Life Just Gets Better

Hello everyone from sunny Spain

Here goes with the latest update on our life in Spain so far.

Graham has started doing one day a week as a volunteer for a local cancer charity MABS, he is working in one of their shops in Totana, he is mainly on the door as security but I think he is doing more colour co-ordinating on the clothes rails !!!! My big concern is putting Graham in a shop.....I am sure his lunch money is going to get spent on some "bargain" ....

Mum and Dad arrive on Wednesday which I am so excited about and we have been busy doing the last minute bits and pieces to the house and getting the downstairs guest room ready...towels match, bedding washed and ironed...yes we have eventually bought an ironing board after 2 months of not ironing anything....but in our defense we have only been wearing shorts as it has been so incredibly hot..it hit 49 degrees last Friday at 4.30 in the afternoon. Mum says she is only coming to give us a hug, but I know she will still be checking the oven is all clean and the fridge in order etc.....we have got some trips lined up to take them out and about and get to see a bit of the local area etc.

We have made friends with 2 great guys Mike and Gareth, they came round for a Tapas evening Saturday night, I used them as Guinea Pigs to test food ready for when mum and dad come, they said they enjoyed it all, Gareth got carried away and wanted to score each dish out of 10....felt like I was on "come dine with me ". They very kindly took us to a lovely local Market the other Sunday morning and then came back here for coffee.....which turned into a gin & tonic at 12 o clock...and carried on until 530 that afternoon...ouch my head the next day.
Gareth and Mike also very kindly invited us round for a full Sunday roast...it was delicious, roast pork, potatoes and all the trimmings followed by rhubarb crumble...how very British we felt..especially with our material napkins..makes my kitchen roll ones look a bit poor.

I am still going along with the walking group each Thursday morning which I am loving, the scenery is spectacular, and also the breakfast at the end of the walk is pretty good to. I discovered a lovely coffee to have with my breakfast last week, it's called a Belmonti ( spelling is probably wrong ) it us a shot of carnation milk, espresso on top and finished with a nip of Brandy...beautiful.

I know I have said this before but I cannot believe how lucky we are to be living here , life just seems to be getting better and better.
The neighbours are just wonderful, we got invited over for drinks the other night and got home at 130.. A wonderful evening spent outside on their terrace with all the other neighbours there as well. People here are so incredibly friendly, I guess IRS all because we have more time to be social with each other.
We are loving our lives.

All my plants I have purchased over the last few weeks are coming on leaps and bounds, and the garden is really taking shape. We had 5 trees removed last week and it has really opened up the front of the house and looks much better. We have also had the back wall re- rendered as it had not been done because it was where the shed had been located before we moved it...so still keeping nice and busy.

I shall stop waffling on now and report back later to let you know how the Folks enjoyed their week with us .

Love to all

Barry & Graham