Something to do with groceries?

Song of the day: There was none. Strange huh, but I guess it was just a bit too busy for the ol’ brain to think of something.
Grocery shopping day, again…gawd I’m so happy we only do it once every two weeks, ‘cause if we didn’t I’d be screaming. Hah.

So, yeah: I was on time this morning and big brother and I managed to do a solid edit of four pages or so before we headed out to start on the bimonthly chore.

First stop, small speciality store where they have a sweet soy sauce that the entire family is addicted to, hah, so it simply has to be bought, just like it has been since I was just a little girl. Good stuff…surprisingly we didn’t move to Spain until the sauce was actually available over here. Do you suppose it’s fate? (Just kidding around a little.)

But anyway, during the course of the next five hours…yep, doing groceries for nine can take a good five hours; it will take you through ten stores, and yes it is definitely EXHAUSTING. I’m serious, cutting reed for a couple of hours, weaving it for three, heck, even building a rock wall is not half as exhausting as having to walk to and from store to store, through them…aargh. And it seemed to go so infinitely slow for some reason.

Luckily all was successful, we got the supplies we needed, some bargains that came in really handy, such as a hand axe and a tree saw…we’ve been keeping our eye open for them for several weeks now, so it was wonderful to finally find both at an affordable price.

Foodstuffs, some clothing items (bought for 90% off), lemonade and everything else that will see us through the next two weeks gets piled into the car, until in the end dusk approaches and we’re finally done; with the shopping part at least.

Afterwards comes the hauling it into the house, storing it away and of course the laundry, because I was stupid enough to forget it this morning. Darn it.
Be that as it may, close to eleven in the evening I’m relieved to be able to sit down at last for a much needed breather, and start on today’s Blog while watching a rented DVD (Meet Dave, it was not half as bed as I feared) and the latest episode of “Lost”.

Well, I’m going to leave it at that, I’m thinking. I’m running way behind and I really don’t have anything remotely interesting left to mention, so this is what will have to do for today’s Blog.

Need some R&R. *sigh*

Song of the day: “White Houses” by Vanessa Carlton. Haven’t heard of her lately, but what I do know of her music is kinda cute.

Well, nothing too exciting today. Just the usual routine. Got up half an hour earlier, though, considering I was too tired to do an edit last night, and we really wanted to get down to work a little early today.

Of course I was still tired when I got up this morning, but still, I was determined to head for the house and get to work. It went slowly and difficultly, but we did manage to do five pages in the end. There were definitely good parts in it, but for some reason we are both unable to create enough distance between the edit and actual reading; it doesn’t allow us to enjoy it, which would upset me, if that had any use. Hah.

Since the flow is definitely missing, I’m more than happy to call a halt to today’s edit and head outside into the rather hot afternoon to resume with the reed mats. One extra large one needs to be tied together for a section of the roof, along with a smaller one. The three younger sibs and I set to it, while big brother and grandfather gather more stems from the yard so they can create the support beams from extra large ones.

Four mats tied, rolled and set away, and with two more are added to the courtyard roof, the warm afternoon draws to an end. Together with middle sister this time, we head out to get a new batch from our usual spot, and drive off into the setting sun.

We are running a little behind, so we immediately start cutting our way into the stems. We’re just about halfway through when a couple of locals come walking up, waving in a friendly fashion before they continue on towards the river (I took pictures yesterday, it was downright gorgeous) where they take a dip in the cool water.

It's not just a river that comes from somewhere up the mountain, but pools on top on a solid rock bottom that is completely hollowed out from decades of currents, I think. Also there were holes in the rock from which the water came up from deep below.



We finish up with the arrival of dusk, and just for the heck of it, try a different trail to get back home. We actually succeed, passing over paths that allow the wheels of the Land Rover to cross over, just barely; a little tricky, but in the end we make it back to the old road that brings us home.

I am actually kind of relieved to get home today, considering I feel downright sore all over from today’s work. Four mats, hauling them to the storage area, stripping yesterday’s stems, the edit, of course, and then getting the new batch. I need a little bit of R&R I think.

So here are some mats. Got seven of 'm up, and fifteen more waiting.



