Four years

Four years have passed since we moved into our house here in Villalobos. In some ways - as we all say - it seems to be only yesterday when we packed up our things yet again and drove out in the drizzle to the countryside. It was such an exciting day...

The lovely table didn't survive.....it collapsed sometime last year.

The garden in its original wild state

Romy happy in the silly little doorway...now reformed to full height!

Four years on and there has been a lot of work. It's involved digging up existing parts, adding new bits, rather a lot of concrete and huge amounts of toil, mainly by FR but with help from the boys on the more back-breaking things!

There has been a lot of planting, building of walls and the placing of strategic electrical points in preparation for summer living....
Lots of trees....walnut, almond, cherry, nectarine, plum, pear,,,,

There's still a lot to do but FR's vision is taking place. I keep putting bulbs every year - slowly but surely our garden is starting to bloom.

I don't have a lot of time for gardening 'proper' but Mateo is a good helper and a brilliant weeder...I'm looking forward to getting the front of the house done...it's still the original ugly concrete that was here when we moved in. In time, it will be a beautiful terrace and additional living space, with furniture and plants and nice things. In time. 

And today, I have just taken a walk down memory lane as I dropped Romy off at her friend's house, which is the house we lived in before we moved here! It's such a beautiful day that I decided to do my old, favourite walk (though sadly without my favourite little white ball of fur that was Darwin....) up through the pine trees to La Mota, glad that there was no one around to hear my panting and puffing as I plodded up the steep hill. About halfway up, I heard a band playing. Practising for Semana Santa. It was lovely to listen and as I got to the top, I could see that they were rehearsing carrying the platforms that in a couple of weeks will be topped with figures of Christ, the (various) Virgins, plus donkeys, flowers, other figures - making them very heavy indeed. Today though, from an onlooker's point of view, it looked like a large table with about 20 people underneath it, who from time to time, lifted it up onto their shoulders and 'processed' a distance to the music, then stopping for a break. 

The glorious view from the top towards the snow-capped Sierra Nevada in the distance. The playground is new. 

As is this 'recontstructed', in a wonderfully minimal sense, church at the foot of La Mota. 

It really was a gloriously bright and sunny day on Sunday.

My photo is embarrassingly bad - I didn't manage to capture the 'table' or really even the people underneath - and you can't see the band that was just around the corner...I felt a little rude taking photos of a rehearsal. Perhaps I shouldn't have bothered at all!

Anyway - it was a slightly comical sight but will be impressive in a week or so from now once the processions start.

Four years ago, blogging was an integral part of my life. I could hardly carry out any activity without thinking how my blog post would accompany its description. Nowadays, I rarely write and rarely read blogs....and with a few notable exceptions, I think many of my blogging friends must feel a bit the same. It's too easy now to upload a photo to Facebook or Instagram and be done with it. I also have less free time than I had for writing. My free time is usually spent drawing my Zentangles. I am more addicted to this than ever! Partly, this is because every Friday evening, since last October, I have been sharing my passion with a class of, mainly, women in the Women's Association that I am a member of. It started out as the usual sharing of different skills, but very quickly after I did some Zentangle drawing for them, there is now huge enthusiasm and more than a little talent amongst this group and I'm going to show a little of our work here. 'Being Here', for me, is about being part of the town I live in and apart from my children, Zentangle is a thing that has brought me more into the community than almost anything else. It's important to say that I am NOT a certified Zentangle teacher ....yet! I am so determined that one day I will be so for now, we say we enjoy tangling. In Spanish, all those consonants together means that Zentangle is a very difficult word to say!

Our classes are informal and just for fun and we practice different patterns.
Outside the class, people also tangle - and bring in their various artistic endeavours each week. And each week, they are more impressive.

Note, for example, the beautifully decorated box on the right - absolutely stunning work by Aurora. You can see some of her 'practice' work, albeit a bit blurred, in the notebook she's working in.
She's really very good.

This is a final set of tiles, done in the last half an hour of the class. There is a peace and tranquillity that descends at this time that is incredible. A room full of women - Spanish women for the main - and silence. Beautiful, eloquent silence as we slip into a Zen state of concentration and creativity.

And this is in my English teaching classroom - sometimes the drawing creeps into an English lesson. I have one group of young teenage girls and it's a special treat for us all when we have a lesson devoted to the language of Zentangle!























