Spring is coming!

Even though it is still a month away, the garden is showing definite signs that spring is just around the corner.

Here in La Mancha, these are the first little wildflowers to spring up.  Yes, the locals call them weeds, but I think they're sweet.

           

 

Next up are the almond trees.  Our little tree is three years old and still hasn't given us any almonds yet, but this year I'm hopeful.  It smells wonderful!  In other parts of the country, the almond blossoms are pinker, but here they are usually whiter. 

 

 

Another native plant that provides late winter color is Viburnum tinus, also known in Spanish as durillo, or "tough little one".  Right now, it's full of tiny raspberry-colored buds that later open up to miniscule white flowers.  This toughie is also extremely drought resistant.

 

Viburnum tinus, surrounded by vinca.



 

While taking these photos, I was accompanied by this pretty butterfly/moth...

... and my partner in crime (when she sees me digging holes, she starts digging, too!).

 

 

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day at our house means onion soup for the Man of the House and a heart-shaped chocolate cake for our two little men.  Believe it or not, my youngest son does not care for frosting (who ever heard of such a thing?! I guess I didn't eat enough frosting while pregnant...) but that's fine by his older brother, who gets double servings.

 

I also whipped up some cookies out of some dough I had frozen at Christmas, and lots of these went to my friend V, who is a young widow with a 9-year-old son.   

 

 

And, let's not forget the My Funny Valentine sweater I knitted for my little niece.  I call it "funny", because this is one of my make-it-up-as-I-go-along specialties.  It's a mix of 2 patterns (for gauge and sizing), a heart graph that I copied and tweaked, as well as a completely made-up neckline and edging.  I just hope it fits!

 

 

 

As you can see, I prefer making things myself on Valentine's Day.  This is probably because they don't sell heart-shaped boxes of chocolates in Spain.  Actually, they don't sell any chocolates in Spain.  Russell Stover could make millions here! 

Fauna of La Mancha

While not much is happening in the garden during winter, I thought it would be a good time to upload some photos of the local fauna.  All these photos were taken from our living room.

This Golden Eagle (Águila Real, Aquila chrysaetos) doesn't come around much, but when he does he just takes your breath away.

 

 

My friend, the hawk (Buteo buteo), felt daring one day and decided to perch on the mulberry tree in our garden instead of down by the stream.

I had never seen this little guy before.  Turns out he's a Green Woodpecker (Picus viridis),

but I haven't seen him since. 

This is a Red Kite (Milvus milvus), which is aptly named because they love windy days. 

Here he is at the start of a snow flurry...

... and with a friend a few minutes later.

 

 

 

Not exactly wild animals (but still very much a part of our local fauna) are these soldiers from the Infantry Academy in Toledo.  In our rural area, you can often come across them loaded down with packs and carrying rifles on training missions, trying to get from point A to point B with maps and compasses in hand.  O's cousin, a military helicopter pilot who trained in Toledo, says it's not unusual for them to be dropped off some 70k (around 40 miles) away and be expected to find their way back.

 

Although I'm used to them by now, let's just say that the first time I came across a soldier, at night, jogging down a back road with rifle in hand in the middle of winter and wearing a ski mask, it took me a moment to decide whether to scream!       

Olive Garden

Or should I say olive grove? Yes, it's olive harvest time once again in La Mancha. Olive harvesting always means lots of hard, back-straining work, but it's also a great way to kick start those new year's exercise resolutions!

Once again, we are helping our friends with their family groves, and toiling away with friends always makes for light work. If you have never experienced olive harvesting, here's the quick low-down:

Years ago, before tractors and farm machinery, harvesting was done by hand, or actually by stick. Large blankets were placed on the ground around the trees and these were beaten with long varas, which were traditionally flexible poplar saplings, believe it or not. Modern-day harvesting has varied very little. The tree limbs are still beaten with varas, although they are now manufactured out of man-made materials, and, instead of blankets, large mesh mats are used to collect the olives that fall. And when I say large, I mean a good 35-40 feet on each side.

