Cherry on the top

Following a telephone tip-off around 7pm yesterday, we piled into our car and drove to the top of a hill just outside Alcala la Real, where we found - just as promised - trees laden with cherries.

We picked and picked and hardly lightened the poor trees' loads - branches laden with ruby-red berries - most of our pickings went into a big bucket that we'd brought for the purpose, but rather a few went directly into our mouths. These were not just cherries. These were plump, juiciful, mouthwateringly delicious cherries - there was much 'mmmmm'ing and head-throwing back in pure pleasure at the taste.

After about an hour, with a bucket overflowing with fruit, we jumped back into the car and headed home.
We had picked more than 10 kilos of cherries!

Which is...

quite a lot of cherries

whichever way you look at them

FR and I set to to make some jam to ensure that none would go to waste. However, it was not a smooth operation at all. Problem number one came when we realised that all recipes insisted on using jam sugar, which is high in pectin but we couldn't find any here at our local supermarket - and as it was already after 9pm, there was no time to look elsewhere. Problem number two was that all the same recipes said to stone the cherries first using a cherry stoner as stoning cherries any other way can be extremely messy. We didn't have a cherry stoner. So, with a bit of casual logic, I thought we could cook the cherries first with their stones in, as the stones contained pectin (well, I think they do) and then we could strain the stones out when the cherries had softened. 

FR spent about an hour picking all the stones out - it was messy. Horribly messy. I didn't dare enter the kitchen and take a photograph or it could have been even messier. It was, of course, all my fault.

That bit done, we added sugar and lemon juice and set to boiling. One hour passed and no sign of setting. An hour and a half and still no thickening. We definitely lacked pectin. At 2 in the morning, we called it a day and bottled our cherry compote and went to bed. 

But I'm so glad we persevered because breakfast this morning......

was d-e-l-i-c-i-o-u-s!

Reflection and anticipation

Thanks to Image of the Day for this beautiful phot

There is a sense of  déjà vu -  of completing a full circle of life - as we find ourselves in Alcala la Real for a second summer. Last week, the fair came to town for four days of noise, unnecessary extravagance and fun - depending on your point of view - and I was reminded of our first visit last year and how it, and not the weather, marked the beginning of summer here.

And now it continues as we arrive at the last week of term. Ruy and Romy have finished all their course work and the emphasis at school seems to be on fun. They are practising their dances for the end of term extravaganza, playing games, eating bread spread with olive oil and chocolate (I haven't tried it but they are complete converts.) No homework until September. At secondary level, it's a little different. Mateo has had a lot of tests in the last term, which he has found quite exhausting and tedious at times but he was pleased to discover he has passed all he needs to pass and doesn't have any retakes this year - well done, Mateo - he got good marks in his sciences and a huge improvement in Maths and Spanish too. We have decided to move him to another school in the town from the next school year for a number of academic reasons (it's a more interactive school, with young teachers, additional language support, more hands-on science teaching....and so on.) Mateo will miss his friends but living in a close community like Alcala means he can continue to see them out of school and may already know some of the students in his new school. There are four secondary schools in the town and I teach students from all four and have seen no rivalry or segregation in my classroom between the different schools. When I think back to my own school days, I have very different memories. There was an unpleasant intolerance, mistrust and real barriers between the kids in my school and the one down the road from us. We finished our school day 15 minutes after the other school and once, we came out to find a big gang waiting for us -  an all-out battle ensued. Obviously I scuttled home very quickly and took no part but as I lived just across the road, I was able to watch and witness everything until such time as the police arrived.... I think this resulted in changing the final bell to the same time at both schools. It is most definitely not the same here. Thank goodness!

I too am coming to my last week of teaching at the Academy after doing a full academic year. Teaching has its frustrations but also its great pleasures. I have a number of classes that are such a joy to teach, where the enthusiasm and engagement of the children is reward enough in itself. I also have a couple of classes - young teenagers - who are more interested in catching up on gossip with those at a different school, skipping the class or simply not engaging in the lesson. I try my best with them and have thought of all sorts of different educational games to try and encourage them and sometimes it works a bit and I have to be satisfied with that. And whilst they don't always concentrate in my class, if I see them in the street, they always give me a warm and respectful greeting - in English - which pleases me greatly.

FR is continuing his work with Escenica in Granada after his excellent month-long course in November. The work he is doing now is not exactly lucrative but we hope that it will pay dividends in the future - not necessarily in financial terms but in terms of establishing a group of people who believe in something and use theatre as the medium to share these beliefs. I do hope so as he has put such a lot of effort and time into it.

