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.