I know, looks silly to show it, but one needs to take pride in the little things. Hah.



I’m definitely going to try to make it an early night tonight: Tomorrow is grocery day, so it’s going to be a doozy for sure. I have, however, decided to look upon grocery day as a rest day, so who knows, I might manage to restore some of my energy levels.

The reed project continues.

Song of the day: “This side of paradise” by Bryan Adams. I love this song. No big surprise that it has been going through my head all day.

I had to get up really early because our tenant needed to be at the hospital for an unexpected visit to her doctor, so I brought the dogs to the house, poured myself coffee, had a slice of bread and trudged back up the mountain to help getting our tenant into the car. Even though we were well prepared, we were running fifteen minutes behind by the time we headed out.

The drive was relatively uneventful, and when we arrived at the hospital, we were only five minutes late, and while our tenant and caretaker went inside, I headed over to the parking area and used the borrowed Mac to write yesterday’s blog while I waited.

It was a long time, so I got yesterday’s events all down before I could return to the entrance and helped our tenant back into the car. She is doing much better, seeing as she can almost stand on her own again, and though the visit was a bust…her regular doctor was on vacation, and the replacement knew didly about her condition…she was in good spirits.

Once at home, and a quick dip in the pool, I headed inside to start on today’s edit. The edit was a bust too, but we did manage four pages before the afternoon heat went down a little and we could resume outside work. I’m not in the best of moods today, at least I haven’t been since we got home, and I don’t know why. Ah well, it is not as if it matters, really. Pesky emotions go haywire willy-nilly all the time. Nothing I can do about that except keep busy.

Three more mats got woven, three more got added to the roof and everyone was nicely busy.
We had a bit of scare however. Grandpa was getting impatient and got up on the roof before big brother joined him.
So, while the younger sibs and I were weaving, there was a noisy crash and there he was sliding off the roof, landing pretty hard on the ladder that had slipped out from under him.

Gawd, I almost had a heart attack, and little brother ran down immediately to see if all was well. Luckily he only had a few scrapes and a sore bum, but otherwise managed to catch himself really well. I do know I saw him dangling from the roof a second or two before he joined the ladder on the ground.
So, we bandaged him up, checked out the rest of him, and before you know it, he insisted on getting back to the job of putting reed mats on the roof. Determined old bugger doesn’t know when to stop, that’s a fact.

Slowly we all resume work, keeping half and eye out for him as big brother joins him. I haul finished mats down, lifted one up on the roof (of course the dogs peed against it, eeeewww. Got the nasty stuff all over my hands) and then headed back to the upper terrace to resume the weaving. Somewhere in the midst of it all Alta (Portuguese water dog) took a refreshing dip in the pool - he’s in a habit of doing that - by jumping on the edge, swim a round or two and then jump out again as if it his private bath. Hah.

An hour and a half before sunset, big brother and I headed out again to yesterday’s spot for another batch of reed. We manage a completely full back of the Land Rover today, bottom to top, which is definitely a good thing, considering we were busy until well after nightfall. Good batch, at least four mats everything combined, yay.

I will admit to being a tad exhausted tonight, which is no big surprise since I’ve been up for sixteen hours now and still have an hour or four to go before my day is over. *sigh*
The dogs are pretty insane tonight, running out into the courtyard every ten minutes barking. That simply won’t do, of course; can’t have them making a racket this late.

We’ll have to see how tonight’s edit goes, but other than that I would say that we reached most of today’s goals. Hah.

Belated post of a little Adventure.

Song of the day: “Si no te vuelves” by Shakira and Miguel Bose. Beautiful duet, but definitely a challenge to have in my head, since my Spanish is limited to say the least. Still, it is a gorgeous song.

So, I’m ridiculously late today, almost fourteen hours as a matter of fact, so we can officially say that I haven’t made the daily blog for the fourth of August, sigh. How very undisciplined of me. Hah.
But yesterday was an eventful day so I actually have something to write about…not so much the beginning of the day, mind you, but later on was loads of fun – for me at least.

I got way too little sleep again, so when I get up I’m not in the best of moods. It makes me grumpy to say the least, and as I take the dogs down to the house, I’m grumbling like mad at their usual antics.

