Jos takes photos

We had a lot of rain, in "sunny" Spain. But every four of five days the sun shines all day, so time for a shadow play . . . Please take good care for you and yours!

Living in and around our house, only going shopping when absolutely needed, I started noticing other things than usual. Looking at the sky for minutes and seeing it changing.  So many clouds, sometimes sunlight breaking through. A world on it's own, for me that is . . . Stay safe!

We are living in the countryside here in Spain. When it's dry we can reach the house using a small road by car, but when it's raining it's important to get the car to the road on top of the hill. Why, because the road changes in to one big muddy place. Although our car has 4 wheel drive it's near to impossible. We've never tried it, but others have and failed. So when coming back from shopping in the rain, we have to leave the car uphill and bring our shoppings walking. Here you see our shoes.  The mud is light so your trousers will be ready for a big wash.  Don't even try to keep them clean, the Spanish mud will win.

Taking photos is fun, anyway for me it is. Taking photos but not of flowers, nature, bottles. That's boring stuff. That's what I thought.  But Corona, and the Spanish government and our common sense, are keeping us at home. So what to do? Yes, taking photo's of our " prison", flowers, nature and bottles.  Bottles? Sure, well it's only one bottle and it's half full or half empty. Who will tell.  Please, all of you there, stay well!!!

We stay and try to stay in Spain. Why? Because we like it here and for now we feel safer here comparing to the Netherlands, including the long and uncertain trip home.  Hopefully no one ever has to know if we're right or wrong. But let’s be honest, situations change quickly now. For now we have to stay as much as possible in our house. Luckily we have a garden so we can do our walking around the house. We are living our life as normal as possible. We use our e-readers a lot, don’t worry, still lots of books left. We have internet so we follow the news, watch (Dutch) TV on our Ipad and try to follow what’s going on. Being more at home, we found out that we had a shortage of washing lines. Until now there is a solution for everything. So for now, everything is "fine". We hope all of you stay well and that when it's all over we can shake hands and kiss each other.

Been to the supermarket.    Not very busy there and most articles are back on the shelfs so for now no more worries about food and toiletpaper.  The supermarket  prefers that you come alone and pay by card. You should keep a distance, about one and a half meter, from other shoppers or staff. If possible you should wear gloves.You'll find them near the bread. People use them here all the time when they taking the bread. They are free and normally are thrown away after taking the bread , but now you better keep them on. It was not very busy in the town, the only shops we saw that were not closed are the supermarket and the gasstation.  You can buy wood  at many places for heating  here, but all of them were closed. So maybe we have to go out tomorrow to buy some gas. 

As most will know, Spain has decided to take drastic measures to stop the spread of COVID-19. For us that means that we can only go to town to do some shopping. And we will have to, because when we heard in the restaurant on Saturday that it would close on Sunday and stay for the time being, the visit to the supermarket turned out to be unnecessary. Most of the shelves were already empty.  Fortunately we have some in the house and tomorrow we will try again. We also considered going back to the Netherlands but decided to stay here for the time being. We are with our car and it is not sure if we can cross the borders everywhere.  The virus is present in the Netherlands and certainly in the area where we live, and the government has also announced measures there. Like the rest of the world, we can't do much more than stick to the rules and hope for better news.

As some of you might know I'm always, as possible, together with my better half who also takes pictures. So to thank her for organising our travels, being a fine compagnon and simply because I love her, here are some of her photo's all taken during the carnaval in Alhaurin el Grande. It was a lovely day and we enjoyed the Carnaval in Alhaurin el Grande

Walking through Malaga, coming back from an appointment with a real estate agent and on my way to another appointment that, like the previous one, later turned out to be completely useless, I saw this and my day was good again. Although I found it interesting to see and photograph, most people just kept on walking. Hurry, on the way to an appointment like me, or is Flamenco's time over for the new generation? Traditions change over the centuries, clothing and fashion undergo the same fate. It must be that way, since it has happened for ages. But despite the two disappointing appointments, this meeting made my day a party.

But also ALE-HO . . . and they really must love dogs, they are everywhere! Lucky me, I like dogs! When I was a kid I had this kind of dog, full of energy and always wanted to play. That is the dog but also the kid, so we were a great team. and what a great place and weather to fix your car!

Spain is goats and great views Spain is a chill place with a great view Spain is soccer field as a great view.

Yes, were on the move again. We changed houses to live even more far from the city. Not all phones have range, for some you have to be on top of the mountain. And it's quiet here. A few other people live there, one of them a friendly English man who showed us the way to the house.  There are orange trees, a river, sun, some wind, yes, paradise. Our paradise for a while, we have agreed to stay here for a week. . .  The neighbour goes to work among the orange trees. It is hard work because the trees are not high, but are on a steep slope. For us it is even difficult to walk down. Fortunately, the way back uphill was   somewhat easier. Maybe a week is much to short/long for a city boy . . . We will find out, hopefully . . .