Look What I Found!!

Anyone who knows me will remember how much I miss daffodils in the spring. I've tried my best to grow them here but I reckon that it can't be done without frost. I have the bulbs but they only seem capable of growing leaves.

I decided to make a steak and mushroom pie for dinner and wandered over to the supermarket at about three this afternoon. First stop, butcher's counter. I'm sure he dreads me turning up! He is giving me lessons now though. It appears that if I need minced beef, it's carne molida, and for stewing beef, it's carne picada. You learn something new every day!!

Back to the daffs. I always take a peek at the garden section and I spotted some hyacinths. I don't care for them as they make me sneeze and I was wishing that they could have been daffodils when I spotted them, hiding at the back. Spring has sprung!!

So Boring!

I usually really enjoy bowling but it just went on and on today. We had two teenage girls on our lanes and, although they were playing a match, they kept wandering off, keeping us all waiting. So annoying. It didn't help matters that there was a birthday party on lanes one and two. Ten horrid kids that ran riot for two hours. I was so glad to get out of there.

We had a wander around Torviscas before we came home. I've been looking for a case for my new camera and managed to find one which I liked. A bit pricey but it has solid sides, just in case I was fool enough to drop it, and it's blue and silver. Nice!!

I know I'm sad but I heard this joke today which really amused me..........'Did Noah do any fishing whilst he was on the Ark?'. No, he only had two worms. Sorry!

Chocolate

I'm not a great lover of chocolate and I've never had a sweet tooth but I had a hankering for an Aero Bar last night. Unfortunately, they don't seem to sell them here but I did spot a huge Dairy Milk 'Bubbly' Bar which looked like it might be similar. I really wish I hadn't gone there as it is the best chocolate I've ever eaten!

I did promise the vet that I wouldn't feed Topsie chocolate ever again but as I told him, high cholesterol or no, you only live once!

No Turkey!

It was 'Charlotte Day' today and as she had a birthday last week, I decided to treat her to a trip to the bowling alley.

We caught the bus, which was well late, and I was bombarded with the usual question, 'are we nearly there now!'. She was good though and appeared to enjoy the whole thing. Her main problem was that she could only have a green ball. The pink one was far too heavy.

She does well out of the 'Aunties' here. Her Nan lives in England and can't spend as much time with her as she would like, so those of us who are missing our grandkids enjoy spoiling her.

I don't envy Auntie Sue tomorrow as her birthday treat is taking Charlotte to have her ears pierced!!
She doesn't do pain!

Krishna's

Liz and Lyndsay are flying back to Scotland on Friday so we decided to spend Wednesday evening in Los Gigantes.

Our first port of call was the Bamboo Bar as it was 'happy hour'. Dorada Especial at one euro twenty is pretty cheap for an English bar.

We wandered up the road to the Indian Restaurant, Krishna's, for dinner. It was absolutely superb.

I'm really going to miss Liz and Lyndsay though. I wish they would move back here!

Ready Steady Blow...........

Charlotte's birthday rolled around again last Friday and we were invited to her party on Saturday. Her Nana sent her a lovely Princess dress and she was as proud as Punch wearing it!
Watch out Kate Moss!!

It was quite a busy weekend as we had bowling followed by a couple of hours with Liz and Lyndsay. Melvyn had been poorly sick and bad and needed retrieving from the mending man. Nothing too serious thank goodness. Brian finished one job just to start another! I did end up rushing at one point.........I don't do rush!

I'm looking after Sue's canaries for a couple of weeks whilst they are in England caring for Don's mum. Not a problem as I pop into the apartment, every two days or so, to feed and water them. All well and good until today when I couldn't find the keys! Massive panic. I'm always so careful. The stress levels were rising and it wasn't helping that Brian was running around shouting 'they'll die'!! After ten minutes of chaos.........there they were in my other bag!! Sheesh!

Monday bowling was well good. Ros and I had another win. We were playing two blokes who are near to the top of the league. We lost the first and then I got my dander up and we slaughtered them on the last two games. Out of five matches, we've won three, lost one and the jury is still out on the other. Good for us!

Dismal

My plan for Friday was to catch the bus to Puerto Santiago and walk my way backalong to Playa Arena taking pics as I went. I didn't bargain for such a miserable day. I did bear with it for a couple of hours but as you can see the light was impossible to work with. Home again.

Actually, I'm on a learning curve as I've discovered that, once my photos are loaded onto Picasa, it goes straight to my blog. Cool!!

St Valentine

I'm doing the cooking this week as 'im indoors is working. I got off to a good start yesterday as my Shepherds' Pie earned ten points!! Quite a record for me.

I played at Ready Steady Cook today and went off to the supermarket with a budget of five euros. I bought two huge pork chops and a packet of mushrooms.........total... five euros four centimos. I also received a gift of a large cake for St Valentine so that was pudding taken care of!

My chops were covered with red and green peppers and some sliced onion, seasoned, wrapped in foil, and ready to cook in the oven whilst I went over to five o'clock club. (I was allowed to use the store cupboard and the fridge).

I was feeling pretty clever by this time and planned to do potato slices and grilled mushrooms....perfect!

There was just one thing wrong. I arrived home to discover that the oven was on but my chops were still on the worktop! I haven't laughed so much in ages!

Mr Grumps saw the funny side too and awarded me nine points. Maybe I'll have a rest tomorrow.

La Gomera

I managed to capture this wonderful sunset over the island of La Gomera earlier.

It took your breath away.

