87 – Just a Note

No blog this week as I am sunning it in Nerja over Christmas with my good friend Nikki.

I have been touched and amazed to see the readership grow throughout 2013, both here on the blog’s home site at WordPress, on the Eye on Spain blog site, and through the new Writers in Spain website. I am immensely grateful to everyone who has read any of the blog since it began in July 2012. I’m especially grateful to those who have taken the trouble to comment – your encouragement and suggestions mean a lot.

86 – Two Faces of December

Oh yes!  It’s that time of year again.  And Spain does Christmas so well.  The lights are up, and in every corner a little nativity scene is built.

Oh no!  It’s that time of year again.  And Spain does fiestas so well.  The chorizo is sliced and the mosto decanted, and Colmenar prepares for its Fiesta de Mosto y Chacina – officially a Ruta de Tapas, unofficially the bar-crawl round every bar in the village.

85 – The Rough with the Smooth

So, you think it’s warm all year round in Spain?  Think again.

My village house is at 2,500 feet altitude, higher than anyone in the UK lives.   And it’s cold in winter.  We sometimes get snow – only occasionally in the village but plenty on the hills around us.  We are not far from the Sierra Nevada where the ski slopes opened early this year, at the end of November.

84 – The Hidden Language of the Soul

It’s a difficult topic to write about.  I want to say that I’ve engaged with Spanish culture through and through and taken it to my heart.  But there’s no point lying.  There’s a lot about flamenco that I just don’t get.