El Cuetu, Asturas, Sunday 2nd April, 2023
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| On the beach - Playa de Poó - on Wednesday, the warmest day of our stay. |
Good morning again.
This week finds us in Asturias, our first time here this year. We came to get the house ready for guests at Easter and in the summer and to enjoy our modest house as well. We love our home in Madrid but we love getting away too. We chose this week because we had no prior engagements and because the weather looked promising, at least for the first few days of our stay.
Before I recount our time here, let me rewind to last Sunday. It was a strange day as the clocks went forward which meant we all lost an hour. It also meant we had an extra hour or so of light in the evening. It doesn't get dark now until 9.30 pm which is the advantage of daylight saving time.
That day was a family day but we still stuck to our routines of a daily walk and afternoon siesta. Before the walk, I made two lasagnes - one vegetable for Suzy. Oli and family came and we had some quality family time and lunch together. It was great to have Juliet and Elliot who brighten our lives up. They left quite early, giving me some free time to continue watching Shetland on the BBC iPlayer. Before getting into bed, Eladio did the usual rounds after dinner and came up to tell me one of the guests was sitting at my desk in our study. Our desks and study are not common areas and guests should know this. I was flabbergasted and went down to ask the culprit to kindly remove herself and use the desk in her room. This is the first time this has happened so I rewrote the house rules (no one reads them) in case it ever happens again. I honestly don't know how she dared as my desk as it is so personal with lots of confidential documents and photos! She removed herself quickly and apologised. Not a good end to the day but nothing damaging.
It didn't ruin my sleep though as I woke up at the new 8 am on Monday morning. I really am sleeping better these days. I went with Eladio to do the MOT for my Mini - vital for our upcoming trip at the end of the month. We then went to get some more food so as to leave Suzy and Lucy enough in our absence.
Just as we got to Mercadona and still in the car I got a phone call. I could see it was from Bulgaria. That could only be a call from my Aunty Olga's Russian Orthodox Convent. I had written more than a month ago and had had no reply. I was incredibly pleased to receive the call. It was from the new Mother Superior, called Seraphima, like my Aunt. She told me in excellent English that she had replied by email but it must have gone to my spam folder. What a joy! We spoke for quite a while and later we connected via Whatsapp. I couldn't believe the Abbess which is how she refers to herself, was on Whatsapp especially as my aunt's convent is quite strict. I hope she won't mind me quoting her reply from Sofia here. This is it
(For clarification Matushka Seraphima is the convent name of my Aunt Olga - my mother's oldest sister and Father Andrey, is her father - my grandfather. Also "matushka (means mother) Sofia" is his wife, my grandmother.)
"Dear Masha,
We are writing to you from the Protection Convent in Sofia, Bulgaria. We received your kind letter from February 13th and were moved – you are the first relative of our ever-memorable Matushka Seraphima to get into contact with us after your aunt Maria visited us years ago (after the repose of Matushka Seraphima). We also remember what a joyous event the reunion of the four sisters at the convent after the fall of the communist regime was.
You and your husband are most welcome to visit our convent. When time comes, please contact us for further arrangements.
From what Matushka Seraphima has told us, Father Andrey and his wife Sofia left Russia with almost no possessions and all their wealth remained there. So, they were living here as poor immigrants, earning their living, yet at the same time they were helping many other Russian who were in the same position. Fr. Andrey would go to different institutions to arrange work, financial assistance, etc., for them, and matushka Sofia would always find something to feed whoever came hungry to their home. That is why they actually rented a house – first they were living on Maliovitsa str., where the house even had holes in the walls, and later they moved to Dante str. At that time these houses were at the outskirts of the city. Later, as the city was quickly expanding, they became part of its centеr. During WWII the city was bombarded several times. Consequently, after the war all half-ruined and dilapidated houses were demolished and condominiums were built in their place. That is why the house does not exist anymore.
