Happy Birthday Maisie!

What a lovely child she is! She has my brother's eyes I think but where does that big grin come from?

Her Mum tells me that she is a bit of a nag but I'm sure she does it beautifully. She makes me smile and I love her taste in hats! I reckon she must be celebrating the end of her nappy days. Good for you, girl!

Well, Maisie is three today and Nana and Grandad send loads and loads of love. Kisses from Top too!

Have a big fun day xxxxxxxxxxxx

A special hug from Nana x


Photo: Sam

Eggs.........Happen!!

There's lots of hanky panky going on in budgieworld tonight. Juanita has been rolling around the bottom of the cage with Jose! I've covered the cage to give them some privacy. Maybe we will have eggs for Easter!

I'm not sure if this UkNova is a good or a bad thing. It's great being able to watch so many English programmes but I do miss being able to use my computer. I was all settled to talk to my mate, John, the other night but Brian wanted to watch something which I'd downloaded earlier........grrrrr.

On the plus side, I have been able to see the 'Who Do You Think You Are?' series which I have really enjoyed. The one with Steven Fry was brilliant. I'm off now to take a look at the one with Sheila Hancock. Then there's Corrie!!!

No Sunday Bowling League!

There we were all ready to go and win when Doreen rang to say that Jeff was poorly sick and bad.

He is a diabetic and has to watch his diet. He had a bad night and they both were awake for most of it. Never mind, we'll all catch up soon.

Happy Birthday Ray!

It's my little brother's birthday today and there he is with his eldest son, Dean and my littlest grand-daughter, Tully.

We have been very close all our lives and I miss him to bits and love him lots! I still wonder why he is a good foot taller than me!

We've shared a few bad times and enjoyed some happiness.


Ray, I love you, dearly xxxxx

Photo: Katie

Los Christianos

Sue and I had an away day to Los Christianos today, catching the bus as normal. It took around an hour to get there and we were so amazed to see how green the island is after all the rain we've had lately. We did a little shopping before travelling back to Playa Fanabe.

We visited our favourite Italian restaurant for a bit of lunch but forgot, yet again, that the price of coffee is extortionate. Almost two euros for a small decaf is a little silly!

As usual, we finished our afternoon at the bowling alley. A few of my mates were there so it was a good crack. If Sue played a little more often she would be a good bowler. She manages more strikes than I do but hasn't practiced enough for the spares.

Would you believe that I had a score of 184?!! I qualified for a free game on Sunday!

UKNova

I'm feeling rather pleased with myself at the moment because I've managed to download a couple of English TV programmes. It was a whole new world trying to understand torrents and bit torrents but I got there in the end after reading a most confusing idiot guide.

For every programme you download you have to upload a part of it and that's where it gets a bit difficult. I practiced on my favourite soap - Coronation Street, then we watched the last episode of Casualty. It all appears a little too good to be true!

Having no other way of receiving such programmes it's ideal for us. Just download a couple during the day to watch that evening...............perfect!

Monday Bowling League

Poor Martin! He had such a bad day. I felt for him because he started each game really well but sort of lost the plot towards the end. I didn't do too bad but we didn't manage to win any points. Not to worry!

I met up with Brian after the game and we decided to have a treat and eat out. Bar Antonio (one of our five o'clock club haunts) does great food at reasonable prices so our few beers, pork steak and a fresh local fish cost around 16 pounds. Not bad at all! Brian had his 'helpful head on' and sorted out an English couple who couldn't understand the Spanish menu.

Do you remember my French friend? Well, it appears she is a hairdresser and passed me a note to invite me to her apartment on Friday. She is going to do something with my hair! Watch this space!

A sad note: Dawn, Caron's best friend, died in hospital yesterday. She had been ill for quite some time but, being around forty years old, we all thought she would pull through. Condolences to Dawn's family and to Caron x

Sunday Bowling League

A pretty bad day for Doreen and I. We had a really good first game and beat them by around 57 pins but I had a very nasty middle game which brought our advantage down quite a bit.

Doreen did ok and I felt so bad that I had let her down that I managed to score a 159 on the last. Unfortunately, Doreen had the exact same score as I had on the middle game...........what are we like?

