This week....

It seems a long time since I was here writing anything but we've been busy with stuff.  Nothing really to do with living here but we have been engrossed in building our family tree as a record for the new generation and before memories fade and scraps of paper with notes from the past get lost.  It is alternately exciting and frustrating,   just when you think you're on the right track  you find that you've created a family member with far too many brothers and sisters,  so back to square one and start that search again.  So we've had lots of  'what if we look here'  moments,  and  'did we eliminate him or not',  and  'can you read that,  does it say silk winder?'   and  'weren't they on the last census?'  and suddenly you realise it's 1am and you should really be tucked up in bed.

Unfortunately dogs don't allow for our late nights so it's up and about at the usual time.  We've had some lovely clear sunny days,  although the winds have been a bit blustery at times,  usually in the late afternoon.   Low cloud the other morning - I don't mean the sky was cloudy though,  the clouds were lower than us drifting along the valley from Ugijar to Yator.

Friends came up for dinner last night  - John cooked a wonderful meal - too much even for the 5 of us so we are finishing it off tonight.  2 evenings of no cooking and not having to think of something different to eat!   Some days I really am lacking in inspiration  - I open the freezer and there's loads of meat and fish but I just don't have a  'oh yes lets cook this' moment.

This morning I have been planting out lettuces.   I put in the remainder of last years 'Iceberg' seeds a while back, and transplanted about 24 of them a few weeks ago,  covered with fleece as the blackbird kept pecking around them and uprooting them,  and today planted out the rest.  154!!  A lettuce every day till the end of summer.  Some are big enough to pick baby leaves from now,  the majority need to get much bigger.

The first broad beans  are  big enough to start picking,  the first peas also ready and the next planting are in flower. More of each following on behind,  just need to keep an eye on the peas and add extra string for them to cling onto as they grow.

Spaceship clouds

Almost exactly 12 hours apart,    these spaceship clouds were  hovering around here. 

This one as the sun rose at 7.25am  - or should that be these three -

and this one as the  sun set at  7.21pm

Sunshine and flowers

There is only one problem with this time of the year and it's that the weather is so varied.    Yesterday and today have been back to the blue sky and sunshine of a few days ago.  The forecast was predicting 13° sun and cloud for today,  well, if I'd seen a cloud I'd have taken a photo of it.    None to be seen.   We had breakfast outside,  elevenses outside,  lunch outside and have only just come in as there is now a thin layer of cloud and the sun is vanishing fast.  The shade temperature  reached 16°  but the sun was hot,  and strong enough to leave me with strap marks from my t-shirt.

A lovely morning walk to Yegen - no coat needed - not even a fleece - and this afternoon we went up to the fuente and back.   Lots more wild flowers in bloom now but unfortunately I have no idea what most of them are.  Our plant book doesn't have everything in it but if anyone knows what these are, please add a comment....

 These are covering most of  the ground around the olive terraces of a neighbour,  I think they are Field Marigold,  a  wild version of the cultivated garden one.

 These have suddenly appeared at the fuente, never seen them before,  and can't find them in the plant book.  They are a much stronger pink than it seems from the photo, the sun was shining directly on them and has bleached out the colour.   Any ideas??

And these pinky-purple  flowers seem to clamber up the bankings,  lots of tiny flowers on each stalk,  almost bell like.  Again,  any ideas??

Dramatic sunrise.

A different sunrise this morning,  it's really struggling to get through the clouds today.  Dramatic, but definitely not a blue sky.

Springtime - again.

Early signs of Spring had a bit of a blip over the weekend,   it was cloudy and drizzley and  definitely not sunny or warm.   We had the wood burner alight all day yesterday as it was so damp and miserable outside.

So back to spring sunshine today,  we went for our early morning walk up to Yegen, I didn't even need my fleece on as the sun was so warm even at 8am,   there is some snow visible in the distance maybe from the weekend rain, 

I saw either swallows or house martins flying around this craggy section of rocks,   but too fast for me to catch on camera, 

These agaves are about to tip over I think,  once they have flowered and the seed pods opened,  then the stalk dries up and eventually  falls over.  Sometimes the whole plant turns turtle.  El Golco is just visible between the olive trees.


Unfortunately the forecast for tomorrow says showers late morning,  at least we'll be able to get a good walk in before that happens,  assuming of course that the forecast is correct ..... it isn't always!