Tribe? what tribe...

want to hear something really really funny?

above... a guy in the store today said "must read this, its about a tribe from (alhaurín) de la torre"... well later on i remembered this and grabbed a paper to read.... of course its not de la torre, or spain or any where near here! ¿what was i thinking? just call me marian the gullible please!

it IS actually on the brazilian/peruvian border.... an unknown tribe of people... please be my guest and read the article.... while i try to stop laughing at my silliness!

today, i emptied out my purse, and only carried into town what i really needed, i do carry things that are not always necessary, was hard leaving my camera behind... you know, just in case i saw something that needed quick photography...

The world lies in the hands
of those who have the courage to dream
and who take the risk of living out their dreams
- each according to his or her own talent.
The Valkyries

TTFN
Marian

going to be a short write today... tired and exhausted.... good 'ol fibromyalgia! and not great news today either, yesterday afternoon a poor lady sat in her car waiting to pull out at the inter section by bar rosa had her bag taken from in her car! she was on her own, car window only slightly down and bag near her, safely away from passenger doors etc... and then... gone!

then today some friends came in and they had been as good as mugged in town yesterday afternoon! stood waiting for a cab, minding their own business and it was smash and grab of her bag, left bruised and bloody afterwards...

and in last two days down at riveria del sol, near to calahonda, people out having a meal and there is a guy holding a gun to the womans head demanding money and jewelry!

felt very nervous coming home today, makes you wonder who will be next...

I believe that I am guided by chance encounters.
I believe in the miracle of chance encounters.
Unpublished by Paulo Coelho

TTFN
Marian

this is a rather strange clock thing that is in milton keynes, we were there eating at one pm and so saw it chiming... the frog coming up and blowing out bubbles, music playing and what not!!



not much more to say about it really, you have to be there to really appreicate it i guess..

these are my last photos for now of my holiday, still waiting to get tonys of the mom and baby elephant from the zoo.

weather not good, never had a may like this one, cloudy damp humid... rain early this morning, not working well with us trying to earn a bob or two at the market!

also quite quiet in town still, where are all the tourists? franco and i went down the coast yesterday afternoon to fuengirola, i had to sort out some new glasses for me!?! and it was very quiet there too, although we were there when most of the shops were still closed... and then it started to rain!

People always arrive promptly
at the places where they are expected.
The Pilgrimage

TTFN
Marian

Woburn Abbey

here we are... mom and i, at woburn abbey, that would have been... two weeks ago today wasn't it? another beautiful day, we had been to milton keynes in the morning and then to here early afternoon, after a walk around the house (no photos allowed, because you know i would have had some on here pretty pronto!)

after our scones with jam and butter... mmmm, could just eat another one of those now! mom and i went for a small walk around the old place...

this beautiful tree... and the house beyond, this part of which was an art gallery and sculpture house...


this above is a folly! wish i could remember exactly what it is though for you... hang on....nope gone through the above link but couldn't find out about it there, although i did come across lots of job vacancy's!

i am so tired... i think i havent caught up with my 980 miles of driving on my holidays yet! i feel exhausted, but not really sleeping well either, and now i have been on here for an hour or more, just came across something and have up loaded a couple of my photos on it, on google maps, i didn't know you could put your photos on there? or did i? cant remember... anyway done that hopefully, i put on a couple of the photos i did for our alhaurín calender this year.

and now to my book...

It is not enough to dream of the impossible love
- it is necessary to conquer it too.
Veronika Decides to Die

TTFN
Marian

here this female lion was extremely interested in the zebra below.... not sure if whipsnade have the close proximity of these two animals quite correct! there is only a small walkway between two spices who have one meaning only for the lions... food! although as you can see the zebras....


held no fear at all, probably not even noticing the predators over the way or us humans! we were all as close to them as this little child got... i have never seen them so close, but then they also look very dejected and sad... the trees here were not the only shelter from the heat so this isn't the only reason they could have been so close...


now i think this above was a snow leopard... not sure, its a new area for the new animals, and a bit hard to see...


the zebra again, i didn't zoom in, only put my camera through into their enclosure...