We ended up with two points. So sad because we knew we could have beaten them!

The worst of it is, Martin and I play the same pair tomorrow. I must give him a pep talk!!

Some Folk!

We wandered over to Bar Antonio tonight for a couple of beers and ended up enjoying watching a group of English folk. Three women and a couple of blokes.

One of the women took charge as she said she could speak Spanish..........ummmm? We listened in quite blatantly as she ordered all their food. One chap asked her to ask the waiter for garlic bread and so she did 'have you garlic bread?', in a loud voice!! She did understand the word no!! It sort of got worse from there. I did note that she knew enough to get herself a carafe of white wine!

We were both ready for home but were so interested in what might emerge from the kitchen that we hung on for a little while.

Bossy Boots did get the fish she had ordered and one of the blokes seemed ok with his but.............all wasn't too well at the other end of the table. One woman didn't expect to find that her fish still had it's head and the other, because of the bad translation, found herself looking at a plate of squid instead of the nice pork chop she was expecting!

Time to go home!

A Strange World!

I was having a natter on one of my Family History chat lines tonight when I came across a lady I'd hardly spoken to before. For some reason we started talking about Malta and it turned out that she lived there at the same time as I did........ in the early seventies.

As the conversation progressed it turned out that she gave birth to her youngest child in the Navy Hospital at Mtarfa. So did I! We chatted a little more and it turned out that her son was born three days after my daughter!!!

As I was kept in there for three weeks and she stayed for a week or so we must have come across each other...............scary stuff!!

I've just had my new allocation for my transcribing thingy. I'm doing marriages in 1859. All handwritten so it may take some time!

Green Fingers!

I'm feeling pretty pleased with my gardening abilities at the moment because I've managed to keep this poinsettia going for far longer than their usual timespan. Sue gave it to me a couple of weeks before Christmas and it's hardly dropped a leaf!

Talking of Sue........she asked me to mention her canaries, Red and Fecker. It seems that poor girlie Fecker has had to be moved to a 'holding cage' for safety reasons, that bad Red bird was far too amorous, bless her.

Back to the gardening. I tried so hard last winter to produce daffodils and most folk thought that I was really stupid. Daffodils won't grow in Tenerife. I sort of thought that they may be right when I ended up with a pot of leaves but I've cared for the bulbs all year and guess what!! They are growing again!!

Sunday Bowling League

Doreen and I had a 4 - 4 draw which was an excellent result for us as we were playing last season's champions! We looked good in our new shirts even though the printer couldn't spell. Doreen had two r's and only one e and he left out the last e in our team name. We are now the Racketts.

I had a wonderful middle game, 173, which would have been my first ever clean game, apart from the one pin I left up on the fifth! It was nice to meet up with our bowling friends again and we had a good day.

Brian and Jeff both played well and sneaked the weekly medal!

A Neglected Blog

I realised earlier that I hadn't posted for a couple of days and it did cross my mind that folk may think my cooking had killed us off!! We both survived but I haven't been asked to cook since, strange that!!

January seems full of long days and I must admit to being really bored at the moment. I've done so much transcribing that I reckon FreeBMD are thinking that I need to 'get a life'! Five o'clock club appears to be on winter 'mode' too as we are down to four members. Roll on warmer weather.

My friend, John, in England, was telling me about the new series of 'Who do you think you are?' and it sounds so interesting. I checked out the web site in the hope that it was possible to watch it but, no such luck. It's Sheila Hancock next week and Julian Clary soon after. Oh for English telly!

That 'C' Word!

For some strange reason, I volunteered to make a roast dinner today. It was my first cooking venture for months and I headed into the kitchen determined to do well.

All went ok for a while until I noticed that the beef wasn't cooking as quickly as it should. I almost ended up with cooked roasties and half-raw meat! My yorkshires didn't turn out as well as normal either, but 'im indoors did confess to putting the wrong type of flour in the container.

For one of my efforts it looked really good and Brian did give it 8 out of 10!
He ate so much that he didn't have room for any beer tonight so no Five O'clock Club for us!

Happy Birthday Sam!

My lovely daughter, Sam, is a birthday girl today!

Unfortunately, this was the only photo I could find on my computer and it doesn't do justice to her beautiful blue eyes.

