvIVFfagCLcBGAs/s200/FishermanErhai.jpg" width="200" /></a>Fishing in the lake is highly restricted to only a month or so each year (although there are plenty of individuals doing personal or small-scale fishing), and swimming is prohibited because of high risk of schistosomiasis. So it is a huge, beautiful lake, completely surrounded by a city of about a million, but with almost no human interaction except scenic beauty.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bai woman weaving rope from old fishing nets</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OC6GdV_3tjs/W0YlWX8di1I/AAAAAAAAHGg/uInJfvbPRx4QMeYGewwLOIL5fktWCOi2ACLcBGAs/s1600/Family%2BAt%2BErhai.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="847" data-original-width="847" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OC6GdV_3tjs/W0YlWX8di1I/AAAAAAAAHGg/uInJfvbPRx4QMeYGewwLOIL5fktWCOi2ACLcBGAs/s200/Family%2BAt%2BErhai.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the many places set up to take photos, <br />
everywhere we went.</td></tr>
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Yunnan is populated not just by the majority Han people, but by a number of minority ethnic groups. Dali has a large population of Bai people, many of whom wear traditional brightly colored clothes, vests, and headwear. I'm not clear about what proportion of the population is Bai, as many do not dress in any distinctive way. They do have a very distinctive language, but they would only converse in Mandarin with our friends, since they did not speak Bai.<br />
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<i>Tuesday 3 July 2018. </i><br />
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Visited Dali University today, where YouJun is professor. Because too few of the professors and students there spoke English, they decided that Grad Student Yi Zheng would represent the group in giving a talk. He talked about a project that Ingrid and I are collaborators in, so it was really useful for us to see what the questions were and think more about how the story can come together. Dali University is on top of a really steep hill, and we took a taxi there from our hotel. But the guards wouldn't let the taxi in, and we all had to run up hundreds of steps (already at 9,0000 feet) to get to the conference room (almost) on time for the talk. Poor Yi! <br />
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The university is fairly new and rapidly growing, and architecturally very impressive. they have a great museum of natural history -- beautifully and informatively displayed, from fungi to plants to mammals to fish to geology. The faculty collaborated to make a super video about the three-parallel rivers region, starting with the geologic development of the Himalayan mountains and on the ecology of the regions. Really well done. Great screen-based displays about research at the university, and a hallway of photos with spectacular natural history on one side and environmental destruction on the other. They have a very strong emphasis on conservation science. <br />
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<i>Wednesday 4 July 2018. </i><br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5lWGr40H5RU/W0YninuFLcI/AAAAAAAAHHc/uJw5mWOaYnwdHcMKc_YDlnx819az8A_6ACLcBGAs/s1600/gorge1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-5lWGr40H5RU/W0YninuFLcI/AAAAAAAAHHc/uJw5mWOaYnwdHcMKc_YDlnx819az8A_6ACLcBGAs/s320/gorge1.jpg" width="240" /></a>Took a 2-day trip a bit further north to Lijiang. From there we got a serious 10-km workout today at the Tiger Leaping Gorge over the Jinsha tributary to the Yangtze with Yi and Miao. It was a long climb down, and a long climb up (including a really, really long ladder), with a roaring river the whole time. What an amazing and exhausting trip. The pictures speak for themselves.<br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1wjJK7cnfD8/W0Ynjf8-pcI/AAAAAAAAHHk/9AvAIFkjGZUHfq9WPpCXBZjCeYpzf9E8gCLcBGAs/s1600/gorge4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="853" data-original-width="1280" height="213" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-1wjJK7cnfD8/W0Ynjf8-pcI/AAAAAAAAHHk/9AvAIFkjGZUHfq9WPpCXBZjCeYpzf9E8gCLcBGAs/s320/gorge4.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKO_JwQCpaM/W0YnkEeMzVI/AAAAAAAAHHo/QGOuJx3vQnwjpTWUIlqiZ9y29ZxfyTxYACLcBGAs/s1600/gorgeladder.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1280" data-original-width="960" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZKO_JwQCpaM/W0YnkEeMzVI/AAAAAAAAHHo/QGOuJx3vQnwjpTWUIlqiZ9y29ZxfyTxYACLcBGAs/s320/gorgeladder.jpg" width="240" /></a> This ladder went on, and on, and on. <br />
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<i>Thursday 5 July 2018. </i><br />
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Another great day in the mountains, this time taking the Cangshan Mountain Cable car up to 3900m just above Dali, where they have installed a very long series of boardwalk to allow ready access with minimal damage through the spruce-rhododendron forest. Some 50 species of rhododendrons (just past peak flowering) and tremendous diversity of other flowering plants (we took photos of dozens of species), while climbing up and down hundreds of steps in steep, cloud covered mountains with little oxygen. A botanists paradise!<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ingrid hanging a wish bell</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Glacier-carved Wash Horse Lake</td></tr>
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After a wonderful three weeks, back to Guangzhou for a few more research meetings, then 30+ hours of traveling to Gamboa, Panama for a short 3-week field season. <br />
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Wow. What a trip. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-37042907516431331492018-07-11T08:32:00.000-07:002018-07-11T08:32:46.706-07:00Guangzhou 2018<b>Guangzhou, China</b><br />
Greg's former postdoc Minxia Liang invited us to visit her at Sun Yat-sen University. We've had collaborations with the lab of Professor Shixiao Yu for a number of years (where Minxia is a research scientist), and this was an opportunity to learn about what the students there are doing, give talks about our research, visit one of the nearby ForestGEO research plots, develop a couple collaborations, and eat lots and lots of great food.<br />
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<i>Wednesday 27 June 2018. </i><br />
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We flew from Shanghai to Guanghzhou, and Xubing Liu (another collaborator associated with the Yu lab) picked us up. We got settled into the hotel on the main campus of the Sun Yat-sen University. After an evening stroll on the path along the Pearl River, Minxia took us out for a boat tour on the Pearl River, with brightly lit boats and an even more brightly lit skyline.<br />
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<i>Thursday 28 June 2018.</i><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Darwin at Sun Yat-sen University</td></tr>
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Met with some grad students to talk research, and Eli went off with a grad student Ivy for the day of riding all the roller coasters (including one with an essentially vertical drop) at the Chimelong Amusement park, and then at night for a circus. We headed out to the East Campus of SYSU and gave back-to-back research talks. Unlike most places we'd give talks, there were dozens of people working on disease ecology, maintenance of diversity, and phylogenetic ecology in forests - areas really close to our themes. That meant the kind of questions we got were much more challenging than we would usually get, which was much fun!<br />
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<i><br />Friday 29 June 2018. </i><br />
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ZStRGfapE0/W0YgzcOEOkI/AAAAAAAAHEQ/yrerXzCO04clZMx1UtYpt18ncR4LDg0QwCLcBGAs/s1600/Yu%2Blab%2Bsign.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="514" data-original-width="1133" height="90" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0ZStRGfapE0/W0YgzcOEOkI/AAAAAAAAHEQ/yrerXzCO04clZMx1UtYpt18ncR4LDg0QwCLcBGAs/s200/Yu%2Blab%2Bsign.jpg" width="200" /></a>Eli headed off with Ivy again to the Chimelong safari park, and Greg and Ingrid had a day-long workshop with all the grad students of Prof. Yu, Xubing, and Minxia, talking about their research. So much exciting work on disease, mycorrhizae, and plant diversity-ecosystem function in that lab group. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yu lab at Sun Yat-sen University</td></tr>
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As in Shanghai, bikes are everywhere, including public use bikes and tricked-out bikes with rain bibs and attached umbrellas. <br />
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<i>Saturday 30 June 2018.</i> <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">20-ha Dinghushan </td></tr>
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gz-JMGCUfto/W0Yh_1MbwCI/AAAAAAAAHFE/WuTbUTKNYdwvbq75307u0zmzOZMGHip7wCLcBGAs/s1600/GroupDingHuShan.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="384" data-original-width="720" height="106" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gz-JMGCUfto/W0Yh_1MbwCI/AAAAAAAAHFE/WuTbUTKNYdwvbq75307u0zmzOZMGHip7wCLcBGAs/s200/GroupDingHuShan.jpg" width="200" /></a>A bunch of grad students and postdocs took us to the 20-ha ForestGEO plot at Dinghushan. <br />
So much fun to walk through a sister plot to the UCSC FERP and meet the director. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thousand-person pot to throw wish ribbons into</td></tr>
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The plot is actually built around ancient Buddhist temples, which is a bit trippy, and is really steep. Thousands of visitors to the temples, walking up the road, and there is just a gated path off the road in to the plot. The botanizing was fascinating -- it was a generous blend of California, Panama, and Australia; the dominant trees were Fagaceae, but with nasty recurved-spined palm vine <i>Calamus</i> that brought back nightmare memories of Cape Trib, and then melastomes and pipers in the understory. Major heart- and butt-rot happening on the dominant <i>Castanopsis</i>, part of major dynamics in the forest structure. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-69599434723594654092018-06-26T21:06:00.000-07:002018-07-11T08:18:35.821-07:00Shanghai 2018<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So this isn't sabbatical, but another family travel adventure. We have three week in China, visiting Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Dali. Thought we should add to the blog to share and remember all the wonderful things we have been doing.<br />
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EJM3xW0LUDA/WzMF-mG-O9I/AAAAAAAAG_g/ZPkGSI6vfDYYMVcesihZR8nK9aFrC3R1wCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1524.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1587" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EJM3xW0LUDA/WzMF-mG-O9I/AAAAAAAAG_g/ZPkGSI6vfDYYMVcesihZR8nK9aFrC3R1wCLcBGAs/s200/IMG_1524.JPG" width="198" /></a>We were visiting the lab of Professor Shurong Zhu at Fudon University in Shanghai, with which Greg has had a long-distance collaboration. This was the first time to meet them. We spent a full day with all the graduate students, learning about their projects and exchanging ideas, exploring some possible projects, and Greg, grad student Xiang Liu, and Shurong finished up and submitted a manuscript to Ecology Letters. <a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1VkNWj--Gl8/WzMEk6_xDtI/AAAAAAAAG_I/-0sO-6Ivq6gblisVOhMn-kZOFW7iJqitACLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1392.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1VkNWj--Gl8/WzMEk6_xDtI/AAAAAAAAG_I/-0sO-6Ivq6gblisVOhMn-kZOFW7iJqitACLcBGAs/s320/IMG_1392.JPG" width="240" /></a><br />
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_eyyApGMje8/WzMEzSJSGYI/AAAAAAAAG_M/NfFu0vTNrUYhJovQJ3uAAs0yv86-u7EIwCLcBGAs/s1600/IMG_1520.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1203" data-original-width="1600" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_eyyApGMje8/WzMEzSJSGYI/AAAAAAAAG_M/NfFu0vTNrUYhJovQJ3uAAs0yv86-u7EIwCLcBGAs/s200/IMG_1520.JPG" width="200" /></a>Greg and Ingrid were invited by Shurong Zhu to help teach the Fudon University Summer School Course in Ecology, with 200+ graduate students and young investigators (from more than 3,000 applicants) from all over China. We gave our lectures there on 26 June 2018. The students were incredibly attentive and asked lots of great and insightful questions after the talks. Ingrid presented mostly on our work on phylogentic disease ecology and our clover studies, and Greg talked mostly about how diseases may help maintain plant diversity and work on tree diseases in Panama.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Greg eating scorpions. The third one 'stung' <br />
back and scratch his lip!</td></tr>
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Before and after our talks we explored the Shanghai area, mostly guided by graduate students. Fei Chen took us to the Zhujiajiao water town, and ancient part of the Shanghai, still inhabited but also protected to maintain the old structures. We spent the day wandering beautiful old gardens and eating everything on sale by street vendors that we either didn't recognize or had never eaten before. Some highlights, among many, were scorpions, spicy grilled bullfrog on a stick, taro root, duck intestines, baby quail, and a broad array of seeds and fruits.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">On a boat in Zhufiajiao with Fei</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silk Embroidery</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Quail eggs, quail, baby quail, and duck intestines. <br />
All delicious!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spicy bullfrog on a stick</td></tr>
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The evening place to be is the Bund, the waterfront of Shanghai. On one side of the water are the old classical bank buildings, mostly build by concessions to the French, British, and Americans long ago as the banking district. Across the water is an amazing array of giant buildings, all brightly lit, build it the last few decades. <br />