Home Alone

I pulled a muscle in my side earlier in the week and so I decided that lifting a ten pound bowling ball might be a bad idea. Doreen's daughter, Julie, stood in for me which left me with an afternoon to myself.

It was really nice. I spent a little while on the PS2, followed by some computer time and then the glorious weather drew me outside where I sat on the balcony for a couple of hours. It is well hot for February and I made the most of it!

Sue passed over some of those daft magazines the other day and I alternated between reading those and doing my embroidery. A bit of people watching in between!

Feeling the need for a bit of a change around four, I wandered down to Bar Rincon de Cristina and sat reading my book until Brian came back. He really wished he hadn't bothered as the Rack 'ems lost 8 - 0!

I've just checked Tully's blog and was glad to see she had a nice birthday. I would have loved a bit of that cake!

Two Junes

We caught the bus into Playa Paraiso this afternoon to meet up with John and June. It must be at least ten years since we all got together and we really enjoyed it.

Strangely enough, Liz contacted me this morning to say that they were in the area and so we ended up with a group of six! A very pleasant afternoon.

I really wanted more photos but we spent so much time gossiping that I didn't get the chance. Not to worry as we have a couple of weeks yet.

Old Friends

We are off to meet up with our old mates tomorrow, John and June, who are here for a month's holiday. We were near neighbours whilst we lived in Cornwall and it will be so good to see them again. I did have a chance meeting with them last Easter at Par Market but we didn't get the time to catch up on families etc. We are meeting up at the bar in Playa Pariaso, Shona and William's favourite place. I'm looking forward to it. Look out for a full report later!

Liz and Lyndsay flew in today too. They are spending their first week up in the north of the island. Pretty chilly there I expect but their second week will more than make up for it as it's well warm down here!

What a Week!!

I woke on Sunday to find that I had major computer problems. It would stay running for ten minutes or so before crashing and as I've had hard drive trouble lately, I was sure it was fatal.

The plan was to take it to the computer shop on Tuesday but Topsie ended up needing the vet. He was so sick on Monday night that we tried ringing the 24 hour emergency number. No answer was the stern reply!! We rang continuously until two in the morning before deciding to hope for the best. I stayed up with him all night and at four o'clock I was sure I was about to lose him.

By around nine, he was still groggy and was sick again so Brian took him to the vet. I sat here for over an hour dreading him coming home without my little man. What would I do without him?! After all that, he trotted in tail wagging and the vet couldn't find a thing wrong with him!!She gave him a couple of injections, just in case and took blood samples. We had the results from those today which were 'nearly perfect'. She now plans to do heart x rays. Oh well, as long as he's ok I don't care what she does.

My computer went to the mending man this morning and he diagnosed a broken fan. Nice one! Three hours and thirty euros later..............perfect!

We've also been busy doing three estimates for carpentry jobs. Two have been accepted and we are waiting for the result of the third. Just like buses, all quiet for ages and then they all turn up at once!

Bird Strike!

A flippin' dove flew into the apartment this morning and scared me half to death. It almost knocked my head off and then managed to land on top of the kitchen cupboard. My coffee went everywhere!

Brian found the step ladders and a towel and was in the process of rescuing it when it took flight and zoomed back out again. It didn't even stop for a photo! It did leave a white feather on my desk though.........could that be lucky?

We had one of those sort of days. The kitchen tap broke apart on Thursday and as Friday was a Bank Holiday we weren' t able to buy a replacement until today. Lots of mucky pots built up in the meantime as I drew the line at fetching hot water from the bathroom.

My job was to fetch the spanners whilst Brian did the technical bit and now I have an nice shiny tap and a sparkling cupboard under the sink!

Christmas Came!

I had a pretty poor Xmas as far as post from England was concerned. I didn't get a single card, which upset me quite a bit. The worst thing was the letters that are normally included. It appears that the Post Office have included a magic number into my address........thanks for telling me!

Mark and Katie sent me a parcel via an express delivery service but, unfortunately, I was out and it ended up back in Manchester! Thankfully, Katie sent it back and it arrived on Thursday.

There I was slobbing on the sofa, still in my nightie and playing Playstation, when the intercom buzzed. The delivery man explained that he had a parcel for me and I had to go downstairs to receive it. I've never moved so quickly. I threw some clothes on and rushed out, still with my giant fluffy slippers and unbrushed scary hair.

Such a wonderful present. A Sony digital camera!! I can't thank them enough, especially as my ancient brick (as Mark calls it) gave up the ghost on New Year's Day.

This is the first photo I took after I'd patiently waited for the battery to charge. It's from my balcony but isn't too good as I was still shaking with excitement! Expect lots more!

Thanks again, Mark, Katie and Tully xxx

Well I Never!!

For the first time in history, well, at least in our house, a couple of light bulbs have been changed on the same day they blew!! The one in the kitchen went belly up, closely followed by the bathroom bulb. I'd settled myself to showering in the dark for the next few weeks but 'im indoors found the ladder and sorted it! He must have been in the mood as he moved on to the kitchen.

To be really honest, I don't know why we have such trouble. Wherever we live, light bulbs go within weeks, kettles and irons constantly need replacing.......we're electric!

We went down to the park earlier for five o'clock club. It was very well attended today. Dave, Caron, Charlotte, Maz, Bernard, Joan, Kevin and us. The usual stupid conversations and sad jokes. Oh, well, that's excitement for you!

There has been such a rush of birthdays lately. Sam was first, followed by my brother, Ray, Maisie is four today, Katie next and Tully a few days later.

Happy Birthday all xx