There's A Bright Side Somewhere.....

Another hot old day here in Spain. Although, we did have a bit of rain yesterday.....about two minutes worth of half-hearted downpouring but rain!  The problem with growing Veg in pots on roof terraces is that you must get water up to it all a few times a day  in the temps/sun here. As we do not (yet) have a tap on the roof, I have to lug it up a few flights of stairs in J's watering can - a tiring sort of business really. But with stuff now coming onstream one which is worth the effort!

The Nicotiana has burst into a few blooms, with more on the way. The scent is lovely in the cool of the evening:

More to come soon:

By around 19:00, the temps have reduced or moderated to a tolerable outdoor level, and the countryside has a softer, less sun-baked, look to it. It's possibly the best time of the day. Certainly a grand time to relax with some plonk, a book and maybe music in the background. These pix, in no particular order, were all taken yesterday evening at about 19:15, and sort of illustrate the feeling, I think/hope:

I caught the breadvan yesterday and, thankfully - maybe he read a previous entry here - he again has Dognuts! Yippeee......I do enjoy a morning Dognut!  Jack's rather fond of the odd crumb, too!  It may not be quite an ideal, healthy breakfast but a Dognut and a Hot Chocolate drink are just about perfik for my money! A habit largely picked up in France with a Pain Aux Raisin substituted for the Dognut.

Jack still - like me - finds the heat wearisome at times. He looks for the coolest, shadiest parts of the house and collapses in a heap, in the most inconvenient of places at times,  not unlike Bagpuss:

J returns from London tomorrow, flying into Malaga. So I'll have to make an effort to tidy the place a bit for her return. Our friend, Dorin, has just called to apologise for the delay but to confirm he will set up the Sat dish thingy either later today or tomorrow morning. So we will have BBC Radio on tap through the Sat/TV rather than only online. 

A cousin and his wife from Scotland is holidaying in Torremolinas in mid-August and has been in touch. They will be visiting for a few days while nearby. Which means, we must get out and buy a few sticks of furniture for them. Some of the rooms are looking a bit bare and spartan, but we've been reluctant to buy more cause we've got everything we need up in the Swedish house. The cost of moving the stuff from there to Spain will be Hellish!!  This was another potential advantage (marginal) of a move to the Northern Isles of Scotland: it's a shorter move and there used to be (I'm sure) ferry links with some of the outer Isles and Norway, links which would be particularly useful! Even a freight/shipping sort of job would probably be better and cheaper in the long run!

Our neighbour, Maria, throws out her food scraps to the stray/feral cat population, who are remarkably brave and forward. They evidently recognise the sound of the various dealers' vans and the horn-blasts that accompany their arrival, as they all appear as if from nowhere within seconds. Needless to say, the Fishvan is understandably  the most popular:

There's another Tabby just under the back bumper

The cats scuttle under the back of the van and around the local's feet with considerable optimism and dexterity. The van is almost as popular with the local ladies and does a good trade, it seems to me.

A few years back, I had the good fortune to meet one of my personal favourite US guitarists, following a suggestion made to me by another fine US ragtime player/friend, http://www.maryflower.com/ that I must go along and introduce myself to this guy when next our paths crossed in North Carolina, as they then did most years.  Jorma Kaukonen http://jormakaukonen.com/ is probably best known as the guitarist with Jefferson Airplane back in the 1960s, when he played at Woodstock among other notable events. Nowadays he's a bit more laid back, running guitar workshops/camps from his farm in the Appalachian hills in Ohio, and playing mostly acoustic blues guitar with a great little outfit called 'Hot Tuna.' He's a genuinely nice guy and one Hell of a picker. And we've since met a few times, including up in Ohio: