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

Lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer

Yes, the song sung by Nat King Cole that I remember so vividly from my childhood. His voice, so easy, so hypnotic and smooth was one that my father, in particular, loved to listen to. My dad was not musical but I have two clear memories that relate him to the music he obviously loved and that we often heard at home when I was young - up to me being about 8, after which the fish and chip shop they bought and worked in wore my parents out to a frazzle and left them little time for listening.

The first of these memories is the singing of Nat King Cole. We had only a couple of his records but they were played a lot and I knew them all. At the time, I wasn't a fan of any of them, apart from the title of this post - which I thought was great fun and I loved those three rhyming words - lazy, hazy and crazy. The second memory is his love of Mario Lanza and his permanent regret that he missed going to a concert by him as he had an ear infection. I've done a bit of research and I think this must have been the concert in Sheffield in 1957. It would have been amazing and most memorable, I am sure. However, I never really grew very attached to this voice, although his power is undeniable.

Nat King Cole, however, has, in the intervening years, become utterly irresistible for me and I love just about everything he sings.

All this is totally irrelevant preamble - because this is my blog - to sharing a few photos and thoughts from our home and lives during these incredibly hot weeks we've been having. I know it hasn't been the same everywhere - some of you have been feeling damp or chilly at times - but it's been so very hot here for so long that I cannot remember what it's like to get up and not see bright blue sky and know that the temperature is going to be well into the 30s.

So - what do we do all day? Well, I have had a couple of weeks where I've been up early and off to work before the sun really starts to hit. It's been fantastic to arrive home and have a dip in the pool - even the little plastic one that we are still using. But the afternoons are when we have to have all the windows closed to keep the sun out, stay as cool as possible indoors and basically wait until around 7 or 8pm before we can start to do anything useful.... Afternoons here in Andalucia are for eating a very late lunch, watching silly films, having a siesta and probably doing some drawing.

Here are some of my Mandala/Zendalas - apologies if you've already seen these posted on Facebook but on here for posterity, or as long as there's a web and because I scanned some of them so the colours are truer to real life. A mandala is a circular drawing, often done in sand or rice, the process of creating it is partly spiritual and partly meditative. A Zendala is a combination of the circular format and the use of specific Zentangle patterns. I am absolutely hooked on creating these at the moment and can confirm that they really do focus the mind and help relaxation and concentration.

I had to laugh recently as I have another blog, Annie's Tangles, where I usually post all my drawings, Zentangles and challenge entries. I had a comment left on one of my posts from a blogging friend from this blog, who'd popped over for a look. I laughed because she said she thought I was speaking a strange language and was there a glossary? And looking at my other blog from a non-tangling point of view, I absolutely understand how she might have wondered what on earth we were all on about! Annie, for your information, it definitely takes a while to get to know all the right words, descriptions and technical terms...but hope you liked what you saw!

This was the first one I did and it took me ages because my usual pens didn't like drawing on top of the acrylic paint. I also wasn't sure what to do about the bit of canvas that the zendala didn't 'fit' - it being round and the canvas being rectangle. I decided to leave it as it was.

Then I found a canvas that I'd had for a while that was square. It is actually quite white in real life but as the canvas is 50 by 50cms it was too big to go in the scanner, so this is a photograph, done without any real photographic help - ie. taken on my phone in the kitchen! I also tried using a permanent marker, rather than my special Zentangle pens, plus white and gold gel pens . It is very finely detailed and quite pretty, I think.

Then I went and bought a couple of smaller canvases - 20 by 20cms - and prepainted them and I got on quite a roll....

I ran it through a Photo Editing programme to put the frame round it - but the scanner reproduced the colours really well - this is pretty much how it looks. What has impressed me is that I started with just three concentric circles in yellow, green and blue. The patterning makes it look more complicated than it really is. 

In this one, I painted and blended related colours - yellow/orange, yellow/green, green/blue, blue/red and red/orange on the canvas to begin with. Then I added a Zentangle 'frame' which you can see around the edge before doing a Zendala starting from the middle and moving outwards. 

And then, utterly inspired by colour, I decided to add some to a tangle I did quite a while ago, just for practice. Here it is in a photo edited frame. I have decided to go and get them framed in town and then I shall put them somewhere in my bedroom and enjoy looking at them.

