19 Tuesday Sep 2017
Posted in casa azahar, cats, home, sevilla
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There is something very satisfying about chillaxing with Loki. And even though it’s far from winter, he still demands some lap and snuggle time, especially when I put my feet up to watch some TV. Anyhow, here’s a nice profile shot showing his big green eyes (well, eye) just for Deb.
11 Monday Sep 2017
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I’ve spent far too much time in bed the past two days, battling a pesky cold-fever thang. Very sweetly, the lovely Nurse Morcilla hasn’t left my side. Here she is on my pillow keeping me company. Awwww…
07 Thursday Sep 2017
Posted in casa azahar, home, sevilla
Yes, I KNOW I just moved, but I have always considered that place up there on the top floor as one of my dream apartments. There is another one too, not far from where I live now, and just a couple of weeks ago I pointed it out to Peter saying… oooooohhh, I’d love to live there! And fucked if it didn’t show up for rent (email notices) while I was away in Málaga. THAT VERY ONE. Gone now of course, and anyhow, I am where I am for at least one year. I think it’s time to unsubscribe from the daily updates of available apartments…
06 Wednesday Sep 2017
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I have been waiting to meet my Vecina since I moved into the new Casa Azahar at the end of July. At the time I was told that Encarne was away for the summer and would return to Sevilla in September. Meanwhile, all I knew about her was that she keeps a rather splendid patio (a shared space, though I only benefit from the extra light). I had worried that she might smoke in her patio, which would kind of be like smoking in my house, but so far this hasn’t happened.
What did happen, however, was that we went out for lunch and got to know each other a bit better. Encarne is thrilled to have neighbours again and – so far – her only complaint about us is that we don’t make enough noise (!!) so that she knows she’s not alone in the house. Because it’s just the two apartments here. She even said – “just drag a chair across the floor from time to time”. Ha.
Anyhow, we had a fab lunch and lots of chat. Encarne is also an animal lover and, although she prefers dogs, she has already briefly met Loki and thinks he is a very handsome and friendly beast. In fact, she wants me to let the cats roam free throughout the building, so they can still take advantage of having stairs to run up and down, and of course so Encarne can make friends with them. A few months ago she lost her dog after 16 years, so not having animals around is hard. Well… we’ll see how that goes, but for now it’s nice to have met Encarne. She is quite the character and I like her a lot. Phew! 😉
lunch at Cafetería Donald
05 Tuesday Sep 2017
Posted in casa azahar, cats, food & drink, home
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For the past year and a half I have been happily spiralizing veggies with my hand-held doohicky that basically works like a big pencil sharpener. But today I took things up a notch by buying my first ever Mandolina! It’s a pretty basic model, but I think – hope – it will be useful. Any tips? Other than the obvious (remove cat)…
29 Tuesday Aug 2017
Posted in casa azahar, cats, home
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casa azahar, cats, home, work
One of the nice things about the new Casa Azahar is that my Office is next to the balcony and I get to enjoy this street view while I work. The girls like it too, so in the morning I move a little table in front of the balcony so they can hang out with me. Now if they could only learn to answer emails and edit photos…
23 Wednesday Aug 2017
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So I don’t know about you but I CANNOT sleep in a totally dark room. I know lots of people install black-out curtains or blinds so not one bit of lights sneaks into their bedroom at night, but for me this is like being inside a coffin. Opening my eyes and not being about to see ANYTHING. GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH…
And so, when I moved into the new Casa Azahar I realized that my bedroom, which has a window opening onto the shared patio, doesn’t actually let much light into the room at night. I have been used to bedrooms with balconies that face onto streets, so there has always been streetlights and moonlight to keep my room gently lit during the night. At first I tried to brave it out, thinking I’d get used to it. But there was no way. I started leaving one of the bathroom or hallway lights on all night, but these were actually too bright. And then remembered night lights.
