October 2007
Written by Geoff Forster
Sorry to lump everything together but it's been such a busy week. Unfortunately we havent done anything very exciting.
A lovely day. we went for a walk around the village. The views of the Genal valley are stunning from a number of vantage points.
We got a lot of boxes from Tienda Andreita a small shop near the church that sells everything from fresh veg to lingerie. We're having a serious tidy up before we decorate, although it looks a lot worse as we empty the contents of one room into another.
We went to see los burros. They look really good, their coats are shining.
Later we watched some films.
First we watched Big Nothing. Starring David Schwimmer (Friends), Simon Pegg and Alice Eve.
A comedy about a blackmail scam.
We watched 'Grindhouse Planet Terror'.
A Quentin Tarantino film - Supposed to be watched with 'Grindhouse Death Proof' so you get an 'exploitation double feature' experience as in the cinemas during the 70's. The film is stressed with scratches and frame jumps to simulate reel changes and badly joined films. Includes trailers and ads to complete the experience.
I like Tarantino, I'm not sure this works. Both features are very unusual films, quite violent as is usual with Tarantino but visually the direction is excellent.
Lots of DVD's are available. Best to buy a boxed set if you're a Tarantino fan. Be careful as there are lots of 'extras' and different versions released in different DVD regions.
A lovely day. we went for a walk around the village. The views of the Genal valley are stunning from a number of vantage points.
We got a lot of boxes from Tienda Andreita a small shop near the church that sells everything from fresh veg to lingerie. We're having a serious tidy up before we decorate, although it looks a lot worse as we empty the contents of one room into another.
We went to see los burros. They look really good, their coats are shining.
Later we watched some films.
First we watched Big Nothing. Starring David Schwimmer (Friends), Simon Pegg and Alice Eve.
A comedy about a blackmail scam.
Sorry to regular readers for the break in the blog.
We've been busy but not doing anything too exciting.
I got bored writing the same thing day after day.
We've had lots of e-mails asking if we are okay which is lovely. We are, thank you.
We've had good weather in the main, a few light showers and one thunderstorm which came close by but missed us.
The donkeys are well, as are the dogs.
Charlie has been bitten by one of his sisters or by his brother.
We notice two small marks. Unfortunately he scratched his head until there was a red sore the size of a two pence piece.
We bought a 'lampshade' from the vet to stop him scratching. He's had it on for almost a fortnight. The wound is a lot better and we're hoping he'll only need it on for a few more days.
All the other cats are fine.
A Siamese male with a broken tail has appeared and is hanging around eating the kittens food. He does wait for them to finish. We put a bit extra out for him. He also has a nasty bite, which was infected. I've been washing it and putting on Iodine. He's a lovely cat and lets me do this without too much trouble.
We had a day in Ronda, we took the car in for a service.
We had to wait for a few hours before picking it up.
We had a pizza in Nonne Peppa, which is near Calle Espinel.
An average pizza which should have cost 5.80 € according to the menu.
I guess there's some small print somewhere, because we were surprised to find service charges and tax added on to the price. This practice isn't too common in Spain. You usually pay the menu price and tip as you wish. We won't be going back.
John and Chris who own the finca where they kindly let us keep Rosie and Domingo, were out for a week and we had a night out with them. Good fun and good to see them again.
A beautiful sunny day.
Jane went to feed Rosie and Domingo.
I caught up on some work and took an hour out to read a few chapters of Don Quixote, which I'm really enjoying.
We cooked a lovely roast chicken dinner and I had a go at making some Quince jam.
Our neighbours Carmen and Cristóbal brought a large bag of quince, pomegranates and a tray of kakis (Sharon fruit). Kakis are beautiful fruits. Sweet and slimy they look like tomatoes except for the stalk. You don't eat the skin. They don't last long as they are quite soft and bruise under their own weight.
I just boiled the quince for around an hour in sugary water. A bit of mashing and it has cooled and set. It tastes great.
Quince look like dull yellow, lumpy apples, not a pretty fruit.
After a disastrous sporting week I listened with some trepidation to Newcastle United v Tottenham Hotspurs. A poor first half saw us score in the last minute. Another just after the break to make it 2-0. Then Spurs scored and I feared the worst but we went on to win convincingly, 3-1.
Later Jane and I were on the sun terrace (it was a lovely night), when a fox appeared in the Olive grove near the house. It was around 5 or 6 metres from us. We think it was after one of the kittens. It saw us and wasn't too scared, standing looking at us. I went for the camera but it went just as I was switching it on ... typical.
It's the second fox we've seen in the village recently.
We saw one near the restaurante Bodega y Mirador de la Sierra when we were walking one evening with friends John and Chris.
