April 23rd - 30th 2007
Written by Geoff Forster
A lovely day. Good temperatures and blue skies.
I'm feeling better but still not 100%. Eye and neck ache being the lingering symptoms of this mystery bug.
So I'm afraid concentrating and looking at the computer screen isn't possible for too long.
I did manage to add some 'social networking' icons at the top of the blog. So if you are into 'social networking' please feel free to add our pages.
We went for a stroll. Jane's foot is still causing her pain but she can walk. We both needed to get out for a while.
Juan our neighbour and his son Juan Diego had been cleaning and washing a new mare outside the house earlier today.
The horse is eight years old, a lovely looking horse. Later we saw her being ridden around the village by Juan Diego. He looks a fine horseman.
Juan Diego's a great lad. He helps his father by looking after the animals. He takes great care of his younger sister and his little brother Francisco Jesus. Little Francisco Jesus thinks his older brother is fantastic and runs down the street to meet him coming home from college.
We walked to the Restaurante Kábilas to sit on the sun terrace for a few minutes.
This is the first flowers of the Philadelphus. A favourite plant which has a wonderful fragrance.
Last year the trees were in full bloom. Spring is definitely a little later this year.
We thought that the flowers were fantastic last year, I have a feeling this Spring is going to be something very special. If you've never seen Andalucia in springtime, this should be the year to do so.
Philadelelphus is called 'Mock Orange' in the plaza the real orange trees were also coming into blossom.
We both enjoyed our walk. Jane spotted a bird flying into a hole in the wall that runs along the edge of the road. A strange sight seeing a bird flying at speed into a wall. The nest is only a metre above the road surface. I hope cats don't notice them flying in and out.
We had a quiet evening in.
We watched 'Hitch' starring Will Smith. We'd watched 'The Pursuit of Happyness' another Will Smith film the other day.
Then we watched 'Deja Vu' starring Denzel Washington. Another film with a time differential, this time only four days. Quite a good film in a way, but the 'sci-fi' use of technology was a bit silly.
A beautiful sunny day.
The weather forecast was predicting a dull, cloudy day.
So thankfully they are wrong, as we're off to the Costa del Sol to spend the day in Estepona.
It's Jane's birthday. Feliz Cumpleaños pet. Also our third wedding anniversary.
We set off down to the coast a lovely drive down from Gaucín, across the Rio Genal and the Sierra Crestellina. We stopped at Venta La Laguna for a coffee, before driving down to San Luis de Sabinillas, and then along the N340 coast road to Estepona.
Temperatures were in the mid 20's°C /75°F in the shade. It was a lovely day.
We photographed these willing Spaniards sitting next to/on a new sculpture.
There are some beautiful streets in Estepona.
La Plaza las Flores.
We called into the Casa de Cultura.
Jennifer Waterhouse from Gaucín is currently holding an exhibition here.
Here are just a few of Jennifer's many wonderful paintings being exhibited.
Jennifer Waterhouse next to a painting of her own garden in Gaucín.
Jennifer's exhibition runs until Thursday 26th 2007. From 08:00 - 14:00h. and 17:00 - 21:00h.
So if you are reading this on Wednesday 24th or early on the 25th you still have time to see this exhibition!
We thanked Jennifer for letting us photograph and use them on our websites.
The Casa de Cultura has wonderful natural lighting and is a good space for an exhibition.
We're pleased that Jennifer's has been very successful.
Outside again we walked back through the plaza and along the main shopping street in Estepona.
The birthday girl. Looking younger than yesterday?
Then onto the sea front promenade. The succulents have the most vibrant coloured flowers around, they are also easy to look after (don't water them too much!)
In a couple of places some very brightly coloured and robust exercise machines have been set up for the use of the passing public.
We had a quick try of one or two ...
We'd built up an appetite so headed to Burger King for a junk food treat.
After another walk along the promenade we drove to Lidl's in San Luis de Sabinillas to buy a chicken and vegetables for a roast dinner which we're cooking for ourselves tonight.
On the way home a huge bird flew over the top of the car from the direction of the wind turbines.
I stuck my head quickly out of the window and directly above us was an Egyptian Vulture.
I've never seen one near the coast before.
We did stop but it had gone out of sight and didn't return. I guess it came from the nearby Sierra de Crestellina.
We also saw lots of Kestrels and a Woodchat Shrike.
This is Casares.A pretty white village perched on rocky outcrop. Dazzling in the brilliant sunshine.
Jane took her camera and here are some of her photographs of the day.
In the evening we cooked a fantastic roast chicken dinner with roast potatoes and roast carrots. Piles of mash and thick gravy.
Later we watched 'The Grudge' starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy the Vampire Slayer).
A pretty good horror film based on a Japanese story set in Tokyo.
Jane then watched 'The Grudge 2'starring Sarah Michelle Gellar and Amber Tamblyn.
I lasted about halfway through it, then started pushing up the Zzzzz's.
Not that it was boring just the same as the first.
Better to watch them separately ...?
A day spent working. I'm designing quite a few websites at the moment.
I did spend a couple of hours sorting through yesterday's photographs and doing the blog.
The evening was beautiful. The campo is the best we've seen it. As each day passes more and more wildflowers are coming out. This May is going to be incredible.
An enjoyable stroll up the track near the apartment.
Later we watched 'Into the Blue', a film set in the present, with no time slips or Japanese ghosts.
A good action film about diving in the Caribbean.
No time for any photography ourselves today.
