The first of the year.

 A belated happy new year to all,  I did say that this might not be a regular blog,  and it's now 5 days into the new year and first post. 
And what  wonderful weather this year has started with,  cold nights and some frost because the sky is clear and blue and sunny all day,  reaching 18 in the shade yesterday although a bit cooler today.  I know people like to think that Southern Spain is always hot and sunny and we are very lucky with our weather but nights are cold,  wood burner lit about 5.30 every day from early November through till March,  plus sometimes we have it alight during the day during February and March which is really our winter. 

Sunrise yesterday as the sun caught the rocks by the fuente....

and today shining through the olive trees....

A quiet Christmas here,  just the two of us,  New Years Eve we joined friends in Yator for food and drinks,  very quiet there as well,  the bar was shut when we down at 7.30 and still shut when we left at 1.15 so I doubt it opened at all.  But tonight is 3 Kings,  El Día de los Reyes   and much more of a celebration that either Christmas or New Year,  in fact there are fireworks going off as I write this. 

(from wikipedia - quicker than me writing it!)

"In Spain and some Latin American countries, Epiphany day is called El Día de los Reyes (The Day of the Kings), i.e., the day when a group of Kings or Magi arrived to worship and bring three gifts to the baby Jesus after following a star in the heavens. This day is sometimes known as the Día de los Tres Reyes Magos  (The day of the Three Royal Magi)  In Spanish tradition on January 6, three of the Kings: Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar, representing Arabia, the Orient, and Africa, arrived on horse, camel and elephant, bringing respectively gold, frankincense and myrrh to the baby Jesus. Children (and many adults) polish and leave their shoes ready for the Kings' presents before they go to bed on the eve of January 6. The next morning presents will appear under their shoes, or if the children are deemed to have misbehaved during the year, coal (usually a lump of hard sugar candy dyed black, called Carbón Dulce). Most towns in Spain arrange colorful parades representing the arrival of the Reyes Magos to town so children can see them in their camels or carriages before they go to bed. In Spain, children typically receive presents on this day, rather than on Christmas, though this tradition has changed lately, and children now receive presents on both days."

 Just before Christmas our neighbours had 15 of their olive trees pruned as they needed firewood for their village house.   When I say pruned,  don't think tiny little branches cut out but imagine the centre of the trees,  trunks really and all large branches.  We don't think they really appreciated just how much ground would be covered with cut stuff and the firewood was mostly underneath the greenery.  Some of the chunks,  too big to be called logs,  were about 18 inches diameter and the same in length,  too big to burn without cutting up and probably very heavy.  They came on Friday morning and spent quite a while having what we imagine to be an 'oh deary me' moment.  2.30 saw them going off for lunch,  back here at 5pm to start again,  moving branches,  finding firewood,  moving it and stacking it.  John realised they didn't have a log splitter

this is it,  the log splitter and the man himself! Or part of him :)

 only a small hand axe so he took his log splitter round for Miguel to borrow.  Marie was a terrace lower down,  she called me and said 'can you use any of this?'  This being quite large branches,  bigger than kindling and very good as a fire starter when dried out.  So that's what we've been doing for an hour or two every day,  cutting down branches,  stacking in our wood store,  and gradually working from pile to pile.  To be honest I don't think we've made any sort of impression at all! 

 Excitement this morning - well for Monty and Pip at least.  I was indoors,  heard barking,  John heard what he thought was someone or more than one person running past in heavy boots,  actually it was 2 horses but no-one with them.   From our lounge window -  we have a much bigger view now the trees are pruned - we saw the horses going down the pista.  I went out shopping soon after but no sign of horses,  when I was on my way up the pista almost 2 hours later I pulled over to let a car come down and the guy asked me if I'd seen his horses!  Well yes,  and told him when  and where,  so he carried on down to Yator.  Has he found them?  No idea, but we hope so.

Happy Christmas!

Christmas is nearly here,  our decorations are up,  we've done another final shop - this time for fresh fruit and vegetables.   The local markets are fortnightly,  in Cádiar on the 3rd and 18th of the month,  Ugíjar  market is on the 5th and the 20th so we went into Ugíjar yesterday. 

Glacé fruits and turrón by the ton!   Turrón is a bit like nougat,  can be soft or hard or chewy.  This is from Wikipedia...   Turrón, torró, torrone, turrone, torrão, turon or nougat is a confection, typically made of honey, sugar, and egg white, with toasted almonds or other nuts, and usually shaped into either a rectangular tablet or a round cake...

 More pots and pans and kitchen gadgets than you'll  ever need.

Chickens cooking on a rotisserie,  we call them yellow chickens as they are soaked in mild spices.  Next to the chicken man is Lorenzo, who has a churros and chocolate stall.  And yes,  we did stop for some.

Surprisingly not overly sweet but very rich chocolate for dunking your churros in.  Yum.
( A churro, sometimes referred to as a Spanish doughnut, is a fried-dough pastry—predominantly choux—based snack. Churros are popular in Spain, France, the Philippines, Portugal, Ibero-America and the United States - from Wikipedia again)  

More doughnut than choux we think,  sometimes sugary as well.  This is not the time to worry about your waistline!

Ugíjar church....

 Sweets anyone??

 Dried figs,  walnuts and glacé fruits.

