Sunday, May 24
Hope you have a new vision of animals now.
It's so tender!
Sunday, May 10
Here is a "word cloud" for "Love and Time" my previous post. The cloud gives a greater prominence to words that apperar more frequently in the text. Love is the winner word so that it has a bigger size than the others which are decreasing according to their frequency in the post.
Sunday, May 3
Once upon a time, there was an island where all the feelings and
human values lived: Happiness, Sadness, Richness, Knowledge,
Wisdom and all the others including Love.
One day it was announced to the feelings that the island would sink. So all of them built boats
and scaped from the island, except Love who stayed there. He wanted to hold out until the last
possible moment.
When the island had almost sunk, Love decided to ask for help.
There was a boat passing by, it was Richness passing by on a big boat.
Love said, "Richness, can you take me with you?
Richness answered, No, I am sorry I can't. There is too much gold and silver in my boat there is
no room for you. And Richness left.
Love decided to ask Vanity who was also passing by in a beautiful vessel.
Vanity, please help me! I can't help you Love. You are all wet and you might damage my boat.
Sadness was close by. So Love asked, "Sadness, let me go with you"
Oh, Love I am so sad that I need to be by myself.
Happiness passed by Love too, but she was so happy that she
didn't even hear when Love called her.
Then suddenly there was a voice, a very stong voice.
"Come Love, I will take you". It was an elder.
So blessed and and overjoyed, Love even forgot to ask the elder where they were going. When
they arrived at dry land, the elder went his own way.
Love started asking to himself, realizing how much was owed to the elder. So Love asked
Knowlwdge, another elder, "Hey!, who helped me?" Oh, of course the elder said, you don't really
know who helped you?
It was Time, Knowledge answered.
Time? asked Love. "But why did Time help me? Knowledge smiled with deep wisdom and
answered:
"Because only Time is capable of understanding how valuable Love is"
Thursday, April 23
Congratulations to my Community on 23rd April!
Celebrating the Community Day in "Villalar de los Comuneros"
Castile and Leon is a magical land of castles and impressive Gothic cathedrals, a land with a vast wealth of historic and cultural treasures. It is also blessed with a lovely scenery including dramatic mountain landscapes and protected nature reserves with woods of oaks and cork-oaks. It is crossed by the river Duero and has the "Lago de Sanabria", the largest lake of Spain and the only one of glacial origins.
Wednesday, April 22
Thanks to my dear friend a.c.g.a. who told me about this video by William Bouguereau.
Tuesday, April 21
AUTUMN MOOD 
STROLL IN AUTUMN PARK
TODAY I FORGOT MY UMBRELLA
RIVER WHARF
MISTY ALLEY
AFTER THE RAIN
HAPPY SEPTEMBER
FALLS PATH
NIGHT AMSTERDAM
DELIGHTFUL TANGO
TWO SISTERS
Beautiful! Amazing!
Afremov's works are addicting. Each piece tells a story and has incredible depth. They are fascinating and I find myself looking at these stunning colourful masterpieces over and over again.
I love them all, they are astounding.
I wish I could afford to buy some of them.
Saturday, February 14
A simple haiku
For you my dear friends
a gentle humble daisy
Because I love you.
Sunday, November 23
You know how it is when you get a song stuck in your head and it just won't quit? The past few days I'v been singing "Who wants to Live Forever?" by Queen and no matter what I do, the song won't leave me alone.
It´s not a complete mystery, however why I've been humming this tune. It's November, the aniversary of Freddie Mercury's death.
"Who wants to Live Forever?" is a powerful ballad. It's one of the tracks on the album "A Kind of Magic" released in 1986, and written by guitarist Brian May who sings the first verse before vocalist, Freddie Mercury, sings the rest of the song. It was for the sountrack of the film "Highlander".
I'd like this to be a beautiful remembrance of him.
Sunday, October 26
Tuesday, October 21
Forest in autumn invites you to take walks and breathe in the autumn breeze, feel the falling leaves on your shoulders and the crisp crackle of leaves under your feet, as the red and yellow, orange and brown colours of autumn warm your heart. 
Another reason I like autumn is because it is always a more productive time for me. Autumn with its falling leaves, serves to remind me that time is passing by, that another year is coming to an end. This spurs me to do something constructive with this time.
