Let Us Get Together.....

Here's John Wayne, as I call him. In theory, the stray/feral cats are his. At least they live in woodpiles etc., around his finca home. I've even seen him throw them the odd scrap of fish on occasion. But he takes no responsibility in reality for the poor bleeders and watches my feeding them with barely concealed amusement. If he accepted responsibility for them, he'd be obliged by Spanish law to both microchip and anti-Rabies them all, at considerable expense. It must surely be sensible to have the adults neutered!:

I was up on the Ragua pass, at about 2000 metres, leading over the hills towards Granada, and came across this thing. It had solar panels on top and also out alongside it and a diesel generator running full-tilt, breaking the peace. Needless to say, it was a Brit, huddled inside with a cup of tea or some'at. Very noisy whatever!:

Impossible to get Blogger to put pix where wanted without huge effort, dragging etc! Absolutely pain in arse, so will try loading some in andtexting around them, as GZ suggested a while back. There we are, for example. The above photo should have been following this text but inserts at top of page....always! In fact the new Blogger is crap, so I must change to Wordpress I think!

The weather here remains sunny and warm, with temps hovering around the low 20s for most of the day. It does, however, get chilly when the sun sinks and, having managed to get a load of wood, -(Olive, not my favourite) I need the wood-burner in the evenings now. 'Tis pleasant to sit with me feet up and a glass of plonk in front of the fire, Jack snuffling at my feet and Charlie sprawled on my lap. Snug and cosy, for the most part. I pop down to the bar for the odd beer and Tapas and make forays into the nearby town of Cadiar from time to time for supplies and Cat & Dog food. There's a Brit shop-cum-cafe that sells tinned Haggis (I kid you not) and a variety of over-priced UK foodstuffs on the outskirts of the place. I stop for coffee there from time to time and the owners are very nice, friendly people. It certainly attracts the Brits in considerable numbers on a daily basis.

Having got talking to the owners I was amazed to learn that they moved here from Glasgow and, in fact, lived very, almost scarily, close to where I was brought up, a few hundred yards away. A surprising discovery for us all, including my old mate from London, who also lived there before moving South about 30 years ago, and Kenny Dalglish who was in my class at school with us. Here he is, (not Kenny) being an idiot (as usual for a recently retired university lecturer) in Malaga and on the road down to the coast:

One of the neighbours has a sign up, presumably in preparation for the Xmas market here. Live Rabbits for sale: and here they are hopping innocently around in near-Stygian gloom. I assume the big lad in the cage at the back is the prize stud:

The sight of this lot reminded me of our time in Sweden when, for a while in deepest winter, we looked after our Kraut neighbours' huge, expanding bunch of bunnies. They took them up there from Germany with a view to breeding them for meat. In the end they ate none of them, but spent a lot on feedstuff and, with about twenty of the boogers running riot in a large specially constructed area, finally gave up and, I believe, simply killed the lot and fed them to the local Fox population in the surrounding forest:

This is my old buddy, one I used to feed in the garden every day during our last spell there in winter. It's already pretty cold up there with a forecast minus 20 today. Oddly enough, you do get used to it and it is often pretty spectacular:

Me, I'm still looking out for a Turkey. Must be possible........

You Know That's Something I Crave.....

It's not every day that you find this kind of thing hanging on a washing line, in my limited experience!:

But there it was this morning on a neighbours rooftop line: a few rows of Morcilla/Black Pudding and a trio of Chorizo links. What a tasty treat to set before the neighbours!

I assume it means a family killing has recently occurred, with a pig being slaugtered and the bounty doled out between family members. To judge by the amount received here, our neighbours must be rather low in the pecking order! Still, never look a gift horse etc, etc.

There used to be a strong tradition of this annual killing and distribution throughout this region and most books on the area mention it. The Matanza is, however, now largely a thing of the past, with shop-bought produce filling the gap, albeit leaving a cultural void in its wake. On one of our earliest visits to the village, the neighbour of our Brit friends had a whole pig in its constituent parts hanging in their rooftop tower/hutch affair, but they have now given up on this and today is the first sign we've seen of it for many years.

My visit to the UK was uneventful save for being dragged off to Tin Pan Alley/Denmark Street by our French friend, Patrick, who longed to see some decent acoustic guitars, Martins, Gibsons and Lowdens. He was satisfied with the excursion and also enjoyed the music events we managed to cram into the trip. I left to return here with an old Scottish friend before Patrick returned to France but J stepped in and took him off on a grand sight-seeing trip on his last day there.

