Leaving Portugal, a picnic by the River Erja, home again, picking more blackberries, family dinner, top countries my blog readers are from, Phoebe our cat turns 13, Elliot on holiday in Montrondo, Eladio my gardener, photos from his past and other stories.

 Sunday 30th August, 2020

Picking blacberries from our garden again.

Good morning all.

Today is the last but one day in August. Where has the summer gone? Well the weather is still great of course but we are now ending the holiday period. Not us though as today we are off to Santa Pola. 

Before I tell you about the week, let me reflect on developments of Covid which is not going away and is still causing worry and alarm everywhere. Worldwide the number of cases has risen to over 25 million people and the total death toll is 846.783. In Spain, France, Germany and Italy, the number of infected is still on the rise. All this with back to school looming next week in Spain. That has again been the main news. 

This time last week, we were packing to leave Nazaré in Portugal. We had a long haul to drive to Madrid, some 575 kilometres but we stopped plenty of times to refresh and stretch our legs as well as have our picnic. At about 10.30 or so we said goodbye to our hosts Bela and Antonio. They had been good hosts but their apartment, although comfortable and well located was not what we had expected and that's what I reflected in my review later. It doesn't deserve super host status as the listing is a little misleading. The apartment is not an entire house but is lodged in a big house the hosts have turned into 4 lodgings. Anyway, it was good enough but I shall be more careful when I look for Airbnb accommodation in the future. As we were leaving, people were going to the beach. We loved the Praia de Nazaré but were a bit sorry we never got to bathe because of the strong waves. I suspect the red flag is out most of the year. 

It took about 4 hours to get to the border. During the trip I was happy to get my 9th booking for our apartment in Santa Pola. I am very happy too I put it on the market this summer and wish I had done so before. 

As on our way to Nazaré, on our way back again we wondered too whether our GPS was right when it took us on an unknown road to cross the border with no signs saying "Espanha" anywhere. The only way we knew where we were was thanks to our mobile operator. We stopped where I would have liked to stop for lunch on the way, on the bank of the River Erja in a nice fishing and bathing area. It was 34ºc so we desperately needed some shade. It looked like a place people came to picnic and enjoy at the weekends or in the holidays. I would have liked a bathe in the river but the water did not look nice so I had to forego that idea. 

The spot by the River Erja where we had our picnic lunch

Still not sure whether we were in Portugal or Spain, a man out fishing clarified that one side, the side where we set up our picnic, was Portugal and the other side of the river was Spain. How funny there were no signs. I suppose there most be so many borders or roads between Spain and Portugal, that only the major ones are signposted. 

We didn't need our table or chairs as there was a wonderful and clean wooden picnic table. Here we got out the food we had left from our stay, including the doggy bag of "bacalhau a bras" which tasted a bit dry. 

Our picnic by the River Erja

It was far too hot to linger over lunch so we were soon in our car again and of course already in Spain just as we crossed the bridge over the river. Our GPS said we would be home in just over 2 hours and it was right. The dogs were delighted to see us; especially Pippa who is not used to my being away. It was great to see my Father and he was happy to see us too as well as to receive a printed copy of my blog all about our trip to Portugal to celebrate our 37th wedding anniversary. We greeted our French guests too, Jeremy and Pili. The kids, Eva and David had gone to stay with family and would not be coming back. Dear Eva had left me a sweet drawing on my desk. I can forgive her for spelling my name wrong (Macha instead of Masha) and found it cute she wrote the word "lave" instead of "love". Dear sweet girl, I love her too.

After the boring task of unpacking, I grabbed some time for myself on one of the sun loungers under the trees by the pool. I rang Oli and was happy to see little Elliot. They would be coming to dinner on Tuesday night, so not long till we were reunited. I tried to ring Suzy but her phone was busy. Neither Eladio nor I were hungry but had some dinner on the kitchen terrace; leftovers we found in the fridge. We were in bed early and it was wonderful to be in our own bed which is so soft compared to the hard bed at the Airbnb in Nazaré.