Let's finish with an autumn quotation and some autumn poems.
by Robert Frost
Spades take up leaves
I make a great noise
But the mountains I raise
I may load and unload
Next to nothing for weight,
Next to nothing for use.
FALL
Wednesday, September 24
This is just a fond remembrance of little Rainbow Prince, Guille.
(Dedicated to my dearest friends a.c.g.a. and his queen of yesterday, today and tomorrow c.a.s.j.).
Monday, July 7
Rafael Nadal,22, won epic men's final in five sets to win his first Wimbledon title and dethrones five-time champion at this tournament.
The final shot was struck in near darkness on Centre Court with dark clouds gathering overhead all through the match which lasted 4 hours and 48 minutes, the longest men's final in history and maybe the best one of all the times. It had to be interrupted twice because of the rain.
Watched by his parents, and coach and uncle, Tony, 22 year old fell to the floor, congratulated Federer and climbed through the stands to celebrate with his family and supporters. With tears in his eyes as he grabbed a Spanish flag, he walked across the TV commentators' booth heading to the Royal box to shake hands with Prince Felipe and Princess Letizia of Spain.
After receiving the winner's trophy from the Duke of Kent, Nadal said:" It is impossible to explain what I felt in that moment but I'm very, very happy. "It is a dream to play in this court, my favourite tournament, but to win I never imagined"
Federer, who failed to surpass Bjorn Born by winning a sixth consecutive title said: "I tried everything, got a little late, but look, Rafa is a deserving champion, he just played fantastic. It was the worst opponent on the best court"
And Nadal replied:" He's still number one, he is still the best. He's still five-time champion and I am only one, so for me it is very, very important.
The final before 15,000 spectators was simply breathtaking.
Monday, June 9
Sunday, June 8
Long ago there was a beautiful lively city by the sea in the north of Spain. It was the year 1635 when people still believed the Earth was flat, so you could go to the edge and just jump down free to the infinite.
There lived a rich man who wasn't happy, he was tired of living and he decided he had to commit suicide. But the problem was to consider the best way of doing it.
One gorgeous spring evening, he was walking along the beach at sunset with the sun coming down and disappearing into the sea when he was thinking about the matter over and over again. Then suddenly a great idea struck his head.
Very early next morning he ordered to build a ship and he spent the following months looking for the best musicians. He wanted to take a band of music on board.
And the day came when he set sail. He would sail to the edge of the Earth and he would not stop, he just would go on.
Days passed calmly, quietly and peacefully and the band of music played beautifully. But one day the man revealed the musicians his determination of not stopping when reaching the Earth edge.
They felt sorrowful and unfortunated and started to play the saddest music in the world since all of them were going to die soon.
From that day on the most melancholic music was heard in the whole wide ocean. But, alas! unexpectedly after five weeks at sea they sighted land far away in the horizon.
They got off the ship merrily and firmly determined to have the time of their lives as they were going to die soon. And they really had the greatest time enjoying life to the full.
Next morning in the ship they continued playing sorrowful melodies. But surprisingly after sailing for several days they arrived to a new port and once again they got off the ship and had a pleasant time singing, dancing and drinking in the city.
After that, they visited fifty more ports and they had not still reached the edge of the Earth.
One starry night they sighted the glow of lights in the distance of what it seemed a new city and they headed to it cheerful of being able to stay alive for some more time. As usual they got off the ship and they could not believe what they were seeing. With great amazement they realized they were in the beautiful lively city in the north of Spain they had left some months before.
That was how we discovered the Earth was not flat.
Monday, March 3
No soy Rappel ni tengo una bolita mágica de cristal que me diga lo que va a pasar después del 9M pero lo que sí es seguro es que el futuro está en manos del pueblo quien será en última instancia el que decida.
Desde que empezó la campaña electoral y ya antes hemos oído hasta la saciedad la doble versión de una misma realidad. En todos los aspectos que interesan a la sociedad española siempre hay una doble solución, por supuesto opuesta una de la otra. Donde unos dicen que todo está mal y que lo cambiarán si ganan las elecciones, los otros piensan que no todo está tan mal y que seguirá igual si salen ellos vencedores.
