Tag: spain

The end of another year…

Susurro

We had a lovely week in Norn Iron with Laurie and the children at the beginning of December. She was off work so really all our time was spent with her, and of course when the children finished school every day we wanted to have as much time with them as possible. As usual, this meant that we didn’t see nearly enough friends at home, there simply wasn’t enough hours in the day to get round everybody. So, for those we missed this time, we are very sorry and hope to see you next time!

This is who my heart beats for…

Lucy has done the 11 plus and will get the results in January. Marshall and Scott are also growing up so fast, I can’t believe just how quickly time passes, and it seems to get faster and faster the older we get.

When coming back to Spain we have usually stayed the night before in the Maldron Hotel at Belfast International airport, as we always have an early flight and it’s not possible for Laurie to drag the children out of bed at 4am to take us to the airport! This time, however, we booked a B&B near Antrim, called Antrim Heights, owned by Alan and Charlotte. It was a great place to stay, very warm and comfortable, and our hosts were amazing. They wouldn’t hear of us getting a taxi to the airport and Alan insisted on driving us there at 5am…over and above the call of duty! Lovely people, lovely accommodation. and a quarter of the cost of the Maldron!

I’ve booked flights to go back over again in about 11 weeks, just for a few days, as I’m finding it more and more difficult to be without my wee dotes. We are now seriously talking about selling this big house and buying somewhere smaller in both Spain and Northern Ireland, so I can pop over any time. Bring it on!

We had another little pre-Christmas break, in Altea, about an hour and a half up the coast from us. We’d booked a full board, 3 night stay in the Hotel Cap Negret, and it was just fabulous. We have never booked full board before, but this was a special offer and meant we could keep our options open. As it turned out, the buffet food for breakfast, lunch and dinner (including wine!) was so good we didn’t need to eat anywhere else! The hotel was wonderful, the room was gorgeous, and the bed was huge! Peter is 6’3″ and we reckoned the bed was at least 7′ wide – and extremely comfortable!

We had a lovely view of the pool area and the beach from our balcony, it was just a great wee break and we would recommend the hotel to everyone!

When we were in the square by the church in Altea we stopped for a drink, and met some lovely people at the next table, Kat, Bruno and Gabriel.

Kat is from Ohio, the boys are both Spanish but one studying in Ohio, and the other in England. It was lovely to chat and hear their views about Spain, England/UK and US. We always seem to manage to find someone to talk to when we’re out and about, usually Peter starts the conversation, and I think it’s great to be able to share experiences with a wide range of people. So cheers to Bruno, Kat and Gabriel, we very much enjoyed meeting you and we wish you a very happy and healthy new year!

We went into Murcia city before Christmas, just for lunch, to one of our favourite places, the Mercado de Correos.

We were a bit early in the day to see the Christmas lights in all their glory so will be going back in on the tram in a day or two to view! Most of the little shops in the city have done some decorating in honour of Christmas, and it all looks very festive, but I can’t wait to see all the lights, trees and artisan market stalls after dark.

And yes, that really IS a red carpet running the length of the street! They are everywhere in the little streets round the city centre, very festive.

One of the things I love about city culture is the street performance artists, and the day we were there recently there were two who were just so wonderful! We really did think initially that they were statues before we realised they were live performers who managed to hold their poses for a very long time! They were brilliant and we happily donated as they earned it. And yes, that really IS Peter’s hat, he always gets a friendly and smiley reception when he wears it!

Spain has had yet another spell of really bad weather,with furious storms, leaving a lot of areas with much damage – no wonder the Spanish word for “storm” is “tormenta”. This was why we weren’t able to get into the city to see the lights before Christmas, but happily we’ll be on the tram in a couple of days for a good look around. We were very, very lucky to not have been adversely affected by the shocking weather, it seemed like incessant thunder, lightning and torrential rain. All calm again now, but still cold! In fact, this is the coldest recorded winter in Spain for the last 15 years. Roll on summer when we can all moan and complain about the 44 degree heat again!

In the meantime I am very glad that our main fireplace in the sitting room is almost finished, thanks to both Peter’s cousin Tom and to our builder friend Jake – Peter just wants to build up and finish off the sides, then we can paint the wall to the right of it , and the sitting room will be complete. The before and after photos remind me how good it is to have a proper fireplace at last.

That’s before – obviously, with the last bit of the hearth tile ready to be laid.

…and after, looking better now!

After all our gallivanting, to Norn Iron, Altea and in and out of the city, it has been rather peaceful to have Christmas at home. We cooked for ourselves and could eat what we wanted and when we wanted and for once I could have a glass of cava! That’s about my one glass a year! Peter did all the decorating of the tree and the house, I’m happy to let him get on with it as he does such a good job, especially the tree.

It might be that tree’s last Christmas, I bought it about 30 years ago and we have to keep putting more decorations on it to hide the gaps! I do love it though, it’s gorgeus once Peter has put all our special wee bits and pieces on. (I also love my new velvet frock and long jacket, in fact I love that blue velvet frock so much I’ve ordered one in green and one in purple as well!)

Oh, here’s another bit of colour and brightness at this time of year, which I thought the EU had done away with? Painted pigeons are what I’m talking about – the people who race pigeons paint their feathers so they’re easier to identify. As far as I know it doesn’t harm them at all, and I think they look fabulous!

This is definitely a colourful time of year, it needs to be in the dark of winter while we ait for the return of the light! So here is Señor Kopczynski’s contribution to the parties we’re invited to – he makes little layered, bite-sizes vodka jellies, and they seem to go down a treat. Very easy to make, look them up on Pinterest. And yes, he even decorates a board for them to sit on!

On the subject of little treats to eat, I’ve made my usual big batch of “Auntie Stella’s fudge”, mainly to put in jars and give as little gifts. I only ever make it at Christmas, it’s very sweet, none of your salted caramel stuff here! Probably best to make a dental appointment and sign up for Weight Watchers before indulging, but as it really IS only once a year here’s the recipe if you want to make some…it’s too delicious for words!

Ingredients:

900g sugar (told you!)

500 ml whole milk

115g butter

pinch of cream of tartar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

150 ml evaproated milk, (like Ideal Milk).

