above is inside the los olivos restaurant in the new commercial centre at calahonda, oposite gran calahonda urbanization...

this photo is actually taken from the non smoking section through the glass into the smoking section, you have to be over 16 to go in there, and there is a balcon from there outside, then there is another outside area near the entrance, the place in total seats about 200.

its so clean and tidy and the staff are all very helpful, and there are alot of them!

this is the view of the restaurant to the right, and below the supermarket is on the extreme left with a couple of shops in the middle.

here is one photo of the new los olivos down at calahonda for you folks...

i tried to upload all three in one go, but no go!

so next time we are down there i will get some more i have had to crop and chop and minimise these things, and of course as i am posting this one first then the next two, you will be reading this after them all!

this new commercial centre seems so strange down there, i did see it growing... but suddenly its there where there was nothing much more than a few weeds and some boulders!

today... we ladies lunched today! at the vinotec restaurante on gerald brenan, nice as usual, good food, good friends and lots of laughs...

lady opposite me could tell a tale or two, she should write a book about her life, i named it for her today, it shall be called `miss-adventure´...

The moment we set off in search of love,
it sets off in search of us.
And saves us...

TTFN
Marian

bad news on the news today, mike read has died... a really funny man, a great actor too. do you remember i saw him back in april? at a job interview being held in el chaperal golf course down on the coast, and he saw me too, turned to look at me and the chap interviewing me as if to say whats going on 'ere!

pia... the book the five people you meet in heaven is the name of the book, made me smile and made me cry too.

really looking forward to this coming weekend already, we are going to the lakes and out on it! we got me a life jacket yesterday, so i will be ok! franco says he will just hold onto the boat as it deflates, this is if it starts to of course! he cant swim too much either, well to be honest i dont think i can swim at all! but will feel safe with the jacket on!

got everything ready, our little non slip shoes we got from lidl a few weeks ago, towels, hat of course, sun screen, definately!

two lots of oars so i will be keeping fit too, if i can manage to row at all!

Passion.
It can be used to describe
the beauty of an earth-shattering meeting
between two people,
but if isn´t just that.
It is there in the excitement of the unexpected,
in the desire to do something with real fervour,
in the certainty that one is going to realize a dream.
Passion sends us signals that guide us through our lives.

TTFN
Marian

our... our what? the structure that tells us we are nearly home up there on the hill on our way back from the coast, or mijas pueblo... standing there high on the hill opposite the bp garage and the moreno restaurant, that grey man made area you can see infront is where they are starting to build roads... a huge urbanization is going up all around this folly of ours, thousands of homes and a couple of golf courses, because of course, we need more! humph!


today we went down to miramar down on the edge of fuengirola, the big shopping centre, this above and below is an area up near the restaurants for the kids to chill out in, its sort of under cover from the sun, and there is a bar so we had a coffee, and franco had a smoke, and then back into the madness of the centre, so many people making the most of it being open during the school holidays, and of course full of holiday makers... we are kind of used to not having everything open here now, after england where the shops are open seven days a week and some big supermarkets open from 930am monday morning and not closing till saturday night! theyre open again on sunday but just from 10 till 4, i think thats the hours there!

we have so many open sundays during the year, just the legal allowance and then all of the sundays during the summer holidays, and just when we do get used to them being open! cerrado otra vez... and thats ok too...


as you can see camera working ok now in its smaller picture format, just got to get the video working better...

by the way finished the book i started only yesterday... was very good another couple of bits from it go like this...

...It is because the human spirit knows, deep down, that all lives intersect. that death doesnt just take someone, it misses someone else, and in the small distance between being taken and being missed, lives are changed...

and

...strangers, the blue man said, are just family you have yet to come to know...

