Yon Yonson, from Galveston

[Ronzalez]

...

[Bob]

Hola Ronnie,

Welcome to the website. "The Oviedo area" is something that you shold look into carefully, because Asturias was called the Province of Oviedo for quite a while in fairly recent history. Now, Fortunately, it is back to its original name, and Oviedo is reserved for the city of Oviedo, one of the three major cities in Asturias and also it capitol. Miranda, possibly the source of your mother's name, is in central Asturias and is also the name of a town close of Avilés (also in central Asturias but nearer the coast).

Light eyes and hair are not at all uncommon in Asturias. My father and his brothers were all blond as young boys, although their hair turned dark later in life (and finally pure white, a family trait shared by both of their parents).

By all means visit Asturias as soon as you can. The sooner you visit, the sooner you can look forward to returning. It is indeed an extraordinarily beautiful part of the earth.

[Ron Gonzalez]

From one Ronnie Gonzalez to an other, welcome.

[Ronzalez]

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[Ronzalez]

[Ronzalez]

...

[Bob]

González simly means son of Gonzalo. The "ez" ending means "son of," and show up in other names such as Álvarez, Martínez, etc.

Coats of arms are tricky. There are many González familes, and not all have coats of arms.

[Art]

Welcome, Ronnie!

It's a good thing that you posted your picture so we can keep the two Rons straight.

You'll want to read this post about coats of arms (and the one mentioned in it by Terechu):
http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2452

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¡Bienvenido, Ronnie!

Es muy buena que has puesto tu foto para que nos quedamos sin confusión.

Sería provechoso leer este mensaje sobre escudos (y lo de Terechu mencionado allí):
http://www.asturianus.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2452

[Ronzalez]

...

[Bob]

Ask about requirements at the closest Spanish consulate. The one in San Francisco is probably closest to you. The address is 1405 Sutter Street, San Francisco, CA 94109 and the telephone number is 415-922-2995. The website is http://www.maec.es/subwebs/consulados/sanfrancisco/en/Home/Paginas/Home.aspx Obviously, you will need not only a visa, residence permit, but also tax information (spend more than half the year in SPain and yoou are liable for Spanish taxes).

With the change in the citizenship law, you may want to explore the possibility of dual citizenship if you qualify.

[Ronzalez]

Thank you, Bob... I will do that. I need a radical change, and I feel like my best life may never begin here, but elsewhere.

[Ronzalez]

I finally went there and saw it, and met my great-grandfather's relatives. It was amazing.

I saw his family home which has been there since 1790, and there was an horreo beside it that had been there since 1740. I drank sidra and saw Cangas de Oniz and Gijon and Covadonga, and the whole thing was just incredible.

[Art]

Oh, that's great, Ron! Feel free to tell us more!

Given that the place is so beautiful, did you feel yourself wanting to stay or live there?

What did you observe about the Asturian economy? I've not been there in probably five years and have been wondering how people are getting along.

[Ronzalez]

Yes, I definitely wanted to stay there. I enjoyed the Spanish culture very much. (Well, not so much Barcelona, actually, which was a bit snobby to me.)

The climate of Asturias was very much like that of coastal Oregon and New England, plus it looks very similar, in terms of all the craggy rocks and so on.

I think the Asturian economy may tend to do better than other parts of Spain, as apparently Asturias occupies a special status within Spain's culture -- possibly due to its role in the Reconquista. I don't know. But it has a steelmaking industry in Gijon.

My main complaint is that apparently Spain has its own automobile company, the SEAT, but the quality of the engineering is not that hot, and it's mostly a budget-tier car. It would be nice for Spain to manufacture more quality industrial technology, I think.

[Art]

Did you get to meet any family members there?