Method:

  1. Put sugar, butter and milk into a large pan and boil for 10 minutes.
  2. Add the evaporated milk, boil gently – maybe between a simmer and a boil – for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring all the time. (That’s the boring bit!)
  3. When it starts to “fudge” round the sides of the pan drop a spoonful into a saucer of cold water.
  4. If it rolls into a ball, take it off the heat. If not, continue on the heat till you can get it to roll into a ball and hold its shape in the cold water.
  5. Add a good pinch of cream of tartar, and the vanilla extract, and beat with a wooden spoon for a few minutes.
  6. Pour into a buttered tin and when almost cool cut into small pieces, then pop into jars to give as wee gifts.
  7. Enjoy!

That’s it for now, we’re off to get ready as we’re going out for dinner to celebrate a friend’s birthday, then out again tomorrow night to other friends for feasting and fireworks to bring in the new year.

To finish, I just want to say that I’m very aware that this year some of us are having to live with the loss of the light of those they loved so much. I hope that those of you who have lost your light will remember that those of us who care about you will lend you some of our light until your own can rise and shine again.

We wish you all love, joy, light and laughter for the new year, and for all the years to come. 🇮🇪 🇵🇱🎄❤

Summer’s end…

Susurro

It has been a bit too long since the last blog, forgive me, life has a way of interfering with the best laid plans! We are now racing towards Christmas and summer seems a long time ago. Where on earth has this year gone?! It seems to have vanished in the blink of an eye. We had a last gasp of real heat where the temperatures exceeded 38C in the shade, but are now sliding down to a very pleasant 24C or so in the sun, in the daytime. Night temperatures from this weekend are expected to fall to single figures, so it’s time to put the duvets back on the beds, instead of just using their covers, and get the big log burners fired up. The clouds down the valley are starting to look quite amazing, like ribbons of candy floss – this always heralds the changing of the seasons. This is actually the view from our en-suite bathroom, definitely a loo with a view!

Peter has been busy cleaning the chimney flue things from the two big log burners. Not the nicest job in the world but at least when he goes up on the roof to get the brushes down the flues he doesn’t break any tiles. So now both fires are clean and safe, ready for the colder weather. He even treated himself to a special vacuum thing for cleaning out the remaining soot and ash…how very grown-up are we?

We had Peter’s cousin Tom, and his wife Carmel, over to stay for a few days. Tom was a builder, and he helped Peter close in the fire surround and chimney breast in the sitting room, right up to the ceiling. That probably isn’t the technical term but I think you know what I mean! Then our friend Jake came over to plaster it all, and now, as I write, Peter is getting the last coat of paint on so we can light the fire tonight. It is so brilliant to have the flue etc all enclosed now, it looks so much tidier.

I went with Peter to collect some of the building stuff we needed, from a massive B&Q type place the other side of the city. We had pre-ordered and paid online so thought it would be a simple matter of just rolling up and collecting the stuff. Good grief, we couldn’t have been more wrong. We kept getting directed from one area to another, and becoming more and more frustrated by the minute, nyerping away at each other. Well, that’s not strictly true, I was the one doing all the nyerping, the husband is usually very calm, but even he was beginning to lose patience – probably with me! The moral of the story is …..never bring your wife/husband to a builders’ merchants, unless you are keen to meet again in the divorce courts!

We’ve had our first log drop from Angel, our great log man. His Dad is also called Angel and is a bit of a pet – I always get a hug when we go to the yard to order the logs, and he often gives us lots of fruits which are in season, like pomegranates and almonds. He gets jars of home-made lemon curd and home-made limpncello from us in return.

Peter has all the logs stacked away now in the big dry store. We actually still have quite a lot left over from last winter but wanted to get at least one load in before the rain came, and we’re very glad we did! We’ll get another delivery next week and that will probably be enough to keep both big log burners going all winter. Angel is great, he always delivers when he says he will, and he always leaves us 4 huge crates of kindling at no extra charge. I’m glad we’re well stocked up now for winter – we’re too old to be cold!

There have been severe storms again along the east coast of Spain, though mostly confined to the Valenciana community. Barcelona has been hit quite badly, as have some areas near Malaga, and Mallorca has also taken a battering. Some areas have suffered awful flooding again, but hopefully not as destructive as last year’s disaster. Very scary weather patterns all over the world at the minute. We always seem to miss any of the more extreme weather where we are, thank goodness. Let’s hope for a calmer and more settled winter.

Now this wouldn’t be much of the usual blog I produce if I didn’t mention where we’ve been out to eat recently, would it?! Well, on the recommendation of quite a few people we headed out for lunch recently to a restaurant called El Don, set in an industrial estate in the nearby town of Aspe. Before some of you query what a restaurant is doing in an industrial estate, it’s quite normal here! There are great units available to let, it’s very convenient for those who are working in the vicinity, and parking is a doddle.

El Don is a family concern, and on the day we went, there was Elana, her husband (who does the cooking) and her brother all in attendance. They are known for their big platters of barbequed meats including pork, chicken, sausage, chorizo, along with chips, salad, crusty bread, various dips, and their own blends of five different kinds of salts!

Well let me just tell you that the food was just fantastic! Flame grilled meats, so tender, brilliant breads and salads, all so tasty. I was really taken with their home-blended salts, and was lucky enough to receive a sample of each as a gift!

We will most certainly be back before very long.

At the minute it seems that life is one long round of little home projects that need doing, interspaced with medical appointments. Peter has been to hospital to have two little basal cell carcinomas removed. One was already done before, but the surgeon wanted to make sure it was okay so he chopped out a bit more. That should hopefully be the end of the matter. I’ve had to play nurse again, changing the dressings every day. The stitches are now out and everything looks grand.

