January jaunt and Febuary fun

I haven't yet anything written about our trip to Cordoba on the 25 of Jan. 

Firstly, we needed to get some info to a missionary pretty quick, then another missionary there got a concussion, and thirdly, our AP who is soon to finish his mission hadn't seen it, so we took a road trip.  It is about 2 hrs away, so not too hard to do.  We had a good time.  I love La Mesquita!

We are getting very good at parking here, but I am still amazed at the tight spaces we get into.

 Of course, these streets were originally meant for this mode of transportation.

On the grounds of this mosque I noticed this tree.  The trunk was completely hollow.

but life finds a way!!!  Olive trees are amazing!

I still enjoy my companion!!!  President better let us stay together for another transfer (or 7)!

 I wrote about La Mesquita after our last visit.  It was a huge mosque that the Moors built.  Then the Christians built a cathedral in the middle.  They claim that 40,000 people could fit into the mosque and these double arches with the alternating red and white brick are it's trademark.

Our APs, Elder K and Elder S.



As I understand, these arches were being developed about the same time as the Roman  keystone arches.  Correct me if I have that wrong.  Not only are the arches striking, but the pillars of all shapes and colors of stone are amazing as well. Even the roof has wonderful detail work.

The light fixtures, while cool, do little to illuminate this huge building.  I did get some good shots by bracing my camera against another of those columns while shooting.

I was trying to give a sense of the depth here.  Remember there are still about 15 feet between each set of the arches you can see on past the red flag.

Smile!

I love the combination of Moorish decoration and Christian Saint or King.

How many different types of arches have you found?

The red and white brick on most of the arches have been painted, but here you can see some of the original brick work (and plaster work) and it's color also where some has broken and been restored.
 They have a cool display of the stone workers' "signatures ".  It's like 'where's waldo' searching for them in the stone carving on pillars and such.

More restoration in progress.  There is always some work being done on any cathedral.  Again you can see the original brick.

This detail is on the roof of the actual cathedral, and shows the beautiful organ.

This is a detail of the wood carving above the seats of the choir.  Stunning work.  Remember that in times past, most people couldn't read and so the art work was to teach the stories from the scriptures as well as to decorate.

As we left, these youth were performing. 

We met up with our missionaries and went to lunch.  Elder A was the one with the concussion which he got from running into a pole while trying to catch a bus.  Elder Castillo is trying to protect this pole from a like fate. 

Luckily, he was fine.

Errands done, we said goodbye to our Cordoba missionaries and headed home. 

There is a lot more to see in Cordoba, so we will have to go back another day.

 So far we have had more rain in Feb than any other month.  We have also had some very windy days which can lead to this sort of 'tragedy'.  Poor thing.  Actually, tonight the wind was so hard that a huge pine tree near the office blew over and our balcony doors were shoved open several times, even in spite of our shutters being closed.

We are always serious about our office work... as you can see.  This elder got a birthday card... on his birthday even, so that merited a special letter opening by our Sister M and her new elvish sword!

We want to send a special welcome to our newest Grandbaby.  Congratulations Todd and Sara, Nora and Annalise  on the arrival of Alaina Kahlan Castillo!  Thank you for the photos on face book.  I have already gotten oohs and aahas from our Mijas branch members and missionaries.  Does a grandma's heart good.  We miss you, but know you are receiving blessings because we are here.  Love you all