Summer news

It's been a while!  And it's been a very long hot summer so far and it's not over yet, although today is hazy and only 25° at the moment.  We've had temperatures regularly up in the mid to high 30's,  the worst  was 38°.  It is now officially the hottest July since the Spanish Met Office started keeping records in 1942,  this article relates to Malaga province - we are in Granada province but the whole of Spain has been extremely hot. 

At the end of June we picked the pears from our tree,  they were beginning to drop and although this looks like a decent bowlful, a lot were bad inside.  I peeled, sliced and cooked them with a bit of sugar and water to freeze for a winter pudding.  Probably only enough for 1 pudding though. 

 Tiny, aren't they??

For a couple of days at the end of the month,  the big thunder clouds grew and grew during the afternoon,  the thunder rumbled around to the north but it didn't rain down here.

Sitting in the garden late one afternoon and John spotted a lizard climbing up amongst the plants, 

Can you see it in the rosemary?

So to July,  8.30 in the morning of the 1st July....you don't often see a swimming pool going past your house!

July 14th in the afternoon,  I was just about to go for yet another swim in an effort to cool down, when I heard a rumbling of something truck-like,  looked out to see a JCB coming down the pista doing the annual-ish cleaning.  Very hot dusty work so when they stopped outside for a break I offered cold drinks.....small price to pay for a smooth road. 

Man and machine

his helper waiting to smooth out the edges

all done and off up to Yegen

Market day in Cadiar,  July 18th,  coffee and churros with friends

July 23rd - the first  peaches and proper big pears - from tree to breakfast table in 2 minutes,  lovely and juicy and warm from the sun.

The next batch of peaches I've peeled and diced and frozen with the spices that go to make mango chutney.  When we ran out of mango chutney last time it wasn't mango season,  John's idea is to use these super-ripe peaches instead....when the weather cools down enough to be indoors,  we'll do some chutney making.   Right now it's 27 or so in the kitchen and we don't need it any hotter!


July 25th:
Wild fruits and flowers...

Clematis

Honeysuckle

the first blackberries

A regular afternoon visitor to the pool  is a pied wagtail which runs round the outside, sometimes flying over the surface for insects,  sometimes it hops onto the chloro float and bobs around before hopping back onto the concrete edge.

As I said, a long hot summer - early morning walks,  anything that needs doing gets done as soon as possible but not too quickly as that makes you hot!   We are watering alternate days in the late evening,  a lot of the fruit trees haven't produced much this year - no apples,  only 1kg of strawberries, hardly any mulberries,  the figs are all hard and green and even their leaves are small and shrivelled looking,  but the chilli plants now in their 3rd year are doing well.   The lettuces, basil and parsley bolted and went to seed.  The Jerusalem artichokes haven't appeared at all!  John has got more chilli plants growing which we will over-winter and plant out for next year. 


Hot now!  Going for a dip, although the pool water is 28° it still feels refreshing compared to the air temperature and my hot skin.

Festival Aéreo de Motril

We were outside on Friday morning, when  7 planes in formation went past, shattering the peace and quiet.  John is the plane person - he knows where to look to find out what they are and where they're going.....it turns out there is an airshow in Motril every year and we didn't know about it.   Actually it is over the beach as the nearest airports are Malaga and Almeria although we think they came in and out of Malaga yesterday.

So down to the beach yesterday,  not very busy at 11am.

The flying takes place over Playa Poniente, at the centre of which is Chiringuito Sumo,  a beachside bar and restaurant.

Flying started at midday,  and at 1pm all eyes were looking up following  a French Military aerobatic display when a Guardia Civil helicopter came in to land on the beach!!  A dusty dry beach....

You can see people beginning to turn away from the dust.

One of the  stars of the show which got the biggest build up from the commentator was SoloTurk,  an F16 from Turkey which came in from the mountains behind us and roared low overhead and out to sea,  climbing as he went.  Sends shivers down your spine.

But the biggest stars were Patrulla Aguila  Eagle Patrol,  who are the Spanish equivalent of the Red Arrows.

 

A last drink while we wait for the crowds and cars to go..

My new sunshade, I don't like hats but this is brilliant.

And all this,  except for the drinks of course,  was free.  No car parking charges, no entry fee,  nothing.

The restaurants were all too busy afterwards so we stopped on the way home at a place we've been to before,  it's on the old road from Motril to Granada.  Menu del dia,  €15 each (£10 at todays rate)  for  starters, salad,  main course, dessert and a drink.

Salmorejo, a rich thick version of gazpacho topped with chopped egg and jamón

Sopa de marisco (shellfish soup) and our salad

beef in almond sauce

pollo a la brasa - chicken cooked over hot coals

Of course bread,  and a beer each,  then triple choc cornettos for dessert.  Plus what I couldn't eat in a doggy bag for P and M.

The road the restaurant is on follows the river and winds through a rocky gorge.  The restaurant is built almost under huge crags...

Tonsillitus!

Well, who'd have thunk such a thing! Pip has been struggling recently when we've been out for a walk,  breathing noisily and sluggish.  Last Wednesday she stopped eating properly - no dog biscuits, only soft food,  by Saturday she was eating less and yesterday she couldn't eat anything.  We'd both felt her all over for lumps and bumps and found she had a swollen neck hence no food.  Worryingly though was her lack of water intake,  she wanted to drink, sat and looked at her bowl for ages,  but it didn't magically pour down her throat.

We were outside the vets surgery when he opened up this morning at 10am,  described her problem to him,  he felt her neck and said " tonsillitus".  Well actually he said  "amigdalitis" followed rapidly by an antibiotic jab and an anti-inflammatory jab.   We've to go back tomorrow for another antibiotic jab and as soon as she is able to swallow she can have antibiotic tablets.

Off now to make a small bowl of porridge for her with water not milk,  but maybe a bit honey for flavour and energy.

One thing that puzzles me is how did she get tonsillitus because

a) neither of us are ill

b) neither of us have tonsils!  We both had them out longer ago then we care to remember!

Strange,  don't you think?

Monty - touch wood - is ok.

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....)