And there was the day....gone!

A sheep pace of life

It's a strange phenomenon that since we've moved to the countryside, it seems as though time has slowed down. I rarely feel as rushed and busy as I did when we lived in town. I'm living at a pace to hear the birds sing and watch the clouds move across the sky. I really do feel the gentle movement of the earth beneath my feet. As our house faces south and it's a long thin building, we get the full sensation of the sun on its east to west path. However, we seem to reach 10pm each evening without ever knowing how it got so late!

We still have no television and no one seems to miss it, but we don't get the reminders of time that programmes used to give us and as the evenings stay light, it comes as a bit of a shock that it's time the children were in bed and another day is almost over.

Looking backwards, though, we seem to be fitting a lot into our days. Romy and Ruy have been on school trips. They've been to Granada to the Alhambra and the gardens of the Generalife, which will be especially wonderful at this time of year and they both also went to a concert in the Manuel de Falla Concert Hall. Romy went last week and had a wonderful day and Ruy went last Friday. During last week, Romy's class had been putting on a series of plays for the younger children. Romy was a cat in her play and we were invited to go and watch.



It was lovely, with the little infant children joining in and having a great time. The performance was held in the art room and I was most impressed with the displays and snapped away with my phone camera - so the quality of the photos isn't that good but there's no doubting the quality of the art!

Love the birds playing a duet!

I've been taking some beautiful walks with Darwin - the countryside here is something very special. Unlike much of this region, not all the land is given over to olives. We have a lot of other trees and plants around too. And Villalobos is in a gorgeous valley - very lush at the moment - with lots of water running in rivers and small streams. We've picked a very lovely place.

(Photos taken again with my phone...they're not bad but not good!)

Hawthorn bushes blooming as they should in May.

Gorgeous daisies but can't work out why my feet are there if I took the photo myself? They look too far away....

How I love poppies.....I really do.

And tomorrow, I can show it to my mum!


Yes, as soon as we found the house, she booked a flight to come and visit. I can hardly wait. Despite having lived here such a short time myself, I have really enjoyed looking at it all as if with her eyes too - deciding what to show her when she arrives. She'll be glad to sit in our garden and take a long earned rest too. She might just be persuaded to put her green fingers to use - or at least advise. Anyway - I know her visit will also fly past too, but quality time it will certainly be.

A clematis ready to impress

I saved this beauty for last - hasn't this been a magnificent tree. I wonder how old it is?