Month: February 2024

Question – how can you lose a king-size duvet cover? Answer – live in a big house with too many rooms and too much stuff that hasn’t been sorted yet…see below. We have Ikea storage zippy bags under every bed, and we’ve looked in every one of those. No sign of it. I have another couple of spare ones but I want to put this particuar one on the bed today and anyway, I need to find the thing. So, no joy means get the current one through the washing machine, out on the line and back on the bed later. The joys of first world problems, eh?! At least we get the washing dry outside!

Our almond trees have all started coming into bloom and look fabulous. We have a dozen or so, scattered throughout the different levels of the garden but mostly a bit further down than the house, on the terraced section, below the walled garden. I’m not sure Peter is always too happy about having to water them but due to the serious lack of rain over the last year it’s vital to ensure they get a good drenching now and again. We have no water restrictions here at the minute, though the neighbouring regions of Valencia and Andalucia have begun to severely limit consumption. That means no car washing, no topping up of pools, and in Almeria province personal use is limited to 200 litres per person per day. Murcia city currently recycles around 98% of its waste water, which is a fantastic achievement! We are all very careful about not wasting such a precious resource. We never have baths, always showers, quick and water-saving. I use the washing machine and the dishwasher twice a week, it’s the most economical way financially as well as water-saving.

We have just come back from another couple of nights in Benidorm, at the same hotel we stayed in before Christmas, the Casual Pop Art Hotel….room 601, best room in the house! You’ll remember from a previous blog the room overlooks the Poniente beach and marina, great views!

We just felt like another little break, having been doing so much work on the house, and a change of scene gives a great boost. While we were there we drove up to Guadalest, which is one of the most visited villages in Spain, and no wonder. The reservoir there is absolutely breathtaking, you need to stop there for a while just to take in the view. You can see it’s rather too low at the minute so a fair amount of rain is needed soon for reservoirs and crops.

The village itself is very, very picturesque, all whitewashed shops and houses along little narrow streets. The main attraction is the Casa Orduña, now a museum, named after the family who lived there. It is really impressive, and is reached via a narrow path through the rock. It’s a bit of a climb, and between my arthritis and asthma, and the husband’s foot injury, it was like an outing of the elderly and infirm…but we got there!

Casa Orduña is a large house, furnished with the wealthy original family’s belongings, so you get a real sense of what it must have been like to have lived there.

Now here’s a thing. When we were in Guadalest, which is about 21kms from Benidorm, we met a lovely trio of cyclists from…Ahoghill, of all places! For those in Spain who aren’t aware of the significance of this, Ahoghill is a village near Ballymena, in County Antrim, which is where I lived and worked for many years.

The weather was very cold in Guadalest, they had cycled all the way from Benidorm, and it’s mainly uphill! Hearts like lions! Peter used to cycle in his younger and fitter days and took a great interest in their bikes. I have to say I am not usually a fan of cyclists as here in Spain they tend to go out in huge numbers of at least a dozen or more, hogging the road and never letting you overtake them. You can end up stuck for a long way never getting out of second or third gear. However, I’m very happy to make an exception for lovely chaps with “normal”. ie Norn Iron accents! So, Sean, Bill and Eamonn, here you are, fame at last! Small world indeed!

We did plenty of shopping while away on our wee break, but one of the things that always amazes – and horrifies me, is how easy it is to buy knives and guns in Spain, with specialist shops selling these everywhere. One of them, in Benidorm, had their shop front made from concrete to resemble wood. The amount of guns and knives they sell in there is fascinating, if also a bit scary!

Anyway here we are now back home and getting on with making this big house look presentable! We’ve been doing a bit more clearing out of “stuff” – I think we’re in danger of becoming hoarders unless we take drastic action! The deal usually is that when we buy something new or new to us, we try to let go of something we already have. So, the charity shops do well from us. We’ve also gathered quite a few things that we’re intending to sell, it might add a few more euros to the coffers for a bit of extra holiday money.

I have to admit to making most of my friends laugh at my attempts to make pancakes on the recent Shrove Tuesday. Absolutely pathetic – no matter how often I try, and what recipe and pan I use, my attempts are more than risible. If you want proof, here it is, folded up and flung on a plate, looking more like a dead chicken than an innocent pancake!

