The festival of the patios

Our dear friends Mike and Linda, who we only get to see every few months, as we live three hours drive away, were determined to make it up to Cordoba for the very famous "Festival of the Patio's" Now I hope they wont mind me referring back to their blog to remind me of the right blooming ole hoo haa that had trying to arrange it!

It is a direct line from Ronda to Cordoba, so they decided to come on the train, until they discovered the cost was 120 euros return! Apparantly they had heard of a ticket that offers pensioners 40% discount on train fares, so the day before they were scheduled to come, they headed off to the railway station. Unfortunately, the computer was down at the station, and were unable to get them, and this is where the nightmare of the tickets begins. Linda had read somewhere that these cards were available at the travel agents, so they charged down to the town centre, and tried three travel agents. Unfortunately, they were declined at all three as it was too close to their lunchtime, and siestas were looming, but they would all be happy to help them after 5:30 when they re-open! So back they went at 6 o’clock and bought the tickets. Unbeknown to them they had to pay the agent a commission, more blooming money! The travel agent also offered to organise their rail tickets....... er no thank you, and they returned to the railway station to buy the tickets.

Would you believe it, the computer was still down, so they were told they would have to purchase the tickets the next morning, on the actual day of travel! Thank goodness Mike and Linda decided to arrive at the station early and were thrilled to find no queue at the ticket office. However, when they attempted to purchase their tickets, they were told that the returning train was virtually full and that there were only first class tickets available!! So, after chasing around for the best part of 2 days trying to obtain a cheaper price, they ended up paying over 145 euros, whereas if they had just bought 2 regular tickets in the first place, it would have only cost 120 euros! Bless them!

There was one saving grace however, a little light refreshment and a rather large gin and tonic too. I have a feeling it could be first class all the way now for Mike and Linda!

We first had a peak inside the famous Royal stables of Cordoba, where an equestrian show is held, it is called "The passion and Spirit of Andalucian Horse"

The stables are set inside a rather beautiful old building and the horses, are just stunning. The shows are not on until late in the evening due to the heat here, in the "frying pan of Spain!"

The Royal Stables



Stunning horse just been exercised

We thankfully, after all this palava, did manage to meet them at the station. We visited a few of the patios, which once again were absolutely stunning, then relaxed and chatted, ten to the dozen, with an ice cold drink. Viewed a few more gorgeous patios, by which time it was time for lunch. As Mike and Linda were obviously tied to time and the excitement of first class rail travel, the day went far too quickly. We had such a lovely day, with wonderful friends. We must do it again next year!

Some beautiful patios below!

Light, music and water show in Cordoba

Alan's mum Linda, came out for a well earned break in May. Whilst she was here we visited a new night time water light and sound spectacular show in the grounds of the in castle of the Christian Monarchs (Alcazar) very close to the Famous Mezquita, in Cordoba. It is a new spectacle, with a little history lesson, which is n't too difficult to understand as it is projected on the walls in pictures. The next stage is the beautiful fountains set to a mixture of pan pipe and flamenco guitar music. The fountains "dance" and are lit magnificently. It is lovely to be able to go out in the evening and feel comfortably warm, as opposed to perspiring out of every poor throughout the day, or feeling cold and shivery, as we probably would going out for a late night in Brighton. And at the moment, all for free. It was a lovely evening out! We started off with a delicious meal at a nearby restaurant, then wandered comfortably full, round the Jewish Quarters of the town to the castle. Great night, we would thoroughly recommend it, and actually had some guests go last night, who did also enjoy it!

A beautiful spring

Another stunningly beautiful spring and summer here in the rolling hills of Andalucia. We planted some tomato plants, that have been so successful, I shall soon be eating them for breakfast, lunch and dinner, as well as giving them away! We also planted strawberries that we only had about two fruits from, so that was n't really a result, plus something else that we can't remember whether they are peppers or cucumbers, sadly nothing has appeared on them! Oh well you can win them all! I thought I would post you some rather lovely spring and summer photos to enjoy!

Wild lavender


This wild flower fills the hills
Nectarines on our tree

One of the two strawberries!


