Joey and I are the first Canadians that our host, Josep, has had staying in his apartment rental…we may be his last.  Yesterday, we decided to go out for a bit in the morning, come home for lunch and then hang out and watch a movie at home during the heat of the day.  We re-arranged the furniture a bit as we decided to watch Netflix on my computer and had to set things up so we could both see it.  Ready to settle in, I sat in the chair that has become “mine”, leaned back, and there was a large bang.  I thought the ceiling have given way.  I leaped out of my chair and when I looked to see what had happened, I saw that the chair had been placed too close to a free standing shelf behind it and when I leaned back, the shelf toppled over on its side, landing on the stairs behind it. There were plants and dirt everywhere as well as a lamp and several shoe type boxes of various small items.  What a mess!  The lamp was not damaged but the shelving unit was broken in several places so we will have to buy a new one.  We cleaned up the mess and watched our movie and have another memory to add to our collection after we break the news to Josep.

I was saying in the last write-up that we were having a terrible time finding a store that carried household things that we needed.  Well, we found one yesterday about 1/2 block from where we live and we had passed it several times in our travels. It was much like our dollar stores and we found almost everything we needed and many things we didn’t…just like our dollar stores.

It is still extremely hot here with the temperature rising to 37 yesterday and 39 today.  Valencia is known as the City of Arts and Sciences so we decided to brave the heat and spend part of the day exploring L’Hemisferic which houses a huge IMAX cinema.  The show that was currently playing followed the life of the Monarch butterfly and was wonderful.  The building itself is built like a huge eyelid that has shutters that open and close like an eye.  The IMAX theatre sits inside the eye and forms its iris which can be seen from outside the building.  Surrounded by water, the  complex  is an engineering wonder.  We walked around outside for a bit but once again, the heat took over and we headed home for groceries and rest.  One night I’d like to go back and see all the buildings lit up.

For those of you who know me well, you know that I suffer with sore, itchy, red eyes a lot of the time.  At least I did when I lived in Nanaimo.  Since I’ve moved to Edmonton they have been fine but have flared up again since I’ve been in Spain.  I decided to go to the Farmacia here and try to get the drops I use but was unsure as how to explain what I wanted to the pharmacist.  My son Jason came to my rescue by getting me to download the app Google Translate.  I typed in English what I needed and it translated that into Spanish. I showed that to the pharmacist and I had my drops right away – no problemo!  Thanks, Jason.  I  think I’ll be using it often.

I took some pictures of our apartment to show everyone so you know the lovely place we live in.  Well, it used to be nice until we started trashing it!  The picture of the living room is dark as we keep the blinds closed to keep out the heat.  We do eat well, also, as you will see.  Joey looks beautiful sitting at the table.  She’s a great cook.