Category: Flowers

Great Relief, and Back to Spain

Colin’s doctor’s appointment was a great relief – he was asked why he wasn’t still getting the twice-yearly shots and was taking the one-a-day pills instead. He was instantly given a prescription for the shot and we took it right away to the pharmacy in Mansle. The nurse came to the house the next morning and administered it. Hopefully that does the trick with the very high PSA.

While back in Mansle we did the usual – had a lovely fish-and-chips lunch, visited Tony and Joyce, said hello (a couple of times) to Edith and Sylvain at the bar. Also on Colin’s birthday Tony and Joyce joined us for a lunch at the Marmite – very nice.

We started the return trip to Spain a week ago, and since we were in the car it was much quicker. We stopped at a hotel just outside Zaragoza that accepts dogs – we’d stayed there before. Arriving at the house mid-afternoon was wonderful – we even had water! Except until the power kept cutting out and thus the pump wasn’t working.

After a call to Carlos he came right up and got it running again, but not for long – apparently something got wet and just needed to dry out. It was very frustrating until partway through the next morning when all was working again.

Our ‘handyman’ Steve has done a bunch of stuff – stained the outside doors and some of the window trims, installed several solar powered motion triggered lights and another security camera. Lots to do but it’s all coming along…

Our fantastic gardener was hard at work again – one of the large yuccas is about to flower, and then will die – it looks like a giant asparagus.

Colin and I made a trip to several different places to collect flowers and trees for Ali to plant for us. We now have orange, lemon and lime trees, two bougainvilleas (one of my favourites!), several small cypress trees and a bunch of various colourful things for the planter boxes.

I’ve spent three days vacuuming and cleaning – first day the ground floor, second day the sun-room (including washing the floor) and today the upper floor – so much dust! Slowly but surely the boxes from Worcester are being unpacked so it doesn’t look so much like a storage place.

Everything is starting to look so lovely – more like a ‘home’ than just a house. I sit outside in the evenings and just drink it all in – can’t wait to get the pool uncovered and jump in! Although right now it’s probably a little cold – we need to get a solar heater and summer cover.

Italy to Spain via France

Leaving the Poggio early the morning after the race we went west to Nice where we turned north, stopping for the night at an aire in Bédoin which is near Mt. Ventoux.

The second day of driving took us to what we refer to as ‘the windy place’, which is Lachamp-Raphael. Everything was closed – even the cafe/bar, although it was a Monday so that might explain it.

The next day got us back to Mansle – nice to be in a house again. We spent several days getting organized – picked up the Renault that is going down to Spain, got some things from the charity shop, had a nice lunch at the fish-and-chips place.

We also saw Tony and Joyce and I showed Tony a photo of my little guy Sly that he offered to make a painting of for me. Several days later we went back as he’d already finished it – a real masterpiece! Sly is a very cute kitty but doesn’t seem to like posing too much – I was lucky to get a pic that shows his beautiful green eyes.

We were all packed up for our trip down to Spain when Colin had a blood test the morning before we were planning to leave. That evening we went to the bar where they had a steak and chips dinner – very delicious. We were just getting ready to retire for the night when Colin got the results of his blood test by email – not good. We decided that going to Spain was not in the cards at the time and both went to bed with heavy hearts.

At 6 the next morning Colin knocked on my door and said we should go to Spain anyway – the campervan and trailer (that I will pull in the Renault) were all packed and his furniture from Worcester is on the way so he figured we might as well go. We were on the road before 8:30.

Getting used to driving again and pulling a little trailer wasn’t that bad – shortly after we passed Bordeaux I started to relax a bit. Very near the Spanish border we encountered a road-block – no police or road-works folks but just a barrier. Like those before us we went around it and down a very narrow road. After several km Colin in the campervan was trying to turn around while I continued forward past another barrier. It seems there was some kind of rally on with quads, but there were no wardens or any diversion markers and it seemed very unorganized.

Rather than try to find Colin I drove on to the small town just across the border where all the French folks go for the cheap shopping – I parked in the lower parking lot of one of the shopping malls that we’ve stopped at before and waited for him to find me. I waited 20 or 30 minutes and he and Henry arrived – we had lunch in the parking area and then continued on our way.

We got past Zaragoza on a secondary road and stopped for the night at a trucker’s stop just off the motorway – it was surprisingly quiet and the sunrise in the morning was lovely.

We got to the house in late afternoon – I felt like I was coming home. Seeing the work that had been done while we were gone was great – bathtub installed, Colin’s re-done bathroom, the pellet stove.