As for me, I am so NOT used to being unwell that it makes me a very bad patient. I’ve had some really annoying breathing problems which means I can only walk about 50m before needing to stop and catch my breath. I had an angiogram done – worst thing ever! It took two hours and was seriously far more painful than giving birth. If they ever want to do another one they’ll need to give me a general anaesthetic first. Anyhow, the upshot was that my heart seems to be fine. That is a relief, given that my mother had a heart attack, her brother had a heart attack, my paternal grandmother died from one as did my Dad. So, the next round of exciting investigations was to do with my lungs. Now, my Mum died from lung cancer, and even though I stopped smoking more than 15 years ago it was hanging around in the back of my mind as a bit of a worry. Well after various scans, X-rays and MRIs, and something right up my nose (dear goodness that was horrible, I thought I was going to be sick in front of people!) it turns out I don’t have lung cancer, and I don’t have COPD. What I do have is chronic asthma, and it’s entirely manageable and I’m very, very happy with that. Now that the fierce summer heat has left us I’ll be back on my exercise bike on the terrace clocking up the kilometres and hopefully doing the old lungs some good.

To celebrate the fact that I’m not actually dying (I’m really not joking, I was seriously worried for a while) I was treated to lunch at one of our favourite restaurants in the city, the Mercado de Correos. Fabulous place, with amazing variety of foods, from Chinese, to traditional Murcian, from seafood to grilled meats, from brochettas to pulled meats in bao buns, from full courses to tapas, all delicious. I have written about this place before, as we like it so much! All along the sides are little stations serving the food, so you can choose anything and have it brought to your table. Spot the happy chap waiting for a beer to enjoy with his food!

They also have the most delightful patisserie, so of course we had to choose as few little cakes to bring home. One of them didn’t make it as far as the house – I made the mistake of driving so the husband managed to eat one straight from the box on the way back!

I think we’re now both finished with the medical stuff for a while, as my next two review appointments are April and September 2026, so we can relax into winter and enjoy ourselves, even if it is at a slower walking pace!

Oh, but speaking of medical stuff, I love that when we’re in the health centre waiting to be seen, everyone who rolls up, without exception, looks at every single person waiting, and with a big smile says either “hola” or “buenos dias”. It’s so polite and also so very friendly.

When Tom and Carmel were here we were able to take them to see a cooperative wine bodega in the Jumilla valley, the Bodegas Almazara BSI winery, which is a famous wine-producing area near to us. This bodega works in partnership with producers and retailers, and was an extremely interesting tour. It’s the biggest bodega we’ve ever been to, and was just fascinating.

I couldn’t get over the size of some of the barrels used to store the wines – here’s Peter beside one, and remember he’s 6’3″ so these things are huge!

Our guide was Victoria, whose command of English was excellent, and whose knowledge of the bodega was first class- and she made it all very, very interesting. She was accompanied by Maria José, and when the main tour was over were treated to sampling red and rosé wines, as well as their utterly delicious olive oil. To accompany the drinks, we had plates of beautiful cold meats and cheeses, and gorgeous fresh crusty bread. No need for lunch after that feast! And no, I wasn’t able to sample any of the wines, as I was driving, but I have to say the bread dipped in olive oil was fabulous, and we came away with quite a few bottles!

That’s not the clearest photo in the world but I think you can tell we had a great time! There are many worse ways to spend a Sunday morning…and via Groupon the whole thing cost €18.74 in total for the four of us – bargain!

One of the things I still find difficult to get used to here, even after 17 years, is that almost everything closes down in the afternoons, at 2pm, not opening again until around 5pm. I get caught out now and again when I might need a specific shop or garage or whatever, and then remember they won’t be open until later. Restaurants, bars and supermarkets stay open, of course. In fact, I find the best time to do a grocery shop is around 3pm as most of the population is living it up at home with big relaxing lunches, meaning there’s no crowds to push through with a shopping trolley! Saturdays are another thing altogether. I used to love Saturday afternoons at home when we could indulge in a bit of shopping, meet with riends for coffee, and the towns were generally very busy. Here, anything that closes at siesta time, ie, 2pm on a Saturday, doesn’t open again until Monday. Very different!

Oh I have to tell you about an interesting encounter Peter had recently in town. He was having a coffee when a fairly bedraggled man asked him if he wanted to buy a razor for a euro – he produced a couple of wrapped razors. Peter declined but bought him a beer which is really what the chap was after in the first place. The man then produced some cannabis resin and asked Peter if he wanted to buy it! No harrassment, no rudeness, no threatening behaviour, the chap just wanted a beer, which Peter bought for him, and I believe he also treated the man to a card trick or two!

That’s about it for this time, I shall try to be a bit more on time in future! I’ll leave you with my poem written in honour of my maternal grandfather, to remember Poppy Day.

                      “Did we die well?” those soldiers say

                       Their bones still resting where they lay

                       “Will you recall the price to pay?”

                         They knew when they had gone away

                         That most would die in fields of clay.

                         And looking up, to skies of grey

                         And here below in screaming fray

                         Are boys and men, all forced to slay

                         To fight the fight that others say.

                          Let guns be silent now, we pray

                          Around the world on Poppy Day.

We’re far too hot!

Susurro

First of all I really need to say we are currently living in a furnace. I’m sure most of you will be aware of the weather reports from the UK and also from throughout Europe – it is very, very hot. There is a sort of tipping point where it stops being deliciously holiday-like and becomes very uncomfortable. We really appreciate being retired as we don’t really have to go anywhere or do anything energetic for the next couple of weeks when the temperatures will easily top 38C, and will in fact reach beyond 40C as happened last year, and the year before…

It must be dreadful for those who have to work in places with no aircon or fans, or who work outside. There is a reason why the siesta is sacrosanct in Spain, usually from around 2pm until 5pm – it gives people the chance to have a rest, a sleep, recharge their batteries and cool down a bit until the hottest part of the day has passed. So the next time you hear anyone nyerping on about how the “lazy” Spaniards snooze during the day you will understand it’s a necessity, not a luxury, it’s essential for health.

This really is what it’s like:

“When southern summers come the air falls fast like a blanket, smothers the breath and wraps itself round us. We long for the cool air of autumn or even the chill of winter’s fingers on our throats. We overheat like cars with faulty radiators. To get to sleep we try lying still, but the air feels like a heavy quilt pressing down, turning breathing into gasping, and making skin shine like dawn dew. We learn in school that most things expand and lengthen in the heat. There is always an exception, of course. Tempers get shorter and tolerance diminishes as the hot days grow longer, generally it seems best to just stay out of everyone’s way where possible.The more caring days of autumn are still some time away so for now we rise early, rest when we can, and wait for the heat to lose its sting, and for the relief that cooler air brings.”

