Ceasefire in Iran extended, our first barbecue of the season, homework with Elliot, explosion of nature and birdsong in our garden, centenary of the Queen, reunion with Arja from my Nokia days, shooting in Washington and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 26th April, 2026

On one of our walks this week, surrounded by nature. Wish the photo would do it justice.

Good morning again this last Sunday in April. 

The weather has been amazing and we have enjoyed meals al fresco and the explosion of nature in our garden as well as choruses of birdsong at dawn and dusk. The variety of birds and flowers in our little parcel of land outside Madrid makes it an oasis of peace and beauty at this time of year especially. The late Queen of England who would have turned 100 this week was a great lover of nature and animals. We only have Pippa now but I would have loved to fill our garden with a donkey, a pony and more dogs. Eladio said if I did that we would have no garden left haha. Did you know that there is an initiative in Spain where donkeys are put to use as natural firefighters by grazing on undergrowth that fuels fire? I read about them in the Doñana National Park but apparently the idea is being spread to other parts of Spain, especially after the terrible forest fires we had last summer.  The donkeys live a good life  grazing happily while protecting the environment. 

Peace has not been reached with Iran. This week saw a halt in negotiations after the US seized an Iranian tanker in the Strait of Hormuz.  Trump extended the ceasefire but it is still very fragile, as is the ceasefire between Israel and The Lebanon. Meanwhile oil prices continue to increase and are putting in danger flights this summer for lack of kerosene. Lufthansa recently announced thousands of cancelled flights. I hope that doesn't affect our flight to Manchester at the end of May.

With such good weather we had our first barbecue of the season last Sunday. In the morning I went to pick up a gorgeous looking cake I had ordered from the upmarket Balbisiana bakery. I went to nearby Pozuelo to get it and while there ordered a coffee and a small cake. I was a bit cross they were served in paper at a cost of over 9 euros which maybe Parisian but not Madrid prices.The cake looked gorgeous and it was on the inside - sponge, strawberries and cream - but none of us really liked the icing. It looked as though it was made of royal icing but it was thick butter icing in pink; quite off putting. We only ate a bit which is a shame. It is the second cake I have bought from Balbisiana that has disappointed me and I will not buy one from them again. I love their little tartlets though. This was it; looked nicer than it tasted.

The beautiful looking cake from Balbisiana which was a bit of a disappointment. 

It was Eladio's job to do the barbecue and here he is about to grill the sausages and hamburgers.

Eladio about to grill the meat on the barbecue last Sunday

It was just us with Oli and the kids and a good time was had by all. Later we spent time with our grandchildren and Oli asked us to help Elliot with his homework. I was to help him with his English spelling test and Eladio with Spanish vocab. He is a clever little boy but does not have much patience. He is only 6 and still mixes up his b's with his d's. In any case it was pleasant to be with him and I hoped he did well with his spelling test this week.

Helping Elliot with his homework.

On Friday Oli sent me his results: 9 out of 10. The only word he got wrong was "dump".

9 out of 10 for Elliot's spelling test on Thursday

Of interest that afternoon, a wasp stung me while I was making a cup of tea. I didn't see it on top of the tap when I was pouring water into the kettle. I screamed in pain and had everyone alarmed. It was the first time I had ever been stung by a wasp and luckily after the initial pain it didn't give me much bother. 

Monday came and our last guest, Vicky, an Argentinian girl who had been with us for 10 days left. We thought no one else was coming until Thursday but I was wrong. In the end we only had one guest free day this week. It's amazing the amount of bookings I got this week. I have more than 45 upcoming reservations and have to be on top of my work in order to run all the bookings smoothly and correctly. 

The weather was marvelous again and I caught Suzy on camera with Pippa on the front lawn sunbathing. This was one of the photos.

Suzy in the sun on Monday

As we were leaving for our walk, I spied the flowers which had blossomed almost over night. They are one of my favourite flowers in the garden; mock orange. In Spanish it is called Celindo and I think it is referred to as dogwood in English. We had the same tree or bush in our previous house in Boadilla and as it always blossoms in April, just the fragrance brings back happy memories of our lives in Rio Tajo when the girls were small. The smell is nearly as nice as jazmine. 

I love it when the mock orange blossom blooms in our garden

On our walk we were surrounded by lush green and wild flowers, many of them being bluebells which I love. I got Eladio to take a photo  I have chosen as this week's feature photo. I  love this time of year when nature explodes. It's warm but not too hot and everything is lush and green.  Just look at the lovely blossom from the horse chestnut trees by the pool. 

The pink and white blossom from some of the horse chestnut trees in our garden

Credit has to be given to the gardener, my husband, who keeps it looking good. He mowed the whole lawn this week which is quite a task. A lot of the  lushness will be  gone by August when he will fight to keep the garden green. But right now it is perfect.

Lunch was leftovers - we hate to throw food away in this house. The highlight of the day, after some Airbnb admin work  was my weekly Facetime call with Amanda. We shall be together this week in Seville and I can't wait for that day to come.

We had dinner al fresco with Suzy and I served a divine cantaloupe melon with ham. I always find them not very sweet in Spain compared to France and Italy but this was sweet and I have bought another one this week.

The news that night was a bit grim. Apart from the tanker seized by the USA, an Israeli soldier was filmed vandalising a statue of Jesus Christ in the Lebanon. I found that disgusting. 

A terrible thing to do - an Israeli soldier vandalising a statue of Jesus Christ in The Lebanon.

What I loved that night was the birdsong from the terrace of our room. Thanks to the Merlin ID app, introduced to me by Andy and Amanda, I identified hearing a nightingale, a black redstart, a Eurasian Blackcap and blackbird and even a small owl. I was fascinated. But the next morning was even better.  There were so many birds chirping and singing at about 7 in the morning on Tuesday, including a goldfinch, a ring necked parakeet, a dove, a blackcap, a coal tit, a black redstart, a woodpigeon, a warbler, a raven, a swift, chaffinch, great tit, blue tit, greenfinch, a common starling and of course a house sparrow. This is proof and AI at its best.

