Melidefest 2013

Rats.  As so often happens, maybe next year.

Artisan Beers we missed:  Dama Alaricana, Keltius, Menduiña, Peregrina, Saramagal, De Lago, Ancora

Other Galician Ruins

via

Hispania Nostra, an organization dedicated to the identification and preservation of historical patrimony, has listed 12 abandoned properties in Galicia out of 300 in all Spain.

The Castillo de Pambre is the closest to us in Palas de Rei.  It's scheduled for renovation next year, though I'm not sure what they've decided to use it for.

This Sanatorium in Cesuras is especially creepy.

 The rest of the slideshow here.

The Cup Song - 'You're Gonna Miss Me When I'm Gone'

600 students and a beautiful female singer do a catching Irish Gaelic version of 'The Cup Song'

 

Hat tip to Jenna Woginrich

El Museo da Terra de Melide

via

The Ethnological Museum, installed in the former Sancti Spiritus Pilgrim Hospital, features both temporary exhibitions and has an interesting selection  of artifacts, some dating from the neolithic, including a spectacular blacksmith/cobbler/carpintry/homecraft display upstairs.

via

But from January to Semana Santa of 2014, the museum will close for lack of funds to pay the 2 staff members.  After the provincial government cut their 2013 grant from 30 to 20,000€, associate dues and the government subsidy aren´t enough to keep the museum staffed and maintained.

via

In addition to the collection of area artifacts, the museum houses the Centro de Estudios Melidenses, whose members have been working for the protection and study of the area´s artistic and historic patrimony since the 1970s.  After opening in the newly renovated space on the central plaza in 2001, by 2008 the museum received 12,000 visits, growing to 22,000 in 2010.

via

V and I both enjoyed our visit, and recommend it to friends and family who are in the area.  You can have a virtual look-see here.

I am a huge fan of museums housing real stuff that reflect the lives of real people.  The National Decorative Arts Museum in Madrid is one of my favorites (a somewhat dizzying panoramic of the tiled kitchen here).  The Museo do Pobo Gallego in Santago de Compostela is on my list of places to go (they have boats!).

Armistice Day

via

 In Flanders fields the poppies blow
      Between the crosses, row on row,
   That mark our place; and in the sky
   The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
   Loved and were loved, and now we lie
         In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
   The torch; be yours to hold it high.
   If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
         In Flanders fields.

 

Performance Art

via

I´m keeping an eye out for a vintage sewing machine with all metal parts, basic functions, etc.  In my search  I keep running across these marvels of engineering of the late 19th and early 20th centuries - elegant, sleek, functional, robust, resiliant, precision instruments still performing more than 120 years later, made by the millions all over the world.

via 

 via 

Beautifully decorated, wrapped in fine casework, they were expensive investments, lately mostly appreciated by collectors. Now, with the crisis, I think prices seem to be coming down. 

 via  

via 

There are a few brands I´ve never heard of:  Jones, Libelle, National, Kayser, Gritzner, Vibra, Naumann.

via

They´re even being given makeovers.

via

via 

How long does the latest iteration of a cell phone last these days?

via  

An interesting blog about restoring an old singer here.