El Bañuelo, Granada

podcast presentacion

The Generalife, its gardens, its trees, the Citron

Back from a walk in the Albaicin Quarter in my city, Granada. I went inside one of the nice carmen-gardens of the quarter, one of the importat ones, & I have taken some photos: There were Iris as well as Manzano Japones (malus floribunda), but in this garden as well there were almond flowers and a very interesting tree. It is a very small citrus tree, it is not a lemon, not an orange or a lime, it is a Citron (Citrus medica). The tree & the fruit have a very interesting story: 5 years ago the restoration of the Generalife Palace in the Alhambra Complex was already finished. As the palace was open again for visitors, we found that the aspect of the palace had changed very much & instead of a garden at the floor level we had now a garden that was 40 cm deep. The explanation was, the archeological investigations inside the palace had given the fact that from the water channel in the center there were irrigation channels to the sides at that depth, so, the level of the garden must have been underneath that level to get the irrigation. As well, biological analysis provided important information about the plants & the vegetation that had been planted there originally. There had been fruit trees planted, among other, the polen of a very interesting tree was found, a tree that had been very common in the Spanish Peninsula during the muslim medieval times, but that we did not use any more now, in the 21st century. The questioned tree is a Citron (in french Cedrat), cultivated since ancient times, it has a minor importance today, then we don´t consume it at all. We consume the lemon today, which has very similar benefits & is much easier to cultivate. But Citron is, among the citrus spices, one of the old ones, it has the molecular evidence of not being hybrid. As well, Citron is a very delicate tree, it suffers a lot either with heat & cold... very bad in Granada, with our very hard winters & the very, very hard summers. Citron grows today in the Middle East & Far East. Jewish use it during the Feast of the Tabernacles... So, to carry on with the story, the restoration-techicians of the Generalife Palace first tried of course to plant some Citrons inside the Palace after the restoration. They acquired some of them, which grew for certain time in a botanical Garden in Malaga (with milder temperatures) hoping that these trees would grow properly & could be able to be re-planted inside the Generalife Palace after certain time... But the trees never came to the palace, today we have 4 Pomegranate trees, very nice indeed, but not Citrons. Apparently these trees have not grown enough to come to the Generalife Palace. Well I found one today in the garden I visited, it has finished here!! The tree must be meanwhile 5 years old, & it is now only 1-1,5 mts. high (it can grow 3-4 meters). Finally the trees have not adapted to our weather. But I took a nice photo of the fruits. They look like a lemon, but have the form of a pear...

Penelope Cruz today

Pe (Penelope Cruz) won yesterday the 2009 Oscar of the Academy for her supporting role in Vicky, Cristina Barcelona. The film is a great creation of Woody Allen, a very unexpected film as it goes on. It begins with certain expectations that change completely at the end of it. The argument is very "crazy", like the role of Pe. Woody Allen won in 2002 the Prince of Asturias Award of Arts, & he promised he would make a film in Spain to thank the country for this award. Vicky Cristina Barcelona is his expression of gratitude, a great film, in the style of Woody Allen, & where the cities of Barcelona & Oviedo look great. Penelope looked beautiful with her vintage dress of Pierre Balmain. Penelope said yesterday in the Press Conference that she had seen the dress 8 years ago hanging in the shop & she thought she wanted to wear it sometime. Last week she went again to the shop & the dress was still there, so she chose it forher greatest night. The dress is 60 years old, it has been so long waiting for her. Spanish is spoken in Hollywood. Last year Javier Barden thanked The Academy for his Oscar as supporting actor in "No Country for old Men" giving part of his speech in spanish & this year it was Penelope...talking about her origins in Alcobendas, a small town in Madrid. Congratulations

Happy birthday in Canada

I know of some people who are having birthday on the other side of the world, Magog, & Waterville in Quebec, Canada... Family Pomerleau are having this week big celebrations, then 3 members of the family do have birthday: They are all relatives of Robert Pomerleau: mother, doughter & sister in love. In fact the big family supper took place yesterday, they all were together the whole evening. The one I know most of is: Noemie Pomerleau, next february 24th she will be 14 years old... As a birthday present she is travelling with her schoolmates to...COSTA RICA!!! Great trip. I wish she has an unforgettable experience...& comes back speaking a little bit of spanish...which she can teach it to her father... I know her father is a bit nervous, helping her with all the preparations...he is so busy, that does not have any minute free to come to the computer & write something to the other side of the world. I wish a nice trip to Noemie & wish her as well Happy Birthday!...make it unforgettable...ok??

Maria Angustias

Well, I´d like to introduce myself, I´m Maria...Maria Angustias "Anguish"..awfull name for a woman, but the explanations is that Granada, Spain is my home city & here, many women are "Angustias". The Madonna of "Las Angustias" is the Patron of the city...it is not strange to be called "Angustias" here...of course, outside Granada, everybody get very strange when they hear it... then, in those cases, I´m just Maria.

Let´s say half of the people I know, call me Maria Angustias, they are those living in Granada...& half of the people I know call me Maria...those living outside Granada.

The Maddonna represents the moment in which Maria carries her dead son on her knies, a very dramatical scene. We have very nice figures of this scene in Granada. I found some while surfing in Internet

Now I attache two representations of the Madonna of Las Angustias, the representative one in Granada, the own Patron of the city...& then, the most beautiful one of the world, the "pieta" of Michelangelo...