A YEAR IN ANDALUCIA 5 YEARS ON!: January 2009

Friday, January 23, 2009

NEW PORCH

For sometime now we had discussed the possibility of building a porch on the kitchen side of the house. Not only would this be very practical, when dealing with the dogs after a muddy walk, but would also give us another dimension and perspective to that side of the house.

With the interest rate at a virtually all time low and due to the fact that Alvaro’s builders were between jobs and available to complete the work before the end of the month, we decided it would be a perfect time to go ahead with our plans.

Here are a small selection of photographs of the progress so far.

Day 4 - New porch is taking shape

Phase 1 completed....

Day 2 - The ready-mixed cement arrives

Paco (Master builder and our new friend)

Day 1 - The JCB has done an excellent job!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

THREE KING'S DAY

On the 5th January Spain celebrates the end of Christmas with a great party where everybody gives and receives presents. It is to celebrate the arrival of the Three Wise Men - Melchior, Caspar and Balthazar to the city where Jesus was born. In the same way that the Three Wise Men gave gifts to baby Christ, here they share out presents amongst children all over Spain. In fact, the Three Kings are more popular than Santa Claus.

There are lots of processions of the Three Wise Men in each town and city throughout Spain, where the children go along with their parents to see the kings and receive sweets from them. The atmosphere is electric.

Here are a few photographs of the procession in Ronda, which started at 9pm from the railway station and finished at the bottom of the Calle de la Bola, nearby to the ancient bullring.

Friday, January 2, 2009

NEW YEARS EVE PARTY

May we take this opportunity of wishing all of our friends and family a Very Happy, Peaceful and Prosperous New Year…..

We saw 2008 out with a blast, but we will let our photographs tell the story…..