Hope the cats are alright. All our cats except Motty (Mota de Oro) were safely inside.
I'm sure she's clever enough to avoid what was quite a noisy fox.
Another beautiful sunny day.
I spent the morning working.
I'm setting aside at least half an hour a day to read Don Quixote. I sat on the sun terrace with a cup of tea and relaxed.
I've been adding a Music Video section with lots of great songs that have been, or are in the Spanish charts.
More are being added daily.
The quince which I cooked yesterday is proving popular. Jane has tried quince jams and jellies before and isn't too keen. I noticed she had more than one visit to the fridge to have some on fresh bread.
At around 16:30h we decided to walk to see the donkeys. It was a beautiful afternoon and although the high cloud was indicating a change in weather, it is usually 24-48 hours before this happens.
So with three excited Border Collies we walked to see Rosie and Domingo.
The donkeys are looking really good. Rosie in particular has a high gloss on her unusual black coat.
The dogs enjoyed the exercise. We were out for almost three hours.
Back home we went to Algatocín to buy some vegetables and cream.
Yesterdays chicken is now today's soup. Really tasty and it doesn't take much time or effort.
The sunset was fantastic, the best for quite sometime.
You can find more photographs in our gallery.
Costa del Sol Photo Gallery
We started to watch 'Ratatouille' A Pixar animation. Pixar are the producers of 'Toy Story', 'Cars', 'The Incredibles', 'Finding Nemo', 'Monsters Inc' etc. Brilliant computer animations, all their films are well worth watching.
There is a rip off called 'Ratatoing' with quite a similar story, so if your buying it for Christmas please make sure you get the Pixar version 'Ratatouille'.
Which should have a cover like this ...
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If you have an interesting hobby or passion we can set up a forum and gallery for you to build an online resource.
It doesn't have to be about Spain.
Janine asked us if we'd create a Fashion Forum as she loves reading fashion magazines and watching fashion videos and TV.
She's adding videos and bio's of leading designers.
Jane and I have been adding a recipes a day for quite some time.
I'm writing for our growing Spanish visitors. Jane and some friends are writing in English.
Also look out for a mixture of topical, seasonal, funny and technical postings in the Any Questions Gossip-News/Chat Forum. Where you can post on any non-adult topic you wish. (No Spamming please)
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We had a record day yesterday.
Usually it pays for one café con leche a day, we can both have one today!
You should of course only click on these links if you are genuinely interested in the advertisers product/service/website.
The weather has changed. It's a dull grey day and it looks as if we might get some rain.
We work on the websites adding more posts to the forums.
We're not going too far today.
The dogs get a couple of short walks. Old Ferdy continues to surprise us with his fitness. He's thirteen now and is showing no sign of stiffness after is long walk to see the donkeys.
The kittens play at the side of the house tumbling and chasing each other. It's great fun to watch them.
Poor Charlie still has his 'lampshade' on. His scabby head is on the mend but it's taking a lot longer to heal than we first thought.
We watched a stupid film called 'Evil Bong' with a guest appearance from Tommy Chong, so you can guess what it's about.
Silly and not that funny.
Back to the good weather after a dull day yesterday.
We're off to the Alcornocales forest for a drive and walk.
We headed to Gaucín and bought some bread.We stopped to take this photo of Gaucín and one down to the coast, Gibraltar and the African mountains.
There were a few altocumulus standing lenticularis clouds in the sky. A strange lens shaped cloud that forms when stable moist air flows over a mountain or a range of mountains.
Sopmetimes they form in layers.
Next we headed down to Estación de Gaucín. The road twists down through some beautiful countryside. It was around 14:00h. Not a good time for bird watching as most seemed to be taking a siesta. We did see, Stonechats, Linnets, Black Redstarts, Redstarts and Chaffinches.The first photograph is of Estación de Gaucín. The next two of the Rio Guadiaro. First upstream the second downstream.
You can press the F11 function key to temporarily remove toolbars in your browswer so that the larger length photographs fit the screen. Pressing F11 a second time brings everything back to how it was ...
We drove into the forest. A favourite drive. We stopped to eat a picnic. The view South towards the Mediterranean is beautiful.
We drove on a little further before going for a stroll into the Cork forest. Not all the trees are Cork Oaks. There are lots of pines and we found this pretty berry tree that is quite common in the area. I'm not sure what it is called. The fruits look beautiful, but must be deadly poisonous as nothing at all seems to eat them.
A section of bark from a huge pine tree.
Cork Oaks.
We've been keeping our eye out for mushrooms. There weren't many to be found and none were of an edible variety that we know.
We usually spot a few animals as we drive through. First we saw some goats and then some beautiful horses. Later I saw a large deer but it ran before I could get a photograph.
