Solar energy and more...

 

 

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Hi there!

 

 

This has been another busy week in the field of renovating...!

 

Our kitchen is almost finished, pictures follow when it is really done, I promise.

 

 

Then next week the solar panels will be placed on the roof, which to me seems quite an operation.

A total of six panels will be placed on one of our three south-facing roofs. The boilers for the underfloorheating and sanitary water have been placed in the underbuild yesterday. What you see in the dyptich above to the left are spare rooftiles that we got from our former landlord, how great is that?! Since the house is about forty years old, we expect more tiles to break during the upcoming operation...however, mr R has got some more.

 

To the right is a new load of almonds, fresh from the Spanish trees. All right, it takes a bit of work to crack them (with a hammer), but they are pure, without conservatives or any other chemicals, so we will happily use them in the period to come. Maybe I will do some baking with these, in my new kitchen of course, ahum...

 

Goodies from Spain...so happy to be here, where the sun is shining during the day, where even in November/December you can have a sun shower, despite cold evenings and nights...

 

Enjoy your weekend, thanks for visiting,

 

Regina

Work in progress...

 (image is clickable)

...but where to find it?

 

 

The first picture of this dyptich shows a project that I was working on at the time we made our move from St. Maarten to Europe. It consists of strips of recycled fabric hand sewn on a cotton basis with embroidery yarn; I was inspired by the lovely panels that Judy Martin makes. It is such a splendid way to recycle all kind of fabrics, the many fabrics that we all seem to have lying around...I am fond of recycling, and you??

 

The only thing is: how to find it? I am pretty sure that it is not in the boxes, but might linger somewhere here in the apartment. So I start my search tomorrow, for it could be the perfect project to continue and maybe even finish while waiting for my studio to be renovated. Slowly I am getting more time for my passions, my interests.

I'll keep you posted!

 

Regina

Vintage find

 

Finally something textile related...

 

Yesterday I went to the local charity shop. They were busy closing the shop, but I could have a quick  look nevertheless...

 

My eyes found a stand with scarves, on which this beauty was hanging

 

 

Not necessary to beg me: "take me home!", for I fell in love with every little detail ...

the colours, the design (must have to do something with the patches, don't you think?)

I suddenly remember seeing this kind of long rows of stitches in the early textile works of Kit Vincent...so there is a link with quilts somewhere! By now I also know that this surface treatment (or quilting two layers with long regular stitches without a batting in between is called Kanta work and originates from India

 

 

The stitches in long rows seem to layer a kind of haze on the fabrics, that also unifies the separate colours

 

 

And now, for 1 euro only, she is mine...and I am so happy with this new addition to my wardrobe!

 

Have a wonderful weekend and thanks for stopping by!

 

Regina

 

 

Palmtree care

 (images are clickable)

A pigeon made its nest in this palmtree of our neighbours... so it was time for some special care and maintenance

 

 

since I have always wondered how the shape is made that you can see around here often, a kind of ball shape it is in the top (last photograph), I was happy to discover the gardener this morning and I took some pics...

 

btw: I love the man's bag...!

 

 

up close you can see that some upkeeping is really necessary. Many palm trees in our region have been destroyed by the red palmbeetle that also has a good nesting ground in these dead materials. There are two big palm trees in our own garden that we treat with chemicals on a regular basis to prevent these beauties from dying. Fortunately the neighbours also seem to take good care of theirs...

 

Enjoy your Monday!

 

Regina



Cold in Spain

 

... and it seems we need to look for our gas stove!

 

Last week the temperature here at the Costa Blanca dropped from 26 to 12 degrees Celsius. In the mountainous region behind the coast there has even been heavy snowfall last night... Oh boy, that is not what we came to Spain for. I can only hope that the salty Meditarenean Sea will prevent to let that happen here! Meanwhile I have found warm sweaters, boots and leggings, so we are safe ;-).

 

The cold weather is a bit too early, because our solar heating system is not yet ready. The entrance of the workshop that I mentioned here is now prepared to bring the waterbasins in. It is a huge improvement to be able to enter this space in a normal way, instead of climbing as a burglar...!

We hope that the technical equipment can be installed next week, so that we can gradually heat up the floor. The good thing is, that although it is cold, the sun is mostly shining during the day, even in winter.

 

The storyboard above has nothing to do with all this; with some fantasy I could tell that the cool colours reflect the current weather and the red poppy detail the Spanish sun, but that, of course, is BS.

