It's Friday - time for Virtual Vermut!

It is Friday evening and I am wondering how to catch up with all that has happened in the last three weeks, for it has been a strange and busy time. Apart from the potato update I think I left you floating in paradise, at Sant Nicolau, in mid April.
Since then the weather has changed - several times - and I have flown to Scotland and back and both Bonnie and I have been ill. There have been festivals - Sant Jordi and May Day and now it is Ascencio.
What about a Vermut while I tell you some stories?

I flew to Glasgow for a Scottish wedding and had a wonderful time seeing family, at last having something to celebrate after the last sad year since my brother died.
I love Glasgow Central station

 Bonnie stayed here in Granollers and it was lovely to return from my trip and have her meet me at the station. But I noticed almost immediately there was something wrong with her. She was too hot, a bit subdued, off her food.  The week before she had been attacked by several ticks. Probably picked up after we walked the same path as some sheep - or it could have been the goats - who knows - they are hard to avoid here

 I took her to the vet and was shocked to find her blood tests showed extremely low platelets and aenemia.  Erlichiosis - a tick borne parasitic infection of the blood.
She had to stay in hospital overnight - she was too tired and weak to protest. Very scary but so good to have the wonderful Lauro Vets so close to home. It is 24 hour with an animal hospital and vets who speak English!  I know I can communicate in Catalan but in an emergency - it was so good.

 The antibiotics started to work very quickly and late the next day she was able to come home

 I decided to change her onto a raw meat diet and since then have been scouring the shops for cheap meaty chunks that she can gnaw through like a wolf. And liver and tripe and other strange things.

I had come home to sunshine in Granollers and the day that Bonnie went to hospital was Sant Jordi - the Catalan patron saint of lovers. The streets were filled with stalls selling books

 or roses - here's my lovely friend Azucena helping out on a stall.

Normally I love this festival but this one was rather over shadowed for me.
I just wanted Bonnie home and safe.
Somehow living here in a strange land makes us even more close- she is always there for me

 Friends arrived from France, seeking sunshine and warmth.  No sooner had they settled in than the skies darkened and the rain started.  And I came down with flu. Fever and chills and body pains and weakness. Bonnie and I stayed at home together, resting and recovering.
Finally we all felt strong enough to go to the beach

 It was cold and windy but the Ona restaurant at Premia del Mar never lets you down. Lovely food and they are always so welcoming to dogs.  We sat inside of course!  Then had a refreshing walk.

Suddenly it was May 1st

 here mainly celebrated as the day of the workers but for me always a pagan celebration of spring.
But it was still raining!

Finally the weather changed in time for our boat trip to watch seabirds. We went from Badalona on the Quetx they have bought and restored and now use for sailing lessons

 We didn't see too many birds, not compared to trips on the Scillonian, but it was peaceful to be out there on the sea on a calm and sunny day.
And now it is almost time for my birthday - it looks like it will be raining again from the forecast but I got used to that when I was young - Scottish bulls aren't bothered by a bit of weather!

Planting Potatoes in Catalunya

After such a long break I am just going to leap back in without explanation or apology!

 I just want to give you an update on the potatoes which I brought over from the UK and have planted in two different ways.  The first to go in were the ones we planted in sacks on our terrace and next we put in five rows in a friends allottment in Lliça d'Amunt. All in mid March.

First the sacks - this is how they looked on March 13th

 They are growing so fast that we have to add soil almost every day and I'm actually wondering if this is an easier way to earth them up as normally I don't have enough extra soil if I have planted rows in the ground too close together. They now have about a metre of deep rich humus to fill up with lovely new potatoes. Here they are this morning.

 My only worry is that we put too many into each sack and we may end up with little tasty marbles.

On the other hand the rows in Lliça d'Amunt are also flourishing and are taller and bushier than their terrace sisters. We have been over there three times to weed and earth up. I must admit it is lovely having only a small patch to deal with rather than the whole allottment - it means we can be perfectionist about keeping it all neat and weed free. This is taken just after planting

And here they are a couple of weeks ago - after being earthed up

 And this was taken yesterday. As always there is not enough room to pile up the earth as much as I would like but I expect it will be fine - as it usually is.

