We're back after spending the weekend out in Vallfogona; didn't do much except go hiking / walking / trudging with the dog up the hill on the Segura road. The wheat's been harvested but the barley hasn't, and the almond trees look pretty good, with lots of big green nut pods. The blackberries aren't anywhere near ripe yet, but it's cherry season; there's a tree up the hill that belongs to some of Remei's cousins that we have permission to raid.

The mother-in-law, Rosa, has been living with us for the past two months, and we moved her out to the pueblo this weekend. She can just barely take care of herself if you leave her more-or-less prepared food, and the folks in town know she's there and will check in on her. She's a cranky old bat and the cerebral atrophy she's been diagnosed with doesn't help any; she only tried to take her walking stick to me once and to Bart the cat once during the last two months, though, so she's less violent than she used to be. Rosa has her good side, she's loyal and generous and wants to be helpful, but her bad temper gets in the way. If you can take her mind off her crankiness, though, she's easy to deal with. Food helps. She likes food.

I learned something about her: She's afraid of different kinds of food at first. She'd never bought anything at the supermarket that she hadn't lived all her life with. So I introduced her to bean sprouts, arugula, cashews, mangoes, cherry tomatoes, avocadoes, Modena vinegar, Fruit and Fiber cereal, and Dijon mustard, all of which she likes. She wasn't too big on the Mexican hot salsa, though.