The only problem was that there was a layer of dust everywhere – some strategically placed poly would have been useful when the work was in progress.

I did many loads of laundry and washed every dish in the kitchen because of the dust, but eventually started to relax and just enjoy being here.

The full moon came and went and it was Easter.

I made a roasted chicken pie, except I burned the bottom crust. I’m not used to a gas oven yet, but as long as you scraped off the burnt part it was delicious.

We got an excellent gardener to tidy things up – a lot of things to trim and prune as it’s probably been several years since it has been properly taken care of. She seems to know what she’s doing and is giving us advice on what to plant behind the wall, etc.

We went for our first ride of the season this morning – we have a bit of fitness to find but it was nice to get out.

North to Avigliana and Milano-Torino

Upon leaving Trasimeno we went west a bit and stopped for a visit with Colin’s estate agent to update the offering of the house in Papiano. The agent and her partner have a large, old house on a hill with a lovely swimming pool and fantastic views of the valley below.

Afterwards we continued west a bit before turning north towards our destination just outside Torino that we chose to watch the next race from.

We made it just past Genova and a bit up the highway north when we encountered major roadworks and traffic slowdown. As it was getting late anyways we left the highway and pulled into the town of Masone that was supposed to have a couple of aires. We found the quieter one and parked up for the night.

In the morning we had a quick cup of tea then proceeded north via the smaller road rather than the motorway. It was a very nice, pleasant drive – we had to stop several times at rail crossings to let a train pass. It was a passenger train that stopped at all of the small towns along the way and we kept overtaking it, then having to wait for it to pass at the crossings.

Having picked the town of Avigliana we were very pleasantly surprised – the town itself was alright but it’s the area in general that impressed us. On the map it looks to be surrounded by motorways and seemed like it might be very congested but it wasn’t.

We passed through the town and stopped on the edge at a restaurant right on one of the ‘lakes’ – there are two of them, one being Lago Grande di Avigliana, and the other Lago Piccolo di Avigliana (big lake and small lake). To me they were more like fair-sized ponds, but never-the-less they reminded me greatly of home and I loved it there.

Lunch was wonderful – I had wild boar stew with polenta and a side of grilled veggies. The boar meat was so tender and flavourful and the sauce was both sweet and savory – just delicious. It’s one of the few times I actually finished a meal instead of taking half of it home for later.

After lunch we drove just a bit further along the route and found a large paved parking area right on the smaller of the lakes. There were walking and riding paths and many folks were out with their dogs.

There was also a nice little bar that served a good local red wine. Sitting in the sun on the shore of a lake, beautiful mountains as a backdrop and sipping red wine – almost heaven!

The wind howled and rocked the campervan most of the night but we were snug and I slept well.

Race day was sunny and beautiful, with the wind having died down early in the morning.

We took Henry for a short walk, then had a cappuccino at the bar on the lake.

Milano-Torino is the oldest race in cycling, with the first edition being in 1876! We were very close to the finish – maybe 15 km or less – and when the race arrived the breakaway of four was about to be caught.

The whole race passed us so quickly I barely got 25 shots even in sports mode.

As per usual now we watched the finish on GCN, and one of the riders from new pro team Tudor won! The team was started only four years ago and is now owned by retired Swiss great Fabian Cancellara – the main sponsor is Swiss watch-maker Tudor. They’re not a World Tour team yet but do get invites and this was their first ever win at the top level – kudos to them.

After we’d watched the finish and they’d opened the barriers we got going the short distance down to Pinerolo where we stopped at the quiet aire for the night.

Nice Rides, Good Food, Back on the Road

More bike rides – we alternate direction each time, going either south/east to Taberno or north/west to Los Cerricos and beyond. There’s a small village on the way to Oria that has some pretty blue flower pots all over an old stone wall.

About ten days ago there was a festival up at the Sanctuary – it actually started the evening before with dozens and dozens of people walking up the rambla beginning around 8 in the evening.

The procession continued the entire night – every time I woke up and looked out the window I could see individuals or small groups with flashlights moving along up to the Sanctuary.

The next morning we took our ride up to Los Cerricos and were astounded by the number of vehicles – hundreds of cars and dozens of buses, and even police directing the traffic and parking.

The village has a lot of cats – some of them strays that forage for food in the dumpsters, and others that belong to the bar.

The folks came to put on the winter pool cover but it didn’t quite fit so they took it away to trim it a bit.

