Thanksgiving is of course just an ordinary working day here, but my wife puts on the full show for our Spanish friends every year, and she insists on doing it on the Thursday even though it would be far more convenient for everyone to do it on Saturday when nobody has to go to work the next day. But she insists and so it is on Thursday.
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But first some photos from earlier in the week. On Sunday I cycled down south to Santa Pola, taking a break near the fishing harbour and the beach:
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On the way back from Santa Pola towards Alicante, I stopped to photograph this tiny roadside shrine:
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It was an 82 km ride, with my last break at Urbanova, about 20 km from home. Even though it is the second half of November, there are still people enjoying the beach:
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In the evening, I drove to the centre to have a look at the Christmas tree of Alicante that had just been installed that weekend. But first I walked a bit around in the old part of the city, known simply as the barrio:
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The neighbourhood is quite lively on Friday and Saturday nights, sometimes too lively for the people who live there, but on a Sunday evening in November it is quiet:
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The Alicante Christmas tree is not actually a tree but an installation. Usually it is on the seaside Esplanada de España, but this year there are some works in progress there, so instead it is on Avenida de la Constitución near Alicante’s main theatre, a street which has recently been made pedestrian:
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Lots of people were out and about to have a look:
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Mother-and-child selfie:
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It was actually a busy week for me, since we had the semi-annual meetings of our governing bodies Tuesday through Thursday. On Tuesday evening I was invited to the official dinner with our Management Board, and as always I had my camera with me. My colleague Maria caught in a relaxed moment; otherwise she was quite serious since she was overall in charge of organising and running the meetings:
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Then Thanksgiving Day arrived. My wife had invited about 15 people for dinner, and had been preparing since Monday. When I came home Thursday around 6 p.m., the final preparations were in full swing, with Monica helping out as well:
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I proceeded to give my wife and daughter moral support while I photographed the goodies to be consumed later:
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And the star of the show, still in the oven:
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Our guests began arriving around 9 p.m. Usually when we have a party, people bring various side dishes, but this time they knew that no additional food we be needed. Bottles, however, are always useful, and so Iñaki brought several bottles of champagne:
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We spent the next hour or so having some drinks and tapas. The young generation was also represented, here with Alejandra, Monica and Lucas:
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Two ladies in conversation:
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Then we all went to the table:
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And my wife brought in the 9 kg turkey, culmination of 4 days of work:
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After lots of eating, we relaxed with some chupitos. I had brought some Danish whisky in October, a birthday present from my friend Lars, and shared it with our friends. Mati’s reaction was typical; I had not noticed that this whisky is cask strength, 58%:
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Friday morning arrived and with it quite a bit of fog, unusual around here. So on my way to the office, I swung by the beach to take some B&W film photos with my Leica M2:
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At the office, I had a portrait session with lovely Eri. She loves B&W film photography. Here she assumes a pose made famous by Maria Callas:
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Afterwards, she just smiled:
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Since it was the last Friday of November, we had our customary mid-day drink. I took advantage and photographed some of our new crop of trainees, starting with Laura (French):
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Tara (Lebanese):
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Romy (Algerian/Spanish):
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Cheers:
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I finish with a couple of pictures from Saturday’s ride. A field of some green leafy vegetables near Alcoraya. It seems to be harvest time:
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