I spoke to her earlier and she was having a wonderful day, loads of cards and gifts.

I love and miss you so much, Sam, and I'm proud of you.

Enjoy!!

Monday Bowling League

A really good start to the season as we had a 6 - 2 win!! We lost the first game by a few pins but managed to get it together in the second. Martin had 181 and I scored 141!

My best game was the third with a score of 167. That's really good since I haven't played for about three weeks. I can't wait until Sunday now!

I've been trawling the web, looking at bowling sites and I came across this lovely white ball. I really like the look of that, maybe one day!

We have been having one of our 'bad weather spells' torrential rain for almost twenty four hours. Thankfully, it seems to have stopped now but it's still quite cold and the forecast says that it will get worse before the end of the week.

I can see that my longing for a nice warm fire is set to continue!

Our Volcano

Mount Teide, in Tenerife, stands at 3717.91 metres and is the highest point in the whole of Spain. It's also the third largest volcano in the world. The last eruption was in 1909 and the darker tracks of that eruption are clearly visible.

There is a cable car which takes you to the highest point but access is limited because of corrosion. As Teide is visited by more that 2.5 million people every year this is a major problem.

I have been lucky enough to go up to the crater several times and it's such a remarkable experience. Even though there are coach loads of folk up there it is so silent and peaceful. Quite eerie really.

It is full of snow at the moment which is quite a treat for the Spanish children.

The Power of The Press

I did mention a couple of weeks ago that my meeting with my old school mate, Carol, may be featured in the local paper in our home town.

Well, there it was, this morning........unfortunately, I only had the internet version but, it was nice to see and I had a few emails from old friends because of it.

Hopefully, my brother might save the hard copy until I see him next.

Epiphany Eve

There are lots of very excited children around this evening. The Three Kings arrived in the village earlier and rode their camels to the Church Square. Every child in the village was called out by name and given a present.........it's so sweet!

Before they all go to bed tonight they have to leave some food for their favourite King and a little water for his camel. If they've been good they will receive more gifts. It seems they have to leave their shoes outside so that either, Gaspar, Melchior or Balthazar know where they are. For more info have a look at :-
http://www.whychristmas.com/cultures/spain.shtml

How I Hate That!!

I was all snuggled under the duvet this morning reading my book. Brian brought me a coffee and, looking at the pages left to read, I settled down for a comfortable hour.

THEN............as I turned the page over I realised that the last chapter wasn't anything to do with the book I was reading but the first chapter of the author's next book!

So annoying!

Red

As I mentioned before, Sue's canaries have been 'staying over' for Christmas and New Year. Fecker has visited before and never been a moment's trouble, however, Red, her new cage mate is such a strange bird!!

He sits up on top of his mirror and makes the strangest noises. It sounds like an ambulance siren at times and poor Top has been well confused. I took a photo tonight and there he is in full flow!

Poor Fecker doesn't get a bit of peace and my budgies, Jose and Juanita haven't been too keen on him.

Anyway, the eviction notice has been served today and he has to move out on Wednesday!

I expect Sue will be glad to see him!!

People Watching

Our normal haunts were closed today so we had to walk to the other side of the village to find an open bar. We tried the one by the harbour, thinking it might be a nice change, but the service was deplorable. I had to complain, which is something I don't normally do but there you go.

We moved on and found a lovely spot for people watching. I must learn not to stare!

It was in such a good place though. Folk passing by to get to the harbour, some kiddies to be amused by, bad driving to chuckle over and a few folk we knew to chat to. We had a couple of beers and a little tapas. A big chunk of tortilla to share and fresh bread.

Maybe we might try it again!

Happy New Year!!

A little different from our normal celebrations on New Year's Eve.

We went out earlier this evening and spent an hour or two at El Bar Rincon de Cristina but, apart from a quick visit by John, we didn't spot any English folk. Not that it was a problem as we had fun joining in with the Spanish. Maria and Angel gave us a bottle of red wine as we were leaving........how nice!!

We were home when midnight struck and enjoyed standing on the balcony watching the fireworks and giving our good wishes to our neighbours.

It did make a change from drinking too much and at least I won't have a hangover!!