Fr. Andrey actually was considering becoming a priest when he was in Russia, and the developments of the events enforced his desire. Here, in Sofia, he met Archbishop Seraphim (now canonized as a saint), who became his spiritual father, and who ordained him as a priest. St. Seraphim was a Russian bishop, who left Russia after the Revolution, and was appointed a bishop of all Russians in Bulgaria. Fr. Andrey became secretary of the Diocesan Council. Matushka Seraphima also became the spiritual daughter of St. Seraphim of Sofia, and when he tonsured her into monasticism, he gave her his name. Fr. Andrey reposed on June 19, 1949, and our convent was founded in 1950 in the center of the city, and moved here, in Knyazhevo district, in 1951. Therefore, Nikolay has correctly informed you – his grave is at the Central Sofia cemetery.
The Russian church still exists and is being kept in good condition with regular renovation works, but it is a metochion (dependency) of the Moscow Patriarchate and we don’t have any connections with them. The most precious treasure there are the relics of St. Seraphim of Sofia to whom people flock all day round to ask for his help and to express their gratitude.
Please, find enclosed several photos: Fr. Andrey after his ordination in 1924, Matushka Seraphima in September 2003, her grave and the chapel over her burial place.
With our best wishes to you and to your family,
Abbess Seraphima
These are the photos she sent.
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| Aunt Olga - Matushka Seraphima at her convent in 2003, a year before she died |
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| My grandfather Prince (Father) Andrei Lieven on the day of his ordination in Sofia Bulgaria in 1924 |
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| His grave |
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| My Aunt's grave at the convent which I shall see with my own eyes when we go to Sofia |
Can you imagine just how happy I felt at the Mercadona car park on Monday? What a prosaic place to receive such a call! Eladio was watching me and later hugged me as I cried with joy. I am such an emotional type of person at times I know I will well up once at the marvelous convent. I was puzzled not to have received a reply from Sofia but I got it this week and it brought me so much joy. I can't wait to visit Sofia now, I really can't. We are not leaving Spain until 21st April so life continues normally except for that extra bit of joy in my heart from receiving Abbess Seraphima's call and email. I suppose you could call Monday a red letter day.
Tuesday was to be a wonderful day too, the day we left for Asturias. We were last here in October with our dear friends Kathy and Phil who we wish could be with us. I think they do too. We decided on a picnic as it was such a beautiful day and bought some amazing sandwiches at Carrefour before setting off. Our first stop was for coffee at noon somewhere near Villalba. Here is Eladio posing for my camera.
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| Eladio and Pippa when we stopped for coffee on our way to Asturias on Tuesday |
And here he is again, this time setting up our picnic table on the road to El Cuetu, somewhere in the province of Palencia
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| Eladio setting up our picnic table on the way to El Cuetu on Tuesday |
We were "home" at around 5ish and the weather was gorgeous for this time of year and this part of the country, so famous for rain. We soon settled in and I sat outside on the terrace, the saving grace of this modest house. We even had a glass of wine and pistachios outside before dinner.
The day ended with me watching more of Shetland. I was amazed I had a good enough signal and did a speed test which showed only 30 megas. That was when I decided I would contract the services of my former employer, the rural fiber internet provider, Adamo. Mostly it's because I need a better signal on the terrace outside.
I slept well again that night and woke up at 7.30 on Wednesday morning. According to the forecast it would be the warmest day of our stay with the temperature reaching 28ºc, unheard of here at this time of year. Thus we put off some of the domestic tasks we had to do for when it was colder, and packed a bag with beach wear and drove to my favourite beach. It's called Playa de Poó and may sound funny in English but oh what a beautiful place. It was a little cloudy when we got there but the sun came out shortly afterwards.We took our beach chairs and it was the first time we have actually spent time sitting on Poó beach, rather than just come for a walk.
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| Our spot on the beach - far right |
Before daring to go in, we did go for a walk to as far as we could get which was to the river mouth in the village of Poó. I love that walk. The foliage is so exotic and green and you could almost imagine you were not in Asturias but in Costa Rica or somewhere equally exotic.
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| Our walk on Poó beach towards the river mouth |
The sun came out properly when we we got back to our spot at the end of the beach and that is when I plucked up the courage to go in. It's funny because I expected the water to be freezing but it wasn't. In fact it was pretty similar to the feel of the water in the sea in Santa Pola where I bathed a few weeks ago. I had to walk very far into the sea to actually be able to swim as the water was very shallow. Eladio took some pics.
