Hi! It is 'Martes'

 

 

 

This week's dyptich is composed of two pictures I made last Sunday.

In our coastal village we have some lovely beach clubs and we were having dinner in one of them. From a former visit I remembered there was a huge poster on a frame of a saddhu. When I first saw it I had no possibilities to make a photograph, but this time I took my camera

 

The dinner was to celebrate father's day (without kids, for they live abroad). My husband is of Indian ancestry and though I never went to India myself, I have a keen interest in various topics 'India', it intrigues me, hence the saddhu choice.

 

In the same beach club there are several 'rangoli', painted in white on the concrete floor. Rangoli is an art form, originating in India, in which patterns are created on the floor in living rooms or courtyards. Its purpose is mainly decoration (Wikipedia)

 

 

The food was excellent, as was the service!

All in all this was a very successful Father's Day,in a relaxed beachy atmosphere...

 

Thanks for now,

 

Regina

 



Martes!

 

 

Hi there!

 

 

 

Another week has passed by, time seems to run from Tuesday to Martes...

 

Above is a close-up view of one of the lavender plants in our garden. We have several of them, some of these already very old.

 

When we came to live here, the plants had been neglected and I remember going to the garden centre and asking whether it would be possible to prune them (I had no idea!):

"Oh no, you have to buy new ones, old plants can by no way be pruned".

 Now for me this is the right attitude to become suspicious and we thought: why not try it first? Of course we can always buy new ones in case our actions become disastrous.

And so we did: the plants were pruned by my DH and until today they seem to have appreciated his treatment. They flourish as never before!

 

The second little photo is of a fisherman's boat that we discovered at a very secluded little bay in our village. It is called Pirate Bay and with some fantasy you can imagine that various illegal things can happen there. In the past, but also these days with more and more immigrants from North Africa crossing the Mediterranean...

 

The only possible handicap is that there is no road close by, just a small canyon with abundant shrubs and woodland. Such a canyon is called a 'barranc' in Spanish

Barranc de la Viuda

 

  Cala Llebeig aka Pirate Bay

 

 You see what I mean?

 

with just a little fantasy...

 

Thanks for visiting today,

 

Regina



Chiringuito's

After a hot summer day in Spain, it is always good chilling

in one of the many chiringuito's

that are on the coast...

 

 like this one,

between the lovely village of Moraira

 

 

somewhere in between

 

 

 where young and old come for a

refreshment and some music...

 

 

with in the distance the next city,

Calpe

 

More on these lovely beach businesses here:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chiringuito

 

Greetings from Spain,

 

Regina

Spain report: colours!

HI!

After a long break due to vacations, I am finally back on my blog. It has been a very wonderful, great trip we made throughout the Northern coastal provinces of Spain. While I am still full of all the beauty this landscape offered us, I am slowly getting back into my normal rhythm again and even finished sorting out all images I made.

So, because I am so happy to be able to post again, I will start with some very colorful, sea related images. Whereas in the Caribbean  life was full with vibrant colours, life in Spain normally is more natural, e.g. the colours of rocks, earth, wood play the leading role here. Though I love a neutral colorscheme very much, I now have a longing for the abundancy of real colours, so here they come:

this colorful fisherman's tool we spotted in a almost completely grey little harbour

in Asturias

 



 

a group of guides getting instructions,

Playa As Catedrais, Galicia

 

 

more tools, like in picture 1

 

 

my private Bay Watch! He was not very busy that day, for the water was cold...!

Saturraran, Asturias

 

 

What else do you need?

Cap Agustin, Asturias

 

I hope you liked this first issue of my travel report, more will follow soon

Thanks for visiting, grtz,

 

Regina

Looking out for this

 

 

Hi!

 

Again it has been too long that I posted here, but I had my reasons...

Five weeks ago I fell over ' I don't know what' and seriously bruised my right hand fingers and broke a tooth.

 

The repair works have taken lots of time, visiting the dentist every week for a root canal session and temporary crown. Visiting the trauma surgeon for my fingers. My middle finger had a joint out of its place and had to be immobilized after it had been put right again. At this time it is still taped to the index finger and I have to exercise as much as possible.

Until now I have always enjoyed a very good health, so for me this was quite an experience, and not a nice one. At the same time I realize how lucky I always have been and still am, compared to people who have ongoing health issues. I hope and expect that I will be able to bend my fingers to an acceptable level again.

 

So, in between feeling miserable for not being able to use my hand, I have been reading and, oh happy day!, preparing our first trip with the Roadtrek  motorhome, after four long years!

 

We have plans to travel through Spain in some weeks and the above beach is one that is on our list.

 

It is Cathedral beach at the Gallician coast near the city of Lugo.