I was up at 7 am on Monday morning, raring to go. But life went at a slow pace that day. I had spied lots more blackberries in our garden and got Eladio's aid to pick them. I had to stand on the wooden picnic table to reach some of them. My husband took a photo of this lovely bucolic moment. There is something so satisfying in picking fruit from your own garden and it put me in a great mood. That's the photo I have chosen for this week's post. These are the blackberries we picked.

The blackberries we picked. 

We also have some grapes in the garden too and I went to taste them. I was surprised to see them turning black. I tried one and it was quite sweet yet not completely ripe. They are small with large pips, so not the greatest variety. That hasn't put off the birds though who have now eaten them all. Thankfully they haven't eaten the blackberries. Eladio reckons that's because of the prickle. I thought of putting them on one of the new ceramic bowls I had bought in Óbidos. I wonder if you like them. They are beautiful but maybe a bit cheesy. They are handmade by a local artist and I couldn't resist them.

Ceramic bowls from Òbidos. I bough the two bigger ones.

During our walk I mused on what to do with them. There were not enough to make jam so I decided on a blackberry tart. I am not very good with pastry and had some help from Lucy. I made my own recipe after looking up a few. First I made the pastry shell and baked it in the oven. Meanwhile I made the filling; the blackberries to which I added an apple and some pineapple, some brown sugar and a spoonful of flour as well as a few drops of lemon. I filled the shell and added some lattice type strips - inspired perhaps by the ceramic bowls -  and this is the end result; my first blackberry tart. We would have it for dinner that night when Oli and her family came.

My blackberry tart

I was able to read a bit in the morning before lunch with my father. The nurse, María, came that day. She showed me his wound which although still very red and large, is on the mend. 

I was completely free in the afternoon and even had the pool to myself as our French guests were working from their rooms. At 5.30 I had a skype call with my oldest and dearest friend Amanda. Our weekly calls are one of the good things to have come out of the Covid pandemic. The figures were going up and up in Spain that day and all week and there was talk of drastic measures in Madrid. I certainly hope we aren't put into lockdown again. If lockdown has to come it should be based on areas or post codes as where we live there are hardly any cases. It is  the suburbs in the south of the capital which are most affected. 

My skype call was interrupted by multiple Airbnb and Swimmy enquiries. So my peace did not last long. At  around 8 pm, Oli, Miguel and Elliot arrived. They had come to spend the night before leaving for a short staycation in Montrondo on Tuesday. It was lovely to see them and we had a great meal. The piece de resistance was the tart for which Oli had brought some vanilla ice cream to go with. I must say the tart was divine. 

Oli, Miguel and Elliot - our family dinner on Monday night. 

The only person missing at the family dinner was Suzy. She was on her way home from Santa Pola in a hired car with her friends Eli and Chati. She arrived as we were finishing our dinner so we all sat around for a while. The girls did not like the dresses I had bought for them from Portugal. That should teach me a lesson I never learn; don't buy them clothes which they haven't chosen themselves. 

We went to bed later than usual. I read for a while. I didn't sleep badly but woke up at 4.30,  looked at my phone which I shouldn't have as there was a new Airbnb enquiry. I responded to it and promptly felt wide awake. I forced myself to sleep again and was up at 7 am. 

Over the last few days I was receiving multiple enquiries for bookings this weekend at our home in Madrid. That kept me occupied too on Tuesday. Tuesday was the day our "French guests" left after 42 days with us. We couldn't quite believe we were to have the house to ourselves again, but not for long as that day I got a booking for 6 this weekend. Santa Pola too would be booked all week. Overall I am so pleased with how my Airbnb bookings have gone despite Covid.

I said goodbye to them when I came back from our walk just before they left at midday as I was going out shopping and they wouldn't be here when I got back. They were a nice family but their bringing guests here each weekend has been a bit stressful. I wished them well and sent my greetings to their darling daughter Eva, who I grew to love so much during their stay. We all loved her and her little brother David too.

It was on Tuesday morning that Oli and her little family set off on holiday to Montrondo. My daughter had had a small accident with their brand new Volkswagen car last week and that morning it was towed to the local garage for repair. They had to now fit into Miguel's Golf including all of Elliot's stuff. Their stuffed to the limit car reminded me of how I used to travel with my Mother and Father in my Aunty Masha's car from England to Spain most summers when I was a teenager. That was a squeeze hahahahah.  It looked like Elliot didn't want to go. He clung to his grandfather until his mother had to tear him away. Grandson and Grandfather are inseparable. 