It has, on reflection, been a good year.

I'm working on the 'patience' bubble...

And in just a few weeks, we will have been in this house for a whole year - how fast the time has gone! I will tell you know that for the past month or so, we have been involved in a protracted discussion with an estate agent and a buyer about a property we have seen.

And yes, it's here in Alcala la Real!!

However, it is too small for us as it stands and the kitchen is in the garden but not joined to the main house.

It has damp walls in a couple of rooms and the staircase is showing signs of a problem and it needs a new roof and it only has a tiny garden.......it's not perfect. And the owner wants more money than we can sensibly pay him, considering it will need almost as much again spending on it once we get it. IF we get it.

The property is empty, so obviously it's not someone's home, it's a second (or even third) property and I suppose there is no pressure on the owner to sell. It's a buyer's market at the moment but in this town, there are very few properties for sale and what is available are the old, empty and, quite frankly, ruined houses in the historic centre. It is a lovely town, no doubt about it, but I have come to discover that its original houses are not of a very high quality or standard. There are some very well made new ones, but they are either for a standard family with two children (and no dog) or in a price bracket well beyond ours.

So, we are working on the owner and hope he will drop his price a little bit more - just a bit more - and if he does...well, I think I might be celebrating just a little! But let's not rush things - patience, patience, patience. Give me patience....now!!

Thanks Doug!

Braving the cold...

OK - it might not seem brave to you but believe me, this water was very chilly. Exceedingly.

Going under

But my children - two of my children - are made of resilient stuff and spend the day on Saturday, defying the cold, braving the waves and having an absolutely whale of a time.

Breaking waves

The less daring faction of the family...

We didn't build these ourselves

but we wish we had

Our first summer day on the beach this year. We visited two beaches, both in Almuñecar. The first one was  busy and wide, with the town at our backs. We were surrounded by incredibly noisy, boisterous and uninhibited local Spanish people - it is their beach, after all.  The other, which we found later in the day,  was at the furthest end of the town and we hadn't been there before but we loved it. There were three little bays backed by high cliffs. Designated a nudist beach, it seemed as though most of the town's people shunned it and it was wonderfully peaceful. There were a few naked bodies, which is fine by me, some quieter and more peaceful families and a few foreigners, reading books or just chilling - not yelling into mobile phones, having Fanta fights or shouting at their children... 

I hope by the next time we go, the water will have warmed up just a tad...I went in but my, was it cold! 

How are your summer plans shaping up - water, pool or somewhere else?

Say cheese.. or patata!

Are you smiling? I'm not!

Why would a photographer ask us to say 'cheese' to make us smile? I have tried this several times and on several occasions but when I say 'cheese' my mouth puckers up and my lips move forward to say the 'ch' sound. Only afterwards do my lips widen a little to say the 'ee' part - and into nothing remotely like a smile. Unless of course, there is a camera pointing at me - and then, the instruction is enough for me to smile automatically. In Spain, apparently, the photographer will ask people to 'mirad la pajarita' (look at the birdie) or  to say 'patata' (potato) and that seems to work.

None of this has much to do with this post, other than FR and I went on Saturday into the town centre to sample the wares at the Cheese Festival.

Set in the square of the ayuntamiento (town hall)

Prize-winning cheeses were laid out

with plenty of samples to try

The town hall - home to a team of dedicated, professional rubber-stampers 

As well as cheese, there was alcohol on offer -
obviously not the youth of Alcala  la Real who were tempted.

A goodly crowd on a hot day, we really enjoyed our samples and made a couple of goaty cheese purchases

I said 'Cheese'  - say Cheese!

Actually, FR and I rarely venture out on our own and so, feeling rather daring and liberated, we drank some beer, which, together with the aperitif we had before we left home, and the little samples of fizz, made us rather light-headed and giddy. We were asking these two in the photo above about buying a box of wine which I wanted to give to my sister if we see her in the summer and as we left, I winked at one of them. I don't know why - it just happened and I was mortified and amused at the same time. Goodness knows what he must have thought! I am not to be trusted with a single drop of alcohol, obviously.

We then spent another hour wandering around the streets looking for houses for sale that we hadn't already seen and taking the phone numbers. We're going to see one of them this afternoon. And one day, we'll find one!

Now...lunch today - some toasted goats cheese with my salad, I think!

When the weather is hot

play games in the water!

This was the last day of the football season for Ruy and a letter came home to say that instead of practice, there would be organised games, including the possibility of a water fight. What fun lay ahead?


