If I was having a coffee ….

April 1, 2021Steve and Carole 5 Comments

While sipping another lockdown coffee, I have been stressing that I still haven’t published a post in 2021. But just so you know, I’ve not stopped my Chilled at Sunset blog! However, life has many ‘ground hog’ days, doesn’t it?

We have already been living back in England over five months and locked up for most of it and yet the time passes by so quickly ….. how does that work? We are lucky in that we have lots of decorating to do in the apartment. Plus, all the legalities of moving back here. Needless to say dealing with companies and their mix of ‘customer service’ and ‘working from home’ really ensures the blood pressure keeps bubbling! Currently, the DVLA are holding no. 1 position in driving me crazy, excuse the pun. DVLA could generate the longest and most boring blog! Instead, like all of us, I prefer to remember fun times when we all socialised.

During Spanish and English lockdowns (I’m so international!!) I have continued with my art. The first painting I did all on my own really tested me but I was pleased with the end result.

I’ve paused with my latest one as I have started my second commission piece. I feel excited, very flattered and so nervous but another challenge which I also love to have! I’ve even sold some of my work.

When I think back to my first class with Trina at her Bedar Art Centre, in June 2016, I could never have imagined all this would happen. Here are a few of my favourites.

I made lovely friends there and miss them all …. Pam, Helen, Lesley, Carol and Daniela. We had such a laugh and really encouraged each other. Trina’s mantra to us all of “dark to light” and “white is your enemy” still rings loud in my ears here, but always a fabulous inspiration! (Trina, below with her Whimsies and artwork.) There was also the time I helped out at the children’s art and craft classes which Trina organised a few summers ago at her workshop, such fun.

But the highlight was the Bedar Christmas Market December 2019 where Trina set up the Bedar Art Centre Exhibition and most of us exhibited our paintings.

On the subject of Spain, I’ve read a charming little article in El Pais about our Queen. A Spain/UK tradition lost in the 20th century has made a comeback. So, a crate of bitter oranges from the gardens of Real Alcazar Seville will be made into marmalade and sent as a gift to Buckingham Palace. With all the Brexit bickering I wonder if the gift will arrive? And the Queen may not have much of an appetite at the moment!

But back to Chertsey and thank goodness we have our mad dog Charlie, so we can still get out several times a day, legally! At the end of January when it snowed it was brilliant as Charlie had never seen snow, having been born and brought up in Spain. But my goodness how he loved it, chasing loads of snowballs and trying to eat them. Although being the nervous dog he is, he was totally spooked by snowmen!

It’s a year since the world went crazy and got frightening but now at last we have real hope with the vaccines. We’ve already had ours. We’re all so close to being allowed to meet up with friends and family. And we will discover more English country walks with Charlie and start serious house hunting. Exciting!

Meanwhile, please stay safe and sane and I leave you with a photo of me at one of my volunteer shifts at the vaccination centre in Chertsey where the atmosphere is brimming with positivity and I think one of the friendliest places I’ve ever worked! I feel proud to do my ‘little bit’.

If I was having a coffee right now …..

May 4, 2020May 4, 2020Steve and Carole 2 Comments

If I was having a coffee right now, I would be thinking, like many of us, what a strange world we are currently living in. We’ve completed the 7th week of lockdown and now we are beginning our phased exit. I was thinking of writing about what tricks we have used to survive this period but honestly, none of it was particularly interesting or original! (Apart from Steve’s self haircut and no photos allowed!) So, I thought I would talk about the first thing I would like to do on release from lockdown?

But my mind started wandering (not too difficult in these times) to the ‘firsts’ that Steve and I have experienced during our 5 year Spanish adventure, so here are a few of the more memorable ones …..

Realising quickly, that as a proud owner of gardening design City and Guilds certificate, it meant nothing in our garden where 3 meter plus cacti sat waiting to attack me rather than me pruning them! Eventually, I found them mostly stunning when in flower.

Owning a swimming pool and watching my husband learn how to balance the chemicals to keep it safe and clean so I could paddle safely!

Getting up close and personal with snakes and being bitten by a spider. Steve has seen the biggest centipede which the 6′ 3 gardener, working at the house, jumped 6′ 3 in the air and then decapitated the centipede with a spade but it kept on walking ! (no photos …..google this creature if you want!)

