The next morning I did exactly what I'd planned on doing, I worked. I got my schoolwork done before noon and in to Mr. Owens before 7:30 his time. After this I was ready to breath a sigh of relief and actually wind down, but then I realized that I hadn't written a blog in a long time. The computer and I started a staring contest, I defeated it by saying it was brunch time and leaving the room.
We went and ate a late breakfast in the restaurant and then we headed out to Toledo where Ahmee and I had conversations in Spanish all along the way. Our objective was to see the shops, to see a cathedral (Santo Tome) where El Greco had another famous painting, and to see a museum of more famous Greco paintings (Museo de Santa Cruz). On the way to the cathedral we stopped in a postoffice to send work to my teachers, and then we stopped in a restaurant for almuerzo (lunch).
During lunch Ahmee and I spoke mostly spanish, and Ahmee got a compliment from Gabriela, our waitress who'd been living in Spain for 3 years and had been living in Toledo for 2 months (and who was from Argentina). Gabriela was incredibly nice and she and Ahmee enjoyed talking to each other each time she came up (I was quite and listened and actually understood a fair bit of what she was saying). Once we were done with lunch Gabriela gave me her email address on the back of the receipt saying to write as soon as possible (I wrote that night in an email that was half English and half Spanish).
We then went on, following the signs to Santo Tome only to run into a dead end (not really, there were two streets to pick from and these were back alleys and neither one of these had a sign pointing to Santo Tome). We finally asked where the cathedral was and worked our way to it within a short period of time. We got there when all of the tour groups were flooding through the doors. It took a bit before we could even get our tickets.
Once we'd acquired these we turned to our right to see a huge painting done by El Greco that was of a heaven and Earth scene. The clouds were stunning, the people were pale but you could definitely tell the difference between the living and the dead in the painting, and there was so much grey and blue. We went up to the railing and stared at it for a short bit. Funnily enough as we stood there and English tour group came up behind us. The tour guide was just within earshot so we got to listen in and get a freebee explanation of the painting. It was great!
After the group went in we followed, only to find that the group was only going to be left to wander. We looked around at this mostly modest church. The decoration was kept to a minimum (at the alter), the walls were painted a lovely shade of yellow, and the statues were incredibly lifelike and well done. We didn't stay long in the cathedral, even though this was probably one of the nicer cathedrals we'd been in.
We walked back through the streets to the Capilla Mayor where we then turned back on the main road to walk amongst the shops. We readmired the armor shops (which were everywhere), the christmas shops (where Ahmee seriously thought about getting a tiny decoration for her Christmas tree that cost oodles), and the shops that sold the metalic plates that had the Moorish designs on them (intricate, geometric shapes that I haven't seen anywhere else). Once back to the main square we went across the street, down through an arch, and to the Museo where we didn't have to pay a thing to go see paintings of christian symbols and Saints. There was a room dedicated to El Greco and in this room the guard spoke enough English to tell us why El Greco would blur certain things and why the Saints each had something with them. For St. Peter there were keys (he guards the gates of heaven), for another Saint there was a wooden staff to show he was a pilgram and to show how he died (beating), and for another Saint there was a book. He told us that El Greco only focused on details for the important things, like the face and the objects, everything else wasn't done with the same precision.
We thanked the guard and walked back through the rooms of paintings of the martyrdom of saints (we've seen so many of these gory paintings already that we weren't interested). We then went upstairs to see the tiles and ceramicas. It was fun to look at these because Ahmee and I like them. I had a really good time finding the animals that the artist had obviously never seen before in his life (deer and squirrels were really strange while for some reason the camels, the lions, and the elephants looked pretty close).
The most beautiful parts of the museum were the courtyard and the staircase leading to the upstairs. The courtyard had orange trees in it and had a few scant flowers, but in the sunset light it looked spectacular, while the staircase was the showcase of Moorish art (I like the geometrical shapes).
We walked back up to the main road and headed down to the hotel using a different route so we could check and see if an old church (don't know the name) was open. Sadly enough it wasn't and we had to go back to the room empty handed. Once in the room I looked at the computer which whispered, "You have blogs to write...." Then I looked at my sketchbook and my bed and they said, "You've been working like a mad person for 5 days straight, why don't you take a rest and draw what you've been dying to draw for ages?" I think everyone knows which one I went with.
I grabbed my sketchbook and my pencil and plopped down on my bed. When asked if I needed to blog I said, "Yep, but we're traveling tomorrow and I'm ready for a break from work." I then proceeded to draw plans for Ahmee and Poppy's garden, something that I'd been dying to do ever since I'd left Villandry. I separated their garden into two sections, the section closer to the house was the "American Garden" that had curves and lush plants-all of which were shady plants, and then I put (on the other side of a hedge and "creepy Italian trees") the "European Garden" of straight lines and geometric patterns. What was difficult was the European Garden. Not only does that section have most of the sun, but it also has straight lines. Those are two things that I'm not used to working with.
