What do you do...

at 5am when you can't sleep?

For years after I had my children, I would be creeping round the house at between 3 and 4 in the morning - unable to sleep til around 6. The last hour in bed often brought wonderful sleep with amazing dreams and I never felt I suffered because of lack of sleep.

Then, since moving to Spain, I seem to have grown out of this habit. I often wake at the same time but drift off without the need for a prowl. Tonight has been an exception and I'm down here now, with an active dwarf hamster (did I mention we now only have one? Technically speaking that is; this one carries the remains of her sister inside....that was a traumatic day. I can't really recommend having two hamsters...)

I have a lot on my mind. And we've had a few anxious moments but seem back on track again. It will be fine. I'm not just saying that.

But what I do when I'm prowling in the wee hours is to make a cup of nice, weak tea - preferably Lady Grey, but I've run out of that - and a sandwich. And my sandwich of choice is banana and Marmite on granary bread. I'm not alone in enjoying this particular combination - though I suspect we are a small and select bunch - and found this lovely write up on The Lady Bites blog.

And it's working its magic. I feel grounded again; safe; warm-tummied and yes, just a bit sleepy. Thank goodness it's Saturday and Mateo will take Darwin out in the morning...

Looking forward to a few sweet dreams now.
xxx

Our house, in the middle of our street

Madness! The song 'Our house' is one that we have sung a lot recently as we've driven around looking at properties in Spain.

Although we've still to find 'it', I thought I'd show you where we are at the moment. It's definitely in the middle of a street!
This is the view out of the lounge terrace. Not much to see apart from the rather elegant set of apartments across the road. Nice blue sky today!

As I was looking the other way, I noticed a man cleaning his roof - rather a dangerous place, I thought! I have checked, he's now inside and safe.

This is looking up the main street towards the park and main plaza which is a lovely space with places for the children to play and also there are installations especially for the older people to keep fit. Which is a nice idea and I have tried a few though I suspect I am a bit too young for them just yet...

And this is a picture of some plasticine fruit and veg that Romy made - just noticed them on my camera. Sweet - specially the orange and the mushroom.
(the others are a tomato, a sprout and and, obviously, a banana.)

And although these photos are rather poorly lit (these modern cameras!) I love the concentration on the faces of Ruy and Romy as they hold Snuffkin (or Elmer or Bingbang.. still not quite decided) - who is absolutely gorgeous and who has made himself very much at home with us already.

If anyone wondered what had happened to Nemo, the little dog of los abuelos, who was going to come south with us - well, he's still fine and he will still come to us when we have a more dog-friendly home for him to live in. I don't think he would like this fifth floor piso where he couldn't even go out on the terrace because the gap under the railings is big enough for him to fall through. His time will come!