Fiesta in Fuengirola

What a brilliant day my husband and I had on Saturday! We decided to wander through the town we have our business in - Fuengirola.... and it was a Spanish holiday. All the men, women and children were dressed in their truly amazing Spanish costumes!What a sight. Every avenue and lane we went down was teeming with stunning women! What a love about the Spanish women is that they really enjoy being women and are not ashamed of their womanly proportions and celebrate their femininity to the maximum!
Here are a few examples... enjoy!

 We loved watching the men and women performing impromptu flamenco dancing in the street.

Buterfly Park Benalmadena Costa Del Sol

In August we had family visiting from the UK. My daughter, and her four daughters spent three weeks' here in Spain with my husband and I. The girls just loved the sea and the pool at the villa - they thoroughly enjoyed their stay.

One really great outing we did together was the Butterfly Park at Benalmadena

Here are some pictures of the day.......

 There was truly such a variety of beautiful butterflies. The largest butterfly collection in the world (I believe)

Taking a scenic walk from our villa

I really enjoy walking around our area. Even though we live on a mountain and the walks can be pretty steep, it is very quiet and almost feels as though one is alone in the world. I love the birdsong, the beetles that rub their wings together and make that piercing sound. We used to have the same sounds back in South Africa, and when we went to England I missed that sound and the blazing heat the most!
Here are some pic's of the walk leading down to the beach.

This is the area we live in (Torreblanca Heights)

Glorious flowers

I have been taking pictures of the vibrant flowers and plants in our area. The sun seems to bring out the most amazing colours! Here are a few I snapped last night.

Rain falling in the distance as the sun was setting

Family Time

Our son, Matthew and his wife, Leanne and their two children, Olivia and Joshua have been visiting from England. It has been such a special  time with them.
Joshua, who is five months now, is such a little character! When we left 3 months' ago, he was a little baby; now he gurgles and rolls around and smiles. Too sweet.
Olivia has become a big girl as well.
They have enjoyed swimming and going for short tours  around the area.

And so to sleep!

Spanish Luxuries

One of the many things I just love about living in Spain are the pastries! That's right - we have the sun the sea blue skies forever, but to top all of  this is the amazing pastries!

Yesterday I came down to the office and started trawling through all my work, when my husband arrived carrying a tray of amazing pastries.He'd made a quick stop at the Panaderia a few blocks away from the office and bought breakfast - YUM!

It is beyond belief! I had to go for a brisk walk after eating it, but it was all well- worth it.

Here is a little glimpse of pastry heaven!

Taking a walk through Mijas

On Sunday morning Luke, Katie and myself went for a drive up the mountain to Mijas. Katie had been on a holiday with her parents and the age of ten. I decided to take her down memory lane!

It was extremely hot, but the sights around the little village are beautiful. We stopped to have an ice-cream and take photo's of the donkeys. We felt dreadfully sorry for their plight (see below)

"SEPE campaigned hard to end the barbaric treatment by the operators and it also held a public demonstration to bring about them coming under the control of the local Ayuntamiento veterinarian.
SEPE was backed by over 40 national and international charities and the media throughout Spain. The new agreement also included that the operators had to keep their donkeys within new published guidelines or they would lose their license, which appears uncontrolled and these long suffering donkeys certainly deserved much more.
The new mayor Antonio Sánchez has however informed SEPE that he is fully determined that the Ayuntamiento of Mijas take the reports of abuse seriously and there has now been someone appointed to take control of this who will be meeting with SEPE to discuss new measures." http://www.sepeonline.net/_content/sepe/?p=21

I wonder what those poor donkeys are thinking as they stand there day after day and have to endure all kinds of cruelties?

We finally wended our way down the mountain to a much-needed swim and cold-drink!