And whilst I started off this post by saying that it seems like only yesterday that we moved house, looking back now, and seeing how life has changed and developed in these four years...it seems like we have done a lot and moved on even more, not forgetting those we have lost.

Life has changed in many ways for us all. What were you doing four years ago?

Axxx

'Es una chapuza' or The Psychology of Disappointment

I had been planning a very different post. This time last week, we were watching the workmen in our garden, laying metres and metres of concrete in searing heat and feeling very sorry for them and grateful to them. But since then, I have felt differently.  I have felt disappointed.

No, DISAPPOINTED. NO,

DISAPPOINTED

NO!

DISAPPOINTED.

My text won't go any bigger. 

As you may guess, there has been a bit of a cock up with our garden path. There is a wonderful word for it in Spanish....una chapuza. I will share a few photos of veritable 'chapuzas' that I have found on the internet. You'll get the idea immediately!

OK, these are chapuzas that lead to inconvenience and disbelief. But it sort of sums up the sense that a chapuza, at best, is a botched job; careless work, a 'made-do' thing. 

Or maybe something done without sufficient prior thought or knowledge. You get the idea.

The expectation of seeing the final work came to a height on Saturday morning. We heard Miguel arrive at around 7am and knew that he had to powerwash all the residual powder off the concrete and then seal it with resin, so we stayed in bed a little longer than usual so that we could emerge to see the finished result. I admit, I was very excited. And took a peek from the bathroom window to the area outside the door. 

And squealed with pleasure - it looked fantastic!

Just the lovely, soft neutral, natural colours that I had wanted. 

The rest, which was a slightly more sandy-colour with darker tints on top, could only be more impressive as there was so much more of it!

NO, NO, NO. Disaster. Terrible. Awful. Unimaginable. Horrible....I won't continue but I really couldn't believe my eyes. Instead of a gently weathered brick effect, my garden looked like a garage forecourt or a place where oily motorbikes had been whizzing around. Blotchy, obvious patches where the tint had been spread and hadn't gently dissolved into the concrete. Some of the patches were so dark and round that it really looked as though we'd be walking oil into house if we inadvertently stepped in them. Awful......and the disappointment that hit both FR and I was palpable. We could hardly speak.

Miguel, if he could, would have run away without speaking to us that morning, but we dragged him back. I just kept saying to him that surely there was something wrong; that this wasn't the effect he had expected to leave us with; that he must acknowledge there was a problem. He said very little but did that unique Mediterranean high-shouldered shrug, elbows bent and palms held upwards..and turned his mouth downwards almost further than a mouth can go. And then he left, muttering something about leaving it to dry a bit longer and that he'd return on Monday.

I have since been pondering on the psychology of disappointment. 

The strength of the disappointment is, not surprisingly, directly related to the expectation of outcome beforehand.  If the outcome exceeds expectation, then the reaction is very often elation or excitement. I had truly expected to be elated! There is a further stage too. Initially, I was left thinking that there would be a solution. That we could right this wrong and all would be well. The intervening time has proved otherwise. 

Miguel returned, not on Monday, but on Tuesday. FR had been doing his research and discovered that problems with this type of concrete and the colouring process can occur when the weather is too cold, too wet OR TOO BLOODY HOT! I guess the latter would apply to us. 

But how come the door section is so lovely?

Well, it was the first part that he did - earliest and coolest part of the day. Explains a lot. But Miguel, man of few words, either didn't think about it, didn't know about it, or didn't really care about it. Whichever, he's left us with a grubby and ugly expanse of concrete in our garden.

When he returned, he offered to put another layer of concrete over the top and recolour it, but FR was ahead of him - this is apparently the solution that is often offered but the result is usually worse than the original, so we declined. He then suggested digging it all up and relaying it - but finished off by say 'that would cost you a lot of money'. I didn't actually see FR's blood boil, but I think I heard it bubbling....

So, the psychology of disappointment. It comes with the final realisation that you don't have or can't get the thing you really wanted. And this in turn leads to facing reality. And we can do this in a variety of ways: anger, sadness or depression being three common options or routes. 

We did a bit of all three between us, me and FR. I even felt ashamed - I have been thinking of putting up a sign...'Please forgive our awful driveway, it isn't our fault.'

