Terracotta Lantern

Saturday 24^th March

Up early to fit the lantern and update the blog ready for posting. Went to market in Fuengirola and bought a fridge freezer, TV cupboard and a picture surprise for visitors…….

SACABCOIN 2007

Friday 23^rd March

We spent the morning progressing finishing touches to the house….putting up shelf in the front bedroom, hanging pictures, espuma-ing tv wire sockets with polyurathane foam etc. J painted the upper bathroom Amarillo (yellow). Before we lunched, we collected the blind for the back bedroom, and after a delicious 7€ menu del dia ,returned home to fit the blind we ordered last week.

Unfortunately, it was 3cm too wide for the window….J’s measuring I hasten to add, so it has to go back to the ferreteria to 1.5cm to be cut off each side, if that is possible. I started to fit the terracotta lantern in the upper hall, which was quite tricky and fiddly. The fixing bracket then fell out of the hole in the ceiling, and I had to anchor it with espuma , which delayed filling until tomorrow.

We caught the 5.30 pm bus to Coin to the SacabCoin horse show, and had a leisurely wander round the show ground and stands, and had a drink and tapas with a German Doctor and his wife who asked to share our table, before the main show at 9 pm.

The show was fantastic, with a mixture of individual and group horse dressage displays, with the Andalucian military horsemen exercising amazing control over their horses, with controlled high stepping and leg crossing, and jumping in the air off their hind legs. Another display involved 20 or so mares and their foals. Hopefully the pictures and videos capture the atmosphere.

Continued work & very cheap shopping ....

Thursday 22^nd March

Weather still cold but days sunny, but with continuing snow in the North which is very unusual for Spain. I built the ottoman (J finished the doors), put the bit of batten behind the kitchen cupboard, and did a lot of finishing jobs such as putting up pictures and curtain rail, whilst J painted the upper stairs red and did a lot of general cleaning and tidying.

After lunch, I popped out to buy a builders bucket and plaster….as one does, oranges (2€ for 5 kilos) and broad beans (2€ for 2 kilos) from the market, and drove over to Coin to get the programme of SACABCOIN 2007 (Salon Andaluz Del Caballo de Pura Raza Espaniola), the agricultural and horse show. Late afternoon, we drove to Aki in Fuengirola to get paint, a fancy drainage kit for the kitchen sink and reticulation tubes for the pots and garden. Home via Mercadona and the Chinese to get the phonecard he promised us for 5 € ….”Chinese, but you get very cheap calls….”

....and the Donkey

Distant Flamingos, Lakes & Mountains

Wednesday 21^st March

Today was a day off from the house and the planned trip to see the flamingos. However, could’nt resist putting the polished front door handles back on before we left. The weather was cool but sunny , and we drove to Fuente de Piedra via Campillos, stopping off near Teba at a bird watching layby to try and spot eagles…saw a few large birds of prey soaring high above the mountain crags but unable to identify them.

Arrived at the lake at about 11 am, where it was sunny but very cold with a strong biting wind. The visitor centre was shut, so we started walking towards the dried up lake, and watched a kestrel at very close quarters hunting for mice and voles I guess. Also quite a few wading birds near the lake.

We walked along a dirt track with no sign of water in the lake, let alone flamingos, and met some English people coming back. The strong wind had apparently blown the water to the other side of the lake, and it was a 10 km walk to the where the flamingos were.

We walked back to the visitor centre which was open, and obtained a map and directions to where the flamingos were. Drove round the lake, with unusual olive groves on either side, where each tree had been formed into 4 trunks with earth banked around them, presumably to increase the olive yield.

Eventually found a look-out point, and far in the distance in the middle of the lake were the flamingos……about 16,000 pairs apparently, but they just appeared as a pink mass. Smaller flocks could be seen around the main group through the binoculars, and individual birds could be seen through an astronomical telescope another English couple had…….all in all, a great disappointment.

We drove round the lake and found an unofficial but better view point nearer the flamingos, but not much better.

We drove back via the El Chorro lakes and had lunch at the restaurant there, and then went to Coin to look for a shower drain, and came across what appeared to be an agricultural fair , but with loads of horses and a few donkeys, with horses being judged in the main hall. Wandered around the stalls and found a friendly donkey who I took a shine to.

More Painting & Door Knobs

Tuesday 20^th March

Weather sunny but cool with a strong wind. However, most of Northern Spain had heavy snow and thunderstorms. I spent the day finishing the front room ceiling and also the dining room ceiling, which thankfully did not need cauchoing.

J painted edges of walls in the front room and dining room, and laundered the sofa covers…..quite a job, cleaned the floors again and painted the upper stair risers.

We shopped at Mercadona and saw on the public notice-board the plans for a new central park just below the historic centre and feria ground where J’s house is, with a huge central plaza and 240 new houses.

Caucho & Painting

Monday 19^th March

I cauchoed the rest of the outer terrace walls and also painted them with my long painters pole…back-breaking work as J had told me yesterday. J touched up the front doors behind the glass…a nightmare job. Later, we had a productive shopping trip, getting a new ottoman bottom from Beltran, more paint, caucho , espuma , outside tap from the ferreteria, and tiles for the shower at Alhaurin swimming pool shop + tile cement for shower and Barrionuevo.

After lunch of our own tapas, J cauchoed the walls in the front room and dining room and painted dining room and most of front room, whilst I cauchoed the front room ceiling….another nightmare job, with constant dripping and fingers ending up encased in green plasticy rubber….like kitchen gloves !! Only managed 1/3^rd of it.

Cheap storage

Weekend 17^th/18^th March

We went to the market in Fuengirola but didn’t find much, except a crudely painted Olive Oyl puppet for 1€, which I had intended to put on E Bay, but it has a home in the kitchen now !! After posting the blog, drove home via Leroy Merlin in Marbella and bought a damaged storage box (45% discount) for storing sun loungers, chairs, parasols on the roof terrace. We could’nt get it up the stairs ……..!!

Sunday was a day of work…I scraped ceilings all day and J cauchoed the upper outer walls of the roof terrace as far as she could reach. Tommy visited for about an hour in his smart Sunday casuals and sporting a new beard, but did not have a lot to say.