A Potty Birthday and Potted Luck for Obamacare Repeal

Fri 24th March. Morning birthday hug for Mother and then set the table with birthday presents and cake baked yesterday. It was a Victoria sponge but in a loaf tin, so we improvised with lashings of whipped cream and chopped strawberries on cake slices.

We'd visited a small pottery in Sartajada yesterday to choose a gift in addition to the ones brought along and the cards. Afterwards, we visited a cafe in the small deserted village, where we chatted to the only other occupants, a 90 year old couple who originally owned the cafe. He used to play the Spanish lute, and when accompanying a band in a neighbouring village, a local beauty caught his eye. He woo'd her over the months and finally, they married and have been together for 65 years, with children, grandchildren and great grandchildren following.

When they started out, Sartajada used to be a busy village with many potteries because of the fine clay, and the cafe catered for the many local workers. Now they've all gone and only one pottery remains, yet it does manage to export to the Dominican Republic!

Lunch, well I say lunch, the main meal doesn't start here till about 3 pm, was a delicious paella, freshly made in a small shop in Sotillo, and delivered in the pan it which it was prepared. We segued into an evening of the card game Phase 10, a family favourite. 

The surprise news event of the day, President Trump's attempt to get Obamacare repealed hit opposition from within the Republican party. After much personal lobbying by the President, to-ing and fro-ing between various parties by House Speaker Paul Ryan, it was scuppered by the Right wing House Freedom Caucus, whose two dozen members agreed to act as a bloc to get a more conservative bill. Rather than go for a vote that would fail, Ryan and Trump withdrew the bill.