We returned here to a dismal day of soggy cloud and rain, replaced on the next day by the usual sun and blue skies. As it's continued since. J returned yesterday for a few days and today we had Toastada at the local bar and a few beers to slake our thirst in the warm sunshine. Temps about 24 degrees or so today. Pretty acceptable with Xmas approaching, I'd say.

J returns for her final shifts before retiring and returning here on December 20th. I'm trying/hoping to get my hands on a Turkey out here and assume, given the number of Brits down on the coast, it should be possible! We do have some Duck and Chicken available, if not!

Charlie is still behaving like a near normal cat: his offering today, brought in yesterday sometime, I'm sure, was this poor Mole:

The stray/feral cat population now views me as an essential part of its daily routine. Today the Kittens came calling, yelling hungrily outside the door until I went out and fed them all. The little masked one now tolerates my stroking her (I think!) while feeding and the others are also becoming used to my presence. Anyway most of the hissing has stopped, which must mean something!:

And finally, a few evenings ago, I heard a clamouring/clattering/ ringing of bells and looking out found a herd of Goats being walked along the street by the house. Now this used to be commonplace when we first came here but it's the first time I've witnessed it since our return. They don't have leave pile of shit in their noisy wake, though!:

It's A Long And A Dusty Road.....

Charlie has suddenly become extraordinarily and demonstrably domesticated and friendly. Towards me, at least. He goes out for a few hours each day, bringing back the odd mouse for a quick nibble and bit of protein, and insists on sitting on my lap for an hour or two each day, being stroked and purring loudly. All very strange and more like an ordinary cat! Each evening he trundles ahead of Jack into the bedroom and settles at the foot of the bed. In the night he comes up to me and nuzzles me, nose bashes away, while padding and purring. After which he settles down alongside me and dozes off. He's invariably in the same position come morn, so as I say he's almost normal. Unexpectedly and certainly suddenly. Don't know what's got into him or come over him, though it's a welcome development:

Buddies together

I only hope it continues after his forthcoming visit to the local cattery, where he'll be sharing a cell/run with his old, deaf buddy, Jack. They'll be fine together and I think it best for them both to be together. We're lucky there's a Cattery/Kennels nearby and at about 14 euros a day for the pair it's not too prohibitive. I'll take them both down on Wednesday afternoon as I fly off from Almeria early on Thursday morning, Gatwick bound.

A friend in Kent has bagged a couple of tickets for a gig in Tunbridge Wells on the night I arrive: Show of Hands are one of those bands I've long known about but never seen, so I'm hoping for a pleasant evening out: http://www.showofhands.co.uk/: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aV5JESfaZ1c

I'm also off to see an Argentinian based American player/singer/songwriter with J on Sunday. Richard Shindell is one of my favourites and I've yet to catch him live. He's a fav of Joan Baez too, who commissioned a song from him a few years back. Finally, we're all going to see an old sort of mate, (I gave up playing guitar for a while largely because of a continued failure to meet up with him back in the early 1980s - he thought it funny, and sad, when I told him, a few days before he boogered off to live in the States for many years) a great guitarist called Martin Simpson. We booked this one because our French friend, Patrick, will love his playing, I'm sure, and had never heard of him before his last visit here a few weeks ago!

Still impossible to uplaod from UTube. God knows why or why it's been changed. Just a small bit of film icon now which tells me the vid I'm inserting will be visible later - which it won't be!

Here is the useless interface now!

It does not download from Tube, whatever it might say! And with the new photo downloader I can't do more than one at a time and they all appear at top of page, so must be dragged (with difficulty) and dropped into place! Absolutely awful change. I think I'v some kind of hybrid with features from the old Blogger and some crap ones from the new style. I recommend everyone to ignore the new offering: it stinks!

Charlie's nemesis turned up yesterday afternoon as I sat plonking away here. He leapt from the street up onto the narrow window ledge. Obviously planning on a quick food fest, he was horrified to find me sitting here. The speed with wich he executed a turnaround and leapt off, especially on the narrow ledge with a substantially hazardous drop below, was impressive:

Pondering his next move, no doubt!

