“Everybody needs good neighbours…”

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!