TTFN
Marian

its flamenco night tonight here in alhaurín el grande, and the rockets have been going off all day, i imagine this is to do with the flamenco? just hope with this dry weather the rockets dont set off another fire, last sunday when we were coming home from the coast for some distance on the road back up towards alhaurín on the la cala road, there had been a huge fire, it was still smouldering, as we approached and noticed it, at first we were not sure if it had been there on the way down, but then we could see the small plumes of smoke still coming up, and friends said during the week how they had tried to use the road but it had been closed.

yesterday i began the job of emptying the cave of things i had brought down a few months ago to make the back bedroom more roomy, but after the `fly´incident i thought i better sort things out and bring them back up stairs, so last night i brought out a couple of bags and a suitcase, opened them up and tried to air the things, mainly er handbags... :-) and other bits and bobs! and this afternoon i brought the rest in and emptied them... couply more handbags, and lots of bed linen, they are all up on the terrace now airing... looks like some strange sale in one of the bizzars down town! but they smell so damp, so its time to air and back into suitcases for storage again, we just dont have any space here for things that are not used, and yes i know if its not being used why keep it... but i keep things and thats that!

one bag a white one, never had a white hangbag till last year, is a bit worrying, its not very white anymore and i wonder if it had got this mucky when i was still using it last summer! i bought some cleaner for it today, little job there for my honey to do!

in town today, bunch of us met up, well 9 of us, one of the girls from the shop, cudeca, is moving away, another one eh! only as far as fuengirola, so we can still get to see her and it will be a good excuse to get down to the town, after living there for the first six months when i first came out here, i am very fond of fuengirola...

franco bought a book home today for the shop, but i am going to read it first, it sounds like my kinda book, its called `the five people you meet in heaven´by a mitch albom, not heard of him, but the first paragraph sounds interesting... says...this is a story about a man named eddie and it begins at the end, with eddie dying in the sun. it might seem strange to start a story with an ending. but all endings are also beginnings. we just don´t know it at the time...

franco by the way is re-re-starting his blog! the story of flep erm, not really sure how to discribe it, so when he gets going with it i will let you make up your own minds, and expect the men in white coats...

camera sorted out now and taking photos smaller so i can actually loads them on here now, so get ready i am going to shart shooting...

There is a huge difference between danger and fear...

TTFN
Marian

The Hollies were on the tv just now... a concert from i guess the middle 70´s.

when i was not sure somewhere between 13 and 15 i think, in the 70's forsure, i think 4 of the boys came to our house, they were with their manager and in my step dads workshop looking at his paintings and the restoration work he did there, mom told me to take out tea to them all, so i carried out the tray of 4 or 5 mugs of tea, said `hello´and came back out again and into the house, mom said well? i was like well what! and she said they are The Hollies! and i am sad to say i was just... well ok! you see... what with david cassidy and probably my first love.... sorry chaps!

i got my comupance another day though when answering the phone and saying how pleased i was to be speaking to graham green! only to be told it was his nephew... so i said, well its good to speak to you to!

A warrior of light needs both patience and speed.
He treats each situation as if it were unique.

TTFN
Marian

well i was going to lead you in slowing the photo of the cicada above, but, as usual a but! all the other photos i have taken with my new camera are too big... i would of course, on my old pc just have shrunk them down without loosing any of the picture, but so far, going through this book of mine in vista you can crop and do a hundred other things, but cant find resize anywhere... yet....

so give me time, and i will take the photos in a smaller format also, see if that helps! because i took some photos of the new super sol down at calahonda that franco has been raving about for a month or more now, its right oposite the gran calahonda urbanisation down there.... looks great from out side and the restaurant is lovely, could tell franco has been in there once or twice, all the staff shouted hello to him, or rather hola... when we walked in!

this was sunday, after lunch there we went to the apartment on the beach, made sure everything was good down there, watched the german grandprix... what a wash out, but made it a very interesting race.

it was there i saw the cicada above, what a huge creature it is! nearly 4 inches long nose to wing tip, the wings of course being the things that make the sound of electricity pylons... when it gets hot, they start moving to cool the bug down!

took a short video too, but when i downloaded it, after a somewhat confusing time, the computer couldnt understand two cameras the same make and model, both wanted to download photos! doh! technology... humph!

but once there... it said `movie' but came out a jpg file, so no good, will have to sort that out too!

then yesterday out of the blue i had a migrane! has been a while hasnt it? infact cant remember the last one i had this bad, a full blown migrane, with all the symptoms etc etc! i came home from town, although at one point thought i wouldnt be able to even walk up to our house, but that was just my joints, but i also felt so hot and heavy and slow, but again, we are all feeling this here just now... got in had a coffee, and bam migrane!

i went to bed and got up this morning, feeling achey from laying down so long, cant win...