The little kitten, Panda/Rocky Cat in the Mask now allows me to lightly scratch his/her nape and head when eating. Today, when I fed the usual hoards, he/she was perfectly relaxed when I touched him/her. Progress, I think. I'll see what I do when I return from UK on the twenty-fourth. An old friend, originally from Scotland but now a London resident, is coming over with me for a week's holiday, so there will be lots of drinking and eating involved, I'm sure! There will also be lots of guitar playing too, though I've developed Dupuytrens Contracture in BOTH hands, so will have to eventually give up playing altogether, I think.

It's a bitter pill, after over forty years of mostly fingerpicking. I'm not very comfortable with general strumming, having not done it really since I was a beginner and having let my flat-picking skills atrophy; but it may offer me an alternative to simply quitting. I've also got my Ukulele and Banjo-Uke to consider though I think I'll persevere with those till the last possible moment. I'm planning to sell my best guitar - a rare Gibson AJ Special, number one of a limited 36 model run. The money will be handy and it will have to go anyway because of my developing disability!:

If there's anyone out there looking for a great guitar, a genuine collector's piece and, I'm sure, a good musical investment, do let me know! Sadly!!

That Ole Boy Ain't Never Coming Home.....

A perfect day here in Las Alpujarras: temps in mid to high twenties, blue sky and loads of pleasant sunshine. I wandered down to the centre of the village hoping to catch the Farmacia before it closed for the afternoon siesta; it closed early, and as I approached with Jack trailing behind, I saw the Pharmacist drive off! It means a second trip down, as I'll have to wander down later, sometime after five this evening when it reopens.

Panda/Rocky/The Cat in the Mask was on his/her own today, no sign of its buddy, the little Marmalade kitty. It was sitting out in the middle of the Calle by the Fuente wailing its head off for food, so I fed it, whereupon another three or four adults, including one of its siblings turned up to greedily have a share. Can't help but wonder where the Marmalade kitten is, though. Not a trace of it today. I do hope it's okay, safe and fed somewhere nearby.

I've been mentioning our neighbours, Maria & Juan, recently, as they usually are always here and always feed the feral cat population. Having stopped for a cafe and a beer (or two) at the local bar this morning, I asked the owner, Moises, if he knew where they were or had been. It seems that old Juan has passed on, which certainly explains things. He was a genuinely nice guy - unlike some of the neighbours around us. Always welcoming, smiling and game to try out my appalling Spanish, he was slow, patient and helpful to both J and I. when first we came here, some years ago, he'd often stop by the house and give us boxes of Cherries or whatever he was cropping at the time. We will miss him. He was a nice guy - a suitable epitaph, I think and hope.

I'm not sure quite how to tell his widow, Maria, who has been equally warm and welcoming, or son that we are saddened to learn of his death. But, no doubt, we'll get the message across somehow.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQrJDpfiX5w

Jacquie over at http://www.thebarefootcrofter.com/ suggested I try using the clapperboard thingy at top of Blogger page to download the usual UTube stuff but I no longer have that option: now got a useless Blogger own thing, a bit of film sort of icon that limits severely what can be used. Crap, I say. I will have to switch to WordPress, I think!

Old Friends.....

A quickie here. For gz really, about some stuff, stuff, stuff, (as the great late Canonball Adderley once said) bought last summer in SW France.

We were at a Vide-Grenier/Car-Booty thing in the Charente last year where I bought a load of crockery for the princely sum of five Euros: twelve dinner plates and three huge serving

plates/platters/bowls. All hand-painted and of a time. I simply loved the bright patterned look

of the stuff which comes from a pottery in Gien, somewhere to the South of Orleans, I believe:

Every time we use them, I expect Noddy Holder, T-Rex or Sweet, to pop in for a bite. They are very much, self-evidently of their time. At five Euros, not a bad deal, I'd say! Unfortunately, the pattern's not one that can still be had from the maker, otherwise I'd be tempted to add some of the missing ware to the bundle.

Our neighbour, Maria and Juan have returned. So the cats are again being fed. And possibly almost overfed, as I've kept up the daily feeding too. Impossible not to do this, having started. I'd feel too guilty if I stopped now, just when the gang are becoming used to me, clearly see me as a food machine and two of the little 'uns always now rush to greet me (and the food tin) with much wailing, optimism and hope. Maybe there's even a touch of affection: I like to think so anyway.

Charlie so far doesn't seem at all put out and has shown no interest in them. He hustles

off out and up into the Campo as usual, giving the local feral/stray population a neat sidestep.

