El Zoco, Calahonda

two pics of whats left of what was our local commercial centre, el zoco, down at sitio de calahonda, in mijas costa...

it looks so awful, seeing the sketaton of the buildings, all i hope now is they get it fixed soon, nothing worse than leaving it looking like that, and dangerous too of course, the amount of tourists that come to this area i am sure some 'younger' people will try to get and see whats going on inside, only natural, but not safe.

and my video of the day is taken from our roof just now, its not too clear is it, i guess maybe the camera fault, i know i am blaming the equipment, cant be me, but its just a small camera with no way to change focus or anything... so there it is, looking like an old movie from the 60', but then this view probably hasnt changed much since then!

taken pip out for her walk this morning, and she had an extra two last night! as we patrolled the car park, going by the small piles of different colored glass four cars have been smashed up there now! i wonder if the policia did come visit up there last night...

Love life! don´t hold back,
let it out!

TTFN
Marian

Old Photo!

here is me... well was taken back in 1994! not sure how much i'v changed, i guess my friends could comment on this statement! i had 'won' one of those photo sessions, you know the sort, you win the session which is faboulous, and one photo, but who can resist buying more more more, well obviously not me forsure!

i think i bought about 8! cost me a small fortune, but glad i did, its a small dream of most girls to have a day as a model isnt it? well, i never wanted more than that, never even crossed my mind till the day, and after that, that was enough for me, a trip to london, the shoot and then back later to pick photos, and then a return in a few weeks for collection! glad i didnt live to far away!

now, what have i done so far this week!

tuesday... walked pip then we went to go down the coast, i was, did go down with franco to spend the day with maria, his sister, and her friends who are all over for a holiday, well we got to the car and the passenger window had been smashed in! the radio taken! what a mess, and the radio is useless to anyone else as we have the face of it indoors! they left everything else that was take-able! old pair of sunglasses, few cd's etc. we had to drive down with me sitting in the back and the wind howling round the car, and the return journey was up in the truck while we left the car for it to be fixed.

the day though after that was good, walked from our old place down to marias, and when everyone was up and ready we went out, did some shopping had a bit of lunch then down to the beach, it seemed hotter up here because the wind was blowing down there, sending the sand up into our faces and the waves were crashing, but i paid for it when i got home and yesterday... the burn! i was still in the high 30's when we got home tuesday evening, so was pretty hot on the beach after all i guess!

yesterday my friends granddaughter arrived and so we went to malaga to meet her from the plane, she was flying over with neighbors who are here for a week somewhere on the coast, but she is here for about 4 weeks i think, scotland brake up from school earlier than england, she goes back mid august. had a bit of a headache last night from all the bus travel, although we did get off the bus before it got into malaga, seeing as it goes straight past the airport before going into the city, its an hour before you get back by the aiport bus otherwise, so we got off, had to walk up and over the bridge, but then we were stuck in the triangle bit between the exit road from the airport and the enty road from malaga! we could only cross over the later, so over we ran! and then had to negociate the drainage gutter on the edge of the road, that was funny us four legging it over that! NOT! then i trod on some weird things growing near the verge, they were pod like, plum shape and green and furry! and i didnt notice them till i trod on them and they squirted me from foot to head! ugh! i screamed! horrible! dont know what they were!

and today! market day, went first to the guardia to report the car brake in, wasnt sure weather to bother, but another car had been smashed this morning when we walked through the car park, so i thought it best, and they said they will drive around the car park at night to check it out! erm.... well we will see i guess.

i think i heard last night window being smashed, i heard a noise and thought it was pippa, but she was on the floor by the bed, and after last years brake in i just sat there listening, but heard no more and thought it must have been out in the street! this vehicle was parked in full view and near the entrance, the place we thought would be safe for ours now! wrong again eh!

we're going to get it alarmed, its old but looks like we will have to do it for saftey sake.

no more to report today and thats enough writing for today! made up for lost time i think!

now todays quote is from the a book by Dean Koontz today, i know a horror writer i hear you say! but he is quoting Thomas Jefferson so so shall i!

Friendship is precious, not only in the shade, but in the sunshine of life. And thanks to a benevolent arrangement of things, the greater part of life is sunshine.

TTFN
Marian

video from last nights festivities

not too clear as it was nearly 2 in the morning! and it took up the whole width of our street, hope you can see even a little of this wonderful sight... of christ carrying the cross surrounded by hundreds of lamps all in gold, carried above by 100 men, who walked 4 abreast in 4 lines of 25 men, shoulder to shoulder...

