A lovely Easter Week .... Easter day with Fernanda + the Mexican connection.

Hello again my friends,

So we had a good week, very quiet with the girls away most of the time. Oli came back on Wednesday night from Poland and Susi came back on Thursday afternoon from Benidorm. But then they went away again; Oli to Tarragona with José to see the theme park, Port Aventura and Susi to Jerez to join her boyfriend. Olivia came back today, Easter Day but Susi won’t be back until tomorrow. We at least had the pleasure of Olivia’s company for lunch on Thursday and today but Susana was only seen for a few hours on Thursday as she left that very night for Jerez.

The highlights of the week were lunch on Thursday when Fátima joined us and Friday evening when we went out to dinner with Eladio’s brothers, Isidro and José Antonio and our sister-in-laws, Yoli and Dolores. We all felt like going for an Indian meal, so we went once again to the Ganges. Isidro and Yoli had come to Madrid to pick up their daughter, Alicia (my sweet goddaughter) who had spent the Easter holiday on her return exchange to Paris to stay with my cousin Masha’s daughter Sophie. We were delighted to see a big Indian family sitting on the table next to us and eating very similar things, as it added to the authenticity of the place, not to mention the rickshaw in the middle of the dining room and the two Indians sitting on a mat and playing the zitar. It all added to the atmosphere.

The last day of the holiday was the best though as we had the pleasure of the company of my dear Mexican friend, Fernanda Navarret who came for lunch and to spend the afternoon with us here at Río Tajo. Fernanda, now six months pregnant, is going back to her native Mexico after six years here in Madrid. I will miss her. I met Fernanda through work when she was with Ahciet and I was with Nokia. She and I have really connected people around us; through me she met dearest Anne, who then met Manuel, a friend of Ana Valdivieso’s. Manuel then met Paola, also a friend of Fernanda’s. And now, I hope that Fernanda will meet Juana and Oscar when she goes back to Mexico. They will have a lot in common, I know.

And here is Fernanda looking radiant and one of the two of us hugging (so blonde, so dark). But the best photo of all is of Eladio and Henry our cat, both taking a nap/siesta after a copious Easter lunch. That photo sums up the relaxing week we have had.

Tomorrow will be another day and back to my Doctor Honoris Causa to Mario Vargas Llosa project which actually takes place next week. So I will be rather busy from now until then. But the relaxing week has certainly done me a lot of good.

That’s all for the moment folks

Masha

Quiet Easter week

Hi again

Well here you have me at home. My new job is not that stressful; you see the University has closed down for the week. Well, I can't complain. So any work I have to do, I do from the quiet of my home.

The girls are away and at very different places. Oli has gone to Poland with her boyfriend José Luis. Funny place to go you would probably say but it's because they've gone to visit José's cousin who is on an Erasmus (University exchange programme) there. They went on Friday and will be back this Wednesday coming. A present from me to them was a stay at the Radisson Central Hotel in Warsaw for the first night where they told me they wallowed in luxury. Now they are down to student hostals and poor José has got sick on the heavy Polish food. Olivia just rang from Auschwitz - that's really something for her to see. She was describing the gas chambers on the phone! It all means so much to me because I was brought up on Second World War stories. And I think I've passed that on to her. Also I think the Ana Frank diary had a big impact on her.

Susi went to Benidorm with Carolina to stay with their "bestest" friend, Copito who has just gone to live there. Susi rang from the beach a couple of hours ago. It seems they are having a whale of a time with a lot of clubbing.

So that leaves us, "grown-ups" alone at home. So what have we done, apart from signing the contract for the new house? Not much really; boring things like taking the car to be serviced, getting quotes from removal companies, cleaning the silver, ... Oh, yes, well I did do some serious cooking this morning so that the family can be well provided for while I'm working. What did I make? Actually it was all Russian: "pelmeni" (Siberian ravioli), "Perushki" (small meat and rice pies) and "Bitki" (meat rissoles). I also made cheat Smetana out of yoghurt and natural cream as you cannot buy it here.

Also got a phone call from my dear friend Anne who told me that her ex, Manuel's new Mexican girlfriend, Paula, is pregnant. Very happy for them. Then I got a phone call from my darling Mexican friend, Fernanda Navarette who is also pregnant. I'll be having dinner with Fernandita this week as she will be moving back to Mexico forever. She says not to say "forever" but I know it is.

So, not much more news as we are spending a quiet Easter week at home.

Have a good holiday

Love Masha

We have a new house, finally!

Hello again

Well, yes, today we signed the contract for the new house. We have been very quick choosing it and in the end it wasn't one of our finalists. We went to see it last Sunday, just 2 days after having sold ours. It was amazing. We walked in and both Eladio and I knew right from entering the front door that this was the house we wanted to buy. It was the style, the decoration, the size that decided us. While we were there, we called the girls to come and have a look too and they fell in love with it too. There was no discussion, we all loved it, including my Father for whom there is a luxury apartment all for himself on the ground floor.

And after a bit of negotiating this week, we all met this morning to sign the contract. The latest completion date will be the 8th July but we all want that date to be as soon as possible.

The photos are very poor but give some idea. It is a modern house, measuring 600 m2 in grounds of over 2000m2. The doors are white lacquer, the floors wood and the walls painted in the latest fashion (pastel colours and white). I won't go into how many bedrooms with en suite bathrooms there are - quite scandalous - but suffice it to say they are all en suite.

