Hail, rain, thunder, lightning...

I don't think I've forgotten anything!   We had a huge storm yesterday afternoon,  the clouds gathered up to the north and got blacker and blacker,  I came in when it started to rain big fat drops - decided to download my photos,  big mistake!  A thunder clap directly overhead knocked out the power and the photos are lost.  Well, they're on the hard drive but not on iphoto which is mostly what I use.



Today almost a repeat of yesterday,  but no power cut, I didn't turn on the computer but read instead,  until the torrential rain turned to hail,  and then I took this video.  Right at the end you'll hear the car alarm going off.  The hail is still in corners of the garden a few hours later,  the potato bed is full of water still,  but the sun is shining again.

Tomorrow's forecast?  Possibly another round of thunder in the afternoon.    We had thunder and a cloudburst last Saturday late in the afternoon as well...  very strange weather for May.

Flowers and fruit.

It's a shame some flowers are so short lived,  these lilies have been out for about a week but are already losing their first blooms...

there are 5 lots of lilies in the front garden,  this year  2 or 3 separate blooms have come up from each bulb  - I suppose they are more mature now.  These are under the peach tree,  peaches just visible above the flowers.

A better view of the peaches..

Lots of pears again this year, never fails,  vary rarely seems to have a rest year either, unlike some trees.

And the capers are blooming too,  if you look just behind the  left flower,   there are tiny flower buds ready for picking and brining to use in cooking,  then   the central stalk in the flower becomes the seed pod that when bigger is also picked, brined and served as a tapas.

 (click on the photo to see in more detail....)

Our Lady of Fátima

Wednesday was fiesta day here in Montenegro,  Nuestra Señora de Fátima,  is who is celebrated on that day. 


In the spring and summer of 1916, nine-year-old Lúcia Santos and her cousins Jacinta and Francisco Marto were herding sheep at the Cova da Iria near their home village of Fátima, Portugal. They claimed to have experienced the visitation of an angel on three separate occasions. The angel taught them prayers to pray, to make sacrifices, and to spend time in adoration of the Lord. 

 
With millions of followers and Roman Catholic believers, the reported visions at Fatima gathered respect. After a canonical enquiry, the visions of Fátima were officially declared "worthy of belief" in October 1930 by the Bishop of Leiria-Fátima. Popes Pius XII, John XXIII, Paul VI, John Paul II and Benedict XVI voiced their acceptance of the supernatural origin of the Fátima events. John Paul II credited Our Lady of Fátima with saving his life following an assassination attempt on the Feast of Our Lady of Fátima, 1981. He donated the bullet that wounded him to the Roman Catholic sanctuary at Fátima, Portugal and it was placed in the crown of the Virgin's statue

Santa Fátima in the chapel at Montenegro

After the service,  the procession....

then food.....

 carving the jámon....

 then music....

A very hot day,  28° at midday on our terrace as we were leaving,  33 when we got home late afternoon.  We normally stay longer but with limited shade outside the chapel we decided that cold drinks on our shady terrace were what we needed.

More food!

Back to Berja this week,  we wanted to have a really good look around one of the shops,  last week we did  our shopping first and as it was hot and sunny we didn't want to leave the food too long in the car even though it was parked in the shade and the food was in cool boxes.  Shade is good,  but when the air is hot,  not good for long.

So shopping first,  then lunch.  As we did last week, we went to la Tejilla for beer and tapas, 

 Sliced pork in a sauce (at the back)  pulpo - octopus -  in a tomato garlic sauce (at the front)

Pork again - but it's very common here - this time in a tomato and garlic slightly spicy sauce...

but we'd seen another bar close by which intrigued us.  Called el Duende - the elf -  it sounds Irish but a duende is a fairy or goblin-like creature in many countries, including here.
We went for a final drink and tapas before setting off home....
bigger than my normal lunch I think!!

A chicken burger, with lettuce and mayo, in a roll, with a  slice of potato topped with alioli  - garlic mayo.

Every cafe bar is different,  sometimes they have a tapas per drink,  that way they can keep tabs on how many you've had - 1st one pork, 2nd meat, 3rd cheese etc.  Some bars have a menu, and you can choose which tapas you want, some just give you what they have that day.  La Tejilla we had a choice of meat or fish each time,   el Duende had a choice of 8 or so different tapas.  Normally if you don't have an alcoholic drink you don't get food, but the cafe bars are for everyone,  for coffee, soft drinks, beer, wine, water..... and tapas,  ......something to suit everybody.