I can’t tell you how many failures I’ve had with these things, I’m considerably better at producing lovely soft and puffy flatbread, very tasty and works out perfectly every time. Add a bit of Northern Ireland butter and it’s really all you need!

Just a quick word to say “thank you”, before I sign off this time. I really appreciate the feedback from those of you who read this blog regularly, and I’m glad that most of you seem to generally find it informative and amusing. I’m always happy to hear people’s views, so if there’s anything you really like and would like to find out more about, or anything you really don’t like, let me know! I’ve had some lovely comments so far but I’m not averse to a bit of negative criticism as well, if need be. Final word then, to someone who commented on the blog and seemed to rather enjoy it. A friend showed me what s/he posted (not sure of the pronouns here!), glad they found it mostly enjoyable. However, I just need to give a wee gentle correction about a couple of things they said. Firstly, they seemed to think the husband had grown a few inches after I described him as being 6’3″ tall. Nope, we measured him again and he’s still very definitely 6’3″ tall! Also, the person queried our language skills as we were apparently not too competent in Spanish by the time we moved to Murcia? So, just to gently set the record straight, I obviously speak English, and can speak French and Spanish fairly well. Peter’s Spanish is better than mine and he also speaks French quite well. I used to be fluent in French but when you don’t use it you tend to lose it for a bit, but it’s coming back! My Spanish improved no end when the husband was so ill in hospital and I had to converse with the medical staff. I’m quite competent in Spanish, can easily hold conversations face to face and on the phone. I speak German, at basic conversational level, and I have a little Italian, as well as a bit of Latin. I’m also fluent in Ulster-Scots, which is a legitimately recognised language. So, there you have it, 6 languages, with varying degrees of skill, but always keen to learn more. I hope that sets the record straight for the person who didn’t realise it, always useful to be better informed and staying away from fake posts. If you want to know, just ask!

As the “Neighbours” theme tune states, “everybody needs good neighbours”, and we are certainly blessed with ours. I have mentioned before about how friendly and helpful our neighbours have been ever since we moved here 5 years ago, and they are still the loveliest people around!

To give you another example, the other day our friend Joaquin, who runs the Fuente Blanca bar/restaurant with his lovely wife Loli, came over to our house. You’ll remember them from a couple of blogs ago? Well, anyway, Peter and Joaquin had been talking grape vines – ours are not in great shape and we’re not too sure what to do about them since they’re quite old. Joaquin came over and he showed Peter how to prune the big old vines properly – he reckons they’re about 30 years old.

The two of them worked away pruning and clearing, then Joaquin planted two cuttings from his own vines, for us, and advised on how to look after them. The day Joaquin came was the best day for pruning and planting as it was a full moon. Ask any decent farmer and s/he’ll tell you that pruning and planting at the full moon gives the best results. No, it’s not an old wives’ tale, it’s absolutely true, and proven to be so. Watch this space! Err…and yes, the wall behind is a typical “throw it up with whatever you have lying around” one, so it will be getting a coat of plaster and white paint shortly!

Still on the subject of good neighbours, when we got home ready to do some pruning and planting, we found a big sack of oranges at the front door. Victoria from way down the bottom of our driveway messaged to say her husband Manolo had left them there for us. I can see orange drizle cake, orange curd, orange liqueur, freshly squeezed juice and goodness knows what else over the next few days. If you want something quick and beyond delicious, especially on a hot day, try squeezing oranges over a bowl of frozen raspberries, or whatever frozen fruit you like. The orange juice starts to thaw the fruit on contact, while starting to chill down itself. Not a great photo, I’ll concede, looks a bit odd, but a delicious wee taste of something quick, easy and fabulous!

Now that we’re finally getting to the end of sorting out the house repairs we’ve been turning our minds more and more to the garden. I know we should have probably started there but the house needed things doing that took up all our time and money so we’re only now getting round to the bigger garden projects, like sorting the vines.

I am determined to grow something – ANYTHING – from seed, so I’ve had another go at planting some apple pips to see what happens. The first time I tried this I was really excited when I took the wrap of them out of the fridge and saw they had sprouted. I planted them very carefully then promptly forgot about them. Needless to say they didn’t last long.

