Sunday Livestock Show
On Sunday morning a local town was holding its annual livestock show, so we thought we'd check it out. Yee haw! It took place in this picturesque valley town called San Miguel de Aras.
Rows of garlic.
These guys weren't part of the show, they were just hanging out in a puddle where we parked. Of course, at this point, we were thinking, "Hey, cool! Cows!" We had no idea the quantity of bovine photo ops that awaited us...
Aw shucks!
Blond calf.
This gal was asleep, and the flies were having a ball on her nose.
What pretty ribbons you have!
More cowbell!
Sometimes the captions occur to me before I even take the photos.
Juan took one look at this week-old calf and said, "All this guy needs is a frying pan and some tomatoes."
"Sorry to bother you, sir, but I think you've got a little something in your teeth." Check out those funky horns.
Moo?
Cattle and tents and humans.
We had a good time watching this mouse crawl around on some old farm equipment that was on display.
More cute calf action.
Teat suckage.
Cute colt.
About this time, I started thinking, "This little festival could happen just like this in the US. A little country music and square dancing, and it'd be the most American thing ever." As if to remind me of how wrong I was, that was when the brought out the town virgin and began their goddess idol worship.
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Who knew that Mary was a ventriloquist?
The priest read out a prayer before flinging holy water at the crowd. Marga saw the look on my face and said, "That water flinging is strange to you, isn't it?" I said, "If we did that in America, we'd do it right...with supersoakers!" I have this perfect image in my head of priest, dressed in a white robe, pumping his supersoaker with each line of the prayer.
The clouds break!
THIS is the definition of "burrito" in Spain.
That's a cute ass.
Even the little burritos had humongous ears.
Smile!!
Can you spot the ass in this photo?
Depressed pony.
Cafe con leche.
More cowb--- wait, I already referenced that meme.
More even-toed ungulates.
"So I was thinkin' that, later, we might head over to the other side of the enclosure and graze over there for a bit. Whadda you guys think?"
I'm no shepherd, but aren't these creatures supposed to have heads?
Content canine.
Even Barbra Streisand turned out for the event!
Streamlined horns.
I'm torn between two possible captions here:
- Milk jug
- New Zealand porn
Sorry, Hubs!
Look at the horns on that guy in the corner!
The place we were in was really beautiful. It was a perfectly flat field in a valley, surrounded by mountains on all sides.
Chainsaw sculpture is amazing.
Neighbor's redwood dropping leaves in your yard? No problem!
Do unicorns count as livestock?
Even when they're making frolicking mythical creatures, this is still the manliest art form ever.
Slightly less noisy carving. Check out that high-tech hammer!
Walking up to the church, we noticed several groups that were preparing for a full picnic. That's gonna be a big paella!
Looking down from the church.
Juan noticed this unusable stairway.
The little chapel was beautiful, and a nice cool temperature inside.
Since 1867.
Very, er...angelic.
The virgin above the alter.
A lonely table, waiting for wine and merriment to descend upon it.
When I took this, Juan said, "Hey look, now he's just taking pictures of the sky!" We artists are never understood.
Rural Europe
We passed a house, whose entire ground floor was for milking cows.
Some cheeky prankster a few years ago started the myth that hanging CDs on your balcony will keep flies away. This is, of course, absolutely ridiculous, but, because it's kinda pretty and shiny, the custom spread like wildfire, and now it's an extremely common sight. With this level of critical thinking, it's no wonder people follow "kinda pretty" porcelain dolls around in processions and kneel before them.
Okay, this is the last cow picture, I swear! These cute little newborns were too much to resist.
I liked all the crap growing on this wall.
A nicely landscaped country farmhouse yard.
Feria Virgen de Palacios San Miguel de Aras Voto
Every festival has to have a handkerchief to wear around your neck.
What a great way to spend a Sunday morning.