In the search for your destiny,
you will often find yourself obliged
to change direction...

TTFN
Marian

Harry Potter

went down to friends shop this morning early to help out, i left the house at 730! she had pre ordered books going out this morning and sold a few others into the bargin!

we didnt have any long line of people like in london last night, or anyone in costume! but it was still good fun seeing people coming in all excited about a good book.

so a few sores eyes by this time now if everyone has sat and read all day, they are talking on the tv of some younger people needing therapy as this is the last book!

what is life coming to! these books are not about a true story.... no really... or are they!

it was so quiet in town this morning, i know it was early, but even at eleven still quite quiet... its been too hot and everyone is moving s o s l o w. . .

did i mention i was trying a new tablet my mom bought for me? its rose hips, and supposed to be good for joints, in more pain than usual these last few days, been taking a couple of strong pain killers at night to help me sleep, and these new tablets are 3 two times a day for two weeks, so we will see, no effect yet(?)

i am getting very tempted to try those ones advertised on tv for dogs!!! the ad says to give to your dog and in six weeks he or she will be running around like a young pup again! well why cant they invent things like this for humans then...

or have they and i just havent found it yet! although i think my next move should be to get back to my doctors and have some x rays on these hips of mine, the only time i am comfortable is when i am laid out flat! not very convient for day to day living is it!

photo above... tony and franco and me, in gibraltor... the day we had paid just over 70€ for the most horrible amercian lunch, the shops were all closed and rain was iminant! do they both look grumpy to you?

The search can be as interesting as the fear you feel - as long as you overcome that fear...

TTFN
Marian

castle of the stars

was just looking at the photos i took last month when we were out and about with tony... here the view from the castle at `teba´ what a view, i took this and the one below from the roof!



those two posts and the square object in the middle... they are on the extreme edge of the roof! i came up out of that square and just headed off into the middle of the open plan top to take the very top photo, it was only when i turned around and realised how close the stairs were to the edge!


the tower on the right, five stories high... this is where i had stood a few minutes before... there is no way this building would have been allowed to be open in england... what an accident waiting to happen! there were recjas (grills) on the door going in, it even had a bolt that could be locked... from the inside only... like anyone would want to be locked in there!

also realised looking at them the name of the castle... castle of the stars...

When we have great treasures before us,
we can never see them...

TTFN
Marian

well asked about in town this morning... seems the ´story´about the little girl being taken in the supermarket has also been mentioned as another store in a nearby town, so i think this is a 21 century urban legend in the making, and little old me got all caught up it!

old being the word i suppose too, another year older today, another year wiser... (ahem) well always possible!

and i dont feel any older, i never do... when i am in my nineties, god willing, i will say "hey... what happened, howd i get here"

its another beautiful day here in paradise, i have a new camera for my birthday from my honey, so watch out, i will be snapping away madly, trouble is this one has more gismos and buttons and stuff, so have to read the 100 page instruction manual first, yes on the web, the one with it was in spanish, of course!

i was going to include a photo just now, but went up onto the terrace and the whole valley looks bleached in the white heat... so later amigos...

i have been a lucky girl and received lots of lovely cards, and some equally lovely e cards, thank you my family and friends...uncle richard in new york, his ecard made me cry and suddenly all my family in america seem a million miles away, and my brother in california on another planet! my boys cards? they are in the post! mmmmmmh! but i got their text messages early this morning...

my mom phoned about 730 so she was up early 630 in england to call! shes not usually an early riser these days.


what will paulo coelho's message be today i wonder... let me get my book...

The challenge will not wait Life does not look back. A week is more than enough for us to decide wheather or not to accept our destiny...