TTFN
Marian

Monday

oh tired tired tired! bed late friday from walk in the sea on the coast at midnight! up early saturday with gun fire... bands all day passing in the street, lovely to see and hear, they carried on round the streets and the final with jesus carried by 100 men as before at easter, passing our house around 2am, fantastic to see and really feel apart of the whole thing... then sunday morning it all began again... and so we didnt get to bed till about 2am again this morning and up as usual by 7am! feel like i havent slept in weeks, making more typos and going backwards rather than forwards to day with this!

work this morning too of course, only two of us! so called in el jefe, she arrived around 11, so for first hour we were closed and made the most of the time to tidy the shop up and get it to how i like it! looking good... and everything like an army all facing front, with hangers all straight! i multi tasked today, keeping shop tidy, on the till, pricing garments - didnt brake the gun! settled the till and did the banking! oh and even sorted some of the things out that had been brought in over the weekend, well brought it in as much as someone had forced it through the grill at the front of the shop! nice! lots more came in as usual as the day progressed....

i got home and called friend from shop to tell her the days news, 10 minutes, then call from a buddy back in england, 40 minutes, my mom then called 15 minutes.... phew ear burn out...

now thats it, washing must be dry by now, so will bring it in as i´m sure it resembles emery board by now and those towels will be just soooooooo lovely and rough! exfoliate tonight i think!!

oh, i did a little movie last night as they carried the beautifully lit cross with jesus and all the many lamps everything gold, but it didnt really come out very well, a 'you had to of been there moment' ...

A kiss rejuvenates the heart and cancels out age...

TTFN
Marian

San Juan y día de jesus

this photo by no means shows last night down on the beach to its full advantage... last night we went down to fuengirola to celebrate the night of san juan, when the people of the towns inland, and all along the coast celebrate the begining of summer, some of the things are quite pagan in a way, flowers thrown into the sea, bomfires burning all along the coast, different rictuals of jumping of the flames and covering yourself in different oils etc... last night it was just people having fun with bar-b-ques all up the beach, cooking sardines, every bit of beach was full of familys with their own style of cooking going on! chairs and tables, the maritimo pasado was full of people walking and talking and drinking and eating at bars or just on the walls watching the beach parties and people passing, we had icecream and sat with our feet dangling over the wall watching the beach people, it was already dark when we got there and seemed so strange to see sooooooo many people there in the dark!

we had a coffee at luiz´s bar first and i commented how his english has improved so much since i moved to spain! i think this could be the wrong way round, but he said my spanish was getting better! humph!

just before midnight we made our way down the beach my shoes in hand, and joined the hundreds of people waiting for 12 0'c ... and at 12 we all, well lots of us walked into the sea! the water was warm and lots of people had full swimwear on and just leaped in and swam about! fantastic! then around 1230 fireworks were fantastic, and on our journey home via mijas pueblo they were still lighting up the sky... beautiful evening.

we were home about 130am, and bed about 2am i guess, i had made francos lunch for him so i could have a lay in, i need more sleep than that! well the alarm went off at 7 and franco got up, and then the cannon fire started! of course here all week has been the celebrations of corpus cristi, and now this weekend the final! so from 7am the firing went off, 4 or 5 at a time, till about 8am when the band came up playing theyre wonderful tune... i do mean that though, i love the music they play, love listening to them practice behind our house in the evenings, and now they have been playing down at the purple church all week, san sebastian, and this morning made their way up to our green church, santa vera cruz, and played for us up here tambien! well, thats nice! oh and the cannon fire is still coming and its 10am now, and i am going to get ready to go down town and see what i can see!

my tonys 24th birthday today on the 24th! dont think he will be awake just yet, he was going to start his celebrations last night and stay over near work! wow 24 years... OMG! impossible!

before i go just wanted to share with you... through the open windows the smells from the local panaderia are glorious.... oh what a smell, making my tummy rumble and i have already had my breakfast not long ago... oh what an aroma.... its a wonder we dont all file down there in various states of undress with our hands outstreched and mouths open like little sparrows to fed wonderful pastries and cookies!

Add life to your days,
not so much days to your life!

TTFN
Marian

pippa vid part 2

have looked at pippa video a couple of times, sometimes it comes on by itself and i can click the arrow on the left at the bottom and it works fine, then tried again and the screen is black or it starts and freezes everything! try a couple of times it should work ok!?!

will put another up soon, now i have the hang of it, theyre only 15 second movies as thats all our camera can manage! although its a good thing i cant get our webcam up there or they would go on all day... just like me!

ttfn
m

video of pippa

hello,

put short video i took of pippa last night on here, looks like it takes up a lot of room, so will only leave it on for a few days i think, or untill i find a way to link to it instead, thought i was quite clever getting this far with it, considering...

of course it was with tonys help as he gave me a site to download my vid on and then was easy to transfer to template thingy, i phoned tony to say thank you and as its his birthday tomorrow and i have spoken to him live i now feel sad and my eyes are leaking...

going now.

That love is all there is,
is all we know of love.....