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In the daytime, at the People's Park, there was a Marriage Market, where parents put out umbrellas with descriptions of their 30-something unmarried kids, looking to introduced them to appropriate partners, since they were too busy to find their own spouses. <br />
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In the Shanghai museum, we saw wonderful art from across China. We especially appreciated the displays on art and clothes from minority ethnic groups. It was hard to imagine wearing this salmon-leather suit, though.<br />
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We got to spend a lot of time taking the subway around to different parts of Shanghai, and felt quite confortable getting around. We got a little lost in what must be the world's largest underground food court, below "colored egg" sculpture, but later had a wonderful meal there.<br />
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As always we ate well, walked a lot, and took in the diverse sites, smells, and bustle of this part of China. <br />
A highlight was the Humble Administrator's Garden, constructed in the
1400s, with spectacular water-feature gardens and a suite of beautiful
buildings. It is really interesting to compare what was being
constructed here at the same time as so much of the architecture and art
we was in Spain during our sabbatical. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ping Jiang historic water town</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-11449465925327463242016-05-04T23:11:00.004-07:002016-05-04T23:17:21.998-07:00Weekend in Paris<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m8VOc__85Hc/VyqLv4Xt5JI/AAAAAAAACaw/zmK0XJ3RvUUtAGhAfv6ZB7YrHJgZZ4IUQCLcB/s1600/EiffelNight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m8VOc__85Hc/VyqLv4Xt5JI/AAAAAAAACaw/zmK0XJ3RvUUtAGhAfv6ZB7YrHJgZZ4IUQCLcB/s320/EiffelNight.jpg" width="320" /></a>What would a year in Europe be without a weekend in Paris? We had a wonderful extended May-day weekend of museums, masterpiece hunting, towers, monuments, food, and a visit with co-sabbaticaller Daniel Press and his family. <br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2SNKpGfTktw/VyqLv0BzzKI/AAAAAAAACa0/dr8qYyFKzhsmMPzpJS2EB5wQ0nRlVhS0wCLcB/s1600/EliGregParis.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-2SNKpGfTktw/VyqLv0BzzKI/AAAAAAAACa0/dr8qYyFKzhsmMPzpJS2EB5wQ0nRlVhS0wCLcB/s200/EliGregParis.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
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The Louvre, Musée d'Orsay, Pompidou, Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Montparnasse Tower at night, Mass in Notre Dame, Montmartre, Sacré-Coeur, Champs-Élysées, steak tartar (for Eli), baguettes and cheese, and so many kilometers of walking. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A sample of impressions from d'Orsay</td></tr>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--GOITFUHjxw/VyqLwjkIo3I/AAAAAAAACa8/965NKY6Pp0Q3hVU4Bq50JfGbr-hQ-pxyACLcB/s1600/ParisPanorama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="160" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/--GOITFUHjxw/VyqLwjkIo3I/AAAAAAAACa8/965NKY6Pp0Q3hVU4Bq50JfGbr-hQ-pxyACLcB/s640/ParisPanorama.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Louis Pasteur - ScienceTechEngArtMath</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Traffic from Arc de Triomphe</td></tr>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-57561262476265942882016-04-27T16:39:00.000-07:002016-04-27T16:39:39.320-07:00Lisbon Portugal<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UalM6DiABYo/VyE01sIJxkI/AAAAAAAACZs/0JyA51eqWiEcCeZn59pWZABBjtuqbj7wQCLcB/s1600/iniav.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="114" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UalM6DiABYo/VyE01sIJxkI/AAAAAAAACZs/0JyA51eqWiEcCeZn59pWZABBjtuqbj7wQCLcB/s200/iniav.png" width="200" /></a>I have just had a great visit to the <a href="http://www.iniav.pt/" target="_blank">National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinary Research</a>, in Oeiras, Portugal, just west of Lisbon. This is the main national research center for agricultural and forestry research in Portugal, and forest pathologist Helena Bragança arranged for a meeting with a number of their researchers about their work on cork oak decline, pine-wilt nematode, <i>Phytophthora ramorum</i>, and other emergent diseases. I also gave a seminar on phylogenetic ecology and plant diseases, and made some great possible links for future work. A great group of scientists doing great applied ecology, especially of pathogens and pests. <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m8k7eVhnDNE/VyE0y3i1VCI/AAAAAAAACZk/yWCYdhSJvLUFKSmKF1iDd57i-37uTxRlwCLcB/s1600/corkhat.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-m8k7eVhnDNE/VyE0y3i1VCI/AAAAAAAACZk/yWCYdhSJvLUFKSmKF1iDd57i-37uTxRlwCLcB/s200/corkhat.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>
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In honor of all the work they are doing on cork oak pathogens and
pests, I had to buy a styling cork hat. Sometime you just have to be
the tourist, but this is also a reminder of some interesting possible future collaborations. <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9zytceVWyW8/VyE0zACKcuI/AAAAAAAACZo/w1BQUYQOMnEa1bL-5sk0G8ukoj0UkqfiACLcB/s1600/lamprey.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9zytceVWyW8/VyE0zACKcuI/AAAAAAAACZo/w1BQUYQOMnEa1bL-5sk0G8ukoj0UkqfiACLcB/s320/lamprey.JPG" width="240" /></a>But I really couldn't wait to share a non-work highlight; my dinner tonight at <i>Restaurante O Churrasco</i>. Yesterday, walking across the city in the afternoon, I saw handwritten signs in a couple restaurant windows that said <i>temos lampreia. </i>So today I really needed to try <a href="http://www.reuters.com/article/us-food-portugal-lamprey-idUSL0549208320080305" target="_blank">lamprey</a> - blood-sucking, suction-mouthed, primitive vertebrates (think, alien). For dinner I went back to one of the restaurants, and asked for <i>lampreia</i>. It was one of the best -- and most different kinds of seafood I've ever tasted. But you have to get past what it is - a fish parasite, cooked in its own blood, with a bit of rice. The waiter checked in repeatedly, not believing I would eat it, since, he claimed, 95% of Portuguese wouldn't eat it. It is only available for a few months in the early part of the year. The meat is unlike anything I've tasted -- not like fish, not like seafood, but not really like shark, or snake, or frog, or anything else, really. Flaky, rich flavor. And the blood sauce, a wonderful, rich gravy. Really special, not to be missed. Definitely one to try the next time here, as well. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-43932960967402159602016-04-07T01:27:00.000-07:002016-04-07T05:58:32.366-07:00Cooking in SevillaFood is big in Sevilla -- they are rightfully proud of their amazing array of <i>tapas</i>, and the markets are replete with fresh veggies, fruits, seafood, and just about any part of a vertebrate you could want. Of course, there are many things missing here from our usual diet; for instance it has so far been impossible to get good Mexican flavors, because all the spices here are different. <br>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mushroom caps stuffed with garlic snails </td></tr>
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But one of my personal goals during this stay, with an abundance of cool new foods, was to be as adventurous in cooking as I could be. Sometimes this was trying to learn to make something that we tried in a <i>tapas</i> bar, but most often it was finding something in the market that I couldn't identify, asking what it was and what to do with it, and searching the internet for how to prepare it. Not everything has been a success or to our liking the first time (or in the case of pigeon, even the second), but there are some wonderful new foods that I will sorely miss back in California.<br>
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A few new things I've learned to cook:<br>
<u>Birds:</u> Quail, pigeon, pheasant, partridge <br>
<u>Eggs</u>: Quail eggs, both pickled and in little baked cups, <i>tortilla</i> <i>española (<u>con</u> cebolla)</i><br>
<u>Seafood:</u> <i>Hueva de merluza</i> (hake ovary), <i>huevos de choco</i> (cuttlefish eggs), <i>calamares </i>(squid), <i>choco</i> (cuttlefish), <i>caracoles</i> (snails), <i>percebes</i> (goose-necked barnacles), cañaillas (<i>Bolinus</i> <i>brandaris</i>, purple-dye murex), a variety of species of clams, mussels, and shrimps, and a variety of fresh fish (hake, tuna, swordfish, bacalao, lenguado, boquerones<span style="font-family: 'Helvetica Neue Light', HelveticaNeue-Light, helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">).</span><div>
<u>Plants and fungi:</u> <i>Tagarninas</i> (<i>Scolymus hispanicus</i> common golden thistle), <i>canónigos</i> (<i>Valerianella locusta,</i> corn salad<i>), borraja</i> (<i>Borago officinalis</i>), <i>gurumelos</i> (<i>Amanita ponderosa</i>), <i>gazpacho </i>and <i>salmorejo</i> (cold soups), cured and spiced olives, crushed tomato and olive oil on bread for breakfast<br>
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Of all these, I think what I like the most are the <i>huevos de choco</i>. Kind of like scallops. </div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-64749876225761461172016-03-26T10:38:00.001-07:002016-03-26T10:38:16.553-07:00Semana Santa in Sevilla<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NdxZ6A8uKfw/VvaRcfAXlGI/AAAAAAAACUA/ThUGwAffxx07SK0wXY95d0WtIMSxeTIjg/s1600/cristo%2By%2Bmaria%2Bla%2BRoque.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-NdxZ6A8uKfw/VvaRcfAXlGI/AAAAAAAACUA/ThUGwAffxx07SK0wXY95d0WtIMSxeTIjg/s200/cristo%2By%2Bmaria%2Bla%2BRoque.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<i>Semana Santa</i> (Holy Week) is the defining cultural root of Sevilla. Each day, from Palm Sunday through Easter, more than 60<i> cofradías</i> or <i>hermandades</i> (brotherhoods) that support individual chapels or churches, parade their life-like statues of the Passion of Christ and the grieving Mary, carried on ornate wooden floats (<i>pasos)</i>, from their home chapel, through the city, through the Cathedral (Catedral de Sevilla, with la Giralda) and back, a round trip that takes up to 12 hours. About a million visitors come to Sevilla for Semana Santa. Among residents, it seems to be a split between those who anchor their years around Semana Santa, and those who find it amazing ("oh, you definitely must see it") but who have reached their lifetime quota ("but we are going to the beach for the week to escape all the <i>bulla</i>"). Schools are out all week, everything (except restaurants) is closed Thursday and Friday, and the city is transformed. We spent Sunday and Monday in Sevilla, then went to Portugal for Tuesday-Thursday, then returned to joined in the <i>Semana Santa</i> activities again beginning Thursday night -- or Friday morning -- at 2:00 a.m.<br />
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cB-8T35Pyps/VvaQ2ohtJOI/AAAAAAAACT4/Y92eM_2PKPkOslEWAbZNFW1puRKKFnF6g/s1600/Nazarenos%2BLa%2BEstrella.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cB-8T35Pyps/VvaQ2ohtJOI/AAAAAAAACT4/Y92eM_2PKPkOslEWAbZNFW1puRKKFnF6g/s200/Nazarenos%2BLa%2BEstrella.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lMPveXVcVq8/VvaQ5pI-PEI/AAAAAAAACT8/rT6h3RWeVgo3EGfnXsjhK4IR_l7nvBbXw/s1600/Nazarenos%2BWaiting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-lMPveXVcVq8/VvaQ5pI-PEI/AAAAAAAACT8/rT6h3RWeVgo3EGfnXsjhK4IR_l7nvBbXw/s320/Nazarenos%2BWaiting.jpg" width="197" /></a>A <i>hermandad</i> might have several thousand <i>cofrades</i> (members, both men and now women in most <i>hermandades</i>) who parade the statues. First comes the <i>Cruz de Guía</i> (Guiding Cross) and the <i>estandarte </i>(insignia flag), then most of the <i>cofrades </i>dressed as <i>nazarenos</i> with tall pointed hoods (<i>capirotes</i>), walking two-by-two, often barefoot. The <i>capirote</i> is reminiscent of, but of distinct origin from, KKK hats. The colors differ among the <i>hermandades. </i>The origin is more of a dunce cap, symbolizing humility of the <i>cofrades</i>. In a <i>hermandad</i> with 2000 members, there might easily be more than a thousand <i>nazarenos</i> in this first group; they are subdivided further, each subgroup with its own standard. The <i>nazarenos</i> are followed by acolytes (<i>acólitos</i>), boys wearing church vestments and carrying candles and crosses and ornate staffs and incense. <br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zT5zh_tHqGo/VvajHXEwwaI/AAAAAAAACUU/840Di80WBV0IUsTOvFagVEyOXBxsyWSAQ/s1600/Banda%2BLa%2BEstrella.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zT5zh_tHqGo/VvajHXEwwaI/AAAAAAAACUU/840Di80WBV0IUsTOvFagVEyOXBxsyWSAQ/s320/Banda%2BLa%2BEstrella.jpg" width="320" /></a>Then comes the <i>banda de musica </i>(marching band), playing slow, usually minor-key marches, often with impressive cornet descants. The bands come in two types; a drum-and-bugle corps style band with an assortment of brass and percussion, or a marching wind orchestra that includes flutes, clarinets, saxophones, oboes, and bassoons, in addition to the brass and percussion. These are highly professional bands, hired by the <i>cofradías</i>, not just a collection of people from the <i>hermandad </i>who play instruments. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Cristo leaving La Estrella on San Jacinto, Triana</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Rq8_BYQy7M/VvalS6l6HSI/AAAAAAAACUo/peA7tZZ7K9IRZH2qQbv--lMq8Q3cBOZIA/s1600/Paso%2Bde%2BCristo%2Bde%2BLa%2BEstrella.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_Rq8_BYQy7M/VvalS6l6HSI/AAAAAAAACUo/peA7tZZ7K9IRZH2qQbv--lMq8Q3cBOZIA/s200/Paso%2Bde%2BCristo%2Bde%2BLa%2BEstrella.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paso del Cristo La Estrella</td></tr>