TTFN
Marian

this little guy above is our cherrub ornament that franco has made for us to sell on the markets... see you at the S.E.P.E. horse and donkey place this sunday folks! hope for good weather.... and some shade also! we have mostly the above, in white, but a pale blue one franco has done looks real nice and i think in gold too would look good!


and now.... back to whipsnade zoo!! above a shot that looks away from the zoo over the hills of gold (rape seed plants) and away towards... i think probably milton keynes somewhere over there!

and yes... another peacock, not zoomed in this one, here he was just relaxing and talking in the superb day...


had trouble with this little feller, a young giraffe... i did climb onto a bench but still couldnt get a full photo of him in, so this is it i am afraid!

holiday today here in alhuarín el grande, lots going on with the feria today, only a few shops were open, well the newsagents and kiosks, the bars and restaurants and the panaderias of course!

yesterday, coín was closed and no one knew anything about it, just all the shops and businesses were closed, people were complaining on the radio, in the stores, here, very strange! maybe they all pulled a sick day for the heck of it!

franco went to the aqua mania boot sale today, there were lots of stalls but not many people looking, i guess everyone was at the feria here instead!

When you travel towards your objective,
be sure to pay attention to the path.
The path teaches us the best way to arrive.
The Pilgrimage

TTFN
Marian

tucan! these birds at whipsnade came out of the wood building in the back ground there and on command went straight back there... if only pippa was as obiedient!

and one of the many peacocks they have in the zoo, i'm not sure did i put the photo in of the one at woburn safari park last week? everywhere i go peacocks... even just down the road here in peoples back gardens!?! this one worried us as we had to walk under him!

couple of good shots here of the rhino enclosure... a few times we confused logs with animals... this one above was one, we thought it was a log, but look no, its a baby laying down near his mommy...


i completely forgot to link to an amazing vid i got sent by friends while i was on holiday... or maybe i did, my memory is failing me fast... ok had a quick look cant see it on here...

its the camino del rey, the walk at el chorro where franco and i used to go through the tunnels over the bridge where frank sinatra died... (in the movie von ryans express!) watch it and be afraid... tony and franco walked along it some way, but we came to it from the narrow concrete bridge that can only be reached from the tracks....

hot today and humid... the streets covered with confetti from the opening celebrations of our towns feria this week, really really should have gone last night but.... my football team was playing franco's in the champions league, so the game won... (and so did my team!)

the town has lots of extra shops open along the streets... trucks come in and open up and lo and behold there is a new bar and a new sweet/pastry restaurant just there along the path!

today the guy who begs in town came in twice to the shop! everyone tells him to get out and leave them alone, and yesterday a poor girl came in with a small toddler and one on the way, maybe, asking for money for food... i do feel sorry for these people to an extent, but i also don't have a penny or a cent to give them right now! and the guy who comes in, what would he really be spending the money on?

i have an early present for my birthday from tony, for me ds lite, spanish word coach, its excellent! and every day i am playing it, words to learn and games to play to hopefully teach me more of this language i have, it seems, been trying to learn nearly half my life!

and i am reading my way through every patricia cornwall book i can get my hands on... i never 'read' her before, and had a book of hers mom and i bought last year, about a month ago i started reading it and finished it in two days... got another from work to read for my hols, finished... and another came in this week i am now reading... two more on the shelf waiting for me! the ones i have read so far are based on a dr kay scarpetta, there are nine so far as this book says in this series alone...

so i have gone from stephen king, for now, to this doctor above who works out who is responsible for the deaths of the people who end up on her police lab table... and its written in full technicolor! and i cant put these books down...

You must find your treasure in order to make sense of everything you discovered on the path. The Alchemist

TTFN
Marian

Whipsnade Zoo

look at these cute lemurs... they were so were here at the zoo... tony steph and i here were there a week last monday, wonderful weather... the keeper had just gone into their, above, enclosure and they were watching and following her around like pippa does me here at home...

below an avenue of wonderful cherry blossom trees.... and the petal were falling a flying about in the breeze....

the bird below i cant remember what type it is? only that his name is richard!!! he didn't do a thing he should have and kept laying down and having a dust bath in front of everyone.. he was cute also!

i am back in full swing here now at home in alhaurín el grande... weather ok(?) bit cloudy this afternoon, but very very warm.

franco and i went down to the huge market in benalmadina... looks a great place, so next week all being well franco will be down there selling our garden ornaments.. did i put a photo up of the beautiful cherubs he has made? ok, manaña...

the market is right next to the park i used to take my lunch break ,while i was doing the promotions job at the tobacconist next to the round about with all the wind mills on down along the paseo, the park has rabbits and peacocks and chickens!?! lots of amusements for the kids and just a nice place to go to relax too... it has a bar restaurant there too.

we had never been to the market before, not sure why!