TTFN
Marian

fuego a tienda de mobel

this is a photo i took yesterday morning! already looks different! the furniture shop on the extreme left has gone! well up in flames at about 3am this morning it started and my friend called the fire department at that time, the shops on the ground floor a level down from those you see there were two newsagents come souviener shops, a sports shop and a huge restaurant! all gone, nearly reached super sol the supermarket there, and on this level it went through the card shop a second hand charity book shop, and then the next floor up a mens hairdressers! lots of peoples livlihoods gone, people we know.... dont know what happened yet , i expect we will hear a few fairy tales before the truth comes out!

the states lost their game today... they lost a penalty by fouling... although it seems only the ref thought it was one, no way, and i am not just saying that, our guy jumped for the ball along with a ghana guy and there was no bad moves going on and he made out a foul...

so now italia.... you won today boys! and we're holding out for you now fellas!

watched the states play round at neighbors place, their son came in with a pot of candy floss! sugar candy... what ever you call that pink sweet yummy stuff.... ummmm good, its in the sweet shop at the bottom of the street, but i think not for long!

Anxiety does not empty tomorrow of its sorrows,
but only empties today of its strength...

TTFN
Marian

The longest day...

this is the view from our old place, our apartment was a duplex, this was taken from the balcon but the view from the bedroom was a full sea view just that little bit higher, and from the back rooms we had mountain views, although they are getting less and less mountain and more and more concrete jungle now since we have moved a year ago.

i went down to the coast with franco this morning and had coffee with my old neighbor, got the bus to fuengirola and then the one home to alhaurín, i was home by 1.45, so not bad really...

today i got up early to take pippa for a walk before going out, otherwise its a long day for her, and no way can you go walkies in the afternoon in this heat, so i was up by 630 and we went straight out, it was still only dawn, its very different here than in england where its broad daylight by about... what? i cant remember? help, today is the longest day so i think about 4am or so at this time of the year, and one time when my cousin tim was over we went to milton keynes one evening and it was still daylight gone 10pm at night think the sun set that day nearer 11pm! or do i have rose tinted glasses on, i´m sure i have that right! will have to check a web cam or two later in england and see when it gets dark eh!

remember the warewolf? well other people are now coming forward about having seen it! y'all thought i was losing my marbles didnt you! well one guy thought he had an indruder on his land and then realised the legs were more like a huge dogs and a dogs head, human torse and once again, no tail! there is something in those there woods on the sierra de mijas! who knows what it really is, but to run like a dog happily on all fours, then walk like a man... getting spooked again, more people are telling what they have seen now others are, i suppose fear of being laughed at, or just thought plain crazy might put you off telling the world what you have seen, although me? i would tell everyone, as you all know i guess! laughed at something i heard recently somewhere, aparently if a women will tell you her age, she will tell you anything!....

i love the trip up through mijas in the bus! i always sit on the same side as the driver and he drives like a crazy man (perhaps he has seen the warewolf!) and we get so close to the barrier which is way down there.... and no way the on coming cars could get through the little gaps he leaves, and the bloke today was blarring his horn before the turns, not sure if he was warning people or just liked to make a lot of noise!

very hot today... let me look... phew its 95f/36c on the roof in the shade right now and its just gone 4.36, no breeze here although down on the coast this morning there was a nice breeze blowing in off the sea...

i always wondered why we couldnt wear anti mosi bracelets etc, like the dogs and cats, and i even suggested it to those i said it to, well in the farmacia today.... yes you guessed there it is! an anti mosi bracelet! fantastic eh, well i always knew i was full of great ideas, just a shame i didnt patent the idea i suppose!

And when i think about it,
I guess it is true..
that people always arrive at the right moment,
at the place where someone awaits them.

TTFN
Marian

Tuesday June 20th

hello, work was so busy yesterday, i arrived about 940, and as i approached the shop i could see donations were piled up all the way from the door up the street taking up the path almost as far as the little shop! that would be about 20 foot of stuff! loads of black bags fulls, 4 or 5 big boxes, a giant suitcase i couldnt lift at all, had to ask some poor bloke who was passing by! and he dragged it in the shop for me, only afterwards did i find out it was full of books! cant believe he lifted it! i guess he couldnt not after he had said yes... wonder if he did himself an injury? i hope not! and all the books were in alaman (german).

me and kip spent from 10 till 145 unloading the incoming things, more came in during the morning too, but i was really pleased with how we had done, only two small carrier bags left when we left! we also i am sad to say had to get rid of a load of things we were waiting for a man to come who takes things we cant sell or are badly torn/stained etc to another country for materials, he hasnt been for so long we had over 25 bags, and no where for them, so we had to carry them away to recycle bins nearby, and further as we were filling them up too! we had a bit of a relay going, two of us over the main road, one bringing down to half way girl and another bringing down to the street! and all of us in our lovley green tabards! a-hem!

