4 out of 5

Last Friday my middle daughter, Kiah, joined us here in Spain. She had stayed behind in England for a few weeks to get her results from her A-level exams. Having received them (fantastic results of course!) and had the requisite party with her friends that night, she boarded the plane the next day to leave the cold and rain behind her and come to where it is sunny and HOT. Now we just need to get my oldest here for the family to be complete. I do not know when this may happen, but hope that in the not too distant future that she also decides to come and give living here a try. I am happy with 4 of the 5 members of our family here, but will most happy when all of us are together again. It is hard on a mama to have her young ones so far away. I imagine it gets easier over time but it is still so new and feels quite strange.

Saturday after Kiah arrived we went to the last day of Feria so that she could experience it. I must admit that I am a bit relieved it is done for this year. It is a lot of fun - but this old lady can only handle so much fun before it takes it toll. The me of my youth would hang her head in shame to hear this, but I am happy to be able to appreciate the calm and quiet as much as the party time.

Sunday was my birthday which we celebrated with a day at the beach, followed by a lovely dinner out and then delicious gluten free cake made to order from a local bakery. We are very lucky that not only do we have a good bakery here in town (apparently good bread bakers are hard to come by in Spain according to others who live here) but that the baker also does gluten free breads and cakes. It was a fantastic birthday and has set the mood for a wonderful year ahead. Big and exciting things on the horizon.

We are still waiting for our things to arrive from England. They are due to arrive in the area by the end of the week. If all goes well we will be ready to have them delivered by early next week. It will be wonderful to have them all, but the most coveted of all the items is our washing machine. We have discovered that there is no such thing as a self service laundry in the area. Having been on the road camping and travelling in a hot car for over a week, and then being here at the finca where it is dry and dusty for another week we were in desperate need of doing laundry. Much to our dismay we soon found that if we did not have our own washing machine our options were limited to paying someone €15 per load (not a good option when you have 5-6 loads!) or do it by hand. Being the frugal folks we are, the latter option won out. 2 days and very sore arms later we had lovely clean(ish) clothes and sheets. Luckily we will not have to repeat this ordeal even when we are still waiting for our machine. In a stroke of total kismet, while out for dinner on my birthday Axel got to chatting with the owner of the restaurant and mentioned that we had been washing our laundry by hand. She generously offered to let us bring it to her and she would do it for us - for free! Of course we want to give her something for her time and effort, but how great is that? Such a lovely and welcomed gift!

That is about it for now. It is hard for me to know what sort of things you are wanting to know about in updates. My health is good, we are slowly getting our bearings here and planning what our first steps towards getting this project going will be. I have been a bit slack on posting primarily because it is just so peaceful here that being on the computer feels odd, but also because in the day to day of life it is difficult to know what those who read will find interesting and what will be mundane. I find joy in walking up and down the drive late at night after the hot sun has gone done and in reading my book in the shade during the hot afternoon. Everything is new and yet familiar at the same time. Let me know what sort of things you are wanting to hear about and I will work to post more.