There’s only a couple of places to be in this heat – indoors with the aircon running, or….

I’m sure we’ll survive, we have done before! However it seems that every year we, and everyone else our age, and irrespective of nationality, are finding it more and more difficult to cope with the heat. Stay indoors during the hottest part of the day, find shady places to sit, drink lots of water and very little alcohol to keep hydrated!

Now you know that we are very fond of eating out, and with the prices in Spain so low we tend to indulge a couple of times every week. We do quite often stick to tried and tested where we know we’ll get great food at great value, but it’s also a good idea to try new places. So, somewhere that’s not exactly new, but has moved a little out of town is the Barra de Fortuna. They have renovated and completely overhauled their new premises and, I have to say, the restaurant is really beautiful.

The whole place is very stylish indeed. Of course, there’s no point in style over substance, but I’m happy to report that the food is absolutely wonderful, very tasty and beautifully presented. A big asset is Marianne, who made sure we had everything we needed, she’s just lovely and very, very helpful. We’ll certainly be back!

Just a wee note to let you know about somewhere else we have eaten recently, an inland chiringuito run by Ann and Ray Perkins. There is a big community pool beside the bar/restaurant, which is great for cooling off before lunch.

As you can see, the view from our table was rather good! The food is delicious and Ann serves huge portions – I had to take half of mine home to save for later. As for value, well, between us we had crusty bread and alioli, then starters of pâté and toast, and a big house salad including tuna and beetroot. We both chose the same for the main course, half a chicken with chips and salad. For pudding I had lemon meringue pie with ice cream, and himself had blackcurrant cheesecake with ice cream. Drinks were included , we had beer and a bottle of water, and the total price was €20 – yes, you read that right! It’s no wonder that everyone eats out so often as you just can’t beat the value. We are so spoiled for choice, everything from hale and hearty big food servings, to the more refined dining in very elegant surroundings.

Okay, I have to show you this – it comes under “weird things we have seen”! On the way to one of our favourite restaurants at Guardamar, on the coast, is a huge place which sells furniture, kitchens and garden things. On their flat roof there are about six life-size rhinos. Yes, really, LIFE-SIZE! Now rhinos are fairly huge beasts, so to see these in all their glory, finished in burnished copper, on a roof, at a roundabout, is the most randomly hilarious sight!

This photo was the best I could get as we were coming off a roundabout – I’m in the passenger seat by the way, remember the driver’s on the left over here!

Nope, I have no idea why the company has a clatter of rhinos on a roof, but it certainly draws your attention to the premises! I’m not altogether sure that “clatter” is the correct collective noun for a group of rhinos, but it’s a more than useful term so shall suffice! Oh, I’ve just looked it up and apparently the correct collective noun is a “crash” or “stubbornness” of rhinos – who knew?!

Other living (well, more alive than the copper rhinos!) things here can be either terrifying or delightful. Snakes and scolopendras fall into the former category – I’ve written about these in an earlier blog and hope I never see another of either.

As for those who are delightful, we are being visited daily by lots of little swifts who like to come and perch on the telegraph wires at the house, and who are also partial to perching on our outside lights under the verandah roof. After I took this photo a lot more arrived – we counted a total of 30 on the wires – they dip to the pool for a drink and seem to enjoy keeping each other company. Who needs Taylor, we have our own group of Swifties!

The other utterly enchanting sight around the pool is when we get sometimes one but more often two dragonflies hovering about. One is always red and orange, and the other is always blue and green. I haven’t been able to get a photo yet as they’ve only started arriving now, and I’ve always been in the pool when they fly around us, but here’s one from last summer which seemed to take a real liking to our little grandson Marshall.

Incidentally, the Spanish word for dragonfly is “libélula”, pronounced lee-bay-loo-la. Lovely word!

The garden seems to have gone a bit mad between the rain we had now followed by such firece heat. Over the winter I had cut back my hibiscus shrub so violently I thought I’d maybe killed it, but it is coming back with the most glorious silky blooms. Plenty of water when the soil dries out, a bit of a feed now and again and some music by Leonard Cohen – yes, really!

I had also cut back the bougainvilleas in the tubs, but they too are coming back with a vengeance. I would say that when pruning potted shrubs the motto is “fear nothing!” Butterflies are also everywhere at the minute, as you can see. They are also really big, many are almost the size of sparrows! The Spanish word for butterfly is “mariposa” – it’s also frequently used as a girl’s name here. Rather lovely, I think.

I found some wild flowers recently down the road and had to stop to take a photo they look a bit like thistles but much bigger. I have no idea what they are but they’re absolutely gorgeous, they might be some kind of wild allium?

Next is what I’ve been buying recently. I get lots of free, or almost free books from Amazon via bookbub.com, which is a great site. You just note which genres interest you most, and they send you a selection every day, usually they’re either free or 99p. Since I would buy a couple a day that’s probably where most of my money goes, but as I don’t drink or smoke I don’t care, books are far more interesting! When I first arrived in Spain I was worried about where I might be able to access books. Well, there are always loads in the charity shops, but bookbub is probably my go to place as they download straight away onto the kindle. I read very, very quickly, in paragraphs rather than word by word or even little groups of words. I currently have around 5000 on the kindle and about 1000 on the bookshelves in the house. Love books…can you tell?!

So, other than books my passions are perfume and makeup. Spain produces some unbelieveably good perfumes, at prices to suit every budget. For the summer I like fresh, citrus scents, and I bought this one recently, it smells of bergamot, cut lemons and orange blossom, very heady! It actually looks a bit like a very small version of a bottle of gin – but it’s not!

I also treated myself to a very funky set of eyeshadows – they actually have a sort of sequin effect, so not really suitable for an old doll like me to wear during the day, but at night it’s a different matter!

Next on the list was an electric foot file. How very elegant – not! However, how very useful!