Knight II is dashing back and forth like the lunatic he is, Trin Trin is attacking the stick I always carry (either the stick or my leg, that’s her motto, the idiot. I prefer that she attacks the stick, but that’s just me, hah). Bommel is lagging behind; the poor old fella makes his way at his own pace, while Labahna (black Labrador, now in heat) is making a nuisance of herself with Sitabah. The two bitches don’t like each other during the best of days, and like me they’re grumpy as heck.

Dax and Touri, the runts of the pack, are dashing back and forth, barking occasionally while Chaos (Basset) and Gada (black lab) are pestering poor Amri. What can I say; the usual ruckus that now annoys me.

Once at the house it takes me a while before I can finally settle down at the computer and start on the edit…which went horrible. For some reason both big brother and I were unable to properly focus, and after four hours of struggling with a mere four pages, we give up for the day, and decide to head out for an early start on outside work.

The reed is almost finished, so with the leftovers, no more than two mats can be made, darn it (stupid cut off road; it stopped us from getting a new batch) so while the younger sisters start on the mat I’m diverting my attention between helping out, sorting a small suitcase of screw that…yes, it fell in the dirt the other day, aaargh…and putting the finishing touches to little brother’s window.

While we’re at work up by the carport terrace, big brother and grandpa head into our own reed, and seek out a few long stems so they can start on putting the first mats on the courtyard roof. Little brother too, has headed down the property and is getting extra reed for us to add to the mats, lest only thin stems make up the whole.

By the time grandpa and big brother are done with the preparation…grandpa is sitting on top of the corrugated metal plates, which just barely holds his weight (the only person in the family who weighs as little as grandpa is little sister, so he is the most suited for task) while big brother stands on the ladder to work on the edges, I carry down the first four mats.

To be busy too, a small batch of cement is made, so I can work on building the last plant container down the main path, and by the time the first part of the reed roof is up, I’m finished too.

Dusk is rapidly approaching when our tenant can finally be picked up from her rehab, and then both brothers and I head out in hopes that the road is open again and we can reach our usual spot for reed…it isn’t, so from sheer exasperation we once again travel down long windy roads in search for a different spot.

After several dead-ends…that’s Spain for ya, lots of dead end roads…we finally stop at a sections where a dirt road is obstructed from heading up a partially covered macadam street. Decided we might as well have a little walk and see what’s down at the end of the street that was put down for a new community area but was shut down, prior construction when the house market crashed.

Underway we see a poor little dog sleep in the bushes. It looks rather miserable, but before we can check the little bugger out it dashes off into the underbrush. At the end of the street a wide trail leads down the mountain part ways, giving a rather grand view of the valley beyond, and a large cluster of boxed beehives. A lot of areas ‘round here are reserved for beehives, you can’t travel ten miles without coming up such an area. But anyway, the trail stops, so we head back up, applying a firm pace to get some exercise in no matter the “no reed” debacle.

Once back in the car, the sun slowly setting behind the higher mountains, we decide to just drive around a bit to see if maybe we can find a way down to the valley for another day.

We’re about to give it up entirely when we come upon a sudden, quite invisible trail that winds its way down the face of a mountain, and rather than just leave it for another day, I head down it, going deeper and deeper on the potholed surface.

Once again, we come in a completely different area. Eucalypti woods, interrupted by wide-open grassy spots, as the road continues to wind down. We come upon a crossing; one leads east, the other west, and rather than head west, which we think leads towards the area we were yesterday we pass through a rather large gate (open) that appears to have been build several decades ago…probably still in the Franco era.

As it turns out it is some sort of hunting area from the past, which at one point was forbidden fort normal citizens, and rather than head back now that the darkness of night is slowly arriving, we doggedly continue on in search for reed.

We pass some massive kind of structure that looks like a kind of horse breeding area…lots of stables, never finished, and then we see it far below, our present “holy grail”: reed, lots of it, down there in the valley that stretches and winds on endlessly in this uninhabited area where we can get the stuff to our hearts content, without ever disturbing a living soul.