 

I look forward to this trip so much. My DH has converted the electrical system from US to European. Our generator, boiler and microwave have also been replaced, so everything should be ready for, I hope, many travels here on the European mainland.

 

But starting in Spain first, our lovely 'new' home country

 

Hope to be back soon...

Regina

Coastal walk

view from the path below the coastal road, 

Moraira in the distance

Finally, I had made time for a walk last Sunday. My goal was an English bar, where we had a coffee last week. They have a place inside that is full with books for swapping. Most of the books are in English, but every now and then there is one in Dutch. Last week I discovered a thriller that I would like to read, so I asked the  bartender if I could take it now and bring in another book one of the next days. "No problem", he said. 

To get on the lovely coastal road, I just have to leave our street, take a right and then a left and there you are: it looks like the French Riviera! Our municipality had made a good sidewalk, so many pedestrians, runners etc. enjoy it while being close to the sea, it is lovely. The statue below is something you cannot miss. It sits at a good spot, the persons seems to be looking at the bay of Moraira.

this statue is of rusty iron, a material that is also used for the statues on the many roundabouts in our village. They seem to be from the same artist, something I want to find out next...

The picture below shows the coastline as you can see when looking in the opposite direction. There are three or four sandy beaches in our village, but all along the coast you can discover little, secluded and mostly rocky places where you can go for a swim or snorkeling. These 'cala's' are not visible when driving on or walking along the winding road. To reach them you have to go down steps that are hardly visible, you have to discover them yourself and I love that! This ensures that these tiny, stony beaches are mostly quiet and very clean.

The coastal path is even more beautiful once you leave the village of Moraira and enter Benissa. There starts an ecological path between this city and the city of Calpe. The famous Penon d'Ifach rock is to be seen on the last picture in the upper left corner.

When my son was here a few weeks ago, we started that walk in Calpe towards Moraira.

More on that next time!

Bye for now,

Regina

Never Boring

  to me, never boring is a visit to the French village of Grand Case

On one side there is main street, Grand Case Promenade, with its quaint boutiques and many, many restaurants...

from where you can see this amazing view, the Caribbean Sea this is, oh yes!

nearly all houses in Grand Case were once built  along the beach, but most of these have been turned into restaurants over time

life seems easy here, what more could someone need but a hammock?

and a little terrace for a morning coffee and to watch the sunset at night...

'Don't worry, bout a thing

Cause everything s gonna be alright...'

For now I leave you with these words of the famous Bob Marley song in my mind

Thanks for visiting!



Wabi sabi shell garland

For years I have been collecting shells, bits and pieces of coral, stone and all things washed ashore by sea and ocean

finally I made something out of these, a garland for our home, to be taken with us to our new home in Spain. It will forever remind us of our time in the Caribbean...

you can see the imperfection of the shells and other pieces. Making this a true wabi sabi piece. I like imperfection, it could tell a story. I like stories; do you?

Thanks for visiting, as always,

Regina



Caribbean Lovelies

Baie des Froussards

Yesterday I took a walk with a friend and we discovered one of the beaches at the French side of the island. To our very surprise it was chockful of beauty, hardly any human waste to be found which is pretty uniqye!

we stumbled upon this beach as it we intended to take a different route, but the sound of the sea seemed to surround us and we were curious to see this exact location...

there was an abundance of the most beautiful compositions, made by nature...

this was the view of the beach as we entered it through a small path, shaded by bushes

this leaves me speechless, so I continue without further comment (some pics are clickable!)

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

A perfect day

on this perfect beach on the island of

Sint Maarten

swimming, sunbathing, reading,

no time to blog!

That will follow in the days to come!

A Rasta day

Last week we spent a lovely day at one of the beaches at the French side of the island.

This one is 'famous' for it's rastafarian style, it's atmosphere and this time everything had been repainted freshly and refurbished in rasta colours!

I was in a brave mood and succeeded to overcome my reluctance/hesitation/maybe even fear and asked this very friendly waiter if I could take his picture. Upon asking 'Why?' I simply answered: 'Because of your beautiful smile!'

the way old soda and beer cans are being used again: ashtrays for the beach-guests

Kali's Beach Bar, Friar's Bay, St. Martin

a tad pricey, but surely worth a visit!

In the art field I am preparing for Art in the Park next Sunday. This time I will mainly be showing collage work, which is a first here.

A good Wednesday!

Regina

Just black and white please

maybe because the Sint Maarten weather is grey these days,

as much as I love colours, sometimes it is only neutrals that I want...

driftwood from the beach

detail of a journal page

Australian island with river

detail of safari style cushion

and finally some other beach finds

Thanks for visiting, enjoy your day!

Regina