San Geraldo and the Flower Children

THE FLOWER CHILD GIVEN TO ME BY MY SISTER IN 1971 JUST BEFORE I LEFT FOR UNIVERSITY.
(THE TAMBOURINE IS A SPANISH ACQUISITION.)

Speaking Spanish appears to be the least of San Geraldo's problems when it comes to living in Spain. Let me be clear. San Geraldo is exceptionally intelligent. During his professional years, he could comfortably and successfully speak before audiences large and small on a variety of subjects — organizational management; professional style; the past, present, and future of technology. He was interesting, inspiring, and entertaining — a natural. It's amazing that someone who gets his mords wixed words mixed so often can in actuality be such a good speaker and charming conversationalist.

The other day, San Geraldo said he was tired of making salads and needed a day off. As, we tried to decide where to go for lunch, San Geraldo suggested either "Casa Marta for frapchinni" or "Flower Power for chicken and steak." Other than "chicken and steak," not much was correct in his suggestions.

Casa Marta is the little restaurant known to everyone else as Café Santa Marta. Frapchinni's real name is "Flamenquín." But, no matter what you call Café Santa Marta, we have found it to be an unfriendly place. We can get flamenquín all over town and San Geraldo has successfully prepared it at home. (Although, as far as we know, Café Santa Marta serves the only flamenquín that looks like an enormous — deep-fried — penis.)

LAST YEAR'S FLAMENQUÍN AT CAFÉ SANTA MARTA.
GOOD FOOD, BUT NOT A VERY FRIENDLY PLACE. WE'VE SCRATCHED IT FROM OUR LIST.

Flower Power is known to everyone else as the restaurant Los Niños de Flor (which translates to The Flower Children). But, as I mentioned, "chicken and steak" were correct. Those are the two dishes (steak in whiskey sauce, chicken in green sauce) we order every time we go to Los Niños de Flor because San Geraldo is a creature of habit. Good and bad habit. He has referred to the restaurant as Flower Power, Flower Kids, Sons of Flor, Flor's Kids, Niños Power. Everything but Los Niños de Flor, which, by the way, is one of the friendliest places in town.

WALKING BY LOS NIÑOS DE FLOR ON THIS VERY RAINY AFTERNOON.
(I WOULDN'T HAVE PAIRED THE RED UMBRELLA WITH MAUVE PINK PANTS.
THEN AGAIN, I WOULDN'T WEAR MAUVE PINK PANTS.)

Last night when I was cleaning up after dinner, San Geraldo referred to twist-ties (from food-storage bags) as "those clicker things."

Before we decided to move to Spain, when we were still living in Irvine and San Geraldo wanted desperately out of his career once and for all, he suggested he could perhaps turn his daily coffee habit at the local chain cafés Peet's and Starbuck's into a career.

"I know," he announced, "I could be a barrister!"*

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*For my Spanish friends, a barrister is a lawyer. A barista is a person who makes coffee (mostly).