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~ my life in sevilla

casa azahar

Monthly Archives: February 2011

kitteh protection

13 Sunday Feb 2011

Posted by azahar in animals & pets, cats, home

≈ 12 Comments

Tags

balconies, cats, home

Ever since I’ve had balconies I’ve always put plastic mesh across them to keep the cats from jumping or accidently falling to their deaths. Of course this didn’t used to stop Sunny from jumping up and perching on the balcony railing (which always gave me a mild heart attack) so when I got Loki I put up even more protection to make sure he wouldn’t go over the top chasing a bird or a fly.

I left all that stuff when I moved because I have different sized balconies in the new casa az. Instead of six narrow ones I have two wider double balconies (it’s like having four, but they’re joined – as you can see here). You can also see that it would be quite a fall. But my question is… do you think I need so much protection here? I’ve put some mesh up on the sides of the balconies because there are small ledges leading off them that might be tempting to a certain orange stripey cat. But the bars are a bit closer together than at the old place and they have all that squiggly doodad stuff going on, which would make it very difficult for them to accidently fall off. I know I don’t need to put that angled stuff up again, but do you think I should extend the plastic mesh to cover the entire balcony?

My friend Flor thinks I’m not giving my cats enough credit for being intelligent enough not to leap into the unknown, but since both Lua and Sunny fell off my terrace when I first came to Sevilla – and also my vet told me that cats fall off rooftops and balconies all the time – I tend to err on the side of caution. I’m not that concerned about Azar because I think his leaping days are long over, but Loki is far too curious and also far from clever. I can imagine him going “what the…?” before plummeting to his death. Anyhow, just thinking about balcony safety at the moment. The terraza will pose a whole other set of safety issues, but that is something to think about at a later date.

education

12 Saturday Feb 2011

Posted by azahar in photohunt, photos

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

education, photohunt


Today’s Photohunt theme is “education”.

This is a centre in the Judería barrio of Sevilla where you can get an education in flamenco singing and dancing. The quote is lovely and I think is a wonderful motto for a place that teaches the arts.

“David was already in the marble. I only had to remove what was left over”
~ Michelangelo Buonarroti

photohunter

reconnected!

11 Friday Feb 2011

Posted by azahar in change, home, internet, work

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

españa, internet, movistar

After almost two weeks without internet at home I finally got reconnected today. What a relief. I really needed that high-speed internet connection. Instead I’ve been using my iPhone as a modem, which has been better than nothing, but there was really no reason I couldn’t have had my connection sooner.

They say it takes two weeks to transfer my “package” which includes the television. Why? And well, if I’d known two weeks before moving that I was going to be moving then of course I’d have set the transfer up sooner. But as you know, we only had about five days between signing the new rental contract and moving. I called Movistar immediately to tell them about the situation, and that as I worked from home it was imperative that I get my connection transferred as quickly as possible. This was on a Tuesday and we were moving on Sunday. They said they would put a rush on the order and it should be there at the beginning of the following week. Nobody came. And then my telephone nightmare began. I called them over and over asking when this “rush job” was going to take place and at one point even had a guy tell me they were coming that day, just to get me off the line. When I called later that afternoon I was told that nobody had said that to me. Aaarrgh. Another time I called I was told that there was no such thing as a “rush order” and that all petitions were done mechanically.

Anyhow, this afternoon the technician showed up – and he was the same guy who set up my system at the old place! And he remembered me, asking about the cats and how they took the move. Such a lovely guy. He got my line and modem set up in no time and then I asked him about setting up the television…  and it turns out that they set the line up first and then I have to re-contract the television service. WTF?? So why did I have to wait two weeks because of the f-ing television service??? Well, of course it wasn’t this guy’s fault and he was all sympathy. And so I just got off the phone – yet again! – with bloody Movistar and they said I should have the tv set up on Monday. I then told them I wanted a discount on my next bill and it better not be more than half the usual charge since I missed half a month’s service. We shall see…

 

one room at a time: kitchen

10 Thursday Feb 2011

Posted by azahar in change, food & drink, home

≈ 13 Comments

Tags

kitchen, new home

So this is the first day that my new kitchen has actually felt “operational”. There is still some organising to do, and a couple of minor repairs pending, but at least now things are put away so that I know where everything is. This is a quick photo taken just now while starting to cook the first “proper dinner” here. Which will be marinated potatoes, steamed broccoli and grilled presa. Yum.

Of course the kitchen was the most important room to be made properly functional. And with all my blue and yellow stuff, it kind of makes the RED actually look kind of cute – primary colour kitchen. Also, the red cupboard knobs remind me of flamenco polka-dots. I still think I’d prefer to have the dishwasher removed to give me more storage space, but mostly what I would LOVE would be to change that ceramic-top cooker to a gas one. I already hate the cooker – it’s even worse than the one over at the old place (which was top of the line). I don’t like cooking with electric under the best of conditions, and this is far from the best.

But poco á poco, especially with my ANKLE. So frustrated I can’t be doing more, accompanied by worries that I’m doing too much. I mean, I can’t even help out by carrying  a basket of laundry to hang upstairs. It’s driving me bonkers. I think the next room will be a tandem effort between the livingroom and upstairs study… with this ankle I barely get a chance to visit the upstairs and terraza. But MUST water plants tomorrow.

Sara & Steve … if you click on the pic and look real close you can see all the Simon’s Cat magnets on the top part of the fridge (on the left).

What would be your priority rooms?

have crutches, will travel…

09 Wednesday Feb 2011

Posted by azahar in health & happiness, tapas, work

≈ 5 Comments

Tags

life, sprained ankle

Seriously, still on crutches. Well, not at home. There I can shuffle from here to there in a slow and somewhat easy-ish if slightly painful manner. But out on the street I still really need the crutches I borrowed last week from Agustín’s wife, Elena. Weirdly, I find walking hurts my right hip more than my sprained left ankle, which is why I am still using two crutches – I can’t figure out which side would benefit more from just using one!

And so… I have been way too much on my feet this past week, wandering about town, as well as up and down stairs (and tall ladders!) at home. Some people have told me to stay off my feet as much as possible, others have said that gentle use of the ankle will help rebuild its strength. All I know is that I’VE HAD TO GET THINGS DONE. And so I’ve done what’s needed doing, hoping that I haven’t done any irreparable damage to my lovely left ankle, which I love so much…

This evening I have another tapas tour, and an English class at Agustín’s before it, so at least I can ask him to have a look at my ankle and give me his opinion (a week later). Which I hope won’t be that I’d be mad to do the tapas tour, cos well, I kinda have to do it. I think I have to be the most impatient patient ever, which I also discovered after my various cancer ops – I could never “take things easy” as ordered. I was always out and about as soon as I could manage it. Could be that I’ve f*cked up my ankle for life by not sitting around on my butt for the past week, but I reckon that if there is any real damage done then it’s already been done – and tonight I have to work! Will put leg up tomorrow if I have to…

 

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