Spain to end 2011 with its hottest year in five decades...

2011 shows all the signs of closing as Spain’s hottest year since records first began in 1961, with the average temperature for the year until November 30 at 16.7 degrees Centigrade, 0.3 degrees above the previous hottest year of 2006.


                                                                                                 Cooling off in a Cordoba Fountain in June


 It’s 1.49 degrees above the normal average, which takes as a point of reference the period from 1971 to 2000. The AEMET meteorological agency described 2011 as ‘very hot to extremely hot’ for practically all of Spain.

The average temperature for the final quarter of 2011 has also been 1.8 higher than normal, at 17.3 degrees.

The hottest day this year was in Andalucía on August 19 when Morón de la Frontera, Sevilla, reached 42.5 degrees, although there were scorchers in the north at the end of June, when Bilbao and Orense both topped more than 40.                                                                                                                            

The year has also been drier than normal, with rainfall 7% below forecasts. Rainfall up until December 14 was 555 mm per square metre.

The coldest day in Spain this year was meanwhile on January 23 in Molina de Aragón, Guadalajara, when the thermometer dropped to -13.6 degrees Centigrade.

Average temperature - Motril (°C)  on the Sunny Costa Tropical  

       

	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec
Spain	7	7	11	13	16	22	24	24	20	16	10	7
Motril	15	14	17	19	22	27	29	29	26	21	17	15

Our local forecast today is a sunny 15º rising to 18º tomorrow and a high of 21º on Monday.

El Tiempo Motril                    

Dia de los Santos Inocentes.... April Fool's Day

'Day of the Holy Innocents'  

                       is a religious holiday named in honour of the young children who were slaughtered by order of King Herod around the time of Jesus’ birth.  These young victims were called Santos Inocentes or “Holy Innocents” because they were too young and innocent to have committed any sins.

Although the feast remains on the Catholic Liturgical calendar, today the religious aspect has been almost forgotten and the pranks that became popular during the Middle Ages have been combined with winter festivities of pagan origin.   

                                                                                                                          

                     Similar to Halloween, groups of children in towns across Spain used to go from house to house asking for candy or cookies, making noise with spoons and anise bottles, and singing traditional Christmas songs. The name for this is pedir el aguinaldo. The children’s payment or Aguinaldo,  came in the form of sweets, such as mantecados or polvorones. This custom has faded, especially in the large cities, but is still practiced in some of the smaller villages. Bakers in Spain even got into the act by making salty rather than sweet cakes in days gone by.

Today most Spanish children play simple pranks like putting salt in the sugar bowl or sticking paper cut-outs on people's backs. After somebody plays a joke or a prank on somebody else, the joker usually cries out,  "Inocente!"

 These little practical jokes are called Inocentadas.  

                                                                                                     

                                     

                       However, unusual celebrations stemming from ancient traditions continue to be held, such as the “Flour Battle” that takes place in the streets of Ibi, Valencia and the “Crazy People’s Dance” in Jalance, also in Valencia.

In some villages, young boys of a town or village light bonfires and one of them acts as the mayor who orders townspeople to perform civic chores such as sweeping the streets. Refusal to comply results in fines which are used to pay for the celebration.

                       The most unusual celebration takes place in Setiles, where the focus is on the devil and a big Spanish meal for the village’s youth:

Setiles is a tiny town in Castilla-La Mancha. According to Setiles’ website, the festival includes noise making the night before, a mass, a dance, an auction and a man dressed as the devil – complete with horns, a goat’s beard, a wooden sword and a tail.              The day is also known as “Devil’s Day” and the children follow the devil around the town all day, trying to get close enough to pull his tail.                                                       The young men of Setiles go from house to house collecting food “donations” for a feast of their own. Apparently, the “devil” helps the young people convince any reluctant townspeople to donate plenty of food including  chorizo and morcilla sausages, jamon Serrano, bread and more.                                                                    In the past,  the donations were used to prepare and serve only those young men who came of age during the year, as well as the devil himself. However, today all the children of the town are invited to a big meal where cordero asado or cochinillo asado is the main course.