sunday franco pippa and i went to the market, see there made a mistake in the picking order already, should must come last! i have received some instructions on how we should be bringing pippa up, her role in our family, seems we have left her become the alpha, when it should be me!! she must not go throught doors first, must ignore her when i get home till she has quietened down, feed her after us, and loads of other things, actually when you go into it, these ideas are right, she does act as though we are her babies, and she has to look after us, leading the way on walks and always going anywhere first puts her in charge, she even barks when we go in the cave and she thinks there is something in there... probably just a lizard this time! and the last couple of days she has started barking at the stove? so last two nights i have pulled the whole thing out and let her get in behind it to check it out? maybe another lizard, nothing else can fit in there, but its the way she worries about us being in there or near the stove, so concerned about our safety, thing is she has to be our baby, she cant be responsible for us afterall, what a responsiblity to put on such a small dog who has no hope of going out and bringing home the bacon! so i time i hope, we can change things around, it is up to us, we have to train us first and then she will follow!

amazing what you can get at the market isnt it! we also got a small tomato plant, cherry toms, which is now in our garden!

pippas ticks have gone, done a runner, actually they will have died! but now her neck is sore where the collar sits, i have had to loosen it, must be very strong... my poor baby!

footy is doing good, spain won last night... almost didnt think they would, leaving it till the last moments... and saturday usa v italy, i know i couldnt choose between them, so it was a 1-1 draw! was a good game, but too many fouls and that awful elbow in the face by the italian! he should be sent of permanantly! did you see that program on telly last night? apparently there are ten extra women killed by their husbands during the world cup games in the uk alone! the football, losing or winning sparks off even more abuse in the home, alot caused by alcohol, those poor women... i never realised. and staying with crime for a moment, in the paper yesterday it said spain has now overtaken the uk with amount of criminals in prison, per 100,000, cant remember the percentage exactly, but the thing is alot of these criminals here in jail in spain are british!

Life has more imagination than we carry in our dreams...

TTFN
Marian

USA V Italy

here is the view from to the right of our house, and there is that narrow wall with the big drop behind i was telling you about!


before i forget we have our baby pippa on sky news... on the net! she can be found on www.sky.com/living then scroll down i tiny ways to the phpto section and click on Yappy Snaps, the fourth and last one... and pip is on photo number 10! aint she sooo cute!

not feeling so cute right now though, she has two horrible tics! the vet gave me, well not gave of course but you know what i mean! a new collar for her, to flush them out, i think it kills them first then the horrible thing drops off! poor pip she has already had a parasite last year now these things, we dont have any grass but aparently the mountain wall contains these things, they feed off whome ever they have got into, then when gorged full drop off, and can remain dormant for up to three years, before they find an unfortunate host to repeat the process again!

although i didnt need telling tony has just informed me i have bad grammer... well how on earth will i ever learn spanish if i cant even get english right!?!

this walked into town, after pippas walk of course! trying to dodge any insects that might be hanging around on overhanging grass or leaves! now thats an easy job isnt it!

bought some new net to put on the velcro over the back window and completely cut it wrong!? was trying to do it too much of a hurry, me as usual, slow down... thats what i have to do, but its not easy when you have rushed about all your life, think i need to seriously rethink my habits, then change them, am i too old to change my spots!?! the words relax and take it easy are hard to do, even typing and house stuff, i rush around and i have no need to... think thats why my shoes keep braking... think i said that already didnt i! rush about in my head too so much i dont remember anything either!

ok... big match today between my two teams! so i will running around cheering for them both somehow!

If you never never go, you will never ever know...

TTFN
Marian

Home Hunters Spain

i have added a link to my good friends who live around the corner from us, this is their business, definately worth having a good look at ok... and i am not just saying that, they said the money was in the post! just kidding...

adios amigos...

Friday June 16th

the sun setting on our roof terrace the other evening... now we haved moved our peach tree! was over in the right hand corner over there but pippa kept on at it all the time, out of the five peaches last year franco and i ended up cutting the last in half and sharing... while pip had the other four! at various stages of growth... her and the peaches!

yesterday was very tiring! we went to malaga by bus then to fuengirola by bus, first one was half hour late, then a twenty minutes wait at malaga bus station, so left friends house at 10 and arrived down on the coast at 1245! and its only 20 minutes direct by car! still always an adventure and lots to see from the bus that you cant by car... and on our return we got the direct bus which only took half hour via mijas pueblo!

thank you forget me not... yup cerveza it most definately is! didnt have any yesterday though, once we got to town we went to have lunch at an old favorite of mine, the europa restaurant, its around an area called fish alley! ummm, sounds attractive dosent it? its not fishy honest! its just a whole area full of restaurants of all nationalities, and a great place to sit during the day to eat and watch all and sundry go past! and they do!

we had a little walk around after and friends were using a camcorder to take memories back home with and we were having a laugh with that, was a beautiful day on the coast, was a bit humid in land, its normally the other way around as you get the damp and sometimes strange fog stuff that comes in off the sea and hangs low over the beach and 340(coastal road) swirling and making its way through the apartments and hotels... then just dissapears! and inland is usually cleaner air, dryer and rains less! it cant get over the sierra de mijas!

have to take pippa to vets today, i have an awful feeling she has another parasite... or two even, there are two horrible looking things that seem attached to her... ugh! she has a collar on too to prevent them, so i am not sure, and i got bit last night again! no not franco!!! really!!! why do bugs always bite me on my knuckles? its so painful!

ok my friends... ¡hasta luego!