Esto es especialmente claro en Educación.
Según unos se debe suprimir la asignatura de Educación para la Ciudadanía, deberá haber itinerarios en la ESO, la Religión será una asignatura más del currículo y habrá una reválida al terminar el Bachillerato. Para los otros justamente lo contrario.
Ante esta perspectiva los docentes estamos perplejos, ¿se están refiriendo a una misma nación? ¿no deberían preguntarnos algo al ser los más directamente relacionados con la Educación?
Tendríamos mucho que decir, y nadie nos consulta. No nos resignamos a que el futuro sea o más de lo mismo o lo contrario.
Se deberían poner en marcha unas medidas organizativas y pedagógicas para mejorar la Educación Secundaria y el Bachillerato sobre todo en lo referente a la promoción de curso y titulación.
No entiendo cómo se puede promocionar de curso hasta con tres asignaturas evaluadas negativamente y lo mismo titular en Educación Secundaria. En “nuestros tiempos” debíamos aprobar todo, y la calidad de enseñanza y por lo tanto sus resultados eran superiores. Si lo que se pretende es evitar el fracaso escolar a la vista de la sociedad, no se debe disfrazar la realidad, este no es el medio de evitarla, es un engaño. Nuestros estudiantes no están preparados, no son competitivos ni tienen las mismas oportunidades que el resto de estudiantes europeos donde prima el esfuerzo y la capacidad. Y lo que es peor, se hace con el beneplácito de los padres que sólo están interesados en que sus hijos pasen de curso aunque no estén lo suficientemente preparados.
Porque la verdad y más que nos pese España es uno de los países Europeos que menos invierte en Educación, uno de los que soportan más altas tasas de fracaso, uno donde se producen más abandonos tempranos de los estudios así como uno donde se obtienen los peores resultados en las competencias científica, matemática y comprensión lectora (Informe Pisa)
Además se deben también considerar los itinerarios, la ratio, el tratamiento de la diversidad, el potenciar las TIC, apostar por la escuela pública… Y sobre todo el intentar estabilizar la educación a largo plazo sin estar expuesta a los cambios de los diferentes gobiernos, dictando leyes de obligado cumplimiento en todo el Estado.
Pero de nuevo en nuestro panorama actual se intenta buscar justificaciones a esta desastre: unos lo explican con la idea del retraso secular, otros “culpan” a la globalización, según otros se debe a la baja preparación de los padres poseedores de pocos estudios, otros a los cambios permanentes de la educación, otros a la LOGSE, a la poca formación del profesorado… 
Por otra parte los padres conciben a los centros escolares como “guarderías” (un comentario común es “¿molesta mi hijo? No, pues entonces déjelo ahí que está mejor que en la calle”) cuando no como centros de ocio, vienen y te dicen que su hijo se aburre en el centro. ¡Pues que abra el libro! Y te tienes que morder la lengua para no espetar ¡Pues llévelo al circo! No aquí. En la entrada está bien claro el letrero “Instituto de Educación Secundaria” y se supone que se viene a eso, a recibir educación. Sospecho que si llevan a su hijo a un espectáculo cualquiera no pretenderán que estudie allí. Pues eso. Cada lugar para lo que es.
Y ¿cuales serían las soluciones? Otra vez nos encontramos con la consabida dicotomía, que como es obvio se reducen a dos: unos proponen unas soluciones, los otros las contrarias. Así que parece que nos tendremos que resignar a más de lo mismo, o lo contrario. No tenemos muchas esperanzas de una mejora efectiva de la calidad de enseñanza y del reconocimiento social de la Educación y de los docentes a los que se les debería dotar de más autoridad e intentar eliminar la violencia de baja intensidad que tanto mina a los profesores y es la causa de muchas bajas laborales.
Confío en que el nuevo gobierno, sea el que sea, intente arreglar este “desaguisado”, sepa encontrar el equilibrio y el consenso para que educar a los jóvenes no dependa de los vaivenes políticos y que la solución que adopte sea en bien de la Educación al servicio del impresionante desarrollo económico y social que nuestra nación ha alcanzado continuando un ritmo ascendente hasta conseguir y consolidar un reto cada vez más alto.
