It’s Christmas, how did that happen?

One minute we were sweltering in the motorhome on our way down to Murcia and here we are, Christmas 2020! With a glowing wood fire and the “Christmas star” shining down on us. LIke many, many families in many, many parts of the world we were hoping to be sharing it with loved ones but this is not to be this year.

Bespoke Christmas tree made from bamboo canes collected from the rambla (dry river bed)

So, not a great deal to impart and I promise not to mention figs or olives this time! All I will say is that the fig trees are now just clinging on to the very last few leaves. What will I do with my mornings now when I’m not raking them up and carrying them down to the rambla? The garden is still keeping us busy though and providing colour and surprises frequently.

  • Pretty pink flower!
  • Almost bare fig tree
  • Hibiscus
  • Don’t know this one’s name, sorry!
Colour in the garden

Oranges are beginning to ripen and so far we are having trouble keeping up with the fallen ones. We have freshly squeezed juice every morning with our breakfast. Very tasty they are too. I might have a try to make some marmalade soon, they aren’t Sevilles but they aren’t overly sweet either.

Orange Glut!

The bird count is growing, we’ve had regular visits from or sightings of:

Siskins, blackcaps, robins, sparrows, starlings, collared doves, redstarts, wagtails, greenfinches, blackbirds, starlings,, Quaker parakeets, little owls, crested lark, hoopoes, distant eagle…(too far away to identify), sparrowhawk, kestrel, corn bunting, little egrets

We’ve set up a bird feeding and watering station and have just had some food delivered from the UK . We’ve always fed the birds in our English gardens and gained great pleasure from watching them but we’ve not been able to source it here. Fly up, fly up, get your tasty mealworms here! Hopefully next installment I will report more species.

Bolnuevo beach, near Mazarron

We’ve still very much kept ourselves to ourselves because of the virus. Our outings are just for shopping and visits to offices for bureaucracy. That has all been quite stressful but now our applications for residence and Spanish driving licenses are in the system so that is a relief. Our official documents might still be a long time coming but at least we beat the deadline of 31st December. We can officially cross our municipality border now as long as we stay in Murcia so this means we can now go and collect our post again and shop in Mazarron and when we do the dogs get a run on Bolnuevo Beach, in the photo above. We’ve recently got to “know” a few local people via a facebook group. Although we’ve not actually met them it’s nice to know there are people around who will help if ever help is needed.

Our first wood fire, toasty and warm! When Nigel was a youngster his gran encouraged him to sit and “Lay a penny”. Once he was still for long enough she would secrete a coin gently under his bottom. I think the idea was for the adults to get 5 minutes peace. But I can tell you it worked because we used to do it with our boys too! Here he is continuing the tradition.

Belle and Ditto are enjoying their new life, we’ve kept to our routine of one of us walking early morning while the other makes breakfast.

  • We took the cage out of the car, to fit some timber in, they both got in it!!!!
  • They prefer the settee though!

Our neighbours are very kind and helpful, we’ve had gift from both our English and Spanish ones, this delightfully wrapped gift of home made goodies was from Pili and Jose and we also have chocs and sweeties from Matt and Kate , our English neighbours. We’ve only been able to chat over the fence but it’s nice to know they are there if we need them.

Pili’s home made cookies.
We had some spectacular sun
sets recently!
Nigel’s new friend who lives at the garden centre.

Hoping against hope that 2021 will bring some sense of normality so that we can welcome family and friends to our new home.

Hasta Luego y ¡Feliz año nuevo!