57 – Two Campos – a Contrast

Rural life in Shaftesbury, Dorset – the farming is milk, cheese and meat.  Rural life in Colmenar, Málaga – the farming is almonds, olives, lemons, oranges, sunflowers, avocados, and honey.

56 – Getting Into Hot Water

It’s taken me 54 years, but I’ve finally learned how to chill.  How to really, properly, chill.  And it’s in the hot tub.

55 – A Blank Canvas

A hundred artists descended on Colmenar earlier this month.  From nothing, each one created a finished painting within one single day.  The photographs here were all taken that day.

54 – Going West

I headed west last week.  I didn’t like it.

Not far west, I stayed within Málaga province.  I’d already been further west and loved Huelva and Cadiz provinces – stunning coastline with some brilliant secluded beaches.  And since choosing to settle in the Axarquía region I’ve obviously explored east of Málaga.  But I had reached my ripe old age without ever visiting Marbella.

53 – First-World Problems

“Oh you’re SOOoooo lucky!”   I get told that a lot.  Of course I know I’m lucky.   What’s more, I remind myself every day.  Probably every hour.   But it’s not because I live in two beautiful places and have the freedom to enjoy them.  It’s certainly not for the reasons most people mean when they say “Oh you’re SOOoooo lucky!”

52 – Inter-Cambio and Getting to Grips with Grammar

It must be extraordinarily difficult to learn Spanish if you think you don’t like learning languages, or if you hate grammar, or don’t know what the English words are for different parts of speech.   I’m very fortunate to find that I genuinely enjoy the grammatical building blocks of a language, and I love practising and improving my Spanish.

51 – Bedding In

Springtime.  My first Axarquía spring.   A year since I came house-hunting in Colmenar.  This week my white-van-man brought my final three boxes, some lamps, and the comfy leather chair from mum’s bungalow. 

50 – The Splendour and the Silence

La Virgen del Rocío – Foto – Ayuntamiento de Málaga

Changeable weather couldn’t keep the penitents, the celebrants, the Nazarenos or the tourists away from Semana Santa.  In every city, town and village in Spain, people turned out to see the richly-decorated floats and the cofradías (brotherhoods) carrying them.

49 – In Search of the Northern Lights

The score is currently standing at Joanna Lumley 1 : Tamara Essex 0.  But I’ll even it up some day.

48 – Soy Extranjera

Soy extranjera.  I am a stranger.

Soy extranjera en una tierra nueva.  I am a stranger in a new land.