 Anyone like olives?  Great assortment here plus pickled gherkins and garlic.

At the front,  bacalao - salt cod - and sardines.  And to the left, are sacks and sacks of dried beans and flours.

 Round the corner to the flower seller, 

 The square facing 'chickens and churros' is undergoing a mega makeover,  new lighting, paving, flower beds and such like. 

 Ugíjar church again...

 Fancy street light on the way down to the newly built Ayuntamiento (town hall)

 The window on the back wall of the Ayuntamiento.

 Love them or hate them,  caquis are everywhere at the moment.  Probably best known as Persimmon or Sharon fruit.  We tried them - once - when we first came here but I found them too gloopy in texture and sweet.  Antonio just cut  the top off the caqui and gave it to us  with a teaspoon to eat direct from the fruit,  that's how soft they were. 

Christmas decorations on our terrace with sunset in the background.  

 A pine-branch arch is opposite the front door,  and white lights hanging from the grape vine go  to the gate.

  Santa hats  hanging from the rejas or window bars.

And that's it for now,  ¡Feliz Navidad!  to you all.  I may be back before the end of the year,  but  if not,  then  ¡Feliz Año Nuevo!  as well.

Red hot chillis.

Although their leaves are yellowing and starting to drop,  the chilli plants still have chillis on them,  smaller than they were during the main growing season but more than enough  for us.  We pick regularly and if we don't need them fresh,  some get frozen whole and some I string up.  Actually I cotton up but that doesn't sound right!  Needle and strong cotton sewn through the stalk end,  knotted so the chilli doesn't slip down,  and when there is a good long string of them we hang them up to dry.  Sometimes in the dining room window,  south-facing but in the summer the sun is so high they don't catch the sun,  just the heat and any breeze.  The rest we hang on the terrace and they  catch any breeze and dry out slowly. 

Saturday morning I picked a couple of dozen more fresh ones,  took down all the dry ones and cut them off their cotton.  Then into the liquidiser for chopping.  More than chopping,  down to a fine powder so it can be sprinkled onto food or stirred in easily. 

 Fresh ones in the bowl ready for using  and dried ones ready for de-stringing and chopping.

In the liquidiser ready.....

And ground down - it always surprises me how small a jar we end up with.  These only filled a mint-jelly sized jar.  But it's extremely hot and  a little goes a long way!

 Oh, don't forget!   Do not breathe in while you're taking a picture especially if you've only just whizzed the chillis as the powder is still in the air!!  Deep breath,  lid off,  quick photo,  lid on,  breathe again.

Sun, snow and frost.

A day out yesterday,  it was the annual test time for the car when we take it to the ITV testing station and then go shopping to stock up.  There are a few choices of ITV centres within an hour or so of our house, we used to go down to Motril  but a couple of years ago one opened just outside Orgiva,  45 minutes from here.   Pleased to say that the car sailed through it's tests and we have the 2015 sticker on the windscreen so that's it for another year.  There was a 10% discount  of €3 plus a few cents  on the base price,   ie before IVA (VAT in the UK)  but an increase of €4 too so the end result was the almost the same.  €38 plus a few cents in total.

Then we have a choice - onto the autovia and either down to Motril or up to Granada.  We went up to Granada yesterday with blue skies and sunshine and wonderful snowy mountains to the right.

Coming home later in the afternoon,  we took these photos just after passing Orgiva.

 Not sure which village this is,  but it's nestled just below the snow line.

The afternoon sun shining onto Orgiva.


We've had a few frosty mornings just recently,  we woke up on Monday morning  to a gorgeous sunrise  shining through the arch of the terrace and the branches of the mulberry.

And frosty fig leaves at the side of the pista.

The beginning of December.

December's skies have been gorgeous so far,  a real deep blue and although we've had cloud too,  mostly it's been white and puffy and in the distance.

Monday 1st:  forecast partly cloudy.  This must be the cloud then...

After lunch I took the dogs along the GR7 in the direction of el Golco,  we didn't get all the way to the river as the path,  which is narrow at the best of times,  was non-existent at the final stretch downhill to the river.  It curves round a ridge of loose shingley shale type of rock,  and after the heavy showers of the previous weekend the path was not that obvious so we turned back.

Looking down towards the river,  golden poplar trees line the river bed,  el Golco to the left and Mecina Bombaron to the right.

Standards of living vary round here, not every one has a solid roof,  electricity or even running water.  But if you've lived like that all your life then you don't miss what you've never had.  This is a cortijo near us...

 .....it belongs to 3 different members of one family and one end is still lived in by an elderly man.  His roof is leaking and he has been cutting down trees,  stripping off the bark and somehow dragging the trunks up to try and repair his roof.  Wooden beams first,  then canes and flat stones,  plastic next and launa which is clay,  on top.  The launa dries out and becomes a waterproof barrier.  

No running water at the house,  no problem,  do your washing at the fuente and  drape your shirts on the fence...

A couple of days later the forecast was cloudy with a bit of sun,  although the clouds were black and threatening.   I took my umbrella out on our afternoon walk just in case,  sunglasses as well because the sun is low and bright in my eyes,  I  ended up carrying my sweatshirt as it was so warm.

                             Now that's a cloud!   I was going to call this 'black and blue'

                                               Pomegranates against a blue sky.

                                         And our neighbour's yuccas in full bloom.