So all we do is talk and plan house moving and just how happy we are with having finally found the house we really want. By the way it is just a few km from where we live now in another "Urbanización", this time called, "El Bosque" which means"The Woods". So I will be able to say we have a house in the woods.

Cheers again
Masha

Dinner with old friends + we finally got to meet Santi!

Hiya again

So we socialise during the week too. Yesterday night, Monday, we went to Julio's house to meet up with old friends, Juana and Oscar from my Nokia days who now live in Mexico city (The link to Juana's blog is on mine). We also got to see their baby, Santi, who I had heard so much about. Santi is 3 months old and weighs over 7kg!! Life has been good to them and they are looking very happy and well.

Julio's dinner was up to his usual high standards - most stuff came from the top Spanish caterers, Mallorca. Wonderful ham, uum!!! The dessert wasn't bad either, even though I say so myself, as I made it; good old English sherry trifle which we all ate heartily.

Here's a picture of Julio holding Santi and Juana cooing over him. Sorry neither Oscar, Fátima nor Eladio got their picture taken, but then Santi was supposed to be the star of the show.

All together a great evening.

Cheers/Masha

A busy weekend socialising and house hunting

Hello again

Well this weekend has been really busy. We had 2 social engagements on Saturday, a housewarming lunch at Ana and Tomy's and dinner with Eladio's brother and family. Isidro, Yoli, Alicia and Laura had come from León to send Ali (my God daughter) off to Paris for 2 weeks to stay with Sophie who is the daughter of a second cousin of mine also called Masha. Sophie had stayed with Alicia for Christmas.

On top of that we had to see some houses and possibly make an offer to those on our list of finalists. Of our top 5 only numbers 4 and 5 are now available, so we quickly arranged to see some more this weekend.

As things turned out, lunch at Ana and Tomy's was great (see the picture) but a bit rushed for us. Their new house in El Boalo is lovely and it was also nice to see the other Nokia friends, Jill and Paco, Zenaida and her dishy Finnish boyfriend Tapani, as well as Susana. The picture accompanying this post is of us all bursting after lunch. We also got a chance, finally to see the photos of Ana and Tomy's wedding and amazing honeymoon in Kenya. Beautiful!.

From there we went to makie an offer to our favourite house, the pink one but the negotiations turned sour unfortunately so we went home a bit sad.

Then we were off to dinner to Madrid with Eladio's family when we got a phone call from them at the airport to tell us Alicia had not been able to fly. The whole affair turned out to be a complete nightmare. Yoli, my sister-in-law had bought the ticket on internet and Ali, who is 14, was flying with a new low cost airline called "Vueling". They checked in ok, they saw her off, she passed 2 controls and then, just when she was getting on the plane they asked how old she was. She replied that she was 14 and they said that she could not get on the plane. All the arguing in the world got them nowhere, even though the police and aiport authorities were on their side. But Vueling would not budge. So they all went home to José Antonio's house in Madrid where we joined them for a very late dinner. Finally Yoli bought another ticket on internet, this time with Easyjet, for today, which, of course cost a fortune. But now Ali is on her way to Paris, on her first ever flight. Have a great time my love.

And today, well, today. Oh, dear, yes, we have seen our dream house. It is amazing and has more bathrooms than Imelda Marcos shoes. But will they accept our offer which is quite below their asking price??? Probably not. So, we shall carry on looking.

The nice thing about the house hunting was that there was no time for making lunch so my Father, Grandpa, kindly invited us to a slap up lunch at the club down the road which we all turned into a celebration for selling Río Tajo 5.

Let's see what this week will bring????

Cheers/Masha

Sold!

Hiya

Yes, it's true. We have finally sold our house. It happened very quickly, from one day to the other. We had 3 visits on Wednesday afternoon and these people were the third. They didn't look particularly intersted but then in the evening the agency rang with an offer from them which was below the asking price. We didn't accept it but then they rang the next day to come and see the house again, this time with their kids and the Grandmother. The visit was quick and again we thought they didn't really like it but they did because an hour after they left yesterday, the agency rang to say that they wanted the house and were prepared to pay the asking price. They also wanted to sign the contract today Friday to which, of course, we agreed. Amazingly we signed it this afternoon.

We now have 2 months to find and move into a new house. Unfortunately 2 of the houses on our finalists' list are now no longer viable. So we shall be revisiting the others and seeing a few more too.

The nicest part of the operation is removing the For Sale signs which Susi and I did this afternoon. And here are the pictures to prove it.

Cheers/Masha

Volver - "Coming Back"

On Saturday night we went to see Pedro Almodóvar’s latest film, Volver. I love Spanish films but somehow, I have always been a bit skeptical about him – until yesterday. Some of that maybe because I love the main actress, Penelope Cruz, but not all. The story, set in the area where he was brought up, Castilla la Mancha, is the story of three generations of women (remember Pedro Almódovar’s films nearly always have women as their main characters). It is a mixture of comedy and drama – amazing drama, including incest and murder and you never quite know whether to laugh or to cry. Penelope as Raimunda is the essence of joy but always on the point of tears. Such a strong and beautiful character. Also Carmen Maura who lets herself be portrayed as she really is, mid sixties, no makeup and looking old and unattractive. Quite different from the screen Carmen Maura we thought we knew.

This is an essentially Spanish film which hovers from the traditional Spanish villages of Almodóvar’s Castilla la Mancha, to the poorer outskirts of Madrid today and will not leave anyone untouched by its magic.

I am now going to add this to my list of favourite films ever.