It’s only a weenie thing that fits in the palm of my hand but takes next to no time to charge and is very, very effective. Having bare feet every day for months can get a bit rough, and I’m not having that, so this wee beauty is a real boon.

My other purchases this month have been to do with getting the pool courtyard into shape. We really want to treat it like an extra, outside room, so it needs a little bit more than just squillions of different solar lights. I got half a dozen retro-style tinplate pictures of sea scapes and old adverts, to put on the walls. They measure about 20cms by 30cms and are really funky. Remember HB ice lollies and ice creams? I love this one!

That is going to look fab on the wall by the pool!

Oh, a wee quickie on the bargain buy front… I was looking for baking powder the other day and almost lifted a box of Royal sachets, when I saw Lidl own brand boxes beside the Royal ones. A quick glance showed Royal coming in at €28.88 per 100 grams, and Lidl own brand coming in at €6.99 per 100 grams. Well it’s not rocket science, is it? The difference in price is enough to cover a lunch out for us both!

We had a bit of excitement a week or so ago, when I came outside the other morning and, standing on the terrace, I could see thick, black smoke down the valley, from the direction of Fortuna. When we went out about half an hour later, we saw that one of the warehouse units in the industrial estate was on fire, really badly on fire. Traffic was being diverted and a number of fire engines were in attendance. There were also a couple of helicopters using the huge bags to fill with water from local reservoirs and flying over the building to dump water to control the blaze.

The whole building was completely gutted, along with a couple of vans and cars parked outside. Fortunately there were no human casualties, and the fire officers were eventually able to bring it all under control.

That’s about it for this time, I need to get on with the chores before it gets too hot to do anything. Some people have asked me about making friends in Spain, as friendship is a huge part of everyone’s day to day life. I’ll tell you about my experience in the next issue – suffice to say for now that we have made some wonderful friends here but we have also found very, very difficult people around who have taught us to gently but swiftly back away. More on that next time!

Once again, thank you to all of you who have clicked on the “follow” button, and who have also subscribed directly by email, I appreciate every one of you!

Fun and frustration…

Susurro

It has to be said that life in Spain has a lot going for it, but there are also so many things that make you want to tear your hair out too!

On the fun side, and the one everybody thinks of first, is the weather. Generally we have all-year-round decent weather, certainly compared with Norn Iron. Where we live, about 30 minutes inland, and up a mountain, we tend to have hotter summers and colder winters. So we regularly see temperatures of 44C in the shade, in the summer, but have yet to see anywhere near freezing in the winter. I actually enjoy the difference in the seasons, even though there are really only two of them. It’s wonderful to spend months being able to be outside – to cook, eat, socialise and cool off in the pool, and not a cloud in the sky.

However, there’s also something to be said for the colder weather. If we’re out during the day it’s lovely to have both the big log burners laid and ready to light as soon as we come home, and it’s also a great feeling to get all “happed up” to go outside and enjoy cleaner, colder air!

Now that the weather has improved it’s full steam ahead with the outside jobs. I keep saying this but happily the plastering of the pool courtyard is now finished and is being painted, so now I can get all our wee solar lights up to look lovely.

One of the bigger gardening jobs was to remove the pink vine thing – don’t know what it’s called but it looks great! It had taken over the support structure for our grapevines to the extent that the poor grapevines were becoming completely choked. That pink stuff grows unbelievably quickly, and Peter spent an afternoon cutting it all back, giving the grapevines room to breathe. Tiny little grapes appearing already, another few months and we’ll be fighting the wasps and the birds for them! I’m going to train the pink thing up that big tree in the corner of the walled garden so it can grow there to its heart’s content and look rather decorative as well.

The hideous back wall will now also be plastered and painted white – it will be considerably more aesthetically pleasing than it looks now…

So, this is what the grapevines now look like having been freed from the pink stuff. Those grapes will be coming in thick and fast – it really IS fun watching things like grapes, pomegranates, olives and almonds growing in your own garden!

Our lovely wee elderly neighbours Bienve and Carmelo made the steep climb up our driveway the other day when we were out, and left us a bag of fresh eggs from their fairly recently aquired chickens. Have to say it’s lovely to see proper and differently coloured eggs instead of the standard supermarket brown ones. These ones are lovely shades of blue, pink and green – no idea what kind of birds they are but the eggs taste great!

With the gift of the eggs, and a bag of lemons from another neighbour, (our wee new lemon tree is just starting to fruit!) sure what else would you do but make lemon curd to share? Best tasting lemon curd ever! Oh, and we also get some eggs now from my friend Julia, who keeps chickens, wonderful!

As usual, we’ve been out and about a fair bit, mostly for lunches, definitely a bit part of the “fun” in living in Spain. We went back recently to a restaurant we hadn’t been to in ages, to find it had been closed for some time and had just reopened. It seems they had had a big electrical fire, but the whole place has been renovated, restored and redone, and it looks amazing! It now has a very contemporary Spanish feel, and, as such, the lighting is modern, instead of the typical Spanish fluorescent strip lighting that often prevails. You know the sort of lighting I mean, the kind that’s so bright and blue/white you look as if you died a few days ago. Happily Spain is moving away from this delightful trend and into something which creates a far more pleasant ambiance!

Very funky! Have to say the food was also excellent. I had salad, crusty bread with alioli, then spaghetti carbonara for a starter, followed by a mixed grill, and finished off with a huge portion of Vienetta ice cream – here it’s called “Contessa”. I can’t even remember what Peter had, and there’s no photos as we were far too busy eating! The lunch included a drink and coffee, and the total bill was €32, fantastic value!

Since we’re now coming into the real start of the summer weather there’s much pleasure to be found in just enjoying the wrm summer evenings – eating later, spending time with friends and generally being able to get out and about without worrying about needing a coat. Can’t beat late night dips in the pool when it’s marginally cooler!

Handy hint coming up if you’re going on holiday this summer – one of the things holidaymakers ask most often is where to get the best deal on exchange rates. Obviously the place NOT to change currency is at the airport, they give just about the worst deals anywhere. There are so many places on holiday where you CAN get decent rates, but you need to shop around. By far the best way to manage your money is to get a Wise bank card.