That’s ok, though, as I’m able to get in a few more swims.

They’re starting to bring in the almond harvest – there are piles of them in the strangest places.

We went out for lunch on my birthday, intending to go to the bar in Los Cerricos but it was all closed up. We then decided to go up to Chirivel, but…same thing! On to Veliz Rubio where we had success at the steak house, and was it ever good. The portions were so large that even Colin couldn’t finish his and when the waitress came to collect our plates she looked very concerned and asked if we didn’t like it. We assured her that no – it was delicious and we would like to take the leftovers home – she was very pleased to hear that.

I must say that I’m not feeling my age! The next day we met Carlos and Maria for lunch at the restaurant just south of us – it was another excellent meal and we were there for over four hours. They are great to visit with and Carlos will be doing a lot of work on the house for us over the next few months.

We’re really looking forward to having all of the work completed – new pellet-burning stove, having my bath-tub installed, and a complete re-do of Colin’s bathroom, just to start.

Lots of other things as well, both inside and outside, including screening of the sun/pool room. Sitting out there is lovely, except for the flies and wasps so having it fully screened will be great.

Oh – Remco won the Vuelta – woo-woo!

Leaving on Thursday morning was kind of sad – I love the house and the area so much already, but have really missed travelling and seeing the races live.

We chose to take three days rather than just two to get up to Mansle, and stopped the first night at Horche, which is just south of Guadalajara. It turned out to be a lovely hotel just outside the town and we spent a couple of hours on one of the outside terraces enjoying some refreshing beverages.

The drive up to Logrono the next day was much shorter and we passed through some spectacular scenery.

We’d been to Navarrete before, staying in the campground just south of the town. This time we were in a hotel that used to be a seminary – it was also very nice.

Our friend Richard met us there around 6:00, delivering two cases of Rioja and some floor polish for Joyce and Tony back in France. He also gifted us with some local chorizo that he says is very tasty, although quite spicy – we’ll have to eat it sparingly!

The last day of travel was somewhat longer, but not stressful. In fact getting past Bordeaux was possibly the best ever – hardly even had to slow down, let alone the usual bumper-to-bumper crawl.

Getting to Mansle in late afternoon we had time to go down to the bar and were warmly received by Edith and Sylvain, as usual.

Riding Flats and Finally Getting Deliveries

We’ve gone on a few more nice, slightly longer rides. A couple of times to Taberno for coffee, also to Los Cerricos, again for coffee. The little bar cat has had her kittens but we’re not sure how many – she looks like a baby herself but apparently this is her second litter.

Another ride was to Chirival, and it ended up taking much more time than expected as there was a diversion just before the town that sent us west. We knew we were going a bit far out of our way when Colin hit a large, unexpected pot-hole and got a flat!

Even the smaller roads here are in so much better condition than almost all the roads in Italy that perhaps we weren’t being as careful as usual. In any case we made our way to a nice cafe on the ‘main’ east-west road through the town and had a nice coffee. Then Colin hopped on my bike and rode back to the house to pick up the car and return to retrieve me and his bike. The wait wasn’t too bad – I had one of his phones so was able to read the news, etc, and also they had a very nice red wine.

A few days later we rode towards Albox and stopped for a coffee – we were halfway back when two things happened. The first was seeing an old woman hand-washing her laundry in the water channel. My first thought was ‘oh, she’s getting free water’ – then Colin mentioned that if we were downstream from her we could be brushing our teeth in water she’d used to wash her knickers in – yuck!

We were a few km further on when once again Colin had a flat – this time the front tire went. Luckily we weren’t too far from Las Pocicas, where once again he rode my bike home while I sat and enjoyed another nice red wine. I especially like it when it’s chilled, and it’s always served chilled in Spain.

We’ve been out for lunch a few times now – twice to the restaurant in Los Cerricos. We’re usually one of the first tables to order food as they eat so late here. The last time we went the place ended up being totally packed – I had a delicious pork loin dish with fries, with enough left over for at least one more meal at home.

We’ve been watching the Vuelta on tv rather than going to the north coast as we normally would. They moved down to our area on the rest-day and young Remco is still in the overall lead. He rode a blistering time-trial yesterday and we just hope he can hold on for another 10 or 11 stages. There are others I would cheer for as well if he cracks in the mountains, though.

Finally we had some deliveries get to us – IKEA met us at the restaurant/gas station and we exchanged one of our light fixtures that had been missing a piece for another that was complete. Then a couple of days later the bathtub finally arrived – the delivery company had it for 3 weeks and it finally took Carlos (our plumber) to speak with them for them to bother finding us.

