manolo

Manolo, the village house painter, arrived smack on the dot at 7 this morning (who says that Spanish are not punctual). I had to get up at 6:30 to move all the planters out of his way. Aurelio and I discussed having the house painted weeks ago, but I had heard nothing more about it, until Manolo stopped by last evening at almost 9 to let me know he would be here in the morning. Despite having to struggle out of bed while still dark, I remind myself how Manolo's work will please Almendena and the Herb Thief, who regularly complain under their breath about the state of our house as they sweep up around my plants (because I receive an F as a Spanish hausfrau). If all goes well, he should be done by lunchtime. And then I am left with the clean up, although perhaps if I ignore the fallen paint bits just long enough, the ladies will take care of it for me. ;-) *****************************************
We got a little flag crazy for the July 4th picnio. First, R. asked if he could borrow our American flag. And then he decided to also hang the Spanish flag. Five minutes later, Pepe brought us an Andalucian flag as well, so all bases were covered. The menu was very traditional: grilled hamburgers and hotdogs, potato salad, cole slaw, and raspberries and cream for dessert. All superyummy. We had our own fireworks as well, when L. started in on R. for leaving two copies of her Opera News magazine at a friend's house. Nothing like a little dysfunction to make a holiday party more authentic. *******************************************
Anyone ever seen one of these? It's not a tiny creepy crawly, about 2 cm long, and I found it on my mustard greens, which I don't think is a good thing. ******************************************* Torie, you win! If you e-mail me your address (you can find my e-mail under my profile), I will send off a little package of prize goodies from the village. Thanks for playing. :-)
Gratuitous precious Boo picture. Look at that ridiculous tail.... Off to see whether Manolo needs another coffee.... hasta pronto, mylifeinspain