OK - enough about drawing, painting and Zentangle....or is it????

There are three of mine just about visible in the sea...

Last week, we went to the beach for the day - all together - and decided to go left at the coast, rather than the usual right. We ended up in a lovely place called Calahonda - or rather a little area just before Calahonda called, very appropriately, La Perla de Andalucia - where the beach was clean and long and quiet and the sea was divine.

We wanted a pebbly beach as we had a plan....and the pebbles were spectacular - smooth, round, lots of white ones, lots of sparkly ones. Perfect pebbles.


I had a couple of pens with me, of course, and so now, someone sometime will probably find a smooth, round Zentangled pebble!

During the course of the day, we gathered three big bags of pebbles to put in the garden. However, when we got home and unloaded them, we only filled a quarter of the space - so we have to go back at least another three times!

And after a day on the beach, what did our children do when they got home? Went in the pool! I swear they'll grow fins and flippers before long.....

And our garden? We're definitely learning to live with the ugly floor. We have to, so we are doing. I bought some little mosaic solar lights and love them so much that each evening, at about 9.45, I go outside to count them all as they light up.

A close up of the colours and patterns - bought from Amazon, of course - and Amazon UK at that. How can it be that they are cheaper and the postage is less from there than buying them from Amazon Spain?? And not a bit less but a lot less!

I have them lined up along the terrace and also all around the curved part opposite and they do look lovely, although difficult to photograph with my phone. I may try and get some better shots with my proper camera - if I can remember how to use that... I'm very out of practice.

A few people around, 
but a quiet Paseo de los Alamos.

Did I say 'lazy'? Well, a bit of that, but quite a lot of 'crazy' too. We've had visits and sleepovers and Etnosur in the past couple of weeks. Etnosur, a big music festival held every year in Alcala la Real, seemed more subdued this year. Many local residents leave the town during this weekend but many others have opened their doors in the morning to find someone asleep  or cooking their breakfast on the doorstep...and perhaps have got a bit fed up of finding evidence of a lack of toilet facilities outside the houses. For the first time this year, a lot of wire fencing went up to protect park areas and streets from the visitors who come in camper vans or on the bus and doss down anywhere. They have been directed to designated parts of the town instead - but on the morning and evening when I went into town, the places that are usually packed with people, were very empty.

The shops and stalls around the edge of the park were also fewer than usual and without much custom.

The fountain is always a fun place to go
 and these are not locals, but there aren't many there.

The music was apparently quite good. Mateo went on Saturday night and was out all night. He said there was a real mixture of styles, including rock and African and he enjoyed it. However, we got there at about 2am, with Romy, Ruy, Jasmine and Isabel and there was some really awful music that we didn't like at all. This year, as usual, on the Friday night, we'd heard the distant sound of music in Villalobos. But the organisers had changed to position of the stage to face away from the town, instead of towards it and I was amazed as we walked down from the Paseo de los Alamos, at the top end of town, to the stage area as we simply couldn't hear anything at all! It must be such a relief for the local residents - it's one thing to have a free concert in town, but to not get away from it is quite stressful. I couldn't believe the difference it made. Wonder why it has taken 18 years for someone to think of this solution?

And so the summer continues and the 'hazy' comes from the rolling of one day into the next and then one week into the next. The children have already had one month of holiday - another six weeks to go. There are plans, not quite in place but in mind, to send the children up to their grandparents in Valladolid at the beginning of August, but first, there's the Medieval Festival at La Mota, here in Alcala this weekend and this year, our neighbour, Sergio, has succeeded in convincing the local council that an Archery competition is just what is needed to add authenticity to the event. So he and Ruy will be donning their costumes and taking on all comers...although actually, I have no idea what is planned. Maybe it will be a proper competition and maybe it will be the chance for visitors to fire a few arrows themselves. I will report back! Should be fun either way. Do come along if you're in the area, won't you? There is always some good fun activities for the children - last year organised by a friend of ours - and the food is excellent. And there could hardly be a better setting than the wonderful fortress castle in our historic town.  If you go in costume, it's free entry too!

A photo taken from a previous event that I found on the internet.

So - lazy, hazy or crazy - we definitely feel like it's summer at the moment.
What's the weather like where you are?

