random thoughts & happenings from today

so... first thought is from an older man i ended up talking to on the bus on the way home from Cobeña (a small town outside of madrid, where i have a meeting about every thursday morning). apparently the lilies you see pictured here are calla lilies (or calas, in spanish), they aren't peace lilies, while i'm sure they are related.

i'll have to write more another time about the adventures he told me about before he retired. oh, and by the way, he had a whole huge bouquet of calas he had taken from his garden in their country home to take to his wife who was ill in their home in the city. it didn't sound like she was doing too well, but the flowers were beautiful! oh, and to give you an idea of their size, they were about the size (each) of my two hands cupped together. now granted my hands aren't huge, but still. and their stem was about the circumference of a nickel or quarter. and he had at least 8-10 of them, along with some of their large, rich green leaves. very beautiful.
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another random thought is that i am somewhat insane. as i'm learning about myself, somehow i have crazy ideas that seem fully possible and reasonable to take on (or maybe i just don't really think about whether or not it is reasonably possible, i think i like the challenge of doing the impossible). so, somehow i decided it would be a great idea to MAKE my dress for the wedding i am going to on saturday. i didn't really like any of the dresses i have. so, i figured i could try to make one.

i bought fabric and thread and such on tuesday morning, cut out half of the pieces yesterday, cut out the rest today and began sewing. now truth be told, I am just about done. i have to finish the skit part of the dress, put in the zipper, and then just make sure it all lays right and fits me. oh, and i need to buy some shoes as well. i have no idea where the time actually came from to do this, but considering it is now 2:00 am, it makes a bit more sense. (by the way, if it turns out the way i hope, it should be really cute. it should look more or less like the picture above, but with a green lining, like an olive green, and then a shimmery golden green semi-sheer overlayer. it looks a bit more formal than the pictured dress and should be at least fairly long. and if it turns well, i'll most likely post a picture. :-))

as i said before, i beginning to really enjoy my sewing machine i got this summer. and while i may be mildly insane, more often than not these crazy ideas actually pull through. (like when kelly and i decided to catch up with some guys who were heading to the mountains in santiago, chile. we had no idea where we were going, but i figured we could figure it out and that asking some of the locals would eventually get us there. long story short, we actually ended up ahead of the guys (who had left at least an hour and a half earlier) and did in fact make it to the rocky mountain that we also ended up sliding down (unintentionally) about half way. it was a fun, crazy time that i actually really miss.)

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in addition to the older man with the flowers, i also met a guy from israel on the metro (which i took after the bus to get home) who asked me for directions. apparently he owns a hostel in nicaragua, likes to take pictures, somehow had a couple day layover in rio de janeiro, had 4 hours to spare in madrid before heading back to hypha, israel, for passover. interesting guy. we talked in spanish for a bit and then when he realized i was an american we finished talking in english.

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another random thought... i probably should get some sleep.