Casa Rosales

Casa Rosales

Tuesday 6 August 2013

Peaches, pools, tarantulas and thanks.

Just about three years ago, we landed in Spain, having packed up and loaded all our worldly goods at the Huddersfield end and spilled them out into a barn in Leon at the other end. A good third of our possessions are still in that barn - and oh, how we've missed them...(not!)

At least now we have the intention of gathering them up once again so that they can be reunited with the rest of us in our own home. I'm looking forward to doing an impressive car boot sale not long after that!

A quick reflection on the past three years leads me to believe we've settled quite well into our new lives. It has helped that FR is Spanish (even though the locals here are bemused by his accent...it has a bit of Italian, a bit of English and of course, a Castilliano, rather than Andalucian base to it.) It has helped that we have three amazing children who have adjusted, adapted and continued to develop in their own special ways. It has helped having found friends and neighbours who are generous, endearing and welcoming - and who have offered and given us their time and support from the outset.

Having found this lovely house has helped too. That's not to say everything is or has been simple or straightforward - or even easy.

But when friends drop in with a pile of peaches.....

THANK YOU ANTONIO!!!!

And you've 'splashed out' on a bigger and better temporary pool...



What can be more fun than watching your children enjoy it to the full - even when the water is still rather chilly early in the morning!


Various swimming styles...

















When you can enjoy these things, then you can just about manage when FR and Mateo find a tarantula* in the garden late at night.



Handsome beast, isn't he? He's REALLY angry and every time we go near, he raises himself up on his legs and acts in a most threatening manner....FR is currently on the phone to the Reptile and Amphibian rescue centre in Alcala la Real to see if they would be able to take him. (I know, he's neither amphibian nor reptile but they take all sorts of things there!) We don't feel inclined to let him out anywhere much closer!!


I said the reflecting would be brief. I still miss friends and family and the easy conversation with lots of people at the same time - I still sometimes feel tongue-tied and unable to express myself in the language of Spain - the former is helped by technology and the latter, well, I can continue to work on it.
And will.

For now, I look forward to what the next three years bring and say a big thank you to everyone who has helped us in the last three!


* We did a bit more research on the spider and it turns out to be a relative of the scary Australian funnel spider - not a tarantula at all. Tarantulas are sweet, furry friends compared to this beasty. The Reptile centre won't take him because he's a protected species so we have to let him out. We may go on a long car ride this afternoon with our new pet safely inside several containers. Who will be brave enough to take the last lid off, I wonder.



20 comments:

  1. Isn't life good.... except for spiders and snakes!!

    Keep enjoying your new lives and I'm sure that it will be exciting to find things you'd forgotten you owned.

    Thar pool looks very inviting!

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    1. I don't mind spiders or snakes, really, but don't want to find them too close at hand!

      Yes, I'm looking forward to rediscovering what we have managed without, Gaynor, especially our old photos...
      The pool is great - we were all in it this morning and had a great time. Best holidays at home!!
      Axxx

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  2. The image of you taking the spider on a car ride made me giggle. Make sure that jar lid is well screwed on.

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    1. Don't worry, Annie. I have a cunning plan. He will go - in his jar - inside the picnic freezer box. I'm hoping that if we get it nice and cold in there, he'll be less lively at release time!
      Hope so - can't imagine the panic if he got out when we were in the car!
      Axxx

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  3. I love the pool. I've been thinking about one like that for some time, but I already have a long list of priorities so it may have to wait.

    It's amazing how we get used to all these creepy crawlies isn't it? I hated anything that crawled when I lived in England. Now we are faced not only with spiders, but huge black beetles, scorpions, snakes, etc etc, and I just get on and deal with it (actually...that's a lie...trying to sound brave...I deal with spiders and beetles, but not the scorpions and snakes!)

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    1. Yes, Ayak - we're delighted with the pool and I think it will have been well worth the money by the time summer is over. (And then we will pack it away until next year!) It's for the children, of course - (they provide us with such a good excuse for doing what we want to do so often!)

      I'm glad to say that I find the odd 'serious' insect preferable to the hoard of midges that used to live in our garden in England, that made sitting outside a total discomfort. I suffered my worst ever mosquito bites in Mitcham, Surrey - so the odd tarantula, giant centipede and grass snake is manageable. I confess to totally hating cockroaches though....so if you deal with those, I'm impressed!
      Axxx

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  4. Your new pet looks quite a beast....would the body responsible for putting him under protection like him put through the letter box of their HQ do you think?

    I'm just unpacking boxes from the house in France...and making discoveries which call a halt to all progress...I even found one of my school photographs - you know, the ones where some girl has run from one end to the other as the camera swivels and appears at each end...

    My neighbours have given me veg - the curse of the courgette is universal - advice, telephone numbers; one has given me a dodgy car to use in emergencies with the firm instruction to take it no further than the village and only in daytime....

    I like this place...and will be interested to see if the car is still there when I return or if there is a warrant out for my arrest.

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    1. Even Ruy, who is always on the lookout for a 'pet' of his own is not tempted by this beastie! And not sure who would be brave enough to encourage him through a letter box....