All suffering goes just as it came,
so it is with the glories and tragedies of the world
The Fifth Mountain

TTFN
Marian

Combe Hill revisited...

bright gorse bush on our way back to the car, my hay fever in full swing by now...!

this is on one of the sides of the monument.... with below a stand with a directional showing you all the places you can see from this hill top....


pretty much unreadable i hear you say... true true.. the photo does not show it properly, was difficult holding up the camera above my shoulders and then trying to point in downwards...


and also back to the car this tree with the blue bells and the squirrel! can you see him?

How does light enter a person?
Through the open door of love.
Eleven Minutes

TTFN
Marian

Combe Hill

sorry these photos are a bit small i wanted to get four on and not take up too much space!

these are all taken in combe hill near wendover and aylesbury in bucks, you can see five counties... did i tell you this already? must be my age! humph!

the views from this hill top are stunning, as you can see on this hot may day about 25º, not the clearest day but never mind! everything is in bloom and i mean everything....

i know i have lived away now for nearly three years but i cant ever remember a may being so flowery, and things when you wouldn't normally see them, like daffodils in may and tulips!?! then the blue bells, my favorite, still out every where...


then the fields were full of bright yellow buttercups and dandelions... there were wall flowers and forget me knots in everyone's gardens... the chestnuts trees were in full bloom either in white or pink or what looked like yellow? the may tree flower couldn't have been more out there! they looked like they were covered in bright white snow the may flower was so wondrous!

the grasses were lush and high the hedges were trying to overwhelm the curb sides... weeds were flourishing... i cant tell you how abundant every where i was the last two weeks, no wonder i had hay fever!!!

and a tummy bug, thanks tony, and then a migraine... thanks to whatever!

my flight home was ok, bit late taking off, about 3/4 hour, but we had a tail wind i guess and made it in on time, the nose of the plane had to be cleaned up a bit after coming in from malaga for our trip home, they had had a bird strike...

and at malaga franco and pippa.... arh! my sweethearts!

A search always starts with Beginner's Luck
and ends with the Test of the Conqueror.
The Alchemist

TTFN
Marian

hey there amigos.... well how do i look? i have had a face lift! just kidding, its only my blog thats changed not me! that would be impossible by now...

i have added verve earth and had to up date to do so, not an easy task - for me that is, i had about ten tabs open up there and had to keep going back and forth and talking aloud for me to do it, also hoping at the same time tony would say 'what on earth are you doing' and help me! says he didnt notice me doing it, and i suppose after all i managed by myself didnt i!

thursday morning now, just after half seven am, and its looking grey, weather changed now, after the clouds yesterday coming and going they have just stayed put now! and its raining, but i have been sooooo lucky two weeks here tomorrow and this is the first day of bad weather... but who knows may brighten yet eh!

yesterday... oh hang on forgot sunday! only i most certainly havent forgotton sunday... tony steph and i went to the zoo zoo zoo... do you remember that record? "we're going to the zoo zoo zoo, how about you? you can come too too too, we're going to the zoo zoo zoo"!!!

sorry couldnt stop singing it on out way... most annoying... no wonder they put me in the back seat and turned up the radio! ;-)

so... we went to whipsnade zoo, we had a wonderful day... i hadnt been there is so many years i couldnt remember when, but i could remember where things were, and if they had been moved, for instance the elephants... and oh we had such a special.. well i suppose a show really at the elephants enclosure, and right at the end of the day there for us too, a mother and her 4 months old baby were making their way over to a water hole area with sands and rocks nearby, the baby was walking in his mothers shadow right under her and she had to walk carefully over him to avoid crushing him!

and once at the water she started to drink, and he did, then she started to suck up sand and shower it over her, sometimes getting down on a back leg and rub more sand, he tryed rolling over to cover himself in sand! and after she had completly covered her self she started rubbing the sand in with the rock! and he copied her... and finally she washed herself off with the water... it really was a fantastic thing to see, no high fences and no one infront of us, the few people who were there were like us, mesmerised by the whole thing, tony took loads of photos, my battery had gone by then! and he took a small video so i will get all of the photos on here soon.... watch this space please!

and of course apart from the elephants there was much much more, this is my favorite zoo, i guess because when the boys were small we lived quite near and had a family yearly pass and we would just come up whenever we wanted, after school weekends, whenever we wanted, and that was all of the time! only then it cost 25 pounds for the year for the pass... it cost us 55 pounds for the three of us on sunday, not including a bite to eat and drinks later.... both tony and steph caught the sun... we forgot the lotion!

