21 Friday Aug 2009
Posted in food & drink, friends, health & happiness, holidays, spain, summer, travel, trips
A couple of days ago I got a call from my friend Paloma telling me she’d just arrived in Zahara and was going to be here for awhile so we should get together. I met Paloma through Agustín and she was also my student for awhile. She’s a bit older than me and is the mother of my favourite chatterbox, Bosco, who is going to be coming to Zahara today. But I am getting ahead of myself…
18 Tuesday Aug 2009
Posted in books & writing, change, chemo, fitness, food & drink, friends, health & happiness, holidays, hope, internet, life stuff, travel, trips, yoga
Yesterday I read this article called Can You Handle 24 Hours of Solitude? … and I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to do this. In fact, it’s taken some time to get used to being alone on holiday here in Zahara. I know some of you think this is like a dream come true, but I came here not just to spend some time at the beach and take care of Mini – it was also a personal challenge. I really wasn’t sure how I’d feel being on my own for a whole ten days. And now it’s day four …
16 Sunday Aug 2009
All settled in now and really feeling at home. This is a photo of my first sunset in Zahara, as seen from the terrace. Agustín & Elena have a great place here with three bedrooms, two bathrooms, nice living/dining area and – the best part – a terrace that is almost as big as the apartment! Except for mid to late afternoons when it’s too hot, I can pretty much live out here. It’s especially nice for breakfast. Having my coffee out here while checking email, twitter and blogs and looking out at the sea is pretty much a dream come true.
My companion Mini – I keep telling her we are just two fat old broads at the beach – is sweet, despite having to mop up after her almost constantly. Poor old girl. I’ve known her since she was a pup and now that she is 14 it’s a bit sad to see her having such a hard time. And that Agustín! Before they left on Friday he slipped me another “vacation donation” trying to pretend it was in case Mini needed anything, but then said I should just go out and have a few nice meals on him. And so I shall – just watch me! 🙂
More apartment pics below…
10 Monday Aug 2009
It is sooooooo good to be home again. Got in yesterday evening around 7.30 and Sunny was there waiting for us by the door (he’s such a dog!). So Nog & I made a huge fuss over him, gave him snibbles galore, a paté treat and waited for Azar to stop sulking and come out from under the bed. Nothing doing. So eventually I had to go into my bedroom, lie on the bed and pretend I was going to sleep. And sure enough, Azar jumped up and came over for his “good night cuddle”. But what he got instead was a full-body snibble and rubdown, then Nog gave him a brushing and then they both got a snackerel of malt (they love that stuff) … and I think we have finally been forgiven.
What’s this got to do with that photo up there? Well, that is a village on the Cádiz coast called Zahara de los Atunes and it looks like I might be going on another holiday …
07 Friday Aug 2009
It was love at first sight. Or at first sound. Two nights ago Nog & I decided to stick close to home and try out the Mexican restaurant around the corner from our building. As soon as we sat down on the terrace I heard this little mieow-mieow-mieowing that sounded to me like a lost and very hungry kitten. Eventually the little guy came out from under the car he had been hiding under and started checking out what people on the restaurant terrace were eating. So of course I had to give him some of our enchiladas, and later the waiter also gave him some scraps from the kitchen. I immediately named him Caramel…
casa azahar 