Another fiesta coming

This weekend sees the celebration of Asunción Maria which takes place on the 15th of the month.   

Food, drink and fun I can understand, but I'm not sure how the face painting for the children and the foam party for everyone, quite fits in with this.  (see this months blog last year for photos of what goes on....)

Wikipedia has this to say about it:

Nuestra Señora de la Asunción Our Lady of the Assumption
Assumption of Mary, or Assumption of the Virgin is the belief, according to tradition and theology of the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church , that body and soul of the Virgin Mary was taken to heaven after the end of his days in the land. This transfer is called Assumptio Beatæ Mariæ Virginis (Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary) by Roman Catholics, whose doctrine was defined as dogma (truth that can not be doubted) by Pope Pius XII on November 1 of 1950 .  The Catholic Church celebrates the feast in honor of the Virgin Mary in the East since the sixth century and in Rome from the seventh century .. The feast is celebrated on August 15 . No mention of food, drink and general fun though!

From 36 to 24

Yup, the temperature has dropped from an almost melting 36° to a much more pleasant and slightly breezy 24° in just 48 hours.

We've opened all the windows and doors in an effort to get the breeze through and cool down the inside to something like the outside.  Despite having the shutters closed all day to keep out the sun, the temperature creeps up during the summer months - luckily never matches the outside maximum though.    It's currently 28° in the lounge.

Dark clouds to the north of us,  brighter but still cloudy to the south  and some enormous raindrops are splodging down as I write.  Not sure what the next 48 hours has in store - August can be unpredictable and is usually cooler than July which is why the 36° took us by surprise.

I had almost 3 kilos of tomatoes in the drier first thing this morning which I've had to take out  as without the sun there's not much drying going on in there,   and there's another 2.5 kilos waiting in the kitchen.   Maybe mañana!

Skinny dipping

No,  not that sort of skinny dipping - certainly not with a photo as well!!  

This is about Pip who is mostly legs and ears and only weighs in at 10kgs -  and that is despite having an appetite as big as Monty's.   She has boundless energy but in this very hot weather she really needs to slow down and take life a little easier.   She hasn't learnt that lesson yet and so she runs out of steam, stands and trembles.   One late afternoon in May, when out for a walk, she got so hot that she just couldn't move, just stood and trembled, and yes I had to carry her the last 50 metres or so home.   But if she is watered, she quickly cools down and is off at full speed again.

Yesterday evening she overheated yet again, so John put her in the acequia to cool down.  Our acequia runs down through the side vegetable and flower garden and  runs into a 'sink' area that we keep filled for watering the garden.  Pip saw a frog which had come down with the running water and was in the 'sink'   -  that's what she's looking at!

Hot or wot!

It just touched 36 degrees this afternoon  (must find out how to get a little circle instead of having to write the word each time - I'll ask my personal technical support person later)   but the clouds are building up over the Sierra Nevada once again.   Yesterday, late afternoon, there was a rumble of thunder way up high as well.  Depending which weather forecast you look at, today we were supposed to have a high of 25 - so that was way off!!   That forecast also says rain as from 6pm - now that wouldn't surprise me at all.  The clouds are those huge, high, shiny ones that build and build higher and higher.  We quite often get spectacular thunder storms this time of the year, not always with rain though.   Sometimes it's just forked lightening over the Sierras and sheet lightening to the south over the Contraviesa.

Because of the cloud build-up yesterday, we didn't get to see any shooting stars.  John saw one or two the night before but that was after waiting up till midnight.  The main event - according to our night sky book - is August 12th, so we maybe in with a chance tomorrow night.

And here it is - the very same book, as given to J for a pressie a few years ago.

P.S. you don't have to buy this book, if you click on the amazon logo it takes you to their home page and if you buy anything at all, then they pay us a commission.  Normal price for you,  less profit for them.


P.P.S.
Tech support has been and visited and now I know how:   36°C  

San Lorenzo

Tuesday August 10th is San Lorenzo  -   Wikipedia says this about him.....

St Lawrence is one of the most widely venerated saints of the Roman Catholic Church. Devotion to him was widespread by the 4th century. As his martyrdom occurred very early in Church history, many other Christians honor him as well. Since the Perseid Meteor Shower typically occurs every year in mid-August, on or near Saint Lawrence's feast day, some refer to the shower as the "Tears of Saint Lawrence."

So providing the clouds keep away, (it's been quite hazy today although still 30 degrees)  we will be outside watching for the shooting stars,  and keeping ourselves fortified with a  taste of this years of fig wine.