Some of the birdsong in our garden this week

I was never a bird lover, especially after being traumatised by the Hitchcock film, The Birds. I hate birds landing on my table while eating or having a coffee, but I do like birds in their natural habitat. We look forward to hearing and hopefully seeing some rare birds when we visit Doñana. It is a bird paradise so our friends will be happy.

Tuesday was 21st April and would have been the late Queen's 100th birthday. Oh how we miss her. She was a constant in my life as I was born when she was on the throne. Her son, now King Charles, led tributes to her life. He posted a video which I watched avidly. This is it. He described her as steadfast and a wholly devoted figure. He recalled that twinkle in her eye, when she appeared in the lovely Paddington sketch made for her Jubilee in 2022, the year she died. I couldn't think of which picture to choose for this post and finally chose one from Paddington bear's Instagram. It's lovely and hopefully will make you smile. I think she would have liked it too.

Our dear Queen would have turned 100 this week.

In the recorded speech her son said his "dear mamma"  would have been deeply upset by the troubles in the world today. On a brighter note he spoke of her belief that "goodness will always prevail. Let us hope he is right. The Royal family marked the centenary with some events and plans. The final designs were revealed for a permanent memorial in St. James' Park featuring a statue of the Queen and Prince Philip and what I'm not so keen on, a tiara like glass bridge. Her daughter Princess Anne officially opened the new Queen Elizabeth II garden in Regent's Park. It is good that we should continue to remember her in this way.

Talking about memories, that day Oli sent me a wonderful photo of times gone by. It was of Suzy and her bosom friend, Copi taken when they were about 5 or 6. This is it.

Copi and Suzy aged 5 or 6. 

What a lovely photo it is; one to treasure. I love to see their friendship going strong after nearly 38 years when they first met at St. Michael's school in Boadilla del Monte in 1988

I spent part of my morning fixing a time to meet with some of my oldest school friends from St. Joseph's College  when we go to Yorkshire in June. We have chosen to have brunch at Betty's in Ilkley. I already had a booking there for Eladio and I when we are in Bradford, so that will be two visits to my beloved Betty's.

Before our morning walk I lured Eladio to the churros bar in Boadilla and this time my "porra" , the thick type of churro, was enormous. Just look.

A rather large "porra" which was divine. 

We then went on our lovely walk both to enjoy it, get the exercise and work off some of the calories ingested by the porra hahaha. I was loving the wild flowers and thick and tall grass but I mostly love the great big dandelion clocks you get in the countryside here in Spain, so much bigger than the ones in England. I had to blow them of course and got Eladio to take some pics of me behaving like a child. It's nice to do that sometimes. Here is one of the pics.

Look how big the dandelion clocks are on our walk.

In the afternoon I discovered more flowers that I love blooming in our garden and had to have another photo. The flowers are known as guelder roses but look more like snowballs. And here is another photo of me enjoying the flora at this time of year.

By our guelder roses also known as snowballs. Love them

What Suzy and I did not enjoy that afternoon was a shopping trip to Majadahonda as just after parking, the rain began which we hadn't expected. We looked in a few shops, found nothing and decided to go home, except that the heavens opened and we had to take refuge under a cafe awning. Even so, we got drenched. It was rather an unfortunate outing. I suppose the rain is good for our garden, hahaha. 

That night I got an extraordinary email from the Stratford Literary Festival. It praised the book about my father and asked me to participate as an author. I could hardly believe my eyes and neither could Eladio. Later emails asked for a fee to build a booth to promote my book which is when I began to suspect that this could be a scam. Indeed it was a scam and very clever phishing that is apparently being targeted on a global scale at thousands of authors. Had I agreed, I would have sent some money and that would have been the end of the tale. What a horrible world we live in. 

Wednesday was the day that Trump announced the ceasefire was to be extended until a peace plan was reached. Olivia did a piece on that story for her programme on TVE which you can watch here. Wednesday was actually quite a difficult day but I won't go into that here as it is a little private. Some things I have to keep to myself. 

So let me move on to Thursday which was International Book Day. For the occasion my granddaughter Juliet's class had to dress up as a character from a book. She went in a Disney Snow White outfit I bought for her at a second hand market in Santa Pola a while ago. She looked lovely.

Little Juliet dressed up as Snow White for International Book Day this week

I do hope she grows up to be a reader and book lover like me and my immediate family. My love of reading began when I was about 7. The Tozcek family next door to our house at 6 Heaton Grove in Bradford were moving and Paula their daughter gave George and I her whole  collection of  Enid Blyton books. We devoured them and that set us off reading all our lives. I am not an intellectual reader. I prefer biographies or books based on real life stories. If I had to say which is my favourite book of all time it would be "A town like Alice" by Nevil Shute. There are many others but this is a book I have gone back to many times over the years.

Suzy came with me to do the food shopping that day and we also had coffee together. She was a great help. I came home to make our lunch that day when we would be joined by Olivia - a real pleasure as it is not often just the 4 of us are together. 

I made a popular summer dish, "salmorejo" as a starter followed by hake meunière with spinach and home made mashed potatoes. Here is the salmorejo which is similar to gazpacho but thicker and always garnished with egg and ham.

Salmorejo

And here is a photo of Oli, Suzy and Eladio just before we sat down to have lunch together.

Family lunch on Thursday

I managed a 1.5 hour siesta in the afternoon which helped me catch up on a bit of sleep; sleep I am always deprived of.

Dinner was al fresco too and I must show you the "chirrimoya" (custard apple) Suzy shared with us as it was just so enormous. It was one of the best I have ever had.

Suzy dividing up an enormous custard apple we shared for dinner one night this week

I was a bit upset that evening when brushing Pippa's teeth, to notice she has lost one front tooth. I can only attribute it to her age; 12 going on  13. I hope she doesn't lose anymore. 

