Rounding up

Some parts of this summer have been the best ever! And I do remember some good summers, so that is definitely saying something. It's been a daily combination of busy and hectic and long and lazy. I've worked most days in the morning (if you can call chatting with two very nice men in English, about anything and everything, 'work') and we've splashed in our pool, taken long dusty walks with Pip, eaten warm tomatoes from the vine and had some perfect days at the beach. We've enjoyed celebrations and time with family and friends, visiting Valladolid and England, and had a great week when Sam and Dave came back to Alcala just as the town was at its most festive and fun.

Steps taking shape...

We've spent long, lazy hours on the sofa in front of the tv or doing some 'Yoga Andaluz' (taking a siesta!) as the heat of the afternoon has rendered us semi-comatose after lunch. And FR has become semi-nocturnal as he works in the garden once the sun has gone down and the temperatures have dropped a little. There's still a long way to go but things are definitely taking shape and it has been a real labour of love as he's worked sometimes until the early hours of the morning.



Romy has spent two weeks at summer 'school' at the sports centre here and had a whale of a time there with trips to the swimming pool, craft mornings, football, film-watching and just hanging out with friends. It was a good thing for her to have done and I think she will want to do it again.

Mateo and Ruy have put in many hours of study - we'll find out very soon if it has been enough to have made up for the distinct lack of application during the past academic year. Mateo did, however, pass all his end of term exams with the exception of Maths, which he's always struggled with. Fingers crossed for him tomorrow as he does the resit. Ruy, in his first year at secondary school, has discovered that he can't wing it anymore. All his teachers say he's capable but has simply not put in the work this year. He has two resits on Tuesday morning. And I shall cross my fingers again though I know there will be no problems for him at all.

Zentangle over coffee...

I have done Zentangles with an increased level of concentration and understanding and I'm rather pleased with some of my output. I've been invited to an arts and crafts day at a nearby cortijo which I am sure will be great fun, so I'm trying to put together some of my pieces in a presentable way - mostly they're in books or on bits of paper floating around. Seeing them all together makes me feel quite proud of what I've done in a year. There will be photos, I promise!!

On Thursday, I went into Granada and whilst I was there, I went into an archery shop to get a thing for Ruy. I asked if there were any clubs that took and taught youngsters nearby, as nothing much has been forthcoming from the group in Priego. As I was being given details and contact numbers some interesting options, the secretary of one of them walked into the shop...what luck! And I was invited to go along to their club on Saturday, bringing Ruy with me of course, as they have a small group of regular archers, amongst which there are two 'monitors' who are licenced to teach! Agreed, it's a bit of a trek to get there but I really do have a feeling that Ruy has talent in this sport, so I am happy to take him.

On target

And on Saturday, he and I set off around 9am to go to the club 'Arco Alfacar' just north of Granada. There we were met by an old man called Vigilio, who had no front teeth. I wasn't immediately impressed but as soon as Ruy set up his bow and was told to fire his arrows, Vigilio came into his own - a wonderful, natural teacher with whom Ruy felt absolutely comfortable. I left him with the archers and wandered off for a couple of hours on my own.




When I returned, after several hours firing arrows, Ruy was tired but very happy. They not only want him to join the club but say he is good enough to take part in the next 'Campeonata de Andalucia' - the championships! And these are being held at the club itself - at the end of September, so no time to lose!
Ruy is now feeling so motivated and enthusiastic and already planning to do really well in his first competition. I was so very proud of him as he stepped up to take his first shots in front of half a dozen seasoned archers - and hit the bull's eye, not once but with 4 out of his 5 arrows.

We're preparing for another week in Valladolid too as we haven't seen anywhere enough of FR's parents this year. They haven't been very well this year and haven't felt up to the journey down to see us, so we'll go to them. I shall be glad to see them again as my last trip was very short and there were such a lot of other people there...it will be nice to just be with them.

And that just about rounds it up....and nicely too. Hope you've all had good summers - my blog reading has been very reduced in the past months so apologies if you haven't seen much of me on your blogs. I do intend to return to my beloved blogland again once the children are back at school and the days don't seem quite so....well, long!

That time of year....

It's olive season here in Alcala la Real. The olive groves are echoing to the sounds of machines, vibrating the branches so that the ripe fruit falls into the nets that wait below. Locally, and rather comically, these nets are called 'bragas', which translates as knickers...and I am stuck for anything else to say about this!
This is the time of year when you have to set off sooner than usual to reach your destination on time -because the roads are suddenly no longer traffic-free and a pleasure to drive on. This is the time when a tractor will inevitably pull out in front of you and trundle along the narrow lanes at around 30kms per hour - swaying erratically from side to side to make overtaking impossible.

It doesn't feel like a build up to Christmas such as I have been used to in the UK. I admit we've had freezing cold starts to the days but for the past month, we've had unbelievably blue skies and warm sunshine from 10 o'clock in the morning to just before 6 in the evening. And until this week, not a glimpse of pre-Christmas festivities - not tinsel, not lights, nothing.

However, on Saturday, at the local English shop, that I have mentioned before - A LITTLE bit of BRITAIN  - we had our Christmas Market and jolly good fun it was too. (Huddersfield was well represented, I'm glad to say - more of which in a mo!)

