Willkommen!

Wie schön, dass ihr mein Sammelsurium gefunden habt!
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Danke

Samstag, 30. Juni 2012

Castelo de Vide

Yesterday I had the opportunity to accompany Wilhelmina to Castelo de Vide. It is another one of this old little towns, perched with its castle on top of a hill.


It is said to have Roman origins, the castle is Moorish, there are medieval fortifications and a Jewish quarter with steep cobbled streets,



The renaissance fountain Fonte de Vila, the oldest one of the area,  is from theXVI th century, as the waters from this area are reputed to have healing powers.


Donnerstag, 28. Juni 2012

The perils of animal-sitting...

... or: lessons I've learnt!
On Tuesday afternoon I told the dogs to go for a long walk with them to make up for having left them alone.
First lesson: dogs are not satnavs! They might know where they are, but you can't program them. Not even something like: short round, long round, HOME.
Pancho is a kind of hunting dog and has to go on a leash and Sinsa is a big wolfhound and barks a lot but accomponies us on our walks (sort of: might be some hundred metres ahead).
There are pictures of our walking areas here - it is really very beautiful: impressive cork-oak trees and often those tracks with stone walls, on one place quite close you'll cross the river (maybe creek right now, but I learnt that lesson already in Cocentaina...) by stepping stones; big square stones built into the river. It looks like a medieval stucture, but if you look closer, you'll see engraved: 1942!
Okay, I got distracted. It is still VERY hot at five in the afternoon and we walked some time in more or less bright sunshine. Somewhere I must have taken a wrong turn and the dogs didn't tell me and we landed on a road with traffic.
Second lesson: those dogs don't know what cars are and that they can hurt a lot! They stood in the middle of the road wondering what is happening. So I had to take Pancho's lead the shortest possible way and grab Sinsa by her collar. Pushed and dragged them along until we came to a walking track again. If you download the map from the above mentioned link, you can see the road between Ramila and Ponte Velha. I then remembered that I read somewhere the whole track is 12 km long and takes three to four hour to complete. Being already seven (Spanish time) it meant we would certainly be back before it got dark. All three of us were panting and then the dogs headed into a yard of a house. Ok I thought: maybe they know the neighbours and we can get some water there. Other dogs barked. Then an old witch lady came out, her husband with a big truncheon behind her and they chased us away.
An hour later we were back home after a long stop in the river...

Wednesday I didn't feel like a long walk. Pancho was obviously bored and managed to pry the door open.
Third lesson: always make sure that the door is properly closed! I had been told that some Portuguese neighbours found him next to a dead sheep and said: if we see him again, we'll shoot him! There was not much else to do than wait and hope and pray - and feed the horses, of course.
When I came to their enclosure, I didn't see Olli, the pony. I walked to the upper end of the paddock, and there I saw him wandering outside the fence on the driveway! I squeezed him back through that gap and found a board and some string to close it (hopefully)!
I forgot to tell: about two hours later, Pancho came back being very pleased with himself, happy to see me and demanded his supper!

So I hope there are no more lessons to learn... the cats don't give any trouble :-)
Tomorrow I'll meet Wilhelmina again, so I'll certainly have more to tell!

Mittwoch, 27. Juni 2012

Santo Antonio das Areias

Yesterday morning I met with Wilhelmina, the Dutch house-sitter for the casa rural, on the main road. She was going to her Spanish class and said she could drop me off in Santo Antonio das Areias.
I had an hour time to wander around the village. (Again, as you know, those pictures are not mine, but stolen somewhere in the net.)


It is a beautiful little place with nice white houses, a church, a bullring, a supermarket, 3 or 4 bars... several fountains and a lot of tile panels - mainly of Santo Antonio, of course!
Some of the houses looked really stately; no idea if something important had happened to this place.


But on the other hand it was VERY rural:
I heard a ringing whisteling sound and then the knife grinder appeared with his bicycle
and having a look at yet another fountain with tile panels, I discovered a "washing house" with maybe a dozend stone washing boards - and an old lady went in and checked her sheets - so still in use!

