It's one of those hot, lazy Sundays in July...the horse and I had an early morning ride while it was cool, Steve tuned in to the MotoGP from Germany, I baked a cake for a friend's 60th... but now we're all ready for a siesta. A glass of tinto de verano (red wine, fizzy water and ice) makes that part even more likely! Yesterday we went to the beach for a couple of hours and swam in the delicious, cooling waters, then checked out the Castell de Ferro flea market (not really worth the effort), winding up with supper in Casa Julio in Pampaneira. Home cooking and local dishes, plus lovely family who run it...a Menu del Dia for only 8 euros...highly recommended!!
I hope that, like us, everyone round here is stuffing themselves with cherries, mulberries, raspberries...other fresh produce from the garden...and saying goodbye to spring flowers, green grass and even the best blooms of jasmine and geranium. That sun is doing its summer business, as usual.
Canela is getting easier to ride all the time. With a little bit of honey on it, she now takes the bit with alacrity and has learnt to stand still when I get on - 'Wait!'' is the command until I'm in the saddle. Her 'water jumps' are more controlled and she only freaks at very sudden and unexpected movement...thank you to all the car drivers who slow down, turn off their ghetto blasters and don't toot their horns. Mind you, I get some funny requests e.g. people wanting me to take photos of them beside a fountain (where do I put my gloves, little whip, the reins, the moving horse?) or give them complex directions to some remote town, from a narrow pathway high on the sierra...
Last but definitely not least, the Man is thinking of a new motorbike and trading in 1 or 2 of the ones in his stable...I believe that a BMW 650 is high on his list of desirable alternatives...he's just done a run to the French border and back with a friend and has been re-inspired. Says the Albacete to Granada road is something special so we may try for a short trip sometime in the autumn when the temperatures moderate a bit. I believe it's pretty warm in the UK at the moment, probably perfect riding weather, on wheels or 4 legs!
Well, I can feel my eyes closing...a quick zzzzizzzz....