So here are the last of Bryon Blackwell's Alhambra Granada series.
Thanks to Bryon for kindly letting us use his photographs.
Do you hve any good photographs of Andalucia you'd like to share with us?
A beautiful day. We sat on the sun terrace enjoying the marvelous views and the warm sunshine.
Later we went for a walk around the village.
One of the prettiest flowers in the campo is Borage. Although it is an early flowering plant, it is still blooming.
The flowers face down. Fortunately this one was growing on a wall so we could see the beautiful blue petals.
The Southern Vetchling is beginning to flower along the banks and roadsides. In places it covers hillsides and is a stunning sight.
The Feria Gastronómica, usually held in late February has been switched to April and is due to finish on the May day fiesta.
The plaza is being prepared. A large marquee has been erected, as well as stalls, a stage and lighting.
This corner has a great fragrance as all these orange trees are covered in blossom.
I was trying to photograph Swallows. They were swooping low along the road. All I got was Otto on his motorcycle.
Jerusalem Sage. There is a yellow variety, but I've never seen it in Andalucia this seems to be the common one here.
Lots of Thistles are now flowering. Good news for Domingo our Burro who seems partial to the odd thistle.
We called into Pub Bar Dami for tapas.
Our neighbour Carmen surprised us by coming in. She hadn't called in for a drink but to return a lost puppy to Dami's father Rafael.
Rafael. Jane took a liking to the puppy ....
Later in the evening I watched 'Casablanca' starring Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman.
We had more than 2000 visitors to the website for the first time on Tuesday.
This coincided with me adding a search box at the top of the page and a few ads at the bottom.
We get a few cents if people click on them. It remains to be seen if visitors will or not. It might pay for a coffee two?
More good weather, temperatures are climbing as May approaches, it's going to be a beautiful day.
We drove to Gaucín. We're going to buy an electric fence so that we can fence off part of the land which the donkeys are on.We couldn't really tell from the boxes what exactly was inside, we'll have to look in Ronda for a better selection.
The plaza in Gaucín has been repaved. There is a fantastic mosaic of the pueblo's escudo in the centre. I need to bring steps to get enough height for a better angle!
We called into Venta Socorro for a coffee and to put on a lottery ticket.
Back in Benarrabá.
We went to the Ayuntamiento, apparently we have some papers to sign, but it seems that first we have to get some documents faxed from our lawyer. A typical Spanish paper trail that just takes time and seems so annoying at the time. It's not just Spain it is exactly the same in the UK, it just seems harder because of the language and we don't know the system, although we are learning ... we do know now that bureaucracy is universal.
Jane took her camera and most of these photographs.
Mota de Oro hunting amongst the wild flowers.
A tiny white puppy.
We called into Pub Bar Dami. We were here for most of the day and evening.
Jane likes arranging everyone for group photographs.
Almudena and Dami.
Encarna, Sara and Almudena.
Our neighbour Juan kept us company all day.
José, he'd had a few too many.
I'd had enough coffee and alcohol free beer for day. I went home to see the dogs.
Jane and Juan eventually went to Cafe Bar Guayacán. They look as if they're having a good time.
I watched 'Smokin Aces' starring Ben Afflick. A mob, hitman movie except there's a lot of hitmen after the same guy.
It's fiesta and feria time!
In Benarraba it the Feria Gastronomica VI we've been to the last few and people come from all over the area with cured pork products, olives, honey, etc.
There are other examples of country crafts, basket weaving and chair making, that sort of thing.
I walked along to the plaza just after it had started.
Lots of people were enjoying the sunny day.
There were the usual stalls, with lots of eating and dinking gong on. Which I guess is the sign of a successful feria gastronomica.
In the evening we watched. 'The Return' starring Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy). A slow moving film with good acting, a kind of 'ghost story'.
We also watched 'UltraViolet' starring Milo Jovovich.
Like Sarah Michelle Gellar gets cast in 'supernatural' films.
Milo Jovovich always seems to get cast in 'future society' gone bad films. Lots of action, silly story but she wears a great purple wig and 'kicks ass'.
The feria continues.
Genalguacil are having a feria as well. We can hear fireworks going off across the valley.
We walked to see the donkeys.
It seems quite a while since we saw them. The grass and herbs are growing quickly so they are feeding well without our help.They're looking good.
The walk was the first for Jane for sometime. Her foot is not 100% but she made it!
The countryside has changed colour! The predominantly yellow early spring flowers are fading and brighter summer flowers are coming through. Lots of Cystus bushes are covered in huge white flowers.
In the evening we watched 'Training Day' starring Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke. We've seen it before but it's a very good film.
More great weather.
The feria continues. Tomorrow is the May Day fiesta so lots of people have taken today off to make it a long weekend.
We worked all morning before walking down to see the donkeys again.
It's getting quite warm in the sun now. Especially after a two hour walk.
They came plodding up the mountainside to see us.
We fed them some carrots and then their seed.
It's good to spend time with them. They are such beautiful animals.
We walked back. The dogs water holes have all dried up. They get a drink from the spring. Soon we'll have to set off either very early in he morning or late in the evening if we're going to bring the dogs with us.
I worked on the websites, while Jane worked doing research on the Costa del Sol resorts and amenities.
Later we started to watch 'Smokin Aces', I watched it the other night, a good action movie.
We've had a couple of queries about the Google Ads.
We do get paid (not a lot) if people click on these adverts.
(You should of course only click on an advertisement if you are interested.)