BCN

Hola Blogers,

Just a few photos from the beautiful Barcelona. The first is the Tibidado church which is the one perched high on top of the mountain overlooking the city. If you've been to BCN I'm sure you will have seen it - especially at night. I like the fatct that it has a mini, Rio de Janiero style, Jesus on its roof as it reminds of my days in Brazil. So much has happened and changed since I was in Rio, but that journey brought me here so its nice to have a reminder close by.

The second photo is taken inside the courtyard of the gothic cathedral in the centre of the old town.

We are going to the farm this weekend. I doubt I'll bring back ridiculous quantities of veg this time though - I'll be in Peru on Wednesday so I won't have time to cook it all. It will pain me to see the fields full of veggies and know that I can't take any. I'll just ahve to eat as nay as possible over the weekend at the farm.

Have a good bank holiday weekend.

Un beso,

S xx

Fingersmith - Sarah waters

Hola Blogers,

I have just finished reading a fantastic book and I thought I'd recommend it to you. Its called Fingersmith and its by Sarah Waters (of Tipping the Velvet fame). I belive its been dramatised and shown on TV so you may have heard of it, read it or seen it. I'm not normally one for finishing books very quickly as I have a short attenton span. It normally takes me weeks and weeks. However, with this book, I found that I was constantly thinking of when I could next fit in a reading session, and I read it in a week.

Its basically about the life of a poor orphan girl who grows up in the Borough in London in the late 1800's. However, her life turns upside down when she finds herself involved with a rich family in a mansion in Marlow. Its got everything a good book should have - sex, deceit, murder, love, suspense. There are two major twists in the story and the best thing is that you really don't see them coming.

Right, I am now going to choose my next book. Any suggestions?

S xx

Semana Santa

Hola Blogers,I hope you all had a good easter - or Semana Santa as it is known here. We drove down to my apartment on the south east coast and saw the processions in the city of Murcia. They are listed as being one of the top five of all of the processions in Spain (the famous ones of Seville being number one). I spent Semana Santa in Seville about 15 years ago and that really is a must see. Murcia doesn't come close to the drama of Seville but it was still worth seeing and very special.Semana Santa processions don't exactly induce a carnival atmosphere - as most street processions around the world do. They are quite somber affairs. Spain, unlike England, has done well not to commercialise the religious festivals. The religious aspect of the festival is everything here. In fact, in Murcia, and I suspect all over Spain, the festival is totally religious and there is no sign of commercialisation at all. No hideous hot dog stalls, or drunken heaps of teenagers littering the streets. Instead, crowds of people out with their entire families calmly watching the processions and, I suspect, thinking about their lives. I say this because, although I cannot profess to be a mind reader, I know thats what I was thinking about. You can't help but reflect when you see hundreds of local poeple walking by with bare feet and carrying crosses! Some have only one cross, but many have up to four. Jose explained this to me. Basically, the people carrying the crossed (and their are hundreds) are people who feel they have comitted a sin and want to repent. If they are carrying more crosses then they have obviously comitted more than one sin or maybe one sin but a really serious one - hence they want to suffer more by carrying more weight. So, as I said, it kind of gets you thinking as to how many crosses you should be carrying!S xx

Paradise

This is going to be me in a few months - perched on the top of a cliff watching the sun set over the famous volcanoe off the coast of Santorini. We have just confirmed the booking for our honeymoon and these are a couple of pictures from their website. The pictures are actually a lot wider on their webite and you can see a lot more. I don't know why they have come out so squashed up here.

We are both so excited about the honeymoon. We were buying new bikinis and swimming shorts yesterday after having confirmed the booking. Its going to be amazing. I'm sure I'll have lots more photos to upload once we return.

S xx

Our father, who art in heaven.....

Hola blogers,

Made a few promises to God at the weekend .......in relation to the guidance and teaching of my niece Isabella. Jose and I are her godparents and it was her baptism last Sunday. The poor thing was full of cold, as was the whole family, so she wasn't as angelic as she can be. I did the ritual draping of the shawl over her and Jose held the candle that was lit for her. It was quite amusing to see Jose squirm when the Father gave Jose the candle and started blessing it. The ceremony involves quite a few responses from the parents and the godparents and Jose was panicking in case the Father was going to expect him to respond to any blessings at this point - in solo. Nothing like that was required though so his "Can you repeat plesase Father" wasn't rolled out.

On Monday morning we went up to the statley home where we are having our wedding reception, to look over the terraces and lawns where the drinks and marquee will be situated. We were both very happy and excited after seeing it all again. We can't wait!

Jose was subjected to his first night out in Leeds last Saturday. It was doing itself proud with herds of hen parties and other ridiculously clothed (barely) young girls. Everyone seriously drunk and talking to everyone else in the street. You can't beat that Northern confidenceand humour. Jose was actually loving it and said he could live there. He likes the fact that everyone has "got balls" as he put it. He's certainly not wrong. I quashed any silly idfeas of living there though - the weather is just unbearable for me.

Unlike in Leeds, the sun has continued to shine here for the last few weeks. In fact, yesterday I was sat on the beach! We went down to a village just south of Valencia because Jose had a meeting down there. While he worked, I went for an hour long walk along the sea front and then bought myself a plastic chair and took to the beach with my book for a couple of hours. There were people in bikinis and people swimming. I personally woudn't go that far just yet - but it was certainly warm enough to be sitting there in a t shirt reading. What a hard life I have!

This weekend is our first weekend in a long time which we have to ourselves. We are looking forward to being able to lie in bed, go shopping, watch videos, eat out ....all the normal weekend things. We have been in the company of others at the weekend for what seems like forever. Mum says my life always ends up like that. I think I am probably to blame as Jose is often commenting on how he thinks I need to learn how to do nothing. I like to be busy and sociable you see. I get my quiet me time through the week though so I don't think there is anything to worry about - only Jose's stress levels (whoops!).

Oh I am sporting my engagement ring now! So, I'm taking peoples' eyes out left right and centre. It had been waiting in England because the wedding band was being made to fit next to it. Picked it up from my sister's safe last weekend. Hurrah!

S xx