Marakech Express

It's going well. I'm glad to hear the sun is out at home.  We've had some rain too.  In fact, Don had been saying that we've  had rain every day on our holiday. - until today.  In fact, we're still on the bus trip with Len and Carol. We're in Marakech.  Snowy mountains to one side and the Saharah desert to the south.  It's warm, but not too hot. It is a beautiful city, gardens everywhere, every kind of tree and flower. The market place is a huge wide town square, crowded especially at night, straight out of central casting:-

  Monkeys,

  Snake charmers,

  Market food tables to sit and eat the food that the hawkers cook,

  Horses and elegant carriages - we had a grand ride!

  Of course, there's stuff for sale!

The last supper in Còrdoba

Shame we didn't have to many egg dishes in Spain.   There were too many interesting things on the menu vieing for our attention. The last night's dinner was a knockout. We selected various dishes to share. Pigs' cheeks slooooow cooked served with chick peas and grilled lettuce hearts in a rich gravy, Rosemary's favourite, Carol loved the deep fried aubergine  drizzled with cane sugar,and me? I could LIVE on the venison and rice, served in a soupy rice, dotted with meat and lovely mushrooms. Simple, rich and delicious.   I didn't  really even need the meat, the flavour of the soup was great.

Rosie ordered a cod fish and orange salad. Very attractive and good to eat. The plate had small bite-sized of cod around the outside and large slices of orange scattered amongst the greens.

 here was a wedding in an adjoining room.  It was pumping out a bit of noise.  Then I guess it was speech time at the wedding. And that loud music stopped.

There was a "parade passed us of older guests who were leaving.  Happy to escape the noise. 

Really terrific, fun service.  Tony, a stand-up comedian, and our waiter says yes, he will cone to Australia and open a Spanish restaurant and teach people about good Spanish food. I cant wait

Còrdoba morning ramble

Off to the Patios, first thing.. rugged up against the weather, nobody in the streets, which were previously crowded the night before. Whoops, have we been ripped off with these tickets. We finally found the first one, the door was ajar, but no signs of life. Then we found an open patio and the man says the orhers we saw hey are private homes, so you must knock. The patios are not small but are FULL of plants, up to the sky. They look especially charming against the white walls. It is all a blur, we have seen so many. However, what stands out are the walls that are almost completely covered. Those with a set of stairs, those with a verandah, like a little top storey. Secondly, the wide variety and habit of the plants. There are mostly geraniums, petunias but there are many different colours, textures and sizes. The two-toned geraniums look like velvet Some have big flouncy petals like petunias. Some tumble in huge cascades from above, their flowers pointing downwards. There's l9vely hard landscape features, too. Tiny kitchens, just off the patio, wells, complete with bucket and rope. A bamboo pole with a tin attached for watering the high potplants. Lovely old photos. The crowds building like crazy. Then a coffee break, off to the Mesquita for midday mass with Don. In the middle door, full security. "Ir A misa?" Security stopping people with cameras. Scanning continuously, conscientiously. Found the last available seat in the main body. Twolarger seating areas either side with a wide screen TV. Plenty of time to spare before the start.to take in the scenery and the vibe. There was a row with four men, funny. Choir was out the back in the enclosure, where there was a bit of action, Then start with a big procession from the side. Twelve adult altar servers, 4 con-celebrants, including the archbishop, maybe a cardinal, not sure, . He didn't seem important enough,

Habit of the week, from Portugal

Attend to your neck tube

Imagine that some part of your neck can be represented by a tube.  You may choose your windpipe, or your oesophagus or your spinal cord.  Picture it as a piece of flexible tubing, like an exercise cord.  Imagine holding a piece of tubing at the top, and let it drape downwards. Relax and lengthen your real neck and, of course, drop your shoulders, too.

Now picture the tube stretching forward.  This represents the "head forward" posture, and thus putting a kink or bend in your imaginary tube.  This represents the posture when we tilt our chin upwards to lift our head..  No you don't.  Try not to shorten the back of your neck.

This week's habit, lengthen your own neck (tube).  It is a handy cue to better posture, therefore less neck pain.  So it keeps you looking younger, slimmer  and and smarter.

Dreambook Surprise

We thinking about how to bring more art into our home,  we have been so inspired by our holiday.
So I remembered one of my favourite images was in my Dreambook,  it was a photo of a young man  running towards the surf with a surfboard under his arm, che gioia.  Pure joy,!
I dug out the dreambook which i had been working on in early 2000's to show Don and there right below "surfie boy"  was a picture of our current  house. Well almost.

More than a decade ago I had been regularly attending Robin Loan's dreambook sessions, where we sit around and clip images from magazines. We would chat and just going for the images that grab us.  No rationale or agenda, no over-thinking. We would stick the images into our dreambook,  at the end of the session we scan back over those images and try to say what they mean in just a few words.  It is really intersting, fun and honest what comes out.  I was amazed at what common threads the group would have. Like magic.

The dreambook contains our unconscious dreams........ maybe.?

Imagine my surprise to see my current house in the 16 year old dreambook.  We weren't even contemplating moving to the country back then.  We were both deeply involved in the city and our city jobs.

I'm pinching myself.

Is this happening?
I'm sitting on the terrazzo of our BnB.  We were chatting with our hosts down below, one level down.  We told them about our lovely day - a boat trip, cruising around the islands.  Meanwhile they were harvesting their persimmons, in italiano, khaki. Just the way I like them, really ripe, like jelly.
They brought a plateful, "per la signora" that would be me.

Dal balcone, Stromboli, khaki, e Martini Rosso

Breakfast around here

The suggested breakfast here in Milazzo,  in Sicily,  is granita with a brioche.