Friday was the highlight of the week. I was meeting Arja S who, when I was at Nokia, was first head of communications for Nokia Networks and then became SVP for communications of the whole group. She is of course Finnish and just one year younger than me and I hadn't seen her for many years. I think the last time was on a trip to Helsinki when I worked for Yoigo in about 2014. I well remember meeting her for the first time in the impressive Nokia House in 2000. I was introduced to her as having come from Motorola. Her first words to me were "what's it like being in the enemy camp?". It was the moment in time when Nokia overtook Motorola as the number one mobile phone manufacturer. Looking back, it felt good to be at Nokia House, the world HQ in Espoo outside the Finnish capital. I have fond memories of my work related trips to Finland, a country I came to love very much. Arja had come to Madrid for a long weekend with friends from her time as SVP of Finnair Communications where she went to work after she left Nokia when it was famously bought by Microsoft.   I had given her some tips and recommendations of places to stay, where to eat, what to see etc and we agreed to meet for a coffee and a chat. We met at a new cafe for me, one in the Palacio de Cibeles or Cibeles Palace. It is a wedding cake type building which is a landmark of the city, first being the HQ of the Spanish postal company, Correos which it still is. It also serves as the Town Hall and a cultural centre. 

It was a wonderful break in my routine to go into Madrid on my own to meet an old friend and colleague. We caught up over a cup of coffee for me and a cup of black tea for her which she learned is called "té negro" in Spanish. I then took her for a short walk in the Retiro Park, Madrid's equivalent to Hyde Park or Central Park. About the same size as the former and smaller than the latter,  it is much more beautiful because it was once a Royal Park  and ornate in parts.  It was  opened to the public in 1868. Known as the lung of Madrid, El Parque del Buen Retiro is a UNESCO World Heritage Site which I think it well deserves to be. When we lived in Madrid from 1983 to 1988 we used to take the girls there every Sunday morning. We would buy them sweets and take bread for them to feed the ducks in the grand lake and later walk along the main promenade enjoying the activities from the buskers. The girls especially loved the puppet shows. I took Arja through the entrance near the Puerta de Alcalá to the lake where I took a photo of her and we had our picture taken. It is a pity it was cloudy as the photos don't do it justice.

With Arja at the Retiro Park on Friday

Both being innate communicators we chatted non stop from the moment we met to the moment we parted. We reminisced and spoke of some of our colleagues fondly. Marianne and Mark were two we mentioned. I wish we had had time for more reminiscing. Those Nokia days from 2000 to 2006 were for me the golden era of telecommunications. I loved the Finnish culture and we all worked hard but had a grand time and travelled the world spreading the brand to all 4 corners of the world. 

We parted at about 12.30 as Arja had a date with the Prado. I haven't been for so many years and must go one day; after all it's on my doorstep. I took the metro back using my trusty OAP free transport pass and was home in a jiffy. It only took me 35 minutes there and 35 minutes back so I don't know why we don't go more often into the city. We should. 

I came home to join Suzy and Eladio for lunch and soon had to leave the house again; this time for an appointment with my hairdresser Conchi. I just couldn't go to Seville this week with such white hair. Aarrggh. 

In my absence, a new guest had arrived. Eladio greeted Carlos a personal trainer from Asturias which we know well. He must be into fitness quite a bit as he went in the pool and then used our bike to ride to the supermarket to get provisions. He came by car but wanted to use the bike. Like most of our guests I found him to be a very pleasant person.

The news that night was not good for tennis. Carlos Alcaraz, now number 2 in the world, holder of  7 grand slams and reining champion of Roland Garros, will not be competing in Paris owing to a complicated injury in his wrist. I am so sorry for him. 

The other news was ridiculous and once again it came from Trump. Apparently he wants to see Spain leave NATO as we are not supporting his war with Iran. Well, who is? Sometimes he makes you laugh but mostly he makes you cry. The latest is that talks will be resumed in Islamabad but not directly between Iran and the USA.

On Saturday I finally found where we are going to go to celebrate our wedding anniversary this year. It is on 21st August so always difficult to find good places and avoid the heat. I had looked at the coast of Cádiz and didn't find anything. Where I really wanted to go was to Biarritz where I used to spend some holidays with my parents at my Uncle Kolya's flat or flats there. I have always wanted to stay there again and have only ever passed through. Also it's not easy to find a good place there that fits my criteria; near the beach, parking on site, a terrace or balcony and good reviews; and all this for a decent price. I found it here so let's see how it goes. Meanwhile, I booked a table for dinner on our anniversary at the Terrasse & Rotonde Brasserie belonging to the famous Hotel du Palais, now owned by Hyatt. No way could I ever dreamt of my parents taking me there, hahaha. I shall drink a toast to them that night. You see when they first met and fell in love, my Mother took my father to Biarritz to stay with her brother Kolya and they must have gone many times in the 50's. Imagine what it was like then; certainly not as crowded as now. I wonder if it is still as chic as I remember. I so look forward to taking Eladio there and we shall be spending a whole week. It will be something to look forward to. 

Suzy was at work and Eladio and I went out to get some cash and pay another bloody traffic fine but I enjoyed my coffee at Manacor this time; a change from Alverán.

Saturday was a good day and today Sunday promises to be good too. Today we shall be celebrating Suzy's birthday which is actually next Tuesday 28th but she will be in London so we are putting the family lunch forward. It will be all of us and two of her friends, the sisters Chati and Elena and once again we shall be having a barbecue. 

I imagine Donald Trump's day will not be good as he reels from last night's shooting. The biggest news of the week came this  morning. I woke up to read a shooting happened during the White House annual Correspondents' dinner at the Washington Hilton Dinner last night.  An armed guest at the hotel aimed at a security checkpoint with the objective of entering the event hosted by Trump and shot a Secret Service agent. His main objective was to  kill the President in what would be the third attempt on his life in the very same venue another shooter tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan in 1981. Thankfully no one was injured and the shooter, 31 year Cole Tomás Allen,   was detained immediately.

There will be no shooting here today during our quiet celebrations. 

Next week I shall be publishing my blog from sunny Seville, a trip I have planned with much detail and love.

Hear all about it next Sunday.

Cheers for now,

Masha.

Iran war; fragile ceasefires, peace talks continue but a feud between Trump and the Pope, Discovering the AI assistant Claude, precious family moments, time with our grandchildren, and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 19th May, 2026

Suzy with Juliet on Thursday this week - we had precious family time I shall cherish. 