Cheers/Masha

Fathers' Day Bank Holiday

Hello again

I had just started work again and one week later it was Bank Holiday. So I am writing from home in my pyjamas at nearly midday (but you are not getting that photo!). Well, we’ve had a very busy weekend with lots of socializing.

Susi went off to Benidorm with Carolina to see her best (childhood) friend Copito who has recently gone to live there. Actually 40% of Madrid’s population left the city for the bank holiday and most of them probably went to the coast. But they all went to bad weather as we have had rain ALL weekend. But that’s very much needed as Spain is in the throes of a very threatening drought.

Oli stayed behind to finish off a work project filming Madrid’s road works. We’ve hardly seen her all weekend.

My bank holiday started on Friday night with dinner with Marta (a very good friend - link to her blog is on mine) at the Vaca Argentina. As you may have guessed by now, it is one of my favourite restaurants. Marta and I met at Nokia and drank many morning coffees together there, so we had lots to talk about and catch up on. She gave me a beautiful ring she had made. Thanks darling. We must do this again.

On Saturday we had people for dinner: Eladio’s colleagues from his time in Local Education. We were 9 for dinner, Víctor and Mariluz, Juanjo and Justi, Roberto and Maricarmen, my Father and ourselves. As for all our dinner parties, I went all out in the preparations and spent from about 2.30 to 9 cooking and preparing. So what did I make: Cream of lobster soup (real ingredients and no cheating), a Tex-Mex second course consisting of fajitas with chili con carne, guacamole, nachos and sour cream. The desert was "la pièce de la resistance", English sherry trifle and here I did cheat with nearly everything but I don’t think anyone noticed except Eladio but I told him to keep quiet (I actually used stronger words but they wouldn’t go down well here on my blog would they?). They stayed till after 2 in the morning so the next day I was pretty much exhausted with a bit of a hangover as I had drunk too much wine as usual!! A big thank you here to my Father who did nearly all the washing up!!

Yesterday, San José, was Eladio’s beloved brother, José Antonio’s birthday and we were invited to their house for lunch. It’s always funny going to their house in Calle Francisco Silvela because we used to live there too and it’s like going down memory lane. But we really did go down memory lane yesterday as we went for a walk in the Retiro park first. The Retiro Park is Madrid’s Hyde Park or Central Park and is always full of people from everywhere, lots of side shows and is often called the Lung of Madrid. It was real memory lane because when we lived in Francisco Silvela (18 years ago!!!) we used to go every Sunday morning with the girls and so yesterday we had many memories to relive. We went purposely on the very same route, parking where we always used to park, past the kiosk where we used to buy them sweets, past the ducks we used to throw bread to, past the puppet theatre and then on to the same cafeteria we always used to have a coffee at. Lovely!

Today we are just relaxing with the newspapers. There will be no cooking, thank God but probably some ironing to catch up on (loads actually). A nice quiet day at home with the family.

And tomorrow, back to my exciting new project ……………

Cheers/Masha
PS the picture is of Eladio, myself and my Father at the Retiro.

Back to the world of work. Tired but happy!

Hiya again

Well we had a great time at the weekend by the beach. Great is relative really, cos, out of 3 days, 2 were spent packing, travelling and cleaning - yes cleaning because the flat had been more or less empty since August. However the day in between was lovely and the walks on the beach and dinner out more than compensated the rest.

So I came back on Sunday mentally refreshed and ready to return to the world of work as in the grindstone. I haven't worked since October, so I am quite out of practice. But actually it is not a grindstone at all. The UEM is very modern and is a typical English or American campus type University, set in lush lawns with lakes, bridges and beautiful surroundings. The big advantage is that it is so close to home. You are surrounded by the bustle of young people which is very uplifting. Also, the atmosphere is quite cultural and international with lots of things going on. The first day I came across an English book exchange bazaar with each book costing 1 euro!! Of course, I came home with at least 10 books.

Apart from people from marketing and communication, I've made friends with the coffee lady, Chus (very important contact), an American teacher called Wendy (in charge of the book bazaar) and Fatima's friend, Birgit Strotmann, a German lady who is head of Languages here and whose English is perfect (nice to have a friend to have coffee with).

The only person I haven't seen here yet is my daughter Olivia who studies at the UEM and is in the same building as me. I don't think she wants to see me either as she finds the whole situation a bit embarrassing.

As to my first task, setting in motion the Doctor Honoris Causa event, it's working out a lot lot easier than I thought. The most attractive thing about it is the novelty; doing something I've never done before. So, yes, after 4 days, the balance is tired, but happy with life.

More news next week .......

Cheers/Masha

New project and off to the seaside

Hello my friends

I have a small piece of good news to share with you which I'm sure you will be happy to hear. From next Monday until the end of June I will be working freelance for the Universidad Europea de Madrid on various communications projects, the main one being the Doctor Honoris Causa for Mario Vargas Llosa at the end of April. A big plus here is that the University is just a 5 or 10 minute drive from home.

So as I know I am going to be incredibly busy from now on, we've decided to go to our flat at the seaside tomorrow in Santa Pola (Alicante). I've looked up the weather forecast and it will be sunny with temperatures of 20º all weekend. I just can't wait for our first walk on the beach and the sea breeze in our faces, not to mention a lovely rice dish at our favourite restauant near Elche (arroz a banda - much better than Paella I can tell you!).

Love/Masha
The photos are of the view from our terrace.