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The band precedes (sometimes follows) the first <i>paso</i>, which carries the Cristo, in a scene from the last days of his life. Sometimes Christ is already on the cross, or is praying, or is carrying the cross accompanied by a Roman soldier. The <i>paso </i>is gilded in gold. It is carried from below by a hidden team of <i>costaleros</i>, brawny men who wear a special headdress and support the <i>paso</i> on their shoulders and heads. The <i>capatáz </i>walks in front of the <i>paso</i> and gives orders, often with thumps of a cane, to the <i>costaleros </i>to raise, lower, or turn the <i>paso. </i>The<i> costaleros</i> take turns frequently, since the <i>pasos</i> generally weigh more than a ton. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paso del Cristo de la Esperanza de Triana</td></tr>
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Seeing these <i>pasos</i> as an outsider provokes a mix of feelings. Many of the gessoed and polychromed wooden sculptures date back to the 16th and 17th centuries and are spectacular works of art. The designs of the <i>pasos</i> are baroque without compare. They are, if nothing, spectacular. At the same time, the <i>pasos </i>are covered in gold (or silver, in the case of the <i>pasos de María), </i>that was pillaged from the Americas at the expense of so many indigenous people, then shipped straight to<i> </i>Sevilla, the "<i>puerto y puerta de Indias"</i>. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SZmgzew2xQQ/VvaotGSEuII/AAAAAAAACVA/GfvxCbU-tOgcP-Iy49iiC3ZH5dhMn0BdA/s1600/Maria%2Bde%2BLa%2BEstrella.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-SZmgzew2xQQ/VvaotGSEuII/AAAAAAAACVA/GfvxCbU-tOgcP-Iy49iiC3ZH5dhMn0BdA/s320/Maria%2Bde%2BLa%2BEstrella.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">María Santísima from La Estrella</td></tr>
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Then then whole thing repeats: more <i>nazarenos</i>, more <i>acólitos</i>, another <i>banda</i>, and then the <i>paso de María Santísima</i>. The <i>paso de María</i>, with the Virgin in mourning with tears on her cheeks, is gilded in silver and with a canopy and mountains of candles. And some more <i>nazarenos</i>. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mTem6E-KCpM/Vvaos5fnPQI/AAAAAAAACU8/oNX5MpDcan4ZvZmJ3_ADGxj_d2w31FUxw/s1600/Maria%2Bla%2BEstrella%2BPlaza%2BAltozano.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mTem6E-KCpM/Vvaos5fnPQI/AAAAAAAACU8/oNX5MpDcan4ZvZmJ3_ADGxj_d2w31FUxw/s200/Maria%2Bla%2BEstrella%2BPlaza%2BAltozano.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crowd watching María de La Estrella en Plaza Altozano</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QlGHmegyG_o/VvaosTk2O1I/AAAAAAAACU4/C5GaK49V0FAEoufZkU4PMn7qVaYk1vcMA/s1600/Paso%2BMaria%2Bde%2BLa%2BEstrella.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QlGHmegyG_o/VvaosTk2O1I/AAAAAAAACU4/C5GaK49V0FAEoufZkU4PMn7qVaYk1vcMA/s640/Paso%2BMaria%2Bde%2BLa%2BEstrella.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paso de María leaving the chapel La Estrella on San Jacinto in Triana</td></tr>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2MlwSVbEOnc/VvaqWavv51I/AAAAAAAACVM/8Q9lqL0qymo-4ZHU0dyE3xkIEQzWkC42g/s1600/youth%2Bdressed%2Bup.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2MlwSVbEOnc/VvaqWavv51I/AAAAAAAACVM/8Q9lqL0qymo-4ZHU0dyE3xkIEQzWkC42g/s200/youth%2Bdressed%2Bup.jpg" width="200" /></a>On most days the processions start in the afternoon, visit the Cathedral, and return home at 2 or 3 in the morning. Thousands of people line the way, especially at key corners with good views as the <i>costaleros </i>turn the <i>paso</i>, and there are a number of areas along the main path near the cathedral where people from the right families can rent chairs with special views of the processions. Everyone is dressed up, from kids to grandparents. The solemnity is very palpable. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bWtys0jK6r0/Vvatzk8JmsI/AAAAAAAACVc/2aO8JSMcOV8zxQS2xOg0g0I95qa7U7dHQ/s1600/paso%2Bmaria%2Bla%2Besperanza%2Bcrowd.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-bWtys0jK6r0/Vvatzk8JmsI/AAAAAAAACVc/2aO8JSMcOV8zxQS2xOg0g0I95qa7U7dHQ/s320/paso%2Bmaria%2Bla%2Besperanza%2Bcrowd.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crown at the Madrugá procession from La Esperanza</td></tr>
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On the night of Holy Thursday - Good Friday, the timing of the processions changes to the <i>Madrugá</i> (from <i>madrugada</i>, dawn), starting at 2-3 a.m., and returning in the early afternoon. We took an evening nap after returning from Portugal, and then got up to watch <i>La Esperanza de Triana</i> pass through the Plaza de Altozano (just around the corner from our house), from 2:15-4:00 a.m. The crowd was at least as big as during the day, and the candles really made everything spectacular. When the Christ passes, all was silent, and if any of the
many thousands of onlookers spoke too loudly there was a collective "shush" that brought the whole
crowd back to silence. When<i> </i>María passed, however, there were calls-and-responses extolling the virtues of María and neighborhood "¡<i>Viva María, Madre de Dios</i>! ¡<i>Viva Triana</i>!"<br />
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We stood to watch next to the ruins of <i>La Castilla de San Jorge</i>, which was the seat of the Spanish Inquisition at the time most of the Semana Santa pageantry was developing. We saw them return the next afternoon from our balcony as they processed down Pagés del Corro. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9msSTBKhjoY/VvatzOkin5I/AAAAAAAACVY/ynafo_uKlMYg-oI6s4fzb3mkKKnRS_FBg/s1600/paso%2Bcristo%2Bla%2Besperanza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9msSTBKhjoY/VvatzOkin5I/AAAAAAAACVY/ynafo_uKlMYg-oI6s4fzb3mkKKnRS_FBg/s320/paso%2Bcristo%2Bla%2Besperanza.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paso del Cristo de La Esperanza de Triana</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Yk6qVc9Xj1E/Vvatzjx9G9I/AAAAAAAACVg/wHgSqr0YKqozRvbd01qiFXIvb_kw1N29w/s1600/paso%2Bmaria%2Bla%2Besperanza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Yk6qVc9Xj1E/Vvatzjx9G9I/AAAAAAAACVg/wHgSqr0YKqozRvbd01qiFXIvb_kw1N29w/s200/paso%2Bmaria%2Bla%2Besperanza.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">María de La Esperanza de Triana</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tXKQweKiV4Y/Vvau3TWnprI/AAAAAAAACVo/rrgsizjVuhcb0j-nTXyYG3o5MkESYudEw/s1600/view%2Bfrom%2Bour%2Bbalcony%2Bla%2Besperanza.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="426" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tXKQweKiV4Y/Vvau3TWnprI/AAAAAAAACVo/rrgsizjVuhcb0j-nTXyYG3o5MkESYudEw/s640/view%2Bfrom%2Bour%2Bbalcony%2Bla%2Besperanza.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from our balcony of <i>María de La Esperanza</i> returning on Pagés del Corro after the Madrugá</td></tr>
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The "performance" of Semana Santa is impressively well orchestrated, with a pre-printed guide that gives the time that each procession will be at each key intersection for the whole week, and a million people peacefully moving throughout the city, day and night, for a week. But to call it a "performance" isn't quite right, because this is so much a part of the Sevilla culture. I happen to be reading an historical novel by Francisco Robles called <i>El Aguador de Sevilla</i>, which is about the painter Diego Velázquez and the <i>imaginario </i>(sculptor) Juan Martínez Montañés<i>,</i> both from Sevilla. Montañés and the teacher of Velázquez (Francisco Pacheco) made some of the Cristos and Marías that are on the <i>pasos </i>in the 17th century. A character in the book, a cynical 21st century British art historian, watching one of the <i>Semana Santa </i>processions, confided to his friend "I am feeling something I have never experienced before, something that can only be when what happens is true, and not theater...". And so it is in Sevilla. I often saw people with tear-streaked faces as the Christ or María
emerged from the chapel or passed by. People on smartphones in the
crowd were sending and receiving photos and commentary among family and friends who
were at other, simultaneous processions, so that everyone could
experience as much of <i>Semana Santa</i> as possible, and stay in close contact with loved ones. This is real, and has been real for almost 500 years; an experience shared deeply across generations. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com1Triana, Sevilla, Spain37.351985100282356 -5.98995206406243637.150091100282353 -6.3126755640624364 37.553879100282359 -5.6672285640624356tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-38407501771641269872016-03-25T15:08:00.000-07:002016-03-25T15:08:26.762-07:00A few days in the Algarve, southern Portugal<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AWZxvBA_gEc/VvWsOuDAS1I/AAAAAAAACSI/RPbLRR1Np2Q9ZLkJo7aqLGY2hFLpcFGNQ/s1600/familyselfie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-AWZxvBA_gEc/VvWsOuDAS1I/AAAAAAAACSI/RPbLRR1Np2Q9ZLkJo7aqLGY2hFLpcFGNQ/s200/familyselfie.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n-N7BW5HxhA/VvWsLLqGaQI/AAAAAAAACR0/-E90ctI23l8L9R4-tVBiPTtKDU_rVMiNg/s1600/Portugese%2BFlag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n-N7BW5HxhA/VvWsLLqGaQI/AAAAAAAACR0/-E90ctI23l8L9R4-tVBiPTtKDU_rVMiNg/s200/Portugese%2BFlag.jpg" width="200" /></a>We took a few days during Semana Santa to leave the round-the clock pageantry in Sevilla (more about that later!) to enjoy the plants, birds, sand, food, and swamp of Faro and the Ria Formosa Natural Park in the Algarve in southern Portugal. It was an easy 3-h bus ride straight from Sevilla to Faro, where there was great air b-n-b, the <i>Animaris Ihla Deserta</i> guided boat trip (with exceptionally good naturalist guide) out through the marasma (estuary wetland) to the Ilha Barreta (aka. Desert Island), with 10 km of amazing shell-covered beaches, spectacular vegetation, and birds everywhere. It was a spectacular 3 days of being naturalists and sand sculptors and enjoying the famous southern Portugal food.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JlHiG8JmOTY/VvWsPaFRkuI/AAAAAAAACSM/2YlqMQ3dJbcG0v6mBi9CFcUgpaW8FQZ1w/s1600/fardo_music.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-JlHiG8JmOTY/VvWsPaFRkuI/AAAAAAAACSM/2YlqMQ3dJbcG0v6mBi9CFcUgpaW8FQZ1w/s200/fardo_music.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;">Stumbled into a great fado concert </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><div style="text-align: left;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-grojeRf7m5I/VvWsQirVrGI/AAAAAAAACSQ/mV3TcLNhc78IECK1KeeZp2HvUj-xJdhuw/s1600/faro_rooftop_panorama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="85" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-grojeRf7m5I/VvWsQirVrGI/AAAAAAAACSQ/mV3TcLNhc78IECK1KeeZp2HvUj-xJdhuw/s400/faro_rooftop_panorama.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of the rooftops of Faro from our flat. Lots of pedestrian areas.</td></tr>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MrVKomIqcjs/VvWsRQPv8oI/AAAAAAAACSU/xB79Q_FvRT4Rnusv78_g-JuQKWtTzipNQ/s1600/faro_sunset.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MrVKomIqcjs/VvWsRQPv8oI/AAAAAAAACSU/xB79Q_FvRT4Rnusv78_g-JuQKWtTzipNQ/s320/faro_sunset.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1dJs2HwVxW4/VvWsTpeTYEI/AAAAAAAACSk/wC11xRiTKQE7D6eF2_oKPeXW-izcp26sw/s1600/marasma.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1dJs2HwVxW4/VvWsTpeTYEI/AAAAAAAACSk/wC11xRiTKQE7D6eF2_oKPeXW-izcp26sw/s320/marasma.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">The "marasma" - huge estuary - separates Faro from the ocean. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kv71dXZUdck/VvWsLDuWiAI/AAAAAAAACR4/3XUNWVXB7BMJL6PbLxt2PI2PuKimy2v4w/s1600/Ilha_Barreta_landscape.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Kv71dXZUdck/VvWsLDuWiAI/AAAAAAAACR4/3XUNWVXB7BMJL6PbLxt2PI2PuKimy2v4w/s320/Ilha_Barreta_landscape.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ilha Barreta has 2km of boardwalk and 10 km of beach</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HANWNlC7zTY/VvWsJzsJBlI/AAAAAAAACRw/hOFrBkeMuB4cwTJwqvSdxgkBajWD_FfCw/s1600/Ammophila_Ilha_Barreta.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-HANWNlC7zTY/VvWsJzsJBlI/AAAAAAAACRw/hOFrBkeMuB4cwTJwqvSdxgkBajWD_FfCw/s320/Ammophila_Ilha_Barreta.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Ammophila</i> in its natural habitat!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JhMEmdK50pk/VvWsOLXNA5I/AAAAAAAACSE/-ynUkzGt9CQjN0lhRd3O9qBmmOZqTaL-A/s1600/botanizing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-JhMEmdK50pk/VvWsOLXNA5I/AAAAAAAACSE/-ynUkzGt9CQjN0lhRd3O9qBmmOZqTaL-A/s200/botanizing.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A wonderful vacation for naturalists</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-papjmvvJ7BU/VvWvyZuCHuI/AAAAAAAACTY/X7U7QjzpboE939Lxkuh09dh_qTHZh9JoA/s1600/Sand_Crocodile.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="211" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-papjmvvJ7BU/VvWvyZuCHuI/AAAAAAAACTY/X7U7QjzpboE939Lxkuh09dh_qTHZh9JoA/s320/Sand_Crocodile.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #0000ee;">The famed Barreta Sand Crocodile<u><br /></u></span></td></tr>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zQILEqlSSYk/VvWsNK_taDI/AAAAAAAACSA/ZovXplpFFJw0JBmcidH-e55QQchugCnZg/s1600/beachpanorama.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="146" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zQILEqlSSYk/VvWsNK_taDI/AAAAAAAACSA/ZovXplpFFJw0JBmcidH-e55QQchugCnZg/s640/beachpanorama.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Crucianella maritima</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Linaria caesia</i></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DXMMx9Z8aRU/VvWsSG6Tb3I/AAAAAAAACSY/q5h26jhC4jgPdc_aL8aBQJw626D8o_8ww/s1600/flamingo.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DXMMx9Z8aRU/VvWsSG6Tb3I/AAAAAAAACSY/q5h26jhC4jgPdc_aL8aBQJw626D8o_8ww/s320/flamingo.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flamingos!</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FIh5xypuJtQ/VvWsSpIfsEI/AAAAAAAACSc/7hhRWZlpBPMT9wvojYe4nNd4ISzb3BlUg/s1600/goldfinch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-FIh5xypuJtQ/VvWsSpIfsEI/AAAAAAAACSc/7hhRWZlpBPMT9wvojYe4nNd4ISzb3BlUg/s200/goldfinch.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Goldfinches singing everywhere</td></tr>