Hi and top of the morning to you all. So what have I got to tell you this week?

On the world front, the war with Iran is into its 7th week and into the 2nd week of the ceasefire while peace talks continue. The Iranians announced the Strait of Hormuz would open but Trump replied  not until they have a peace plan. Oil prices dipped for a while but not for long. On the bright side there is now a 2 week ceasefire between Israel and the Lebanon. Both ceasefires are very fragile and I can only hope peace is reached soon, otherwise the world economy will go south. 

Remember when last week Trump warned "a whole civilization would die" referring to Iran?  That is when the new American Pope, Leo XIV put the cat among the pigeons when he criticised Trump for his words and actions. So far, the former Robert Prevost has been quite low key when it comes to politics which is why this spate is so significant. Don't forget the man has a following of 1.4 billion Catholics - that's a lot. The Pope got more vocal when the Defence Secretary Hegseth called the conflict a Christian mission and a holy war. The Pope has also criticised Trump's immigration policy referring to the terrible actions of ICE. Last Sunday, Trump, using his own social media platform "Truth Social" (haha) called the Pope weak on crime, terrible for foreign policy and not to get involved in politics. Leo XIV on his arrival this week to Africa said he has no fear of the Trump government and will continue to speak out loudly against war. Good for him I say. Coincidentally or not, that very day, Trump posted an AI generated picture of himself as Jesus healing a bedridden man This is it and it is appalling. 

The AI generated picture of Trump looking like Jesus

It was later taken down with Trump claiming he thought he was supposed to be looking like a doctor. The man is deranged. I read an article this week in the The Times entitled "Trump team scrambles to keep up with unshackled Truth Social after dark". From it I gather he hardly sleeps and spends his nights publishing deranged posts and his social media team cannot shackle the man.  The man needs shackling and soon.

We, on the other hand, had a quiet day last Sunday. We went for our walk and had a coffee and I had a "porra" - sort of thick churro. When I complained it was small, dry and hard, we were treated to our whole order. There is a saying in Spanish which I love and which applies to our getting our coffee and churros free - it is "el que no llora, no mama".  It means literally that a baby that doesn't cry doesn't suckle.  AI translates that as "the squeaky wheel gets the grease"; not a saying I have heard of but I like it. Others are  "a shy bairn gets no sweets" (Scottish) or "closed mouths don't get fed" which I think translates a lot better. I do love sayings and the origins of words. I must have inherited that from my father. 

The highlight of Sunday was my weekly Facetime call with Amanda. She is my therapy. I told her about my dream - the one with the corrupt Spanish politician in my bed who also takes sleeping tablets  that morphed into my seeing and touching my 103 and 104 year old parents at our old house at 6 Heaton Grove. A friend suggested I get ChatGPT to interpret it for me and I did. Later I tried a new AI assistant.  Called Claude it is the best so far.  I am also very happy with  Handled, the assistant that posts this blog for me. You can talk to Claude like a person and it answers back with questions. My daughter Oli told me people are using AI as a psychologist. The more I use AI for questions, the more I understand how helpful it can be. It is a whole new world and one I am embracing. Claude gave me its interpretation: "the marital bed is one of the most intimate spaces imaginable. It represents trust, privacy and your closest relationship. Having a figure like Abalos (someone corrupt) reflects a feeling that something unwanted has invaded your private life"..... It goes on to say about my parents who are impossibly alive "this is the emotional heart of the dream" and that I reached out because what I really need now is an emotional anchor for stability and get life back as it was before without all my worries. I totally get it. Have you tried Claude? I have used it all week now, including asking it to help with programming trips. If only it had been available when we did our road trip to Armenia. What an amazing help it is. 

Now on to Monday. That day we woke up to the news that that nasty far right dictator like leader in Hungary, Viktor Orban, who has been in power for 16 years,  the friend and ally of both Trump and Putin and traitor to the EU, was ousted out in the general elections in Hungary last Sunday. What good news and we need good news, don't we?

We didn't do much that day. Our usual really including another trip to the garden centre to get more plants and flowers for the garden and related stuff. Eladio is doing a great job as a gardener and I am very grateful. It's the weather for planting he says and the weather has been wonderful with higher temperatures and sun every day. I love this time of year. We also stopped at Carrefour to get some ingredients for me to make coleslaw which we all love and a fattening pasta dish with prawns we had for lunch. I am enjoying cooking these days. It's a great relaxation tool and very satisfying when the people around the table enjoy the food you have made and tell you so. 

Tuesday came and I spent a lot of it outlining a programme for our upcoming trip to Seville to include Jerez and then the Parador in Mazagón in Huelva  to visit the Doñana national park with our friends Andy and Amanda.  I have done everything now, booked the accommodation, got all the tickets, even booked tables at certain restaurants and then I got Claude and Handled AI platforms to transform it into a spectacular brochure like programme with photos and links. Of the tow I preferred the one generated by Handled. It looks marvelous. Maybe I would have done well working in the travel industry. I forged my skill at making travel programmes long ago when I worked for a Spanish arms exporter, Defex. All my bosses would travel the world to the most exotic places, mostly poor and wanting Spanish "defence material". I learned so much geography when I had to plan their trips to places like Tegucigalpa. Mostly I learned a lot of African geography. Awful products they sold but I honed many admin skills which I later improved on  in the telecom corporate world. I once had a boss at Motorola in the early 90's  who told me I was disorganised. His words spurred me on to become the most organised person in the office. Comments like that can make or break you. I was determined to prove him wrong and I did. Years later he was in the public when I was awarded prize for best Communications Director in the sector. In my acceptance speech I gave thanks to him for helping me in my career. So there you are. 

This week we have spent a lot of time with our grandchildren, Elliot (6) and Juliet (4). We had to pick them up that afternoon, take Elliot to athletics and Juliet to the park. We later convened at home for a wonderful and peaceful (for once) dinner al fresco. I took some photos of what I consider were precious family moments I must treasure. I have chosen the photo of Suzy with Juliet for this week's feature photo and here are two more.