 There are the beginning of flower heads on some of the plants and I think that in 30 days we should be able to eat our first British/Catalan potatoes!

The Garden of Eden

Today was a lovely dreamy relaxing sunny easy day at Sant Nicolau

Bonnie and I went down to do some meditation at Blue's resting place

I had noticed there were daisies but suddenly I SAW them - hundreds and thousands of daisies and it reminded me of being a child and making daisy chains

How many actual daisy chains have I made in my life?  Perhaps no more than 10 or so.
I decided to make one to leave for Blue

Then Bonnie for the first time went to actually lie on top of Blue's grave

I am sure she remembers this is where we buried her old friend

It was very special down there today

Later I went into Figueres with Helen and we looked around the shops, searching for a suitable dress for me to wear to my niece's wedding next weekend. All the other times I have been there I've found the town to be a bit sharp edged and unfriendly but today it was open-hearted and warm. There were musicians playing jazz in the centre and in one shop a woman was holding a small baby. "He's my new grandson" she said  "Three months old"  I went over to admire him and he beamed at me. Usually I am the sort of person who babies turn away from or they start to cry when I speak to them. But this baby in Figueres seemed to like me and what a nice feeling that is!

Every single shopkeeper switched to speaking in Castellano with me even after I had greeted them in Catalan.  I carried on short conversations just to show it was unnecessary to change but it seemed they didn't notice and doggedly carried on in Spanish. I know they are trying to be friendly but somehow along the way they have stopped listening and are only seeing what I look like - a guiri.

But I found the perfect dress and when I have the shoes to go with it - I'll show you a photo.

There is still snow on Canigo and when you sit in the shade you can feel the chill of it in the breeze.
Bonnie is almost totally better now and when I got back from town she was overwhelmingly pleased to see me and what a nice feeling that is too!

Thanks for visiting me here - I hope you also had a sunny dreamy relaxing and easy day.

Back in Sant Nicolau

I am back in Sant Nicolau.
It's a wonderful feeling to drive up the AP7 and see the mountains in the distance, getting closer, until at last you see Mare de Deu del Mont and seemingly beside it, but actually much farther away, the peaks of Canigo, covered in snow even though it is April.

Then the drive down the bumpy sandy lane, through the woods until the sanctuary of Sant Nicolau comes into view.  Getting out of the van there is a smell of pine and herbs and a cuckoo is calling.
Dogs come out to greet you first. Bob is a deeply satisfying mountain of a dog with gentle eyes and large strong paws which he folds one over the other when he is lying down. Lucy is steady and solid and calm. And at the moment there is another guardian of the house - Nero is waiting to be rehomed in Germany and is having the best time of his life so far, chasing balls in the garden here.
Bonnie made an instant friend. They have a shared love of chasing balls

We arrived and settled in and just as I felt myself start to relax completely, Bonnie got sick. She'd been off her food and slightly peaky for days but that first night she began vomiting and was getting very thirsty and troubled.
So off to the vet the next day who diagnosed gastroenteritis - an inflammation of the whole digestive system. We went to the Canis vets in Figueres who were wonderful and calming for my anxious nerves. I hate it when an animal is sick and with Bonnie I am especially good at worrying and catastrophising. It is almost a year since Blue died here and I want to believe that Bonnie is still  young and strong but she will be 11 in June!
Several injections and a few pills later she began to perk up and we drove to the sea to cook up some white rice and chicken for her invalid lunch in the van. She was very hungry - it had been three days since she had a proper meal.
We stopped at Roses, parked beside a little sandy beach and went for a walk along the rocks

It was lovely but oh dear, look at that hill covered in houses and flats. They are so tightly packed in together that you feel dizzy looking at them. However often I see the  coast-line developments here, I can't stop myself asking "How could they do that to such a beautiful place?"  I actually feel it was criminal. Money and greed must have been the motivation and the extreme beauty of the beach and the sea only makes the ugliness of the buildings more painful.
However, it was a great day. The sun was shining and Bonnie got stronger and happier by the minute.
The sea was a little too cold even for me to swim in but the sun is shining and the birds are singing lustily at the Mas.   Cuckoo  cuckoo cuckoo cuckoo cuck!