Stop press...

Just to say that this afternoon, a tired but cheerful Janice (and Mark) arrived safely in Alcala la Real. They were waiting for me by the fountain as FR brought me into town to meet them.

We've had a lovely few hours together back at Sam and Dave's lovely B&B, watching the sun set behind La Mota - there'll be quite a number of photos of this as it's an amazing sight - even for a hardened veteran like me - as first-timers it's quite easy to be blown away completely.

We're meeting up again tomorrow and will be planning a joint blogging strategy...but wanted to capture my enormous pleasure at having Janice (and Mark - sorry Mark!) here with me. I can hardly believe it!!

There will be more!

Fiesta Medieval at La Mota

Yes, I prefer Mediaeval...but I was using the Spanish spelling...just in case it bothered you.

Every August, for the past few years, the beautiful castle of La Mota in Alcala la Real has been the setting for a Mediaeval fair. And every year we've lived here, we've missed it because we have always been visiting family in Valladolid or Leon at this time of the year.

This year, family came to us and we're staying put in our lovely new house for the summer (and Christmas and probably forever and ever) but it means we could visit the fair.

It is possibly the most perfect place to hold something evocative and historic - especially at night - and I was looking forward to going. I hadn't had time to prepare any costumes, but as I was in town in the morning, I found a shop selling 'Mediaeval' costumes that would be fine for Romy. Remember - at this time, the Arab influence was strong....that must the be reason for the less the usual Mediaeval appearance of the outfit! (You'll see what I mean...except now you won't because I have just discovered my disaster! You'll see what I mean.)

It didn't start until 9pm, which was a blessing because we've had some ridiculously hot days recently - it had reached forty degrees on Thursday - and we needed the temperature to fall a bit before we attempted the steep climb up to La Mota. The streets of Alcala were busier than usual and we were very lucky to find a decent parking space...very lucky!

I had to smile to myself when - as usual - someone stopped me to ask for directions. This ALWAYS happens ...and I have to wonder why as I do not look for one second as though I am Spanish, never mind from Andalucia! However, a lady stopped and asked, '¿Está Usted de aquí?' - meaning 'are you from here?' (I know, I didn't need to include the speech but I just wanted to use those upside down question marks) ...and I was delighted to reply that I was! Ha!! Amused me, though the children didn't quite understand why...

Pause and panic.....just tried to upload my photos...

and now I am rather traumatised as I have managed inexplicably to delete all my photos....apart from a video of one of the spectacles.The other photos I have taken from the web and where possible, have included the appropriate credits - they are nowhere near as good as mine were.
I am trying not to weep.

Thanks to Marino Aguilera

Thanks to the Ayuntamiento de Alcala la Real

As above

My photos were SO much better - full of atmosphere - can't believe what I've done! I shall have to ponder....in the meantime, enjoy a little bit of Vertical Dancing down the tower wall. Oh well - will have to go again NEXT year.

(Silent sob...)

A few days..

A few important days, in which my mum got to know her grandchildren a bit better. Up until seven and a half years ago, we saw my parents fairly regularly either at their house or at our own. My dad - an electrician and 'handyman' to the roots of his being - came and did various jobs that needed doing and my mum loved to play with Mateo and Ruy - who were still very young - as well as chatting to me as we always did.

I remember one particular visit very clearly. It would be in very early June 2003 and we'd been moved into our new house for about three weeks. We planned on doing quite a bit of work to it, including adding a full-width conservatory on the back. Dad spent the afternoon pottering about fiddling with wires and identifying with FR where important connections were and needed to be.

I was wondering how to break the our news. News that had taken us by surprise - had left us in shock, to be honest - and which was taking some getting used to and which was repeating itself over and over in my head. After lunch, my mother referred to something that she'd told FR on the phone recently that she assumed he had shared with me. As our minds were otherwise occupied, he hadn't told me and my mum innocently remarked, 'Don't you two communicate?' - to which I replied, 'No but we fornicate and I'm pregnant again.'
This wasn't exactly how I had planned to tell my parents our good news but it's a phrase that has remained fixed in our brains over the years and one that will probably be passed on down the lines. To be honest, I was devastated and truly terrified to be pregnant again.