Steve and our neighbour removing processionary (or marching) caterpillars from a pine tree. They first sprayed the nest with hairspray, lobbed off the branch the nest was on, catching it in a bin liner and then digging a large hole in the ground placing the bag and setting fire to it. It is so important to do this, as the caterpillar hairs are so toxic and can become airborne in the wind and give nasty rash to humans and with dogs in severe cases can be fatal. (again google if you wish!)

The night a wild boar visited and re landscaped the front flower beds.

(Still thinking of moving to Spain ….. lol!)

Back to the nice things …..

Harvesting our olive tress, going to the olive press and exchanging our olives for pure extra virgin olive oil that was unbelievably delicious. However, our neighbours had to ‘lend’ us one of their olive trees in order for us to just to fill a crate! (read more – blog post December 2017).

Joined an art class and painted for the first time since I was 16. And I sold my first painting last December ….. who would have thought?

Obviously, speaking another language although still not fluent with our Spanish, we can get by of sorts. I recall the first time I went to a Spanish hairdresser and requested a cut and colour, it was as scary as the first visit to our Spanish dentist!

Started Spanish dog training classes with our German Shepherd, Charlie when he was a puppy….. that also helped with learning the language. Any shop assistant or waiter I can confidently tell to ‘sit’ stay’ ‘down’ ‘turn’ etc! But the highlight was entering Charlie into an obedience competition held in Vera bullring. Sadly, he didn’t achieve a rosette but I was just relieved he didn’t escape!

assessment day, best hide!

the big day!

after a few weeks, obstacles …

training outdoors

Administration here in Spain is a test of wills, not logical and extremely time consuming with different rules depending on who you are dealing with and what day of the week it is! So I will skip over setting up house taxes, car tax, car ITV (MOT in UK) and the 4 visits to Almeria to secure our residencia! But each mission accomplished was celebrated with a large vodka and tonic!

Oh! yes, so what is the first thing I will do on my full ‘release’ …… a walk along the promenade with Steve and Charlie, our dog, and stopping for a coffee. Sounds a dream? Well we are now moving forward with a slow easing of lockdown mode and heading for the ‘new normal’ that everyone talks about!

How exciting to think I can become a ‘new normal’ ….. ha! ha! ha!

Oh! PS, Steve has finished his book and one day to be published.

My recreational drug!

December 6, 2016September 24, 2019Steve and Carole 3 Comments

Finally, after months of saying ‘when I get time I would love to… ’ I confess I have an addiction!

I attend a great little art class in beautiful Bedar which is a typical Andalucian village set in the hillside with stunning views out to the Mediterranean. What more could I need to inspire me alongside Trina my great art teacher and owner of the Bedar Art Center.

Trina has run the center for several years and she and her husband Klaus have their own eventful story on how they discovered and moved to Bedar! I would like at some point to go to the ceramic classes although not sure if Trina’s patience will stretch that far? She says that creativity is a great way to open up, expose and put yourself out there and well it’s been a while since I’ve done that, so to speak! Trina’s wonderful, original ceramic Whimsy People are set off among her paintings, greeting cards and much more…

Her workshop is inspirational, colourful, fun and perfect to indulge a few hours away with the other ‘pupils’. It’s sociable and a laugh with even an Arty Farty Christmas Party!

After months of Steve telling me ‘don’t put too much paint on the brush’ and Trina telling me ‘Come on, get some paint on that brush and that paper’…..I start to get it. I’m currently painting with acrylics which I have never done before. Maybe I will try working with oils and canvas? I now have an easel, paints etc at home, meanwhile I start to progress very, very slowly. Here are a few of my efforts!

Plus a work in progress, dear Freddie!

more art…Rojales

Expressions of art can be found everywhere is Spain. On a recent visit to Rojales, we discovered Caves Rojales ‘Cuevas del Rodeo’. Rojales is a typical agricultural Spanish village with the River Segura running through the town and situated just inland from Guardamar in southern Costa Blanca.

As you enter Cuevas del Rodeo along the paths there are sculptures leading to the cave houses.