Here on the South Coast,   the Fiesta de Verdiales in Malaga outdoes them all.            It begins around midday at a wayside inn on the old mountain road between Málaga and Antequera. Thousands of people converge on La Venta del Tunel to watch country musicians in 20 groups locked in a contest to see who can play the longest and loudest.

http://www.andalucia.com/festival/verdiales.htm         

The Sierra Nevada........

Facts & Figures......

                                       
   Contains the highest point of continental Spain, Mulhacen, at 3478m.
  The Sierra Nevada observatory is located on the northern slopes at 2800m.
  The Sierra formed 65 to 1.8 million years ago from the collision of the African and Eurasian plates.
 There are more than 100km of slopes.
 Operates 22 ski lifts.
 Has Spain’s largest difference in altitude – 1,200m.
 You can see Africa  from the slopes.
 There are a total of 115 green, blue, red and black slopes.
 The Mirlo Blanco amusement park has an ecological ice-rink and 130m toboggan runs.
 The newly installed Sulayr Superpark has modules for jumps and acrobatics.
 It now hosts the Alpine Skiing speed races.
 On Saturdays you can go night skiing on the El Rio piste.
 The historic city of Granada is located at the foothills only 35 miles away.
 In summer, visitors can go horse riding and cycling.
 It hosts the Por Todo Lo Alto music festival.

Noche Buena ....... Christmas Eve

                                                                         

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.
The children were nestled all snug in their beds……...

What?      Not a chance!.....

Spanish children go to bed when their parents go to bed. If the adults are partying all night, then so are the children.

On Christmas Eve all over Spain, the family gathers together in the grandparents' home, alternating grandparents from one year to another, but all the women and many of the men help in the preparation of the evening meal - a veritable feast - which begins about 10 p.m. and can go on until the small hours.

This meal is one of the most important meals of the year.

  

Seafood is widely eaten and families often hang a ‘pata de jamon’ in their kitchen and slice off cuts of cold ham over the Christmas period.  Slicing the ham is a fine art and not easy to get it as wafer thin as it should be.    

                                                                                

 Some sing carols around the crib of the nativity scene (Belen) which remains without the baby until the stroke of midnight.

                                                                 

 Other families go to midnight Mass but many in modern-day Spain watch the Christmas programmes on TV while washing down Christmas sweetmeats of Turron (similar to nougat, made with toasted, sweet almonds), Mantecas (a range of butter-based biscuits) and  Polverones, (a cake/biscuit made with almonds, flour, and sugar) with Cava (Spanish champagne) after their meal.

 Spaniards' love of good food and wine and the leisurely sharing of it and good company is optimised over the festive period.

Christmas Day, is an altogether quieter day.

While there is some giving of gifts at Christmas these days, particularly to the children, the traditional time of giving and receiving is January the 6th, the Epiphany or "Los Reyes" ("The Kings").
                                                

                                                                    

Christmas is Coming.......

Puddings have been made a while now, the Cake iced and the Christmas Tree hung with lights and red and gold decorations.

Himself is out doing some last minute food shopping and herself will soon be making brandy butter and wrapping gifts ready for Christmas Day. 

The weather is a mild 18 º in the shade, the hot sun glittering on the Mediterranean  and all is peace and quiet. 

Would that I could be taken back to my childhood for a while,  the Salvation Army Band playing Carols outside our house on Christmas Eve.  How magical that would be.   Every Christmas I hoped they would play my favourite, 'It came upon the Midnight Clear', and they usually did.  The front siting room that was only used for  'high days and holidays' would be decorated with the Chinese paper lanterns strung from one side of the room to the other and the Christmas tree, adorned by my mother which became my job as I grew older, sitting in front of the big bay window.  I still have the old, faded, plastic poinsettia lights with their screw in bulbs and they still do light up. 
A lifetime ago.
Such memories. 

Still.... we are fortunate to be having a daughter and son-in-law with us this year on Christmas Day and a very English Christmas it will be,  in spite of the weather.

El Gordo..... The Fat One

The Christmas Lottery

Every December 22^nd,  all over Spain,  people never stray far from a TV or radio,  as the Christmas lottery is played out. 

