8 June 2026

I try to get these posts done by Sunday night before I go to bed. But I was exhausted last night. So, here we are on Monday. I hope you had a good week and weekend.

My friend Francesco is here from Venice for one more week, as he continues improving his Spanish and looking for work in Valencia.

I’m enjoying his great cooking and having someone to hang out with.

This week we went to the beach, we walked a lot and discovered new things in Valencia.

One thing we did rather spontaneously was, we walked to a park that I had seen many times from the street, but had never entered. Wow! Central Park Valencia is beautiful!

Tuesday, Francesco and I hosted a party for some friends. We ended up having 14 people in this small apartment! Everyone brought food and drinks to share. Francesco made a wonderful risotto with shrimp and real Aperol Spritz. It was a fun evening.

On a more personal note… now that I’ve been here a couple years, my attorney helped me get onto the public health system. The advantage of having this, in addition to my private insurance, is that my insurance only addresses issues as they arise. There is no preventative care, no annual physical, etc.

This really came to light in the last couple weeks. A couple weeks ago, at the beach, a friend noticed something on my back that looked “ugly.” So I called and scheduled an appointment with my new public doctor to look at it. Even before that appointment, I got a call from a different office saying that since I had just turned 65, I should update my tetanus vaccine. I was impressed. So, we scheduled the vaccine the same day as my doctor appointment to see my back.

As part of that visit, they took my blood pressure. It was just a little high…not surprising since I’d been so stressed about the crazy choir incident the week before. So, my doctor ordered full blood work and asked me to get a home blood pressure monitor (track it twice a day for 5 days) so I could come back and get a full check up. The mole on my back is benign and nothing to worry about, she told me. I guess one upshot to socialized medicine is that it is in the state’s interest to keep me healthy. Go figure!

This weekend, I met my friend Tatiana to see a play performed by students from the American Space. They were Spanish high school students performing scenes from Tom Sawyer, Little Women, and the Comic Book Play. I will just say it was heartfelt and cute.

This weekend was the 700th anniversary of celebrating Corpus Cristi in Valencia. 700 years celebrating this festival every single year! Here are a few pics from Saturday.

After exploring those festivities, we did something very touristy! We got on the Big Red Bus. I think a lot of cities have these.

This double decker bus will take you around the city in about two and a half hours. You can get on and off at any stop. Your ticket is good for one day or two…depending on which you buy. That gave us the idea for Sunday…

On Sunday, we decided to go to the Bioparc (zoo). I love this place!

After an amazing lunch of Chinese food, we went to the Botanic Gardens.

It was a full and very enjoyable weekend.

Now, it’s a new week. Here’s wishing you lots of delights and discoveries in your life.