At long last we reach the bottom of the mountain, hobbling over the badly kept road in the final bits of sunlight and come upon…yes, you’ve guessed it, another dead end. Hah. No matter, though, we’re standing right in the middle of a jungle of six yards high reed stems that are almost as thick as my wrist. Rather than waste the trip, I park the car, and we get out to cut down at least a portion of reed in what little light is still available.

It always amazes me when coming upon such a remote area. The feeling of solitude is almost overwhelming, and just a tad adventurous. It almost feels as if for just a short while we are the only people in the world, and for just a little while that certainly has its charm, hah.

It is also a bit disconcerting, of course. As it turns out, there is no phone reception here, so a little caution is warranted: wouldn’t want to have a tiny little accident ‘round these parts, since getting out again is no easy feet. Also, having little brother along (he has seen even more horror movies than I, hah) is not the best of ideas if ya want to be pleasantly oblivious of any horrific story, taking place in remote places. All the “poor-tourists-lost-and-stranded-in-remote-places-with-a-homicidal-maniac” scenario gets discussed, causing hilarious laughter as we hack away at reed stems and pile them into the back of the car.

Before we know it, darkness has descended and we wrap it up with a modest batch in the back of the car. Minutes later we hobbling our way back up the mountain, carefully heading in the general direction of home.
It takes a while, but in the end, we come upon the unfinished stretch of street from which we’d diverted.

We just round a curve when something large and beige of color flashes past in the headlights. A huge bird of prey, perhaps? A vulture? It was just a flash, so we can’t be sure until we get home and get online. Whatever it was, it was massive, maybe six feet wide and absolutely impressive.
This is what we found on the Net, and we think this is it considering the color, size, etc. The Small Toed Snake Eagle.





As promised, we head for the gas station (to fill up) and get some ice cream for everyone. Of course, by then it is already eleven in the evening so the night clerk has closed off the shop, leaving us only able to pay through the bulletproof window and with no chance to get the ice creams.

Instead of heading home empty handed, we head for the village where small little stands should still be open to service the night-owl population. As is usual in hot areas the streets are still teeming with people, adults and kids alike when we reach the stand and buy the ice cream.

Once at home, midnight arrives during dinner, and then it is up to my cabin for another edit; it is pretty disastrous, only two pages, interrupted by long pauses, simply because focus is a long way coming.

Not that it matters, of course. I need to be up darn early to drive our tenant to the hospital for her monthly checkup. Tomorrow (or in this case today) will come, and we’ll see how it works out.

A little adventure. Hah

Song of the day: “I’m in love” by Maria Mena. Had this one several times already, I believe. Easy song; catchy and fun to sing. Hah.

Okay, the day: Got up a little early this morning, and still ended up almost being late to arrive at the bank, consequently town hall where we had to pay over four hundred bucks in taxes, because they made some asinine mistake in the past few years. Darn it.
Next we needed to head for the phone store, to have the lost phone canceled. We managed to get a new phone for a reasonably low price, at which time we headed back home.

Well after noon, the heat had reached its peak, so of course on the way up the mountain we got stuck behind a heavy loader that was going up at the “wonderful” speed of 20 miles per hour at most. Aaaargh. The county is still working on that road, and apparently, they have turned up the heat for some sort of deadline because there are at least ten trucks rumbling over our road…yes, we can actually feel it in the house, considering it reverberates right through the rock. I really needed to cool down in the pool...in more ways than one. Hah.

But anyway, since we were running way behind, big brother and got our coffee and quickly started on the edit. We managed four pages before it was time to head out to the yard for outside work. Good scene, very prosaic. The rewrite definitely went well.

Big brother and grandpa head out to the old horse stable again, while the younger sibs and I are determined to break yesterday’s record by making an extra mat.
Middle sister and I set up the frames and within no time, we’re weaving mats in pairs again.
Lots of chatting about movies, TV shows and books, of course. Fun work on the overall-now that the initial backaches have receded and fingers and hands have toughened-especially since there are lots of off color jokes that will cause laughing fits all 'round.

It isn’t until eight thirty in the evening that the fifth mat is ready. Big brother and grandpa return, so we can set out with the car to get a few new batches of reed. Today middle sister has opted to go with us, and just as we’re about to head down the road, we see that it is completely closed off for traffic. Darn.
So instead, we head the other way and finally end up in a rather particular area. Admittedly there is no reed to find, but once we reach the end of a particularly windy road, steep inclines that literally go straight down and park when dusk is about to settle.