Oli with Juliet

Elliot showing me his latest drawing. He is so good at drawing I have to say

On Wednesday we woke up to another leak in the house, leak number 5 after the one in the entrance of the house, two on the ground floor and one in my study. We had to find the source and of course ring the insurance people who must hate us by now. Bottom line, the leak has been fixed and the carpenter has to repair the kitchen sink cupboard. Sometimes it feels as if the house is falling to pieces. It is so expensive to maintain. Thus our little Airbnb business comes in handy. We couldn't live here without it. It may appear weird that we rent rooms in our own home but it's not that weird when you get used to it. In any case, the house is so enormous, often we hardly see our guests. On the plus side too we get to make new friends and meet people from all over the world. 

It was on Wednesday that I succumbed to temptation and with the excuse of our family barbecue today for lunch, I ordered the most amazing cake from my favourite Spanish patisserie, Balbisiana. Founded by a friend of a friend, the owner called Paula who left her job to make and sell cakes, has gone from strength to strength. She first opened a shop in the very upmarket street, Velázquez in Madrid and now has many of them even at the airport and delight of delights, she opened one in nearby Pozuelo. This is the wonderful cake I have ordered. It was created for Mothers' Day here which is not today but who needs a reason to buy a cake I thought? The thing is I couldn't resist it, hahaha. 

The cake I will be picking up this morning from Balbisiana for our family lunch today.

In the morning while Eladio waited for the insurance people to send a plumber, I went out to do the food shopping on my own. Of course I made time for coffee at Alverán and while there I crossed the road to look in  small Chinese owned boutique and bought a beautiful blue and white embroidered blouse. Retail therapy is always perks me up.

Thursday came and I was delighted that Olivia let me know 5 minutes before that she would be live on TV at 08.06 am.  She hardly ever lets me know as she is usually too busy but when she does, it is a joy to see her live on TV. This was her on Thursday reporting on another political corruption case - there are so many in this country.  

Olivia reporting live on TVE this week. 

I spent part of that day watching Dr. Zhivago. What a wonderful film. They don't make them like that anymore. Today's so-called blockbusters, leave me feeling cold. Oh how I loved the Russianess of it. Pasternak's novel is loosely biographical. I remember my mother telling me they visited the Nobel Prize winner's grave  in Moscow and were taken there by the head of the Russian literary society who told her it was he who prevented Boris Pasternak from travelling to Oslo for the prize and who banned the book.  Interestingly so, he also told her he regretted it but had no choice at the time. I wish I could remember his name. 

Very kindly, Suzy picked up the kids that afternoon. She took Elliot to athletics and brought Juliet home who played quietly on the kitchen patio. Later Oli came with Elliot and we had perushki (Russian meat pies)  for dinner made by dear Tana, our Paraguayan home help, bless her. She made us all happy. They looked like this before we pounced on them.

Tana's perushki which we had for dinner with the kids on Thursday

The kids behaved and ate well and dinner on Thursday with them was more precious family time. Oli had just bathed them and they were in their pyjamas when they wandered into the garden with Eladio. The sprinklers were on and they got soaked which proved hilarious and very enjoyable for them. I wish I had taken a picture. 

Friday dawned and we went out to have coffee and pay a traffic fine at the bank  - Eladio accumulates a lot of them. Oh but good news this week. He got his renewed driving licence which I thought would be valid for only a year but it is valid for 5. Thank the heavens. Google got it wrong this time. 

I made chicken Korma curry for lunch which we had with Tana's marvelous rice. There was not much time for a siesta that afternoon as we had to pick the kids up from school and be with them till Oli returned at 10pm. She has her job for which she gets up for at 5 every morning, she goes to her French classes twice a week and on top of that does the odd emcee job. This week also saw her teaching classes on corporate presentations to a group of students doing a master in TV presenting from 3 to 9 pm.  I don't how she does it. 

We took them to the park and them came home for dinner. We then let them run wild in the garden and get wet again from the irrigation system. Then it was bath time which they enjoy- To keep them occupied afterwards we put them on our bed (with Pippa) and put something on Netflix. It was difficult for them to agree on what to watch. Elliot wanted to watch Stranger Things which I did not allow and Juliet wanted to watch Peppa Pig which Elliot didn't. In the end they watched Gringe and Charlie and the Chocolate factory until their mother finally came to take them home. Here they are on our bed.

The kids in their pyjamas on our bed with Pippa on Friday night

We were exhausted when they left but had had some quality time with our grandchildren, bless them. 

I didn't sleep well that night and woke up too early on Saturday morning. Of note that morning I applied for Eladio's ETA visa for the UK for when we got at the end of May. Oh bloody Brexit has caused this. I did it on the Government app and if you have to do it, this is the link where it directs you to download the app called UK ETA . If you use any other website, they are going to charge a lot more. The real cost is 23 euros I think. I know of someone who got it from somewhere else and paid 120 euros. There are such scammers out there.  It was approved 10 minutes letter by some AI machine, I suppose.  Bloody Brexit again. 

We went out for coffee again and to Carrefour (again), this time to get ingredients for today's barbecue, the first of the season. There is not much else to tell about yesterday and today is just beginning. Now that I have come to the end of my tales for this week, let me wish you all a great Sunday. Cheers till next time,

Masha.

Trump threatens "a whole civilization will die tonight" then announces a fragile ceasefire with Iran, Easter lunch with Suzy and Eladio, Artemis II mission to the moon and back, good news from Airbnb and other stories of the week.

 Madrid, Sunday 12th April, 2026

Sunday roast outdoors for Easter lunch 

Good morning again friends and readers. 

It is now day 43 or 44 of the war against Iran and though I never thought it would happen, this week a 2 week ceasefire was announced. It came after the madman Trump threatened that a whole civilization would die, on his own social media site. This is his crazy post which  will no doubt go down in history for many reasons; one of them being his insanity as a President of the USA.