Finally a view of the Southern end of the Sierra de Libar through a gap in the trees.
Back home we went to see Rosie and Domingo. We walked them into the campo to let them eat the green grasses that are now growing quickly.Later in the evening we watched 'Kingdom of Heaven' starring Orlando Bloom (Legolas LOTR). and Liam Neeson among a good cast. One of the best films we've seen for a while. We watched the extended directors cut (Ridley Scott) which is 194 minutes long. Definitely one to see if you haven't had the pleasure already.
Friday: A lovely day, we went to Ronda to sort out some paperwork.
There was quite a queue so we decided to go for a walk down the main shopping street.
We walked down to near Plaza Socorro to buy a map from a bookshop. Unfortunately the didn't have the one we wanted so we wanted so we ordered it.
Back up to get the paperwork stamped, the queue had disappeared.
We did some shopping in Plus.
We stopped on the way to Benarrabá to fill all our water containers from a very fast flowing natural spring a few km out of Ronda on the Algeciras road.
We went to see Rosie and Domingo. We walk them nearly every day, so that they can eat along the tracks in the campo.
In the evening we watched 'I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry' A comedy about two firemen who pretend to be gay partners to pass pension benefits to each other. Not bad, quite funny.
Saturday: Another fine day. Sunshine and it feels really warm.
A trip to the donkeys and then I listened to Newcastle United's defence collapse at Reading. Business as usual. Still it could be worse ... I might support Spurs. ;-)
An e-mail from Caroline in Algodondales about the red berried tree mentioned a couple of days ago.
It's called a Strawberry tree or Madrono tree. The red berries are edible and are used to make an alcoholic drink.
A bit more research and the tree is featured on the Escudo (Crest) of Madrid.
Thanks Caroline. I did taste part of one and they are quite pleasant. A bit pulpy. Well keep an eye out for the liquor. Apparently a lot of it is made in Portugal.We're having a Harry Potter weekend. We haven't read the books but we've seen the first two films. We now have films 3,4 and 5.
First 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'.
Followed by half of 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'.
Sunday: A similar day to yesterday. A trip to the donkeys and more Harry Potter.
We watched the end of 'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'.
Then we watched 'Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix'
I can only hope the books are better than the films. After over six hours of 'Potter' we'd had enough of the boy wizard's wand waving to last us a lifetime ... still just one more to go.
Monday:We took the donkeys for a long walk. We went to Gaucín for petrol and to check the air pressure in the tyres. Jane's parents are staying with her sister Carol so we set up the web cam for a family video call.
In the evening we watched 'License to Wed' starring Robin Williams. A comedy about a priest who runs a pre-marriage course designed to put soon to be wed couples relationships to the test.
Tuesday: A beautiful sunny day.
We painted the bedroom downstairs.
Then we went to see Rosie and Domingo. We spent an hour or more with them as they munched there way along the tracks eating lots of grasses and wild pea plants.
We cooked a Merluza (Hake) casserole.
Then we sat on the terrace.
Later we watched ' A Mighty Heart' Starring Angelina Jolie.
A true story about a U.S. journalist kidnapped in Pakistan.
Good film, excellent acting and locations.
Tuesday: A bright sunny day, temperatures are in the low 20'sC.
We went to see Rosie and Domingo. We walked them for an hour.
We also walked the dogs and watched the cats playing in the sunshine.
Little Charlie's head is getting better. He's still got his plastic protection on, but the sore area has shrunk to about 10% of what it was. A few more days and we'll be able to take it off.
I'm setting aside half an hour a day to sit in the sun and read Don Quixote. I'm really enjoying it. A very good read. It's basically about a crazy old boy who thinks he's a knight and charges around Spain seeking adventures. However as he's completely off his trolley they always go wrong. Really well written and if you haven't read it .. do. It's very colourful and very funny.
In the evening we watched 'Day watch' A Russian horror about vampires. Terrible.
Later we watched 'Wrong Turn 2'. Not a lot better.
Wednesday: Another beautiful day. Jane went to Algatocín and said the view down to the coast was spectacular. It's a very clear day..
A trip to the donkeys and we walked them to find grass.
We sat in the sun and watched them munch away.
It's Halloween but we won't get any 'Trick or Treaters' it's not something that happens here (yet).
We cooked pizzas and started cleaning upstairs.
Later we watched a couple of horror films. 'Satan's Little Helper' a Halloween Horror.
Followed by 'Slip' about a medium. Both rubbish but it was Halloween ...
We've watched four horror films, I've got to say that horror isn't my favourite genre. It's nearly always low budget, badly acted and very predictable.
I won't put any Amazon links ...
A Bank Holiday in Spain tomorrow, and as it's a Thursday, most people will also take Friday off and make a long weekend of it.