A new find.

Today - a gorgeous sunny day - I walked down to the English Centre, Conexiones, here in Alcala la Real to collect two 5 litre bottles of Extra Virgin Olive Oil from Tony, from my Wednesday conversation class, and which we agreed would be payment for his next few lessons. Seems like a good deal to me.

Doesn't it look good, staged with a newly-rediscovered chair that came back from Valladolid with Cesar. (There's going to be a lot of things that will be newly-rediscovered and I know what I mean even if it doesn't make very good grammatical sense.)
Starring with the olive oil is my first new geranium purchased with my earnings. There will be more!

Every other Saturday, there is a craft market at Conexiones and this time there was a lovely stall I haven't seen before called 'La Mariposa Verde'.

I am fond of mariposas - butterflies - as they feature in the definition of an ENFP. The ENFP states that "Today, I'm really going to try and concentrate on one thing for more than .....oh, look, there's a butterfly".. and I do so identify with that. Usually, I find my way back to what I was talking about or going to talk about before I was distracted though sometimes I don't. Makes life interesting and that's important to me too.

I was going to tell you about my find. A couple who have lived around here for a quite long time and who used to have a shop in Alcala,  have now decided to try and use their time in a smarter way. They import UK High St. clothes, such as Per Una and other nice stuff and do pretty well selling it on the coast to tourists from across Europe. Every other week, they stay in Alcala, reduce their prices further to accommodate the local purses and set up stall in Conexiones. I am so glad! Today, they had some very lovely Nomad clothes at excellent prices. I will say no more. However, I did talk to them about blogging as they have set up their own site and are trying to find a way of reaching people through that. If you're in Spain, particularly in southern Spain, and fancy having a look, just follow this link to La Mariposa Verde. They are not yet selling directly on line but can arrange delivery if you want to buy something. (OK, yes, I did buy something - look out for a modelling one day when I feel able to face the camera).

10pm - band heads off to the park

Last night, at around 10.00, we heard the sound of drums. Looking down from the balcony, we saw a band marching past - a small band - on their own, without followers or onlookers. They came from one of the side streets, entered the main street under our window, marched relentlessly through the traffic, turned right up another side street and disappeared from view. And that was that. Or so we thought. At 11.45, we heard the whole band playing and looking out, saw that in the park just 100m or so from us, people were gathered. We could see a sort of shrine and candles and could hear the band playing. It was to chilly by this time to tempt us out and the younger two were already in bed. I just caught them in some very shaky pictures.

12.30 - band heads off somewhere else!

No mention of this was to be found on the internet, though we do know that the fiestas in the local villages are due to start today. It was and remains a mystery until I can ask the children I teach next Tuesday exactly what it was all about. At 12.30am, we heard the drumming start again and saw the band moving back down the street. We must learn to expect the unexpected!

Off they go!