However, it is always nice to accompany words with a picture, albeit details of former paper collages...

 

Thanks for visiting, as always

 

Regina

Workshop

 

Hi visitor!

 

 

On this cold day in Spain, it is perfect weather to have a job done that was in the planning for some time...

 

The underbuild of our villa consists, apart from a rather big appartment, of a large undeveloped space that we intend to turn into the perfect workshop for Mr MT!

It will also house the technical equipment of our solar heating system, but before the two water containers can be placed, the entrance needs to be enlarged and, ahum, sophisticated. So our Spanish friend R. is helping with his mega tools, we are so happy that we met a year ago, can you imagine?

 

The picture shows the line in the natural stone wall that has to be cut, it will also be possible to enter the workshop with a wheelbarrow.

 

As far as the kitchen is concerned: the cupboards have been placed, the 'marmolista' has been taken measures for the granite countertops. It will take about a week to prepare these and after positioning the kitchen supplier will take over and finish everything. It looks promising already! And amazing how a space that is not too big, can appear so much larger with furniture in it, I'm not sure if it is just the effect of the white cupboards...the kitchen will be white with black countertops and the terracotta floor...of course. I'll keep you posted, promise! 

 

Thanks for coming over,

 

Regina

Finding it, eventually...

 

 

 

 

Hi all,

 

 

While I have nothing artistic to offer until today, I like to update you on recent developments in the culinary field. I wonder if anyone 'out there' knows the substance on the Moroccan plate in the picture...?

 

Let me tell the story from the beginning. Lately I have a renewed interest in cooking, new and delicious recipes that is, prepared in a very, very mindful way! As a child I was never allowed to be in the kitchen when my mother was cooking. She got nervous with us around her in the tiny kitchen of that time and I never had a problem with that. It just resulted in the fact that when I went to live on my own, I could hardly boil an egg!!! That was no problem either, because my first jobs were in the hospital field and we were taken care of as far as cooking was concerned.

 

Then I met my husband, at age 18. He was from a far away island in the Caribbean, and he was from an Indian family, OMG! Those facts changed a lot: he taught me to cook chicken curry, to prepare delicious hot stuff to put on bread for lunch and I was lost for Dutch cooking for a while. It also was the time that all kind of exotic fruits and vegetables, including herbs and spices came on the European market because of the many immigrants.

 

We bought our first house, I had a new small kitchen for the first time and we were newly weds: I remember a lot of cooking, staying up late at night and making all kind of delicious foody things to accompany our drinks... it also was the era of fondue, at least in the Netherlands.

 

Skipping a few decades until present days, my interest in cooking has been revived again. It might have been caused by our new kitchen, the fourth one in my life. It is being installed on the upper floor right now. And I am again perousing, the web this time, for new things to cook. The myriads of recipes available, it is stunning! Which brings me on the spices of the picture: it is mace, or foelie in Dutch, macis in Spanish. It is one of the spices I know my mother always used, but I myself have been cooking without it until now. But in my new efforts to make my own spice mixes, I realized this one was missing, so I needed this mace.

Where to find it, here in Spain? I searched the supermarkets, of course, the little shops that cater the English population, the German shops too, but in the end I found it on the weekly market in our village...! Can you imagine that I felt happy? Never  having really missed this item, and then needing it and voila: finding it at the market! It is the little things that can make someone happy, isn't it? Or am I being silly? Whatever, I look forward to a lot of cooking in my new, state of the art kitchen...

 

Thanks for reading this long story, if you have been,

 

Regina 

Renovation update

Hi!

Some posts ago I promised pictures of where the house is now, after 6 months of renovation...

 

 

Of all houses we have lived in, I fell in love with something, it could be an entrance, the light falling through the windows, you know what I mean?

In our Spanish house, it was this veranda, we call it a naya here. If for me, we would not have changed anything. But, the floor was old, though it looks pretty good here, but it was also cold...! And because we were not wanting to have cold feet ever again, after last winter, the cold tiles had to be removed, from this floor what will be our main residence.

 

 

The tiling of the first floor had to be provided with floor heating and after that: new tiles

In the above picture you can see the concrete that is covering the tubes of the underfloor heating, that will be powered by the sun. Solar panels plus a pellet stove will be installed within a few weeks

 

The last photo shows Mr and son MT some days ago. They have been tiling, grouting and cleaning for two weeks on an end and today the entire upper level's floor is ready!

 

Happy!

 

Enjoy your Sunday,

 

Regina