El día de San Antonio.

St. Anthony's Day today, so took the pooches into town for the blessing of the animals. There were many more horses than last year, some dancing, some carrying pet dogs as well as their riders. Every size and shape of dog was there, and I also saw cats in carriers, rabbits and guinea pigs being held, cages of budgies and finches, a tortoise in a shoebox....
Buster was so overawed by the whole thing, not least narrowly missing being stepped on by a horse, that he only barked once we were safely past the holy-water-slinging priests, and that was at a man rolling up his umbrella. Minnie was having a poor walking day so had to be carried, which made wielding the grownup camera somewhat difficult as the zoom lens kept flopping out and I only had one hand free. I missed some cracking shots that way, and should have thought it through: best camera doesn't always equal best pictures, and in this case the iPhone would have done a better job. I'll try to remember that next time I'm in a crowd situation. This whole week has been a celebration of the saint, following on almost seamlessly from the Three Kings fiesta, and slipping soon into Carnival, St Valentine's, Mardi Gras, Lent and Easter. After that all the patron saints of each city have their day right through the summer. They do like a good knees-up here....