Sunday, October 28, 2007

Bugsville, Spain



Soon to be a view of the past

Sadly the wildlife outside in the garden doesn't just rear its ugly head in spring. Today I killed a small scorpion by the rubbish bin. I didn't enjoy it but I decided that I wasn't up for a reunion inside the house. Shortly afterwards I came face to face with my first, and rather large (5 cms or so) red palm beetle, weevil, mite or whatever, clinging to one of my new curtains. It was a soul-destroying moment. The Artist claimed he had seen one two weeks ago in the garden but I hoped against hope that he was mistaken. However when a neighbour told me she had found one floating in her pool, I resigned myself to the fact that I am going to lose my palm trees. Today this new sighting has confirmed my fears. The whole of the coast and inland is suffering a real plague of these destructive little b**gers as they suck the life out of palm trees before moving on to fresh pastures. So, here in their honour, before they start to lose their wonderful fronds, are two of my three palm trees.
The culprit

Monday, October 22, 2007

Awesome view from hilltop hotel


QUITE a breathtaking view and so was the road to get here, just above the village of Tolox, with sheer drops on one side and deep ditches on the other. Incredibly on the horizon we could see a darker blue patch and the more we squinted our eyes, the more convinced we were that it was the sea - some 50 kilometres away. It has been a magical day, full of shared memories and experiences to put away in our treasure box and bring out to relive again in the future. Getting away from all the drudge and responsibilities was energising. We've decided that we need to take to the road more often.  Click on the photo to make it bigger if you want to enjoy the view.

The Artist recharges his batteries


How relaxing green is. Looking across the mountainside at the pine forest we could see the afternoon sun searing through gaps in the foliage to touch the ground. Grey green mixed with yellow green, blue green, dark green, light green, green turning orange - sunlight turning one tree several different greens, shady green, shadowy green, bright sunlight green. From a distance they all make up one green mass but like everything, when you look closer, the subtle differences come forward and become obvious. Like everything in life, it just depends on your point of view.