Coming home ....
I know it's a month since I came back but I am so glad to be here! The weather has been really good and eventually inspired me to tackle the garden - been putting it off for as long as I could!
Derek loved flowers of all kinds and would have filled every space if he could. However, he was very understanding and we arrived at a compromise, since I am not as enthusiastic a gardener as he was and it would be me doing the work. We filled large and small pots with geraniums and placed some of them on the steps leading up to the drive. Last summer it was quite difficult to look after them in the hot weather even with the irrigation system working and they alternated between drowning or dying of thirst. Some also fell victim to moth. Those have now been thrown out, I've replanted some from ceramic pots, where they drown because the water doesn't evaporate, into terracotta ones where it does but you can at least do something about it if they get too dry. I'll buy three or four more geraniums to fill the remaining large pot. I've also weeded all the gravel and, for good measure, given it a good squelching of weedkiller! I have four bougainvilleas I need to move, they are struggling where they are. Two are being seriously overshadowed by my neighbours overgrown shrubbery - their gardener doesn't come very often and never cuts the damn thing anyway. I think it's oleander but it doesn't seem to flower so I'm probably wrong. Whatever it is, it's too tall for me to tackle without help. I've prepared a large 'ali baba' type pot to take one of the bougainvilleas, on the little terrace outside my bedroom door. Where I'm going to put the other three I'm not sure.
Back in full swing on the social front. Resumed lunches on Mondays with my girlfriends - tried a new place yesterday as our two usual ones are both closed for refurbs. Now is a very quiet time here and lots of places use this period to tart themselves up for the influx of visitors around easter. Saturday evenings since my return have seen us visit a steak place (El Gaucho), a Japanese restaurant (Sapporo) in Calpe, Benidorm Palace (in Benidorm - obviously!) and El Andaluz last weekend where there was an Elvis/Roy Orbison entertainer. All have been good evenings out and the Benidorm Palace show was wonderful, my first visit and I was well impressed! Will now probably suggest it for an evening out when I have visitors.
The end of this month will bring the first anniversary of Derek's death. Same for my friend A. but we are supporting each other, we know it will be a tough month and both of us are looking forward to March. I have always said if anything is going to bring back memories or upset me it will be music and twice in the past week I've been taken unawares by hearing 'Sweet Caroline', which we played at his cremation. The first was at Benidorm Palace when the supporting band sang it, the second at El Andaluz when the entertainer sang it. I had to flee the table at Benidorm but I managed to sit through it the second time. All I can see in my mind's eye when I hear it is Elli bopping away in her pram at the crematorium while the rest of us were either bawling our eyes out or laughing at her obvious enjoyment of the music.
Chloe and Robyn have joined a music and drama group, Star Struck, and are loving it. I'm longing to see photos of them in their Star Struck 'gear', I'm told they look very cute! Sara has booked her first visit of the year for April. She's happy now she has that to look forward to.
My friend K. arrived back from England yesterday, he called in to see me this morning. He and his wife have split up and he came back to find his house stripped - she sneaked in while he was away and took practically everything she could, including the mattress from the bed but not the bed itself. How weird. He's having to take the day off work to sort various things and is now anxious to get a divorce under way. He's also thinking of returning to the UK - I'll miss him if he goes.
There seems to be work of some kind going on at the site of the proposed new underground car park by the beach. Work stopped late last year when it was discovered that the water table was about 1.5 metres below the surface. Don't they use civil engineers here? What about drilling holes to check for that? Anyway, they ripped out the kerbs, planted areas etc. and then left it looking a complete mess. I hope they've abandoned the plan and are returning the area to the way it was - right by the beach with lots of parking, but a very tidy area with nice paving and plants and in its present state is going to put a lot of visitors off.
What else? Oh yes, losing weight and scrapbooking! Just before christmas I joined Tesco eDiets and did really well until christmas and my trip back to the UK. Glad to say I've now lost my christmas gain, not saying how much that was but it was more than enough! Now I only have myself to feed I am happy to have a menu plan which tells me what to have for each meal and, best of all, gives me a full shopping list to print off each week. I just have to check my cupboards and cross out anything I already have and off I go. It's not only proving a successful way to lose weight but I'm definitely not spending as much on groceries.
Scrapbooking - I wish I could do some! My mojo has been on walkabout for months, I'm continually going up to my scrap room hoping I'll be inspired but nothing is happening. I may have to just fiddle about with something to force it to happen, maybe find a simple sketch to follow, nothing elaborate.
Well, I think I'm there - bang up to date! Hope I haven't bored you and I will try and keep up in future!