TTFN
Marian

where has the time gone, monday and the weekend passed by already...

last wednesday friends and i went to the lakes! beautiful afternoon, left about 1130 and got home around five, just before franco got home!

we went into the lake... well i walked in and sat on a rock! not being able to swim and all that, but it was lovely once the water didnt feel cool anymore... was freezing to start with, then it felt warm after a couple of minutes...

we sat for a while in and out of the water, then when we were dry we dressed and went to the kiosk bar and had a little lunch, followed by a short walk around the lake.

friends husband drove, the first time they had been there, i hope they enjoyed it and go again, maybe when its not so hot.

no mercadona shop saturday.... we went when franco was home from work...

and sunday we went met friends for lunch at the moreno restaurant on the edge of town, we left there at nearly 4pm! yes long lovely lunch, and followed them to their house, beautiful... what a wonderful location up on a hill overlooking the valley, to the right of us, and they can see malaga too, was a good afternoon, sat out side in the shade talking, and a few tinto verano drinks, for me, lemonade for franco, he was driving!

we didnt get home till nearly ten, and pippa was right up set, smelling other dogs on us! and leaving her for so long...

tomorrow is a favorite of mine, just mentioned to barry maybe i would hear from him and he said why tomorrow.... humph! kids eh!

heard a strange thing today, but not sure if its true, heard a little 7 year girl was almost taken from a local shop here in town... her mom lost sight of her and she almost got abducted!! not sure how true this is, so will check it out tomorrow, before i tell you more details...

gotta go, pippa is having a hard time, there is a rat living in the mountain bit behind our house, and everytime he pops out his head pippa wants to get him, a true spanish hunting dog eh, infact the neighbor came over with his gun, not anything big, no oozy time thing, but he fired at the rat and missed, pippa didnt flinch at all, just stood there, pointed and ready to fetch!

but for now, the rat has his own place his own cave and own land! not sure what we will do, he is minding his own business i agree, but too near our back door for my liking, and he is big!

If you pay close attention to each day, you will discover the magic moment...

TTFN
Marian

isnt this beautiful... franco took pippas photo in our kitchen last night, what a little angel she looks! ahem!

and she matches the marble flooring exactly too!

everyone today is sleeping poorly this week, while we adjust to the heat i guess, and me i just could not get comfortable, suffering with the hips a bit this week, ran out of my strong anti inflamitories (oh heck give up tried that several different ways and cant get rid of that red line to tell me 'spelt wrong' but now it says spelt in wrong too, twice!) back on the good ones now, but those others do not help much. last few days wasnt even sure i could get walking first thing in the morning with pippa and then walk into town too, but something keeps me going till i get home again.

tony had taken pip out every day for a walk while he was here.... and for much longer trips than i have been able to take her for a while, spoiling both her and me for two weeks.

today stopped at bar rosa for coffee with friends, then we got up to leave and i sat down with different friends for a bit longer and another coffee! there was a nice breeze today too which breaks up the heat, apparently its cooler down on the coast these last few days, nice sea breeze....

It is not necessary to move mountains
to prove your faith...

TTFN
Marian

Seventh of the seventh 'oh seven

all the sevens... i remember so well the 7.7.77 i was still 17, and just before my 18th...

my friend sue and i had our holiday to torquay booked for the week of our birthdays i was receptionist for the welcome foundation ltd in berkhamsted, in the days of the old telex machines with the tic a tape that ran through them...

who could even imagine i would be 30 years later living here in spain? and all the life inbetween...

ok ok nuff of that!

today have just chilled out if that is possible in this heat! after mercadona man delivered and i had packed everything away in its place, i went into town and had a coffee with friends and then home!

did a bit of self tuition on this new windows vista we have now, the book, windows vista for dummies is good (says a lot that does doesnt it!) and so hopefully bit by bit all become clear, i suppose had i moved up through windows xp, 2000 or whatever it wouldnt be so bad, but i have gone from '98 to vista, and that is one heck of a fast track!

tomorrow just the market i think, not sure how long thats going to be on for now, lots of different rumors around town, so will find out tomorrow.

Everyone has a treasure that is waiting just for him...