There is a big board by the side of the road, claiming there is a waterfall at the end of a small trail that follows the small river. (It also leads towards the lake (scarily blue) at the bottom of the valley; around it a large cluster of villas are located) Though the area looked pretty darn private, it was open for tourists, so, we decided to make use of the last bit of light and have ourselves a bit of exercise.

For anyone who has seen the movie, “The Last of the Mohicans”-the end scene, with everyone going after Alice-will get the general idea of how our run up the incline looked. Not as gracious as the actors, or course, but we had a steady pace going, went up the rocky incline, through underbrush, over fallen trunks using every available muscle for a solid mile.
It was a little tricky what with slippery rocks jutting all ‘round, and dusk, but it felt rather invigorating, even though we couldn't actually reach the waterfall and headed back at the same pace. I wasn’t even out of breath when with the last bit of gray light, we crossed the final distance back to the car.

Now the exciting part: Guess what we saw? You won’t guess, I know, so I’m just gonna say it. Hah.

We saw a small family of wild boars. I know, it surprised the heck out of me, but there they were; a mom, dad and two tiny piglets, all pitch black, storming off straight up the incline when we had startled their evening stroll past the stream. Fast little buggers, and darn good climbers, I do know that our dogs wouldn’t have easily managed that incline - let alone anyone of us. Heck, I didn’t even know that this area had wild boars, but when we checked the board over where we’d parked the car, otter are supposed to inhabit the area too. I wish I had been able to take a few photos but it was really too dark. Pity.

But anyway, the evening has cooled considerably when we finally arrive home and after a rather late dinner, it is time to call it a day. Another edit to go, of course, but then I sure as heck am ready to hit the sheets. Sure was an interesting day…even if we didn’t manage to get any reed.

Quiet day, so here's some pics.

Song of the day: “Mercy” by Duffy. Strange voice, but still a cute song. Took some getting used to for me, but still entertaining enough.

Managed five more pages last night before going to bed, so that’s a definite yay! The evening was blessedly cool, what with a strong western wind blowing it, scattering Eucalypti leaves over the property…and my porch.

I am right on time this morning, and head down to the house within half an hour so we can resume the edit. Breakfast and laundry are over fast and with my habitual coffee going down smoothly we settle down for the morning.

Ten more pages get done in the next few hours, and we had a few really “oh wow” moments, which certainly lightens the spirits during what CAN be a rather tedious process on the overall. Hah.

The day isn’t too hot so we head out early, fully intending to do four mats today, when I suddenly discover that the roll of rope that grandpa bought isn’t going to suffice for them. Rather annoyed, seeing as I’ve set up two different frames for the binding process, I decide to gather all the leftovers and decide that there will be enough after all if we use the pieces…meaning that we use short ropes (no more than 2 feet long) and just tie them together every time they run out.

My back doesn’t feel too bad today, just a little sore in the morning, but then as the day progresses, I hardly notice it anymore. I have decided however, not to do the squat weaving, since that is a part of my back that isn’t used to the movements at all. Standing bent over works much better.

It takes some scrambling, but in the end four mats are done and get set aside. There’s quite a bit of cleanup to be done, and afterwards I spend a moment to take photos of the small areas where we planted seeds about a month ago. Flowers are starting to bloom by now, (including the zucchinis we planted) and the terraces by the wall are looking rather grand. Have a look:


Okay, so the coloring doesn't come off right, but you get the general idea.


The view was just too pretty to pass up. It's not often that the sky is this clear. Any clearer than this it won't get in the summer. Now, in winter, you can see clear to Africa, right there at the horizon.

Now this is the project I'm talking about at the moment.

See the hideous metal plating. Eeeewwww. We're going to cover those up with the reed mats we're weaving.


This part is going to be a tad tricky, considering we'll probably have to take the roof apart to be able to reach everywhere. Ah well, we'll see how it goes.

