i am exhausted... wish this weather would break, just a little rain would be good, at night would be good too, just to cool things down a little. still no rain inland here at all, was bit cloudy down on the coast over the weekend, and seems storms are forcast for the weekend about here, so we will see.

coming home from work on saturday was a very strange first experience, the sky was blue, clouds were grey on the horizon, but all the way home so for about ten minutes i guess, it felt
like i was walking along near a car wash! felt like over spray... very strange!

although we, i, shouldnt complain, the poor people in greece, all the dead and the loss of homes and land, one couple were found in their home in an embrace, unable to save themselves, and another woman and her children died in their car trying to flee the flames, but had they stayed in their home, the fire didnt touch any in the town at all!


this week is quite quiet in town, lots of shops closed, still bar rosa is shut for holidays, so the very hub of the town is not there, its where we all meet up and everyone is wandering around feeling lost and not sure where to go meet their friends, and of course on wednesday the bar to our left is shut and so with the empty bar seems a very quiet place with just our shop there, well and the realestate offices and the lotteria of course!

three of our customers are on their way back to england in the next couple of weeks... wish them well and we will miss them...

poor pippa has been suffering the last couple of weeks, no way can i walk her in the morning and then spend the next six hours on my feet, so she is lucky if she gets a walk around in the evening, poor little thing, i suppose having three levels in our house gives her a good run, but she will be glad when its back to normal in a couple of weeks.

i have skipped a couple of my tablets the last couple of days, the farmacia is shut on my way in and shut on my way home... and now i am suffering, these are ones to keep my tummy safe from the strong anti inflamatories, it meant today i havent really eaten much.... yet... so i had better get some dinner on and try and eat, eating is ok, its the aches and pains that follow 12 hours later i cant do
...

ok amigos adios for now...

All the world needs
are examples of people
capable of living out their dreams
and fighting for their ideas...

TTFN
Marian

Floods

sorry about the photo above not too good and `borrowed' from the sur in english, thank you sirs! when franco came home early from work due to the months rain in 20 minutes this is what he was in! amazing isnt it, its says here.... "more than 40 litres per square metre pouring down in the space of an hour.... very unusual for august" well this could be because franco´s sister is out this weekend, and more often than not it rains when she is here! oh maria!!



and this little darling above came into the shop the other day, i have heard of chicken in a basket, but never puppy in a basket! how sweet...

been a long busy week, just heard my friend hasnt received any of my emails while she is away in canada, and is wondering if everything is ok!

of course of course.... por supuesto amiga...

Only one thing makes a dream impossible,
the fear of failure...

TTFN
Marian

i would say where has this week gone since i last blogged, a whole week? but i have been helping my friend out while she is away, so not been home till about 3 pm every day, including saturday, and so tired, yesterday i came home, got a bad head to add to the bad neck bad back and aching hips took them all to bed and got up at mid night? slightly at a loss as to where the evening had gone, had a yoghurt and went back to bed again.

its been so hot at night, hotter than normal i am sure for this time of the year, and these last few days so humid, franco came home early from work today as he was rained off, and he thought we would be flooded out up here too, but no rain in alhaurín today, it was torential down on the coast at calahonda and la cala de mijas, impassable in places and lots of accidents on the greasy roads.

this last week with franco on hols, he has been getting dinner ready for me thank goodness, i have been useless after getting home!

sunday we went to la trocha, but the shops are now closed there too on sundays, so no market and no shops, even the restaurants were not open yet!

we went to the garden centre for coffee instead, where i saw so many people i knew it was like a week day!

barry, oldest son, has booked his flight, yipee, he is over when franco is away in october, infact i can take franco to departures, see him off and walk round to arrivals where barry will be arriving! as long as both flights are on time i suppose!

ok folks sorry i am all done in now, my fingers ache so i am off to rest, seems the mornings are coming round much faster these days, and we have not even walked pippa yet today...

Love cannot exist in peace,
It will always come accompaned by agonies,
ecstasies, intense joys and profound sadnesses...

TTFN
Marian

Girls day out!

well here we are, down in fuengirola... aint she cute there above, hair so short we didnt think the clip would hold, but hold it did!



and what a sight we are no? looked like a hen night group gone terrible wrong and still out in broad daylight!

oh well we were having fun and harming no one, stone cold sober and making people smile...

the band is playing now, so we´re off out...

and by the way please remind me next year no star gazing, i have been suffering now for three days with a bad head and my neck is unmovable!

Warriors of light always keep a certain gleam in their eyes.

TTFN
Marian

Fuengirola

yesterday friends and i went down to fuengirola by bus to be noisey! well we were, we wanted to check out where friend is moving to this week, leaving us inlanders becoming a beach babe! we arrived in good time and had a coffee, then back to get a cab to take us there, seemed to take ages and didnt have a clue where we were going to end up, i will have to have a look on google map after this so i can check it out again.

she is moving to los boliches end of town, and seems very near to the benalmadina area, hopefully i will be able to find a good way of getting there by car, i think i have an idea how, just need to see it on the map.

the apartment is very nice, fairly new, and very very different from her very old house she is moving from, she wanted to be nearer the sea, and all the things that make living on the coast so different from living in land.

after we had the checked the place out we made our way back into fuengirola, some walk, but she wont have to do it if she doesnt want to, the area where she is moving to, and los boliches itself of course, is a good community with all the things you need... a small town all in its self.

we stopped in a bar along the beach and sat at a table in the shade right on the beach, we shared sardines fresh off the beach, above photo showing them being cooked next to the restaurant, the heat waves reaching up and making those people look all wobbly!!!

