Once a year I do a 6-week program called “The Elements of Success”. One of the assignments is to create 7 goals. And one of those goals is that I want to ground. Having no house and no place with our own stuff around us might grow a sense of non-earthiness. Which I don’t want. … Read more
In Spain, the school holidays start halfway through the month of June and finish halfway through September. So it’s quite a challenge what to do with all the school kids during these three months. You can send your kids to the holiday apartment of the grandparents on the coast. But still, what can the grandparents … Read more
This is not a Hyacinth, but a Yucca in full bloom. Like the yellow flowers growing in the garden a couple of weeks ago, the Yucca is a weed over here. It grows everywhere and most of the plants we pass on our daily walk have beautiful flowers. I had to take the picture skyward … Read more
With an outfit that prevents them from getting any further underwater than their chest and with their buckets, scoops, sieves, rakes, and wheelbarrows they finally arrived a la playa, at the beach. We picked a spot with shallow deep water and low waves. They were shy from the water in the beginning, but in the … Read more
Today was an excellent day. The family – son plus grandchildren – arrived very early giving us ample time to play. The highlight of the day was of course the swimming pool. They both have some kind of life jacket to make sure they don’t drown. And we made sure to don’t drag them into … Read more
Whenever we are very early for our walk we notice that the beach is all neat and tidy. Given the big tracks in the sand, they use heavy equipment to get the job done!I suspect they do it every night or real early in the morning before the beach guests arrive. I enjoy walking on … Read more
We discovered a footpath from the house to the Country Club de Mazarrón. This ‘club’ is an urbanizacion of immigrants. Mainly from the UK. Although there also seem to live some German and Dutch immigrants. Crossing a hill we had to pass between two large huertas (orchards) with very old vines rich with grapes. The … Read more
The Asociación de Vecinos (neighborhood association) de Zarzaquemada in Leganés (a suburb of Madrid) issues a monthly magazine called La Palabra (The Word). Its distribution is free. Nothing in La Palabra’s issue 366 (17 de Marzo de 2018) about bingo or shuffleboard. The cover of the magazine features the battles over pensions and feminism that in … Read more
Not so long ago, there lived someone in Spain who accused all the Spaniards to be lazy. This is false. Spain is a very industrious nation. Take for instance the artificial grass you see in the picture and which is located somewhere along the boulevard of Puerto de Mazarrón. It’s green and will not get … Read more
The Dutch may be very direct, as we often hear over here, they are also hospitable. No business would dream of having a conversation, even when it’s just a meeting to get acquainted and nothing more, without offering coffee, tea, or water. As we realized when we had a getting-to-know conversation with a Dutch real … Read more