Donald Trump's threat to Iran this week

One of this main aims was for Iran to open the Hormoz Strait for sea traffic through which about 20% of the world's oil passes through. Not happy about that Trump even interrupted the peace on Easter Day to publish a post full of expletives. These were his words: "Tuesday will be Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran. There will be nothing like it!!! Open the Fuckin' Strait, you crazy bastards, or you'll be living in Hell - JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah. President DONALD J. TRUMP". 

Trump thinks he has won the war - the Iranians do too - yet thanks to the attack on 28th February, the Iranians found their greatest weapon, the closing of this strait which was open before.So, I ask myself, what on earth has Trump achieved with his war on Iran? Mostly the wrath of the Ayotollahs, no regime change and the closing of the strait and of course destruction and death at a very high cost.  Today as I write, trilateral talks are being held in Pakistan, of all places, with Iran and the USA to try to come to some sort of peace agreement. Meanwhile, the ceasefire has proved very fragile. The Israelis have completely ignored it and continue to bomb the Lebanon. I feel for the people of Lebanon. If peace is reached, I just wonder at the end of the day what the USA will have got out of this useless war. Trump himself will not come out of it unscathed. Once again he is being referred to as TACO (Trump always chickens out). Back home his popularity rate is down to 33%. So even the MAGA (Make America great again) movement is beginning to fall out of love with him. He has to go and may that be soon. Let's hope that this time next week I will be able to record a proper peace agreement. If it's anything like the one with Gaza then it will be another loss for Trump. 

At home this week we lived in peace and harmony and Easter day this year was a happy celebration. It was last Sunday and Suzy was home so it would be the three of us for lunch. Oli and family were still in Montrondo and came back the next day. It was a beautiful day and before starting on lunch we went for our walk. We needed it for all the food we were to eat. I made a delicious roast lamb with all the trimmings and this meal on Easter Day was the highlight of our week. We had it outside as you can appreciate from this week's feature photo of Eladio and Suzy on the patio outside our kitchen. Here is a close up of the meal which included roast lamb, roast potatoes, Yorkshire pudding, green beans and peas, home made gravy and mint sauce. Wow what a scrumptious meal it was.

Roast Lamb and Yorkshire pudding (and all the trimmings) for our lunch on Easter Day last Sunday

We had no room left but I still got out the 2 Easter eggs I had bought at the British supermarket, Quicksave in Gran Alacant. One was by Bounty and the other, my favourite, Aero mint chocolate. These were them.

Our Easter eggs on Sunday

It was that afternoon that Claudia and her daughter Grecia arrived. From Mexico they have stayed a whole week and left this morning. Grecia was here to do a week's course at the University nearby and her mother had come along to join her. They are now off to Lisbon and hopefully will be back in July. We had lots of fun conversations and I love to spot the differences in Castillian and Mexican Spanish. They kept using the word "mande" instead of "perdón". They asked for an "abanico" instead of a "ventilador"  in their "recámara" rather than in their "habitación". They call cars "carros" instead of "coches" and the fridge a "refri" instead of "nevera". When things are good they exclaim it is "padre" (father) rather than "guay". Lindo, not used much in Spain can mean cute, pretty, sweet or anything positive. An Argentinian guest who came yesterday, Victoria, will use different vocab too and I have noticed her always saying "de diez" instead of excellent. Diez being 10 means ten out of ten I suppose. A good one. I often learn new things from my guests.

Monday was another beautiful day, here, not in Iran. The highlight of the day was my weekly FaceTime call with Amanda with whom I will soon be reunited in Seville. 

The highlight for NASA was the Lunar Flyby that day to its far side by the Artemis II mission which left the Kennedy Space Centre on 1st April. It is an historic flight as it marks the first time astronauts have left the Earth's orbit since Apollo 17 in 1972. I honestly wonder why we have had to wait more than 50 years for that to happen. The crew of 4 apparently flew further into space than any other astronaut before them. They did not land on the moon in 2026 yet they did in 1969. I am no space expert so don't feel the excitement as much as I did at the time. Apparently this is a test mission for future lunar landings or bases there and according to Trump maybe one day to Mars. That I think will take another century. Photos were published of the moon from about 4000 km away and honestly I didn't find them fascinating. I just see a grey surface with craters. I'm sure there is more to it than that. One photo though did make an impact and it was of a jar of Nutella flying around with the lack of gravity. Did you see that one? 

Nutella's moment of fame during the Artemis II mission to the moon this week. 

I later read it was probably sponsored by Nutella but Nasa said it wasn't What great advertising for them. They took immediate advantage and I did like their social media response: "Honoured to have travelled further than any spread in history. Taking spreading smiles to new heights". 

The astronauts returned to earth on Friday in a thankfully successful "splash down" somewhere near San Diego. I bet the crew of 4 have a tale or two to tell. It must have been very exciting for them. 

Tuesday came and out we went to get petrol at a 10% discount further away than usual and thanks to my Carrefour loyalty card. These days petrol costs the earth so we have to watch the pennies, don't we? We also went to get more flowers for the garden and came home to have lunch with Suzy. 

I had a bit of a scare from Airbnb after lunch. There have been so many new regulations to comply with after recent and stringent renting laws on online platforms in Spain that it has been a nightmare. Many people who didn't comply or didn't know how to comply are being kicked off the platform and that is what I feared that day. Thankfully, it was quite the opposite. A lady called Estafania rang from Airbnb just to confirm that all my listings were in complete compliance. I nearly fell off my seat in surprise as it is not often anyone rings to say you are doing something good. Just in case, I asked her send me the confirmation in writing and she did. I am recording it here as it the result of a lot of painstaking bureaucratic work on my part which I understand some people would just not be able to do.

Positive confirmation from Airbnb

It came just a day after an email from the company to tell me I was Superhost, once again. To think I began this journey just over 8 years ago and have now been a Super host for the same amount of time; in their words in "35 straight quarters".

Superhost for 35 quarters = 8.75 years

During that journey I have had some wonderful guests (and not so wonderful guests). This week my top guest was Marco Antonio, also from Mexico. He is a digital nomad and swam in our pool even though the water was freezing. He also used our bike for getting around. And this was his review. Maybe I should have replied "está padre"!

Marco Antonio's review

Reviews like this make it all worthwhile. 

