Goodbye 2009

I can't believe it is nearly a week since Christmas. Where has it gone? We haven't done much in that time though I have spent some time in my craft room. I have a couple of birthday cards to make for January, and yesterday I put the finishing touches to the memory/scrapbook I have been making for Ben. I gave it to him with just five pages in it on his 21st birthday. He will be 23 in February and keeps asking when it will be ready. So now it is. I have had such fun making it and now I am ready to move on to similar ones for Jonathan and Tom. I don't think I have so much material for theirs though. Ben was involved in so many activities and clubs, and did well in all of them so I had plenty of photographs, but I have quite a folder full for the others as well, so I'm sure I'll manage something for them.

I have also done some more of my lace. I got myself into a right pickle with it before Christmas, but this week I have painstakingly undone quite a length of it, and I am now back on track. I bid for, and won, some lacemaking equipment on ebay. Unfortunately the seller only posts to UK, so I had to have it sent to Michael's address, and he will forward it on to me. Lace making is done here too, of course, but supplies are not easy to find. Ocasionally they have special lace-making days where you can buy some things, so I shall try to go to one this year. In the meantime I hope what I have bought is in good condition, and I shall use that.

The Wii fitness game is fun though I am not very good at it. My hand-eye coordination is useless so the controls sometimes baffle me, and balance and stamina are both things I need to practice and improve on. But it is easier to make a fool of yourself in the privacy of your own home, and there's a comfy chair to sink into when you need to stop. So hopefully we will both benefit from using it regularly, and have some fun at the same time.

Our post office reopened for a few days between Christmas and New Year and we got some more cards that didn't quite make it in time. It was nice to hear from Chris' family in America. We haven't seen them since we went out to Arizona for our twenty-fifth anniversary in 2004. We also got Ben's card which gave us a good laugh. (He posted it on 17th Dec and we received several posted after that date, but his must have got to the bottom of a pile, and didn't quite make it to us before the Post office closed). His cards had two badges on it, "Most marvellous Mum" and "Super cool Dad", and he said we had to promise to wear them and put a picture on my blog, so here we are, enjoying the mid-day sunshine out on the back porch.

When the wind blows in UK it usually has a chill factor that makes quite a difference to how you feel when you have to go out in it. Here that can also be true, but we also have 'hot wind' and that is what we have today. We woke up to hear my windchimes nearly taking off the wall, and various things hurling about in the yard. But when we took the dogs for their run it was almost like being in the track of a powerful hair drier. It wrenched the car door out of my hands as I opened it and nearly took it off its hinges, and it was all I could do to walk against it, but we were too hot in our little light jackets and ended up carrying them and walked along in just a tee-shirt, (and trousers of course!). The dogs still had a good race around but Miki didn't like walking back to the car when it was blowing straight towards us. It is blowing more gently now and the sun is shining brightly so it is a lovely day. I was so glad to get some washing out yesterday. I had to double peg everything, but by the time the second load was washed, the first one was dry. The week before Christmas was the first time since we have been here, that I hadn't been able to dry my washing outside the day I did it. Although I inherited a tumble drier with the house, I have no intention of using it, but we really have nowhere suitable to dry clothes inside. But after a week of rain, we were running out of some things so on Christmas Eve I did an emergency wash and we ended up with undies hung like decorations on every hook and ledge in the guest bathroom. It took them nearly four days to dry! so it was with some relief that I got the rest all done and packed away again yesterday.

Now all that is left is for me to wish all my readers and followers a happy, healthy and peaceful 2010. Let's hope the economy picks up a bit, the unemployed find work, and the tension everyone seems to be living under these days will be eased. Happy New Year everyone!

Happy Christmas

A Very Happy Christmas to all my followers! I hope you all enjoyed a relaxed and peaceful day, as we did.The weather this year did not match that of last Christmas when Jonathan was with us, and we sunbathed all afternoon. We have had high winds and very heavy rain for a couple of weeks, but on Christmas Day we woke up to clear skies and a lovely sunrise. We did not take the dogs for their usual walk as the rain has made it very difficult. I tried to walk the 'girls' around there the day before and quite literally got 'stuck in the mud' several times. But we sat out on the porch with them to eat our breakfast and the thermometer showed a balmy 17º as early as 7.30. A row of little birds sang their carols to us out the back. We got out the binoculars I bought Chris for his birthday, and we could see that the trees were full of sparrows and the birds on the wire were similar to starlings. They chattered and sang for ages which was nice. Although there are plenty of birds around in the summer, they don't sing when it is so hot, so we enjoy listening to them at this time of year.