Well, lots as it happens. And not just for the footballers - all were welcome.

It's not just

the taking part that's fun..

winning's good too!

 

Action shot

Ready, Steady 

 

GO!

The winners get ... a soaking!

 

 

Go Ruy!

Go Romy!

Go kids, go!

They had a great time. Slept well last night too!

The weather

today is rather hot.

Alcalá la Real, Andalucía

36°C   96.8F

Now: Partly cloudy
Wind: N a 11 km/h
Humidity: 14%




I took Darwin for a walk earlier than usual this morning so that he could run about and get some exercise before the heat overpowered him. Even so, the earthy path was powder-dry and the air that rose from the ground was hot and scorched-pine scented. The scent was of holidays on baking campsites. Darwin gamefully chased a stick for just over half the way, but then decided a little caution was the better option for getting home again without spontaneously combusting. He trotted at my side, hogging the shadows as we descended the steep streets back to the 'coolth' of our house.

Now, as I emerge from a postprandial siesta (as I do so often these days) I discover Ruy is playing football, for heaven's sake - the boy is crazy! FR is sweating in Granada, hopefully casting some new actors so that he can start rehearsals for a play. Mateo, Romy and I are closed away in the dark - I understand why the Spanish keep the shutters down and the windows closed now - keeping the heat out - though I have to fight my instinct to want to do the reverse and let in some 'fresh air'. I would say we are in a state of torpor.

Tomorrow, there is to be a open-air cheese festival in Alcala la Real, in the square near the town hall - I think cheese makers could have hoped for a more temperate day to be sitting in front of their wares from 11 til 2!

I am plucking up the energy and the courage to go out onto the roof terrace to collect my washing, which will be, without doubt, bone-dry.

Forgive my lacklustre post. Whilst the weather is incredibly hot, it is a dry heat - I don't have that horrid, sweaty feeling that I hated about hot days in the UK -  it is most definitely energy-sapping.
I am struglling to lifftmy fingerssssssssssfrom the ksys and keeeeeeesp focusedddddddddddddddd. Waaaaaaaaaaatterr. Ineedd wattttttttttteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeerrrrrr.

Sunday morning stroll

At least, I presumed it was a stroll we were embarking on.

FR had been out walking earlier in the week with a friend who is learning English. He's a biologist and lover of nature and during the spring and summer months, he takes people on guided tours of the Andalucian countryside. You can see his brochure and what he offers on his website, called Natureda. We have just finished a rather better translation into English for him - what is currently here is just a Google translate, I think - although I rather like reading it in this format!

Anyway, FR and JC go walking together, talking about the landscapes, wildlife and countryside around Alcala la Real - in English. When he returned on Thursday, FR was full of where he'd just been and keen to take us all. So off we set.

Darwin - newly clipped and ready for adventure - and yes, we did the first bit in the car...

Looking back at Alcala la Real - fantastic view

Family stringing out from the start...don't know where Mateo is and Romy was behind me.

Ah - Mateo was a long way ahead - you can just see him in the centre of the photo... lost Ruy though.

In amongst all the trees, there was a sheep-shearing fest going on -
you can't see anything but you could certainly hear it!

There are some amazing dry stone walls.

Pause to quote:

I am a drystone waller

All day I drystone wall

Of all appalling callings

Drystone walling's worst of all.

                            Pam Ayres

I have quoted Wordsworth and other notables in the past but I'm afraid I cannot see or say 'drystone wall' without Pam Ayres' lines reverberating in my head. The children are sick of hearing it but I'm afraid they will not be able to resist saying it to themselves (and their own children?) in future years...parenting has such responsibilities!

Amazing views across to the next village.

We'd come to see a cave - was this it?

No - there was more walking to be done. Now Romy's ahead of me.

Zoom in on an ancient watch tower, known as an atalaya.

Taking a break whilst FR tries to find his bearings...

Cooler under the olive trees

Flying across the sky is a pair of crows - apparently quite rare ones.
You will have to take my word for it that their beaks are red.

At last, we find the cave

Family-sized with interesting sleeping ledges....

Hidden from view by a big fig tree.

As caves go, it was OK. Fortunately, FR had taken some pruning shears with him so that he could cut away the brambles as we followed him. Not quite as radical as a machete but effective enough.

We returned to Alcala and went up to La Mota to capture the view from the other side of the town.

And Darwin took time out to sit in the shade and chill.

We came home and ate chilled watermelon and have just finished off a pile of delicious little lamb chops, salad and patatas fritas.

And now, methinks a siesta is just what I need.