Countdown to Christmas...
The weather is slowly becoming a little colder each day, and I'm using more firewood than I was a month ago. This is my last week here in Spain; in just a few days' time, I'll be heading to Scotland to spend Christmas with my family and my local church. During this last pre-Christmas week, I have just some work on the computer to wrap up for the end of the year, and just a couple of meetings where we're looking ahead and planning for projects in 2016. Meanwhile, here in AlhaurÃn, one of our local roundabouts has got dressed up for Christmas again. There's a roundabout in the middle of town that's supposed to represent the sun and the planets. Every year, the large "sun" ball in the middle is adorned with an enormous Santa hat. This year, a new surprise awaited us. All the little "planets" around the sun are wearing green hats this year; I guess they're supposed to represent Santa's elves. What I like about our Christmas decorations in the town, though, is that mostly they represent stable scenes, shepherds, angels and wise men… instead of the focus being primarily on Santa and reindeer. It helps to remind people of the real meaning of Christmas.
This week, I have the sensation of being transported back in time to the days of Mary Poppins. When I first started making fires this winter, I noticed that there was often some ash the next day on my upstairs patio. Sure enough, my landlord confirmed that the chimney hadn't been cleaned for quite a number of years. So, this week the chimney sweep will be coming to the house to clean my chimney (but hopefully not to dance and sing across the rooftops!) I've already bought in new supplies of firewood for the winter months, and often, when I'm walking the dog on the mountain, I take a bag with me and pick up a supply of small sticks. They chopped down some avocado trees this past summer, and so there are lots of stray branches lying around at one part of our route.
Buba had her first birthday at the end of November, so technically I'm walking an "adult" dog now instead of a puppy. It's true that she's really made progress in obedience training - like coming when called, or staying still when asked to - but sometimes I just have to laugh at her puppy-like behaviour, especially when we meet other dogs and she wants to entice them to play. There are few seasons more fun than the first year of a dog's life, and I've thoroughly enjoyed watching this girl grow up. And it's probably also been good for me to get regular exercise by walking on the mountain every day. I'll need to go swimming when I'm home in Scotland for Christmas, so that I don't feel lazy and unhealthy, just sitting around and eating Mum's home made tablet. (Delicious but dangerous!)
The weather is slowly becoming a little colder each day, and I'm using more firewood than I was a month ago. This is my last week here in Spain; in just a few days' time, I'll be heading to Scotland to spend Christmas with my family and my local church. During this last pre-Christmas week, I have just some work on the computer to wrap up for the end of the year, and just a couple of meetings where we're looking ahead and planning for projects in 2016. Meanwhile, here in AlhaurÃn, one of our local roundabouts has got dressed up for Christmas again. There's a roundabout in the middle of town that's supposed to represent the sun and the planets. Every year, the large "sun" ball in the middle is adorned with an enormous Santa hat. This year, a new surprise awaited us. All the little "planets" around the sun are wearing green hats this year; I guess they're supposed to represent Santa's elves. What I like about our Christmas decorations in the town, though, is that mostly they represent stable scenes, shepherds, angels and wise men… instead of the focus being primarily on Santa and reindeer. It helps to remind people of the real meaning of Christmas.
This week, I have the sensation of being transported back in time to the days of Mary Poppins. When I first started making fires this winter, I noticed that there was often some ash the next day on my upstairs patio. Sure enough, my landlord confirmed that the chimney hadn't been cleaned for quite a number of years. So, this week the chimney sweep will be coming to the house to clean my chimney (but hopefully not to dance and sing across the rooftops!) I've already bought in new supplies of firewood for the winter months, and often, when I'm walking the dog on the mountain, I take a bag with me and pick up a supply of small sticks. They chopped down some avocado trees this past summer, and so there are lots of stray branches lying around at one part of our route.
Buba had her first birthday at the end of November, so technically I'm walking an "adult" dog now instead of a puppy. It's true that she's really made progress in obedience training - like coming when called, or staying still when asked to - but sometimes I just have to laugh at her puppy-like behaviour, especially when we meet other dogs and she wants to entice them to play. There are few seasons more fun than the first year of a dog's life, and I've thoroughly enjoyed watching this girl grow up. And it's probably also been good for me to get regular exercise by walking on the mountain every day. I'll need to go swimming when I'm home in Scotland for Christmas, so that I don't feel lazy and unhealthy, just sitting around and eating Mum's home made tablet. (Delicious but dangerous!)
