Spring has sprung.

Although the morning after the fire there was an obvious burnt area,  we have had a few showers since then and I don't suppose it'll be a blackened stretch for very long..




Now the sun is out - again - we keep thinking this it,  spring has sprung,  but then it surprises us with a few cooler cloudy days,  and we start all over again.  But the plants think it's Spring,  the leaves on the fig trees are unfurling...



The Jerusalem sage is coming into flower,  our sage plants are not in flower yet, in fact they are struggling this year and look a bit sad  :(



This grows wild,  and although the leaves look like sage they do not have the flavour of the real thing.  But pretty none the less.

Broom covered hillsides are echoing the sunshine..


And then we have the strange climbing plant that is the Dutchman's Pipe.  It grows along side the footpath on the way to the fuente,  twisting and twirling in the brambles...

And the most enormous seed pods!

Yátor this afternoon.....

Normally we have a lovely clear view down to Yátor from here,  something like this...



but today was completely different....

Just after 3.30 I noticed smoke drifting across the valley below - bear in mind we have extremely strong winds again today and you wouldn't expect anyone to even think about doing any burning on the land -








The helicopter landed at the end of the hill behind us where we could see flames and about 8 or 9 guys got out and started to walk down the hill.  The helicopter then had it's bucket attached and flew off in the direction of Ugijar,  came back with this water drop and did at least half a dozen fly by's (is that a word??)  We can still see it  smouldering  - no doubt we will find out eventually who or what started it burning. 

Considering the lack of rain this winter I suppose we're lucky not to have had any more fires around here.  There was one at the end of February in between Orgiva and Lanjarón - more about that one here on this blog.

It's now 6.30 and although we've been able to hear the helicopter around we haven't been able to see it until now,  when it has just appeared from the valley where the smoke was billowing from, and it's headed off into the setting sun.  Maybe its work is done. 

Many years ago  (October 2010)   when there was a fire here,  the guys on the ground stayed for a few hours longer checking that the smouldering undergrowth had gone out.

Registering your vote.

So long as you left the UK less than 15 years ago,  you can register to vote in the EU referendum here:

https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote

It only takes about 5 minutes of your time,  make sure you know your passport and NI number......

A summery summary

It has been a glorious week,  clear blue skies and very warm.  Although it was a bit chilly this morning and there is a coolish breeze blowing now,  by and large it felt very summery,  in fact shorts and t-shirt weather as you can see....

At the end of last year we started doing some outside decorating,  both the balcony from the lounge and the door leading outside from the dining room are on a south facing wall.  A white painted south facing wall.  Not something to tackle in the heat of summer!  Both doors have been re gloss painted a nice dark brown,  the balcony railings re done too,  and on Wednesday we started the house wall.  While I began doing from the door frame as far as I could reach,  John went looking for brushes with long handles to reach up and out with. 



Copious amounts of cold water and suntan lotion got us through the day,  continued on Thursday morning to the right where there is a shed,  and left as far as our seat.  Past the sat dish is an absent neighbour's property so not ours to paint.  All of ours though is now gleamingly white.  At lunchtime the thermometer on the shady terrace said 19.6......

The view from my workplace!!






While outside with camera I noticed the palm tree is laden with dates





how many kilos on here!!