Another thing that got completed was the metal gate being installed for the french doors – it was the only really vulnerable entrance to the house so now we feel a bit better about our security. They also fixed a metal plate to the bottom of the new gate in the back wall so Henry can’t squeeze through any more – he seems a little confused that he can’t get out now.

I’ve still been swimming almost every day, although it got very stormy yesterday so I gave it a pass. The wind overnight was fierce – it blew a couple of my shutters back and forth so bad I had to close them and I haven’t done that since we were here back in frigid May. The storm was worse in other areas, though, as I read about hail the size of tennis balls.

Water Woes and Wasp Wars

The last few weeks have been a combination of busy and slothful. Colin took a little trip to the town of Murcia one day and got a bunch of household things from Ikea. One of the wall lamps we got was missing a piece and when I got hold of their customer service they told me they’d deliver a whole new one in a few days and exchange it for us. Unfortunately the driver couldn’t find the house, even after we’d what’s apped him our location to his phone.

We’ve done a lot around the house – Colin has hacked a bunch of weed shrubs from along the drive, and the carpenter has done several things including installing new locks on all the outside doors and putting up the new light fixtures in the foyer and the sun-room.

We’ve also had the hunky furniture removed from the sun room and some nice patio furniture put in, as well as doing a thorough cleaning of the floor, table and chairs. The dust from the storm back in March is still almost everywhere but we’re cleaning it up bit by bit.

We’ve gone on a few bike rides, mostly trying to find our way around on the back roads without getting lost. It starts getting hot fairly early now so we need to get going at a decent time in the morning to try to beat the heat.

On one of my solo rides I passed a field that may have been the site of the fire some weeks ago – all recently burned black right up to the road.

Getting the pool filled wasn’t as quick or easy as we thought – we had to call the local co-op guy every day to get our allotment bit-by-bit but it was taking forever so in the end a different fellow with a tanker did the final filling in no time, although for more money.

Then we had to deal with the sludge that was still left. A quick lesson from the carpenter, then another from a friend of his that takes care of pools and we were finally on our way! I can’t believe how much I enjoy going out and just jumping right in – it’s so refreshing on these hot days.

The Tour de France came and went and we watched every stage on tv – a much more interesting and exciting race this year than any I can remember. No more of one robotic team controlling everything, and lots of surprises. In fact on one hard mountain stage two Canadians were on the podium – Hugo Houle in first and Michael Woods in third!

We’ve got an ongoing problem with wasps – there was one nest on the ledge of Colin’s dressing room window, and another under one of the roof-edge tiles of the sun room. They like to dip onto the surface of the pool to collect water and we’ve been killing them like crazy with our fly-swatters. One of them got revenge on me yesterday, however, when it stung me on the upper neck right behind my ear.

Going by my reaction the last time I was stung I dropped my watering can and ran into the house shouting for ice. I lay on the sofa holding an ice cube to the spot and praying that wave after wave of throbbing pain would not hit me like they did last time. I was very lucky and nothing much happened but some redness and swelling.

In addition to the wasps we’ve swatted we’ve scooped hundreds of dead ones out of the pool that have died from some other cause – perhaps they drowned trying to get water, or maybe someone snuck poison into one or both of the nests.

The fellow that’s doing the balustrade/railing for the stairs came the other day to see if they were going to fit properly and should be returning to install them tomorrow – that will be great as they’re a bit scary right now.

I added a strip of white tape to the edge of each step so you can at least see where the next step is on the descent.

Another water issue we have is the pump to the house. There’s an 18-thousand litre tank at the bottom of the property that gets filled from a pipe by the co-op. That gets pumped up to the smaller upper tank that holds 3 thousand litres, which then gets pumped to the house for showers, toilets and sinks.

An ongoing problem is that the second pump sometimes shuts off and we can’t get any running water, sometimes for hours. One of the many great ‘pleasures’ of having an older house that’s partly ‘off-grid’.

Back to Spain to make a House a Home

We got away from Mansle nice and early on a Saturday morning and even made it past Bordeaux without having to slow down much. Crossed the border into Spain same as usual, only knowing we were in another country by the slightly different road signs.

We made good time and arrived at the hotel just outside Zaragoza before dark. It looked like at one time it was a pretty fancy place – marble stairs, etc., and every second guest had a dog. Spain isn’t quite as dog-friendly as some places so where dogs are allowed you’ll definitely find lots of them.