Grandfather and grandson, inseparable

Oli then took a photo of the three of us saying goodbye to Elliot from the street. I suppose we did look quite funny.

Eladio, Suzy and I saying goodbye to Elliot on Tuesday

Eladio and I then went to do the food shopping. We took a break in between supermarkets to have a coffee at the Churros bar nearby. We came home with a whole load of food and that day I made pizza as it's quick to make.

The afternoon was ours for taking as was the swimming pool. I couldn't quite believe we had it to ourselves. Thus I skinny dipped in and out of the pool as often as I wanted. I normally wouldn't go in so much but that day mercury reached 36ºc - hot for me - I was reading under the trees while responding to Airbnb enquiries until I finally got a fixed confirmation for a family of 6 who were coming on Friday. Till Friday we would have the house to ourselves and it was glorious.

We had dinner with Suzy and were up chatting till late. Instead of going to bed to watch the TV, Eladio and I sat in the dark by the pool and I skinny dipped again. We spoke about our plans for the new house in Asturias; such an exciting project for us.

Wednesday came. It was to be another scorcher with the temperature rising to 37ºc. It was already hot when we went on our walk at 10 am in the morning. With no guests to disturb me, I had a skinny dip again  when I got home. 

That morning while I was writing my blog, just for interest's sake, I browsed its statistics. I started writing it in the summer of 2005 which makes it 15 years now. I really have been consistent and disciplined. The amount of readers always surprises me. The total number of visits for all time is a whopping 588.688 and the amount of readers this last month was 6498. I think it has been going up over the years. As to where my readers are from, well, the top countries are the US, then comes Spain, Russia and the UK. But there are many more countries.  It's annoying to see that they have lumped other countries into unknown regions or "other" when I would love to have the complete list of countries. This used to be possible but not anymore. These are the top ones.

The top countries where readers of my blog are from. 

I'm so curious as to why so many people from the many corners of the earth are at all interested in my tales. Perhaps you anonymous reader could post me a comment as to why you read it. I would be very grateful. 

It was basically a lazy day enjoying having the house to our own. The highlight was a Facetime call with our friends Kathy and Phil who live in Keighley (West Yorkshire). They, by the way, are some of my most loyal blog readers. I had heard from Amanda that my home town, Bradford was in semi lockdown and they ratified that. They are in lockdown too, or rather quarantining after a 6 week holiday in their camper van in France. They cannot leave the house, not even to take a walk. Thankfully they have a lovely garden to get their fresh air. 

We also spoke to Olivia who as you know was on holiday with Miguel and Elliot in Montrondo. They were having wonderful weather and spent most of the day outside. Elliot was loving exploring new territory. He had been before but at Christmas when he was just 3 months old, so of course, everything was new. Here he is playing with his father in the garden behind our house.

Elliot enjoying his holiday in Montrondo

The other high point of the day was dinner al fresco with Eladio and Suzy. I love our evening dinners. Later Eladio and I sat by the swimming pool terrace where we were joined briefly by our cat, Phoebe. She is a bit of an enigma. We hardly ever see her as she is petrified of the dogs and lives under the tiles of the roof over the entrance gate to the house. Facebook memories reminded me the next day that we got her 13 years ago! I well remember going on a walk that evening with Eladio and Suzy and coming across her by a big wheelie bin near our home. Suzy picked her up and we brought her home. We then went back to see if there were more stray kittens but didn't find any. Her beginnings were most humble but now she has a quiet life. She comes into the house in the morning via the window in the library lounge to eat and drink. She disappears again for the whole day and only comes back in the evening. We have had many cats over the years. I remember Henry, Felix and Joe but they all disappeared so Phoebe is our longest lasting cat. I wondered how long cats can live to and read that they can live up to 16. Here she is 13 years ago, such a delightful little kitten. I love her colours; cream and brown. Maybe her ancestors were a Siamese breed. Who knows? 

Phoebe arrived here 13 years ago this week. She was so cute.

Later we watched a documentary on WW2 until we fell asleep.

