Christmas Day!

It's Christmas again and what could be better than to have Christmas dinner with friends.

At the heart of the meal is the turkey...

...and to have it carved well the electric carving knife comes in very handy.

Cheers - here's to a great Christmas and 
another wonderful New Year!

Sudoku - another record!

It speaks for itself! 

I always knew Margaret was 100% better!! 

In this case, 100% better than over 3,350 others!!!

Valjunquera - the 5th world fair!

The 5th World Fair...

...at least that's what the tee-shirts say!

Yet another outing for Margaret's embroideries...

...but there's a lot to contend with...

...from all over the world.

Even the music had a South American flavour!

But the Amas de Casa of Torre del Compte were there!

The mountains will move!

A few years ago the work on the road across the bridge to the main road was started then a couple of years later, it was finished. It straightened out the bends and made the road wider. Since then, there have been many surveys on the road on the village side of the bridge with different colours of bright aerosol paint.

At last, it is happening. diggers and trucks have been hard at work for the last couple of weeks chopping down the hills and filling the valleys. And in a few weeks, months, years, we are going to get a much easier road to drive into the village on. At the moment, it looks quite horrendous - but with only 40 or so cars, not to mention tractors, in the village, it isn't too serious.

¡La terraza!

The south facing garden of our house at Vinaròs needed a terrace. So, it was built by Jesús.

The remainder of the garden was covered with textile...

...then covered with white pebbles.

The concrete surface of the terrace was prepared with battens...

...and then clad in a decking material...

...built by Eduardo and Pedro.

Finally, the BBQ was put into position by Francisco.

And for all those who want to see a shot of the inside of the house...

More to follow!

A holiday home by the sea!

It has been a very busy summer for us this year, mainly due to the fact that we have bought a second house. It is 107km away, 1½ hours drive, on the coast of the Mediterranean at Vinaròs which is at the north end of the Costa del Azahar which means "Orange Blossom Coast".

The house is less than 100 metres from the sea which is just across the quiet local coast road.

All along this part of the coast are beautiful little coves and even during the height of the summer there are only a few people on the beaches.

Vinaròs itself, just 4km to the centre, is a very large town which has a lot of history.

The view across the sea is constantly changing depending on the light and the weather.

Out the back of the group of houses is farmland and yes, they do grow oranges here!

We are looking forward to spending some quiet, relaxing time once we get everything sorted!

The Amas de Casa meal, entertainment and rondallas

Today was the day for the Amas de Casa, (the housewives), of Torre del Compte to celebrate by having their meal, entertainment and in the evening, rondallas, jotas sung and played around the village.

As usual, the meal was served by the committee...

...after which, the committee changed into their costumes for the entertainment.

This was the first year for the event to take place in the (unfinished) polideportivo, or sports hall, which was a shade cooler than the normal venue, the hall next to the bar/restaurant.


Two celebrities were chosen to be the entertainment, both very popular in Spain some 30 years ago. The first was Raffaella Carrà, (who is Italian)...

...and the second, Georgie Dann, (who is French).

However, everyone here knows their songs and the medley presented went down really well.

In the evening we had the rondallas around the village.

At every place where the group stopped to sing, the committee of the Amas de Casa served cava and cake. No wonder it was such a popular event!

To see all the photos of the events, click HERE

A visit from Sara.

Our friend Sara from England visited us last week.

One of the presents she brought us was a magnificent quilt which she had made in log-cabin patchwork. A brilliant work of art and a very special gift made to celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary last year. I'm sure that it will last more than 40 years!

During the week we were able to see some of the local places of interest.

For 3 mornings of the week we went out for an early walk with our friend Mari Carmen and of course that meant that Hona could come along too.

If you are able to correctly name these 9 locations above, just let us know. All correct entries will go into a draw at the end of this month and the winner wins the privilege of taking us out for a meal at a restaurant of our choice. Good luck!

San Juan

The celebration of San Juan kicks off with a midday mass in the ermita.

The musicians and choir were in fine form.

Everyone was dressed in their best outfits.

This is followed at 14:00 by a meal in the polideportivo, (which still isn't finished), but it offers full shade although all the flies from the village wanted to join us.

After a short siesta it was dancing in the street in front of the ermita.

A great way to celebrate John the Baptist's day, (which is actually tomorrow.)

The see all the photos of the activities during the day, click HERE.