Terrassa in a Rush, near Barcelona, Spain. And Loss Will Have No Dominion.

Rosario in historic Terrassa, outside Barcelona.  

Rosario.  A Universal Positive Spirit.

Brave it all.

Retain Spirit Against Odds, is the unspoken lesson learned. 

A Sense of Gratitude and Love.

Meet Rosario Who Has Seen It All.

Loss Will Not Prevail. Let There Be Fun!

Terrassa is historic, with old churches, a monastery, fine paintings, frescoes. It also is where Rosario lives. 

Try visiting a special person while on an improvised road trip.  Suddenly we had to find specific places. And our old GPS -- not up to the task of following changes in the now fine European roadways -- left us in the lurch.   

Here is our formula for impossible choices.  As tourists in a car, with leaving and time dwindling, we found ourselves with 

 a) tempus fugit, combined with

 b) an old GPS, whose maps cannot be updated, and 

 c) we suddenly were in wonderland.

On a 4-6 lane EU superhighway in Spain, heading for a real Spanish meal at a dear neighbor's mother's house in Terrasse, 1PM had been promised. 

•  The GPS, bless its defunct heart, shows that we are floating topography-less, on a blue ground with an arrow floating about looking where to land.  Where is Terrassa! My Queendom for a direction! Will that long sentence ever end! Keep driving until you see a sign, any sign.

Dan Widing and Rosario. To life. 

Rosario is retired, but tireless. 

Rosario the chef.  Midday meal in Terrassa

The freshest of tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, breads, rabbit stew. And jamon, that fine Spanish ham. And -- as is wise in Spain as anywhere, water served alongside the wine glasses.

Rosario and her family photos, and Dan. Terassa, Spain.

Rosario fled Spain with her children, as a widow, into France, when Franco came to power.  Then she returned, and, in time, the last child rejoined the family.  One son is now gone. Immigration, fleeing, the unknown. We know little of that. The human side of travel: learning what others have lived through, and came out blooming.

Rosario and Daniel Widing -- her visits to the US are great fun.

Rushing to our arrival time, we passed sights clamoring to be seen, but Rosario comes first. She has visited in our area and we love her. 

At the end of a fantasy trip, this was a grounding day for us.  What does regular person's home look like, a welcome home-coming literally, even someone else's home, after the immersion in history we love in our touring life.

Dan and I have seen castles and costumes, so much of the marvelous, cruel, class-stratified beautiful, autonomy-killing, deadly places in Europe where rich and poor lived and died.  Visit those places and breathe the drama of feudalism, invasions, Civil Wars (that thrust our Rosario and her children in an escape to France, to Carcassonne, years ago, and back.  Modest, hard-working, now sustaining herself in a pensioner's home as all those who in later years deserve after playing by the rules.  She exerted great effort and resourcefulness and productivity, now with children who adore her, but who span Spain, and the US, by way of Ecuador.

Try this.  Whether or not productive, no elderly and noone who for other reasons is not working  largely because of stacked decks, everyone even, deserves a dignified life, a dignified end.

Rosario and family; and Daniel Widing included. Terassa, Spain.

Our neighbors are at the upper right -- in the US.  Travel.  Ties. Educate, expand your own child.  Go places. Who but you can fill in history and cultures and humanities, when the schools stop. Can we ever meet our human obligations to our elderly, our handicapped. Love capitalism, perhaps, but let it kick in with its exploitation of the unwary, unable, careless, after the safety net is established, not to take from anyone's dignity before.