We've done lots of other things as well. I've been out and scrubbed some of the patches with a bit of wire wool. The patch came out - hurray! - but so did the top layer of concrete and the resin finish....

FR set upon a slightly hidden patch with an electric sander and had pretty much the same result, only with more concrete removed....we've spoken to a solicitor and the insurance company and sent photos to the product company. 

There isn't really much we can do....

SO - do you want to see it??? This is the hardest part for me. But this is where the psychology of disappointment and one's own personal psychological type comes into play. I have today been into work and for the first time, opened up about what happened. I told two different people about it - and showed them some photos. And it helped me SO, SO much. 

How can that be? Well, possibly because I am an extrovert and an optimist and hate 'bottling up' my feelings. I feel better for letting out my frustration and disappointment. I'm not really angry. I have felt sad. But as I drove home, I realised that I felt better. 

OK. Here are some of the worst bits!!

FR is not an extrovert and often gets very angry over what I consider to be unimportant things but on this great big thing, he's been so cool and rational and positive that I am assessing him all over again....again. And when I got home, feeling better and more optimistic that between us, we could find a way to put this right...he had come to exactly the same conclusion. I don't want to put any details here - too public. But watch this space...

And taking the long view. Well, the overall effect is that things look and feel much better than they did - if you don't look too closely, of course.

The 'gap' in the middle is to be filled with white stones and provides a
drainage section - assuming that one day, it will rain, of course!

View from the gate - which needs to be rehung.
The steps down need finishing too.

And in the distance on the right, you can see we've now got the little old pool up - an absolute necessity in this weather - and at least it's a pleasure to walk out to it now.

And now, I don't actually feel disappointed as such. I feel rather proud of how we've managed our disappointment. Hey, aren't we lucky - another learning opportunity!!

However, I absolutely BEG of you not to sympathise with me over this. By all means, leave me a comment as to how you think we could disguise the mess, add features that distract the eye, etc. The way I can get over it is to move on. It's not the end of the world and my sense of humour is still intact. And we have found great comfort in the fact that we didn't pay for ALL of it upfront.....

(Of course, if all else fails, I will simply Zentangle over the whole lot of it!!)

I lapsed....

I really did intend to get back into blogging as we began the new year. But I am already sadly behind with reading those blogs that I love to read, written by people I now consider to be friends...you know who you are! I apologise and will get back to it post haste.

My excuses are varied and many but I won't bore you with all of them, only to say that January has been a time of preparation and thinking and it hasn't left me much time for anything else.

The preparation has been for two main things - one of which has taken place with great success - and the other which will begin properly next week.

First thing was the trip I had planned for Romy and I to visit our friends in Scotland. Ostensibly for Romy's birthday this year, I cannot possibly pretend that I thought it was the most perfect idea for both of us and I booked the tickets in August last year - and managed NOT to tell Romy until just after Christmas. She was thrilled, although we did have a minor hiccup when I discovered on 13th January that her passport ran out on 14th January. Despite FR's confidence in being able to get her a Spanish one through in time, when we got to the 20th I was beginning to panic and had had several recurring anxiety-fuelled toilet dreams - years since I had the last one! (Apparently, I am not alone in having this particular dream and I even wrote a blog post about but decided it was not the best idea to publish it!)

Sunny day in Malaga.....

All was resolved by a single visit to Malaga to the British Consulate, where her passport was extended for one year without problem. A very big phew.....

Sunny - and very windy! That's Romy on the beach causing a seagull riot!

And this is Riofrio, where we stopped on the way home to get fresh trout....
not directly from the river but from the trout farm here.
SO delicious!

Our visit to Scotland deserves a blog post of its own and will get one very shortly! We had a ball.....

And amazing weather!

The second thing that has been preoccupying me has been the waiting to start teaching again. A new Director has been appointed at the place where I teach and she is in charge of Human Resources, so my existing contact, the acting Head of HR has been deferring to her all during January and it seemed the English classes weren't high on her list of priorities. At least that's what I suspected.

