great Sites to visit

http://andaluciangems.wordpress.com

Christine and daughter Kerry are great people to know and if they can't help with a request
I don't know who can.

The info one their site is really useful and the site is easy to navigate. I am now looking forward to a visit to the wolves!

Nutty person??

My friend Amanda who is totally "nutty" and an incredible lady to know, is also a great artist. My pet Julie saw her paintings and totally fell in love with her style.
http://www.amanda-hamilton.com/

Amanda has been comissioned to paint Brazos Abiertos Casa Rural in her amazing style. Of course I am in it , doing what I do best, lounging over a chair ,looking gorgeous..as every cat would.
you can see amanda's work at ...
http://www.amanda-hamilton.com

"Thingys, wotsits and Doings" ??????

Isn't language a funny thing!!

After spending a lot of time trying to learn Spanish.....Andalucian Spanish is very difficult as the people here speak so fast and don't use the letter S !!! so I was wondering if the Spanish use similar words (but in Spanish) that my dad used........here's a typical example...

"Could you get me the thingy"?

"What thingy"?

"The thingy on the wotsit"

"Where's the wotsit"?

"It's on the doings"

So my Dad bless him wanted me to get him "The Thingy that was on the wotsit in the doings"

and amazingly I usually knew what he wanted !!

So I guess people all over the world use similar terms....do you know any good ones?

Brazos Abiertos Casa Rural is now taking bookings

Brazos Abiertos Casa Rural (superior)
is opening in March 2009.
We are a fully accessible, beautiful Casa Rural, a perfect place for your holiday in Andalucia

The Local Area

“Wonderful people, white washed villages, fabulous food, mile after mile

of olive groves, sunshine ……… a truly magical place”

As you approach Iznajar by car you will get a stunning view of this beautiful village perched high above the 'embalse', or reservoir, this means that Iznajar now has a waterfront, overlooking an inland sea some thirty kilometres long. In the early morning mist this view will take your breath away!

New Friends

Hooray!!! I've just found out that I will be getting some company in the New Year....two new friends called Sally Jefferson and Ote (as in Don Quixote), two miniature donkeys.

The donkeys will be coming when they are old enough to leave their mothers, which will probobly be in January so that they will be settled in before we have visitors.They are so cute and Julie and Sheelagh say that our visitors will love petting them.

Brazos Abiertos takes shape

Here's my new home, Brazos abiertos Casa Rural! the building is going very quickly now and today the builders have started to put the arches in on the terrace. All the interior walls are in now and a plumber came last week and next week an electrician and a heating engineer are starting work...phew it's so busy here now. Today there were 7 men working on the build. It has been very hot here for a few weeks so they start work at 7am and finish at 3pm because after this time it's just too hot to do anything but snooze.....

a funny thing happened today!

My pets van had been standing still for a 4 days because they were taking a few days of at the hoopoe yurt hotel.....they called it market research as they are thinking of getting a yurt as a treatment room.
When they returned the van wouldn't start so after numerous attempts they decided to push it back out of the parking space and let it roll down a mighty long hill to the garage at the bottom. Julie started to push and it soon became clear that it needed more people so just on queue a neighbour appeared and he joined in....still no go and so he went to get his daughter...the hairdresser who was in the middle of washing someone's hair! she came out,hands full of shampoo and started to help....she suddenly stopped and said to her dad "why don't you move your car then they can turn the van around without having to push it"!!! dhuuu why didn't we think of that??

So 5 minutes later we are at the bottom of the hill and the garage man has pointed out the problem which apparently is very common and now they know what to do!!! and better yet no charge. Maria the spanish teacher says that very small repairs are done free of charge because the big ones cost a a leg and a paw!!

WOULD YOU BELIEVE IT!!!

it's been very quiet around the build for a couple of days, mainly due to the national transport strike.

The builder can't get some of the materials he needs so until it's over I thought I'd tell you a little about some of the great things that are happening in our area.

FEISTA "Funeral for a Sardine"
Did someone mentions sardines??? There was I thinking that a tasty meal was about to appear?
This fiesta is a celebration of the time when the first sardines of the year were brought by cart from the coast........no one seems to know when the funeral element came in but it's a wonderful night. This is what happens:
For weeks before the fiesta the men plan their costumes and are expected to dress as women, the results are often hilarious as you can see from the photos,. People dress in all manner of clothes and at the head of the procession is a very large paper mache sardine on a metal frame. The town band plays some great tunes and then at certain stages the procession stops, the band breaks into the funeral march and everyone pretends to weep and wail!! After a few minutes the band stikes up a cheerful tune and the procession carries on and on into the small hours. There is huge merriment and all filmed by Rute TV the local station who films everything so that we can all see it again later.

Shame there were no real sardines!!!!