The first signs of Spring

Hello again

Now the snow has gone and the temperatures are climbing it seems Spring may be on its way. Actually there are less than 3 weeks to go.

When I saw this new row of purple crocuses this morning in the garden I couldn't help taking a shot for my blog.

So for all of you out there suffering the cold (except Juana and Oscar in sunny Mexico City), these flowers should cheer you up. They certainly did me.

Love/Masha

Playing Cupid

Hiya again,

Last night we went to an Indian restaurant in Madrid (The Ganges) with some friends. The hidden agenda was that we were playing cupid for a very good friend of mine. An attractive single man was invited but he didn't know he was on a blind date! What fun!

So how did it work out? Difficult to tell really. I know "she" liked "him" who is gorgeous looking and very eligible but I have no idea what he thought. The unlucky thing was the seating as they ended up at opposite ends of the table!! I shall obviously have to practice at being a better cupid.

On the bright side though, we have all agreed to go out again, this time to the theatre.

The picture is of me just before we left home. I think I have that "I'm cooking something look".

Cheers/Masha
PS Sorry no names

New look

Hiya again

So today we went to the hairdressers, Susi, Oli and me. It was time for tending to my dark roots (oh age, what a terrible thing!) and the girls needed highlights and a new cut.

We went separately as I had an appointment at the clinic (routine stuff) and they had a lunch date. So we only saw eachother after lunch. My new look was not very new, just got rid of some of the layers and back to my previous look (someone once said like Nancy Reagan who apparently never changed her hairstyle in 40 years!! ugh!). Oli's did change though; lighter highlights and a FRINGE!! She looks great. Then Oli said, "be prepared for Susi" and I thought "Oh my God, what has she done, turned it orange or what?". I was prepared for the worst (could it be worse than the cockerel style she had for Amanda's wedding?) and actually it wasn't that bad: short and all over the place. Oli told me she'd asked the hairdresser to do somehing "crazy".

For you to get a better idea, here we are, the 3 of us sitting on Oli's bed posing for the camara and for my blog.

Cheers/Masha

Dinner at Bice

Hiya again

Last night we went out for a family dinner to Bice in Madrid (as commented in my post about the snow). Lovely dinner and nice to do something different on a Sunday. The building is beautiful and the restaurant surrounds a lovely old fashioned Spanish patio. Funniest part of the night was finding the right entrance to the car park after dinner. It was 0ºC, but thanks to the lovely Rueda white wine we hardly felt the cold. When we finally found the car park it took some time to find the car and the girls and I practiced our silly walks, including the Basil walk from Fawlty Towers and our laughs were echoed all around the car park. All in all a fun evening.

Above are some pics of the night for the record.

Cheers/Masha

http://www.elmundo.es/metropoli/restaurantes/fichas/bd/1469_ficha.html
www.clubvips.com
Calle Génova, 19. Madrid.
Teléfono 91 319 40 29/ 10 78

Snow on a Sunday in Madrid

Hello again

There has been snow all over Spain, quite bad weather and many new warnings of snow, even here in Madrid. However, snow is so unusual here and it hardly every settles, that I didn't take much notice of the weather forecasts. Eladio with his sixth sense for weather in general (he comes from a northern mountainous region in Spain) said last night, just as we were getting into bed: "there's going to be a heavy snowfall tonight".

And, lo and behold, this morning at about 5 a.m, when we were worrying that Susana still wasn't home, he looked outside and announced to me that there was a heavy snowfall. Poor Susi finally arrived home a bit later. She had no chains in the car and had driven home in 2nd gear.

When we finally got up this morning, the snow was still there, so Eladio went outside with his boots and took these photos.

Luckily today is Sunday so there will be no chaos on the road for people going to work or school.

I must admit it looks beautiful, specially with the contrast of the sun. It will melt pretty soon though, but while it lasts it's lovely and reminds us all of our childhoods. In this house, however, only the cat Henry has been out playing in the snow and that's a sight in itself to see.

Today will be a nice quiet day at home with the newspapers and my wonderful book Memoirs of a Geisha. The day however, beholds something nice to look forward to. We are all going out to dinner tonight, yes the 5 of us. The reason? Nothing special, just to enjoy life and do things together. My father is tickled pink about it, so good for him. We are going to Bice a lovely Italian joint operated under the Vips Group. The trick? I have an invitation because I am a platinum member which is a perk from my PR profession.

Cheers/Masha

What's up this week?

After my birthday celebrations and St. Valentine's day, life has been quite quiet. My 3 projects are ticking along but not one is yet completely fulfilled; so, they keep me occupied.

Went to the cinema on Saturday with Eladio and Oli to see Memoirs of a Geisha which I absolutely adored and would thoroughly recommend. Eladio hated it but then I think it's more a woman's film. I want to buy the book now.

This week will be quiet. Wednesday I have an interview (first round), Thursday I will be seeing Mamen and Friday I will be going to the doctors (just routine ladies' stuff). In between time I will be cooking, washing, ironing, reading the newspapers with the men in my house and going for our brisk walk every afternoon.

Hope yours is more fun.

Cheers/Masha

St. Valentines day is on the 14th Feb isn't it?

Valentines day was different this year. Truth to tell, neither Eladio nor I have ever paid much attention to it but now that the girls are old enough and seem to celebrate it quite a lot I gave it a bit more thought this year. We only ever been out to dinner once and we have never exchanged cards. But this year, what with having more time on my hands, I thought I'd change that.