Thank you for your comments too!
Derek loved flowers of all kinds and would have filled every space if he could. However, he was very understanding and we arrived at a compromise, since I am not as enthusiastic a gardener as he was and it would be me doing the work. We filled large and small pots with geraniums and placed some of them on the steps leading up to the drive. Last summer it was quite difficult to look after them in the hot weather even with the irrigation system working and they alternated between drowning or dying of thirst. Some also fell victim to moth. Those have now been thrown out, I've replanted some from ceramic pots, where they drown because the water doesn't evaporate, into terracotta ones where it does but you can at least do something about it if they get too dry. I'll buy three or four more geraniums to fill the remaining large pot. I've also weeded all the gravel and, for good measure, given it a good squelching of weedkiller! I have four bougainvilleas I need to move, they are struggling where they are. Two are being seriously overshadowed by my neighbours overgrown shrubbery - their gardener doesn't come very often and never cuts the damn thing anyway. I think it's oleander but it doesn't seem to flower so I'm probably wrong. Whatever it is, it's too tall for me to tackle without help. I've prepared a large 'ali baba' type pot to take one of the bougainvilleas, on the little terrace outside my bedroom door. Where I'm going to put the other three I'm not sure.
Back in full swing on the social front. Resumed lunches on Mondays with my girlfriends - tried a new place yesterday as our two usual ones are both closed for refurbs. Now is a very quiet time here and lots of places use this period to tart themselves up for the influx of visitors around easter. Saturday evenings since my return have seen us visit a steak place (El Gaucho), a Japanese restaurant (Sapporo) in Calpe, Benidorm Palace (in Benidorm - obviously!) and El Andaluz last weekend where there was an Elvis/Roy Orbison entertainer. All have been good evenings out and the Benidorm Palace show was wonderful, my first visit and I was well impressed! Will now probably suggest it for an evening out when I have visitors.
The end of this month will bring the first anniversary of Derek's death. Same for my friend A. but we are supporting each other, we know it will be a tough month and both of us are looking forward to March. I have always said if anything is going to bring back memories or upset me it will be music and twice in the past week I've been taken unawares by hearing 'Sweet Caroline', which we played at his cremation. The first was at Benidorm Palace when the supporting band sang it, the second at El Andaluz when the entertainer sang it. I had to flee the table at Benidorm but I managed to sit through it the second time. All I can see in my mind's eye when I hear it is Elli bopping away in her pram at the crematorium while the rest of us were either bawling our eyes out or laughing at her obvious enjoyment of the music.
Chloe and Robyn have joined a music and drama group, Star Struck, and are loving it. I'm longing to see photos of them in their Star Struck 'gear', I'm told they look very cute! Sara has booked her first visit of the year for April. She's happy now she has that to look forward to.
My friend K. arrived back from England yesterday, he called in to see me this morning. He and his wife have split up and he came back to find his house stripped - she sneaked in while he was away and took practically everything she could, including the mattress from the bed but not the bed itself. How weird. He's having to take the day off work to sort various things and is now anxious to get a divorce under way. He's also thinking of returning to the UK - I'll miss him if he goes.
There seems to be work of some kind going on at the site of the proposed new underground car park by the beach. Work stopped late last year when it was discovered that the water table was about 1.5 metres below the surface. Don't they use civil engineers here? What about drilling holes to check for that? Anyway, they ripped out the kerbs, planted areas etc. and then left it looking a complete mess. I hope they've abandoned the plan and are returning the area to the way it was - right by the beach with lots of parking, but a very tidy area with nice paving and plants and in its present state is going to put a lot of visitors off.
What else? Oh yes, losing weight and scrapbooking! Just before christmas I joined Tesco eDiets and did really well until christmas and my trip back to the UK. Glad to say I've now lost my christmas gain, not saying how much that was but it was more than enough! Now I only have myself to feed I am happy to have a menu plan which tells me what to have for each meal and, best of all, gives me a full shopping list to print off each week. I just have to check my cupboards and cross out anything I already have and off I go. It's not only proving a successful way to lose weight but I'm definitely not spending as much on groceries.
Scrapbooking - I wish I could do some! My mojo has been on walkabout for months, I'm continually going up to my scrap room hoping I'll be inspired but nothing is happening. I may have to just fiddle about with something to force it to happen, maybe find a simple sketch to follow, nothing elaborate.
Well, I think I'm there - bang up to date! Hope I haven't bored you and I will try and keep up in future!
Thank you for your comments too!
posted by CaroleW at Tuesday, February 05, 2008
1 comments