It does´nt matter how the wind blows.
The only thing that matters is how you set your sail.

TTFN
Marian

Our house

taken last year, not long after we had moved in, we have had the front painted now, and have persianas on the windows... yes ours is one of the little chocolate box ones further down the street from the blue one! our little castle... its quirky with no straight walls, not even one room is the same width at one end as it is at the other, or length for that matter! widens when you get in, like the doctors tardis, then small again on the way out the other side! and that wall on the right.... there is a twenty thirty foot drop on the other side, no one can see that and when people drive down from the town hall behind our house they come close too close to it sometimes, its been hit, if only they knew there was only four or five inches of old brick and plaster between them and that drop! down in that drop is a bit of cleared wasteland, land locked by the houses and bakers on the next street down, and there is a sparrow hawk, kestral type of thing there which flys during the day and makes an unusual scary noise, and at night apart from the bats that fly from there, there is a huge white owl that flys low over our houses, also making a pretty scary noise!

talking of noises i forget to mention the other morning, there is a small lake at the crematoriam which we pass on our walk sometimes, its only a foot deep maybe but long and wide, built out of concrete and the waterbed is big round beautiful rocks... two frogs were making a helova racket the other morning as we passed, its such a strange noise, no rib-it rib-it sounds more like a bird call than anything, and pippa and i stood and listened and watched for a while as they swam and called to eachother...

ok... i am off out now with friends, down to the coast, i think via malaga as we will have missed the one to fuengirola, i´m still not used to this bus travel thing! i know what a snob i hear y'all shouting! i have had a car for so long ok?! and as franco is using it and i want to get out and about its public transport... and its cheap here too, into malaga bus station its 1.60€ for about a 25k journey i think, well back in old blighty that would cost about 4pounds... 6€ mas o menos!

anyway, bye for now...

Though we travel the world over to find the beautiful,
we must carry it with us,
or we find it not...

TTFN
Marian

Wednesday June 14th

well es la una now already, didnt go out yet... remembered i am supposed to go into the about half past, two of the girls are leaving but not sure if i´m up to it now, think i need to rest this stupid hamstring... it has to be a sympathy thing with the footballers just now!

but... i have sorted out a few things on here, at last done my profile which had been the first thing i had done on my old blog site, and have been asking tony for help with finding out how to put in the links bit, all the ones i used to have... including his! but i know... he is busy getting paid to help people who ask the same questions... but look i have done it myself now instead and am very proud of my self... lol.. yes it was easy ok just couldnt see it for the trees if you know what i mean! and he does help me alot on here at other times i must hasten to add! he did tons of things on my computer when he was here... and all have helped... thank you tony!

have an extra link thing up there though at the moment which i hadnt planned but i guess i may leave it there for now anyway... have spent too long on here today, maybe another reason my leg is not getting better my feet dont fully touch the floor when i am sitting on this chair, my heels are just about 3 inches off the ground so thats making the back of my legs ache alot and putting a lot of presure on the muscle, need a little platform so everything is flat dont i?

how can anyone just talk about nothing for so long? i must know its me who is doing it today! must be as i havent been out today and pippa is sleeping... she had a bath last night as she was so dirty, now she is soft and whiter than white, she loves her dog brush i got her yesterday and just sits there loving it!

by the missing phone call i think my friends didnt get to change the flights home from malaga either, you know two people could have used those flights, even i could have used them i suppose... two trips to england and back! what a waste, the grand prix was on in england at the weekend and he always goes to it, franco wondered if that was actually the reason the trip was cancelled! so i will mention that... truth will out!

and now españa are playing this afternoon.. so adios amigos... hasta manaña!

A pessimist sees the difficulty in every opportunity,
an optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty!