Thursday came, our last guest free day until Friday and we made the most of it. I get up early as you know but Suzy does too these days. She installs herself on the terrace outside our study and I often join her there to read The Times. Here we are together that morning.

Suzy and I on Thursday morning. 

I was busy in the morning. My first job was to prune the roses while Eladio did the same with the geraniums. Having guests coming the next day we wanted everything to look perfect. If I was busy, Eladio was busier, doing gardening that morning. I had commented on the amount of dry leaves on the path and in the rose beds as well as weeds in the cracks of the paving on the drive. He finished mowing the lawns and then just as I was leaving to do some emergency shopping, I found him dealing with both issues. Here he is, the perfect gardener, my own gardener. When I took a photo of him, he commented "the constant gardener" in reference to the film. My cheekier cousin, Zuka, posted "Lady Chatterley's Lover" in reference to her falling in love with her gardener, Mellors. I had actually never read D.H. Lawrence's most famous book but remember perfectly well that it was taboo when I was a child. Thus that day I downloaded a sample on my Kindle and hopefully will understand why it was a forbidden book. Of course it was because of the sex scenes but I can hardly imagine them being any more steamy than those written about in novels today. But then, of course we are talking about times past when sex in general was taboo.  I fell in love with Eladio for many of his attributes and he has proved to have many more than I could possibly have suspected when we first met. He is so good with his hands I often call him "Mr. Fix it". You all probably know that apart from being my gardener, he is my husband, lover, friend, doctor, vet, electrician, chauffeur, plumber, general handyman as well as our bank manager. This is him gardening that morning. Such a handsome chap still at his age. He will be 76 next month and I can hardly believe it. 

Eladio my constant gardener

If the morning was busy the afternoon was mine for the taking and I spent most of it under the trees reading and occasionally skinny dipping as it was so hot with the temperature rising once again to 37ºc. 

It was dinner on our own that night as Suzy went to see her friend Elenita. Later we retired to the pool terrace sitting in the dark (on purpose) and me skinny dipping again. However we were not relaxed as we had news from Lucy my neighbour in Santa Pola, that our Brazilian guests were complaining the fridge was not working. That is the second complaint about the fridge from guests. However Suzy was there last weekend and it worked and the guests who left on Thursday morning said they had no problems. The Brazilian guests had broken the blinds in the master bedroom; something else to be taken care of. We spoke to them and to Lucy to see what the solution could be. Lucy told me that once again, like the previous complainers, the new guests had stuffed the fridge very full which could be the reason for it not refrigerating properly. The funny thing is that the freezer compartment was working. We chatted on whatsapp both to Lucy and the guests and ended up ringing them. We hoped the fridge would be ok the next day; otherwise we would have to get a new one and have it installed on Friday; no easy feat when we are here in Madrid. It sounds easy to run Airbnb bookings, but if things go wrong it can be a problem. At home it normally isn't as of course we have Eladio, "Mr. Fix it" but he can't really fix things at a distance.

Thus my peaceful day ended with worry and tension. The thing with complaints from Airbnb guests is that you feel a slave to their reviews. So you do your best to make sure they have the perfect stay but that, my friends, is not always possible. Thankfully that day, the previous guests who left in the morning left me a glowing 5 star review, so now I have 5 x 5 star reviews for my new listing in Santa Pola. I can't wait to go there myself. 

I didn't sleep well that night and was awake a few times during the night and finally got up at 6.30 in the morning. I had to prepare for our 6 guests coming that day for the weekend. I also had to deal with the problem of the fridge in Santa  Pola and the blind in our room which they had apparently broken. We went on our walk and I came back to skinny dip and then to find a message from Lucy confirming the fridge wasn't working. I was all action then, finding a local shop that could deliver a new one that would fit the space in the kitchen of the old one and that I could also buy on the phone. I found it in Euronics, a local home appliance shop and by 13 that day it was installed. But our guests couldn't use it for the first 5 hours and would have to make do with the old one until then. That meant having 2 fridges in our small kitchen there until the old one was removed on Saturday morning. Meanwhile a local fix it man that Lucy knows repaired the blind. The cost of all this far exceeded the income I got from the guests' stay but then again it was time to buy a new fridge to replace the one we inherited when we bought the apartment in 1999. This took up most of my morning and I was only free to start on lunch at about 12.30. I made pork rib stew which my father and Eladio love. In between I had to make sure everything was ready for our new guests who were coming at about 13.30. Lucy had cleaned the rooms but the final touches are always up to me. These include flowers and a plate of fruit in each room as well as a bottle of filtered water. 