On Wednesday the world woke up to a ceasefire with Iran rather than the apocalypse that Trump had threatened and the world heaved a sigh of relief. Oil prices went down but as the ceasefire was broken over and over again and the Hormuz strait still closed, the oil prices went up again. 

We did the food shopping that day which I secretly enjoy for want of any trips from home. We have been grounded since my birthday in February and I am itching to travel again. My time will come, no doubt. I managed to sleep during my siesta and had a nightmare. A famous corrupt Spanish politician, José Luis Abalos, who was in the dock this week, was in our bed in my nightmare. I wondered why he was next to me and not Eladio. We were both awake and he told me he also needed sleeping tablets, like me. My dream morphed to the appearance of my parents, aged 102 and 104. I touched them and it seemed so real. I woke up feeling a little upset as you can imagine. Some of my dreams are very vivid.

Thursday came and after our walk I did some cooking. I made a chicken based dish I  got from Instagram and we all loved it. I also made coleslaw and apple and amaretto cherry crumble which was divine. We only finished it yesterday.  We had pleasant grandparent duties in the afternoon when we went to pick up Elliot and Juliet from school and take our grandson to his athletics class. Normally we would have taken Juliet to the park but I had to go to the health centre.Thankfully, she fell asleep and only woke up when we got home. Soon we were joined by Oli and Elliot and had a wonderful family dinner together. It was good to see my grandchildren again. They cheered me up.

It was on Thursday that, out of the blue, that DJ Trump's wife, the Slovenian Melania Trump made a surprise announcement. It was to tell the world she was not introduced to her husband by the late Jeffrey Epstein. Why on earth did she do that? To quell rumours? She has now put her husband back in the Epstein picture. One day I hope he gets his comeuppance for that. 

Friday came and I spent quality time with Suzy when we went to have a coffee at Alverán, our happy place. Eladio had gone to see an eye specialist about his macular degeneration which he came back to tell us was at the halfway stage. Not good but could be worse. Suzy and I then walked to our local nail bar for her to make an appointment. She also went to the hairdressers this week. It's good to see her doing these lovely feminine things and taking care of herself as best she can. In the afternoon she spent time with Oli and Juliet and the three of them came home and surprised me with their visit. Juliet was asleep (again) so I had quality time with both my daughters. I wish I had taken a picture. Friday was a good day, a day I could breathe and feel fleetingly happy. Thus I had a better night's sleep.

Yesterday was Saturday and a quiet day. Suzy went back to work which she was longing to do. Eladio and I went for our walk and I came home to make our lunch. The three of us enjoyed lots of leftovers. 

Today is Sunday and promises to be another quiet day. We have no plans so will follow  what must seem to you our very boring routine. 

And that's it from me for this week. Cheers to you all,

Masha. 

War with Iran enters its sixth week, Palm Sunday, Oli and family in Montrondo for Easter, gardening, Artemis II test flight to the moon, cooking more Instagram recipes, our wedding vows remembered and other stories of the week.

 Easter Day. Madrid, Sunday 5th April, 2026

Pistachio and wine time by the pool on Friday evening

Good morning everyone and Happy Easter. It  is Easter day and  as always I shall make a roast meal. I am happy to tell you we will be joined by Suzy who was discharged from hospital yesterday. That is the best news I have this week.

Not such good news is the fact that the war with Iran has entered its 6th week and it is pretty much stale mate at the moment. 2 US aircraft were shot down by the Iranians and one of the pilots is missing in Iran. Attacks intensified on Iranian infrastructure and the economic crisis has worsened, as has the humanitarian crisis. What seemed an easy war to win for the Israelis and the USA is turning out not to be as easy as Trump thought. He is furious that his partners from NATO are not helping out and threatens to leave the Alliance but who, by now, believes his threats?

Our lives continued in peace for which I am thankful. Last week was Palm Sunday, the day the clocks went forward. I  would have slept an extra hour if one of my guests hadn't rung me at 7 am, the old 6 am. I did not need that. I didn't really notice it was Palm Sunday but certainly remember it from my childhood. I loved getting a palm leaf in the shape of a cross at the church in Ruskington, in Lincolnshire, where we lived when I was little. Eladio reminded me of our once being in Reñaka in Chile on Palm Sunday. On the Pacific Ocean, Reñaka is near Viña del Mar where we ventured by car from Santiago in about 2003. We got given the most beautiful woven palm cross we kept for a long time. Wow what a trip. I was there on business for Nokia and Eladio came out and we spent Easter there. Being in the Southern Hemisphere, on the other side of the Equator, it was autumn then while it was spring in Spain. The things we remember. I remember another Palm Sunday with Eladio and my father in Granada in 2008 where we got to see "La Boriquilla" (little donkey) procession. It represents the entry of Jesus into Jerusalem on a donkey. None of that would be possible today in Jerusalem. With the excuse of the war, many Christian celebrations have been completely scaled down. Jesus would not be happy and I am not either. 

A  very little baby was born last Sunday. Oscar Archie, grandson of my great friends Kathy and Phil was born 2 months early while his parents were on holiday in that lovely hotel, Gleneagles where I have fond memories of trips to Scotland with Motorola. Their daughter in law gave birth in Dundee and thus their grandson is Scottish, hence the names he has been given. I heard from Kathy they would be transferred to their hometown in Manchester but could never have imagined they would be taken by helicopter. What an amazing gesture. Finally my friends met little Oscar on Saturday. I am very happy for them all. I know my Yorkshire friends will be tickled pink to have a Scottish grandson. Hi there Oscar, welcome to the world. 

It was on Sunday that Olivia and family drove to Montrondo to stay at our lovely house there in my husband's village for the Easter holiday. They have been very lucky with the weather and the kids have had a grand time with their cousins, firstly Luna and Camilo and then some of the others. We got sent various photos during the week which I want to share. I especially love the one of the kids hanging round the bread van which comes every other day and is quite an event for people who live in the city.

Olivia and family in Montrondo this week

Monday came and Eladio and I went to buy new flowers for the garden to replace the dead geraniums which surround the pool. We also got a couple of rose plants and lots of different types of soil and fertilizers. My husband is a good gardener when he puts his mind to it. 

