A Love Story between a Spanish Bull and an American Cow

I don’t really remember how it all started exactly. But one day a lovely American cow called Ramona appeared on my screen and one of my bulls, Paco, the most bullish of all my bulls, got the hots for her.

It progressed like every other love story on the net: Paco and Ramona kept regularly in contact, most of the time via Ramona’s father Bill (a Cafe Cremer too by the way…), who wanted to keep an eye on it, not so sure that a Spanish macho was the right thing for his delicate Baby Girl. To prove to Bill the depth of his feelings for Ramona, Paco then got a tattoo done with a heart and an “R’ and a arrow on his shoulder. Bill was very impressed indeed, and Ramona too.

But even that was not enough, as always in real love stories. Soon, Paco wanted to have the real Ramona close to him. Aware of the distance and above all of the big pond between him and his Honey,  he tried to learn swimming. But he had to give up as he got panicky in water.

He then tried to get wings added, having read somewhere about winged bulls, and got some indeed,  but this didn’t work either: he panicked in the air as well!

Paco finally  fell into a deep depression. It was heartbreaking to see.  This is when Bill, seeing that Ramona also was falling into depression and losing her beautiful hair, took an heroic decision:

to send his daughter to Paco to Spain!

Now, Bill is a man of words and action, and on the 25th of November 2008 he wrote to me

“… Ramona is beside herself with anticipation.  She has been bugging me to touch up the gray spots on her hide with black shoe polish.  So better not lean against her.
They belong together…”

There were many complications, but finally, and on the 16th of January 2009,  I receiving following mail:

“… Ramona started her trip yesterday.  Tell Paco to say goodbye to his other romances.  She and I have been practicing saying MOO in Spanish.  I hope this gives a favorable impression to Paco…”

We were all over the moon here, (like the cow that jumped over it)  above all Paco, as I’m sure you can  imagine! There were some more painful complications on the way from the USA to here, so bad, that in the last moment we thought Ramona would have to be imported back to her native country. But Bill showed an incredible commitment to this young love and now, here they are, together, under the Andalusian sun, so happy! I am lurking sometimes around them, to keep an eye on what is going on, and I think I heard that they wanted a baby… this means: WE might get pregnant one day!

Here is a photo taken on the first day we let Paco out to see Ramona. He was so stormy that I had to ride him and hold him by one horn, to try to keep him a little bit calmer. One notices the typical female look of indifference on Ramona’s face

…

By Miki

Mona Piedra

MIKI, Spain (Albir)

So, here it is, “Mona Piedra”, my first Coffee Cup!

I know, I promised to present you Cochonette, who deserves to be the first Dame in this place, as she is the Muse of this Club, but well… I cannot find her! The thing is that she has some love story going on, and she disappears, sometimes for days… you know, like a bitch in heat!

The Story of Mona Piedra

About 12 years ago, quite by accident, I read a book from a Brazilian author, who was not well-known at that time (at least not by me!) but who has reached world fame in the meanwhile. You might know who I´m referring to: Paolo Coelho. And the book was “By the river Piedra I sat Down and Wept”. I loved that book, read it twice in succession, and promised myself, that I would go one day to the River Piedra and sit down there. Easy for me as it is in the North of Spain.

8 years later, on the way from Albir (Spain) to my parents in Tarbes ( French Pyrenees) for Christmas, I finally went to the River Piedra,

I saw the River.

I sat down there.

I didn´t weep. Too many people, I guess. I had imagined a lonely, enchanted place, but in fact it is a famous tourist spot. To be fair, it has good reason to be, as it looks really fantastic there, the river, the water falls, the monastery and, a must in such a place, the souvenir shop in the monastery! This is where I fell in love with this lovely cup, and the reason why I called her “Mona Piedra”.

But the story goes further. Paolo Coelho, at that time, spent half the year in an hotel in Tarbes, in the same street as my parents, 100 m away from their flat. I tried to see him, spied and lurked around the hotel, but I had no luck. My mother told me though that Paolo used to go every year to the midnight mass on New years Eve in Lourdes. I thought this would be my chance. I convinced my parents to attend the mass along with me. I had expected many people to be there and in fact my chance to see Paolo Coelho to be almost nil. But there were only about 50 people attending the mass, outside, in front of the miraculous cave. The reason being that it was…. – 10°C outside, freezing as hell! Needless to say, everybody was wrapped in big coats, mufflers, hats, etc…. and they all looked the same. Of course I didn´t see Paolo Coelho. He was supposed to be there, and I am sure he was, perhaps, on the chair next to me, but I had no chance to recognize him!!!

The point of the story being, that we all, my parents and me, got a big cold in Lourdes that night… what an irony, when Lourdes is supposed to heal!!!!

A big story for a coffee cup, isn´t it? Let´s hope, that Mona Piedra will become as famous as Mona Lisa… There is a chance, as I will be so brave and communicate the address of our Coffee Cup Club to Paolo Coelho. Who knows, he might have a coffee cup with a story too!

MIKI