You can have accounts in sterling, euros or whatever you like. Moving money from your sterling account to euro account takes literally seconds online, and you will get the best rate going. For example, this morning I moved £100 from my sterling account to my euro account and it came up as €119, a great rate, and completed in less than 4 seconds! So, if you’re going to be on holiday somewhere in the Eurozone it’s worth having, as you can then use your Wise debit card to get cash from an ATM without paying extortionate fees.

On to some of the frustrations now! Dealing with the frustrations of living in a foreign country can be a bit of a nightmare at times! Far and away the worst offenders are the big companies like banks and utilities. So, here we go again with the water issue here, always a source of despair. Since we moved into this house more than 6 years ago we’ve not had one single day of uninterrupted water supply.

The other night we were woken by the sound of the dishwasher motor roaring away downstairs – and it wasn’t even switched on?! So, having investigated, and noticed a wee trickle of water coming out from underneath, we disconnected the intake pipe, flung some towels down on the floor, googled the problem and it seemed to have something to do with the flood pump(?!) and went back to bed. Arranged for Avelino to come and sort it when he could, he was on holiday for the next two days so we had to wait – not a big problem as I can still remember how to wash dishes by hand! Next evening – no flipping water coming into the house again! By the time I filled in the emergency breakdown form and found the emergency number – “we are at your service 24 hours a day”…yeah right! – I managed yet again to have a perfectly reasonable conversation, in Spanish, with the chap on the other end of the phone. I gave him all the details, name, address, ID number, contract/service number etc, and he hung up on me. This happens with alarming frequency, hateful, and so disappointing form a big company like Aqualia.

Well, believe it or not, the husband had had the wit to get the call-out engineer’s name and mobile number the last time he came out – apparently he lives not too far from us. Anyhow, Peter messaged him, and he said he would come over the next day. And he did. Fixed our faulty water meter which had been dripping to the extent that we’d had to turn off the water to avoid a huge bill. Wonders will never cease – we had water again as normal! Miguel said to just contact him directly if there’s a future problem, that will be much easier than trying to deal with the utility company and getting nowhere fast.

Avelino came and sorted the dishwasher problem, and only charged us €20, couldn’t bate it wae a big stick, as they say in north Antrim!

So, away from the frustrations and back to the fun…much more interesting! Here’s something to make you laugh a little, and maybe gasp in amazement? Last week we were getting ready to head down south to Nerja, for a wee birthday break. The two front tyres on my car were worrying me a bit as I thought they were starting to look a little worn. Andreas, our mechanic, ordered two new tyres for me to fit the day before we went on our holibobs. Total cost was €160, including the fitting, balancing and all that stuff. The night before, I had bought a wee ticket in a local Spanish lottery called El Gordo de la Primativa, they’re €1.50 a line. So, €161.50 was spent. Well you’ll hardly believe this, but our one line ticket on the lottery won us…..wait for it….drum roll….€161.54, a profit of 4 cents! There you go, new tyres cost covered, lottery line covered, and 4 cents to go mad with!

We thought it was a great example of a bit of synchronicity at play…must try harder now for the Euromillions and try to win a quarter of a billion euros tomorrow night….

Back to our little trip “down south” to Nerja, on the Costa del Sol. We wanted a bit of a break, and as my birthday was coming up, we decided a road trip and a couple of nights away would be grand. We found, and booked, a lovely place in Nerja called Boutique Hostal Lorca. We’ve been to Nerja a few times before, it is a beautiful town, famed for its narrow, whitewashed streets and little craft and artisan shops, and for the main viewing point over the bay, called the Balcon de Europa.

It turned out we had made a fabulous decision in choosing Hostal Lorca to stay in, absolutely fabulous, in fact! The hotel is in a terraced, narrow street of white townhouses, like countless others in little Andalucian towns. However, behind every front door is a wonderful new world waiting to be explored, and this one was no exception! The hotel is owned and run by Julien and Amber, who are really the perfect hosts, going out of their way to ensure your comfort, and really they are just two lovely people! All the rooms are en-suite, and ours had a little balcony overlooking the garden, courtyard and pool.

We had a lovely big bed which was extremely comfortable – just what you need after walking for hours seeing the sights.

When I said Amber and Julien went out of their way to welcome us, this even including leaving a bottle of cava in our room, in an ice bucket, specially for my birthday! Fabulous hosts!

Peter had booked a wonderful restaurant called Restaurante Bakus for dinner on my birthday. We were right beside the terrace overlooking the bay, and I have to say the food was fantastic! This was the view from our table…

We saw some paragliders heading back and forth across the bay, at one point it looked as if the sky was having a wee peep at what we were eating!

We walked for miles, shopped till we dropped, amd drove over 1125 kilometers in the three days we were away. We shopped in Dunnes in Velez-Malaga, amd Marks and Spencer foodhall in Marbella, those of you in Norn Iron, please don’t laugh, we miss those shops! Nerja is a lovely place to visit, and if you DO go, please stay in the Hostal Lorca, it’s fabulous and is unbelievable value! The website is : https://www.hostallorca.com/ so get online and have a wee look….and if you go, tell Amber and Julien we send our love!

Much closer to home, if anyone is looking for holiday accommodation, you won’t go wrong booking into Tranquil Stays, just down the road from us, and owned by our friends Julia and Kelvin – yes, the same Julia and Kelvin with the chickens and the eggs! It’s part cave house, and is in a wonderfully peaceful setting, yet only minutes from the nearest town, and within very easy distance of both Murcia city and the coast.

I know that Julia has been revamping the website but in the meantime have a look here at the photos and see why it comes highly recommended, great place, great hosts!

tranquilstays8.godaddysites.com

One last wee quick not here, now that the inferno that is the Spanish summer has clicked in, please, please, PLEASE don’t ever leave dogs, babies, children or the elderly in a parked car while you just “pop into the shop for a minute”. Here’s how hot it can get, we were away from the car for less than 10 minutes, and that wasn’t even at the hottest part of the day…

I think that’s probably enough for now, well done if you’ve managed to stick with it so far! A big thank you to all of you who have clicked on the “follow” button, and also on the “subscribe” option, it means a lot to me!

So much going on….