Tuesday was a quiet day with not much to report.  I had a bad night but that is not news. That afternoon we visited Suzy as we have every day since she was admitted to hospital. 

Wednesday was 1st April and in England it was All Fools' Day and turned out to be a pretty complicated day for me. It started off well. Eladio did the gardening, mostly planting the new flowers. Here he is about to start. In the background you can spot Tana who I think was cleaning the outdoor loo.

Eladio the gardener

I was happy that morning to receive our new toaster, a beautiful red Smeg to replace our Russel Hobbs which literally set on fire last week. This is it next to the Smeg kettle. I am in love with that brand and I am not usually a person who is interested in brands.

Our new Smeg toaster - red of course. Love it

I did the shopping alone while Eladio tended to the garden. It was while we were having lunch I got calls from Santa Pola to tell me the gas wasn't working so our guests there could not cook. At more or less the same time our new guests in El Cuetu were also complaining the house wasn't clean enough and to get rid of a clothes horse with clothes in the garage. I had to deal with everything while more or less standing up to have my lunch. At that moment I felt like giving up hosting and selling those houses. By the end of the day everything was sorted but what a headache. It turned out too that the party of 6 in El Cuetu was actually a party of 8 people as seen by my sweet cleaner Andrea who suspected the complaints were to try and get a refund. Oh the lengths some people go to. I am now dreading this guest's review on Booking. As a host, you are a slave to guest reviews and have to bend over backwards for all of them to be happy. Wednesday was my "dies horribilis". 

While I was having these little issues, the spacecraft, Artemis II took off for the moon. It is not actually going to land on the moon but is a test flight. From 1969 to 1972, a total of 12 Americans have actually set foot on the moon. I only remember Apollo 11 in July 1969 and will never forget when Armstrong stepped on the surface of the moon and said those words "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind". I wonder why no one else has stepped on the moon since 1972? So, for today's generation Artemis II must be very exciting but far less so than the Apollo 11's mission was for my generation. I was 12 at the time and remember watching the crucial moments while my mother stayed up all night glued to the "telly". The next day I was going camping with the girl guides.  I read that this 4 crew mission is a test flight to ensure the spacecraft and launch system are safe for future moon landings. They will not land but will have amazing views. The distance from the Kennedy Space centre to the Moon is about 385.000 kilometres. Their speed varies from several thousand kilometres per hour. To leave the earth's orbit and reach the moon they will travel at nearly 40.000 km per hour!!! I just wonder how they wash themselves or change clothes or maybe they don't. Hopefully the mission will go well. 

Thursday was a much better day for me and thankfully problem free. I went out shopping to get the ingredients for 2 recipes I had seen on Instagram. The first one was a chicken based recipe which I think might be from the Middle East but I am not sure. This is the link I used and this was the dish that I served. 

A new chicken based recipe

The ingredients are chicken, onions, cherry tomatoes, spinach, veg stock and cream to which I added almonds. We had it with Tana's amazing rice. 

My second dish was another apple dessert and again from Instagram. This is the link and this is my result.

A new type of apple tart I made this week. 

I made such a large tart I gave some of it to my guests. When I was with Suzy in the afternoon I told her about my cooking and trying out new recipes. She will be helping me next time, now that she is back. Isn't that great?

Friday of course was Good Friday. It was the first time in many years I hadn't stocked up on hot cross buns or made any. I used to but couldn't be bothered this year. Instead, I raided the deep freeze for a packet of crumpets I had bought at Quicksave in February. Oh how I love crumpets with lots of butter. I naughtily added some Golden Lyle Syrup. I don't like honey but I love syrups. We finally went for a walk that morning and oh how you notice spring is here. Everything is so green and lots of flowers are blooming. I love this time of year. 

We had leftovers for lunch and just afterwards our new guest Dan arrived. He is from Romania and has been traveling round Europe in his own car, a splendid BMW. Our other guests are from Brazil but live in Sacramento. They are here to see their son who is living at a football academy very near us. They have been before and are a pleasant couple. In the afternoon we went for the last time to visit Suzy. It has been tiring but more so for her of course. We came home and as the weather was so lovely and it was light outside, I suggested we have a glass of wine and pistachios by the pool, a tradition of ours in the good weather. It was a wonderful way to wind down after a difficult week. I got Eladio to take a photo of me for this blog, for lack of another one, with his new Samsung S26 and I have chosen it as this week's feature photo. It was a happy moment together with my wonderful husband with whom I could never envisage being without. Thank you Eladio for the good times and being there for me during the bad times. It is our unity that keeps us going. Writing that reminds me of our wedding vows which we have both kept since we got married on 21st August 1983. We used the text from the Common Book of Prayer. These were: "'I, (), take thee, (name), to be my wedded wife, to have and to hold from this day forward, for better for worse, for richer for poorer, in sickness and in health, to love and to cherish, till death us do part, according to God's holy ordinance; and thereto I plight thee my troth". I remember we did them in English or maybe I did mine in Spanish and Eladio his in English. He had trouble saying "thereto I plight thee my troth" which had me in tears and the wedding had to stop until I was able to compose myself. Again, the things one remembers. 

Saturday came, the day was Suzy was being discharged. Poor girl, she hadn't seen the light of day since being admitted on 18th March. It was a lovely day and I had my morning coffee by the pool while Eladio got out all the outdoor furniture. I had to take a picture. This is it.

The pool looking good and so lovely to sit by in this good weather

I made our lunch before leaving for the hospital. It was for the last time and so good to see Suzy come out. We rushed home and she was greeted warmly by little Pippa. Tana is off this Easter weekend and our guests were out so we had the house and garden to ourselves. Lunch was eaten outside at Suzy's request. 

The day ended with the three of us having wine and pistachios by the pool. Another pleasant end to the day. Today is Easter Sunday and as I said at the beginning I shall be making a roast meal - lamb and all the trimmings; my favourite. You will hear all about it next week.

Meanwhile, let me wish you all a Happy Easter. Until next Sunday, cheers

Masha.