TTFN
Marian

For Maria

hi maria,

i know its a hard one for the football as usual with each world cup, too many family connections! i must suport the states first and foremost, being a proud american, and my dad would come haunting me if italy wasnt next on my agenda! then... well i live in spain now, so of course wanting to intergrate as much as possible i must support my adopted country... and brazil well i have some family there, ones who probably dont even know about me, my grandfather had two brothers who moved there a very long time ago, may have not even stayed there of course! i know i should support england, having lived there for, so far, most of my life and my two boys live there... too many choices... its when they start playing eachother i will be in trouble running from one side of the living room to other and cheering both sides on till i explode! lol!

good to hear from you, was nice to see my name amongst your list of ´keeps´its been a strange time following paulo on his journey hasnt it, felt like a real big learning curve for all of us, and meeting so many people who sort of feel like friends, just ones we havent actually met yet! and everyone sounded so worldly wise.

your story was sad at times, but your move to another country and your new life... thank you for sharing that, so many of us have moved such great distances, my husband is sardinian, and speaks both sardinian and italian, and i am ashamed to say that although my grandparents came from naples i no parle italiano!

speak to you again and take care,
marian

ps ¡viva italia!

be back later with my blog too!
TTFN
Marian

Tuesday June 13th

arh now i see... its tuesday 13th! here in spain thats the same as a friday 13th in uk, which i suppose makes the whole thing senceless if it can different in different countries... but... on our way out this morning my beach shoe sandles i have been wearing to walk pippa last few days started to fall apart, first the back end of the sole became detached, then by the time we reached the wasteland only the toe bit was still holding on, so i pulled it off and carried my sole! well the big spongey bit, leaving me with a little hard bit and the straps, which are glued on inbetween the two bits, so as i walking they started getting loose and by the time we got to our street were coming away! OMG nearly had to finish the walk barefoot! on these streets!! ugh!!

and too, those bullet ants we have here are really coming into their own at this time of the year i think, they probably dont come out when its too hot either so pip and i see them at party time and you have to walk around them... i know theyre not THAT big, but big enough... thats the bullet ant at the top of the page, the one on the right of course! big little devils arnt they!

got a nice piece of material from work yesterday, i think it was meant to go over a low table or one of those posh footstall things, anyway, now i have halved the length of the drape to the floor it covers the box in our bedroom beautifully, dont really sew much, hurts too much, but it had to done, although i made it worse by turned it up and rough stitching it the wrong way to start with, so after cutting off the excess then had to rough stitch it the other way round, did all that while the italy game raged! yeha!! gooooooooo italia!!!!

trying to relax a bit today, but before i went down town i moved stuff about, things out of box things in... washed the floors after i got home from friends, and now i really must stop, i just cant keep still, i think i better try though cant be good for me, i think thats why my shoes keep braking, the ones i usually wear broke and franco fixed them, then on my way home coming into our street they became unglued, so someone is telling me to slow down by all my shoes falling apart!

this next one is good for me today, especially if i end up walking barefoot!

Life is too short to feel every bump on the road!

TTFN
Marian

Monday June 12th

cant bare to watch the states playing czech republic! losting 2-0 at the moment, so ironing done and now sewing something i bought ealier in the shop for the big hope chest i have in our bedroom, had that since i was 15, but lots older than that, its lined with newspapers from 1909 i think, will check and let you know, but not now!

work was good, sorted out lots that had been waiting outside all weekend going by the road dust all over the bags, two bags of cuddly toys... someone must have decided enough is enough, and the czechs have just scored again so i think enough is enough on that too! flipping heck! have been wearing my italia vest all day, should have on an american for this afternoon i guess...

saturday i emptied the bed of water... and sunday refilled, we had a water shortage here in andalucia i know, well know its drastic! not helped by us washing the roof terrace down either at the end of yesterday evening, franco did a lot up there moving plants and putting up some fencing, looks really good now, and the peach tree is safe from pippa at last... we hope, was good to be back in our bed last night, after a week on the blow up bed, was ok, just a bit near the floor for me! and pippa found it very easy to walk from her bed onto ours! much higher a jump now, but as soon as it was remade last night she was on it, getting comfy little darling!

finished our phone card last night! was 800 minutes talk time, and it lasted five weeks... not bad eh for only 6€, not bad at all...

There is a keystone to every arch,
and a combination to every lock...

TTFN
Marian

Sunday June 11th

today just a poem from a birthday card i bought and gave my step dad some years ago... it would have been his 90th birthday today! and this is for him once more...

The world is always changing
and many things seem new,
but the values that you taught me
helped me as i grew.


In many ways were not alike
but, dad, it is still true
the things i value most in me
are things i learned from you.

hpaay birthday dad, love your daughter marianxx

Friday June 9th

st basils... was looking for a photo of the church where i was baptised, but the church burnt down it seems, and was rebuilt and reopened about 1969! there are two names onmy certificate... god parents, but i never saw them again after that day, i wonder if they are still alive and/or if they ever wondered about me!

the st basils church above of course is not in los angeles, but in russia i believe... what a fantastic place it looks, like a fairy tale castle...

the world cup is just begining on tv now, the opening celebrations... i dont go out of my way to watch football normally, but when the wold cup rolls around every four years i am hooked on it! shouting and jeering at the telly and keeping tally on who is where in the competition! weird eh!!