Susurro

I have been very remiss in not writing this up for so long – I hope you haven’t all got bored waiting and gone elsewhere!

The first thing to let you know – for those of you who didn’t know – is that I’ve been in hospital. I’d been having chest pains and shortness of breath for months, but just thought it would pass, (stupid woman!) so didn’t really do anything about it until I realised I couldn’t walk more than about 40 metres without stopping to catch my breath and let the sharp chest pains subside. Not great fun, and really more than a bit worrying, given the history of heart trouble in my family. So, I eventually went to see Claudia, our GP, who referred me to the outpatient cardiology department at our local hospital. Got an appointment within about a week (great health care service in Spain!) and when I got there they wouldn’t let me go home! So, admitted first to the high dependency ward to be monitored, then to a 2 bed ward, still attached to various wires. Eventually I was taken by ambulance to a different hospital to have an angiogram done. Well, two hours later and some of the worst pain ever – including comparing to a kidney stone and giving birth twice in the past – it was done. After the shock of all that I was glad it was over, but have vowed never again unless I have a general anaesthetic – and I’m not joking! I haven’t even translated the medical documents yet, as I don’t care what they did, I just know I didn’t need a stent – I think – but they cleared a bit of something to let the blood flow again. The outcome is that I can now walk just about anywhere with no chest pain, hooray! I still get a bit out of breath but that is down to the asthma so is no bother.

Truly the whole thing was an awful experience, but I have to say that all the medical, admin and housekeeping staff were absolutely brilliant, the most friendly, helpful and caring people ever. Nearly as good as the husband, who is simply the best.

Now for the funny bit – I always like to find a bit of humour where I can, it makes difficult situations and people easier to cope with. So… while I was in hospital recovering and starting to feel better I really craved something tasty to eat, and the husband was a complete dote and brought me in a takeaway from a great Chinese restaurant on the tram route into the city. So delicious, sweet and sour chicken Hong Kong style never tasted so good!

A while after I got home, while being fussed over and cared for so well by the husband, I decided to take a wee trip into the city, really just to jump off the tram, go to the restaurant, and order 4 of the meals to take home for the freezer. I wasn’t doing anything energetic, just getting off the tram, walking 20 metres across the road and then back on the tram again.

So, I got off the tram, crossed the road, walked the 20 metres to the restaurant, (great to be able to walk without needing to stop!) and ordered my takeaway. Immediately I ordered, one of the Chinese members of staff said “Oh, your husband was here last week and told us you were in hospital, he brought you this food! He’s very tall and did magic tricks for us!”

Oh my word that man certainly makes a very positive impression everywhere he goes, but goodness knows how they recognised me as up until Peter was there the previous week we’d never been to that restaurant before?! These little episodes fairly brighten up the days!

So much of our time lately seems to be taken with eating out. Not much wrong with that, life is short, the food here is great and the value is unbeatable! A couple of places we’ve been to recently include El Rancho in San Isidro, about 40 minutes from us, and Bar La Amistad in Cañada de la Leña, about 30 minutes from us.

We went for dinner one evening to El Rancho, they have a fantastic deal which comprises a starter of a big well packed salad, a main course of a 10oz sirloin steak plus potato wedges and veggies, and a pudding of a silky chocolate mousse, plus a drink. Total price is €15 per person….how could you NOT go out to eat for that value and price?! It was utterly delicious – we’ll be back!

Here’s the salad and steak – we’d eaten the chocolate mousse before I remembered to take a photo!

So, to Bar La Amistad. It is a newly opened bar/restaurant owned by the lovely Ann and Ray, and my goodness does Ann know how to run a kitchen, as well as being the loveliest, friendliest person! It’s in a weeny hamlet not too far from us, and has a very active Spanish as well as non-Spanish clientele, which is the ideal balance. Ann is helped admirably by Marta, who never seems to stand still, always making sure the customers are well fed and watered.

We recently went for the menu del dia, a set menu. I had gorgeous farmhouse pâté to start with, then a huge serving of fish and chips, followed by ice cream. Peter had tuna salad to start, then chicken curry and rice, and chased up by cherry pie and ice cream. Everything freshly home-made. Plus a drink each. Plus fresh crusty bread and alioli. Total bill for the two of us was €22….how could you beat that?!

Melt in the mouth batter on that fish, everything was perfectly cooked and really delicious. Oh, and a bonus at the bar – I made a new friend, Claire Moles, from Belfast, who heard my accent and stopped to chat, so if you’re reading this Claire, hello again! Claire’s now living in Spain so no doubt we shall catch up with each other again sooner rather than later. Norn Iron people like to find each other even in different continents and countries!

Still on the subject of food, Mercadona supermarkets have put up the price of their Portuguese custard tarts, from 40 cents to 55 cents – how very dare they?! It’s a really big jump, so I decided to have a go again at making my own. They turned out to be reasonably good, though should be better next time. Actually next time I’ll give in and make the flipping pastry as there’s no doubt it turns out far better than the shop bought variety.

In spite of what you see in the photo, I made 10 of them but by the time I found my phone to take a photo there were only 6 left, so they must taste okay!

Speaking of Mercadona, it is one of my favourite supermarkets, in spite of recent price rises. Their own brand makes are fantastic quality, and I especially like the cosmetics and perfumes range. They offer a whole raft of perfumes which are excellent dupes of originals, for both men and women, all retailing at around €8 each. The scent lasts for ages, and you’d be hard-pressed to tell which is an original and which is a Mercadona dupe. Their seasonal ranges of scents is also amazing. I think I might have told you before about my favourite, a very citrus-scented spray which lasts almost all day, light, summery and refreshing for only €10, couldn’t beat it!

It’s labelled as lemon, cotton and wood, and is the most delightful find!

Another real find is their own-brand foundation. I have always used Estee Lauder, Double Wear Maximum Cover, 30ml with SPF 15, which covers a multitude of sins. I usually buy in El Corte Ingles at around €54 each time – just as well it lasts a while! Well, Estee Lauder is now no more since I have discovered Mercadona’s own brand Cover&Fix, also 30ml, but with an SPF of 25, and it costs €5.50 – yes you read that correctly! It is just fantastic, covers everything and looks very natural – well, not TOO natural as prefer the even look that a good covering make up gives me as opposed to how I look when I crawl out of bed first thing in the morning. So, natural but not THAT kind of natural! These are the little finds that brighten up the days of old retired dolls like me! One looks far bigger than the other but they’re both the same amount, 30ml, so one is far and away better value for doing the same job.