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| About to go in the water for a batch at Poó beach on Wednesday |
Coming out of the water, it felt warm and I didn't need a towel. I just dried off on my beach chair. That's the picture Eladio took which I chose for this week's feature photo. It really is unusual to be able to bathe in the sea here so early in the season. We were lucky there were few people at the beach. Next week being Easter week the area will be teeming. But I doubt many people will bathe as the forecast is for much cooler weather. As we are retired we can come when we want. That is the joy of retirement my friends.
We came home for lunch but first a shower for Pippa and me. It was just as we were about to have a siesta that I heard a huge bang. The door was open as Eladio was outside watering the plants and a gust of air must have come inside. It was so strong it blew the enormous mirror off the wall in the entrance. The mirror which I hate, is part of a module attached to an ugly console - we inherited both when we bought the house. There was crashed pieces of mirror everywhere which we had to get rid of. Behind the broken mirror the paint was white whereas the wall is a light cream colour which posed a problem. Ever since we bought the house I wanted to change the mirror and console and now was my chance.So this was a bit of a blessing in disguise. Thus we spent part of the afternoon searching Amazon for suitable replacements that could be delivered on time for the arrival of our guests at Easter. I found a mirror and a table which we would have to paint dark brown to match the doors and the general woodwork.
On Thursday our main mission was to find the right colour paint. There are multiple shades of light cream so we weren't too sure we had made the right choice when we walked out of the ironmonger at Posada. The other mission was coffee in Llanes - we love Llanes. Here is Eladio at the Galerna cafe we always go to with loyal Pippa at his feet.
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| Coffee in the sun in Llanes on Thursday |
While at Galerna I just had to go into the lovely gourmet store called Aramburu. I filled my basket with ham, "cecina" (smoked beef - a sort of braseola), fish pate (pastel de cabracho), 2 dozen locally sourced eggs, and a large piece of meat pie. We did the rest of the shopping at Alimerka in Posada. It's the main supermarket chain in Asturias and is not too bad not too good. Funnily enough, the ubiquitous Mercadona has not yet made its way up here to the north coast.
We were starving when we got home but after I quickly packed everything away, we sat down to a meal of "salmorejo" (thick gazpacho) followed by a meat dish with tomatoes. "Pudding" was delicious local kiwis with mandarins probably from Alicante or Valencia.
Amazon called shortly afterwards bringing me some new bed linen for our bedroom. We inherited all the bed linen and blankets but it's all looking a bit old fashioned and faded. The walls on our room are yellow so I got yellow patterned duvet covers and of course a proper duvet. I would have to wait a few more days for the pillows which I had to order separately as the bedding only included the covers. I have spent a lot of my time here organising all the sheets and towels to make things easier for Loli, our neighbour who cleans the house and receives the guests.
If my task was the bedding, Eladio's was painting the wall where the mirror had fallen. Here he is doing the job.
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| Eladio painting the wall where the nasty mirror that fell used to hang. I'm so glad it's gone |
While he painted, I cooked. I made a cream of broccoli soup and a sort of Spanish chickpea stew. Being here is a bit like playing at houses, at our age, hahahaha.
The little house comes with a small terrace, its saving grace. But over the winter many of the geraniums had not survived. The only plants that survive year on year in this area are the wonderful hydrangeas although they are not yet in flower. Thus our mission on Friday morning was to go to the garden centre in Cue - not far from Llanes. We always get lost going there. It was getting late for my morning coffee so after a few failed attempts to find a bar that opens before 12, we drove back to Llanes by the other town beach, Playa de Toro. If Poó beach is my favourite, Toró is in my top 5 for sure. We were lucky that the beach bar, Rio Mar, was open and serving coffee. We were even luckier that it was sunny and we could sit on the benches overlooking the pretty beach with its funny rock formations. We had been before but never sat by the beach. This was the sight that greeted me.
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| Partial view of the Playa de Toró on Friday morning |
And here is Eladio sitting on the wooden bench we chose to have our coffee on, with Pippa at his feet (of course).
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| Coffee at Playa de Toró on Friday morning |
I took a video too which you can see on my YouTube channel
here, so that you can get the full effect.