In order for Eladio to be on the same wave length I told Susana to discreetly let him know that I was preparing somthing big. Apparently that got him worried. My "something big" was just going to be reserving a table somewhere as a surprise, not much more.

Time went by and then on Saturday morning (11th Feb!!!) I went up to our room after breakfast and found an envelope on my pillow. I sort of hoped it would be tickets to some exotic location but no, it was the first St. Valentine's card EVER from Eladio and it was dated 11th Feb. The word to describe my reaction was "flabbergasted". I couldn't quite understand. I didn't know whether to be touched or cross so I ended up laughing. Eladio felt humiliated and asked me not to tell too many people!! So what am I doing? Telling you all of course. It's far too funny to keep to myself. When I told my friend Anne-Marjut, she said "but Masha, everyone knows St.Valentine's is on the 14th February". Well, apparently that is not true.

So the night before came and I realised I hadn't got him a card. What was I to do? So I started being creative and getting out old birthday cards to me from my Father and covering the writing with a picture of me. Olivia told me my efforts were pathetic and very opportunely came out with a lovely flowery every occasion type card she had stored in one of her drawers.

Then the big day came and when I told Eladio I was taking him somewhere as a surprise he either didn't listen or didn't hear me. So it was a real surprise when I told him to start getting dressed to go out at 8.30. But he took it very well. The annoying thing was that he wasn't one bit interested where I was taking him. It's quite pointless being creative or trying to surprise him; you get little reaction. However we really enjoyed the dinner, as you can see from the pictures. Where did we go? To a lovely rice joint called La Albufera and we had something we adore called "arroz abanda" (actually brought more than half of it home in a doggy bag!!).

Susi was the lucky lady in our house last night. Her boyfriend arrived with a huge bunch of red roses. He had also rung me to ask me to prepare here a small overnight bag. So, he had arranged to take her to a plush hotel (which inclued champagne upon arrival) Would you believe it?

Oli was the less lucky one: no card, no flowers, no reserved table. However her boyfriend did send a text message to say he loved her everyday and not just on St. Valentines. They headed out to a favourite restaurant nearby only to find it was full, so they had to find somewhere else which turned out not to be that good. She was the first one home.

I have told Eladio to take note of Susi's boyfriend, Gaby and that I WANT FLOWERS NEXT YEAR!!!.

Hope you all had a good one my dear girlfriends.

Cheers/Masha

A family gathering and the last of the birthday celebrations

Hiya again

Today, Sunday 10th February, Eladio's brother, José Antonio, and family came to lunch. The gathering was quite important for us all. We were not just going to celebrate Juan's birthday and mine but we were welcoming Sarita (guapa) who we had not seen since July as she is on a scholarship in China. She has come home for a month's holiday (the Chinese New Year) and will be going back to Peking next Sunday and we won't see her again until July. Dear Miguel was the only member of the family missing as he is living and working in London.

We had a copious lunch: a real British roast beef with Yorkshire pudding, finished with a home made birthday cake covered in m&ms. We spent the afternoon chatting, drinking tea and getting up to date on all our activities. The day finished off with a long walk all 9 of us - the same route we take every afternoon, Eladio, my Father and I. It's a brisk walk off the road and across fields near our house where you sometimes see rabbits and other fauna. The sun was just coming down and the full moon coming out and the temperature was just good enough to walk without a coat and that's something at 7 p.m. in February.

Here's a picture of us all today around the table. In order from me to the right: Olivia, Sarita (guapa), Susi, Juan, my Father, José Antonio and Dolores. Eladio took the picutre, as usual.

That's all for the moment folks!

Love/Masha

The birthday party (The Nokia Connection)

Hiya again

Yesterday we celebrated my now annual birthday dinner party. There were some new faces: Jill, Paco and Paola, Manuel's new girlfriend and Gaby, Susi's new boyfriend. Despite their GPS Jill and Paco got quite lost getting to our house but that's not unusual as we do live a bit out in the sticks. Another new face, of course, was my Father - this was the first time he has been with me on my birthday since 1981, so quite something to have him here. He's also a great help in the kitchen, I must say.

Missing this year were my beloved nephew Miguel, my dear friend Anne, our Turkish delight(ful) friend Burk, my beautiful and exotic Mexican friend Fernanda and Julio, of course. With us again and faithful as always were Ana and Tomy (recently married), Carmencita and Muppy, Fátima and Manuel. Only one guest couldn't make it and that was darling Rafa, my photographer friend.

Apart from my family, most of the guests have one thing in common and that's the Nokia connection as I got to know them all one way or another through working at Nokia. So that's something I can be grateful to Nokia for. The slogan "Connecting People" is just so true - there are other internal ones such as "Disconnecting Families" but that, thankfully, never happened to me, and "Reuniting Colleagues". That's the one I like.

Thank you all for coming, we so enjoyed having you. I certainly drank a bit too much and had a rotten head most of the night but it was well worth it.

As pictures say so much more than words; here are some snapshots of the evening taken by Susana with her new camera (problems with the red eyes, I'm afraid). I had to include one of the food because this year I went all out and was cooking most of the week and thought you might want to see my creations, labels and all.

And another celebration tomorrow. Eladio says my birthdays are like Indian weddings that last for days. He's right but then again I love partying, celebrations and having guests so my own birthday is a great excuse for going all out and indulging my pleasure.

Cheers/Masha

Photos from top to bottom: 1) The food. 2)The group (in pink and anti clockwise: Jill, Paco, Eladio, Tomy, Manuel, Paola, a bit of my Father and Ana). 3) Jill and Paco 4). The girls, left to right: Muppy, me, Carmen, Olivia and Fátima).

