Room With A View

The front garden is now looking very open, having lost the trees nearest to the house. We can sit on the front terrace, and admire the view, rather than just watch the garden.

We still can't see to the top of the mountain from the front, but I suspect that next door's trees have something to do with that, as well as our own.

It is still winter really, so the plants are looking rather sad, but in a few month's time, it will all be full of flowers and greenery.

Spring Blossom

It's looking beautiful everywhere. Nearer the coast, there are valleys of flowers in all shades of pink. The almond blossom from pale to deep pink, and the cherry blossom almost cerise.

We have had some very windy days, so hopefully the bees have done much of their work, and the flowers will have been pollonated before the petals have ben blown away!

Two of our almond trees haven't flowered at all this year, but the others have! Thankfully, we don't depend on the crop, so it is not a problem. We have eaten all of last years almonds, and they were really nice, but we threw away the walnuts, as they were horrible.

Chip, Chop, Chip, Chop

Again... Ed has cleared the last trees on the hit-list! It has been a gardening month.

We now have enough chopped wood for next winter, as well as a tidy garden. Needless to say, the neighbours are impressed! Thankfully, this time Ed didn't try to chop his foot off, so my first aid skills were not needed. I did listen out carefully for any cries of distress this time!

The lawn (ehem - weeds) has been cut now there is just the hedge to be trimmed. Close insection has decreed that only the tops need to come off, it is not as tall as I feared.

GeoCaching

For a bit of outside entertainment, I have logged onto the Geocaching website.

This is a modern verson of hide-and-seek. People hide a cache somewhere in the countryside or in a town, and leave the latitude and longitude as well as a clue or two, and others go and find the treasure.

The treasure can be anything from a film cannister with a record log of finders, to a biscuit tin full of goodies. The idea is, if you find a big cache, then you remove one item and replace it with something of the same value.

You enter your name on the log, then go back on-line, and record your find (and perhaps post a picture).

Our first find was in Xativa (the caches are worldwide) with the help of some friends, so that we got the idea. This particular cache was a big tupperware container, full of bits and bobs (fridge magnet, mini bottle of whisky...).

This seems like a good reason to get out in this blowy but sunny weather, so we'll let you know when we find the next one!

Tree Feller

Ed has done a great job of clearing small trees that we don't want and tidying up. We have a lovely big pile of wood ready for next year, having only just started on the wood we paid for this year!

There are still several trees to take out. Two very small pines in the back garden (only about 30ft high) and some that are too close to next door and leaning slightly their way.

In the front garden, is a tree in which the trunk splits evenly into two. Ed has made a briliant feature out of it!

Garden Gimmic

With all of the trees that Ed has been chopping down, we will have a collection of tree-stump toadstools.

However, as he was chopping his way through the tree roots, I noticed that one of them had a very interesting shape. I asked if he could put it in the garden, as an ornament! (Thank goodness for excavaors!) He put it in place, and with just a little adjustment, we now have an interesting piece of natural sculpture. Today, we have put some stragegically placed plants in some holes and I think it looks great.

Well done that man. x

Aitana Safari Park

Towards the tail end of last year, we happened on a safari park that we had never heard of. It is tucked away in the mountains south west of Alcoy, and this week we decided to take a look.

The cashier spoke English and told us that we could get out of the car, as long as we stayed near the car, and the animals were far away (Obviously, this does not apply for the lion, or tiger enclosures!). I was very suprised as most safari parks make you stay in the car. Also, she advised us that the animals would be fed at 3pm, and we could go around again then.

We drove through, and followed the road around. There are some 1,500 hectares, in which the animals are able to roam freely, with just a few exceptions. There were only a few other cars around, giving us a wonderful view over the whole park. Having sussed out the layout, we had lunch in the restaurant (good food, reasonable price) and then went around the park again.

This time, we quickly came on a family in a Mercedes, but I asked Ed to pass them, so that we could enjoy the park on our own. This was very successful, giving us the chance to see the animals very close up, as they ate their food (hay), without anyone else chatting nearby. The other family understood what we had done, and I saw them hold back a few times, so that there was always a gap between us.

When we came to the elephants, we quietly watched them, but the handler told us to come down to where they were. We crept down, then, to my astonishment, he told us to stroke them. I was stunned. He chatted away, and explained that they were both females, and had been there for a long time, and were used to being stroked by the visitors. When I stepped back to take a photo of Ed, he said "no" and took the camera from me, and took a few photos of both of us. Excellent customer service. Later, we saw the other family, and they had stroked the elephants too.

For €17 each, we felt that this was an excellent day out and will certainly be going again.