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<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VoCYgrpDkhs/VvWsJ-JfZ_I/AAAAAAAACRs/3ygpxdThl1UMA0vjrfz8GnolLo6tDEDFg/s1600/Eli_shoveling_sand.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VoCYgrpDkhs/VvWsJ-JfZ_I/AAAAAAAACRs/3ygpxdThl1UMA0vjrfz8GnolLo6tDEDFg/s320/Eli_shoveling_sand.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EJ9IB68KaN4/VvWsTDkY0vI/AAAAAAAACSg/qy2SPOwKsY0Tv5EUehuzI-Rgasujr0iJA/s1600/little%2Bheron%2Band%2Bspoonbill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EJ9IB68KaN4/VvWsTDkY0vI/AAAAAAAACSg/qy2SPOwKsY0Tv5EUehuzI-Rgasujr0iJA/s320/little%2Bheron%2Band%2Bspoonbill.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Little egret and Spoonbill buddies. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v-3g-eRqGqc/VvWsURcZkZI/AAAAAAAACSo/2n5k9yAfC9gnPqeoYcUIym4qpt_tSz2mQ/s1600/razorbill.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v-3g-eRqGqc/VvWsURcZkZI/AAAAAAAACSo/2n5k9yAfC9gnPqeoYcUIym4qpt_tSz2mQ/s200/razorbill.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Razorbill swimming along side our catamaran</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White storks in the city and marasma</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sardinian warbler on perch...</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">... and just after taking off. Wings closed!</td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Piles of salt at the salt pans</td></tr>
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The birds of Faro, Ilha Barreta, and the salt flats of Ria Formosa we ran into are:
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House Martin, Feral pigeon, Yellow legged gull, Goldfinch, Barn swallow , Swift, White stork, House sparrow, Lesser black backed gull, Little egret, Razorbill, Crested lark, Great cormorant, Grey heron, Dunlin, Sanderling, Whimbrel, Bar-tailed godwit, Ruddy turnstone, Sandwich tern, Common redshank, Yellow wagtail, Sardinian warbler, Gannet, Common shelduck, Spoonbill, Flamingo, Collared dove, Kentish plover, Ringed plover, Wheatear, Grey plover, Greenshanks </div>
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Our plant list (with a bunch of endemics and a number that are invasive in California) are: <i>Spartina maritima, Salicornia ramosissima, Sarcocornia fruticosa, Sarcocornia perennis, Limoniastrum monopetalum, Cistanche phelypaea, Salsola vermiculata, Artemisia campestris, Helichrysum italicum, Otanthus maritimus, Malcolmia littorea, Calystegia soldanella, Paronychia argentea, Crucianella maritima, Silene nicaeensis, Anthemis maritima, Ammophila arenaria, Medicago marina, Lotus creticus, Corynephorus canescens, Cutandia maritima, Cyperus capitatus, Eryngium maritimum, Elymus farctus atlanticus, Plantago coronopus, Erodium cicutarium, Cakile maritima, Hypecoum procumbens, Leontodon taraxacoides, Linaria caesia, Linaria pedunculata, Linaria spartea, Ononis variegata, Pinus pinaster, Crithmum maritimum, Cladium mariscus, Genista hirsuta, Solanum nigrum, Genista triacanthos, Stauracanthus boivinii, Polycarpon tetraphyllum, Cistus libanotis, Arctotheca calendula, Oxalis pes-caprae, Pelargonium hortorum, Acacia longifolia, Agave americana, Carpobrotus edulis, Nerium oleander, Austrocylindropuntia subulata, Yucca aloifolia. </i> </div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com1Ilha Barreta, Faro, Portugal36.983906109689919 -7.838745117187536.882479609689916 -8.0001066171875 37.085332609689921 -7.6773836171875tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-39918978020895909502016-01-29T14:05:00.000-08:002016-01-29T14:09:04.492-08:00Getting some work doneBeen hard at work here, with some accomplishments to show for it. Ingrid and I wrote and submitted a new pre-proposal for an NSF grant "Phylogenetic ecology of plant disease" that builds on work that we published in the Nature paper last year. We are really excited about how those ideas developed, and the potential for that work, if it is funded. It was great working together so intensely on developing the new ideas. It was a ton of intense work over the last month - and then a server glitch made us start the long submission process over from scratch just a few hours before deadline. But we made it, and I made brownies to celebrate the submission! Now just need to forget it for a few months until it is reviewed. <br />
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We each were also part of developing and submitting two other separate NSF pre-proposals, where we are senior personnel. Fortunately our collaborators had the lead on those proposals, so that wasn't quite as much heavy lifting.<br />
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We heard that our Annual Review of Phytopathology chapter was accepted (although we still have some work on revising that), and now we are on to an article on invasions and disease for TREE with a couple new collaborators. I've also be going back and forth over two articles with collaborators from China -- one submitted today, and another should be done in another round or two of revisions. And I managed to submit the 120-page final report on my collaborative work with USDA APHIS. <br />
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Right after we got back from Morocco I took the AVE to Barcelona to be part of a Doctoral Defense. Quite a different process from what I'm used to. The three of us on the Tribunal were not involved in his dissertation work except reading the final product. He gave a 45 talk summarizing his work, with a public audience (including his family) while the Tribunal sat on a small elevated stage to the side. After the talk, we each took about 30 min to grill him with questions about his dissertation (again, with mom, the aunts, and other family groupies listening in), then retreated to a separate room to discuss and write three separate reports while he waited. Then back to the main room, read out the results, then head to a different place for a huge spread of food, cider, beer, and wine. So glad he had done a really great job on the dissertation and the talk -- seems like a lot of potential for an uncomfortable situation.<br />
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After the exam I headed to Zaragoza to the Institute of Pyrenees Ecology, where Begoña García (the professor of the doctoral student) and her lab are doing great work in montane plant ecology and citizen science. I gave a seminar there -- this time in Spanish -- about a combination of my work with Ingrid and the work in Panama. Had a great time there and have continued conversations about potential collaborations.<br />
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Then the week after returning I gave a similar departmental seminar in Sevilla at the EBD, but this time in English because a number of visitors to the Estacíon don't speak Spanish. It was fun giving the same talk in the two languages just a week apart.<br />
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Once we finish the TREE manuscript, due in a couple weeks, we'll be free of big deadlines and can get back to the data papers we really want to write! <br />
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We've had some good personal things too. The Danes came to visit -- for less than 24 h -- and we did some touristing and eating with them, including going back to the Flamenco Museum for another spectacular show.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_b3NdQIJ1L4/Vqvgky1JX1I/AAAAAAAACLg/SLZi-hfWyVs/s1600/IMG_5685.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_b3NdQIJ1L4/Vqvgky1JX1I/AAAAAAAACLg/SLZi-hfWyVs/s320/IMG_5685.jpg" width="240" /></a>We continue to explore new places to tapear; Eli really loved his first frog legs at the Sol y Sombra!<br />
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We've made a few fun new foods at home, including the spiny predatory marine snails called cañaillas (<i>Bolinus brandaris</i>) (ok, but not as good as other mollusks) and roast partridges (definitely will do that again). Eli and Ingrid also had venison patties (=bambi burgers).<br />
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For those following the <i>Bartonella</i> saga, I've reached a great milestone. Thursday was my last day of mycobutin, and I'll be winding down the other antibiotic, enzymes, supplements, and meds over the coming 6 weeks -- and should be completely done with treatments then! Long haul since first symptoms from the infection in April 2014...<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-86108608335949934392016-01-06T06:59:00.003-08:002016-01-06T07:16:39.611-08:00Moroccan excursionOne place we wanted to make sure to visit during this sabbatical was Morocco. We managed to arrange for travel and tour on relatively short notice, and spent a week visiting souks, kasbahs, and the Saraha desert, and eating wonderful food.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9P9JrXMC7f0/Vo0TcUVc-1I/AAAAAAAACFc/A6tSpHvm3KQ/s1600/P1010747.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9P9JrXMC7f0/Vo0TcUVc-1I/AAAAAAAACFc/A6tSpHvm3KQ/s320/P1010747.jpg" width="320" /></a>We started in Marrakech in southern Morocco, spending the night in a beautiful renovated riad down a long, narrow alley in the old medina. But early the next morning we drove east, passing through the Tizi n'Tichka pass (2260m) across the High Atlas mountains to Ouarzazate, stopping at the Aït Benhaddou kasbah on the way. They have had an unusually dry year, so rivers that should be running wildly were dry or trickles.<br />
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Still, the dry, rocky landscape was interspersed with have lush agricultural production, with crops planted in sunken sections that could be flooded for irrigation. Brassicas, wheat, vegetables, alfalfa, olives, citrus, and everywhere date palms.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LDBJTDQLqJ4/Vo0VffjmYLI/AAAAAAAACGA/RPqjyiTuCsQ/s1600/P1010866.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LDBJTDQLqJ4/Vo0VffjmYLI/AAAAAAAACGA/RPqjyiTuCsQ/s320/P1010866.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-agNboBF0QxE/Vo0VHNe6waI/AAAAAAAACF0/356bqtIbd_w/s1600/P1010829.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-agNboBF0QxE/Vo0VHNe6waI/AAAAAAAACF0/356bqtIbd_w/s320/P1010829.jpg" width="213" /></a><br />
Fresh produce was impressively available in the souks, with abundant legumes, grains, spices, and vegetables.<br />
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Goats were equally abundant, still herded by rapidly vanishing populations of nomads. We spent the night in a lovely French riad in the oasis of Skoura, but saw little of the oasis because we arrived and left in the dark. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qbGTPprq0oA/Vo0d58_G8eI/AAAAAAAACG0/evgBndVc3XU/s1600/P1010949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qbGTPprq0oA/Vo0d58_G8eI/AAAAAAAACG0/evgBndVc3XU/s200/P1010949.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wi6bfVI72Fo/Vo0YQd1r1KI/AAAAAAAACGM/DwgRDbzz7SY/s1600/P1010895.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wi6bfVI72Fo/Vo0YQd1r1KI/AAAAAAAACGM/DwgRDbzz7SY/s320/P1010895.jpg" width="320" /></a>On 31 December, we drove south-east from Skoura for a long day through the Dades Valley, through Berber Villages, and the impressive Todra Gorge, stopping for stuffed Berber pizza in Rissani (medfouna tafilalt) and to buy indigo-dyed desert scarves, until arriving at Merzouga just before sunset. There we hustled to get our warm clothes, scarves, cameras, and us to where camels waited to take us out to a Tuareg Berber camp in the Erg Chebbi, the vast sea of shifting sand dunes.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YdsaRr-T8eY/Vo0eDky8TZI/AAAAAAAACHM/0kTC6iUd_Zo/s1600/P1010897.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YdsaRr-T8eY/Vo0eDky8TZI/AAAAAAAACHM/0kTC6iUd_Zo/s200/P1010897.jpg" width="200" /></a> The colors and shadows are impossible to describe. The abundance of animal tracks in the sand contrasted with what seemed so empty.<br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EOJAlJZVVOk/Vo0eAoEKtxI/AAAAAAAACHA/ShVVATrkSGQ/s1600/P1010908.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-EOJAlJZVVOk/Vo0eAoEKtxI/AAAAAAAACHA/ShVVATrkSGQ/s320/P1010908.jpg" width="212" /></a>We were surprised to find some cucurbits that had grown in basins that collect water from the rains, and occasional clumps of grasses. But overall it was quiet; even the camels made little noise as they walked through the sand. <br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zPzbEWL1Dgs/Vo0Ygd0h8AI/AAAAAAAACGY/iqlThlWZkOc/s1600/P1020009.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zPzbEWL1Dgs/Vo0Ygd0h8AI/AAAAAAAACGY/iqlThlWZkOc/s200/P1020009.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mjnWczpqvcM/Vo0dxNx-7QI/AAAAAAAACGo/14huovf3GEg/s1600/P1010962.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mjnWczpqvcM/Vo0dxNx-7QI/AAAAAAAACGo/14huovf3GEg/s200/P1010962.jpg" width="200" /></a>Riding the camels was easier than expected - more motion than a horse, but smoother. We only rode a little over an hour, and a very long day of riding might have been tough, but we arrived happy and with no complaints. There we spent a lovely New Year's Eve in nomadic tents, the Mali-derived drum circle around a small campfire. <br />
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We rode out of the dunes during the sunrise the next day, then began a very long drive north to the cultural capital of Fes. Here we wandered, sometimes with guide, sometimes without, through the 9000 narrow alley ways that make up the city.<br />