Another early start the next morning and we headed generally south and a bit east. At one point we saw some smoke off to the left and not much later saw a convoy of army fire trucks heading towards it – they’re not wanting anything to get out of control in the current dry conditions.

We followed fairly main roads all the way home – the car’s GPS didn’t seem to know some of the newer roads but we knew where we were headed and I had my ever-present maps so it wasn’t a problem.

We got back to the house mid-afternoon and were glad to unload and relax for a bit – it’s been a lot of travelling in the last few weeks.

While we were gone the solar panels for the hot water had been installed as planned and the pool drained – not as planned. Apparently there was so much mud in the bottom from the dust storms in March that the filter simply couldn’t handle it and it had to be drained and several inches of mud shovelled out by hand.

Since then we’ve arranged several more things but the most annoying has been the water situation. Apparently not only did we need to take over the ‘rights’ – it was even part of the deed of purchase – but also had to become members of the local water co-op. The plumber’s wife – who is also our pool cleaner – helped interpret for us at the water office so we could get things rolling.

A few days after arriving back we saw a small pillar of smoke coming from the north just below the sanctuary. Not long after there was a spotter plane, then a couple of helicopters with water buckets dousing the blaze. Again – taking no chances, thank goodness.

We’ve done a bit of outside work as well, such as chainsawing the old and rotting wooden rails around the decks, and planting some lovely colourful flowers in some of the windowboxes and planters.

Also putting up some of the artwork from Papiano has made the inside seem more like a home and less like just a house.

The days are usually quite sunny and are getting hot but there’s almost always a nice cool breeze in the evening and again in the morning.

Sitting on the terrace beside the pool is very relaxing – jumping in for a swim will be even more so once it’s filled a few days from now.

Quick trip to Papiano and back

On Friday morning the estate agent visited to have a look at the house – it was the same agent that sold Colin the place almost five years ago. We spent the next couple of days sorting out all of the stuff that we wanted to take down to Spain, with the rest going into the cellar for retrieval when we return with the campervan in October.

We had a nice visit with John and Janet one afternoon at the bar, and then broke the news to Antonio that we were selling the house. It’s not like we’ll never be back but we just don’t spend enough time there anymore. There will always be races nearby that we will come to see and whenever we’re in the area we’ll stop by to say hi.

With the trailer crammed full and the back of the car also stuffed we stopped at the bar on our way out of town for a final cup of coffee. We returned to the same B&B in Susa – not so much traffic this time as the four-day weekend had ended the day before.

We were hungry and followed the B&B owner’s directions to a restaurant in the town where we enjoyed a very nice meal.

It was a bit of a walk but the evening was lovely and we needed the exercise.

There are quite a few war monuments in the town – I believe the Alpine Corps had a large presence in the area – I wanted to call it the ’resistance’ but I don’t think that’s quite right.

At breakfast the next morning there were two french gentlemen that we chatted with for a bit. They’re partway through a pilgrimage to Assisi and have about 47 days to go.

They didn’t have anything good to say about the Camino di Santiago, however, as according to them it’s far too crowded now – and likely not enough real ’pilgrims’ on it anymore.

We made it back to Mansle in good time the next day – a seven-day trip with four of the days spent driving – not our typical journey.

Over the next couple of days we re-organized the trailer and are being even more particular about what is getting taken to the spanish house. We need to make room for Henry in the back of the car – Mo sits on my lap but Henry needs a bit more room so not everything we brought from Papiano can continue with us.

We had another good fish and chips lunch at the same place as before, although this time we sat outside and ended up covered in tiny little bugs/flies – likely from the corn fields across the road. We also enjoyed dinner one evening at the campground – lovely weather these days with blue skies and nice breezes.

Saliente to Mansle

Removal of the skanky jacuzzi contraption made the terrace look a lot better.

And it’s lovely to have a garden that is well planted and laid out.

Leaving the house on a Sunday was a bit sad – we’d just started to get used to being there, but at least we’ll be back fairly soon.

We drove generally east and up the coast before turning inland just past Valencia. Originally intending to stop around Zaragoza we ended up finding an aire well short of that in the town of Teruel. The aire wasn’t too bad – right across from a guarda-civil station and next to a skateboard park. Lots of activity and noise until a certain time, then remarkably quiet.

As usual when going a long distance we passed through lots of beautiful countryside and saw many sites of interest – although also as usual we didn’t stop except to let the dogs out now and then.