My latest bits of news and activities and, by the way, today is my Birthday.

Hello again.

I just realised that my last post disappeared from my blog. It was about all my bits and pieces of news since after Christmas and going to Rome. Difficult to repeat but here it is with some updates.

Mostly I wanted you to see that things were going well on the social scene and that I was doing lots of going out and inviting people home. Today is my birthday so that's the beginning of 3 days of party activities. Tomorrow Julio and Fátima are inviting me out to lunch and on Friday 10th February I am organising a dinner party at home for 17 people!!! I will be cooking.

On Sunday our beloved family from Francisco Silvela will be coming for lunch- that's Eladio's brother's family, José Antonio, his wife Dolores, his son Juan and his daughter Sara (back from China). Miguel, the other son and my beloved nephew lives in London so can't make it. It's also Juan's birthday today so we shall have lots to celebrate on Sunday. What are we having for lunch? Good old English roast beef, yorkshire pudding and the works!.

Then on the 13th a dear friend Anne Marjut (actually Anne's friend too) who works for Ago, the people who make Nokia's promotional stuff, will be inviting me to lunch. The socialising should come to a stop on Tuesday 14th when I have a surprise invitation for Eladio for St. Valentine's day.

All this eating you will say and what about your diet? Well, yes, I have some small good news: I have now lost 10kg!!! The trick: not eating dinner.

On the job scene, there are 2 doors open at the moment. One is with a Spanish software company where I would be in charge of the PR in 51 countries - too much travelling I imagine - and the other is with a private Spanish University 5 mins from this house. They probably don't pay very well but the low stress factor could be a huge plus. I won't say much more for the moment cos both might well fall through.

On the house scene, many many visits in January and now in February and even a couple of offers (below the asking price unfortunately) but the house is still for sale. However the market seems to be moving.

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention. We have a new member of the family: Susana has a rabbit called Ruby. Her boyfriend Gaby brought it. Susi has bought it a huge cage, nearly the size of her bedroom for Ruby to be happy and there it is chomping hay and lettuce.

My father is very well settled now and is even planning his new trip at the end of March. He wanted to go to Copenhagen but we might have to wait and see what happens with the cartoon issue. He even spoke about 3 trips this year and he is contemplating Rome, Lucerne and Vienna. So where did I get my itchy feet from? But will I be planning such trips when I am 87?? I wonder.

Well today should be fun. I've been told not to cook any lunch and in my birthday card it said: for a very very special birthday. Does that mean there is a surprise? I wonder what it is? Well, you will find out in my next post.

Cheers and love to you all/Masha

PS if you are wondering how old I am, the only clue you will get is that I am still in my 40s!!!

Rome was great but very cold.

Hiya

Yeah Rome was terrific, despite the freezing temperatures. So, of course we all caught colds. But, well, Rome was worth it, definitely worth it. The best thing about going in January (nobody else went, of course) was that there were no queues, noone on the Spanish steps, but then noone to contemplate from the Pincio.

Being with Eladio with his eclesiastical and classical background was better than any guide: he knows all the Popes, all the Emperors and their order in history and the greatest plus of all is his knowledge of mythology - a great help when it comes to admiring the statues.

What did I like best, apart from the pasta, the pizzas and the wonderful latte coffee? Definitely the Vatican; the Sixtine Chapel. But what really made me choke with emotion was the "Pietat" by Michaelangelo in St. Peter's Church.

No trip is without its hitches and my hitch was losing my vanity case on the way out (an attractive red Samsonite one with loads of expensive cosmetics). One of us left it at the airport. What gave me faith in the Italians was the miracle in getting it back at the lost and found office the day we went back. Who would have believed that?

A big thanks to my friends Marta, Julio and Fátima for all their advice, suggestions and recommendations. I had prepared a very comprehensive programme but without some of their help our trip would not have been such a success. The best tips came from Julio on pre reserved guided visits to the Vatican museums and pre reservation of tickets to the Galeria Borghese.

Cheers/Masha

PICTURES: To prove how empty and cold Rome was, see the picture of me in St. Peter's Square.

See also how romantic our trip was - Mari Carmen and I with roses (I made Eladio buy them from a poor Bangladeshi man) at the Fontana di Trevi.

A great moment for Eladio was seeing the statue of Giordano Bruno, the heretic at the Piazza Campo d'Fiori.

A moment of relax - Roberto and the hat he had just bought, again at Piazza Campo d'Fiori.

So we went to the theatre

Hello again.

On Friday we were invited by friends of ours (Pedro Delgado and Ludy Blanco) to the theatre. We went to see the most famous Spanish operetta (Zarzuela) called La Verbena de la Paloma, by Tomás Bretón. We hadn't been to the theatre for many years and this was to the beautiful "Teatro de la Zarzuela". The house was full and we were lucky to have a box to ourselves. It was a real change in our routine and we have decided we shall be more theatre minded and go again soon.

This work is set in the Madrid of the 19th century and is a mixture of love, comedy and wonderful music.

Afterwards we went to dinner at the Cenador del Prado nearby. All in all a lovely evening. Now we've got Rome to look forward to - Yes, we are off tomorrow.

