A QUIET DAY OF PLANNING

I woke up late this morning.  Having been suffering with a really awful cough for the last 8 days, and with no signs of it shifting, I didn't rush out of bed.  C bought me a mug of tea - lovely, then I got up, ready to face the day.  After a wonderful cooked breakfast (another double-yolker), I set about blitzing our bedroom.

After being rather unwell I let things slide a little, but found some energy this morning.  Sadly, living where we do, we get mould on the walls during the winter months.  There is a lot of damp on Mallorca! There isn't really anything more you can say about that, but it is because most of the Island is built on caves and there is a lot of water underground.  Our water comes from a natural well, which is why we cannot drink it directly, they spray the fields with goodness-knows-what so I am certain it must trickle down into the water supply at some point.  Anyway, the mould and damp is always a big problem and not a pleasant one.  So this morning, I did a quick tidy, dust, hoover and mop and then came the tackle-the-mould-moment!! I usually use bleach to spray on the walls and then wash down with water, but I cannot stand the smell - it makes me heave! so after a little advice from our 'chief marmalade taster', I used cilit bang! It worked pretty well, I managed to do most of the areas that needed doing and got C to finish off the job for me.

This afternoon I cut J's hair then took a stroll around the garden, only to discover that the apple tree is having a problem with various diseases, I took some shots but at dusk this evening and they haven't come out well, I will retake the photos tomorrow.  So whilst I was walking around the garden I noticed several things that need attending to urgently. Firstly pruning...  the bougainvillea, the grape vines, the quince tree/bush/shrub thing - it isn't an attractive thing yet and needs some tlc, the rose bushes also need attending to.  So I decided that tomorrow I will do these things, I believe it will be another sunny day which is good.

The overgrown yellow rose bush.

The other thing I noticed was that we hadn't harvested the olives!!! OH NO!!! they were beginning to rot on the trees or just drop off.  We only have two trees, one of them hardly has any fruit left on it, but the other (behind the rose bush above) still has plenty, I only hope we can salvage some.  I have the salt ready so we will try to gather some tomorrow.

Yesterday I received a call from one of our local farmers (they produce the Sa Marjal Arròs Pobler, bombeta variety) basically they grow a special variety of rice, which I have to say is delicious.  The farmer suggested that C & J go to one of the local farms and pick some leeks.  Off they went, on their bikes, and returned about 30 minutes later with a bagful - fantastic.

Leeks from another local farm.














So off to bed early tonight, probably after a lovely home-made pie and a film in front of the log fire.  J is back at school tomorrow after the short Christmas/Three Kings break.  The next big fiesta here is Sant Antoni - can't wait for that one.

Just a few extra pictures.

 Our small lemon tree, final giving us lemons.  Must remember to plant another one at some point.

 Jess, the pregnant mummy cat, peering over her shoulder at the Corsican and his girl.

 The glut of oranges.  Some are good for eating, some are great for juicing.  You can tell by the guixa (navel), if they have one then it's an eater, if not then it's a juicer.

The rosemary bush is in flower.  

CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE PRICKLY KIND

On Thursday afternoon, I cleaned out the chicken coop and the turkey pen, giving them all fresh straw and sorting out the dishevelled nest boxes.  Just as I was finishing raking up the poop in the Hilda's pen (the turkey), J gave a shout for me to go to him.  I thought something had happened but when I got to him, by the front of the house, there on the ground was a little curled up bundle of prickles - a hedgehog!  I was so excited, it's only the second one I have ever seen - alive - the dogs seemed rather interested in it, but were keeping their distance, they have obviously encountered them before!  I picked up our little spiny fellow and checked he was ok and not injured.

He was quite happy and seemed quite healthy.  He was obviously after the dry dog food!  We popped him into the old cat basket with some straw and I went to look up some information on them.  Hedgehogs are different here in Mallorca, in that they do not really hibernate.  We put him into the veggie plot as we had no idea where he came from in the first place.

We didn't see him on Friday, but on Saturday we found him again, in the middle of the driveway - he was nearly flattened by me in the car - very well camouflaged.  Again we put him back into the veggie plot.  If we see him again I will take him to the fields and let him loose.

C & J went to the local farm yesterday to help out the farmer, who was pulling plastic bags and rubbish from his rice field, it seems some of it comes with the fertilizer (natural) that he gets!  The call it 'abono' here, we had some from him a few months ago, but got some better stuff from another farming friend shortly afterwards.

This morning, I had one of the hen's eggs for breakfast - a double yolker - wonderful.  Keep 'em coming girls.