      I'm looking forward to the precious, time-wasting hours of box unpacking...I expect to find a few treasures in amongst the non-essential soft toys that made it across the Channel. DIfficult not to enjoy the looking but I'm hopeless as 'moving on' afterwards.

      I like the sound of your neighbours - you'd be right at home in Villalobos! Courgettes...fried, boiled, dipped in breadcrumbs, grated raw, made into soup, sauce, cake...
      Drive carefully.
      Axxx

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  5. The car journey with the pet safely contained made me laugh Annie.Last year Ian kept making similar car journeys onto the moors above Huddersfield.We had a nest of a protected bee species making their home in our kitchen wall cavity.They kept zooming into the kitchen above our units.We got quite good at catching them---then Ian would make the journey up onto the moor to release them.

    Enjoy your pool.I hope you find some treasured memories from your stored photos. Maria xx

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    1. And the image of you and Ian scooping up bees and whizzing them off to the moors is also very comical, Maria! FR is very concerned as he´s just found another spider....we have a no bare feet rule in operation now!

      We are certainly enjoying the pool - I just hope Romy doesn't get too attached to some of her old soft toys...it's too hot to have any more in the house!
      Axxx

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  6. Huddersfield to Spain ,, now that is amazing ,, and I am sure I could live without a lot of my stuff too ,, :-) Think it would be my hubby who would miss his things LOL

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    1. I think many of us could live with less - we at least have the luxury of being able to decide what we keep and what goes. My husband is hopeless at throwing things away...it's a good job we have a ruined house in the garden! All his junk can go there for the time being.

      And...you do need to know that Huddersfield is a lovely town!
      Axxx

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    2. I would have to give my hubby is own house for his Junk LOL ,, Ok I have to admit , I am not even sure where Huddersfield is ,, I know it is up North somewhere, I have only been up to Lancashire and Scotland,, oh maybe once to North of Newcastle and down to Cornwall ,. I live in England because that is where my husband wants to live,, I am British , with an Irish mother and a Maltese Father (died when I was 10) family all over the world,, it is funny because my Uncle who has lived in Australia for many years and my aunty who has lived in Canada for over 50 years ,, say " we love England, but we would never come back to live "

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    3. You have got a very interesting pedigree, Anne! And if you've been to Lancashire and Newcastle, then you've passed close enough to Huddersfield...it's very much a West Yorkshire town. And I'm very fond of it...but not in a rush to return to live there just now.
      Axxx

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  7. I agree with you, of course, that Huddersfield is a lovely town, and of course it has the added advantage of not being the usual home of large spiders. That is terrifying. I must admit to having become a little less concerned about the size of the wild life since being in France. The beetles, cigales, and toads have visited us in their hoards this year. We think it might be the same toad who keeps coming back to join us at dinner under the pergola....perhaps we should drop a bit of paintonto him to see if it really is him making return visits, after we carefully take him back to the far end of the garden.
    You have had a fascinating few years....and this last one, where you have finally come home has been so special. I cant wait to see it all myself, in just a few weeks time. Jxxxx

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    1. Yes - Huddersfield was lovely to live in and we never met a spider like the one we had in our garden the other day. I'm not too scared of the local wildlife here and as Mateo is so very interested and knowledgeable about it all, I'm rather pleased when we find something more interesting than the usual!
      I think a dob of paint on the toad might be a good idea ...though it took me far too long to interpret 'paintonto' due to having had a few drinks this evening!!! 'Pain' I know is 'bread' in French and 'tonto' is Spanish for stupid...we've had a lovely drunken evening with friends (Sam and Dave) and there have been a few misunderstandings along similar Spanglish lines...I'll tell you when I see you...in just a few weeks!
      Enjoy the UK and your time there.
      Axxx

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  8. Gosh, three years already, Annie? You've obviously made yourselves completely at home in Spain, especially in your beautiful new house, but I know what you mean about missing the ease of a multi-person conversation in your own language. I think one has to become very fluent indeed to find that ease in another language.

    The pictures of your pool took me back almost 40 years to when we bought a similar one for our children to learn to swim in. We had it for the very hot summers of 1975 and 1976 and it was bliss for all 4 of us and of course the children's friends. :-)

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    1. Yes, three years - and still so much to learn, language-wise. We can still trick FR and he spent 17 years in England AND did a PhD in English, so I don't think I'll ever be whole 'me' in Spanish, at least not in how I say things.

      And we did that 1975/76 revisit a few posts ago, didn't we? Nice to think the pool in the garden is as fun and popular now as it was then. Mine are out there just now!

      A, kiss, kiss, kiss - on account of my usual letter suddenly not working!

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  9. PS Just realised I forgot to comment on the spider adventure. My spider phobia musty have intervened at the strategic moment. :-) Rather you than me, I'm afraid, and I do hope it has now been safely relocated far, far away.

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    1. Yes - far, far, away - together with the even bigger but slightly less dangerous, wolf spider that we found the following evening. Gone. Hopefully, they don't have homing instincts!
      A.....ditto!

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