Our new guests arrived promptly. It's a family of 5 and a 15 month old baby girl with the most unusual name - Latin - of Sapientia, meaning wisdom. No doubt she is probably one of the only girls in Spain with that name. I wonder if they call her "Sapi" for short. The family consisted of the mother, her two daughters, their partners, one called Ali and her grandchild. Families are usually a pleasure to host rather than groups of young people who are up late, leave the lights on and play music a bit too loud. These people are the perfect guests. 

We left them to it, giving them their space and we spent the afternoon on deckchairs in the garden while they splashed around in the pool. For once Pippa didn't bark so I didn't have to lock her away in our study hahahaa. No doubt Elliot would have loved to have a playmate in Sapientia but of course he was in Montrondo. He hasn't had much contact with other babies or toddlers and needs it desperately. Hopefully, if all goes well, he will be starting kindergarten at RTVE (Peque Prado) soon. Meanwhile he was enjoying his short holiday in Montrondo with his parents. 

Elliot on holiday in Montrondo

We spoke to Oli that day and heard they were having a very relaxing time. She has news by the way. On Monday she will be starting a new job as a reporter and studio  presenter in the new morning programme called "La Hora de la 1" with her broadcaster, TVE which will debut on 7th September. This is great news for her. First it is as promotion, second she will not have to travel and third and most important of all, she will be around to pick Elliot up from the kindergarten on site. Miguel, her partner will be coming to Madrid permanently from next week and will be working as a cameraman at the same premises as Oli, "Prado del Rey". Oli's programme will be on live from 8 in the morning until 13 which means she will have to get up everyday around 5 in the morning and Miguel will take Elliot to the kindergarten. Their lives are about to change dramatically for the better. Oli is very excited about the new job and we are very proud of her. 

This was one of our topics of conversation when Eladio and I went out to dinner that night to El Tinglado. We also spoke about our new house in Asturias and all the plans we have for it. As usual the food was lovely - I went for the artichokes and an amazing piece of steak and Eladio went for small calamari and his favourite cod dish. We skipped on a dessert as although I love their menu, I am not impressed by the dessert menu. If a dessert menu doesn't have ice cream on it, it gets zero points from me hahahhaha. 

We were home early and found our guests quietly organising a barbecue - good for them. The two main pulls of this place for guests are the pool and then the barbecue. Our guests are from Madrid and live in Rivas Vaciamadrid and Arganda del Rey. No doubt they  were looking for somewhere outside the city that was spacious, had a garden and a pool. All our guests this summer, apart from the French family - have been people from the city centre. They say that after lockdown houses with gardens outside the city are now much in demand. I have never ever understood the Spanish way of living, in high rise buildings like prisons when the country is so big and spacious. I did once live in a flat in the centre of the city with no garden and I felt stifled. But there again I am a country girl and not a city girl, like town mice and country mice hahahaha. Also I come from England where most people have a house and garden, big or small. 

The day finished watching a film we had seen before which is fascinating and terrifying at the same time. "Song for a Raggy boy" is a 2003 Irish film based on the book by the Patrick Galvin and is based on true events. It's the story of a young teacher who takes up a post at St. Jude's Reformatory school run by monks. Discipline is handed out by the sadistic Brother John. The teacher, Franklin, is a layman and coming from fighting in the Spanish Civil war, tries to fight for the rights of the oppressed children. He is also an outstanding teacher. 

I didn't sleep too badly; maybe because I only had one glass of wine for dinner and not two - and was up at 6.23 to a quiet and dark house. 