Cheers everyone/Masha

(History of the Zarzuela: In 1657 at the Royal Palace of El Pardo, King Philip IV of Spain, Queen Mariana and their court attended the first performance of a new comedy by Pedro Calderón de la Barca, with music by Juan de Hidalgo. El Laurel de Apolo traditionally symbolises the birth of a new musical genre which had become known as La Zarzuela - after one of the King's hunting lodges, situated in a remote countryside thick with zarzas or brambles)
http://www.zarzuela.net/

Family outing to El Pardo

Today we drove to El Pardo, a town 7km from Madrid to see the Palace. It was the first time since my Father has been here that we have been out together as a family - all 5 of us. The sun shined brightly against the snow on the mountains which was a lovely setting for our visit.

The Palacio de El Pardo is really the old hunting palace of the Kings and Queens of Spain. Today it is also where most state visits are accommodated - quite luxurious I must say.

However its greatest fame is having been the home of Francisco Franco, the ex dictator of Spain from 1940 until his death in 1975. The family apartment within the palace is now a museum and has been untouched since his death. Very revealing were his bedroom (twin beds in quite a small room and a place for praying) and the bathroom refurbished in 1973, not to mention his study where he must have signed all the famous death sentences!!

After the nearly 2 hour guided tour, we walked out into the small town in search of somewhere to have lunch. Funnily enough we ate at a restaurant, "El gamo" where Eladio and I had been at least 15 years ago.

Pictures to illustrate this post are of the girls, my Father and me outside the palace (Oli first left, Grandpa, Susi and me) and Eladio and I in a good close up. The camera was good to us and we both look years younger - probably thanks to the sun glasses.

Great day all in all. We must plan more.
Cheers/Masha

A Roman Holiday in January

Well, I'm not exactly Audrey Hepburn (nor a Princess) and Eladio is not Gregory Peck but we are still going to enjoy a short holiday in Rome.

Yes, Rome. Many of my girlfriends know this is the one destination I don't know in Europe and that I have always wanted to visit. So, yes, we are going to Rome on the 22nd Jan for 6 days with our friends Mari Carmen Vinuesa and Roberto. One of the advantages of being out of work is that you can plan a holiday or break whenever you want.

I'm not surprised Iberia is laying off staff and that travel agencies around the globe are shutting down and this is because people rely more and more on Internet to purchase their trips.

Many thanks here to www.edreams.es for the cheap flight and to www.booking.com for the reservation of a 4 star hotel at a bargain price. And all from the comfort of my own home.

Rome, here we come.

All the best/Masha

The last day of Christmas

Yesterday was the last day of Christmas, "Reyes" or Epiphany. It went off with a bang, although the Kings didn't bring anything to our house this year. I think it's because they are a bit cross with their competition, Father Christmas.

We started off the day with a lovely breakfast, including toasted "roscón" in the dining room.

Then José Antonio (Eladio's next brother down - another philosopher, God help us - and his closest perhaps) and his son, Juan (Eladio's Godson) came to join us for dinner as this year they were alone. Miguel, my nephew, had gone back to his job in London and Dolores, his mother had g0ne with him for the Sales (oh no, not Harrods, but more likely the charity shops she has a great penchant for). And, of course, Sarita (guapa) is in China.

We used up the last of the crackers and actually had a very English roast meal (I love multi culture!!). Here's a picture of Juan and José Antonio wearing the cracker crowns.

Today Eladio took down the tree and all the Christmas decorations which is very sad indeed.

So Christmas is over and now we all have to recover from the overeating (oh dear (oh shit actually), it's now time to diet again seriously and to concentrate on my 3 projects (losing weight, finding a job and selling this house).

Hope you all had a great one; we certainly did.

Lots of love/Masha

Happy New Year everyone.

And so, once again, our family got together with Eladio's family to celebrate the New Year in León in the Asador de Amancio. This year we were 27 people, with only 2 or 3 members missing, notably Sarita (guapa) who is studying in China, many miles away - Happy New Year sweetie.

As usual the table was divided into 2 generations: the grandchildren (ages ranging from 34 to 14 -Roberto to Alicia!) and the "children" (ages ranging from 60 to 40) plus the Grandmother, Ernestina and my Father, Courtenay. One person was very much missed this year, Antonio, Eladio's Father who died in May. God bless his soul.

And I wish us all a great New Year. I hope, at least, that this year will be an improvement on last year.

All the very best/Masha

So you can see what a good time we had, here are some pics:

Left to right: (Miguel (my beloved nephew who lives in London and works for the Morgan Stanley bank and will go far in life) with my daughter Susi chatting at the dinner.

Right: Paula, Oli, Laura, Alicia (my beloved God daughter) and Sophie (a cousin of mine from Paris staying with Alicia in León on a cultural exchange).

Centre: Myself, my Father (thoroughly enjoying himself - notice the pink cheeks!) and Eladio.

Bottom left: The girls in masks very appropriate for the occasion.

Christmas highlights at Río Tajo, 5. Dec 05

Long time no write - I'm getting lazy but shouldn't so here's an update on activities here at Río Tajo this Christmas tide. Being out of work gave me lots of time for preparations and this year there was even a countdown master plan with elaborate menus (Christmas is all about eating, blast it) and secret present lists.

Quite a lot of wining and dining took place which included 2 now traditional meals - dinner with Mar and Mariano (my and our La Vanguardia journo neighbours). This year's dinner took place at our house and was the most exciting one yet as Mar and Mariano have just adopted Sam a 3 year old Chinese boy who is delightfully affectionate. He was a real plus to the dinner. Since then Mariano has been successfully operated after a cancer scare. We love them so much.