I bought a large 'jumbone' for each of the dogs, which I thought might keep them occupied for a few days. I was wrong! Chico and Miki had eaten theirs in less than half an hour. Foxy had a bit more of a problem and we had to shut her in the house/bed that Chris is building for them, so she could enjoy it without the others pinching it. They were very frustrated and stood pawing at the door, but Chico soon gave up and Miki sat guard just in case a bit came within her reach. Their house hasn't got a roof yet but it is almost finished, and being between the two sheds, it will be quite sheltered for them.

We bought a Wii fitness for our Christmas present. It was me who wanted it but hopefully Chris will have fun with it too. So we were busy all morning getting that set up. Now I must make sure I use it regularly and try to shed a few more pounds (quite a few actually), and get much fitter generally.

Our little local bar was open for a couple of hours at lunch time so we went down for a free glass of bucks fizz, and wished everyone a Happy Christmas, and then we came back to cook the dinner. We were hoping to eat it outside as it was still lovely and warm, but the wind started up and the clouds were gathering, so we used the dining room for the first time since we came to live here! A turkey would have been too much for just the two of us, so we had a nice fat chicken with all the trimmings. Needless to say we then both fell asleep and when we woke up it had started to rain. And boy did it rain! It was very noisy as it spouted off every corner of the roof and splashed on the tiles below. Unfortunately whenever it rains our television goes off; we lose all all satelite signal, so we had to make do with music in the evening, and I had another go on the Wii. I also managed to speak to all the boys at some time during the day, using skype. What a godsend skype is. It is so lovely to be able to chat to family members, especially when it is an occasion such as Christmas, without worrying all the time about the bill you are piling up. I put just under £10 on my skype account every three months, and for that I get unlimited calls to any UK landline so I can even call those who don't have a computer with skype on it.

Today Chris went up a ladder to look at the satalite dish and he found a cover that was broken. So he has temporarily covered it with a plastic bag and so far the television has stayed on today despite more rain, so maybe he has found the problem, and hopefully we will be able to obtain a more permanent solution.

The Spanish traditionally have a big family gathering on 'La Noche Buena' which is The Good Night, or Christmas Eve to us, with lots of eating and drinking, and this just continues the next day, with the children geting some gifts from Santa. They don't have Boxing Day so normally today everything would be going on as usual, but as it fell on a weekend this year, many places stayed closed and it was very quiet everywhere. Of course thier main celebration comes on 6th January or Three Kings day. There is more eating and drinking and gatherings of the clans, and adults give one another gifts, and the children get at least three gifts, (one from each king) and these will be their main presents. So we now have a few days of normality before New Year's Eve, and then a few more before Three Kings, so it will be hit and miss when shops etc are open, and a fair while before we are really back to life as usual.

We are waiting to see whether work on the road progresses at all during this time. They are getting on with laying the paving blocks but it is slow work. Last week a lorry delivered stacks of blocks to our bit of the road, red ones on one side for the pavements and black down the other for the road. They will all be layed on the same level with no kerb, but both sides will dip slightly into the centre of the road to guide rainfall to the new flood drains. Having seen the state of the roads in the recent heavy downpours, you can appreciate what an asset the new drains will be. I walked over to the bank on Thursday, in the road parallel to ours, and the rain was like a river the whole width of the road and right up over my feet. There was no option but to paddle across it, and do your best to duck into a doorway if a car drove down. Unfortunately until the blocks are laid, our new drains are too high to take much of the water but they helped a bit, and our road just had a little stream down the centre, so you could walk up the sides on 'dry land'.

When I have published this I am going to post a new folder on my photo gallery, so do feel free to pop across and get a glimpse of Los Gallardos in December.

(www.picasaweb.com/kayempea1947)