Don't get me wrong, I love our morning coffees at Alverán in Boadilla but wow that pales in comparison to coffee at Playa de Toró. The sea was a little rough and I loved watching the waves. A local lady on the bench next to me said in Spanish "el mar está enfadadina", meaning the sea is a little cross. In Asturias it is common to add "in" or "ina" at the end of words, giving them a rather appealing sound. So, the sea was a little cross that day; "enfadadina". Like that.
I liked where we were sitting so much, I had to have a photo too as I seem to take more of Eladio than he of me. Here then is one of me with Pippa (of course again) by the Playa de Toró which we shall be going back to many, many times. One day, I hope, I can bathe there too like I did at the Playa de Poó.
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| Me and "Pips" at Playa de Toró on Friday morning |
From the beach we drove to nearby Cue to the Viveros Mijares garden centre where we spent a fortune on trays and trays of geraniums and more plant pots, big and small. The car was packed to the brim with only room for little Pips at the back.
But it didn't look so much when Eladio deposited it all on our relatively small terrace. He had a big job ahead of him. If on Thursday he was a painter, on Friday he was a gardener. He is a great multitasker for an academic. My parents were both academics but not very good with my hands and I'm not either so I made a good choice when I married Eladio. Ah but I do like playing at houses with him, hahahaha.
Driving through Posada de Llanes on our way to El Cuetu, .I saw it was market day and had to make my husband stop as I am a junkie for street markets. I came up trumps that day when I bought a pair of slacks, a green and white striped hoodie and off white jumper, all for about 40 odd euros. It seemed a bargain to me. I did what I have done since I was a child, trying on my new clothes and wearing them as soon I got home. I was pleased with my choice. No photos I'm afraid.
It was lunchtime when we got home. I might not be good with my hands but I'm not bad at cooking. The day before I had made Friday's lunch which was "cocido madrlileño" (a sort of chickpea stew). I took a photo for you to see. We have done a lot eating in Asturias, hahahaha.
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| Eladio tucking into my "cocido madrileño" |
My husband was so keen to get going with the gardening that, unusually, for him, he skipped his siesta. I watched the news and later went out to see how he was doing. It looked like he had quite a big task ahead of him.
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| More flowers for our terrace - Eladio about to plant the new geraniums and change the soil in some of the older ones that had survived the winter. |
In our marriage we divide the tasks between us, each taking charge of what we are better at. It's a sort of unspoken pact. I am in charge of telecommunications and that day I was trying to put pressure on Adamo to come and install a new fiber router. In the end I had to resort to the old boy's network and I reached out to Xavi V, the company CTO with whom I worked quite closely before I retired. I can't wait for a faster internet speed in this house, but especially for the terrace where the current router just doesn't reach as it's not fiber. Shortly after I wrote to him, I got a call to fix a date and they are coming tomorrow! That was quick but thanks to Xavi.
Another main task of mine is feeding the family and all that that entails. In Madrid I have the luxury of the help of Lucy. Not so here, but I enjoy cooking for two. We had a scrumptious meal that night including wonderful food from the Aramburu gourmet store in Llanes.
We did not watch the news but of course we follow what is going on in Spain and around the world. Really close to us was the news of forest fires in Asturias, up to 100 or so, quite far from here but very worrying. Asturias was literally on fire and it's perhaps the greenest region in Spain.
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| Asturias on fire |
How can that be? Well they were all provoked by arsonists we read. It is appalling. I do not understand what sort of thrill someone can get from ruining the countryside or even people's houses. Thankfully, the next day rain was forecast. That of course put an end to my being able to bathe but all I wanted was for the fires to be put out. It was the main news in Spain that day. Friends got in touch to ask if we were affected. Thankfully the fires were quite far from here, the nearest being about a 45 minute drive. It rained on both Saturday and Sunday and that was the end of the fires but not the destruction they caused.
The other piece of news in this country is about surrogate mothers. The celebrity Ana Obregon, who, by the way, lost her son a year or so ago to cancer, has had a a baby via a surrogate mother, in the States or so the papers report.
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| Ana Obregón holding her new baby |
Surrogate pregnancies are forbidden by law in Spain so there has been a bit of an outrage. But, that's probably got more to do with the fact that the actress is 68 years old! People go abroad to get their surrogate babies who they are able to register later in Spain. But of course they have to have a lot of money.
