September 11th

September 11th will probably be a solemn day in the U.S. for at least the rest of this century but, here in Catalunya, it is the "national" day of Catalunya and is celebrated with gusto. It's like a combination of Labor Day and San Jacinto Day (except we commemorate a victory). As usual, the party here started a day early with a dance just a little way from our house that lasted until 5 a.m. The dancers went to the bar for a few hours and then staged a parade past our house at 8:30. Do these people know how to party, or what?
The parade ended up in the Plaza Major where there was a sardine roast. For a euro, you get a nine inch sardine, a loaf of bread, olives, onions and as much wine as you can drink. Fish for breakfast is not unusual around here. As you can see, there was a good turn out. I sat with some folks we've come to know and it was great fun for a couple of hours.
Catalan separatism is running at a fever pitch these days. As I write this, we're watching TV coverage of an independence demonstration is Barcelona. The organizers are estimating attendance at over a million and it wouldn't surprise me. A chartered bus with over 30 people from here left this afternoon for the demonstration. That's a significant since there are fewer than 500 residents of El Masroig .
Susan has done a hero's job with our almonds. Our neighbor let us use his cleaning machine and it speeds things up. We still have quite a few to pick.
My garnatxa is fermenting well and picking up some color. I'm really pleased with the color since garnatxa can be problematic. Fincas Alta and Vieja are now both over 23.3 Brix with a pH of 3.30. We had a trace of rain on Sunday but there is none forecasted through next week. I want to harvest at 24.6 Brix and pH of 3.5. Probably next Wed. or Thurs.