The husband got home safely from his dental appointment in Skopje, North Macedonia, via Rome, and all in one piece! It still amazes me that the total cost of flights, hotel etc was less than having a new bridge made here in Spain, so it was well worth it. He only had one day to recover as we then had Ariane and Edgar to stay via the Workaway cultural exchange scheme. Having them here for 10 days was absolutely wonderful, not least because they are great workers and they ate everything we offer, even my cooking – not fussy at all! They were so busy helping Peter with many of the heavy outside jobs round the house, and it has made a huge difference. Lots of garden bags have been filled, I think the total is 37, waiting to be taken to the town recycling centre, so we’re now looking at how to get them over there! The town hall might be able to help, otherwise we’ll find someone with a van or truck big enough to take everything away. Some day we’ll aslo be able to sort out the terracing below the walled garden to make it easier to reach the figs, olives and almonds there.
The lower, walled garden is now clear of all weeds and of all overgrown extraneous “stuff”, and looks twice the size it did before. We’ll get a few more fruit trees planted soon, I think clementine, lemon and blood orange are top of the list so far as well as a couple of seedless grape vines.
The terrace walls right round the house have all been painted brilliant white and look fantastic. Everywhere just looks so much better than before, and I can’t tell you how much we appreciate the hard work that Ariane and Edgar have done here.
We’ve done a bit of baking too – we’ve had wheaten loaves and shortbread, plus banana and raspberry porridge breakfast muffins for a little taste of Ireland. They are delicious, and very easy to make.
The recipe is as follows:
Blender muffins (in a blender or using a hand one)
- Two and a half cups of oatmeal
- Small pot of plain yoghurt
- 2 eggs
- Tablespoon of honey
- One and a half teaspoons of baking powder
- Half a teaspoon of baking soda
- Two large ripe bananas cut into chunks.
Blend until smooth, pour into 12 hole muffin tin. Bake at 200C for about 30 to 35 minutes. You can add berries, seeds etc to the mix, whatever you like! I usually put a wee plop of mixture into the tins, then add a few frozen raspberries, put more mixture in and then top them with sugar pearls. The ones in the photo without the sugar pearls had fennel seeds added to the mix, by special request of the husband. You can add whatever you like, they’re so easy to make and are a very filling and healthy portable breakfast option.
Ariane travels with her guitar, and plays really well! We were able to indulge in a lttle jamming session or two, mainly fuelled by rather delicious vino collapso which made the playing and singing all the sweeter!
This experience with Workaway has been absolutely brilliant for us, it exceeded our expectations by a very long way. We just LOVED having Ariane and Edgar to stay with us, utterly delightful people who were so easy to get on with. Before they left, they gave us gifts they had made for us. We all share a love and fascination for the stars, and Edgar made us a little clay dog gazing up to the heavens, so beautiful. Ariane had bought a little plain wooden box from the todo shop and she hand-painted a fabulous humming bird on it. Absolutely exquisite gifts, both of them, which we will treasure forever.
So if any of you feel you’d have something to offer the Workaway scheme have a look at what it’s all about, at http://www.workaway.info and check out the information about signing up as a host. The variety on offer is huge, and we really landed on our feet with Ariane and Edgar, who were just such a brilliant help to us as well as being such lovely people – friends for life!
I thought I’d give you a bit of a laugh from something that came up in my Facebook memories, indication that we are all getting older. There was a time when, if I said, “I’m going for a shower now”, the husband would say “Wait a minute and I’ll join you”. I said it again this evening, and he replied with “WATCH YOU DON’T FALL”. Sigh!
This week’s lovely lunch was in the Gastrobar Puerto Rico, in Monteagudo, on the outskirts of Murcia and not too far down the road from us. The restaurant (and pension) is owned by Maria Angeles, who always greets us warmly with a hug.
The food is exquisite, a fantastic range of tapas as well as the menu del dia every day. Everything is freshly prepared and very, very tasty, no wonder we keep coming back for more!
From scallops to mini burgers, from steak to huge prawns in panko breadcrumbs, everything is a delight. Not surprisingly this is one of our favourite places to eat locally!
From the “sweet” to the “sour” now.The end of September saw the introduction of new laws safeguarding animal welfare here. In brief, there will be severe penalties, including huge fines, for people who keep animals (mostly dogs) chained up, leave them alone for long periods, and who fail to register them with the relevant authorities, amongst other things. These laws have been widely welcomed, especially regarding the hunting dogs used by the Spanish. It pains me to say it but often, when a hunting dog has outlived its usefulness, it is shot or hanged by the owner, and is rarely, if ever, kept as a pet. In the campo, or countryside, there seem to be many owners with many dogs, if the barking across the valleys all night is anything to go by. Thank goodness for effective double glazed windows! Numbers of pets are supposed to be limited from now on, to five, though the chap about 300m across the “sheugh” has about 11 at the last count! How on earth these laws are going to be policed and enforced is anybody’s guess. The whole issue of the change in the law is to try to redress the abuse that some animals have to endure. We know of one person who is apparently being taken to court by a neighbour for shooting their cat. The person concerned actually boasted to us about shooting the cat – that probably tells you nearly all you need to know about what kind of person they are, not really someone you’d want to be around too much!
As ever, there is far more “sweet” than “sour” about life in Spain, thank goodness, which makes living here so worthwhile.
Here’s a couple more favourite websites for you:
https://www.facebook.com/TheAntrimRambler/
Check this out on Facebook and other social media sites – Nicky McBride is a fabulous photographer who is now making some of his iconic images into calendars. I have ordered mine, can’t wait to get it!
www,workaway.info
Everything you need to know about the Workaway scheme!
My life in Spain 