Dienstag, 26. Juni 2012

Next adventure!

Well, unfortunately I have forgotten my card-reader, so I can not upload any photos to show you. (Maybe that means I'll have to write another book?! :))
On Saturday I arrived here from Badajoz for another animal-sit. I am staying on a finca in Portugal, Alto Alentejo region in the Serra de São Mamede Natural Park, near Marvão.


The owners also have a "casa rural"- two holiday appartments on the Spanish side in La Fontañera - have a look at their website!
There are two dogs*, two cats*, a horse*, a pony*, a vegetable patch and a vinyard to care for.
It still gives me plenty of time to go for walks in the countryside* and take photos of frogs *, lizards*, snakes* and - heaven: yesterday I found a little colony of horseshoe bats*!!!

*imagine photos here!

Mittwoch, 20. Juni 2012

Total abgedreht

Jetzt hat der "Plarn-Virus" aber richtig zugeschlagen!
Hier meine neuesten Werke:

Sandalen aus Plarn!


Der Verschluss ist aus Klettband, die Sohle ist nach der Form einer Einlegesohle gehäkelt (in festen Maschen mit Rippen) und mit dieser zusammengenäht.
Jetzt fehlt nur noch der Alltagstest! Wie lange sie halten, weiss ich natürlich nicht; auf jeden Fall sind sie bequem...

Donnerstag, 14. Juni 2012

Ssriiiihh! Sriiih...

Nur mal eben ein Blick vom Balkon... so geht das den ganzen Tag


Ob meine vier auch dabei sind??? Hoffentlich fällt dieses Jahr keiner aus dem Nest –
... aber wenn doch: ich bin vorbereitet! Es sind sogar noch ein paar eingefrorene Heuschrecken da, sozusagen als Notration.

Montag, 11. Juni 2012

Flohmarktfund!

Geht ja schneller, als ich dachte: Die Cruzcampo-Uhr hängt!


Genau so eine Uhr gibt es nicht wieder, denn sie wurden von Cruzcampo (dem Bier von Sevilla) zum hundersten Jubiläum an die Kneipen verschenkt. Unsere war für die "Tertulia Cofrade Macarena", also den Bruderschafts-Stammtisch des Stadtteils Macarena (der sich wohl inzwischen aufgelöst hat)!


Ich finde, sie passt auch sehr gut zu meinem "berühmten schottischen Moorschneehuhn" (Famous Grouse) - ein Geschenk aus unserer Stammkneipe in Triana.
Eigentlich könnte ich jetzt noch einen post anhängen über die Sammlung der Werbeuhren - statt dessen habe ich mich mal in der Küche umgeschaut, was ich sonst so für Reklameschilder habe. Jedenfalls haben wir es bald geschafft, die häßlichen Fliesen zu überdecken!


Ein Poster von Manzanilla La Gitana, einer der besten - na ja, eben nicht Sherrys, sondern Manzanillas... darunter Keramiktöpfchen mit Heilkräutern, eine Sammlung, die unsere lokale Zeitung SUR de Málaga rausgebracht hat


Ein Keramikschild von dem Olivenöl Carbonell, handgemalt in cuerda seca-Technik, signiert mit A. Cume und 282/350


Zum Schluß noch einen Spiegel vom Kaffee Catunambú. Weitere große Schilder hängen im Flur, aber die zeige ich euch ein andermal.
¡Hasta luego!

Sonntag, 10. Juni 2012

endlich mal wieder Flohmarkt!

Auf unserer kleinen Andalusien-Rundreise waren wir natürlich auch in Sevilla auf dem berühmten Flohmarkt "El Jueves". Nun, eigentlich war es eine Reise für vier Tage nach Sevilla und drei Tage durch die Berge wieder zurück. Demnächst erzähle ich mehr... und natürlich besondes, wenn dieser Fund hängt!