Well maybe not as exotic as it sounds, as tomorrow I’m off to Norn Iron for a week! Just on my own this time – Peter will be busy at home doing loads more little jobs around the house, the ones that really need done but you keep putting off, and then realise once they are actually done that they’ve made a huge difference to the house. At least, I hope that’s what he’ll be doing! With any luck there will also be a new fireplace built in the sitting room. He’s finishing off stripping down a big beam of a thing back to lovely pale wood which will then become the mantelpiece. He’ll be doing a lot of picture-framing and hanging as well, I like the walls fairly covered as I think it looks more homely, and we have loads of pictures, art work and photos. I’m expecting to see a LOT of changes when I get home next week! In the meantime I just can’t wait to see Laurie and the children, roll on tomorrow! Love this photo, it makes it look as if Marshall can walk on water…!
My gardening hasn’t been the most amazing success, all my wee apple tree seedlings gave up the ghost and having tried a couple of times I’m not going to bother any more. I did also plant some tomato seeds which have come on brilliantly but I’m not sure they’ll ever amount to very much either. I’ll just concentrate on my orange and lemon trees, and vines, which are all doing very well. Joaquin is coming back this week to check our vines for us and make sure we’re looking after them properly, they seem to be flourishing at last in the lower walled garden. They’re starting to really fill out now and every week sees a blast of new growth.
Our almond trees have got lots of almonds appearing, it won’t be long before they’re ready to be harvested, then it will be the turn of the olive trees to produce.
One of the things we’ve learned when renovating an old house is to take plenty of “before”, “during” and “after” photos, as it’s all too easy to forget what the place used to look like before we tackled it! I have a stack of photos from just before we bought the house, and then during the start of the renovation process, as well as where we’re up to now. As it’s not finished, the album is not ready to file, but so far we’re actually amazed at how far we’ve some, especially when there are days we thought we were getting nowhere. We’re really looking forward to getting all the photos together when we’re just abut done, to compare what the journey’s been like so far. One of the many original features we love is the door from the kitchen through to the bodega. Funky or what? And such thick walls in this house! They keep the heat in during winter and keep us cool in the summer.
Some wee snippets now of life in Spain….I was in a lift at the health centre recently and saw this sign inside. Whose lift is it? (Not too difficult to work out)!
I absolutely LOVE doors, and find that many of my photos taken out and about seem to be all doors! Err…see our bodega door, above! Well here’s another one well worth a look, our farmacia in Fortuna, isn’t it lovely!
A quick note about my sort-of-okay baking skills. One of our favourite restaurants locally produces the most delicious three chocolate tart. I can’t describe it, it’s simply fabulous. Biscuit base then layers of dark, milk and white chocolate sort of thick mousse. I found a recipe and had a go, and it turned out really well, I surprised myself! I have to wait until we’re expecting visitors, to make it, as we couldn’t eat a whole one ourselves, could we?!
This fabulous liqueur is the same flavour as the delicious Portuguese custard tarts. Now I can make the custard tarts, they’re a bit fiddly but they are very more-ish. That liqueur comes direct from Portugal, very quickly, and it’s like drinking the flavour of the weenie tarts. Just lovely! As for the tarts, here’s some….along with shortbread and apple crumble, I kind of went a bit mad on the baking practice! Oh, I’ve just realised that the photo of the liqueur includes some custard creams in a jar, can you tell I love custard?!
Yes, the husband managed to demolish half the apple crumble fairly quickly!
I did mention last time how important it is to have good neighbours, and really, by neighbours I mean that extends to everyone where you live. When the town hall wants to address its residents, it starts the message by using the word “vecinos” which, literally translated means “neighbours”. Very inclusive, I think, makes us all feel part of the same big extended family, where we hope we all look out for each other. On the basis of you tend to get back what you give out, the other day I was at our local filling station where the staff are really helpful and friendly, they’re also a parcel delivery point which is great when you live in the middle of nowhere and delivery companies won’t come to the house! Anyhow, I was on my way home after filling up the car when I got a message from Antonio to say my bank card was at the filling station. I was surprised as Antonio hadn’t been at work when I was there, it had been Raul there that afternoon. I turned round and went back to the filling station, where Raul handed me my bank card. I’d accidentally dropped it on the ground beside the car without noticing. Now, Raul didn’t have a phone number for me but he knew that Antonio did, so he called him and Antonio called me. Lovely, lovely thing to do, I was so grateful and I’m really happy to know such lovely, caring people!
We went over to Lorca not so long ago, it’s a lovely town but was hit badly by a 5.1 earthquake in 2011, and is still recovering. There were eight fatalities and much structural damage to buildings. We do get earthquakes here in Spain from time to time but thankfully they are usually small and leave little to no damage. You can check out where and when they strike on http://www.ign.es then click on the box that says “Terremotos”. We had never really had a proper look round Lorca, and were delighted to find an artisan outlet, which is stocked by various artists and craft people from the area. They have an amazing range of goods, from ceramics to jewellery, to fabrics, to art works. There’s also a great castle and Parador hotel in Lorca, and a good range of galleries and museums as well as other shopping outlets and, of course, great restaurants for tapas and more. Well worth a visit, so much to see! There are often similar artisan centres to be found in many towns in Spain, we love to just wander round and admire the work, and we rarely come away empty handed!
I have a whole list of things to tell you about more happenings to do with our lovely life here in Spain but time is running away with me and I need to check my packing is in order for my trip tomorrow so got to go and get ready!
Websites to enjoy:
https://tranquilstays8.godaddysites.com Best guest accommodation for miles around, run by our lovely friend Julia.
https://eilidhpatterson.com Our friend Eilidh, great singer/songwriter. Beautiful music.
http://www.gfactoryltd.com is the Perfume Bodega who produce divine dupes of famous scents. Smell identical and last for a very long time. Try them!
My life in Spain 