We originally planned a three-day trip but the second day’s drive went so well that we made it to the border and decided to keep going all the way to Mansle – stopping of course for a few things from the cheap shops right on the Spanish side of the border.

We hit the Hope Charity shop for more books and jigsaw puzzles, and the next day had a lovely fish-and-chip lunch with Tony and Joyce. The owners of the restaurant have several dogs, and are caring for several others that were rescued from Ukraine – I believe they have 9 now!

We have, of course, visited the bar a few times and it’s so nice to see Edith and Sylvain again, as well as many of the other regulars.

There’s a fund-raising ballet in town tomorrow for Ukraine, and their flag is flying along the side of the church right across from the bar.

Snoopy is doing well – getting a little bit plump from all of the treats they give to all of the doggies. Mo and Henry like going to the bar at least as much as we do!

Walking home the other afternoon after coffee I noticed a door-knocker on one of the houses.

I’m not sure how many times I’ve walked along the street and never noticed but interesting door-knockers are everywhere…

The hands are actually a bit creepy – reminded me of Thing in the Addams Family.

We’ve had some rain but also some lovely days and the spring blossoms are beautiful.

The birds in the neighbourhood are ravenous – we’re not sure how many fat-balls they’ve eaten, and the seeds in the blue ball feeder go down super quick. I guess the birds are feeding their little ones right now so need all the extra food they can get.

The Giro d’Italia is on right now and for the first time in six years we’re not going to see any stages live so we’re compensating as best we can by watching GCN-plus on tv (via Colin’s phone). Hopefully next year…

Settling in to Saliente

Settling into the house has been very easy in some ways, and in others not so much.

It’s wonderful to be in my master bedroom with the huge bathroom, but the hot water wasn’t working so we couldn’t have showers. Also the washing machine kept stopping because of ‘not enough water’.

We got hold of a local plumber and arranged for him to visit. We want to replace the gas cylinder water heater with a solar one, as well as the house heating system. The current system uses red diesel and neither of us likes that so we’re going to get a pellet burner for the main living room that will act as both a fireplace and heat the radiators as needed.

The plumber’s wife does pool cleaning which we badly need – you can’t even see the bottom of ours through the algae and muck. There’s also a crappy ‘jacuzzi’ on the terrace by the pool that we’ll have to empty and dispose of.

It turns out that the hot water does work, although the canister did need replacing. The problem was that we kept testing the hot water in the kitchen, where for some very strange reason the hot water pipe was not connected (or turned on, or something). Anyway I did get a very nice shower before we ran out of all water.

The plumber came up the next day with his wife, who said she could definitely rehabilitate the pool, while he went down to the lower, larger water tank and opened something up that allowed a bit more water to be pumped to the smaller upper tank that feeds the house. He also arranged for another fellow to partially fill the lower tank from his tanker truck in a couple of days.

A few days later we went into Albox and had another meeting with our bank guy – he helped us setup our new cards, and we also arranged house insurance.

Back at the house we realized that the loud ‘cawing/squawking’ that we’d been listening to day and night was not a large exotic bird, but a small frog living in the pool.

I thought I’d rescued him and proceeded to scoop him out (on only my second try with our new net) and deposited him in a shady part of the garden in a bit of water. Well – it turns out he didn’t want to be ‘saved’ or relocated, as the very next morning we found him once again singing his mating call at the top of his lungs from the pool.

We’ve seen other local wildlife such as rabbits, and this morning Colin saw a fox, who seemed to be interested in the rabbits, but I was too slow to get a pic.

Sitting on the terrace at any time of day is very pleasant, and there’s always a beautiful view to be had.

I’m also enjoying being able to do yoga again – my master bedroom is large enough that I can put out my mat with plenty of room to spare.

Another fellow has come to do some measuring for balustrades for the inside stairs, as well as fencing for the front yard. It’s quite a large space so we’re only going to enclose part of it – the raised beds for our veggie gardens will be outside the fence, although we will have to ensure that they are rabbit-proof.

One afternoon we walked the dogs on the rambla to the nearby restaurant – it was just packed, and there was a bouncy-castle for kids and music playing. We didn’t think it was an after-funeral party and decided it was either a wedding celebration or christening party. There were lots of kids and the little girls were all dressed up with frills and bows – very cute.

When I sit on the terrace beside the pool it’s easy to envision how it will look next year with some strategically placed flowering shrubs in pots and a couple of nice large umbrellas – it’s going to be gorgeous and I can’t wait!