we had salad and bread and some cool drinks, the table to our right was getting fuller and fuller as a huge spanish family came off the beach, and the waitress´s triend to clear our table before we had even finished eating! that i didnt like, up inland, you can take as long as you want, only one group at a table and they dont rush you to fill it up again! and having our plates taken before we had all finished was only annoying and made us stay longer... we had more drinks!

then we carried on our merry way, into the town centre, we were in holiday spirit, dispite the above, and we ended up wearing flower leis, just like the hawaiian ones! and a clip on flower in our hair... ok ok i hear ya´ll laughing now, well you should have seen us!

you could if i posted the photos! i´ll check first and will do... maybe !

when we ready to get the bus home i talked to franco said adios to the others, i walked along to the miramar and met him in there... what a lot of walking, cant believe i did it, but i do today, big time, never mind had a great day...


lil purdy cat above is a friends kitten... aint he sweet, basking in the sun...

today, we went up to the garden centre with pippa, bought a climbing plant, to hopefully make its way up the rock face behind the house!

oh i almost forgot, stayed up late last night to look out for the shooting stars... san lorenzo again... see last years entry for him...

franco was watching tv, he fell asleep, but then so did i! up on the terrace laying down on the floor! just on some chair cushions... but the only way i could look up easily skywards! my neck was hurting from leaning back, so maybe thats also why it hurts so much now....

more luck tonight i hope, staying awake and seeing them too! few more nights i think we have a good chance of seeing the amazing things.

Do not try to explain feelings.
Live everything intensely
and treasure what you feel as a gift from God.

TTFN
Marian

the lakes are not this full at the moment! although they are higher than normal for this time of the year, due i guess to all the rain we had in april!

now what i have been meaning to tell you for a week now, the road up from the coast, down to fuengirola is going to be worked on! totally, not just the usual suspects, those recurring pot holes! its is going to be widened where it can be, to make those dangerous curves safer i hope, the works are going to start shortly.... (?) and will take 18 months mas or menos!

so when its done its going to be fantastico si!

still hot in these parts, 35 in the shade on the terrace today... stopped at bar rosa and had pil pil today with garlic bread, very nice thank you amigas! just what i needed just when i needed it!

yesterday i drove down to get franco from work and i think i havent driven the car since maria was out here back in june! seems strange not driving for so long, never thought the day would come where i wasnt driving every day... bit like the days i couldnt see myself not going clubbing... and i mean dancing by clubbing folks! but those days are long gone... and different ones are here now... ones i didnt expect and so much better!

The warrior of light
plunges unhesitatingly into the river of passions
ever flowing through his life...

(and as usual paulo coelho´words are spot on!)

TTFN
Marian

as you can see we survived the lakes! the first trip out was a bit scary, well for me, i was all brave and excited all week, then got out there in the middle of the second lake and the wind was blowing, the waves... yes there were waves, and a strong undercurrent, we were paddling like crazy against the wind and waves whichever way we went! so the first time i got a bit freaked out... but we got back off the boat, and walked ashore, i went back in on foot to test out my life-jacket! lol... i was walking out slowing putting one foot tentativly out infront as i know the land drops away very suddenly at the lakes... when thats exactly what happened and i was screaming and flapping about like a crazy thing! then remembered i did have a life-jacket on of course! steadied myself, because it was still only chest deep really i had just panicked... i relaxed and leaned back into the water and it held me ok... till i came across some spiky twig things and started scrabling about all over again! hope no one got all then of video!

anyway after that i didnt want to stop... so we did four tours of the lake the final one going into another lake and seeing what was up there! it was a great day, the sun was hidden most of the day by some fluffy clouds and although we had both put sun screen on franco got badly burned, especially his ankles and chins. on our way back we stopped in cartama for coffee and tapas, and then passed and drove back to an ice cream parlor for a huge dish of beautiful cool ice cream!!!

i expected to be in agony sunday, but saturday evening, still no sky tv, we went out with pippa walking, did a big trip up to calle blas enfante, and continued all the way way and down into the centre of town and bar rosa roundabout, we stopped for coffee at bar chaplin and then home!

my arm muscles ached, but good ache, my shoulders were a bit tender, but not too bad and my hips i suppose were fine because i was sitting straight out, not sure, but not more than happy about that.



now photos here... top one is the fountain i have mentioned before, its at the top, well what was the top of riviera del sol, its now at the approach of the tunnel that takes you under the toll road to the huge area of apartments now on the other side of that road too!

the photo cannot really show the exact size of the thing, maybe four or five cars in length... its amazing though the water comes up out of her mouth!

and the photo above is the view of los olivos taken from the road coming down from the toll road into calahonda.

yesterday as we couldnt get the grandprix on our tv, we went down to the beach apartment and we getting ready to watch it there when the box froze! we left it a while and took pippa for a walk along the beach to a bar, had coffee and water, for pip, came back but no good, so back home again!

we turned the aerial so we could get our spanish freeview box to work and watched tv on that for the remainder of the day, even got the chelsea-manchester united match on that! and loads of american sit coms and movies all evening! in english!!!

It is not explanations that carry us forward,
but our will to go on...

TTFN
Marian

El Chorro and the lakes

well tomorrow we´re going up to the lakes on our little boat, blow up boat thing this is! i have all our stuff ready, cool things in the freezer cooling... towels, water shoes, sun screen of course, most importantly my life jacket, i just said to franco should i wear it all the time, he said no i dont think you will need it in the car! ha ha funny man!

we´re going to leave early enough not to be out when its real hot i guess... and i suppose fingers crossed then for the day! neither of us can swim, we´re not taking pippa, who is the only one who can, or at least we guess she could doggy paddle if she had to eh!

and i´ll tell all soon! probably on sunday when we have gone port out and starboard home...

TTFN
Marian

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