Hello! Still here :)

Another 3 months or so has passed by so quickly,  I've been looking through photos taken over the past few weeks and have come up with a selection......

May was sunny as normal,  we had our usual fiesta here in Montenegro for Santa Fatima,  but instead of everyone bringing food and drink to share,  this time lottery tickets had been sold with the addition of 3 euros on the price - the extra going to pay for all the food and drink.  It's the norm here in the villages especially at the December lottery of El Gordo,  the extra 3 euros paid by people goes a long way to helping cover the costs of celebrations during the year.

the start of the food selection,  meats and cheeses but more to come, plus wine, beer and soft drinks.

fireworks!

ripening mulberries

In June we went down to Playa Granada,  Motril,  where there is an airshow every year.  Parking along the beach roads,  food and drink at the chiringuitos where we stopped for coffee and tostadas before the show started.

A date for your diary..... next years airshow is June 17th.

And it's free.

Just bring your deckchair and some sunblock :)

There are a lot of unusual and spiky plants around,  one of which is the agave.    The agave puts out a spike, a flower / seed head but then the main plant dies off.  This year we seem to have a lot of them flowering - we counted 13 or so just on one area of land.  At first the  spike looks a bit like a piece of asparagus...

April 20th

April 24th

June 5th

June 8th

June 20th

July 22nd

Now the seed heads are starting to form and the birds are constantly flying in and out eating.  The base of the plant is more or less dead and the flower spike - probably because it is top heavy - is starting to lean to one side.  Eventually it all dies  and collapses.

Spectacular while it lasts. 

I read on this blog which is written by a couple who live near Cabo de Gata, a Natural Park at the coast, that the agave is under threat from a black beetle - picudo negro.  So enjoy the photos while you can.  The relevant post - amongst lots of wonderful photos of the scenery at the coast - is back on May 15th.  But a lovely blog to look at.


July was as hot as we'd normally expect - until it wasn't!  We had a heatwave,  not the Lucifer that's been in the papers recently - I think that was a more widespread across southern Europe thing - this was perhaps just Spain and before the main tourist season.  But it was hotter here than Lucifer,  overnight temperatures of 28 and we peaked one afternoon on a shaded terrace at 40 degrees.  That was nothing compared to Granada, Sevilla etc but super hot for here.  Thankfully it's cooled down a touch and after a day last week of "hairdrier" weather which brought dust and hot air,  it is now a very unusually cool 20 overnight and 30 today max.

This weekend is fiesta in Yátor,  music and food last night, lunchtime today, tonight and lunchtime tomorrow.  The fiesta day is actually on Tuesday, Asunción de la Virgen María
Tomorrow is the day they have the foam and water fiesta,  this is what you can expect...
(pictures from a few years ago.)

So that's it for now, or on my current form, that's it for a few months.  I must try harder,  I do take photos but not so many,  but I will try to keep up to date. 

Thanks for sticking with me!