Olives, Chickens and Photos

Well, the girlies are now back at school full time, which gives me a lot more time too get on with things around the house and garden. All the veg planted last month is coming along great guns, with the addition of some more broccoli (yum), tomatoes, lettuce and celery. Had a bit of an incident involving ducks and lettuces the other day, but hell, there is only so much a lettuce a family can eat! Explanation - we have had a lot of rain recently, so they were meant to be eating the snails, not the lettuces.

The olives have all been picked and sent to Concha next door, who does her stuff and delivers me a couple of jars back! Nice arrangement, as it's really only me that eats them, and it keeps her busy too!! So much better than them going to waste. Took a couple of pics of some, before we picked them.
Also took a couple of bokeh shots that I'm quite pleased with, one a bit Christmassy and the other Halloweeny!The chickens have now started to produce two eggs a day, so they have had a reprieve.

Don't know what has happened here with the downloading of the pics, they are huge, will come back later and re-edit - sorry. Done, a bit late

Catching Up

I can't believe that I've not updated for nearly a month, how slack am I!

Been very busy in the garden, have finished with the tomatoes, corgettes, melons and watermelons. These have all been cleared, and the garden dug back over again. Recently planted for the winter, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuice, tomatoes and broad beans, which are all doing really well, but I have no pictures of these.

Our village was also in fiestas recently, so here are some photos of the foam party and the fancy dress parade.
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I've just had my sister here for 2 weeks from New Zealand, not sen her in over 5 years, so that has been very nice. The girlies are back at school now, but still only half days, roll on 1 October, when they are there all day once more.

I have managed to continue with my 365 Days project, on flickr, which is proving quite fun and have also started a photography course on line. This is proving very interesting and I hope that it will improve my photography. I've also been playing around and trying to learn Photoshop a lot better. This is a dyptych of a before and after Photoshop of my sister, I'm quite pleased with the results.

Before is on the left and after on the right!

In my absence I have also redecorated the girlies bedroom. Oh yeah I blitzed that Barbie pink, and have gone for a hopefully calming lilac and pale green. Oh and have rehomed 4 chickens from a local battery farm :o) They continued to lay eggs for a couple of days, but then stopped. I split the corral down the middle to keep the 'ens from the dux, and they have started to lay (sparingly) again. If they don't get their acts together soon, and start to be a little more productive, they might just find themselves in the pot.

Right that's my lot for today. Will try to be back again soon with another update.

In Fiestas

This year we have been invited to join a peña for the fiestas in the village where the girlies go to school. This should be much more fun than just going along ourselves. We have 3 dinners and one lunch to do, so here are some pics of what we got up to

Friday - Ofrenda de las Flores and Dinner afterwards

Saturday - Desfile - Fancy Dress Parade and Dinner again

Sunday - Paella in the park for lunch, Procession and Firework Display and another Dinner

Here We Go Gathering Nuts ...............

This year we have a real bumper crop of almonds, so are busy collecting them in. Only enough for us, friends and family, unfortunately. I can see why they are so expensive to buy, as they are very labour intensive! So, here we go from flower to table in pictures.......

Delicious Honey Roast Almonds to finish. I'm have about another kilo of shelled almonds, and I will be roasting and salting and also trying a new sweet and sour recipe. The remainder, will be stored in their shells, until I have found some more enthusiasm!

What a haul

The garden is really coming along well at the moment. We are overrun with tomatoes and I just can't pick them fast enough.

This is what I collected the other evening. The courgettes and aubergines are delicious done on the griddle and the aficoses are far tastier than the cuccumbers, which were quite bitter. The lettuces too were a bit of a disaster, quite bitter tasting, so next time I will be looking for a variety with a lighter coloured leaf, an iceberg or something like that. I must also stagger the plantings a bit better as well next year, as we are currently eating tomatoes for breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Here are two of my most favourite recently taken photographs. The first one was taken for my 365 days project for Flickr, and is probably my favourite of those I have taken so far. I must put an infrared remote on my wish list! The 2nd, was my first attempt at a cut out in Photoshop, and I am really pleased with it :o). The shoes belonged to Lynda and to me they are everything that she was bright, colourful and fun. So I took this for posterity, before the girlies trash them "dressing up".

Appearing Live in a Plaza near You....

Well, I've been so busy this past week with dancing every night I've just not had a chance to update. I have also started to do flickrs 365 Days project, which means taking a self portrait every day for a whole year. This is going quite well so far, but most of the pictures, are being taken late evening, as I have been forgetting, or too busy during the day.

The dance show was a great success and such good fun. It is such a clever concept, the way that 10 days prior, nobody could dance a step, and at the end we mount a production that gets applause!

The garden is a big success at the moment, I am giving away tomatoes and the melons are sweet and juicy. The lettuces were a bit of a disaster, as they were quite bitter varieties and the girlies weren't too keen, so next time I will have to try another variety. Some of the cuccumbers, were also bitter, but the aficoses are gorgeous. The onions are red, and although not very big yet, are tasty. Need to start thinking about what to plant for the winter now. Brocoli, beans and cauliflower I think. Here are some of the photos of our stage production. There are some more pictures here

Tango

Marilu Fischer is back again thisyear, giving tango lessons again it was the first night last night and the girlies were desperate to go. This year she has incorporated

some line dancing, so we had about 3 hours on the school playground. Very hot, sweaty and late. Here are some pictures of Marilu with the kids, as they were the first group, with lovely natural light.


They do enjoy it, although the girls seem to get the hang of it much quicker than the girls!

Gathering In

Well, I'm very pleased to report that we have eaten a number of salads that have all come SOLELY from the garden :o). The first crop of tomatoes have all been eaten, and I am now waiting for the second lot to ripen. There are loads, so if they all come at the same time, we could be all tomatoed out, and I will be searching frantically for recipes!


I've just got rid of my first visitor of the summer, which has stopped me from posting on here. It was lovely to have her here, as my girlies love the extra attention. They are staying at Nanny's today as they are off to a show with her, so it is giving me a chance to catch up and get a few jobs done.


Here are a few photos of the garden, can't wait to try the melons, although they still need another week or two to ripen off. We are over run by cuccumbers, courgettes and aficoses, and some of the lettuices have actually gone to seed - to be composted and recycled. Donations are regularly made to my neighbours :o). Must remember this next year, and not plant quite so many. Staggering the plantings a bit better.

The daddles are now in their new dog proofed enclosure, and will hopefully be joined by three turkeys, Holly, Noelia and Belen. Can't you just guess their fate? Also by three hens, but just for eggs. I think that the ducks are all in fact drakes. So no eggs from them, we will have to wait untill the oranges have ripened, before we decide their fate!

Pink Ladies

Just having a quick flick through my photos and realised that I hadn't posted any of the girlies end of term dance show. They did Grease at the local theatre, and it was really vey good, so here are my very own "Pink Ladies". The quality of the pictures is not very good, I must see if I can improve before next years show, and see if I can nab a seat where I can take my tripod!