I find I’m in a weird mood today. I’m making a lot of wisecracks throughout the day that has the sibs roll their eyes at me on more than one occasion. I can’t explain why I’m doing it, but it happens on practically everything that my strange mindset finds funny. I doubt any of it is, so I’m not going to regale at the words that passed my lips. Hah.

When I bring my dogs down to the courtyard, I finally find out why Knight II’s tail is scraped and bloody so often these days. As it turns out, when Fortuyn (Spanish pointer) and he face off at the courtyard gate, he gets so excited that he sweeps his tail back and forth (way too hard) against the rock wall…which then damages his skin and splatters that part of the wall with his blood. Stupid Great Dane; doesn’t understand his own strength.

But, be that as it may, we head out with the car a little early today; last night, somewhere along the we, we lost a cell phone, and hope that we will be able to find the darn thing. Seeing as we’re not going to cut reed, or anything, I decide to take Chaos with me. The poor Basset doesn’t enjoy the ride all that much. At least, not in back; his chubby paws can’t find purchase there at all. He does enjoy going out whenever we stop at yesterday’s stopping points to see if we can find the phone.

The trip turns out to be for nothing, since we are unable to find the darn device, so now we’re going to have to go to town tomorrow to cancel the number before someone decides to use it for phoning abroad, or something. On the way back, Chaos has finally figured out the trick and perches happily against my seat, so I can put my arm back and hold him in place.

Once at home, I take a quick dip in the pool, have dinner and then prepare to wrap up the evening.
I do wish I had something more interesting to share, but since I haven’t, I’m just going to leave it like this and see what tomorrow brings.

Up to seven mats.

Song of the day: “Forever” by Chris Brown, again. I woke up with it bouncing in my head, almost as if the stereo was on, for crying out loud.

Should have known then and there that yesterday wasn’t over yet, hah.
But anyway, I am an hour late (yes, I slept a whole extra hour and I wasn’t happy. My head felt like cotton, or something) and slowly get up, testing each and every protesting muscle. I might have overdone things a little yesterday, hah. Did manage another five pages or so before bedtime, so it was definitely a successful edit day.

As soon as I’m down in the house, big brother and I resume the edit, and add another ten; this one didn’t go as smoothly as yesterday, but still. For the past couple of days we’re doing a read-through edit, in case that wasn’t obvious. The rewrite/edit was going so slowly, we were starting to get a tad disheartened. We were no longer able to judge whether the work was good, so instead went to the read-through, to check on what we’ve already done. Considering that we’re breezing through the edit, I gotta admit that it turned out pretty well.

Once today’s session is over, we head outside. Not as nicely cool as yesterday, but not scorching hot either. Luckily little, and middle sister offered to help with the reed weaving today, so while they set to it (I am almost gleefully happy about that, since my back is still bothering me) little brother and I set to stripping yesterday’s batch.

Our friend Danni is helping too, and after both sisters finish the first mat, she and little sister start on the second one. By the time this one is done too, middle sister and I start on the third one, deciding to work at top speed, just too see if we can get it done under one hour. What with the reed stems already stripped and set in place where we have easy access, we actually manage to do it in half that time. Seven mats done, only thirty more to go, hah.

By then dusk is rapidly approaching and big brother and I head out in search for a new spot to get reed (wouldn’t want to cut it all out of the same spot) and just to tour around. Driving over badly kept dirt roads, the Land Rover once again proves it worth when we get to a dead end and are forced to turn on a steep incline.

The spot is rather beautiful in the clear moonlight. Mountains all ‘round, a clear blackening sky filled with stars. There is an excellent view on the big dipper, Cassiopeia and even the northern star. We take a few minutes to admire the whole and then head home for a very late dinner.

The paved road are ridiculously busy, weekend partiers going back and forth between the villages. A lot of them are dressed up and maybe even a tad tipsy, from what I’m guessing to be some sort of grand party at the big hotel about three miles away from our place

Once at home, I take a quick dip in the pool, the water stinging on hands and arms from the tiny cuts the reed causes, but once they’re clean they no longer bother me, and I can gather today’s laundry (I forgot this morning) and then inside to have dinner.

Which brings today’s recount to an end. Just another edit to go, and then I can call it a day.
Yep, I’m most curious what tomorrow will bring.