Saturday came. The temperatures went down as they did in many parts of Spain so we went from 34ºc on Friday to 24ºc which felt quite cool for us. Our guests didn't mind though and still prepared another barbecue. They have turned out to be a lovely family and a very international one at that. The two sisters have partners from Iran and from Russia. The girl from Russia, Marina, has an interesting history. She was born in Russia to a Lebanese father and Russian mother. They left Russia for Beirut in 1986 after Glasnost and she spent part of her youth witnessing war in her father's country. They eventually moved to Spain where he had family and was eventually able to practice as a doctor after great difficulties in convalidating his studies. I found her charming. She and her partner own a chain of massage salons and she wants to treat me to one; something I will most happily accept as there is nothing I like better than a good massage. 

While they were preparing an enticing looking Iranian dish of chicken and rice, Eladio and I went out on errands nearby. We usually stop for a coffee and yesterday was no different. It was while we were enjoying our coffee that my dear husband said to me "You are beautiful" and added "I love you" I was surprised as he doesn't often say this and replied "but what about all these wrinkles?" to which he added "you are still beautiful". Wow! that was so romantic and had me feeling like a young girl again. I asked him to take a picture to prove it was true. Most photos of me don't come out very well and I wasn't feeling particularly beautiful and only had some lipstick on. But the photo came out quite nicely, despite the wrinkles hahaha. This is it, a moment of feeling in love and young again even though I am now 63! 

The "you are beautiful moment"

I find it quite extraordinary that after more than 37 years of marriage, my husband still love me and I still love him; more if that is possible. I consider myself a very fortunate woman. What would I do without him? 

You probably know we met 40 years ago (this summer) and that he was a priest at the time. Out of the blue, Olivia sent us some old photos of him, some we had never seen. I asked her where she got them from and apparently a second cousin of Eladio's - Rosi who lives in Gijón - had done so. Rosi reached out to Olivia some time ago and they are now in touch. She is the granddaughter of Eladio's uncle on his father's side which makes Rosi his second cousin. She sent Olivia an amazing photo of Eladio aged 12, the year he entered the Seminary in León as a child. That was in about 1957, the year I was born. When that photo was taken, he could never ever have known that his future wife had been born the year he entered the Seminary and that she would be from outside Spain. I suppose he probably thought he would never marry either as he was destined to become a priest. How life surprises us. This is the lovely photo - old and out of focus but still charming. It's rather sad too to see such a young boy being sent away from his parents at such a young age to a place so far and so different from his home. 

Eladio aged 12 in a cassock

Rosi also sent Olivia a photo of Eladio aged about 16 which he doesn't remember. He is wearing a jacket and tie which seems unusual so maybe he was at a wedding. He was so good looking don't you think? Maybe you do, maybe you don't. I do probably because I am biased.

Eladio aged 16 or 17, a strapping boy.

Eladio was the oldest child and the strongest. He was a strapping boy and his father used him like a work horse when he was back from the Seminary on holiday. His memories of his holidays are of working hard for his father on the farm and in the fields. While he worked in the fields and studied in the Seminary, I was a small child growing up in England and could have no idea either that my future husband was from a small village in the mountains of León in northern Spain. He is now about to turn 76 and his life with me has been very different from his humble beginnings. I'm glad fate brought us together. 

We spent the afternoon together as we usually do, both of us reading in the garden while the guests enjoyed the pool. Suzy was out. She had been to the hairdresser and then for lunch with Elenita. 

Suzy back from the hairdresser. Isn't she beautiful?

Oli and her little family were travelling back from Montrondo and invited us to dinner at their place that night. We readily agreed as we were dying to see not-so-little Elliot again.

Dinner at their place was lovely and always is. There was a wonderful spread of food and it was great to see Elliot. But, oh how boisterous and strong he is. He is a handful but a wonderful charmer. Here he is playing with his grandfather who he adores.

Eladio and Elliot last night. 

It's so easy to take photos of Elliot as I swear it, he poses - just like in the photo above. He cried when we left and broke our hearts. We were home by about 10.30. Suzy was here with her friend Juli and our guests were around. I sat with Marina for a while exchanging information on our lives. What a lovely girl she is. I fell asleep quite late and was up later than usual this morning at nearly 7 am. Today we are off to Santa Pola and I am looking forward to a few days at the beach.

I shall leave you now as I have to get ready to go. You will hear all about our stay there in next week's post. Cheers till then,

Masha.