Please bear in mind that I was 44 years old and had assumed I was very lucky to have had two children rather late on in my life. We had just moved to a nice but not over-large house - just right for a family of four - and I'd just readjusted to my life back at work. We had two gorgeous boys and had no plans to increase our numbers. It sounds silly but honestly, neither of us really knew how this pregnancy had happened - and we definitely knew with the other two! Obviously, we hadn't ever before encountered a force like Romy - for it was indeed, our Romy that so determinedly shattered our safe and comfortable plans in those early days in our new house. I was so worried that I would have problems and the baby would have problems and I wasn't at all sure I could cope with three children and how could it have happened....And of course, within a very short space of time (well, about a week before she was due) all shock had turned to excitement and wonder and suddenly we were five.

Just a few short weeks after she was born, my parents went on holiday to Madeira, where my father suffered a severe stroke and since that day, we've only ever visited my parents in their home as for them, travelling to see us would have been too difficult. In fact, in all this time, whilst they have attempted holidays together (and had an increasingly complicated set of health problems each time) my mum hasn't had a proper break at all - not more than a few hours a week whilst my dad attends a day centre and it really was about time she thought about herself. Otherwise, we all know what might happen.

And the visit she made here was just the break she needed. And as well as giving her chance to recharge her batteries - no meals to cook, no-one to lift in and out of bed or a chair, no need to take anyone to the bathroom, no accidents to mop up or bedclothes to change - she had the chance to get to know her grandchildren. My mum is good talker. There's no doubt that she can talk - even more than me - but she's a good listener and was delighted to find that all three of our children also love to talk and love to listen.

It's been a few days for us all to enjoy each other's company; a few days to drink our coffee on the terrace together; a few days to sit and chat around the dinner table; a few days when the television stayed switched off; a few days when everyone told their favourite story; a few days to slow down and enjoy every minute.
So although it was only a few days, it was a few days of truly quality time that we will remember in the way we remember seeing something beautiful, like a sunset or the sea; something that stays etched in the memory forever.

You can't really ask for more.

Sunday morning.

After last night's noisy fiestas - when the streets were packed and the music went on and on and on...this morning has dawned quiet, calm and beautiful. My photograph can't capture the sense of peace that exists on our little street or the feeling of pure tranquility I have as I sit on the roof terrace with my coffee and look up towards La Mota. The crane - still, silent today - merely serves as a perch for tens of pigeons that from time to time, take off in unison and fly around in an unfathomable pattern before settling back again.

And is it wickedly selfish to be enjoying this all the more because I am the only one in my family who is up (apart from Darwin) and I've had a whole hour to myself, soaking in the morning sun and chilling out in a mindless and satisfied sort of way? I think not.

Peace, perfect peace.
Sunday morning as it should be.

A brief note from 'Bolivia'

Here we are, several boxes packed and unpacked again - and although there are still a large number that have not been opened, we're beginning to see a bit of floor space here in Calle Bolivia.


We can see La Mota from our roof terrace and hear the grillos chirping in the darkness and see trees and flowers in the square from our bedroom window.

And despite being only a five minute walk away from our previous home - the dreaded fifth floor apartment - it feels like we've moved from a town to a village. The odd car passing; people and families walking back and forth; the ubiquitous motorbike - and then peace and silence.

The children have had picnics on the terrace that leads from Romy's room; they've each laid out their rooms to their own taste (Ruy's is organised, everything in place, clothes away; Romy and Mateo are still in a state of chaos) - and although their beds are on the floor (still no nuts and bolts to put the bases together!) they have all slept two long, deep sleeps since the move on Friday and are the better for it. As for getting my own bed back - well, words cannot describe the pleasure of sinking into the depths of a memory foam mattress - one that obviously remembers me well! 'Bliss' will have to do!

I am highly amused by taking out the rubbish. Here in Spain, there are big communal rubbish bins - for plastic, glass, paper and household stuff - and on a regular basis, one of us will poddle off loaded with what needs throwing out. Before, the boys usually went down the five floors and out to the main street to get rid; now, we have to go either to Chile or Uruguay to reach the bins....as a result of the street names around here!

And Telefonica came this very morning - Sunday - to reconnect us to our telephone and internet line.
We are very nearly sorted; very nearly!