You know night lights. They are usually for kids who are afraid of the dark and need a bit of a glow in their rooms so that when they wake up in the middle of the night (just like me!) they don’t find themselves in TERRIFYING TOTAL PITCH BLACKNESS. So I had a look around the shops but couldn’t find them anywhere. Then a friend recommended the obvious – Amazon – and sure enough, there they were. So I bought a 4-pack of these guys, which were the style I was looking for, that plug straight into the socket. The only thing is that there is no on-off switch. They are light sensitive, which would be fine in a room that actually got bright during the day. So as they are on almost all the time I’m not sure how long they’ll last. I’m even travelling with them this week as my friend’s bedroom (with the blinds down) is a bit too dark for me. Love ’em.
12 Saturday Aug 2017
Posted in casa azahar, life stuff, sevilla, spain, tapas tours, work
The other day I was wrapped up in all the IKEA nonsense, feeling abused by corporate bullshit, and then I happened to see that – once again! – one of the new corporate tapas tour companies in town had copied another of my tours. So I mentioned on Twitter how disheartening this is, to not only have people copy things I have created, but they even use the same bars FFS, as if nobody will notice that the bars no longer have actual clients in them, just food tour groups. As if bars don’t have their own eco-systems. Grrrrr…
Then the next day I got a mention on Twitter linking to this photo taken almost exactly 6 years ago (Sept 2011), with a great comment from Tim being very supportive. And I remember this tour! I almost didn’t do it because I was still getting over that emergency op but at that point I also really wanted to get out of the house. So I arranged it that I would meet them with Peter at the first stop, just to say hola, and that Peter would take it from there, since I didn’t think I could manage a whole evening out. But I actually made it to the second stop (this photo was taken at Bodeguita Romero) and I remember not only having a great time before leaving Tim and his friends in Peter’s capable hands, but also enjoying my first glass of wine in over a month.
Anyhow, what a great memory to be reminded of, and curiously this was my second “blast from the past” from 2011 this month, since Ross & Annie are also back in town. All of which is reminding me to enjoy what I have and embrace all the GOOD. Because sometimes I forget.
11 Friday Aug 2017
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So now that I am FINALLY BOX FREE I can turn my attention to other things, like getting light fixtures for the living room, bedrooms and hallways. Any ideas for what might look best in with this plaster ceiling detail? There are two of them in the living room, and I’d like them to be quite bright as I will only use them during the day. And no, I don’t think I’ll be going back to IKEA… 😉
10 Thursday Aug 2017
Posted in azahar, casa azahar, cats, home
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So this is basically what all the fuss was about. A simple cupboard 60 x 60 x 140 to serve as a pantry because the kitchen (to the right) doesn’t have enough storage space. It’s handy, just the right size, fits into a space I wouldn’t use for anything else, blah blah blah…
WHY it took over a week to organize the delivery and assembly is beyond me. The guy who showed up today to put the cupboard together said “August with IKEA is always like this” (leading to the obvious question… then WHY NOT HIRE MORE PEOPLE IN AUGUST???). But it wasn’t his fault. I’m sure places other than IKEA contract his company’s services, and in fact he was very friendly and helpful. I couldn’t have been happier with him.
One glitch (of course!). See that cardboard package alongside the cupboard? Well, that’s the cover I paid extra for. Turns out the covers need to be CUT TO SIZE depending on the order, and my guy wasn’t told this and didn’t have the right tools, so there it remains until IKEA sends someone out to do this. But at least it doesn’t affect how it functions. Which means that already three boxes are gone from the hallway and by tomorrow THERE WILL BE NO MORE BOXES. I almost can’t believe it.
Now that it’s (almost) over, I am so relieved that I (almost) can’t believe how upsetting all this was. I think that because moving is so stressful anyhow that when things get fucked up they feel even more stressful. Also, had everything been delivered and assembled last Friday – LAST FRIDAY!!! – as promised, the new apartment would have been pretty much set up over the weekend. Instead it’s been another week of BOXES and feeling disorganized. Yeah, I know, first world problem and all, but it still sucked. Especially as I’m supposed to be on holiday this week, and it sure hasn’t felt like a holiday. BUT… big deep breath… it’s all looking better now. How’s your week been?