and monday mom and i went to woburn, where i was a week last monday, but not the safari this time, the house... this was nice too, we had been to milton keynes shopping centre first! so had two hours in the house and then stroll round the gardens after a scone or do you say scone? with jam, we sat out by the tea rooms... very posh eh! it was very quiet there, we only actually saw maybe 4 or 5 people in the house other than us, and we were never in the same room as them at any time... which was really nice, bit like a private tour or just wandering round someones house alone!!!?? apart from a very quiet person sitting in each room to offer information or assistance of course! and stop people from running over the furniture...

yesterday, wednesday i went to get mom and came back here to st albans and we had a nice day just wandering round the shops.. and it was only getting back to the car a couple of hours later i realised we hadnt gone to the abbey, fancy going to st albans and not seeing the abbey mom? she said it was ok... next time...

tony came home early from work on tuesday not feeling well and didnt go in at all yesterday, so we watched more heroes... finished the whole of the first series now, that was 23 episodes! and are into the 11 of the second series... i think the first 2 or maybe 3?

i am dreaming heroes now, so many so fast...

TTFN
Marian

from woburn safari park last monday... i'm not sure if its that sweet inocent child that might bite actually! because we were in with the monkeys that the sign was meant for and they were soooo cute!

above and below shots taken from the park and ride bus steph and i took into oxford last tuesday... was great fun, reminded me of when i was a kid and mom and i took the double decker to hemel hempstead on the 312!

well saturday... to catch up! saturday cant remember s'ok coming back to me now, that was scary! how could i forget going over to lisa's! sorry mate, havent forgotten just couldnt remember what day of the week it was!!!

lisa lives between aylesbury and buckingham, in a most beautiful village, and when i got out of the car and stood there... the peace was overwhelming... i had had to pop into aylesbury town centre and even that early in the morning was buzzing with folk rushing here and there... so it was even more wonderful!

we just had coffee and bickies and i talked... and i talked, and then i talked some more... lisa could get a word in edgewise only occasionally till i had run out of steam and needed to drink my coffee!

then i was off again... home to tonys, and we relaxed watched some tv, i am catching up on the series 'heroes', so far we have watched 10 episodes! gulp!

TTFN

Marian

Must be getting used to british time now... its 12.30am and still awake and kicking!

went out with tony and steph and got a bit tired... poor old thing that i am and they sent me home in a cab!

then i have watched a funny scary movie and had a shower and feel lots more awake...

whats happened since tuesday though... wednesday went to get mom and we went to kent, strood nr rochester to be exact to see friends who live there... of course! had a good old catch up on events and went out for lunch, back for coffee and home again... took about an hour and half there and same back mas o menos... i usually get to see maggie and cath and family once a year since moving to spain, before maybe 2 or 3 times a year i think... these are two girls who my mom was best friends with their mom, and me with them... so we have known them, shall we say some time now! always good to meet up and never feels like its been so long...

thursday... i had a 'date' with sarah and baby callum in aylesbury, met up with mom first and we went up to combe hill near there just for the pleasure of it, such beautiful views across i think 3 counties from there... the weather was wonderful and there were a few dog walkers out, i know pippa would love it up there forsure!

and so to town and good look around, coffee in costas of course... and then mom went home and i met up with sarah, more coffee in costas! and then look around the shops... we talk about the high price of parking in spain but it cost me 10 pounds to get out of the car park! that would be over 12 euros!!!! crazy prices there, in berkhamsted its about 20p for an hour, different county different council of course!

friday, yesterday, mom and i went out with my friends dot and eddie who used to live in alhaurin el grande a few years back now, i used to work with dot at mercedes-benz in aylesbury, when it was pentagon, and we have stayed in touch ever since, first i was visiting them in spain, then we had a couple of years both of us there, then they returned to aylesbury... had a nice lunch in a pizza express!

then....

enough already for today!

A man should live if only to satisfy his curiosity.