I went with my chocolates and all three of my children volunteered to come with me. I think this could have been due to the large crockpot of Belgian Hot Chocolate that I took with me. And thanks to Ruy, who balanced it on his knees all the way there - up and down the hills and round the corners, without spilling a drop, we arrived just in time to set up and be ready before the 'hoards' descended.  Actually, it was a slow start this month. Usually, the Spanish are the early birds and as most of them were out collecting olives, there was a distinct lack of genuine local footfall to start with.

In amongst the second hand goods that adorn one part of the shop, we had our stalls, stamped our feet to keep warm and found the morning passed by rather cheerfully.

A small but select offering of chocolates and cards...and a tray of samples that seemed to go down quite well!

The hot chocolate was very good indeed - as the sign says, it had milk and dark chocolate, melted in semi skimmed milk - and with only a slight dash of salt to bring out the flavour - it was absolutely delicious! 

In the end, my boxes of chocolates contained a selection of Christmas pudding truffles, lemon cheesecake truffles, white chocolate mint truffle hearts, raspberry truffles, orange and almond crunches, honey and rum truffles and milk chocolate cruffles....

Next to me was Katrina, who now runs her own successful and growing cake making business, Golosaria.

Katrina puts such incredible detail into her cakes...they're fantastic and I've watched her confidence and skills grow incredibly this year as her business has taken off and her (mainly Spanish) customers request more and more outlandish cakes! (One she recently made featured a builder in a g-string... check him out!)

Katrina said that my recent Zentangle inspired her 'bauble' cupcake design!

I was completely convinced this was a real cake but it's just a dummy! Inside, it's full of rice crispies!

This is Kyle in his grotto, but minus his beard and hat. He's Alan's son (who runs the shop) and is always on hand to help out with the local Spaniards who love to haggle over prices. Alan's Spanish is pretty basic but Kyle is absolutely fluent - and pretty good salesman to boot, so since he's been working here, it seems to have made a difference to the amount of stock that is constantly turning over! It's like 'Aladdin's Cave' and we've made several purchases for our home from here.

It's also where I have my Wednesday Spanish conversation class - which has been running for two and a half years now  - and where our Zentangle classes will continue.  The first one, which we had a couple of weeks ago went down really well and everyone agreed they'd like to continue. So this is a place I'm rather fond of, despite its 'garage sale' look. Both Alan and Kyle are unfailingly cheerful and helpful and spend a lot of time rearranging the 'furniture' to accommodate all the things that go on here.
Cheers to you both and all the family!

And here is the Huddersfield - nay let's be specific - SKELMANTHORPE contingent! Mick and Julie drew the crowds in with their cheerful hats and lovely selection of things for sale. I am delighted to have been able to get Christmas Crackers for this year from them! 

And this comical couple were two who couldn't resist calling in after they'd been to a funeral in the morning...Spanish gentlemen eating some of Katrina's delicious mince pies. A first for them and they really did enjoy them - keeping up a humorous commentary all the while in strong local dialect. They were most surprised at what the Brits get up to in their town!

And at the end of the morning, I felt we'd done pretty well. I have some chocolates left but they will go into the shop between now and Christmas. I have a couple of orders to fulfil and may well join Katrina at the Montefrio Christmas Market which is on 21st December - last year, they had a Medieval theme and a 'living' Belen, which I blogged about at the time. But I feel now that the busy time of chocolate making has passed by for a few months. I might even dig out our Christmas trimmings this week.

How are your Christmas preparations going and what is happening in your local area at this time of year?

Up to my eyes....

(well, figuratively speaking...) in chocolate.

Making lots at the moment. It's that time of year for me.  Glad to say that on Saturday at the little market at our English shop, A LITTLE bit of BRITAIN, I did a stall of chocolates and cards. The cards weren't hot sellers though we (Romy and I) did sell a few and people were fascinated by the ones with tangle patterns on them.

The chocolates, however, started flying immediately. I'm very grateful to our expat community here as it's they who are buying, ordering and - hopefully - enjoying! I returned home a few hours later with my boxes lighter. And have to start all over again as there's a market on Sunday in a nearby village where there's a lot going on - there's a lively 'Women's Institute' and Katrina runs her burgeoning cake-making business - Golosaria - and Steffi has her beautiful, creative centre and villa - Cortijo las Salinas - so I'm hoping to tickle a few tastebuds and catch a few eyes with my wares. And no chance of my chocolate melting....it's jolly cold here at the moment!

Because of the blogs I follow and the friends I have on Facebook, I often find tantalising glimpses of English craft fairs and I do get a little 'pang'... you know, that feeling in the pit of your stomach when you're missing something, have forgotten something or want something...because I did enjoy doing craft fairs. I am so very happy here in Spain in our lovely house...but I do feel, since I've retired and found so many interesting things to do with my time, I think I might have quite enjoyed a crafty semi-retirement in England too!

But, how could I possibly miss anything at all when, on the stall next to me on Saturday is a very nice, Northern couple who sell a selection of all sorts, including some lovely vintage jewellery, little 'nice' things, a few antiques, cards, wrapping paper...anything really. And they're from a village in Huddersfield! From Skelmanthorpe actually - about which I wrote about in a post last year strangely enough! They've done craft and antique fairs all over - and we shared a few venues in common! (Probably not at the same time....that would be pushing it a bit!)

Anyway, for a woman with so much to do, I digress....(why change the habit of a lifetime?) ... next post, I shall be showing explicit photos of chocolate in all its states of deliciousness.....YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!