TTFN
Marian

another view from the chinese junk taken off the shores of torremolinas... looks like only me on the boat! this is the table, although none of us left our free drinks on it for long, once empty the plastic cups were all over the place!

ah no.... there were other people on board afterall! here we are coming back into the marina... once we had disembarked(!) tony and i had the biggest italian icecreams... mine a tutti frutti... wonderful....

oh the steep streets of olvera! and how hot, that little bit of shade was all we had, the whole place looks bleached with heat...

we passed through arriete on the way in, a beautiful little town, very busy, lots of coaches, so i guess there must be much more to see on another trip in, but on our way back out we stopped at a little roadside bar/restaurant for lunch, we ordered a dish each, but when they arrived we realised they were tapas! so ordered another four dishes! we had those six plates two sodas and an ice cream for me to eat as we left, bill was only 7€ not bad eh!


now this above is setenil de las bodegas, bit had to see on here, but those are cave houses, bars etc built into the mountain... as i mentioned before it was market day and impossible to get into the town, as we drove up and past it, tony stopped so i could take some photo's, but next time, franco and i will go in and take some up close pics, an amazing place isnt it.

we have been without tv for so much of the past couple of weeks i havent even missed it! the signal came back yesterday i think, but we're not watching all the usual soaps anymore... i dont even miss them, tv is on now, but i am going to go up and relax on the terrace with some water and my book now.

its very hot again today... not complaining! just need one of those hats with a built in fan in the visor! just kidding! although....

Never give up on your dreams - follow your dreams...

TTFN
Marian

sorry been away a while, not really away just busy out and about with tony here on his hols, he has gone home now, and i have the usual feeling of bereftment...

here are a few photos from his holiday, this one above was taken from a chinese junk, it has been at the marina since 1973 apparently, but this is the first time i have been on it, infact all the years before we moved out here, and on the holidays before, never been on any of the tourist boat trips, apart from going to the island of tabarca up in alicante province.

the trip was an hour long and we almost reached the airport at malaga! by car from the marina that would have been about 10 minutes i guess, so half hour wasnt bad i guess... the weather was calm and they put up the sail, there were only two other familys on board all spanish, so it was a nice trip and not over crowded... when we came back there were alot of people waiting to board the next trip!


this picture was taken in olvera, a town on a mountian half hour or more from ronda, never been here before, tony and i were out for the day on the friday, we sort of went in the same direction as we had the sunday before in search of franco's cave houses.... we did find some in a town by the name of sentida de las bodegas, but it was market day and no chance of stopping and parking anywhere, so on we drove up to the above town, the heat by the time we got there was very hot, the photo looks hot dont you think!

we had the cheapest sodas ever, anywhere... a euro for a can of coke! amazing, especially after the 8€ for two cokes that franco and tony had paid the saturday before at the market at the feria ground in fuengirola...

the streets in olvera are the steapest i have ever seen, the gradient is unbeliveable... other photos may show it better, i will post later...

we made it up to the church at the height on the town, but couldnt make the trip into the castle there in the photo, maybe next time eh! this place really is on top of the world!

everyone was so friendly, all said hello, well hola to us as we passed and they said it first! very welcoming...


and here we have the main shopping street in malaga, fantastic idea of covering the streets in this heat, it made a huge difference, just that little bit of shade as you walked along.

tony had a day off driving, he did about 1300 kilometers in the two weeks he was here. so malaga we went to by bus last saturday.

hours trip to the bus station and a ten minute walk into the city, had a few cold drinks along the way, and looked around the larios centre, a big shopping mal, near the bus station, then back to the bus station and home!

today is about 38c but yesterday it was 45c.... and it was till 45c on the roof at this time last night, eight o'clock.

today i dismantled two book cases i brought over here from england that i had built there... they are surplus to requirements now.... and yes as usual i had grown attached to them, why am i like this with 'things'? no really... why...


please check out the link i have added on the right for alhaurìn el grande, its the site from which i linked the dia de jesus last month... and he is a friend and asked me to add his site to mine... para te amigo, no problemo... yes i know i know my spanish really isnt getting any better is it!

hey.... i had a strange phone call, the day tony and i were at the marina in benalmadina, from someone i had applied to for a job, ages ago, last year sometime, i said i believed i had a job, the golf one, and he said ok and that was that! but i havent actually heard from him yet, so maybe they wont be taking it on at alhaurín golf after all, so maybe i should have said tell me more about the job, shouldnt i! tony said i should, and i realised this, but suddenly out of the blue and out for day somewhere i was knocked off guard!

We must make the most of the times when luck
is on our side and do everything to help it,
just as it is helping us.

TTFN
Marian