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We browsed the shops and artisan stands, with their arrays of meats, spices, copper, ceramics, weavings, and leather, and dodged the donkeys, mules, carts, and motorcycles that speed down passages just wide enough to walk. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_xWmbYJ6mns/Vo0i_vWrcSI/AAAAAAAACII/TCCDDCnx6Co/s1600/P1020237.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_xWmbYJ6mns/Vo0i_vWrcSI/AAAAAAAACII/TCCDDCnx6Co/s320/P1020237.jpg" width="213" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0r-zAGJ0BGY/Vo0jB2CzBZI/AAAAAAAACIU/riMyROj0OcE/s1600/IMG_5586.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-0r-zAGJ0BGY/Vo0jB2CzBZI/AAAAAAAACIU/riMyROj0OcE/s320/IMG_5586.jpg" width="240" /></a>Many of the artisans produced goods for every day use, although some produced primarily for tourists. The quality of the handcrafts was spectacular. Elias and I watched the silk (from Agave) and wool weaving on the loom for a long time. <br />
We spent two nights in Fes, and could easily have spent more time wandering about. But this was also a place where a guide was needed. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BFOFg_dtPl0/Vo0iY4RiZHI/AAAAAAAACHk/UvFM2QOHsAc/s1600/P1020185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BFOFg_dtPl0/Vo0iY4RiZHI/AAAAAAAACHk/UvFM2QOHsAc/s200/P1020185.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pmhls8OTDUk/Vo0ky1hBIVI/AAAAAAAACIg/qDcdg3EwAEc/s1600/IMG_5577.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Pmhls8OTDUk/Vo0ky1hBIVI/AAAAAAAACIg/qDcdg3EwAEc/s200/IMG_5577.jpg" width="150" /></a>We also saw lots of storks on minarets and roofs, and had that difficult talk with Elias about how babies are really delivered by storks.<br />
The foods in the shops were not for tourists. Interestingly, this camel shop sold only meat of the camels; a separate shop sold the entrails. We asked about the brains on display in one shop, and where it was served, but were told "We only eat brain for breakfast."<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZyFe2kLlQk/Vo0nL2w-n6I/AAAAAAAACJA/n4wChVC_iOk/s1600/P1020330.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6ZyFe2kLlQk/Vo0nL2w-n6I/AAAAAAAACJA/n4wChVC_iOk/s200/P1020330.jpg" width="200" /></a> Our last day we drove back south with a stop in Casablanca for a visit to the Hassan II Mosque, the 3rd largest in the world, and one of only two in Morocco that permits non-Muslims to visit. A spectacular work of engineering, capable of holding 20,000 worshipers inside and another 80,000 outside. The giant titanium doors (from Russia) made me think of what the environmental impact of the construction must have been. But the space felt very special and sacred, and more so because it was built specifically to be open to visitors to help increase understanding of Islam among visitors. <br />
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We shared a great meal of fried fish, squid, and shrimp with our guide and driver, and then headed back for our last evening in Marrakech. We were so full from the fish lunch that we just wandered the Jemaa el Fna square (with the sister mosque to Sevilla's Giralda!), enjoyed the street performers and eating interesting foods from the stands. The snails - served in a bowl with broth and toothpicks to each them - were amazingly delicious. Elias loved a sausage sandwich, and the fruit juices and pastries were great.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D_FT0Aql0ZY/Vo0vmuBoYKI/AAAAAAAACJg/0Q4UlDzCbg8/s1600/IMG_5635.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-D_FT0Aql0ZY/Vo0vmuBoYKI/AAAAAAAACJg/0Q4UlDzCbg8/s320/IMG_5635.jpg" width="240" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_5hbNmu2Glc/Vo0vl701-2I/AAAAAAAACJU/sA-8sS0hWKA/s1600/IMG_5663.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_5hbNmu2Glc/Vo0vl701-2I/AAAAAAAACJU/sA-8sS0hWKA/s200/IMG_5663.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
It was hard to say goodbye to our driver Hassan and our extremely talented guide Aziz from Moroccan Sun Tours (<a href="http://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g293734-d7787942-Reviews-Morocco_Sun_Tours_Day_Tours-Marrakech_Marrakech_Tensift_El_Haouz_Region.html" target="_blank">TripAdvisor</a> or directly at <a href="http://moroccosuntours.com/">http://moroccosuntours.com/</a>). I can't recommend Aziz highly enough - for trekking or visiting cities and for a special talent in making Moroccan culture accessible to outsiders. I hope we can return some day for more serious trekking with Aziz!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-34803630756940602532016-01-05T08:50:00.001-08:002016-01-05T08:50:54.059-08:00A brief visit to California<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c7FwzOu3AeI/VovxEw0wpwI/AAAAAAAACEg/uoh1CLuhvC8/s1600/DSC03294.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-c7FwzOu3AeI/VovxEw0wpwI/AAAAAAAACEg/uoh1CLuhvC8/s320/DSC03294.jpg" width="320" /></a>We had a busy two week visit to California. First, a stop in Santa Cruz for a week to spend time with our Double Family Fiona-Kerstin-Bruce (plusScout and Houdini), and for a lot of UCSC activities as well. <a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fR7gdtG7w9M/VovxEyI4_UI/AAAAAAAACEc/xNqhwEIBNwY/s1600/IMG_5489.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-fR7gdtG7w9M/VovxEyI4_UI/AAAAAAAACEc/xNqhwEIBNwY/s200/IMG_5489.jpg" width="200" /></a>We did a delayed Eli-birthday Segway tour along Westcliff on a day with spectacular surf; such a perfect Santa Cruz activity. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2LrKwDnwTM/VovzkZUXWwI/AAAAAAAACE4/Oy_noavMuAw/s1600/DSC03333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Q2LrKwDnwTM/VovzkZUXWwI/AAAAAAAACE4/Oy_noavMuAw/s320/DSC03333.jpg" width="320" /></a>While we were in Santa Cruz my student Sharifa gave her Ph.D. exit seminar, with lots of family in attendance, and Juniper passed her Qualifying Exam. I also got to spend some time with students Jessica and Shaneece, as well as an assortment of faculty and other colleagues. It was a whirlwind, but great to see everyone doing so well.<br />
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Then we headed to southern California to split a week between my family in Claremont and Ingrid's family in Mission Viejo. <br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vKa6fl4sXUM/Vovy621GZ3I/AAAAAAAACEw/kcm7Y7oGqwM/s1600/P1010315.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vKa6fl4sXUM/Vovy621GZ3I/AAAAAAAACEw/kcm7Y7oGqwM/s200/P1010315.jpg" width="200" /></a>It has been great that the families are all so close together, although that is changing, with my family moving to the Arizona desert soon. We got to spend lots of quality family time, and snuck in a Christmas bird counts and a half-day in the field with my student Shannon chasing polyphagous shothole borers. <br />
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Then two short weeks in California were gone, and we flew back to Sevilla, for a brief stopover before heading on to Morocco. <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-71543810026794248292015-12-13T12:06:00.003-08:002015-12-13T12:06:47.156-08:00A busy monthA whole month has past since the last post -- not because nothing has happened but because we were too busy. The biggest focus of attention was Ingrid and I finishing our chapter for the Annual Review of Phytopathology, titled <i>The evolutionary ecology of plant disease: a phylogenetic perspective</i>. Writing an annual review is a huge undertaking, since it is supposed to be an authoritative, insightful, complete review of an area that also helps set the agenda for what most needs to be done next.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YqQ7OJ4xK6Q/Vm3GMQzw0AI/AAAAAAAACA4/xA969lRfjT0/s1600/square.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YqQ7OJ4xK6Q/Vm3GMQzw0AI/AAAAAAAACA4/xA969lRfjT0/s200/square.png" width="200" /></a>Working together was great as usual, dividing some tasks where we are most complementary in our strengths and then working together to craft the ideas, structure, and text. It was a great chance for us to catch up on literature, clarify our thinking, and be creative in conveying why we think using phylogenetic tools is useful way beyond where they have been used so far. We both learned a ton, and it will be really useful in our next writing projects coming up in January through June. We sent that off on 1 December, and now are waiting for reviews and revisions sometime in the new year. Great thanks to the Jordano lab group at the EBD for all their tremendous support and insightful comments that really helped shape how we presented our ideas. <br />
I have also been really busy with grad student activities, with Heather and Sharifa finishing up, Juniper doing her qualifying exam, and Jessica and Shannon submitting grants. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KI3f7SzkG1M/Vm3K7r1Zh6I/AAAAAAAACDM/_zGureNkK-Q/s1600/DSC03161.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KI3f7SzkG1M/Vm3K7r1Zh6I/AAAAAAAACDM/_zGureNkK-Q/s200/DSC03161.jpg" width="200" /></a>Ingrid and I got to take two field trips with people from the Jordano and Vilà labs to help bring in long-term seed traps and visit and ongoing diversity experiment that we might layer some disease work into. These were great opportunities to spend good time in the field with the great scientists in the groups plus see some cool regions -- one full of wild olives and laurels and the other seasonal marshes. <br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z-scWLe3DIg/Vm3Km5SqboI/AAAAAAAACCY/C75vVB7irig/s1600/P1000773.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-z-scWLe3DIg/Vm3Km5SqboI/AAAAAAAACCY/C75vVB7irig/s200/P1000773.jpg" width="200" /></a>The research sites are too far from Sevilla for a quick visit, but close enough to be able to get in a good day's work. <br />
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There were also lots of great birds coming in for the winter. <br />
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Eli and I made a cheesecake for Ingrid's birthday, and a few days later we had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with roast turkey and all the usual accompanying dishes except cranberry sauce -- there are no cranberries to be had anywhere. We shared our dinner with friends from Eli's music conservatory, a Peruvian-Venezuelan-Spanish family of artists, with hours of lively and fun conversation. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OUffmGIf7LQ/Vm3KhBnJdWI/AAAAAAAACBs/gGLp89NDly8/s1600/P1000783.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OUffmGIf7LQ/Vm3KhBnJdWI/AAAAAAAACBs/gGLp89NDly8/s320/P1000783.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3YpGmoCB-AI/Vm3KkuvNCFI/AAAAAAAACCE/0JJND7QpImc/s1600/P1010169.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3YpGmoCB-AI/Vm3KkuvNCFI/AAAAAAAACCE/0JJND7QpImc/s200/P1010169.jpg" width="200" /></a>We also experienced two very Sevillian events -- the annual Arabian horse show (with hundreds of thousands of visitors), and yet another parade by our flat -- but this time with Jesus instead of Mary riding the platform. <br />
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Finally, it was time to head back to California for a mid-sabbatical visit. We discovered that we made flight arrangements for a Wednesday many months ago, but that Eli had that Monday and Tuesday as a "super puente", days off of school. So we found a great air b-n-b in Madrid and headed north on the super-fast AVE train on Sunday to spend a few days visiting museums before flying out. Wonderful collections of Goya (here shown, not too happy with the treatment he gets from pigeons), Picasso (really cool to see Guernica in person), El Greco, El Bosco, Velázquez, Dali, and more. Both El Prado and the Reina Sophia museums were like thumbing through my old art history text books. <br />
We even got to row a boat around a lake -- Eli's first time rowing! Oh, and really great churros con chocolate -- hot chocolate so thick it verges on warm pudding!<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-38459785106800130212015-11-08T13:41:00.002-08:002015-11-08T13:41:15.711-08:00Tourists at homeWe spent this weekend (besides cleaning the flat) being tourists in Sevilla. <br />
Friday night, while Elias wandered Sevilla <i>quedando</i> with his school class, Ingrid and I had a great date for <i>tapas</i> at the old <i>Las Golondrinas</i> (we've gone to the new one next door a couple times, but this was our first time in the original). Same great food, older (and beautiful and busy) atmosphere.<br />
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Saturday afternoon we walked up the river to the Centro Andaluz de Arte Contemporaneo, which was a remodeled monestery (Cartujo), remodeled military site, remodeled pottery factory, and finally, remodeled as an art museum in the 1990s. The building itself is wonderful, including the chimneys remaining from the days as a pottery factory. We bike/skate past it every time we go to the EBD, but hadn't taken the time to do more than peak in before.<br />
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The displays were really interesting, mostly based around videos. Some work focused on 1950s French short films by Alain Resnais were great, including one of the National Library in Paris and another on Picasso's Guernica. Elias was really taken by films from the Occupy movement in various countries by Oliver Ressler, showing footage inside political street protests. This sparked a great discussion on the way home about protest, civil disobedience, personal responsibility for disobedience, and the difficulties in intervention by powerful countries in problems of smaller countries. Art at its best to get you thinking. <br />
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Sunday we ¡finally! went to the Catedral de Sevilla and the Giralda, the towering symbol of Sevilla. The Cathedral dates to the 14th century, claim to the be 3rd largest in the world, and houses tremendous art and, among many others, the mausoleum of Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón). <br />
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The gothic ornamentation everywhere was over the top. <br />