I'm not sure how many countries allow commercial (Ukraine, Mexico and the US) and or altruistic surrogate pregnancies. I'm not sure either whether I am for it or against it. It's a serious matter for the woman who has to go through a pregnancy for another woman.. It is rumoured Obregón paid between 80 and 150.000 euros. Only about 15.000 of that ends up in the woman's hands. That seems peanuts for what a woman's body has to go through. Why do women offer their uterus I wonder? I did a bit of research and there are no real answers. What I did find out though is that surrogacy is as old as the story from the Bible. In the Book of Genesis, Sarah was infertile so Abraham "fathered" their child with their maid.. I can relate to that. I can understand surrogacy for altruistic reasons but not for commercial reasons, unless, of course, the women in question, are desperate for money, to bring up their own children. In Spain we have a far left government who are very pro abortion. If they are pro abortion, Eladio wonders why they are against surrogacy. It's a difficult ethical question. I can understand Ana Obregón wanting a child after losing Alex, her son, to cancer in his early 20's and I'm sure the new baby - a girl - will live like a queen but she won't have her mother for long if she is now 68.
On the world stage the big news is that Trump, yes that ghastly ex US clown of a President, has been indicted by a Manhattan jury. He faces criminal charges for many cases, mostly business related, but the the most famous charge of all is about the hush money paid to a former porn star, Stormy Daniels. I would love to see him go to jail, I really would but it's not going to happen. He is the first US President to face legal charges. Let's see how he comes out of it.
Another bit of news that upset me came from the UK and from Bradford, Yorkshire where I lived from the age of 7 to 18. The local rag,
The Telegraph and Argus, published a story about The Black Swan pub in Frizinghall, near Bradford Grammar School. The pub which I frequented many a Friday night as a teenager is to be closed. We used to call it the Mucky Duck and it holds many happy memories for me. There I tried babysham for the first time, vodka and orange and there when I tried beer I never liked it, preferring lager and lime. I used to go there with our crowd of friends made up of boys from the Grammar School and girls from my school, St. Joseph's College. Happy memories those were. So sad to see it go.
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| The Black Swan (Mucky Duck) in Frizinghall to be closed. I took this photo in June 2019 on one of my recent visits to Yorkshire |
I just can't imagine Bradford or Frizinghall without the Mucky Duck. It's the end of an era, another nail in the coffin of my teenage years and life in Yorkshire.
Saturday came and brought with it rain and colder weather, all good for putting out the awful forest fires here. The new hall console had arrived the night before delivered by Amazon. All furniture these days comes in what is called a flat pack - I would never ever be able to assemble one. But my husband can and he did. He then set about painting it a dark brown colour to go with the rest of the wood and oh my goodness that was a problem. The surface wouldn't take the paint, it just didn't stick to it so it would need quite a few coats of paint.
It was April Fools' Day but not so in Spain. We spent all day at home as it was too cold and rainy to go out. Eladio had to put the oven burner on in the kitchen for extra heat. The lounge is small and cold and despite the old fashioned electric central heating, I needed a blanket on me to watch more of Shetland which I am, sadly, now finishing. What shall I watch next? Not sure yet
Eladio did some painting again. The console had arrived as a flat pack - hate flat packs and wouldn't know where to start assembling furniture. But my husband with his good hands has no problems. The problem came when the new paint wouldn't stick to the wood of the console. The other problem is that one piece is missing. So I rang Amazon and they will be in touch with the reseller but I doubt it will be sent. I am now wondering whether just to put the new console in the garage and put two chairs there until I can find a better piece of furniture. Eladio is persisting. Let's see how it turns out. The important thing is that the hall looks presentable when our Easter guests arrive on Maunday Thursday.
We shall be staying until Wednesday, the night before they arrive. Today is a grey day so I doubt we will venture very far. The forecast is better for next week and I look forward to more coffee time with my husband in and around Llanes.
No doubt you will hear all about it in next week's blog post. So cheers till then. Wishing you all a happy Sunday - it's Palm Sunday; just realised,
Masha
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