Textbook Spanish only gets you so far. ¡Hola! ¡Adiós! ¡Buenos Tardes! ??? Hereabouts, in the Zona Media of Navarra (Estella – Tafalla/Olite – Sangüesa, roughly) – and northwards, the universal hello/goodbye seems to be … Well, until a few days ago, I just couldn’t make out what word or words were being said, by almost everyone, so casually and at any occasion. But then I was in Estella …
Continue reading →Napal is a tiny hamlet at the head of a very narrow valley hemmed in on both sides by steep wooded slopes and cliffs. Above the hamlet there is a remarkable rock formation – a slab of limestone half a kilometre long, fifty metres wide, and perhaps twenty to thirty metres high. The south face is impossibly hot in summer, so now that temperatures are milder, that’s where Catherine and Ion would be climbing today.
Continue reading →Enaut’s birthday – and he’s twice as old as he was this time last year. That’s right – he’s two!
Continue reading →In Uist, roofs are kept low, simple and solid : anything else will result in disaster. TV antennae are installed within the roof void. As for Navarra, well anything goes, from higgeldy-piggeldy ancient, to the self-conscious contemporary.
Continue reading →J > It’s already two weeks since I travelled here to San Martín de Unx, Navarra, from the Outer Hebrides. I’ve travelled on my own this time. This year, no-one was availabe to the boots of us both. There’s building work to our house here in Navarra that needs my supervision ; so D has stayed home to look after all the animals (and lots of other things, besides, I hasten to add – before D does!).
Continue reading →J > Here’s Lur with our grandson Enaut (now nearly two years old), waiting for Catherine and I to finish fiddling with phones and set off for our walk up round the old castle ground up at the top of the hill, here in San Martín de Unx. But first we need to put shoes on Enaut!
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Enaut : Making child safety paraphanalia look cool
At the Eroski supermarket in Tafalla – browsing speciality cheeses, especially those from here in Navarra.
But look there! A cheese from the UK ?
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Isle of Barra – Tràigh Eais : Sanderlings
An Gàrradh Mòr : West Kilbride sunset from our bedroom window
This is how we dry lemon verbena. We select long green stems (no brownish hardwood) with tender leaves, and load them into a dehydrator, if necessary cutting up the stems to the length of the unit. We set the controls to 45degC (definitely not more than 50degC) and the timer for 12-14 hrs (usually overnight). The leaves should be just crisp – not even slightly leathery – and the stems will just withstand a little bending. Run the tips of thumb and two fingers along the lengths of the stems, stripping off the leaves into a bowl : and then fill air-tight jars over the bowl, to avoid bits going everywhere. It’s important to get the dried leaves sealed in the jars whilst they are still warm – before they get a chance to re-hydrate with moisture in the air. With the leaves stored in a cool dark cupboard, unopened, these leaves will keep for nine months to a year without significant loss or spoiling of flavour.
Continue reading →This past week we went away for mini-break in the nearby islands of Barra and Vatersay : across the sea lunchtime on Wednesday, back on Thursday evening. Micro-break would be more accurate! It was the first time we’ve taken the motorhome on a ferry since it first arrived in Uist in May. In fact it’s the first time we’ve been by ferry to another island of the Outer Hebrides, outside the causeway-linked islands of Uist, for about five years, and Barra for maybe seven years! And Vatersay? – Never!
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