Pictures will follow - when I relocate my camera....it's here somewhere!

Exploring La Mota

No, not praying - all will be explained below.

 It is another beautiful sunny day and we had promised ourselves that the next sunny Sunday would be when we made the vertical trek to explore La Mota - the impressive fortress that is symbolic of Alcalá la Real.

This is one of the main entrances to La Mota.
It is called 'La Puerta de los Poetas' or the Poet's Door.

 

 
It's difficult to say how much of the original fortress remains. A lot of restoration work has been undertaken in the past 40 years or so and whilst as much as possible has been preserved, it's clear there has been quite a lot of rebuilding too.
Signs of civilisation in the area dating back to three centuries B.C. have been found.
The Romans were here after that, before La Mota became a Muslim stronghold.
During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Moors and the Christians battled over this strategically placed castle and it exchanged hands many times. It finally ended up in the hands of King Alfonso Xl - and there are many streets and one of the schools here named after him.

The walk around the base of the fortress was beautiful, with wonderful views and sights at every turn. We thought it was as impressive as the Alhambra, though it somehow carried its history more lightly. 

And joy of joys, as we climbed up, we got a wonderful view of the Sierra Nevada - a sight that I have already said does my heart so much good.

It's a bit difficult to see here but the expanse of white in the distance is 'it' for sure.

Have a closer look for yourselves.

Isn't that just gorgeous?

    

This is Ruy pointing out our house to Romy.

I love the way he is holding her finger to point.

Walking around the walls at the top - inside the fortress itself.

Stunning views all round.

Evidence and remains of the town that used to exist within the castle walls. 

The excavation has been fairly recent work. Inside the museum, there was a photo taken in the 1940s where the outside of the church was all covered over with earth - no real signs of what laid beneath.

Ruy peering down one of the many 'pozos' or wells. There was almost as much to discover under the ground as above it - evidenced by many glass windows in the ground that allowed a glimpse into the various wells, tombs, staircases and other bits of buildings that are hidden below.  See Ruy and Romy on the first picture - they are peering down through the glass. They had to get close to avoid all the reflection.

Oh look! The Sierra Nevada again.

The church, built by Alfonso Xl (you have to say it in Spanish 'Alfonso Once' cos it sounds funny), is now mainly ruined inside having suffered at the hands of Napoleonic forces in the early 1800s and a major earthquake at the end of that century.

 

The water was wonderful - ice cold - but I have no idea where it was coming from!

Cesar in the tavern!
Or what was once the tavern...

It's a long time since I was in Greece but this picture makes me think of it.




(Except, of course, you can just see the Sierra Nevada in the background.)



.....can't you?

Here - that's better.

This enormous square is the place where the medieval festival is held each year during August.
I'm looking forward to visiting then, though the walk up the hill is going to be very hot!

Detail of church

The bodega, where wine was kept.

Nice and cool, I can confirm.

See, irresistible!

This is inside the church and way down, there was water - either from a well or a spring. 

The remains of a once impressive church

Islamic tombs under what would have been the floor of the church

I took this photo to prove to my in-laws that 'Ruy' is a good and proper name. They weren't convinced when we first told them the name of our second-born.

Whilst it is still popular in Brazil and Portugal - in the the form, Rui, - the third name down on this sign shows that in the fourteenth century, a Ruy Fernandez was the royal Chaplain.

So a good Christian name after all.

 

Just another glimpse of my gorgeous mountains, this time with me thrown in for good measure!

Though they need no additional adornment!

This is Romy and I sniggering. Romy had been looking out of the little window behind us and said that the rock on which the castle was built looked like an elephant's bottom. And it did. 

 

Up at the top of the tower of the Alcazar - the castle's stronghold where the troops were based.

It was a steep climb up!

Romy looking rather lovely inside the museum part. Actually, it was around here that she was ready to go home and started complaining her feet hurt - so it's a brave smile for the camera!

I love these miniature recreations of how places might have looked in their heyday.
During medieval times, most villagers would have lived within the castle walls but as time went on, they moved outside and down the hill to the north of the fortress, where they could grow more crops and farm the land.

This was a lovely, detailed model.

More investigations of the underground parts!

Did I mention the view?