today, just pottered about the house... doing nomal housewifey things, plus a little time reading on the roof, clive barker has my attention for now, a book i started a month or so ago and had forgotten about sorry to say, but will finish it tomorrow i think.

still doing stuff towards moving rooms, i have thrown away a few things we dont use anymore today too! some clothes and a couple of videos, i am watching bits first to make sure, and put a couple back on the shelf, but two are in the bin...

thought after i had spoken to friends yesterday and phoned to tell him so... they can still swap the flights they have booked from malaga to luton for next week! not like the old days where you bought a package deal and lost everything! so he has time to go and change those flights and redeem a little of the money at least eh!

a friends sister said something yesterday i must pass on... i was talking about my heels! how rough they are exposed to road almost from march to october at least, barefoot sometimes but always just out there as it were... and she says she treats her feet like she does her face! and you know that makes sence dosent it... i mean i do paint my nails, like i put make up on my face, but unlike my face i just wash my feet and go! and i have a tattoo on my ankle, not exactly drawing attention away from them am i!! well she moisturises hers! no rough bits there all baby soft! and look what we do to our feet... on them for so long of the day, relying on them to carry us about yet i use and abuse them! so no more thats it, time to look after them as they look after me!

To love is to admire with the heart,
to admire is to love with the mind...

TTFN
Marian

Thursday June 8th

this is the steppes, as mentioned in paulo coelho book the zahir, i have now finished it, i both wanted to finish the book, of course, why read it otherwise, but i also did not want to come to the end of it! and now paulo´s blog of his 90 day journey is also at its end! to lose both at the same time... lost and bereft! sorry i guess only another of his readers will understand this! so i will move on!

went to the local market this morning met up with friends as arranged and had a drink after to cool down! spent a little time sun bathing this afternoon, and came down about an hour ago, it was 37 on the roof, in the shade, and is still that hot now, at well gone five, doing some washing now and will put out and take down this evening, if i put things out to dry when its too hot things dry like a bit of board, towels like rubbing down paper! ugh!!

while i was sunbathing and reading i had so many things i thought to say now, but now my mind is blank!?! had a call on my way down and it turns out my friends did not get to change their flight and it is now lost! i suppose the return flight is still a possibility... yes of course it is! bet they have forgotton that! maybe i will take a trip to malaga airport to see if i can do something about it before tuesday!

i am still moving furniture about here, and bits and pieces, i said to franco last night if i have moved something and he cant find it, dont ask me! goodness knows where things are now!

Closure is the gift
that we give to ourselves when we are ready to live in complete detachment,
and know that every ending is simply a door opening to a wonderful begining...

TTFN
Marian

Wednesday June 7th

view from maria´s apartment, of a bunch of bananas! and very nice they look too!

have i mentioned the trip i have been trying to change for some of friends to come out here? they were due to arrive here yesterday, stay for a week, well two weeks ago i attempted to change their flights that i had booked on the net, but, as they were now wanting to move it to a winter timetable their web site couldnt allow it! i emailed them and said it was urgent, the mrs was unwell and time was now tight, the automated message back said i would hear within 20 days! there was only two weeks to fly date at that point! at the weekend i tried again to email them using the technical email address also, and copied it to the original help centre! my friends did try to change the flights over the phone but as i had booked it, i had to change it the man said, and he also said he would not phone spain! it was paid by my friends, in their name and would not do it!

well the time has come and gone now, they were unable to drive to the airport to do it in person, and have lost their money, as i said on the email, lets hope people in spain dont have to change flights seasonally or we will lose ours too! naming no names... it has not been easy as it should have been!

didnt do much today, trying to rest my legs! goodness knows what i have done now, i know its just this fibro thing i have, the bit behind my left kneecap and uwards a bit is too tight and sore, almost ok walking on the flat but uphill and even downhill a bit hurts like heck!

tony helped me with pic earlier, ta tony, and now i just have to work out how to put links on, on the help section i followed i went into the html and put what i wanted in, but it dosent seem to have worked! will have to work on it!

When things get rough,
listen to the voice inside your heart,
it already knows the answer...

TTFN
Marian

Monday June 5th

up close and personnal with these bulls on saturday in coín! the farmers fair i think it was, we had one a month ago on the 13th san isadoro, if you remember...

did go to work today, but no keys... so no work as we couldnt get into the shop! lost money there, we ususally do well on a monday, as probably the other days of the week, loss of incoming things too, i expect people will have either left it outside and it will be taken, or they will just dump it in the nearest bins! we did go have a coffee and waited till nearly half past ten, but no one showed up with the key and we left!

i went up to friends for coffee, then home, did a big change round at home and we are going to sleep in the other bedroom tonight and see how it works out, lots of moving and shifting stuff, did have all our clothes out, now some are packed away, the winter stuff that is.