Yesterday, as I fed the boogers, Charlie's nemesis, the wily old Ginger Tom, turned up and, keeping a safe distance, watched events with wide-eyed wonder. The last time I saw him, he was running out of our kitchen, hissing and growling angrily at me after he'd got in through an open window (left open for Charlie, of course) and scoffed most of Charlie's tucker.

Casing the Fishvan

The cats are pretty savy. Whenever the fishvan arrives, honking his horn in a two-tone sort of

way, they thunder up to the tailgate. It's clear they recognise the sound of the horn and the guy

who usually does the run is generous and often throws them the odd tidbit, probably just to

shut them up!

A typical daily offering

Fishvanman

What the Hell''s happened to Blogger now? Can't post pix where wanted. Had to drag things all over the place after so-called 'uploading'. Is anyone else having problems? How do you overcome them and post pix as wanted in the text? Can't figure out how to sensibly move the boogers at all, at all! Vids are just as bad, if not worse; no more YTube options. Does somebody seriously believe these are improvements? God help them!

I'm coming round to the thought that if I try to catch the kitten with the mask, Rocky/Panda (take your pick - The Cat in the Mask makes a change from the old Dr Seuss books that we read to our daughter, LVP, all those years ago) I'll have to take on two kittens. They seem to be inseparable and are both keen on tucker and rush to greet me together. Don't know what J will

say about this potential feline population explosion. Or Charlie, for that matter:

Old Friends (to come)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHFh_CLGVzo

Seems the only/best way to do this now. Maybe time to switch to Wordpress - and that's tricky enough to upload into, I fear!

Feed Me.....

Not been on here for ages it seems. Now into November and weather generally still pretty agreeable: low twenties with sunshine and blue skies for the most part. Getting nippy in the evenings, though, so we went out and bought a load of electric panel/wall heater thingies and had them fitted. Makes a difference for sure. Now all we have to do is get a load of Lena/firewood from somewhere......Mmmm. Not so many trees hereabouts so proving tricky....but not impossible!

J is back in UK on her final sortie. She won't be back out here until she retires on December 20th, and flies out from London City Airport - a most pleasant airport (for a change) and one we got to know and used often when SAS ran smallish-sized planes up to Stockholm - on December 21st.

One of our neighbours - Maria and her husband Juan - have been away for about eight or nine days. This is virtually unprecedented, we think. They have Hens and Campo/land, so don't usually stray far from home. Their son is a National Park Ranger and he went too.  Which meant that the local stray/feral cat population went largely hungry. Maria chucks out nosh for them every day. The cats were, of course, puzzled by her absence. Each day they'd gather in their usual spot alongside the Fuente/fountain and her house, whinnying loudly and inconsolably....until.....

Until I took pity on them and began feeding them too.  This was greatly appreciated. Within a few days, they'd come rushing to meet me whenever I stepped from the house and coming perilously close to tripping me up, would waltz under my feet mewing raucously until fed:

There are some really striking kittens among them: the little marmalade kitten is particularly fiesty and growls aggressively when eating and hisses at me until I offer it grub.  There's also a group of mother and kittens  that are clearly siblings of varying ages and from various litters. They are gorgeous things with a delightful and unusual creamy-white, mottled appearance with blue eyes. There are also a couple of Siamese types kept by another near neighbour and it looks like some of their genes have escaped and mingled with the feral pool at some time in the recentish past.

I have one favourite, a small thing with unusual markings that I'm thinking of capturing and domesticating. Only problem is, I don't know how Charlie might take to such a move; and he was - and remains - a difficult enough cat to domesticate in the first place, having been a Swedish feral.

Here's the little one, I'm interested in:

I call her - I think it's a queen - Rocky; J prefers to call her Panda

Many of the cats live in a nearby stable with the local Mules, so are warm, dry and relatively comfortable, as far as I can tell.  There is one guy - I call him John Wayne because of his dark clothes, hat and cigarillos - who keeps a proprietorial eye on them all too, but he doesn't seem to take ownership to the extent of feeding them responsibly. And, being Spanish,  he would certainly never think of having any of them neutered, of course.  It's a rather sad cycle of kittendom for the poor feral females here.