Eventually, I was introduced to her and was a bit taken aback when she said she wanted to see that the classes were worth the money (not in as many words) and that she wanted the staff to take exams. I don't really like teaching where the main purpose is to pass an exam so I was a bit upset and concerned. However, several conversations later and finding that I really like this new woman very much indeed - she's great fun and very committed to English learning - and I now have a group of students who would like to take an exam. And I also have a group that don't want to; a group that don't need to and an advanced group that will take a high level of exam next year.
I am delighted and it's going to be just as much fun as it was last year, I can tell! I have started with one group this week and will get going 'proper' next week. And the teaching will be mainly in the mornings and early afternoon, which is fantastic as it means I can be at home with the children in the evenings. I'm feeling very good about it all. It's obviously been playing on my mind a bit because as soon as it feels sorted (now) - here I am blogging again!

FR has been very busy, with the help of a builder, adding the summer kitchen and a new storage place nearer the house, where we will put the freezer and make a bit of extra space in the kitchen. We have still quite a big mess and a lot of work to do in the garden but the hard work is beginning to give us an idea of how it might be - one day!!

Delivery of roof tiles. Can you see a difference...?

One day, all this will be sorted. One day. Just not very soon!!

Watch this space. There will be more, I can feel it in my fingers. Axxx

Small steps...

We have such a lot to do. Sometimes when the job ahead seems overwhelming, the only thing to do is to take one step at a time.
We've had a few setbacks in the past couple of weeks - I'll spare you the details but it has something to do with living in a small village where minds are not quite as open as they might be - and so progress has been very slow.
And now the temperature has risen to well over 30 degrees centigrade, so FR is often found working as night falls and the temperatures drop. It may well be excuse for any wonky walls....working in the dark makes it difficult to see the spirit level....

But a little shape is forming:

FR's curved wall

Here's where we must imagine a cooling oasis of blue....

The beginnings of steps up to the patio...and a new door ordered and expected on 20th of this month.

Where FR is will be the summer/winter kitchen. The plan is to have a bread oven in there plus a place to cook that will save the house from getting hot in summer. It will also be additional storage space and home to the big chest freezer that currently lives in the kitchen. I am looking forward to this being done....

In taking small steps, it's also important to keep an eye on little things too - like this beautiful rose that came to us from Sam and Dave's terrace when they left. I need to report that they seem to be thriving in Scotland, and although they are really missing being here in Alcala, they are making the most of being back with friends and family. And importantly, both are working in good jobs and the girls are happily settled in their old school. Doesn't stop me missing them but it helps to know that things are going well!

We have several rows of tomatoes growing and having learnt a lesson from last years' glut of cherry tomatoes, which were so difficult to turn into sauce, we've opted for the biggest ones we could find - and they're showing good signs so far!

I'm not absolutely sure that FR saw the funny side of his first sowing of corn seeds. He wanted to grow corn for the chickens, but they ate the little seedlings one day when he let them out! I found it comical but he wasn't amused at the time. The second lot is doing better and he has another couple of rows in different parts of the garden. I was just really glad it wasn't Pip who ate them!

Another little step of progress is that the trees we planted last year have produced a little fruit this year. OK, the one fig was pretty pathetic and the nectarines dropped off before ripening  but we have at least two plums....(they're as hard as stone at the moment but I'm taking it as a good sign for the future.)

Grapes we will have in plenty!

Pip - in a brief moment of release from the dreaded plastic collar. Isn't he just a handsome boy?
(Still an absolute pain in the backside though!)

And my own little step. I have a morbid fear of sewing machines...I jest not. I bought one in England many years ago from eBay as I felt I should have one. I think I've used it all of three times in all the time I've had it. We need to put up awnings over the front of the house - for which reason FR has had some iron frames made. It's my job to make the awning...and I'm dreading it. We can't quite decide on the best material at the moment so I took the opportunity to face my fear and replace the chair covers we have on our dining chairs. They needed replacing badly!

 Pip enjoyed a little chew on the corners when he was very young (I am hoping he's grown out of this habit completely now!)
So yes, they were in a dreadful state.

And I made one! I was so pleased with myself, although in a dreadful mood as I worked on it.

My sister uses a sewing machine as I use my Zentangle pens....give me Zentangle anytime though!

They're not puckered at the front, honest, they're 'gathered' as they are removable and on an elastic underneath. Washable.

I admit to being rather proud of myself.
Just another two to do and maybe one extra as a spare for when one of my mucky lot spills their lunch.





So, I might not be blogging as much as I used to. I am certainly not reading as many of my blogger friends' blogs as I used to and I apologise for that, but we are not sitting around on our laurels here in Casa Rosales. (Especially as when we did - to watch both the Spanish and English World Cup matches - we wished we'd been doing something else!)