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The view from the top of the Giralda (originally a minaret before the fall of Sevilla to the Christians), across all of Sevilla was spectacular. We picked an unusually warm and sunny day for the season and were well rewarded with the views. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-86966376131396815092015-11-02T12:36:00.003-08:002015-11-02T13:27:39.217-08:00GibraltarWe took advantage of the long weekend for <i>Día de Todos los Santos</i> to explore more of Andalucía, this time to the southernmost part of Spain by Algeciras and the United Kingdom enclave of Gibraltar. We stayed in an Air B&B in kind of up-scale development south of Algeciras, with a beautiful view of Africa, just a long swim away.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jc7s2eLWUQo/VjfEnb6AhHI/AAAAAAAAB7U/GxQ70xIkupc/s1600/morning_over_africa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Jc7s2eLWUQo/VjfEnb6AhHI/AAAAAAAAB7U/GxQ70xIkupc/s640/morning_over_africa.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-liyiv-kyYe0/VjfEk4QGi9I/AAAAAAAAB60/J4E-cxHwu1g/s1600/eli_and_negri.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-liyiv-kyYe0/VjfEk4QGi9I/AAAAAAAAB60/J4E-cxHwu1g/s200/eli_and_negri.jpg" width="200" /></a> A big bonus, for Elias, was that the place came with a super-friendly cat. Not so great for Ingrid (cat allergy), but <i>Negri</i> mostly lived outside, and came in to cuddle with Eli -- especially Monday morning, when Eli woke up with something flu-ish (by Monday night, he was deep in cold-mode but the flu symptoms had passed).<br />
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Naturally, it was a rainy vacation weekend. Saturday, we went for a morning walk at the Botanic Garden and an afternoon walk on trails in the Parque Nacional Alcornoques, which is a park full of beautiful cork oaks. And not a few cows and goats.<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mouA0XJgdME/VjfElrKLw-I/AAAAAAAAB6s/aYrMAxF0ihg/s1600/cave_gibraltar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-mouA0XJgdME/VjfElrKLw-I/AAAAAAAAB6s/aYrMAxF0ihg/s200/cave_gibraltar.jpg" width="133" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WjahnvUOtRI/VjfEnlzwJ0I/AAAAAAAAB7Y/uvizHsR_-cE/s1600/rock_of_gibraltar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-WjahnvUOtRI/VjfEnlzwJ0I/AAAAAAAAB7Y/uvizHsR_-cE/s200/rock_of_gibraltar.jpg" width="200" /></a>Sunday, it threatened lots of up to 9 cm (3.5 inches) of rain, but in the morning it looked just blustery, so we decided it wasn't a good idea to hike more in the forest, and that instead we would go visit nearby Gibraltar. Gibraltar is a big rock filled with limestone caves (including one that was set up for a military hospital and is now a concert hall), and a city of 30,000 British citizens, part of the UK since 1704.<br />
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It is also the home of several hundred Barbary Macaques, descendants of north-African Macaques (once ranging as far north as England) but now semi-wild, fed fruits and veggies by the British government since the time of Churchill.<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QJBsk5snZoM/VjfEmRGGrFI/AAAAAAAAB64/AzYW2ki_WQA/s1600/macaque_close.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QJBsk5snZoM/VjfEmRGGrFI/AAAAAAAAB64/AzYW2ki_WQA/s320/macaque_close.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L16F9a1O1qM/VjfEm5OYlyI/AAAAAAAAB7I/tAssOdWH7DA/s1600/macaques_gibraltar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="168" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-L16F9a1O1qM/VjfEm5OYlyI/AAAAAAAAB7I/tAssOdWH7DA/s200/macaques_gibraltar.jpg" width="200" /></a>They are completely habituated to tourists, but the £1,000 fine for feeding them keeps them one-step removed from being pets.<br />
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We came down from the rock to city center, and went off in search of some British food at a pub dating from the 18th century -- chicken pie with boiled cabbage, peas, chips, and for Ingrid, brown gravy. Soon after it started raining, first just rain, then a serious, torrential downpour. The report is that they had 36 mm (1.4") of rain in 30 min!<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xK7TcGCLzak/VjfEnl7j1bI/AAAAAAAAB7Q/oFyqTJ2fzTc/s1600/phonebooth_gibraltar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="76" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xK7TcGCLzak/VjfEnl7j1bI/AAAAAAAAB7Q/oFyqTJ2fzTc/s200/phonebooth_gibraltar.jpg" width="200" /></a><br />
By then we were already wet so we kept walking back toward the border with Spain. We got to near the stretch where you had to walk across the airport runway, but the thunder and lightening got pretty thick, and the streets were completely flooded. We decided walking that last bit wouldn't be our brightest moment.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6ygKMtR9Df4/VjfElRK79tI/AAAAAAAAB6o/zl1oFfQLjtg/s1600/flooded_busstop_gibraltar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6ygKMtR9Df4/VjfElRK79tI/AAAAAAAAB6o/zl1oFfQLjtg/s320/flooded_busstop_gibraltar.jpg" width="240" /></a>We asked where to catch a bus that last 500m to the border, and it turns out it was just 50m down the street, so we headed there, walking through deep water. By the time we reached the bus stop, the water had flooded beyond the street to calf-deep, so we climbed up on the bench to be out of the water.<br />
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A big garbage can next to the bus stop started floating around in the wake of passing vehicles. Finally a bus came by, we flagged it down, and it took us to the border, where we dripped through customs, and walked back to our rental car on the Spanish side.<br />
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bOYajiNwQEc/VjfEmP-If7I/AAAAAAAAB6w/p_HOCXUtpa4/s1600/floodingneargibraltar.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bOYajiNwQEc/VjfEmP-If7I/AAAAAAAAB6w/p_HOCXUtpa4/s200/floodingneargibraltar.jpg" width="200" /></a> Driving back many streets were flooded, but after about 15 min we had gone up enough in elevation to be out of the flood zone. Quite a weekend adventure!<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-35763602932494807602015-10-25T14:33:00.003-07:002015-11-08T02:57:06.098-08:00AceitunasSeems time in Sevilla is zooming past. Finally feel like there is good progress on the Annual Review, which is good because the deadline is just over a month away! Learning lots of great things from both the Jordano and Vilà groups, and feel like we've got a great work-life balance going here, doing something fun every weekend, and taking road trips on the long weekends. <br />
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One of the things we are all really enjoying is cooking. Elias has been really digging in, responsible for at least one dinner a week, and being very creative and successful with his cooking. He's learning lots of new techniques, and applying them in great ways. Tonight he and I worked together to make home-made pizzas, starting with fresh tomatoes for the sauce and hand-made crusts. Awesome!<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BTwsc5mGdaY/Vi1JVFiCBZI/AAAAAAAAB48/Sk20QRaUiRg/s1600/IMG_5253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-BTwsc5mGdaY/Vi1JVFiCBZI/AAAAAAAAB48/Sk20QRaUiRg/s200/IMG_5253.jpg" width="200" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--tLgs85iu8w/Vi1JVCeD5DI/AAAAAAAAB44/6BB3TPnyMBM/s1600/IMG_5252.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/--tLgs85iu8w/Vi1JVCeD5DI/AAAAAAAAB44/6BB3TPnyMBM/s200/IMG_5252.jpg" width="200" /></a>But our finest hour of cooking has been the olives he and I made, starting a month and a half ago. I bought a big bag of olives, a wooden mallet, and a bucket. And we got to work. First we smashed each olive individually to crack open the skin. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X-Q6EB0Ui2I/Vi1JUxwnipI/AAAAAAAAB5A/ummdj_RpjL8/s1600/IMG_5340.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-X-Q6EB0Ui2I/Vi1JUxwnipI/AAAAAAAAB5A/ummdj_RpjL8/s320/IMG_5340.jpg" width="320" /></a>Then we soaked them in water in the bucket, changing to fresh water daily until most of the bitterness was gone. Our sources said two weeks, but it took us more than three weeks to get to an edible stage. Then we divided them into six batches, and made several different variations of how we handled the brine, vinegar, and spices.<br />
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Some were brined, and then later put in vinegar and spice. Others straight into a combination of brine, vinegar, and spices. Some then got packed in olive oil, others just got a sealing layer of oil on the top of the jars. The spices ranges from very simple to very spicy!<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5nT-tyx1Tmw/Vi1JWBRbH6I/AAAAAAAAB5I/-Tf8hBs6qAw/s1600/P1000264.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5nT-tyx1Tmw/Vi1JWBRbH6I/AAAAAAAAB5I/-Tf8hBs6qAw/s320/P1000264.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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Each version came out delicious and very, very different. I'm just
hoping we can eat through enough of these in the next month so that
Ingrid lets us make more batches while it is still olive
season!<br />
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<b>Here are the recipes we used for the olives.</b><br />
<i>Pre-prep</i>: Wack each olive with a wooden hammer until it splits, to allow the bitter oleuropein to leach out. Put all the olives in a plastic bucket filled with water. Put a plate on top of olives to keep all submerged. Change water daily for about 3 weeks, until the the olive taste mellows (I've read that this can be done in a week, but for us 2 wks seems close, and 3 weeks perfect). Divide the olives into batches for different spices and treatments. Mason jars work really well for this.<br />
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We invented 6 varieties based loosely on different recipes we saw on line. <br />
1. <b>In Oil</b>. Cover olives with brine (1/4 c salt + 4 c water), and let soak for a week. Rinse olives. Place in jar with olives 2 squashed garlic cloves, 1 bay leaf, 1 sprig rosemary, and cover with olive oil. <br />
2. <b>Simple</b>. Place in jar with olives: 2 bay leafs and 2 tsp coriander seeds. Cover with 1/4 c salt, 4 c water, 1/2 c vinegar. Layer with olive oil to cover surface.<br />
3. <b>Spicy. </b>Place in jar with olives: 1 tsp black peppercorn, 2 tsp coriander seed, 2 tsp oregano, 6 cloves smashed garlic, 6 pico-de-gallo chilies, 4 bay leaves. Cover with 1/4 c salt, 4 c water, 1/2 c vinegar. Layer with olive oil to cover surface.<br />
4. <b>Lemony.</b> Place in jar with olives: 2 cloves smashed garlic, peel of a lemon (dried first in the oven), 1 tsp oregano. Cover with 1/4 c salt, 4 c water, 1/2 c vinegar. Layer with olive oil to cover surface.<br />
5. <b>Plain.</b> Place in jar with olives: 2 tsp peppercorns. Cover with 1/4 c salt, 4 c water, 1/2 c vinegar. Layer with olive oil to cover surface.<br />
6. <b>Romero.</b> Place in jar with olives: 3 sprigs rosemary, 2 sprigs thyme. Cover with 1/4 c salt, 4 c
water, 1/2 c vinegar. Layer with olive oil to cover surface.<br />
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All six of these recipes produced great olives we enjoy eating. The <i>Simple</i> and <i>Plain</i> varieties are pretty straight-forward olive-tasting olives. The <i>In Oil</i> variety is good, but not better that the others packed in brine with a little olive oil on top -- not really worth the extra oil. The <i>Romero</i> variety is tasty, with that Mediterranean spice flavor in the olives, but still a strong olive flavor. The two family favorites are <i>Spicy</i> and <i>Lemony</i>. I like the <i>Spicy</i> best: the olive flavor is still strong but the mix of flavors and touch of hot (mild, but noticeable) from the chilies combine to be the kind of olives I'd go back to buy on a regular basis. The <i>Lemony</i> are Eli's favorite, which a strong lemon-zest component that is very distinctive and tasty (but a little too dominant a zest flavor to be a strong favorite for me). The <i>Romero</i> and <i>Simple</i> are great sides to otherwise flavorful foods. <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-48190545000883060682015-10-12T14:25:00.002-07:002015-10-12T14:25:31.526-07:00La AlpujarraIt has been a good, busy couple of weeks. Ingrid and I have integrated more into the labs of Montse Vilà and Pedro Jordano, joining in lab meetings, lab lunches, and getting to know people. We've also been feeling good about work again, with good progress on paper fronts. Writing the Annual Review feels like writing pre-qual exams, but with the expectations that we can sound authoritative, not just well informed. Part of the challenge is figuring out the exact audience we are writing for, because it is both for plant pathologists, most of whom have little background in evolutionary ecology, and for evolutionary ecologists who are interested in diseases, but with less real pathology background. So there is a lot of framing needed for each group that doesn't really overlap. Still, as always, being forced to write helps me figure out what I know and don't know, and points me toward what I need to clarify in my own head. Such a perfect project for sabbatical.<br />
