21 August 26
El Call de Girona
A highlight of our sojourn in Girona was visiting the medieval Jewish quarter in the old part of the city, which is known as El Call. It is one of the best-preserved medieval Jewish quarters in Europe. Girona was a thriving center of Jewish scholarship; most notably the 13th century scholar Nahmanides lived in Girona most of his life before emigrating to the Holy Land where he established a synagogue in Jerusalem.
We went to the Museum of Jewish History which is housed in a building at the edge of the call. It contains lots of artifacts that were excavated nearby as well as a series of tombstones with inscriptions in Hebrew from a cemetery a couple of kilometers to the north. The museum also contains an excavated mikvah (Jewish ritual bath) from the 15th century that was unveiled to public view in 2014. I’ve illustrated the mikvah at left.
Together with the University of Girona, the museum also hosts the Nahmanides Institute for Jewish Studies, which organizes research and educational activities on Jewish culture both in the Girona area and far beyond, including a long-running lecture series. We did not investigate any of the institute’s activities though.
20 August 26
Girona
After a one-night stop in Barcelona, we moved up toward the Pyrenees to spend three nights in Girona. This is a city on a hill first lived in by Iberians then, like so many settlements in Catalunya, by a succession of Romans, Visigoths, Moors, and finally Christians, the Reconquista of Spain starting in the northwest and spreading south over the course of decades until the capitulation of the Caliphate in Granada in 1492. Much of the successive buildings are intact, and walking up the hill to the cathedral we saw a lot of offices with stone walls in the background, several centuries old, selling insurance or real estate or fans. (Or football shirts.)
Our trip coincided with the weekly meeting of the Girona Urban Sketchers in the cathedral at the top of the hill. The cathedral’s construction was halted for some time by the arrival of the Black Death, with the result that it ended up being the second widest nave in the world by the time it was finished (after St. Peter’s in Rome). It also never received its second spire. We spent a lovely few hours sketching in and around the cathedral and cloisters.
Girona has the reputation of being very expensive. It is now a major cycling hub, since many professional cyclists on the grand tour circuit like to train in the mountains; many of the better paid cyclists can afford to live here. A constant refrain throughout our trip was the bemoaning of housing prices that have been driven up by foreigners, many from northern Europe, who earn more than the locals and are having a deleterious effect on prices (and, of course, dilution of the Catalan culture, about which Gironans are especially proud). The Catalan government is very eager to promote Catalan language learning. Another modern office set in a house that was centuries old was a language school, with a request for volunteers to help teach their language.
2 August 26
Farmers Market at 50
Yesterday the Davis Farmers Market celebrated its 50th anniversary. We had a sketchcrawl at the market for the event. I didn’t stay long at the sketchcrawl, but did complete the sketch at left.
25 July 26
Boxcars
. There is a line of the California Northern Railroad that runs north-south behind the Davis Food Co-op near our house. I often like photographing the freight cars that are parked on this line. For my urban sketch today I drew two of the boxcars linked together and parked near the food co-op.
23 July 26
Scallions For Stirfry
At some point I learned that the combination of scallions, ginger, and garlic is considered the holy trinity of Chinese cooking. Maybe that is so — at any rate it is a key part of a favorite dish of ours that I made for lunch today, called deliciously spicy tofu. The recipe is from Madhur Jaffrey’s Eastern Vegetarian Cooking book (page 201): basically one takes the ginger, garlic, and scallions and stirfry them, adds tofu, and mix in a chili-bean sauce.
As a bonus, scallions, ginger, and garlic are all fun to sketch.
21 July 26
The Old Church
I didn’t get a chance to do my urban sketch on Sunday until after the World Cup final. It was hot and I did not want to wander too far so I sketched the old Newman Catholic Center church at C and 5th. This church was declared structurally unsafe a few years ago and is unused; the congregants meet in newer buildings on the same grounds.
It was advantageous to sketch the church in the late afternoon because I had shade while I was sitting on my stool in a parking lot across the street. I think this is my favorite sketch I’ve done of the church.
17 July 26
(Not) Sharing The Grapes
Grapevines overhang the path on the south side of the house, and Pica today noticed a rat raiding the grapes outside the kitchen window. This was not to be allowed, so I collected a grape bunch and later drew it as my sketch of the day.
16 July 26
Graphic Medicine Conference
The Graphic Medicine Conference takes place next week in Baltimore. My colleagues at VEOLI (Visualizing End of Life Issues) will be in attendance. We’re all making zines that will be available to participants. I’ve made three: one on Medical Aid in Dying (pictured at right); one on Advance Care Planning; and one on environmental costs of body disposition after death.
15 July 26
Cat Grass
There’s no more footie for several days, it is too hot to sketch outside, and I don’t feel like discussing the latest evil machinations of the Heritage Foundation, so here is my sketch of the day. We like to provide wheatgrass for our kitties, and pick up some from the produce section of the co-op every couple of weeks. Winston especially likes to graze on it.
10 July 26
Stylist to the Stars
My niece’s ex-boyfriend’s mother was a hair stylist, who said that the major trends in men’s hairstyles are always set by futbolistas. This makes sense: these people have money, sometimes a great deal of it, and an image to project well beyond the confines of a football pitch. Many if not most have Instagram accounts. The fact that football is international with men of all races playing the sport, who often need a new look every season — has brought us to this World Cup, where a short-back-and-sides has evolved into a reverse widow’s peak for white and brown men and breathtakingly sculpted cuts and braids for African and Afro-Caribbean players.
My sister drew my attention to this article about a London hair stylist who has been traveling with the England team but who knows absolutely nothing about football. Her first ever match was seeing England play Mexico at the Azteca last weekend. (She left before the end because it was too loud and drinks were getting spilled all over the place.) Her simplicity is delightful: she asked Jordan Henderson to help her with her bags because she didn’t know he was a player. Nor did she know Lamine Yamal was, but she had a nice time hanging out with his mum…
(Spain won today. It was a good match against a worthy opponent. Tomorrow, England face Norway and Argentina face Switzerland. This will all be over soon.)