Yesterday, as I went to feed them, I unfortunately (or maybe fortunately, depending on taste) trod on this huge, olive-green, winged buggy-thing. I've no idea what it was but it was big, about 3 inches long:

And to cap it all, last week I found this spider in the bedroom:

I killed this one, something I never normally do with spiders. They're far too useful and pose no threat normally. But...this one looked altogether just too much like a Black Widow from where I was.  They are around here in the campo, so I decided to play it safe rather than be sorry and possibly suffer an unpleasant bite in the night!

With Autumn colour now evident, the last of the fruits are still ripening on the trees. Persimmons, huge and brightly coloured. Not too sure what to do with 'em, but they're readily available and free, so must be worth a go:

I'm off to London and Kent for a week or so, leaving on the 17th. Our French friend, Patrick, is also flying over for a few days, so we'll all meet up again. We've managed to find a few gigs to attend in London, so I'm looking forward to some decent live music and also to meeting up with my brother who, though now retired, keeps his hand in by running the Chelsea FC TV channel so visits the Capital on a fairly regular basis.

Patrick was indeed so taken by the area here that he has taken a long-term rental of a flat in the neighbouring village of Yegen. He's coming down at the beginning of the New Year, much to our surprise, and has rented the place from Brit friends who have, ironically, boogered off to live in the Gers, in SW France!

The Second Season.....

Three days of misty gloom, low cloud covering the hills and.....rain.  It's just not acceptable here in Spain!  Yes, Autumn has arrived with a sharp change in the weather over the recent few days. Although, thankfully, it's back to blue sky and sunshine today.

Our French freind, Patrick, has been and gone, returning to the Limousin last Wednesday. He was lucky with the weather for the most part. While here, he had one day of greyness, which we tried to temper by taking a trip over the Contraviesa and down to the coast for a few Sol-Y-Sombres and Tapas.  The cloud remained but the trip was enjoyable and it stayed dry. Before crossing the hills of the Contraviesa, we stopped for a drink in the small town of Torvizcon, where this guy, looking suitably roguish, turned up on horseback:

The Contraviesa, terraced hillsides of Almonds & Olives

J & Patrick & Jack, of course

Just by Torvizcon is this wonderful hill. I call it Toblerone Mountain, for pretty obvious reasons:

In the background lies the small hippyish town of Orgiva. From here we carried on over the hills to the coastal town of La Marmola, a small place which is blessedly clear of tourists for the most part, and remains a small Spanish family sort of resort.

La Marmola, a small Spanish town on the coast with a great seafood restaurant

Jack pottering on the beach in pursuit of sticks, a favourite with him. The cloud doesn't dampen his enthusiasm

On the following day the weather was back to normal and we trundled over to Granada, taking the scenic route over the local mountain pass, La Puerto de La Ragua:

At 2000 metres, it was a tad fresh but pleasant and there are no shortage of signs, guides and information around the place, though the main cafe-cum-info centre was closed, it being October!:

Main Info Centre

Good panels and trails etc.

The new sort of Renault 4 type thingy. It has been great, so far!

As we reached the other side, we stopped at a Mirador, with this huge acreage pf Solar Panels spread across the plain:

Off to the right was an equally impressive range of wind turbines - never my favourite, but the Spanish here have certainly gone for alternative energy.

There were also a number of info panels dotted around the site, with small inset panels (pewter/silver coloured) in braille, explaining the scenery to be viewed from the site. Seemed a bit odd to me, as what can be seen if blind? Though, no doubt, for partially sighted, these would be a great bonus and the general thought/sentiment behind them must surely be praised:

We then carried on downhill to a bar where we generally stop for coffee and beer, at La Calahora:

From there it is a short run to the town of Guadix, famed for its cave-houses, which dot the landscape surrounding the place. This is a particularly pleasing example:

Granada, about thirty minutes further off, is always an interesting town, and I'm sure Patrick liked what he saw of it:

We wandered around the Albacin area, close to the Alhambra, with its tight, twisting lanes and tourists:

The Alhambra itself was given a miss. It is expensive nowadays to visit and when we checked online there was but two tickets left available for that day anyway. Still we were overlooking it:

While rambling through the Albacin, we came across a solitary, old belltower, and a terraced  house with these orante and intriguing ironwork window shutters:

All in all, Patrick seemed to enjoy his sodjurn in Spain and, indeed, is even considering moving down to the area and renting a place for a few months, possibly in the early New Year.

J returned to London/Kent yesterday but will be back next Monday for another seven days. She has now only about twenty more working days to go before retiring. Thank God!