Home grown tomato, basil and olive oil from our own trees!

Poor Lily's abscess

After Lily had been sheared it was pretty obvious she was sporting a pretty large abscess on her right jaw. We felt so bad that we had not noticed it before, but were pleased we go down the route of "all off" during the shearing process, whereas some breeders like to keep a fuller fleecy face, in which case goodness knows when we would have spotted it. First trip was our main stop in Montoro, Andres the vet. He was happy for us to treat it ourselves having contacted a few good friends on the web, that have dealt with the same problem. It's great we can always help each other out when need be, with advice and words of comfort, and also exactly what prescription and dose you will need.

We began all precisely, measuring the abscess so we could see if it was growing. However after aproximatley three days the abscess had already burst. The injections were awful for her. Lily has a bit of a mite problem and is very used to being handled, and I think secretly rather enjoys it. She does little sighs as Alan puts cream on the backs of her legs, although gives him a little airey spit when he touches up her eye brows! She is not so keen on that. The fluid in the injections was rather thick, so we had to use a thicker needle that we would have prefered, it was so difficult to push through the syringe, it was really upsetting her, poor Lily. After a few days we began penning her into a smaller area to help her feel more secure and stop her leaping about quite so much, which it did help a little.

So aproximately three days after the treatment started, we noticed blood on her face, so we knew immediatly the abscess had burst, we then had to ensure all the horrible stuff was out. This was rather like a scene from the TV show Embarrasing illnesses, which is not to be watched whilst eating dinner. As we had read about, the abscess was full of a cream cheese type of matter. Good ole Alan is not queasy about anything like that, well strangely enough, apart from dog poo haha. He set about squeezing, whilst I cuddled, I cuddled Lily that is, not Alan, just to clear that up in your mind. Well Alan squeezed and pressed, and Lily was a star, I guess she was already starting to feel better! We had to then flush out the "hole" with betadine, then apply an antibiotic cream, and finally spray her with an insecticide. The last thing we needed were flies to strike in there. Well the treatment went completely to plan, thank goodness, and now a few weeks on you can hardly see a mark on here. Thank goodness, we shall certainly be more vigilant in looking for lumps and bumps in future!

Lily before treatment, and on the mend!

Shearing

Usually shearing is a pretty hectic, although fun day, with friends that are able to help, staying for a bbq, swim and a good old catch up. This year however for pretty different, there was the sum total of Alan and I, Kym and James Dixon our fantastic regular shearers and eight alpacas. That was it! James and Kym spend most of the year in Europe, including the UK, and the rest of the time in Oz, their home.

The build up was a bit of a nightmare, we had dreadful weather and all of us in Andalucia were trying hard to keep our animals dry leading up to our appointed shearing dates, with heavy storms forecast. The poor 5 boys were shut in a little stable, for about three days, and the girls in a shelter too. The day before shearing we actually had some dry weather so let them all out for a run around, and shut them back in again overnight.... just in case.

Well the sun was shining down on us the day of shearing, well for most of it anyway. Due to the weather being a little on the dodgy side, we got stuck in straight it. As usual everything ran as smooth as clockwork. Bless his heart little Santa was crying like a real baby, as his favourite friend in the whole wide world Rafa was being sheared, he just did not know what was happening to him, and it all got too much for him when it was his turn, he just could n't stop green oozy stuff, oozing out of his mouth and a wee bit of wee wee happening too. Thank goodness for an old towel kept handy, just in case. Bless him. James and Kym stayed over which meant we could have a lovely relaxed evening together before leaving for our friends in Ronda early the following morning. Keep in touch guys, we wish you all the best best for the future, we will miss you xxx

Usually I post before and after photos of all the alpacas, but just for a change, just a few random ones for you this year!

The boys looking a little gloomy

Breakfast before shearing

Cassandra, she is such a star, being sheared by James

The girls follow Alan to another paddock, to make room for the boys

Little Santa, watching Rafa being sheared

The boys checking out who is who!