Real riches are the riches possessed inside...

TTFN
Marian

Sunday June 4th

this was the top of our high street over the may day celebrations, all the rosemary on the streets...

today was no market in la trocha, something else was going on, and yesterday franca and i went into coín and had a wander about, there was a celebration going on there, lots of old fashioned carts, with bunting and flowers, pretty girls in flamenco dress´s and handsome men in traditional flamenco wear... as in tight black pants white shirts and black hats etc etc, only some of the carts were being pulled not by horses but by tractors and making a right racket! some of them had huge stero systems on board blarring out music at a volume you wouldnt believe!

took a photo or two will publish tomorrow...

franco and i went down to marias apartment today, make sure everything there was good, took pippa, couldnt walk her on the beach now, will have to wait till september now...

and last night we were down on the coast at francos bosses bbq... was a good evening, he cooks a good dinner, and lots of extras with it prepared earlier by his mrs and family i think, we just outside in a big circle and ate and talked and drank and did that over and over and over again! we bought them a really lovely pressy for their 30th wedding aniversary we were all celebrating with them, a big urn type thing for the garden, one that lays down with a flat bottom! anyway, turns out it was just what they wanted!

i am still reading paulo coelho blog of his 90 day walk, will miss it when he come to the end of this journey of his, seems like we who are reading it are also with him in our own ways...

The glory of the world is transitory,
and we should not measure our lives by it,
but by the choice we make
to follow our personal legend,
believe in our utopias and fight for our dreams...

TTFN
Marian

Friday June 2nd

this morning walked upto friends place, or is it down, anyway the other side of town, her and her sister went to tangiers yesterday and found out they had not completely enjoyed the trip, a taxi down at 630am, coach trip to algercieras the boat ride over in rain and winds! narrow streets with women sat in the gutters selling their fruit and veggies, carpet factory visit! men trying to sell carpets for hundreds of euros, four course lunch of various non descript articles, only the desert sounded nice... a sweet pastry thingy!

then later home the way they came!

i have yet to visit and still want to, just to experience all the above for myself!?! i guess though everyones trips are different, neighbors went on their own, no coach party and had a really good visit, although i am not sure i would want to go it alone!

wanted to get some more storage bags from chinese on my home this morning, but was gone two by the time i left and then stopped and chatted with a couple of other friends, but its nice, makes such a difference, i remember how isolated i felt when we first moved here, i think i went out most days, walked into town, and straight back home, gone about an hour, that never happens now, if i leave at ten i´m lucky to be home by two! today i past the gaz man and asked if he was coming to our street today and he said yes, i had to run the last bit as he was coming up the street behind me! i dont think he was coming to us at all, he picks and chooses!

got in a bit on sunbathing today just now, an hour on the roof, its nearly 40 today! and yesterday was a bit of rain on the coast where franco was working, but up here on a moment of drizzle, then all dry again!

had a meeting at work yesterday, so we all turned up on time, well nearly just the boss lady who arrived 45 mintues late! hey ho! after i had coffee with one of the monday girls and her husband and then went to their apartment, on my route home, theyre home is nice, a big three bedroom place with a balcon overlooking the high street, in a quietish area...

its going to be a full moon on june 11th did i tell you? so i will be watching those mystical mijas mountains, along with 100´s of others i now imagine! but like we were saying the other day, here people still misunderstand some deformaties and maybe families moved into the hills when a baby was born not exactly as they thought was normal out of fear and have just remained there always. on telly the other months a family in poland had two children who only walked on their hands and feet together, not upright, so who knows what people are up there, the area is so big i´m sure people must live there out of sight from the rest of the world.

Sometimes i think i understand everything,
then i regain consciousness!

TTFN
Marian

Thursday June 1st

hello everyone,

i hope you have joined me on my new blog site, i have kind of got used to yáll being with me as i blog, and i dont want to lose anyone while i am on the move, again, seems my whole life i am on the move, countries, houses... etc! some very important people in my life are not in transit anymore and i am staying put!

well will take me a while to get used to this site and find my way around it, shame about having to move, but thats life!

let me try a photo while i am here eh! well its there at the top though, never mind its worked so maybe it wont be so bad, despite all my moving and changing, i hate change, hate it! like right now i am trying to throw more of my stuff out, things i dont wear and wont, things i dont use and wont, but its just so hard, feels like a part of me goes with each thing i let go... they all have bits of me and my life in their weave... silly arnt i?

ok, going to put to print, see how this is and go to old address and put this address in now... i dont like to be limited in things, and they keep telling me i am over the limit now, however much i empty it out! and now they are charging for all the new people and the free blogs are so small i guess they want money or your out!

so...

Destiny is not a matter of chance,
it is a matter of choice!

TTFN
Marian

ps anyone who missed my last few blogs on old site i will leave it as it is..

http://ultreya.blogspirit.com