Daffodils

Truth to tell its not really a host or a crowd nor did I wonder lonely as a cloud in true Wordworthian style but i could not have been more delighted. We have daffodils, only two at present but  there are more in bud waiting to bloom though. I have always loved the spring and daffodils are so cheerful, dont you think. We planted these in the late autumn with fingers crossed, pleased to say despite  the lack of winter rain they seem ok.  We are not really gardeners who go to endless trouble and through agonies to get plants to grow in what is clearly the wrong place, we are more the "put em in and wish em luck" type. Well didn't they do well. When we lived in Cornwall the hedgerows in spring would be full of daffs blooming there little heads off. Though there were wild daffodils in Cornwall recorded in the 1600s Dutch varieties were also imported from around that time. During WW2 they were removed  compulsorily  from the commercial fields to increase food production.
Growers were so reluctant to throw away their bulbs they  threw them, with some soil, into the surrounding hedges.
This is why you see so many in hedgerows during the spring down in Cornwall.
We planted many many bulbs when we lived in Scotland and I like to believe they are still welcoming the spring there.
Meanwhile back to Blanca, its a small start but we hope rather like little acorns and mighty oaks we will end up with a mighty host of these delightful flowers.

Misty

                                         FROM OUR TERRACE
 Do you ever find there seems to be a theme running through your day or week? You know you keep hearing the same song, reading or seeing something connected. If there's a theme running through this week it has to be "misty". To start with we heard the Johnny Mathis  1959 version of the song "Misty" on the radio the other day. Serves us right I suppose for having radio 2 on. Brought back a few memories for John of the days before he was a heavy metal fan. His first record player, some of you must remember what they are, Johns was a portable and modern enough to be electric! I remember the girl next door to my childhood home having a wind up one, OK so none of you remember those!!
Anyway from the mists of time so to speak came a memory of his mother bringing home a Regentone Record player, bought from a work colleague. The seller had included some records as well, one of which was the Johnny Mathis song. Oh the nostalgia of it all. Well we must have heard the same song a couple more times since. Enough misty for anyone you might well think and you'd be right, even though we find ourselves singing along.
The theme though continues because this morning we woke to find it was very very MISTY indeed. Cue the music and more memories of just such beginning of days in Cornwall and Scotland, only difference is by lunch time here we were sitting outside in the sun. Lovely.

one more thing, you know your getting old when you find your memories are museum pieces.

 http://www.museumoftechnology.org.uk/domestic.php?cab=gramophones

The postman always rings twice!

Well maybes that’s where we are going wrong, we haven’t got a bell, we haven't got what you could call a postal service either it seems. Here in Spain the service has never been what you might call first class. In Formentera it was hit and miss, our bank had to use am alternative delivery method to get important documents to us. In Guardamar we got everyone’s post but our own, SOMEONE out there is no doubt enjoying the House DVDs my brother sent me. When we moved to Blanca we were hopefully it would be better, even though we are in the campo. The odds seemed good as Rebecca has an good service, in fact when we lived in Guardamar I did get packages sent to her, which arrived, as it seemed safer. Well as I always say travelling in hope is sometimes better than arriving in disappointment. We arrived here safe and sound, not so the majority of our post. The story so far: We call at the Correos in Blanca, we are told that post is delivered to the house, hurrah. No sign of a postman. We were called on by close neighbours, British, who have been away. On there return they find "someone" has thrown a bundle of post over their gate, its addressed, correctly and clearly to us. "You need a post box" they tell us. We return to the post office and are told A. post will be delivered and B. not worth getting box till the new year starts. We eagerly await our post. We get an email from the estate agent, we have some of your post, another British couple brought it to them in the hope they would know us. We collect the letters and return to the Correos. We speak calmly, aren't we good. We leave a map, an invitation to the postie to stop by for a drink. We eagerly await our post We get no post, we call at the correos, we call at the correos, we call, oh you get the idea. We start to politely protest, we are waiting for important documents, we have had no post for weeks, we have a real problem now. "I am on the case" the head honcho informs us, We eagerly ( well maybe not quiet so eagerly )await our post, trusting souls us. At the beginning of the week we call again, the counter clerk she says no, no post for you today. We protest, a little louder than usual, we say we await insurance documents for the car. She asks the previously mentioned Head Honcho. He picks up a letter from behind the counter which is ours, seems the counter clerks vision is somewhat blinkered! We tell him again, and maybe even again that we are waiting for important mail. He disappears into the back office and to our utter disbelief returns with several letters, all ours, all properly addressed. Whats the story? the regular postie has been on holiday, he has the map we gave him, so the holiday relief did not deliver. What could we say, well we could say it seems to us the usual guy needs some lessons in map reading in our humble opinion for a start. Trouble is they are all so pleasant and apparently trying to get it right and goodness knows we would not want to upset them, well they might not deliver the post if we do! Footnote. John worked for many years a a postman in Rural Cornwall, it particularly galls him that the services is so bad here. He frequently struggled along muddy tracks and fought off farm dogs and marauding mad geese to get the post through.

