Twelve centimeters of snow

Update Dad came for a visit in September. When not taking a stroll along the Paseo Maritimo a favourite pastime was vegging out on the terrace. We went up to the cortijo for a few days - the kitchen has changed a great deal since he visited last year. Rodney began lessons in Email 101. They tested out the new chipper. We also enjoyed a visit from Barrie, a Canadian friend from Bishkek.

An interesting weekend

Hoping to pick up some ideas for our cortijo, this weekend we drove north past Almeria to a project demonstrating alternative technologies. We expected to be able to see various demonstrations of solar drying, solar cookers, dryland crops and so on. Well, it wasn't quite what we expected - it turned out to be somewhat of a new age gathering rather than demos of technologies. But we did have some great vegetarian food, Rodney made some sourdough bread (with the help of a tri-lingual English-Spanish-German five-year-old) and we were given cuttings of lemon grass, mulberry, carob and fig. Oh well!

Glut at Bordaila

Everything comes at once! The garden is producing far more tomatoes, aubergines and courgettes than we can eat. Though we have no problems with the raspberries and sweetcorn. Sweetcorn picked and put straight into the pot is amazingly good.

Plus, there is a good crop of butternut pumpkins for winter soups. The goats once more are rampaging through the grapes on the bottom terrace - the goatherd looked very sheepish as we waved to him as we passed by the camino on our way up last time -this was before we had seen what the goats had done to the grapes. So, we have to consider whether it really is a good idea to grow grapes down there or whether to just concentrate on those near the house. We're not sure what we would do with a lot of grapes anyway - the wine we buy is very good and not expensive.

Although we are experimenting with solar drying, so raisins perhaps.

Summer at the cortijo

August was a busy month. At the end of July the builder, Jacinto came to take out the old fireplace and extend the chimney in preparation for the installation of the new stove. At the same time, he took out the small window in what we call the 'study' and put in a much bigger window. Now the view from that window is wonderful and in winter the sun will warm us as we work (we hope).

After they had finished we painted over the whitewash in the living room and installed some kitchen furniture from Ikea. This took rather longer than anticipated - a return trip to Ikea (Malaga) as the sink was too big for the unit we had planned to pt it in an had to be changed, and many, many trips to ferreterias, and DiY shops for various bits of pipe and connections. The plumbing in the cortijo is somewhat heath robinson and required much ingenuity on Rodney's part to fix the new to the old.

Last Friday, 5 September, the long-planned-for stove arrived. Three men and Rodney carried the 100 kg carcass down the track from the camino! We haven't lit it yet as the cement in the ceiling and at the topof the chimney has to dry first. Plus, we need to chop some wood.

Water balloons As well as football and frisbees, partying at the rehearsal barbecue included water balloons and Scottish Country dancing (well, Strip the Willow). It was a great chance for Ned and Kats' friends from Macalister where they both studied and Boston where they now live, and families from out of town, to catch up and get to know each other. The water balloons took some filling - Sarah and I got very wet - but proved hilarious. What a competitive bunch!

Battenkill River float - two sisters and a niece

Fun time after the wedding saw Cheryl, Sandra and Sarah, our niece, take a float down the Battenkill River. Rodney elected to stay on dry land and record the event for posterity, though the camera battery died half way through!

For my part, I didn't realise that floating involved getting wet. I imagined that the tubes had a bottom - well they did but it was mesh, so rear ends did get wet. Cheryl went for total immersion when she didn't quite make it beneath an overhanging branch.

As the surge in river level had subsided, the water level was perfect for floating - we didn't have to get out once to get overselves over sandbanks. Though we did get becalmed in whirlpools a couple of times.

The wedding The first drops of rain fell as we took our seats for the ceremony. A few minutes later, as proceedings got under way, the heavens opened and we adjourned to the marquee. Apparently it always rains like this at Palinski weddings. Needless to say, the downpour didn't dampen proceedings. The flow chart for the Battenkill River shows just how much the heavens opened. The river rose six feet in just a few hours.

Wedding in New York State Ned, Sandra's nephew, and Kat were married at Kat's home in Cambridge, New York State, on 28 June. Cheryl, Sandra's sister rented the Long Lodge for the faimily to hang out for a while together, help with wedding preparations, party and have fun. It was a perfect spot. Cook outs were the norm, deer wandered by in the early morning and there was loads of space for everyone to do as they pleased. Relax in a hammock, go for a hike or float down the river.

Camino Frances - the route we trod

The pilgrim caminos converge on Santiago de Compostela from many directions. We chose to walk the Camino Frances starting from St Jean Pied de Port in the French Pyrenees, crossing to Roncevalles in Spain, and then walking west through Pamplona, Burgos and Leon into Galicia. Each day we walked between 20 and 30 kilometres, taking 33 days in all and sleeping at the pilgrim hostels, or albergues, along the way.

Los peregrinos A wet and muddy one.

In the Plaza san Marcos, Leon.

Writing postcards in the albergue.

Checking out the next stage.

Top or bottom bunk?

One hundred kilometres to Santiago.

Settling into an albergue for the night.

We took their picture, they took ours.

And when we arrived in Santiago we checked into a nice hotel.

They say that Santiago is the wettest place in Spain.

Sixty-first birthday. Sixty one kilometres to Santiago. Well-bitten by fleas in the albergue the previous night. Face, neck and arm swollen. Blinked for the photo.

Pilgrim dinner in the albergue at San Juan.

Filling the water bottles at a fuente.

Modern day pilgrim.

Enjoying the view.

Resting at the top of the hill.

Just checking the route again.