In April 2009 my beloved and I set sail, quite literally, to start a new life in southern Spain. I say quite literally in the sense that it was almost literally, because, while we did travel by boat from England to Spain, it was one of those huge, unattractive ferry boats that pretends to be a cruise ship, and as far as I am aware, it had no sails.
On the way to our new life on the rather unattractive ferry
After a couple of days and a night or two on the ferry, we landed in the north of Spain, and spent another two days, driving the length of our adopted country, until we could go no further without dropping into the sea.
Between then and now, we got married, I broke my ankle and spent months learning to walk properly again, my beloved started a career as a singer, I started running a rather anarchic quiz in one of our local bars, and we were found by probably the nicest dog in the world.
We live in a delightful pueblo blanco, one of the lovely white villages of Andalucia. We enjoy the local customs and food, we have made some great friends, and are slowly learning the language.
Our little village, population 910, nestling in the foothills of the Sierra Tejeda y Almijara
[Update Oct 2014: We have now moved to an even smaller place, a tiny hamlet called Fuente Amarga, still in Andalucia, but only just. New neighbours. new local customs to puzzle over, and outside space for growing things and keeping creatures 🙂 ]
[Update Jan 03 2016: Our final (we hope) move to a lovely old cortijo in the beautiful and fertile Almanzora Valley. An even smaller hamlet than Fuente Amarga, but not so inaccessible.]
This blog is a jumble of musings and observations, things I find interesting, occasional poetic outpourings, and contributions from Poppy, when she isn’t too busy doing ‘stuff that dogs do’ [Four years on, she hasn’t contributed anything but ideas]
Enjoy!
I’m going to enjoy this blog very much. Witty doesn’t even begin to describe it!
How kind of you to say so, Pam. I’m really happy to have you along for the ride. Must just warn you that I have no idea what I am doing, but it could add to the fun 😀
Awesomely bloggeriffic!
I shall take that as a compliment 🙂 Thank you.
I disagree. Witty might well begin to describe it.
I think the word you’re looking for is allantoid, though there may be others 🙂
You are a deeply silly person, my dear. Anyone would think we were related 😛
The new Bill Bryson (but much more attractive) love the pics x
I’m having fun finding suitable pictures to illustrate posts. I think blogging may be addictive.
What fun!!!
Hi Lynn tried to reply to your email but it would not send.Don’t worry I tried to read other blogs today but it would only read the most recent about the knickers, which made me laugh by the way.
I am sure there is a techie somewhere out there for you …. Good Luck.
Look forward to reading more soon!!
Maureen xx
Thanks Maureen 🙂 A techie friend has offered to have a look and see what is going on, so I am hopeful we shall be up and running more smoothly soon. Glad you enjoyed the poem!
Looking forward to hearing all about your exploits with your rescue dog in Andalucía 🙂
Thanks, Marianne. I’m hoping to get the technical glitches down to a dull roar so that I can just get on and do the bits I enjoy – writing and finding photographs and pictures to liven up the posts. Next one on the conveyor belt is tentatively entitled ‘Let sleeping dogs lie’ – I have some very nice pictures of Poppy doing one of the things she does best!
Good to see it all; seems to be working now!
All, that is, except the thing that tells me there is a comment!
Great to virtually meet you! I came here via Cheryl. I am the crazy Kiwi who traded sunshine for snow, beautiful beaches for Blighty and Vegemite for British Marmite….all to follow a man I meet in Paris in 2007. I blog over at http://www.vegemitevix.com and have quite a bit to do with the expat community around the world. Would love to see you over at ‘my place’. Cheers Vix x
Hi Vix!
Pleased to meet you. I’ll come and see you when we get back from the Mule Festival. (Yes really!)
Hi there! I very much enjoyed your story about the duck diaper and coping with the amount of poo the little critters can produce! I just got myself 4 ducklings and as they are growing I am experiencing the same issues. They are still too young to be left outside at all times and I want to be able to give them the run of the house while indoors. However, now that they are three weeks old the size of the droppings is making this virtually impossible. I would be grateful if you could email me some hints and tips to make my own diaper until they’re ready to live outside permanently! Thanks a million!
Hi Sheila
I am not in Spain at the moment, so I do not have the template I used with me, and have limited resources here. I’ll see what I can cobble together for you, and get back to you as soon as poss. I can imagine your mop is doing overtime with four of them to cope with. I do hope you don’t have carpet!
I’ve put a simple pattern up for you, under the header of fiddly fingers and creative endeavours at the top of each page. Hope it isn’t too late to be of help!