This time I’m being a lot more careful and have planted more, and they’re actually looking quite healthy.

There are six of them and they are doing very well. Not sure what will happen when they need moved though, we’ll see, though I think it will be some time before we’re out picking apples from the garden! My main lemon tree is doing very well with new lemons starting to appear. We have a little clementine tree down the terrace outside the walled garden so we’re going to see if we can dig it up and move it into the walled area. Then I think we need to buy another lemon tree or two, and maybe some soft fruit plants.

Since the major house repairs are now almost complete we’ve also been able to start thinking more aesthetically as we need to get on with decorating all the rooms. We have a big house, and after a bit of reconfiguring we have now got four double bedrooms, two bathrooms, sitting room, snug and bodega, plus a study and an art studio. A fair bit of white paint needed for all those walls but at least it’s a relatively quick job getting it out of the tins and onto the walls. We have lots of paintings and pictures we want to display so we need to crack on, get them framed and up on the walls.

My study is almost finished. Plenty of artwork and photos on the walls, and more to put up! It’s a really peaceful place where I can concentrate on my writing and hopefully get a book or two out of it!

You can see a wee bit of my lovely painting of my home village, (thanks Brenda!). Also just in view is a photo montage of our grandchildren – Peter had their school photos framed for me at Christmas. I’ll show you the rest of the room when it’s done!

The art studio is the next room to be organised. We have shelving cases to store materials, all we need to do now is buy some baskets/containers of some sort to fit in the spaces. Peter is currently building the second unit to go upstairs – it’s easier to put it all together outside on the terrace while the weather’s so good.

I’m starting to look forward now to being able to show you the progress room by room – as we get them complete;y finished and presentable. Aslo, with having dedicated space, each of us can enjoy the things we really like doing. I now have quiet space to write, and Peter will soon have a very well-equipped art studio where he can paint and draw to his heart’s content.

When we were over home in Norn Iron before Christmas I bought a wee card game for us; I thought it might give us a laugh. It has lots of cards with song titles on them, and you have to hum the tune for the other person(s) to guess what the song is. Great idea, I thought, until we gave it a go. Now please understand, my husband is the most fabulous man ever, he is a man of many talents, but unfortunately humming is not one of them. It’s one of those things where it’s nearly right, but not quite. He seems to know every flipping song that was ever invented, so he guesses mine straight way. However, for me to guess his attempts takes an enormous leap of faith, and I usually get them wrong, because although I am a woman of many talents I’m really rubbish at “Name that Tune”! I think we’ll stick to regular card games in the future, like rummy and whist.

Speaking of humming, in the nicest possible way, we seem to have a road in town which hums different notes. Yes, really! It’s just along the front of the cemetery, heading out of town, and has recently been resurfaced. I have no idea why the surface sounds different but the first time we drove on it we heard distinct humming, changing notes up and down. Very peculiar but rather nice, in fact!

Here’s something about Spain that definitely promotes positivity. You will frequently see women breastfeeding their babies, not just in restaurants, but even as they are walking through shopping centres. I think this is great because it is responding to a baby’s needs, and not to society’s invented rules. Actually when I say you “see”, it’s a bit of a misnomer as you can’t actually see anything, just a baby snuggled up against their Mum’s chest – hardly a full “stripped to the waist” view as some would have you believe! Very refreshing to realise that there are places where Mums and babies aren’t expected to hide themselves away like something shameful.

It looks like Spring has well and truly sprung here, as the almond trees are all beginning to burst into bloom. The colours range from deep pink to the palest pink you can imagine, and all are very, very beautiful. We currently have 12 almond trees and when they’re all out in bloom it really does take your breath away.

That particular tree will be a real cracker when all the blooms appear, but it’s lovely to see how quickly they come.

Just a wee quick note to let you know I’ve started reading “The 5 am Club” by Robin Sharma. If, like me, you are not a great sleeper and are always up at the scrake of dawn, then this book shows you how to be very productive instead of just trying to get back to sleep. Maybe it’s the nudge I need to get up when I’m awake so early, amd settle down at the computer and actually write something constructive. I’ll let you know how I get on!