Bobbin Lace or Encaje de Bolillos, Torrelles de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain

This is a picture I took in Torrelles de Llobregat. You can see here in detail how bobbin lace, known in Spanish as encaje de bolillos, is made. First you need a pattern or parchment where holes are pricked to mark the place for all the pins. The parchment is always laid on a pillow or cushion. The lace is worked with each hand holding at least a pair of bobbins, the wooden elongated spools or shuttles hanging from the threads, which are moved from side to side to form a twist, a braid, or a clothlike fabric called toile. The motifs are worked in a more dense stitch, and the ground is made with a looser stitch. Bobbin lace originated in Flanders in the early 16th century although some say it came from Italy. From Flanders it extended to the rest of Europe. It was used for ruffs and collars back then. In Spain it was customary to teach girls how to work bobbin lace at school and at home as it was consider an essential part of a woman's education. I found this video about bobbin lace. It is short and not too illustrative as to Spanish traditions but it has a brief explanation in English that might help.

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Colorful Bolivian Tinted Feather Hat, Moll de la Fusta, Barcelona, Spain

At Moll de la Fusta (Barcelona Port, Spain), there are these occasional parties organized by interracial non-profit agencies that we city dwellers tend to visit out of pure curiousity at first and enthusiastically once you get addicted to. There's the usual inexpensive exotic food offer which in many cases is the luring part of it believe me, at least for many people, let's not be hypocritical, and then there's the leisure side, particularly for parents who can't find a better place to take their kids that really satisfies them both and finally there's the integration side which originally was supposed to be the first one. At least this is the way I see it although "committed" citizens might openly disagree. Wouldn't it be better to give immigrants other kinds of opportunities rather than selling feather hats they don't wear anymore, I mean this is like selling tomahawks and rabbit paws. You have to say that the hat is beautiful and that unfortunately many people in the world have to sell traditions as if they were souvenirs for a living. I don't mean to be radical, of course, there are many color shades as in the hat.

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Thanksgiving Musings From Barcelona, Spain

"The Thanksgiving holiday was established as a national day of giving thanks and praise to God". I am going to take profit of the religious mood created with my two previous posts about Pedralbes Monastery, to show you this holy scene which was part of a small exhibition located in the cellars of the building. The light was dim but the small scale figures, the magnificent set and the illumination were worthy enough to photograph from a very close distance that excluded the framing and created the atmosphere to make it look almost real. Happy Thanksgiving my friends! Here are a bunch of Thanksgiving recipes just in case.

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