Tarragona & Taxes

The day revolved around our appointment in Tarragona with Jonathan Eshkeri, a lawyer in Tarragona our man on the street Jeff recommended. We are looking to establish a company here in Spain as a means to integrate business with the personal, to establish residency while staying current with US of A realities.
Tarragona is fabulous, a seaside town with it's own heritage site status: a Roman amphitheater, a notable aqueduct, and history that belies the easy going feel of the place. We maneuvered the round abouts (no easy task) and found the Eshkeri & Grau offices with no problem.
Jonathan was great, and described himself this way: a Jew, who's grandfather was born in Afghanistan, who's father was born in Iran and raised in Jerusalem, and Jonathan himself raised in London. Prior to being a solicitor (all this expressed in a glorious British accent) he was in the family business, the rug trade, having lived in NYC and loved it. After sharing his story, encapsulated in five minutes, he said "I detect a North American accent" and we said we were from Oregon. He then disclosed that he and his Spanish wife had honeymooned on the West Coast, taking a driving tour from Seattle to Tijuana, having spent a night in Portland. "Lovely, really" he described it. How weird is that? So, of course, his next question was, "What are you doing here?". Needless to say, this is what makes the world an interesting place.
Back in Gratallops, on a Friday night, we sit and listen to the bells ring out the hour. David is finally tackling "The Pillars of Hercules" by Paul Theroux(a fabulous book), reading bits to me as I sit and knit a new sweater in yellow, my homage to Michelle, although the designer, Isabel Toledo, described the color of her outfit at the inauguration as "lemongrass."