DEDICATED FOLLOWERS OF FASHION

Millie and Louis model the latest raincoat design from Giorgio Armani's 2012-2013 Winter collection...

I love you Mum....

Darling Millie...

Mothers and Toddlers Group...

Come on...Lets play Mum

OUR LATEST ARRIVAL

Louis - 12th November 2012

♫  At last our love has come along, our lonely days are over and life is like a song  ♫

After what had seemed like an eternity, Lilly finally gave birth to her baby this morning. At approximately 10:15am a baby boy, who we have named Louis, arrived into the world weighing in at exactly 7kgs.

We had just returned from walking the dogs when we saw that Lilly was in labour, but by the time we had got our act together and reached her the deed was done....

As with Millie, a text book birth and within half an hour he was up on his feet and feeding!

Welcome to the world...

his first steps..

When Millie met Louis..

Not another one!

Millie - Not yet two weeks old, but already chewing the cud!

EXTREME WEATHER CONDITIONS

The Village of Arriate...

I appreciate that it is not Hurricane Sandy, but nevertheless a night of thunder storms and torrential rain have taken their toll on us and the local community!

We are hearing reports of a mud slide that has found its way into the village of Arriate, disrupting traffic and local businesses. The lower road is covered by stones from the adjacent fields and has already caused a traffic accident.

A continuous stream of water has washed the shingle off  our drive....

Our neighbours olive grove is under water...

The excessive erosion of the track down to the village, caused by the heavy water flow, is hard to believe and quite scary. The weight of water in just a few hours has created huge trenches that in places are 2 metres deep. Apparently houses in the bottom of the valley have been flooded and when you look at the photographs below, you can understand why....

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To think we were driving down this track a week ago...

Our dogs don't seem to be too bothered....

The Arriadh Hotel

A sea of rain water and mud converge on the Arriadh Hotel, owned by two of our dearest friends, Eduardo and Amina.  

We have tried to contact them this morning without success, so we are praying that the damage has been minimal...

We have never seen our swimming pool so full!!!!

You will also be pleased to know that the rain didn't get into the house this time, neither did I fall through a ceiling....  All good news then!

A night they won't forget in Arriate!

SPECIAL VISITORS

Last month my youngest daughter Becky and her boyfriend Shen came to stay for the best part of a week, which was lovely.

The weather was great for that time of the year, so the two of them were able to sunbathe and swim in the pool....

We also found time to take a trip to the Lakes in Ardales and have lunch at the Mirador Restaurante there, which is one of our favourites...

at Ronda's famous Tajo at night...

at the Lakes in Ardales and the incredible views...

we also found time to take the dogs to their favourite spot...

Saying goodbye to the dogs on their last day....

A special moment..

MILLIE

Mille - 2 days old

Just a quick update on Millie, who is now a week old.....

Although the weather has been awful here this week, torrential rain and high winds, Millie has taken it all in her stride!

She is incredibly active and strong for one so young and is continually on the go...  Every morning she charges around like a mad thing and has explored every inch of the paddock!

She now weighs 8kgs, an increase of 1.25kgs in a week!

She is a great little character and adorable...  We have been blessed!

Still no sign of Lilly's baby, but it should be imminent!   Watch this space!

NEW KID ON THE BLOCK....

It's been a very tiring first day!

We are pleased to announce the birth of our new baby girl....Millie

She was born at around 11am on the eve of Halloween and weighed in at 6:75kgs

Both mother Martina and baby are doing well. Millie was slightly premature, but she was up on her feet very quickly and feeding within half an hour.

We had been monitoring Lilly, who is also heavily pregnant, for the past couple of weeks, so when Lin discovered the baby in the stable yesterday morning, we assumed it was hers. Imagine our surprise when we realised it was Martina's

Millie is the first cria to be sired by our beloved Lorca, so we're really excited about that, especially as she is a little girl. You may remember that after mating with Martina, Lorca travelled to France, to hopefully fulfil his potential.

Sadly, he will not get the opportunity of seeing his baby, but he should be very proud as she is adorable!

We now await the birth of Lilly's baby, which we hope will arrive sooner rather than later, as there is quite a bit of rain forecast for next week!  

Fingers crossed......

Leah checks out the newborn baby..

Millie finding her feet for the first time..

Centre of attraction on her first day...

Luna desperate to join the party, whilst Jack looks on quietly...

 Already leader of the pack...

A kiss from Mum...

and a sniff from Auntie Leah

'Nice view... I think I might like it here Mum'

HOLE IN ONE!

The actual ball...

It's hard to believe that almost 20 years ago to the day, I was standing on the par-three 6th tee of my beloved Brookmans Park Golf Club preparing to take my shot. 

It turned out to be one of the worst shots I had ever played. I completely thinned it and the ball left the club like an exocet misile. However, to my amazement, it clattered into the pin at a rate of knots and dropped like a stone straight into the hole, giving me my one and only hole in one!

We were playing in a Ladies Invitational Day attended by over 150 golfers and I remember my first thought was 'Oh No! This is going to cost me a small fortune' 

SCARY MOMENTS

I have had a couple of very eventful days.....On Saturday I was cleaning the swimming pool and upon removing the lid of the skimmer, I discovered this magnificent scorpion, which was a good 3 inches in length.

Fortunately for me it was dead!  Had it not been I think I would have probably had a heart attack....

To date, we have been very flippant when slipping on our shoes that have been left out on the patio overnight!!  I think we will probably be more vigilant from now on....

The very next morning, whilst preparing to feed the alpacas and donkeys, I pulled back the protective plastic on our haystack only to find myself eyeball to eyeball with a fairly large ladder snake, that has made his home there.

Normally they slither off quickly, but on this occasion he decided to stick around, which gave me the opportunity of getting Lin up for a look and the camera....

HORSESHOE WHIPSNAKE

Following a couple of sightings, we decided to wage war on the rats that roam the garden here, so yesterday I cleared everything from behind the pump house and set up four conventional traps.

Unfortunately, when I checked the traps later that evening, I discovered that we had accidentally caught a beautiful horseshoe whipsnake, which was 3 to 4 feet in length. What was particularly sad, is that this snake wasn't after the food and had activated the trap whilst passing and was caught in the midriff.

Although we released him immediately and could see that he was still alive, he was not moving, so we could only imagine he was in shock.  After a while, with a bit of persuasion, we managed to coax him into a piece of metal pipe and that is where we left him for the night.

I returned to the area of pipe this morning, fearing the worse, but NO...I am pleased to say that there was no sign of him, so we assume that he survived and is out there somewhere under a rock, recovering from his ordeal.

Horseshoe Whipsnake

The horseshoe whipsnake, takes it's name from the horseshoe pattern along its body and in Spanish is called a 'culebra de herradura'  It is found throughout the south of Spain and all along the Mediterranean coast up to Barcelona and favours sunny bare stony ground. 

This particular snake makes up 9% of the booted eagle's diet, which would explain while we regularly see one circling the house early in the evenings.