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Elias is well settled into school now, and has regular Friday outings with the gang of kids from his class. He is also very busy with the conservatory, which just got busier because he was accepted into the "external" orchestra, which plays at various places around the city, and includes another 2h/wk of rehearsals. He is very excited to be playing so much.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WMmbmLK7lFM/VhwfqT4otmI/AAAAAAAAB18/khP8w9G19ww/s1600/P1000068.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WMmbmLK7lFM/VhwfqT4otmI/AAAAAAAAB18/khP8w9G19ww/s200/P1000068.jpg" width="200" /></a>This was a long weekend for the <i>Fiesta Nacional de España</i> (odd that it coincides with Columbus Day), so we managed to find an airB&B and a rental car and headed to the mountains. We went to the southern part of the <i>Sierra Nevada</i>, called <i>La Alpujarra</i>, and stayed in a lovely old town, originally settled by Berber from Morocco. All whitewashed buildings made of slate and chestnut, with defensively labyrinthine pathways through the town. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rTDEq4H-5tI/Vhwj4cRZTvI/AAAAAAAAB3E/PJP86h14BMo/s1600/P1000118.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-rTDEq4H-5tI/Vhwj4cRZTvI/AAAAAAAAB3E/PJP86h14BMo/s200/P1000118.jpg" width="200" /></a>We spent a lot of time hiking the trails through abandoned farms (it is a decidedly vertical existence there, a bit of a challenge after the flatlands of Sevilla), but such a wonderful, green escape from the urban life. It was also a chance to try out my new Lumix FZ1000, which was a birthday replacement for my aged Nikon. Fun chance to see what I could do with it. <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Zh9v0bmCa0/Vhwfpwy2pSI/AAAAAAAAB14/giVHMyzDVjU/s1600/P1000081.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="425" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7Zh9v0bmCa0/Vhwfpwy2pSI/AAAAAAAAB14/giVHMyzDVjU/s640/P1000081.jpg" width="640" /></a>On the drive up we marveled at the clouds draped across the tops of the mountains, and it turned out that we were in those clouds most of the weekend (sometimes with rain, sometimes not). But it was wonderfully cool and fresh and wet. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p9-axC9R2FU/Vhwj7oEWFZI/AAAAAAAAB3M/RoQnyDfKMy8/s1600/P1000173.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-p9-axC9R2FU/Vhwj7oEWFZI/AAAAAAAAB3M/RoQnyDfKMy8/s320/P1000173.jpg" width="320" /></a><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TNYQOjXiTgM/VhwfrfhiBTI/AAAAAAAAB2I/JYiE-N-l9Do/s1600/P1000124.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-TNYQOjXiTgM/VhwfrfhiBTI/AAAAAAAAB2I/JYiE-N-l9Do/s200/P1000124.jpg" width="200" /></a>We hiked hard for hours on Sunday, learned some plants and fungi, took some pictures, ate local cheese and bread,
and made friends with a wandering gang of local residents along the trail. They don't talk much, but are cute. <br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b_00dj7P7EQ/Vhwfr0IGi2I/AAAAAAAAB2Y/WwyVu6DvTA4/s1600/P1000186.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-b_00dj7P7EQ/Vhwfr0IGi2I/AAAAAAAAB2Y/WwyVu6DvTA4/s200/P1000186.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Getting chestnuts ready for roasting</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x-Oj0b9O6Ro/Vhwfqq2TgOI/AAAAAAAAB2A/stZ7gN8eFKo/s1600/P1000102.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-x-Oj0b9O6Ro/Vhwfqq2TgOI/AAAAAAAAB2A/stZ7gN8eFKo/s200/P1000102.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Collecting chestnuts</td></tr>
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There are countless ripe chestnut trees and a lot of walnuts and rose hips to munch on too. We collected over 100 chestnuts in about 10 min, roasted and ate a bunch, and brought the rest home. Had some other great food too -- Eli and Ingrid shared a <i>jabalí</i> stew (wild boar). <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dNfHdMP3pR8/Vhwi6xQ73kI/AAAAAAAAB28/4bx4HNDXQPY/s1600/P1000241.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-dNfHdMP3pR8/Vhwi6xQ73kI/AAAAAAAAB28/4bx4HNDXQPY/s320/P1000241.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
We stopped in the Arabic section of Granada on the way home for lunch, and then arrived back in Sevilla just in time for the festivities for the holiday. Of course another virgin parade past our house, with marching bands, candles, and lots of incense. We have prime seats from our balcony. <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-53874292758927209232015-10-04T13:24:00.002-07:002015-10-04T14:42:14.718-07:00Pisos y Paredes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aveH7nBntzo/VhGKxlx1jGI/AAAAAAAAB08/Jrjo4XYNGdI/s1600/PisosParedes_web.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aveH7nBntzo/VhGKxlx1jGI/AAAAAAAAB08/Jrjo4XYNGdI/s640/PisosParedes_web.jpg" width="425" /></a></div>
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This was a project I've been working on slowly throughout our travels through Denmark, Istanbul, Athens, Ydra, and Sevilla. I love the brick and stone work in walls (<i>paredes</i>), floors (<i>pisos</i>), streets, and sidewalks; some ancient, some new. It was hard to narrow it down to just 24, but these are my favorites. Can you guess where they are from?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-54395663256857583992015-10-02T00:30:00.001-07:002015-10-02T00:40:13.835-07:00Off to work we goIngrid and I have a wonderful commute to the EBD. Ingrid even lets me carry her school bag. I think she likes me. ☺️<div><div class="separator" style="clear: both;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6wWdGCKH5B0/Vg4yilViWEI/AAAAAAAAB0k/m_444J359lw/s640/blogger-image-1086129277.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-6wWdGCKH5B0/Vg4yilViWEI/AAAAAAAAB0k/m_444J359lw/s640/blogger-image-1086129277.jpg"></a></div><br></div><div><br></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0Sevilla Sevilla37.412293 -6.00586tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-13876456147308367152015-09-28T00:28:00.003-07:002015-09-28T00:28:38.420-07:00On to real life<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XvY92s4_LVs/Vgjq-pTCLcI/AAAAAAAABy8/JAlsYCDbTVM/s1600/IMG_5255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XvY92s4_LVs/Vgjq-pTCLcI/AAAAAAAABy8/JAlsYCDbTVM/s200/IMG_5255.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ingrid on her way to work</td></tr>
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Now that Elias is in school and almost all home repairs and bureaucratic paper shuffling is finished (we still have a few weeks before we are residents, and then some bank business), we can get back to a regular work schedule. Ingrid and I are both working on finishing up some separate projects (I just finished long-overdue fixes of my ferp.ucsc.edu and greggilbertlab web sites - should be live today or tomorrow!), but are now more seriously tackling writing up our chapter for Annual Review of Phytopathology, due in December. It is an exciting time that feels a little like being a grad student again -- we are expected to read deeply in the literature, synthesize it, and say something reasonably intelligent. I hope we are up to the task!<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zM2Rv9eI6wU/Vgjp7HJQ1BI/AAAAAAAABy0/hq2AfL7JQkw/s1600/IMG_5321_highlights.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-zM2Rv9eI6wU/Vgjp7HJQ1BI/AAAAAAAABy0/hq2AfL7JQkw/s200/IMG_5321_highlights.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption">On top of the <i>Torre de Oro</i>, with<i> La Giralda</i> <br />in the background, where Columbus <br />is supposedly buried.</td></tr>
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Fortunately, we still have the flexibility to plan our own schedules, including a visit to the <i>Torre de Oro</i>, where the riches coming back from the West Indies in the 16th and 17th centuries all passed. The 16th century drawings of rows of dozens of ships in the port just down the block where we live are remarkable. <br />
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Yesterday morning we took a 2-h bike / in-line skate trip through eastern Sevilla to the Nervión district, where one of two stores in the city sell essential Chinese food products, like tofu, black-bean sauce, and wasabi peas. Sevilla has really done bike/skating lanes right! <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-74812382395048468992015-09-27T22:34:00.004-07:002015-09-27T22:54:19.654-07:00Superbloodmoon eclipse<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-90348845800099498102015-09-26T06:12:00.001-07:002015-09-27T22:56:57.450-07:00Back to school!<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VamLm-ZdztY/VgaZ0KviiJI/AAAAAAAABxs/0xO8i-C2Gis/s640/blogger-image-100810949.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="241" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VamLm-ZdztY/VgaZ0KviiJI/AAAAAAAABxs/0xO8i-C2Gis/s320/blogger-image-100810949.jpg" width="320" /></a>Our expertise in Andalucian bureaucracy continues to grow, and now with some successes! Monday we finally got word of Eli's acceptance, and Wednesday he started at the Triana Music Conservatory. It has taken us a while to figure out exactly how it works, but it looks like it is going to be a super music experience. He was accepted for clarinet (he had to choose between that and piano for audition -- this was a great chance to focus on clarinet, and was equally good because a lot of the people who auditioned for piano were not accepted), but the program is much broader than a focus on one instrument. Each week he'll have 2h of theory, 2h chorus, and 30 min private clarinet. Wednesday the clarinet teacher asked him to audition for the orchestra next week, and if that goes well, he'll add another 2h of orchestra a week. Everything is between 5-8 p.m., which fits pretty well with our newly adopted Sevillan eating patterns -- desayuno a las 7, merienda late morning (optional), almuerzo a las 2:30, cena a las 8:00-8:30. So we are a little early on the dinner side, but Eli and I both start melting down by 9. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hunger strike. Father fighting for the education of his son.</td></tr>
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We've been waiting for weeks for Elias to be assigned a school by the Delegación Educativa de Andalucía; this was frustrating because Eli couldn't enroll in school until assigned by the Delegación, and school started on the 15th! We, and the local school director, have called repeatedly, and were always told nothing could be done, just wait until they called us. Finally, Thursday morning we got the call, I zipped across town to the <i>Delegación </i> to be greeted by a big sign from another frustrated parent, and got the enrollment assignment -- to the wrong school. They said there was no room at the school we requested, so they put him in the next closest school, which had instruction in Spanish, English, and French (not classes to learn French, but teaching subjects in it). This would have been an interesting challenge, but even the Directora thought this was silly. So once more we went to visit the Directora at the IES Vicente Aleixandre, where we expected Eli to be admitted, and she was so fed up with the <i>Delegación</i> that she enrolled Eli on the spot, complaining loudly that yes, there was space in his year, ¿what was the <i>Delegación</i> talking about? So Friday Eli started his first day in ESO 2° (Obligatory Secundary Education 2nd level = 8th grade), and had a great time. He was a little surprised when in math class he and another new kid were each asked to go to the board and work out prime factorization in front of the class (apparently they had learned it earlier in the week), but that was followed by the teacher reviewing addition of whole numbers for the class, which he said he'll never get over. But he came home happy and apparently automatically cool among all the kids who wear Hollister and California Surf shirts to school. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-5864546561266243412015-09-20T14:47:00.003-07:002015-09-20T14:47:40.083-07:00Two miracles in one dayWe had two miracles yesterday in Triana. First, my new computer arrived! It has been a long time on iPad and a borrowed machine, and I'm excited to be setting up my new MacBook Pro. As always, that takes a lot of doing, but it is actually great timing to do some serious housecleaning on the computer front. The path to getting it was not without significant hiccups, but so far it has been great, and it will make blog posting (not to mention work) so much easier.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Virgin out for a walk in Triana!</td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wrY0oIxaYIY/Vf8iST53lhI/AAAAAAAABwM/uMdL1hO7pug/s1600/IMG_5302.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wrY0oIxaYIY/Vf8iST53lhI/AAAAAAAABwM/uMdL1hO7pug/s200/IMG_5302.JPG" width="150" /></a>The second miracle was much more Sevillanista. We went out for tapas dinner last night -- three really differenting types of great little fishes to eat whole, and Ingrid and Elias split some apparently extremely tender and delicious pork jowls. Oh, and a great baked soft cheese (<i>Rulo de Cabra</i>) with a chili jam and a caramelized onion jam on the side. But that wasn't the miracle, just another night of interesting tapas in the neighborhood. On leaving, and walking the block and a half to our flat, we saw the street was completely blocked off with hundreds of people. Friday they had decorated two of the nearby side streets, but we had no idea why. Ingrid had also heard a marching band while Elias and I were out, but we hadn't seen anything. Then all of a sudden was this giant crowd of people. We could see some priests and their <i>monaguillos</i>, and further up a large marching band, but mostly just people milling around. Since the crowd was all gathered in front of our flat, we went in and upstairs to our plant-filled 2nd-floor (3rd floor in US terminology) to watch. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Costaleros</i> waiting to take over carrying the Virgin</td></tr>
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There were the hundreds of people hanging out, talking, and smoking, including a dozen or so <i>costaleros</i>, weight-lifter shaped men with cloth belts and head scarves that nearly cover their eyes then drape down their backs. Suddenly, the miracle! The Virgin was out for a walk! Not sure which of the churches she strolled out from, sitting on a huge, silver platform and surrounded by flowers, carried by <i>costaleros</i> hidden under the platform. The priests waved their incense, both bands played, and they marched on, with the Virgin stopping just below us. There the tired <i>costaleros </i>were replaced by fresh ones, and after a bit, the party moved on. <br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Virgin takes a rest right in front of our flat. </td></tr>
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Now just waiting for two more miracles. For my shipment of supplements to be released from customs and for the <i>Delegación de Educación </i>to finally decide which school Elias can attend (so far he as missed 3 days of school, because the school can't admit him until the <i>Delegación </i>says so). Maybe tomorrow is another day of miracles? At least I'll be able to unlock my iPhone and Elias can enroll in the conservatory, but those would be minor miracles, at best.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-57792449734532682542015-09-13T14:28:00.003-07:002015-09-13T14:48:08.691-07:00Settled into Sevilla<br />
