A lot of lunches, celebration and shopping, Mencía is born, 13 Roses and a day trip to Segovia.

Eladio by the Palace of Riofrío in Segovia
Hi again

As you can see from the title, this last week has been full of activity again. Do I ever stop you probably wonder? Well, I think I don’t and that there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the things I want to plus juggle work and play which is what I do most days.

So this week brought lunch with Miguel Angel Muñoz, a journalist friend who I have known since my Motorola days, some 15 years ago. We had lots to catch up on and something big to celebrate as he and his wife Lourdes are expecting their second child. Congratulations to you both from here.

The week also brought a lunch with my best friend Fátima and JLP who we also know from our Motorola days. The world is very small because he is now the Country Manager of Nokia Siemens Networks in Spain. Our conversation revolved around the cycling and football sponsorship we used to be involved in, the difficulties of having adolescent kids plus a bit of reminiscing too.

The week also brought time for lunch with my beautiful daughters which is something of a treat. We felt a bit bad about leaving the men at home to have lunch on their own but then the indulging was well worth it. Just look at Oli and the desert plate to understand why.

Midweek found me at a company party I had organised to celebrate a new milestone in the number of customers. It was well attended and the place highly recommendable for the atmosphere and food and drink, not to mention the central location of the famous La Latina. A good time was had by all I think.

I even had time for shopping and Thursday evening found me sneaking off to Centro Oeste in Majadahonda to buy some new half calf loose leg brown leather boots which are high fashion this season in Madrid. Oh, how I love them. Now I need some new boots, but black this time!!

Midweek Mencía was born to Ana Valdivieso and her husband Tomy. So Jill and I arranged to visit the 3 of them on Friday afternoon. Mencía is their first child and both Ana and Tomy have been looking forward to being parents for such a long time that happiness was the name of the game at their lovely suite of rooms at the Ruber hospital in Madrid where the Spanish Royalty give birth. We had to make our way through all the plants, flowers and other gifts in order to see the happy Mother and her tiny little baby. Ana has a constant Cheshire cat type smile on her face of pure satisfaction and Tomy holds his baby and stares at her without looking up. And here are the photos to prove.


Mencía at 2 days old.
This weekend Eladio and I went to the cinema to see 13 Roses, an emotional and shocking new Spanish film about the execution of 13 young girls at the end of the Spanish civil war by Franco’s new government. It was beautifully enacted and had me crying from half way through to the end. We came out feeling a bit too emotionally hit to want to go to dinner, so just came home to a bowl of soup and went straight to bed; after having put the clocks back.

And today, Sunday, we went with my Father on a day trip to enjoy the Autumn scenery in the hills of Madrid and Segovia. This is something we do most years and we usually go to Rascafría. However, this year we changed routes in order to have lunch at the new Parador in La Granja de San Ildefonso in the province of Segovia. But first we visited the beautiful gardens of the Palace there, built by Felipe V in the 18th century. They meant quite a lot to Eladio as this was our first visit there since before we were married.

Eladio in the gardens of the Palace at La Granja de San Ildefonso

Me in the gardens too.

My father and I by the Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso.
After the wonderful lunch of suckling lamb, typical of the area, we made our way to another palace very near from La Granja, in Riofrío built by Felipe VI's wife, Isabel de Farnesio. The palace is nothing special but the surrounding woods and location are spectacular. The place was riddled with deer which were quite happy to be photographed without running off.

The deer at Riofrío

Me by the Palace of Riofrío
This week coming up will probably prove just as full of activity as this but with the added pleasure of including a bank holiday on Thursday and Friday.

Cheers till after then and have a great week.

Masha