Semana Santa celebrations in Montoro

The celebration of Semana Santa (Easter week) is huge in Montoro, in fact we were talking to a lady who had come from Granada to experience Montoro's celebrations. These celebrations were made so much better this year as we spent time with our great friends Pat and Pedro, who were able to tell us, where to go, when and why.... even if it meant considering leaving home at midnight to see the most amazing parade.

We met on the Tuesday evening first, for a great night full of loud marching bands, men dressed in Klu Klux Klan style outfits. The hoods are actually worn throughout the week to signify the mourning of the death of Jesus and removed to celebrate the resurrection. These outfits certainly do not have any other significance to the Klu Klux Klan. Ladies dressed in black with high mantillas walk through the streets, and the most unbelievable effigies which are carried through the streets. each effigy is very heavy, especially in Andalucia. Stong men carry them, in stages, swapping every 100 metres on so, and they will feel pain. These men feel it an honour to be carriers. An effigy can weigh up to a staggering 7000 lbs, 5150 kilos!!! Emotions are high and people shed tears at this awesome display of their beliefs. We stood for hours and every second was worth the wait as we saw two beautiful effigies make their way around the town. The first had Jesus on, following by the awesome candle lit virgin Mary! Tuesday evening with followed by a gorgeous meal, in one of Montoro's finest eateries!

Just stunning!

I was "umming" and arring" about meeting Pat and Pedro for the all nighter for the Maundy Thursday parades. In the end I decided not to go as it had been raining on and off and it meant leaving home around midnight, and Alan picking me up again around 7 am. I'm afraid in the end I did n't go, I was n't quite hard core enough. Poor Pat and Pedro, did go and it all sadly got rained off. There would have been some devastated people that had be planning the night for the past year. I believe the Maundy Thursday parades are really the ones to see!

We did however go into town on Sunday for the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus. The town were all out in their finery, some you would think we going to a wedding, rather than watching a parade in the street. let's hope next year I can manage the Thursday parades too!

We did however watch the Sunday morning parade deplicting the resurrection

New babies on the farm!

We knew Barb the mummy cat was expecting, the big tummy was a dead give away, plus the fact that she always has a litter this time of the year. The day came that she know longer her her cute kitten bump, but where were the kittens? The year before she had them fairly openly in the barn, and seemed to even call us when she felt happy for us to see them, however this year was different. We tried watching her carefully over the next few days, checking out where she was going, and hunting around areas of chopped wood, the barn, the stable, and other places that she tends to move her kittens to, when she feels ready. In fact we were very worried that they may not be alive, she certainly was n't spending much time with them! It took us days to find them, and that was mainly due to Arthur the Spanish Mastin. He would bark uncontrollably at her as she walked passed his territory, otherwise known as the big terrace, were he and the other dogs, hang out! Nothing new there though. There is a funny little out building near his big gates, where he likes to stand and bark at stars, full moon, or anyone working on the olive trees. Alan and I had even climbed in to this precarious little building and could n't see them.

I guess it was about a week later when Alan came in with the news I was hoping for. He had found them, there were two, and they were both alive. I shot round there with a camera, I was so pleased.

The little out building

They were living in this hole in the wall!!!

Cuddled up together

Barb really kept these kittens well hidden, but it is great to see nature at it's best, without any interference from us. From the beginning Barb was bringing them up to be independent as she could, and not depend her her too much. She would go to them every few hours, and then return to do her own thing, laze in the sun or hunt, without the fuss and bother of new born kittens constantly by her side. As I am so late keeping you all up to date with the blog, I can however let you know about 3 months down the line, the kittens are beautiful and pretty independent. Still extremely nervous but that is fine with us. I have shared some up to date photos below. I'm sure you will agree they are little stunners. After a particularly good football match we saw on the television recently, we can now introduce you properly to Messi and Xavi! Who knows what sex they are, but they join last years litter of Andres (Iniesta) Sergio (Ramos), who sadly seemed to get a transfer somewhere else, and Fernando (Torres) who know appears to be just Fern, if you know what I mean! Enjoy our new arrivals!

Mummy Barb at dinner time with her babies

The stunning Messi

And cute little Xavi