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| This year's "tree" (card from Jay and Randy in Canada) |
We decorated the flat with different red balls for Christmas, along the staircase and on the walls and in a glass bowl we like.
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| Looked better before Lexi got at it - wow look how well these bounce! |
That will likely be the extent of it but better than the year I used the laundry dryer as an unorthodox Christmas tree.
We are having friends in this year and really for the first time since leaving Canada, this is good!
Our fridge has been residing in what we call the office, lofty name for a place to put a printer and paper and nothing else, storage room would be more appropriate for all the goods Bruce orders. Today we moved the fridge back into the kitchen, yeah! Took a bit of grunting and groaning, but done.
Pepe and his brother, the skateboarding guru, really, he has made a good business from it, stopped by Thursday. Pepe, the wonderful guy has offered to help again and we will need to stay in one of his apartments when the elevator is installed.
Bruce decided for the fondue we are having Christmas Eve that we needed small dishes to put sauces in, we figured sixteen dishes so price was a consideration here since we won’t likely use them a lot. After a few stores hunt we found them, two shapes but they will work for less than a Euro a piece in a store we’ve walked by many times but never entered.
Had a lovely coffee at a well rated coffee and bakery and enjoyed watching people walk by, we haven’t done that for a few days and missed it.
Met Ivan for lunch at Perro Viejo, translates as Old Dog, which is in an alley next to a school. Lunch time is 2 pm and when all the kids get out of school so there is a lot of foot traffic in that area and the noise of children recounting their exciting experiences at school to their parents. Food is, I would say Asian Fusion, Ivan and I liked our dishes, Bruce did not, his fish tasted fishy and that to us is a sign of not being the freshest, maybe it was, but scary to take a chance.
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| Lexi being either regal or silly, can't decide. |
Met Ivan for lunch at Perro Viejo, translates as Old Dog, which is in an alley next to a school. Lunch time is 2 pm and when all the kids get out of school so there is a lot of foot traffic in that area and the noise of children recounting their exciting experiences at school to their parents. Food is, I would say Asian Fusion, Ivan and I liked our dishes, Bruce did not, his fish tasted fishy and that to us is a sign of not being the freshest, maybe it was, but scary to take a chance.
Bruce and I had an argument over the elevator. Arguments are pretty rare for us, so Ivan had to explain to him “the Spanish way” of construction and I agreed to lunch for that reason, and of course, to see Ivan again because he’s been incredibly busy. Bruce has been a renovator and knows what it takes to get the job done in Canada. Here it is different, I’ve seen people have hour long conversations over the smallest thing, and that will happen with this install between the constructor and the elevator installation people.
Bruce has decided to ship the totally unfinished project of a miniature train set from Canada to here. So in aid of that he wanted to visit a toy store on the other side of San Francisco plaza, nice to be in that more touristy area of town for a day. Toy store not so interesting to me but I crossed over to the Ines Rosales store www.inesrosales.es. I’ve heard, read about, this true Sevilliano product they have had for years but never really knew what it was about. Their main product is an olive oil fried disk with variations mostly sweet, but they have a savoury product, I bought the Rosemary and Thyme version, tasted the regular, original version in store. While I applaud the company and it’s history, can’t say their products are a favourite of mine.
So as I’ve said Ivan is now selling real estate, here is his website, www.instahome.es he asked for input on a marketing campaign to English people and talking about business of any sort gets me interested so did my best to respond. He will take my suggestions with a grain of salt or try them out, up to him, honoured to be asked.
He dropped off a large aloe vera plant for us! It’s lovely and he thought ahead enough to the size of pot and amount of soil so that I could manage carrying it. When the elevator goes in (you’ll be reading that a lot, already have) it may live upstairs on the patio but for now it’s on our front porch. Nice to have greenery out there again. When we moved in there was a plant which I enjoyed but the former owner came and retrieved it one day which I thought was a little cheap until she explained it was a gift, okay then.
Thursday we meet Ryan and Angela and walk to Bar Tino where Alonso works now. Remember the bar he used to work at closed and last year before we left he gave us his phone number. I thought it a bit strange since we don’t speak Spanish and he speaks no English, but Ryan phoned him and located him, we went with them to see him and say hi to our good friend. Today it was so good to see him! and Manolo the manager! Big hugs from him, kisses and mi amigo (Bruce) mi amiga (me), multiple times while there. The four of us were having a tapa and along come Paula and Paul! Their neighbourhood is about two blocks away so they join us for a new to them Tinto de Verano and talk about their four day trip to Rome they just returned from. Angela does a sneaky move and goes in to pay the bill, a trick I “taught” her since I’ve done it before. Alonso says to her, have you talked to Bev? She’s going to be really, really mad at you!!! That just shows how well he knows us.
Ryan and Angela, bought a combo raclette and fondue pot set
Bruce had decided to do a fondue for Christmas Eve day when Ryan and Angela are coming to celebrate with us. So they did the research and it arrived. We all decided it needed to be tested ahead of time ;) so they came for a late lunch on Saturday. We grilled many types of cheese they had brought, jamon, chorizo, had raw veggies on the side, and Angela kept saying “I’m so Excited!!!!!” Clapping her hands.
Rocio had been in to clean and discovered the main light in the kitchen had burned out, we had a spare, so engaged Ryan to install, being the tallest person in the house. But it didn’t work so now we have only the light over the stove argh!!!!
Anyway that didn’t stop us having a wonderful lunch/dinner party. Angela did the dishes with me holding a flashlight, lovely, or not.
Rocio had been in to clean and discovered the main light in the kitchen had burned out, we had a spare, so engaged Ryan to install, being the tallest person in the house. But it didn’t work so now we have only the light over the stove argh!!!!
Anyway that didn’t stop us having a wonderful lunch/dinner party. Angela did the dishes with me holding a flashlight, lovely, or not.
Sunday we met up with Paula and Paul for a long awaited tour of the Art Market, Museo Plaza. It’s been rained out the last few weeks so it was nice to be able to go. They enjoyed it and we spoke to several artists, as we do and met a new fellow who is named Anthony but goes by Tono? Think I’ve got that right. Anyway he works with teenagers and had trained in England, excellent English and entertaining fellow.
Natalia was there, she did the commissioned painting for us and was telling us she has less time to paint due to her very active four year old.
We went to La Chala for lunch and carried on the conversation, hard to walk and talk and look at art at the same time, rubbing your belly and chewing gum kind of thing, so sitting down and actually conversing was good.
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| Christmas lighting strung across our street (and all streets in Sevilla) |
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| Detail, beautiful I think! |
Merry Christmas from us to you and your families!!
Cheers, Bx2 and Lexi Cat
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