We’ve taken a couple more trips – the first was back to Ikea in Murcia to meet with the ‘kitchen planner’.  As we had done a lot of measuring and looking at their choices online we were very prepared and the meeting went well.  It is going to be beautiful and I’m very excited.

The second trip was to the coast and the peninsula of Cabo de Gato which we’d read about and seen on a couple of cycling videos that went through the area.  Once we passed Vera most of the drive was past mile after mile of tattered plastic greenhouses so we were quite disappointed – it looked like a moonscape.

But the town of Cabo de Gato wasn’t bad – we found a nice bar that had excellent tapas and wine, and then drove a short way to a lovely beach.

There’s also a bird sanctuary in the salt marshes.

We’ve had more work completed – Steve (our carpenter) has done a bunch more stuff, including installing a door between the guest bedroom and it’s bathroom.  Carlos has added three more outdoor taps as well as fixed the outdoor shower near the pool, and our wonderful gardener and her husband have planted the jacarandas, oleanders and cedars.  

They also gave some advice on the cleaning of the pool – I need ‘shock’ and ‘floculant’ and then some vacuuming – hope to be able to use it soon as the weather is finally turning hot and sunny.

Our solar panels have been installed!  Our roof is now covered with them – we don’t have batteries to store the energy but are going to be feeding it to the grid when we have excess – I’m so happy!

The summer pool cover has been fitted and installed – it will help a lot to reduce the evaporation rate, and also keep it warmer.

I finally had my first swim of the year!  Our ducky thermometer says the water is 30 degrees – it was very refreshing and just what was needed on a hot, muggy day.

For the second time I had a couple of unexpected visitors – two larks (I think that’s what they were) were suddenly in the lounge flying about.  They got in through the front door which we like to leave open for the breeze.  The first time they found their own way out, and today I managed to get the french doors open to release them.

I didn’t have my camera handy but did manage to get a quick photo with my ipad – as usual the quality is a bit disappointing to me.

We now have a beautiful herb garden…

…the potted tomatoes are doing great…

…the oleanders are finally flowering…

…and while other plants and flowers are showing off their beauty…

…the agave is still working on it’s one-and-only blossoming before it dies…

Water is still sometimes an issue – the ‘canal’ that belongs to the co-op that we’re a part of is being repaired at the moment and the tanker truck can’t deliver to us until next week.  I’m using as little as possible but have stocked-up on large jugs of water from the store – enough to keep the garden and new trees alive, and make a cup or two of tea in the mornings. The quantity of water available at this time isn’t an issue here – it’s just the delivery of it that is a challenge!

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