The next celebration meal on the agenda was with Julio and Fátima (my best pals). We all ate so much Julio needed a siesta afterwards. As is typical with Fati, she was only an hour late and, of course, no apologies on arrival!!! We ate the great fillet steak we had bought at a trip to Mercamadrid at the beginning of December.

In Spain the most important event is the Christmas Eve dinner but more about that later (and some pics) as we are off to the cinema to see Luther - people go to see the Narnia Chronicles and King Kong, etc but when you have a philosopher for a husband and a daughter (Olivia) immersed in journalist studies, you go to see more cultural things. Last time I studied Luther I was about 12 so I won't remember much. Well I'm back now (film was actually quite good) so I will continue where I left off:

Yes, Christmas Eve. It will probably have been our last Christmas Eve dinner here at Río Tajo. A very quiet and lovely dinner as usual; this year all prepared by me and not our household help cum cook Ana who made last year's dinner. Anyway my perushki (Russian pasties) are better than hers!!! This year just the family, no lonely strays like darling Berk Saglik a Turkish guest we had last year.

Christmas Day was purely English and as traditional as always - only change being we had capon instead of turkey; otherwise NO concessions. The day starts with the girls (now aged 20 and 21) finding Father Christmas' stockings in their rooms and we all go ooh and aah at everything they find. Then breakfast in the dining room with the best tea set. Once everything is put away and we are washed and dressed the opening of the presents starts. We go for volume in our house rather than quality, so we are often opening presents for nearly 2 hours - one at a time, of course, all "washed down" by a nice box of Cadbury chocolates.

The rest of the day consists of making the Turkey (or capon) lunch with all the trimmings (thanks again Anne for the sage and onion stuffing, etc), eating it, clearing away and then having a Spanish siesta for about 2 hours. There is NO dinner in the evening and the left overs get eaten on Boxing Day. The day finishes off with a family film we all watch together (with bloody chocolates again). This year it was the Choir Boys; lovely!!

Another highlight is and was dinner at Julio's. Julio is one and we are 6: Eladio, Masha, Susi, Oli, my Father and Oli's boyfriend José Luis. The rule is that the girls can only bring their boyfriends if they have been going out with them for more than a year and a half and, of course, that is never Susana's case. Fati also came this year so in the end we were 8 in Julio's delightful bacherlor flat. As usual the food was out of this world - most of it came from a very good catering group called Mallorca. Here we also exchange presents, each one with oohs and ahhs, too and this year Julio taught us all a game, the objective of which was to make us all drunk. Certainly a night to remember.

Well, Christmas isn't over. There is still New Year's Eve to come and that is always quite fun in our family. Tomorrow, as always we will travel up to León in the north of Spain to spend the evening with Eladio's family. With all his brothers and sisters, their offsprings and boyfriends and girlfriends there will be about 30 of us. The only sad note will be the absence of Eladio's father who passed away in May.

And after New Year's Eve comes "Reyes" or the Feast of the Three Kings on the 6th January. That is when Spaniards traditionally gave and still give their presents. As we love celebrations in this family, we will certainly be celebrating that too.

But meanwhile here are some photos to illustrate this post:

Top left Julio, Fátima and me at Julio's dinner

Top right: My Father, Susi, José Luis + Oli at Julio's dinner

2nd row left: My Father, Susi and me on Christmas Eve

2nd row right: Eladio and his girls on Christmas Eve

centre 1: Susi showing the thongs she got on Xmas morning.

centre 2: Eladio and I on Christmas Eve

Last photo: dear Sam stroking Henry our cat.

All in all a very nice Christmas time.

Cheers to you all/Masha

Christmas is coming and the goose is getting fat

Hello again

I haven't written for a long time - not much to post really is probably the reason. Also my 3 main projects are proving difficult: 1) lose weight fast (have lost 6 kgs but have not budged for a month despite HUGE sacrifices and now Christmas is coming - HELP!!!- CHANGE AND CORRECTION HERE: today Monday 19th I have lost 2 kg more, all in all 8kg!!!), 2) find a new job (not doing well on that scene either - also had a bit of a blow over one particular position - won't go in to that though because it's all a bit depressing) and 3) sell this house fast so as to buy the new dream house (see my last post) or the Argentinian one. There hasn't been much light so far but there may be positive movements soon so stay clued to this blog and I will let you know.

So, all in all a bit depressing. But, Christmas is coming and I love Christmas so refusing to go under being my main objective in this new period in my life, here I am with one week to go and practically no shopping done. But don't despair, all is planned and everything will be alright on the day, as happens every year. The first bout of shopping happens tomorrow when Susana (my oldest daughter) and I hit the shops at 10 am with the big spenders, my husband and my father - ready to spend money on the presents we tell them to buy. The second and hopefully last bout will be on Thursday when Olivia (my second daughter) and I will hit the shops for the rest of the presents.

To prove Christmas has arrived at Calle Río Tajo, 5 here is a photo of Eladio next to the tree we put up on Friday last.

So a Happy Christmas to you all and a great year ahead too for all of us.

Love Masha

PS Thanks Jill for the tip about getting Christmas crackers at Taste of America. They have them and tomorrow I'm picking up 4 boxes!!
PPS Thanks Anne for bringing me the needed English Christmas goodies without which our Christmas tables would not have been the same: cranberry sauce, Paxo sage and onion stuffing and Christmas crackers
PPPS Thanks darling Miguel for bringing me the nearly forgotten Christmas pudding from Waitrose.