The biggest difference is the use of tractors fitted with vibrating claws that grab onto the large tree limbs and give them a good shake until the olives rain down onto the mats. The tractors are also used to drag the mats from tree to tree, and to empty the mats into a trailer when they get full. In the old days, dragging olive-laden blankets and loading them into mule-drawn carts must have been absolutely gruelling!

Here we are at work 

 I have always loved the linearity of olive groves.

Children at play

A beautiful end to a beautiful day

Welcome, 2013!

Wow, 2013 already.  This is the year my eldest son becomes a teenager (and will most likely pass me in height!).  Lots of Spaniards are nervous about the new year because it started on Tuesday, and Tuesday and the number 13 in Spain is like Friday the 13th in the U.S.  And given our economic situation, I dare say that yes, we should be nervous.

 

2012 is over, but we will remember it as our first year living in our new home.  Unfortunately, I feel that we didn't get all that much done (or, at least, not all that I had hoped).  This was mainly determined by budget constraints, but, hey, what isn't?

 

Outdoors, our main project completed this year was the front wall and gates.  Yes, I finally bowed to Spanish tradition and we raised a wall high enough so only the tallest of NBA players could take a peek over it.  For some reason, here there is a big fear of people peeking in your yards and/or homes.  Must be because there is always someone trying to do it!

 

Here are the results:

Front door

Front gate

Front wall

 

The wall was built by our friend, Pedro, to my specifications (poor guy).  The stones for the wall were brought in by Pedro and his backhoe from another empty house lot where they had been dumped.   The little stone path to the door was made by my father-in-law, who used the smaller stones that Pedro had discarded.  My DH and I have found smaller river rocks on another vacant house lot that we are (slowly) filling in the front with. 

 

      All in all, I'd say it looks pretty good...

....until you open the door and ACH!  You see this:       





 

 

Front yard

 

Front yard (taken from porch) 

  

 



Ditches, electrical cables, discarded fencing, sand piles and buckets, OH! and let's not forget the weeds and my dead oak tree (wimper, sob).  So, you see, an 8-foot wall is a good thing.

 

Obviously, this yard represents my project for 2013, and I've made a New Year's resolution to work at least 15 min per day in this space.  I hope that one day these photos will be "before" photos and that the "after" photos will be a huge improvement! 

 

 

So, what's your New Year's resolution for 2013?



The knitty gritty

My grandmother taught me to knit when she babysat my sister and myself as children.  I remember the whole process being very frustrating for my younger sister, who is left-handed (sorry, K!), but I enjoyed it.  Over the years, I knit a scarf or two, but it wasn't until my pregnancies that I became a full-blown knitter, later graduating from layette sets to complicated beaded lace knitting.

In Spain, I often take my projects with me to the park while my boys play soccer, and my abilities have met with mixed reactions: from "How did you do that?  That's so cool!" to "What, are you a grandmother?".  Younger women in Spain simply just don't knit, and I can honestly say I don't know a single person under the age of 70 who does.

It's also hard to find good-quality yarn in Spain, so I usually stock up when I go home to the States, or I order on-line from British stores.  Ravelry.com, a free online needle-arts community, has been a fabulous source of inspiration.  If you're a member, you can find me at http://www.ravelry.com/projects/guirigirl

I just finished this flower-power hat for my one-year-old niece:

 

What are you knitting now?

The December Garden

You know, over the years many Spaniards who have met me can't help but asking, "Is there anything you don't like about living in Spain?"  And, my response is always the same: "Yes, two things, actually: July and August!"  I mean, how could a white-as-a-sheet New Englander ever become accustomed to living in a climate with virtually no shade trees and 110+ ºF temperatures?  I even have to wear a hat swimming in the pool (not very Spanish, mind you)!

Nonetheless, living in a warmer climate with unbearable summers does have its advantages: milder winters and a longer growing season.  We even have roses in December!  These are a selection of flowers that are blooming in my garden right now: 

Abraham Darby

Argyranthemum

Golden Celebration

New Dawn

 

Salvia

Mme. Alfred Carrière

 

 

What's blooming in your garden?