It has been a long time since updating the blog, delayed by the business of settling into Sevilla and the demise of my beloved MacBook Pro. I'm hobbled until my new computer arrives, but able to piece together productive time on borrowed time on Ingrid's computer and from my iPad.<br />
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<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-tgOq3A8OVjg/VfXr2qbGAJI/AAAAAAAABuw/pfQxewQhvZM/w1884-h410-no/15%2B-%2B9" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" class="HAa Eha" height="85" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-tgOq3A8OVjg/VfXr2qbGAJI/AAAAAAAABuw/pfQxewQhvZM/w1884-h410-no/15%2B-%2B9" width="400" /></a>We arrived in Sevilla as planned on August 26, and settled into our museum-like apartment on Pagés del Corro in the historic district of Triana. Triana is west of the rest of Sevilla, across the eastern branch (the "port") of the Guadilquiver River, but east of the main branch of the river, on what used to be and island (but now is more like a really long peninsula. Our flat belonged to the owner of one of the main ceramic tile factories here (Santa Ana; Triana is the center of production of "azulejos"), but has been closed up since his death 6 years ago. The family decided to clean it out and rent it, and we are the first to do so. It is filled with old, dark-wood furniture, old-fashioned vases, tea sets, statues, and portraits, plus some really stunning tile work -- including a surprising tile portrait of Simón Bolivar. We've been very busy working with our wonderful landlords to get everything back up and functional after 6 years of disuse, but it is a wonderful -- and huge -- flat. It is much more urban than any of us are used to, and there are two tapas bars just a few steps away (and two floors down) from our bedroom window. Since Sevilla life is 9:00-2:00 and 6:00-2:00 and in the street, we are entertained nightly with lots of happy voices, some singing, and an occasional "¡Ole!" from the tapas bars, and motorcycles zooming past on our narrow street. <br />
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The wonderful Triana Mercado (Market) is a couple blocks down a cobblestone street, and filled with little stands -- cheese and jams; fish; chicken, eggs, and rabbit; fresh pasta; bakery; fruits and veggies; tapas bars -- where we do most of our shopping. There is also a grocery on the corner, and two bazars across the street which have just about anything, if you can find it.<br />
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<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-jXuUjtxBUCw/VfXr2rutjCI/AAAAAAAABvY/NXBADACDg6c/w1116-h1488-no/15%2B-%2B6" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" class="HAa Eha" height="320" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-jXuUjtxBUCw/VfXr2rutjCI/AAAAAAAABvY/NXBADACDg6c/w1116-h1488-no/15%2B-%2B6" width="240" /></a>We are a few buildings away from the intersection with Calle San Jacinto, a pedestrian-only street with lots of shops, ranging from banks to cell phones to pastries to tapas to shoes to roasted chickens to ice cream to pharmacies to ..., which ends at the Triana Mercado and the bridge across to the rest of Sevilla. We are within a 30min walk, bus ride, bike ride, or roller blade from pretty much anywhere in Sevilla, and really within 15 min of almost everything we need. <br />
We've spent much, much too much time dealing with Sevilla's bureaucracy. Sevilla shuts down for the summer, and most things don't open again until 1 September. And most things require a chain of papers. To get a cell phone you need a bank account. To get a bank account you need either residency or proof of non-residency. To get residency you need an <i>empadronamiento</i>, which requires an appointment, and the first one is two weeks out. To get proof of non-residency you need a letter from the bank to take to the police office and then take that back to the bank. To register for school you need the <i>empadronamiento</i> (not available until 9 Sep) to take to the <i>Delegado de Educación</i>, which then takes "<i>unos días</i>" before being able to register or even know which school, but school starts on the 15th... I'll write up a guide on all this soon for future Sevilla immigrants. <br />
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The arrival at the Estación Biológical Doñana (where Ingrid and I are doing our sabbatical) was much smoother. Montse met us with keys in hand, signed the necessary papers to get our building passes, showed us to our office (with great windows!), and incorporated us into the group. Pedro and his group has been traveling to meetings, so I won't be able to join with his group for another week or so. <br />
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<a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-XumoS9d6Ldw/VfXr2v8eKEI/AAAAAAAABuE/6a3X_NyRaGk/s1488-no/15%2B-%2B5" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" border="0" class="HAa Eha" height="200" src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-XumoS9d6Ldw/VfXr2v8eKEI/AAAAAAAABuE/6a3X_NyRaGk/s1488-no/15%2B-%2B5" title="" width="200" /></a><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9ovY8RLck48/VfXr2h7K9YI/AAAAAAAABvA/uYsy_e5IZ5c/s200-p-o/15%2B-%2B3" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img alt="Photo" border="0" class="Bea" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-9ovY8RLck48/VfXr2h7K9YI/AAAAAAAABvA/uYsy_e5IZ5c/s200-p-o/15%2B-%2B3" style="height: 100px; margin-top: 0px; width: 100px;" /></a>We've been getting to know Sevilla, taking in a great flamenco show at the Museo del Baile Flamenco, biking (or roller blading, depending on preference) around the many bike paths throughout Sevilla, the tremendous gardens of the Real Alcázar, and with Montse and family to the beach. We've eaten lots of great tapas -- the most unique was <i>huevas de maruca, </i>which is very thinly sliced ovary of ling-cod. Think chewy potato chip that tastes like smoky fish. <br />
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Finally getting to start some work again, mostly catching up on emails and such. All of us are very ready for more regular schedules and productivity. <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-57712780196207320732015-08-24T11:11:00.001-07:002015-09-07T12:59:22.371-07:00Aarhus and our last week in DenmarkOur vacation time ended today. We spent the day at Aarhus University meeting with Jens-Christian Svenning's biodiversity group. Ingrid and I gave back to back talks - Ingrid about our joint work on phylogenetic effects on pathogen spillover (our Nature paper from earlier this year) and then I gave a talk on the Fungal Dimension work from Panama. It was a good group of ecologists interested in species interactions, tropical and temperate systems, and broadly trying to make predictive sense about what will happen ecologically as climate changes. It was good to be back talking and thinking about science, and the discussions after the talks were stimulating. Learned about some good new tools from BIEN that are just about to be released that will make much of my phylogenetic work easier, as well. UCSC has some close Anthropocene connections through the AURA project with Ana Tsing, and we spent the afternoon talking with her associate Elaine Gan, an artist working on tree-fungal connections in post-mining areas in Denmark. Many good connections in this visit.<br />
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Now we are on a long ferry ride from Aarhus to Odden, and then to Klemens' summer house for the night. Tomorrow we drive to Copenhagen, pack up, and head to Sevilla on Wednesday morning! I can't wait to be back in a land where I speak the language. </div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VgFHIU75opo/VduQiQjsyuI/AAAAAAAABrM/_Biz8bc84-g/s640/blogger-image-1850851029.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-VgFHIU75opo/VduQiQjsyuI/AAAAAAAABrM/_Biz8bc84-g/s320/blogger-image-1850851029.jpg" width="240" /></a>This last visit to Denmark has been good. We've rented a car to drive to Lolland (Ingrid's family's ancestral home) to spend some wonderful days with Hanne's high school friend Bodil. She has a wicked wit, showed her love by feeding us to bursting, and gave us a different perspective on the social changes in Denmark. She lives in Rødby, a small, dying town where most of the stores have closed, people have fled to the city, and the economic struggles of Lolland are clear. Down the road in Maribo, where Ingrid's mother grew up, they have been working hard to make it tourist friendly, and it is more quaint and thriving than I remembered. We took the boat tour around the Maribosø, and got to see a number of the white-tailed eagles that have come back to the lake after a long absence. We also rented bikes and did the 25km (flat) circuit around the lake - by far my longest bike ride since the onset of Bartonella over a year ago, so that was great, if a bit of a stretch. But it was made more of an adventure by one flat tire and Eli's chain repeatedly falling off. But it was a great was to see Lolland in a more Danish way. </div>
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Eli made a special request that we spent his 13th birthday with "family", and Bodil offered to make an amazing cake, and Ingrid and I made chicken and pasta. The two of them went early in the morning for Eli to pick out the kinds of pastries to get for breakfast. A great time was had by all. </div>
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En route to Aarhus we took a car ferry from Lolland to Fyn, then stopped for a visit in Odense at the H.C. Anderson house, and then on to a day at Legoland! It was much more interesting and fun than I expected -- much less Disney and much more creativity and quite a lot of education about energy and transportation snuck in. And good softice. </div>
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We also made a quick visit to the Jelling Stones -- two rune boulders erected by Harald Bluetooth in the 10th century in honor of his father Gorm, the first King of Denmark and his conversion of the country to Christianity. It is a world heritage site, and last year they opened a museum, which was spectacular in its artistic presentation, information, and creativity. Primarily done as a maze of black "chalkboards" with some static and many changing, projected, chalk "drawings". Most images were interactive in some way, and nearly all in just black and white. Captivating, beautiful, and effective. <br />
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The most brilliant installation, and the most gruesome, was a black-and-white drawing of a dead Viking on a knee-high platform, with numerous weapons sticking out of it -- an axe in the leg, a spear in the chest, a knife in the neck, etc. When you grabbed onto any of the weapons, red "blood" poured out of the wound as well as useful information about how long it would take for that kind of a wound to kill the victim, and what exactly he would die of (e.g., sword cut on the hand could take a week from blood poisoning, cutting off a leg 2h from blood loss, knife stab in the neck 2 min from blood loss, etc. I don't think they could have made a more intriguing installation for a 13 year old boy. </div>
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In Aarhus we spend a couple days with our Santa Cruz neighbors from years ago, Jacob, Luise, Liv, and Alberte. We went to the beach (for a brisk, brief, and refreshing dip in the Kattegat (North Sea between Denmark and Sweden), and visited the reconstructed old town. On our walks (and in their garden) we ate tons of rose hips, cherries, plums, raspberries, grapes, and more. We harvested some "beach kale" (<i>Crambe maritima</i>) and took it home for dinner. Sautéed, spiced with soy sauce and vinegar, it was pleasantly salty and cabbagy. But we also learned that it was rather methanogenic. They had just been to visit Santa Cruz the days before we left for Europe, so we got to see them twice in a short time, which was great. </div>
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Now to focus on the transition to Spain. All should be ready, we just need to make the drive to Copenhagen, repack and balance bags, then fly to Sevilla through Barcelona. On to Pagés del Corro!</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1441241377808612959.post-19958710176652361242015-08-20T23:52:00.001-07:002015-08-23T08:35:11.083-07:00Another casual list of birds from Denmark<b>Lolland and Jylland, Denmark (Maribo, Rødby, Aarhus, etc.)</b><br />
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<b><i>17-24 August 2015</i></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Nuthatch House martin</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Treecreeper Tufted duck</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Great tit Moorhen</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Wood pigeon Hooded crow</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Jackdaw Tree sparrow</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Mallard Grey-lag goose</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Coot Collared dove</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Black-headed gull Pied wagtail</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Common tern Starling</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Gray heron Great-crested grebe</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">White-tailed eagle Mute swan</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Cormorant Lesser black-backed gull</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Swift Pigeon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Swallow Eider</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Herring gull Wren</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">Hen harrier Rough-legged buzzard</span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02934820277329773901noreply@blogger.com0