TTFN

Marian

looking back at my last blog i didnt even mention where the photos came from!

so catch up... left my friend and drove further south to st albans and tonys place, its an easy trip, via bedford up the A6 to st albans, but for some reason i saw signs for M1 at took that road... silly silly girl what a mistake to make, where i was, was probably 20 minutes from luton mas o menos, but i had to drive for at least 30 to 40minutes to actually get onto the M1 and then go to luton and get off at the airport turn and continue on...

once there, trip to supermarket for food.... pattern forming here....

and then we did a quick trip round a couple of garden centres... again? for house plants and home!

monday morning, bank holiday here in UK, we went to watford, i hadnt been there since i moved to spain so was good to see again, not actually changed much, some shop names i have never heard of but much the same... we popped in to see a friend of tonys she was working in a store i used to go in from a small child, it used to be called clements and now new owners and changes everywhere in store!

we then went to a supermarket to check out a new house phone for tony, and then another supermarket nearer home for grocerys... home lunch and out again!



we went, with two more friends of tonys to woburn safari park, where the photos came from!

it was ok, bit lacking in animals in some of the areas, for instance one wolf! one tiger! two big brown bears! but lots of lions, monkeys, camels and giraffes!!!

good trip... and not been there for so long couldnt really be sure when it was!

once back home we four walked into town and went to a local chain of pizza restaurants... not a good experience this time i am afraid, they had a party of 40 in and things went from bad to worse, never spent so long in a place like that, its almost fast food normally! but saying no more than this we did end up with free deserts, so thank you very much the banoffee pie went down a treat!

tuesday... day spent with stephanie... i drove over to aylesbury and she drove us from there to oxford, another city i love very much, we got the park and ride into town and sat up stairs right at the front like a couple of kids, well i was like a kid anyway!

have a mentioned the weather... today is cloudy at the moment, but up till now it has been hot hot hot, for england, been in the 20's so far, and i mean like 22 to 26, beautiful i have been very lucky indeed... not sure how much sun i mananged to bring with me in my suitcase or how long it will last we shall see....

we just wandered about and had a coffee, we lunched in debenhams, a big department store chain here, and then stopped on the outskirts of aylesbury at a pub called the bugle horn, out in the beer garden, just had to retype that, there were no bears in the garden!!! we also saw lots of birds near there in the car and from the pub garden... red kites... beautiful birds, wonderful to watch....

where am i now? tuesday pm...

TTFN
Marian

hey... well here i am in england... i arrived into luton, late, and got up to barrys in nottingham even later, took over two hours with all the holiday traffic...  in the evening we went into the city by tram and had dinner in nando's, we went to see some friends of barrys later, had a couple of drinks in an outside upstairs bar in the corner house...

saturday we got the tram back up to the city and looked about the shops, i needed some of my migrane tablets that i buy over the counter in spain without a problem, but to buy them here i had to fill out a two page form asking a load of questions about my current health and the side effects of these things... and so ten minutes later and some water i had taken one! to add to the others i had taken earlier which hadnt shifted my head ache... 

later on saturday i left baz and started back down south stopping over at a friends in between kettering and bedford... we went to the supermarket and got some quick food in... but still didnt get to eat before 930 i think... 

the following morning we went out for a drive and visited a local garden centre, there was a chef in store cooking up some tapa like food which we enjoyed... thank you very much senor... sorry no squigley things on tonys computer for the 'ne'...

TTFN

Marian

have been up on the terrace trying to get a last bit of sun before tomorrow and trip to england, but have been forced back inside!!

well only for a while... this morning bright and early the rockets were going off from our vera cruz and i think the purple church also! so many so fast, the initial phew'ish noise that pippa recognises before us! then also the sound of car horns blaring loudly... we were up by about 8am i think, on this May Day holiday.

and now its going on louder and in more earnest, a rocket every few seconds and as this morning right over our heads... horns and whistles blowing frantically all over this area! i was up stairs reading but its too noisy now, you can feel the bang of the rockets vibrating in your feet! i think our windows are rattling, and lil pip is hiding away under the table here, my poor little baby.

i am all packed now and ready to go... yesterday we did our good turn for the day and receive it back tomorrow with a free lift to malaga airport, i dont mind flying, in fact i love flying, but its the bit in front, the lining up and checking in, then the hanging around, especially on my own before the flight and worrying over getting on an easy jet when i am flying monarch! well i did wait in the wrong area with the wrong crowd once, i realised before boarding but.... still.... there it is!

no photos today, i should never promise what i cant guarantee to deliver...

well amigos, hopefully will be back with you on monday, from st albans, england, tonys pad! have a good weekend all and take care...

The best way to serve God
is by going in search of your own dreams.
Only the happy can spread happiness.
By the River Piedra
I sat down and wept

TTFN
Marian