It has seemed a longer, colder and wetter than usual winter and the accompanying wait for spring felt endless. We haven’t been away anywhere since our trip to the UK for our Golden Wedding in October so it seemed I didn’t have a great deal to blog about. However we’ve just got back from a 5 day city break in Seville, more of which later. That has prompted me to get on and get blogging!!

Ditto and Poco wondering earlier this month if it was ever going to stop raining! Thanks to Jill for this picture!

After our UK trip we decided to treat ourselves to a new to us car. Nigel did his usual mountain of research and much umming an ahhing. We traipsed around dealers and second hand car lots and eventually got a good PX deal on the Citroen and decided on an MG electric vehicle that had only 20k on the clock having been a model in a shopping complex (the car, not me!) somewhere in Murcia. I know that some people regard EV’s as the spawn of the devil, others are ambivalent but for us and our lifestyle it is a good fit. We no longer need a gas guzzling 7 seater and with our solar generation it is convenient and economical to run. We charge it overnight using spare solar power that is banked during the day or cheap rate electricity if that is depleted. Our trip to Seville was the first time we needed to charge away from the house and once we had done that successfully we knew we had no need of range anxiety.

Black is not the ideal colour in this climate but at least we have a sunroof!!!!

Just before Christmas what turned out to be a major garden project began. When we moved into the house an area of the garden that the previous owners named “Murray Mound” (comprising of the spoil from when they had the hole for the pool excavated), was covered in a form of ice plant, providing greenery all year and a spectacular purple floral display every spring. Up until last year when sadly it started to die off and became extremely unsightly.

Stunning floral display every spring……..until it wasn’t!
We tried to remove it ourselves but it was too difficult for us
So we called in the team who pruned our trees last spring. Three of them took half a day to remove it all and replace the membrane.
What a difference, bare but not for long!
Nigel decided to replant with mostly prostrate rosemary to attract bees and insects. A few other plants are interspersed. Here he is planting the last of 110 rosemaries, each one having its own dripper feed from his newly installed irrigation system.
To discourage Ditto and Poco from running over it while the plants get established he put a temporary lightweight fence around.

So this project has taken up a lot of time and energy and has not left much space for going away. As well as that I’ve needed to have quite a lot of dental treatment at regular intervals throughout February and March.

We have, however had some social interaction as well, we’ve met up with David and Fiona, former house sitters for lunch one day just after new year. We also had a catch up with Julie and Rob during their half term break when they were at their apartment fairly nearby. We met at a Chinese restaurant one lunch time, too busy talking to take any pics! David and Pamela Ross, boating friends came to stay for a couple of days in early March, we always enjoy their company.

We went for walk on the beach at Bolnuevo and then for a coffee and carrot cake which was too creamy for us but the sparrows enjoyed our leftovers!! Thanks to David for this picture, the next one of the sparrows and the Bougainvilia at the top of the blog.

They were swiftly followed by more boating friends, Jill and Graham Budd and their dog, Burtie. They parked up in their motorhome in our garden. Unfortunately, they brought the rain with them! Understatement of the year!

Full time job clearing the pool cover of rainwater.
The rambla on the lane leading away from our house
Graham being well and truly Poco’d!

A very wet March at least meant that the new plants got well and truly watered in. However, one night when the dogs went out for their constitutional, there was such a hullabaloo, They were barking and chasing around, presumably after a rabbit or a cat and the next morning we discovered the fence was breached in several places, it’s only flimsy but we were still surprised and somewhat displeased!!!! (The polite version.)

Humph!!!! Struck us that’s a whippet sized hole!! Eh, Ditto??
David and Pamela Ross, ever the jokers decided it would be a jolly jape to pop this under the pool cover while they were here unbeknownst to us. we nearly had a heart attack upon removing said cover a couple of weeks later!! But it was very funny and we did have a good laugh about it after the initial shock!

At last though it was time to head off for Seville. The house sitters arrived the day before as is customary so they could meet their charges and we could show them the ropes. The dogs took to them straight away and vice versa so we left with no worries that all would be well at home. Nigel was well due a rest from his trials and tribulations (and knee pads).

The weather was beginning to improve with scattered showers and some sunshine when we set off. We had removed the winter cover from the pool and started to heat it for the sitters to use if they felt so inclined but it wasn’t “cracking t’flags” as they say in Bolton! On our drive over the Sierra Nevada we had snow!

An hour or so later we were treated to a glorious sunset

Our hotel was very comfortable, we took plenty of tea bags and long life milk and other snacks and supplies so that we could rest between trips out. We really aren’t city people but have always wanted to see Seville and it is indeed a beautiful city. We didn’t expect it to be quite so crowded in March, it was well before Easter and not a school holiday period but it was well and truly heaving wherever we went. The weather was kind to us, although one day rain was forecast it did not materialise. It was generally sunny and in the low 20’s, perfect for strolling about and sitting people watching.

Our hotel, we were on floor 29! There was an underground car park with electric charging facility…one of the major factors in the choice!
Looking skywards from the shopping complex underneath
View over the old town from the Atalaya terrace on floor 37.
Aperol Spritzes…it had to be done!
Our first tourist visit was to Las Setas, biggest wooden structure in the world.

https://setasdesevilla.com/historia-y-construccion#2011

Scratches head…….Now where have we seen some of these before?

Plaza Espana
Beautiful ceramics
Time for a rest
Looking upriver to our hotel, at least we couldn’t get lost!
Sangria at a very nice Lebanese restaurant where we had a meal the first night.
High altar in the Cathedral. Seville has the biggest Gothic Cathedral in the world.
The Giralda, bell tower of the Cathedral. Nigel’s knees were not up to climbing it after all the garden work. I was going to…..until I saw the queue!
The tomb of Christopher Columbus
We saw nothing of the inside of the Alçazar, it was uncomfortably crowded for us so we walked straight through to the gardens which were quieter.
Lizard in the Alçazar gardens
Alçazar gardens again
Habit forming, these Aperols!
I finished on the last evening by watching a flamenco show. Something I’ve always wanted to see but totally out of Nigel’s comfort zone. He said he would come with me but I knew he would hate it, so we compromised and bought a ticket for me. He said he would wait outside but I encouraged him to go back to the hotel and I would walk back later. I had a front row seat. It was lively, noisy, energetic and skilful. Glad I scratched the itch. No photography was allowed during the event.
Plenty of snow left on the Sierra Nevada on our journey home…..from a further distance it looked like cloud cover!
Seville oranges no doubt, on a tree along the river bank

All was well when we got back home, the usual welcome from two excitable hounds who had been very well looked after.

Meanwhile, our two orange trees still cling onto a few fruits but the air is pungent around them with the fragrant orange blossom which now adorns them profusely.

And in another area of the garden, the ice plant still lives on in the form of a couple of cuttings saved from Murray Mound! Just the one flower so far but it is trying its best!

That’s all for now, Hasta Luego Todos!