Two for Joy

The thieving magpie, magpies are often referred to as "thieving magpies" due to their attraction to shiny objects, such as jewellery and shiny coins - They are also consider to be bad luck by some. In Scotland a single magpie near the window of a house is not just bad luck but the sign of impending death; the somewhat scary idea that they carry a drop of the devil's blood under their tongue adds to this tradition. When we lived in the Highlands of scotland we missed this striking bird, it is the one part of UK were you do not see them. Take a close look next time you see one, they are not just black and white you know. When seen close-up its black plumage takes on an altogether more colourful hue with a purplish-blue iridescent sheen to the wing feathers, and a green gloss to the tail. Remember to salute them too to ward off bad luck, better safe than sorry, As I say moving to the Highlands from Cornwall meant we left the magpie behind. Living down on the costa blanca we had no sightings of them either so its been a real pleasure to make their acquaintance again. They are a noisy chattering species who will get up to all sorts, they are many things,scavengers, predators and pest-destroyers. To us they are a welcome, homely site and we rather prefer the view the chinese traditionally have of them, in China their name translates as the happiness bird. Magpies usually mate for life so seeing one on its own is as sign of sorrow because it's lost it's mate, whereas if you see two it's is a sign of joy as it's with it's mate. This is why when you see a single magpie you ask after it's wife, thus suggesting it has a mate and is in fact happy - hence the rhyme one for sorrow , two for joy! The magpie is consider by some to be the cleverest of animals, I suppose by stealing other birds eggs it is eating well and cutting down the competition. Personally I would not rate its intelligent by the fact that it can be taught to speak as parrots can, I am sure the clever ones stay well away from we humans. if you have missed hearing the little rhyme about our feathered friend here it is: One for sorrow, Two for joy, Three for a girl, Four for a boy, Five for silver, Six for gold, Seven for a secret never to be told.

Yum Yum Caballa

We just love caballa, that's mackerel in english. We used to eat loads when John was commercial fishing out of Newlyn in Cornwall. Sometimes it was better to eat the fish than to sell them the prices where so low! Despite the amount we eat we still love them. They are plentiful here at this time of year, and well priced at around 2 euros a kilo, cannot help thinking there are some poor Spanish Pescadores getting the same bad deal John and his shipmates used to get though.
I like to cook them in the oven on the barbeque or in the electric pan. Just a bit of olive oil local salt and fresh ground pepper and a good squeeze of fresh lemon.
If we want something a bit special I have a recipe I used all those years ago in Cornwall, and crumbs now I think about it its over 30 years ago. if you want to give it a go here are the instructions.
Citrus stuffed Baked Mackerel
One Mackerel per person ( we are greedy so like quite large fish)
To stuff two fish you need:
three oranges.
2 apples.
1 small onion
2 cups of brown breadcrumbs.
a generous tablespoon of Brown sugar
butter or olive oil

Method:
Gut and clean fish, if they do this at the shop ask for the row this time of year you can saute it lightly and eat on toast.
Grate the zest from two of the oranges, peel then and chop the flesh. Squeeze the juice from third oranges.
Peel core and chop the apples.
peel and chop the onion finely
Now saute the onion, when its soft add apple then orange flesh and zest keep cooking on low heat add sugar then bread crumbs then juice, season to taste. You then remove from heat and use to stuff the fish. Wrap in foil and bake in moderate oven for around 20 minutes depending on size of fish, Open foil for last 10 minutes.
lovely hot or cold, the citrus counteracts the oiliness of the Mackerel

Angels Trumpets

The Datura Tree
It’s always amazing to see these trees in flower at this time of year. The huge trumpet shape flowers give the tree its other name angel’s trumpets; however you might think devils trumpets more suitable. The tree is very toxic, despite that it has been used as a medicine plant in the past. Most especially by the curandero (or curandera for a female) shaman of Hispanic South American countries, Shamans are healers who uses all types of natural methods. When we lived in Cornwall there was a major problem with people eating this plant, so much so that all the trees where removed form public parks. It is very dangerous and causes all sorts of problems including hallucinations. The effects can be long lasting in some rare instances.
Never the less if you look and don’t touch it’s a dramatic and attractive plant seen in may places around Formentera