Most of my gardens have been shade gardens and have had all curves. Another difficulty I had was in making the garden to scale. In order to plan out a garden I normally spend hours surveying the land and memorizing what's where so I can get a good, practical idea of what can be done. I haven't done this with Ahmee and Poppy's garden, ever, but their garden seemed to be a place that's just built for a European Garden.
Our garden would be difficult to arrange into boxes since we've already created a sea of curve in our yard and the only way to divide it would be to plant a hedge, something that I think wouldn't work as well in our square yard. Ahmee and Poppy have a long, thin rectangle for a yard. It's perfect for it. I tried to finish the garden up as much as I could before dinner because I wanted to share it with Ahmee and Poppy (drawing is what comes before the garden, Momma and I always share our dreams and schemes before we do any digging because we both have good ideas). I didn't get done and I didn't get permission to take my sketchpad with me to dinner. I had to wait to share the garden with Ahmee and Poppy until later.
Dinner was much smaller for me this time, the night before I'd ordered too much for me to eat (I couldn't eat it all). Towards the beginning of the meal I could hardly contain myself from sharing details about Ahmee and Poppy's garden. I did tell them that they could keep their plants, just move them around. What I couldn't wait to tell them about was the change in birdbath, the change in size and the change in structure of the back area. Slowly I was able to get out of that though when we started talking.
I believe it was at some point during that meal that Ahmee shared with me the feeling that she felt I didn't like to be touched at all, that Em was a more of a cuddle-bug and that I flinched away when people put their arm around me or touched me. I didn't have anything to say to this, because I had to think about it. I have to say that it's true. I stopped cuddling with my Momma at an early age. As I sat there thinking about Ahmee's comment I realized that there were only a few people I really was ok with touching me, and I mean A VERY VERY FEW people. It took me a short bit to get used to Iain's arm around me, but I came to like it very quickly. I can take touch only from a few people and everyone else I really do shy away from and go to great lengths to keep away from. When someone taps me on the shoulder I jump and it's not because I didn't know they were there, it's cuz they touched me. To this day I don't know why that is.
After having dinner I told Ahmee and Poppy all about their garden and they asked questions. I told them that the divide of the curvy, shady section would be a large hedge with "creepy Italian trees" (Cyprus trees), the plant arrangements that I knew worked very well for shade gardens, the changes I'd have with regards to the boxwoods (remember this is just a sketch), and Ahmee and Poppy's new and improved bird bath (which I'll tell more about because they took a great deal of interest in my wanting a different birdbath). Beyond the hedge and the cyprus trees I'd have the straight-laced European garden. This I didn't get to draw much of (because that's a new territory) but I did my best to explain what I wanted. I wanted to put in the geometrical patterns and I wanted to keep the flowers that Ahmee and Poppy already had (several different types of lillies and many roses). I had two box gardens next to the "entryway" and around their vegetable garden I planned three different box gardens. I still have to figure out what I'm going to use as the hedge, and what I'm going to put in to fill up my geometrical figures (interlaced arches are simple and pretty). I never did finish the very back of the yard, which I know will be difficult because it's shady and I still want to continue the classical European garden (many of which aren't shady).
Now I'll tell about why I want a different bird bath for Ahmee and Poppy. Ahmee and Poppy have a tall, thin, small birdbath (it's the classic type of birdbath). When I told Ahmee and Poppy that I wanted to give them a bigger one (not deeper, just a greater radius) they asked what was wrong with their bird bath, and why it needed to by moved. I told them that while they could see the birds splashing and rinsing themselves off, they didn't get the benefit of the reflection that appears in the water and they also didn't get to see the birds too clearly. Now that I think about it the birdbath was too close to the house (tis alright because it's just a sketch). I told them they needed one that's larger, and lower to the ground so that when they're sitting in their chairs on their backporch they could have the reflection of the water (our birdbath is a large circle that rests directly on the ground and I love what it does with the tree leaves and the sunlight). I drew them a picture of the birdbath. It needs to be a large circle with rocks holding it up. When I say rocks I mean zen rocks, and large zen rocks at that.
Oh man, now that I've written about the garden I want to go plan some more. Dang it.
After I shared my drawings (to a very enthusiastic Ahmee and Poppy who told me to not get rid of my sketch) I got my pj's on and climbed into bed. It took me a while to fall asleep since I kept planning.
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