Actually, I was doing something else. This challenge, by Laura Harms, a Certified Zentangle Teacher based in Canada, was to create a tangle that was inspired by 'Beads of Courage'. Her own little boy suffers from Moebius Syndrome  and has an impressive collection of beads from his varied contacts with doctors, needles, tests and hospital visits. I was very moved to read the stories from some of the other tanglers about children in their own families who suffer from serious conditions or have had life-changing accidents...there are a lot of very brave people around and it feels important from time to time to think of them, to offer thanks for the health and happiness of those we care about and to hope and support initiatives that might find cures for those who suffer. Small steps maybe - but in the right direction.

Beads of Courage. For brave children and families everywhere. 

Thanks for popping by and know that if I haven't visited your blog recently - I will be doing very soon!
Axxx

Is it May? Then I think it must be Wednesday

...although I confess to not being entirely sure.

Sleepless nights...my poor mum is having a few of those but today, Dad seems calmer and less angry. It's not a rosy picture by any means as the additional drugs have made it impossible for him to stand - not even with two people aiding him. He's really confused timewise, though sharp as a needle on things like playing dominoes and answering general knowledge questions. Mum's hoping for some physical assistance in the shape of a hoist and a different bed because she wants to manage at home just as long as possible. We'll have to see how long that is and how things go on a daily basis.

Sleepless nights...I came home from work last night around 8.30pm and as I got out of the car, Pippin came skulking up to the gate ...on the outside, not the inside. I looked around to see if Mateo had just been out for a walk with him but there was no sign. And then I saw his front leg....a big, open wound just around the 'elbow' area, a gash that split the skin to the flesh below. Turns out Mateo had taken him out not long after I left at 5pm and as usual, let him off the lead in the surrounding olive groves but Pippin had caught his leg on a rusty old piece of wire. Initially, Mateo had managed to pick him up to carry him home but Pip was so frightened that he got free and ran off. For three hours, Mateo and the neighbours were looking for him to no avail. There were tears of relief to see him again as shades of Darwin hung over everyone. It was a costly trip to the vet as we arrived out of hours, but she managed to stitch him up and sort him out and I feel sure it will all be OK - though Pip is not keen on his large plastic collar! He did make quite a lot of noise during the night once he woke up from the anaesthetic, hence my night of not much sleep. 

Pip on Sunday - 5 months old now

With Ruy 

This morning, a big squished in his cage but the place he feels safest in.
 I lost count of how many stitches he has

Yes, a bit sorry for himself and not impressed with his collar!

When Mateo, Pip and I got home, there was another surprise awaiting. Whilst doing some work up near the vine, FR had to move what he thought was an old nest...only to discover three little birds inside doing their 'Sing a Song of Sixpence' impression. Worried that the parents would reject them once the nest had been removed, he, Ruy and Romy were busy feeding their hungry little beaks and preparing a place to keep them. So cute - I do hope they survive. I feel so sorry for their parents who have done such a good job so far. Keep your fingers crossed.

Three little blackbirds

Sensing a presence

And opening wide in anticipation!

And the garden? Well, today, we have a miserable, damp and overcast sort of day where everything is wet from the humidity in the air, rather than rainfall so not much work. It was all hands on deck at the weekend though and good to know I have two strong boys willing and able to help out - one slightly more so than the other at the moment. It's important for me to stress here that we are just doing some minor gardening work, of course. Minor. Gardening. As you can see. 

Ruy avoiding photograph....

Just minor work, you understand

As always, our neighbours were wonderful during the Pip crisis and our thanks are with them. And to top it off, Sergio came round with a great bowl of cherries and strawberries. 

And not everything in the garden is - in a minor way - being turned upside down. 

Some parts are positively rosy and our hens are working overtime on the egg front! 

Wonderful scented jasmine outside the lounge window...

Wild flowers in the wild bits...

And we are not Casa Rosales for nothing...with yellow

lilac 

red roses blooming
(despite the minor gardening work....)

And VERY briefly, talking about work....I'm suddenly finding myself very busy with my teaching. I have three classes that begin at 8am and it's this early start, combined with my sleepless night, that means I am doing double not just on the day but almost the month! May has barely begun for me despite the fact it's June on Sunday! 

Where does the time go??