A well-kept secret

I had my suspicions, though there was no real proof and I wasn't really sure. But yes, she did, and today she brought her round to show her off.

I've made them a house in the storage cubby-hole on the terrace. They seem to approve.

How about 'Leah' and 'Leonita'?

Un día en la playa

Mike, Billy and Hattie were here on an all-too-short visit and we spent one of the days at the beach at Colonia San Pere. Here are some pictures. (Click on them to see them bigger.)

Another day we went to Es Trenc with Laura, Luis, Jessie and Claudia. As usual, we stayed till the end!

On the Monday we went to Palma. Mike and I did Cultural while the kids did shop-till-you-drop. Both parties had a very satisfying day.

Valldemossa and the Robert Graves Museum at Deià were on the agenda but will have to wait till next time. You can see great sunsets there too!

las presillas de rascafria

This is where I went swimming last sunday and the one before. El rio Lozoya.

Just wanted you to see. it's very pretty and the water isn't too cold if you go where it's shallow and the sun has been on it. Claudia and I went on the bus (at 8am!), it's a 2hour ride. The popular part of the place is called las presillas 'cause there are about 4 natural pools, all surrounded by woods on one side and incredibly well-kept lawn on the other, with trees and a little chiringuito (where they have ice-creams, coffee, beer and bocadillos enormes), toilets and so on. It's crazy to see people coming in though, in the most proper españolito-playero fashion, though i think the sudamericanos beat us by far. They go in much larger groups and generally make more of an asentamiento colonizador type, like church excursions, brrr! But in general there were deffinite must-haves: massive tupperwares with chicken/lomo adobado, salads, la olla express, tents, games, colchonetas (for a little lake!!!??), chairs, sandias, dozens of loafs of bread, tinto de verano, sombrillas, patatillas ruffles de jamon.... the whole hupplah!

.....claudia and i lasted only about an hour surrounded by such noise, and people just end up siitng practically on top of eachother for there isn't enough room. so we went walking up the river (see photo) where the crowd thins out untill we were the only ones beside a quiet little family who slept very long siestas and a nude couple. We aren't as cool as these excursion-professionals and only had a sandwich each, a bottle of water and a towel. we had a coffee at the bar and a piece of empanada de pisto y setas in the village before getting the bus home at 18,30h. :)

YellowFlower Time, Swallows on Swallow Street and other curious animals

As you probably know, I live on Swallow Street. Every year the swallows come and nest under the eaves all the way down this street. The roofs of the houses are built to just the right shape with a series of inverted curves that are just perfect for building a nest under.



So, the nests have been built (lots of rain this spring = plenty of good mud), the eggs laid and sat on, the babies hatched followed by the long, long days of catching enough insects to feed them all. These last few mornings they all gather on the wires crossing the street, getting psyched up for the exhausting day ahead. And here they are.

Here's a curious thing. The cats that live in Ca'n Toni, where I buy animal food and supplies, have come in off the street because they know a good thing when they see one. They live like kings in there, helping themselves from the sacks of cat biscuits lined up so temptingly. And when they've eaten enough, it's time for a little snooze. And here's where they do their R&R.

They know they should at least appear to be earning their keep, so they 'look after the shop' while they rest.

They lie there carefully, making sure they don't squash anyone, and they all seem to get on very well.

They all seem quite happy and unconcerned.

Well, it's YellowFlower time. I love YellowFlower time. I just love those trees. But how odd the (ex) car park looks without any cars. Forlorn? Abandoned? Happier?

Maybe. It's a secret deserted corner now, and people passing on the streets either side would never suspect this wonderful place hides behind the buildings that wall it in. But I used to love having my car completely covered with a confetti-layer of yellow flowers. Not as thick as this, maybe, but a good sprinkling.

(Remember how we used them to decorate the houses you had to make for Plástica?)

So here they stand, these lovely trees, unnoticed and unappreciated, blooming and shedding their flowers in this quiet sunny spot.

I don't even want to contemplate the possibility that the first step towards building the projected park might be to chop down all these nasty messy trees and replace them with something plastic or metal, in line with what they've done in all the other parks.

Ses Fires de Maig

Although I didn't get around to posting anything about them, last month was of course the time for the traditional Fires de Maig. The first Sunday in May in Sineu and the following Sunday in Lloret. Sineu was good, Lloret was a bit pobre this year. Trouble in the Ayuntamiento? Although having said that, Lloret had some fascinating exhibitions, it's just that the whole thing was over by mid-day.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

Sa Fira means it's piggie time again, of course.

Just two weeks old. How incredibly cute is that?! I'm holding him in my hand - he's very tiny.

I never get tired of the piggies, but just for a change here's a rabbit, too.

One of the very interesting sections of the Lloret Fira was the exhibition of old wedding photos. It was very difficult to get good photos of them because I had to use a flash but that reflected off the glass over the photos. But here are a couple to give an idea, at least.

The people were so tiny, and dressed in black. They don't look very cheerful about the whole business.

A mobile blacksmith? Well, why not? Although the anvil's not the sort of thing you'd want to carry very far.

Nice work.

Another part I enjoyed was the exhibition of vintage cars. Wonderful, most of them.

Here's one for Jessie.

There were other animals, too.

These were by far the most difficult to get proper pictures of - up went the neck, down went the neck and the camera following but always just behind. Plenty of pictures of where the head had been a second ago, but finally ...

The food was wonderful (and cheap) as usual

and people sat around in the plaza enjoying la fresca (and the food)

But here for me was the star of the show.

Look at that nose

That eye

That wonderful soft velvety nose. I fell in love with him.

I would have bought him.

But alas! common sense won the day and he and I lost out.

Our love was doomed, nothing but the memory of what might have been.