My lovely daughter Alice, who now lives in England, came over to stay with us for a few days, and brought her friend Helen with her. The weather was horrible, cold and wet, but the girls wanted to explore a bit of the area and to catch up with some old friends that Alice has known since she originally lived with me in Spain.

It was so, so lovely to have them here, even if the weather left a lot to be desired! Hopefully they’ll come back in the summer when they can just relax in the pool – Alice always gets so tanned people think she’s Spanish!

Oh, earlier I put myself in the category of “old dolls”. Well, make no mistake, no matter what age you are, you can still feel like the age you fixed yourself at many years ago. So, somewhere inside, I’m about 35, fit and healthy, energetic, strong, able to do most things. However, the body will be 70 next year (oh good grief twice as old as I feel inside!) and I’ve realised that I’m no longer much of any of those things on the outside. In many ways it doesn’t matter too much, as we have a generally much slower pace of life here so there’s no need for rushing around wearing ourselves out. However, I get annoyed when I realise I’m not as flexible as I used to be. When I drop something on the floor I consider for a minute if I really need to pick it up or if it can just stay where it is! So, walking (now that the heart and lungs have improved a lot), the exercise bike on the verandah (where I can do 10km without realising as long as I’m reading my kindle at the same time!), and of course being in the pool all day every day in the summer is great exercise all round, and especially for helping the breathing. After what seems like an interminable winter the temperatures are rising fast and we’ll soon be complaining of 40C+ heat again. Bring it on I say, but thank goodness for our daily cool breeze on the terrace, well needed.

So, confession time – in order to make shopping etc a bit easier I have bought a wee granny shopping trolley!

Actually it’s not as “elderly” as it might be, as it seems half the population in Spain uses them, old and young, women and men. It makes a lot of sense, as it’s considerably easier to pul a trolley than to lug around heavy bags of vegetables or whatever from the shops and markets. So maybe I’m not so old after all, just a bit more funky and on trend than I thought!

The weather has been a bit grim, plenty of rain which is great for the gardens but not so great for holidaymakers. It is April, so we always get some showers, which means our fruit trees get a well-needed soaking and start to really come alive. We might only now get a couple of days more with showers and then that’s probably all the rain until about November or December. Our vines are flourishing, and our orange and lemon trees are looking a lot happier. The whole countryside springs into life, with millions of little wildflowers appearing as if from nowhere. They cover the hills and the ground, and provide amazing colours like purple, yellow and white.

Last spring we had a pair of little sparrows who built a nest under one of the roof tiles at the front of the verandah, raised their wee family and then disappeared. This spring we noticed a nest on the ground, but there are two wee sparrows being very busy backwards and forwards just under the front of the verandah roof tiles.

We don’t know if it’s the same two sparrows as last year – do they live that long? Did they want to build a new nest so chucked out the old one? Who knows? We just enjoy watching them flutter in and out!

Some of you might remember that last year my little granddaughter Lucy had her hair cut to donate to a charity that makes wigs and hairpieces for children who have lost hair as a result of cancer treatments. Not only did she donate her hair, but she raised over £1000 in sponsorship, and she’s sort of done it again! This time she has made lots of little woven bracelets and has sold them to friends and family as well as neighbours and everyone else she could think of.

She raised £150 to give to the Children’s Cancer Unit, in support of her friend Isla. We are so, so proud of her, always thinking of other people and wanting to find ways to help. What a wee star!

I spotted something interesting as we cme up the road home recently – a strange looking way the leaves and little branches had grown on one of the pine trees, like a big, round ball. Very funky looking!

I have found out that this anomaly (that word always reminds me of the Star Trek series!) is called a witch’s broom, witch ball. It looks a bit like a big bird’s nest, but is just the way it grows. In folklore it is also supposed to signify a witch living nearby, I’ll just leave that there for a minute….!

This made me laugh – I’ve just found the perfect T-shirt for Peter…

Finally, I’ve been doing a lot of reading lately, and with the weather being colder and wetter it’s been lovely to be able to snuggle down on the big sofa, in front of the fire with a book, while himself is watching some football match or another. Coming into summer it’s a joy to be able to relax outside in the warmth of the sun, reading and sipping very cold drinks. I usually have more than one book on the go at a time, I like to swop them around depending on my mood. I’ve just started reading Frank Delany’s “Ireland”, and am enjoying it immensely. I’m also reading “The Shape of a Life”, by  Shing-Tung Yau and Steve Nadis, about how geometry and mathematics shape our universe. I love numbers, so I suspect this is going to be a very revealing book! My favourite periods in history are medieval and pre-history, so for pure enjoyment I’m revisiting “The Clan of the Cave Bear”, by Jean M. Auel, the first in a great series. This house is rarely silent, so for music at the minute I’m listening to anything and everything Ana Vidovic has performed – if you like Spanish classical guitar you will love this!

Quick recipe for crispy chicken wings coming up, easy and delicious for nibbles with some Turkish flatbread:

Separate wings into mini “drummers” and “flats”. Pat dry. In a big zippy bag mix a good shake of salt, black pepper, onion salt, garlic salt, chicken seasoning, Aromat, BBQ mix, pimiento dulce and some baking powder. I still have a wee jar of Marks and Spencer seasoning for roast potatoes – if you can get some of that then do, as I like to add a shake of it to the mix. DON’T skip the baking powder (NOT baking soda!) as that’s what helps crisp up the wings. Shake them in the bag till they’re well coated and leave in the fridge for a few hours. Cook in the air fryer at 190C for about 20 minutes. Serve with warm flatbread. Yum!

That’s it for now, I’m off outside to relax in the sun while tonight’s chicken wings are doing their thing in the fridge, ready to roast later. See you next time!

Far off lands….

Susurro

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!

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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!