Everybody in Spain buys tickets for this lottery in the hope of winning and the winning number usually means that a good number of people from the same village become a lot better off overnight.

The Spanish Christmas lottery, El Gordo or 'The Fat One', is the biggest lottery in the world and also one of the oldest, having started in 1812.

While the first prize in 2005 was only 3€ million, El Gordo now has the biggest prize pool of any lottery in the world, this year totaling over two and a half billion euros!

Ticket play numbers range from 00,000 to 84,999. There are 1st, 2nd and 3rd prizes, as well as over one thousand smaller prizes.

Players also win prizes for partially matching the top three winning numbers.
There are 2 huge spheres, one holds wooden balls with the 5 digit numbers on and the other holds balls with the prize amounts.

 The draw takes place with 2 children, each next to one of the spheres.                                                                                     
 One child picks the ball with the prize amount number, while the other child picks the ball with the play number.
They then take the balls over to a table to the official lotto observers loudly singing out the numbers as they go,  and the members of the lottery commission take note of the winning number and corresponding prize.
 The balls are then placed in a type of rack for the records.
This is repeated for hours, with the people watching and waiting for the "Gordo" to appear, until all the prizes are given out and the spheres are empty.

¡ Buen Suerte!

The Alhambra Lions.....

                                       The Lions before being removed for restoration                             



            After four years of meticulous renovation, bystanders thronged outside the crypt of the Palace of Carlos V to witness the gradual return of the 300 kilo lions – one of the most famous sights in the Alhambra Moorish palace and fortress complex.

The Alhambra’s director explained. “Thick layers of lime have been removed, which will help protect against the invasion of biological elements, as well as strengthening several cracks. They have also removed harmful metallic elements, and other adhesives, such as cement.”

Some important discoveries were made during the restoration process. Although the lions appear to be identical, they bear distinct characteristics.

The restoration project was not limited to just the lions. Thanks to a major investigation begun in 2002, the entire patio has undergone significant changes.
The patio will open to the public next spring, with a new, white marble floor that will allow visitors to approach the fountain, which has been inaccessible to tourists since the 1990s.

The archeological investigation revealed that the patio did not, as was previously thought, originally have a garden.

The Christmas Plant.........

Euphorbia pulcherrima

The Poinsettia 

                  is a shrub or small tree, typically reaching a height of 2 to 16 ft.                               

The dark green leaves measure 3 to 6 inches in length.                                   

 The coloured leaves, which are most often flaming red but can be orange, pale green, cream, pink, white or marbled, are named ... bracts.  

                             

The leaves require a period of 12 hours darkness and 12 hours of bright light to produce their vibrant colours.   This occurs naturally here on the coast of Granada in the period before Christmas and Poinsettia shrubs with their flaming bracts are a common sight in gardens.
The tiny flowers are unassuming and grow in the centre of each leaf bunch.

 The Poinsettia was discovered in Southern Mexico by American botanist Joel Joel Poinsett who was also the first United States Ambassador to Mexico and who is credited with its introduction into the U.S.A. in 1828.                  

Long before this, the Aztecs who named it "Cuetlaxochitle" which means mortal flower, knew and valued the plant.   To them it was a symbol of purity and a reminder of the blood sacrifice as well as being a valuable red dye and medicine against fever.                                         

 It has been said that in the days of Montezuma, the last king of the Aztecs, large quantities were transported by caravan to his mountainous capital because it could not be grown naturally at that altitude.                                

 When the Franciscan priests introduced Christianity into Mexico it was a simple transfer of symbolism from purity and blood sacrifice to its representation of the blood of Christ in their celebration of Christmas.                                     

 

                                                                        

                                                                    

                What would Joel Poinsett have thought of the vivid modern day cultivars?

    The  death of Joel Poinsett is commemorated in America on 12^th December as ‘Poinsettia Day’.

In the Garden........

Pyrostegia venusta

Flowering now.....

                   ....... is a liana (a vigorous, woody climber) that makes a beautiful ornamental plant with cascades of bright orange tubular flowers. It is commonly grown in tropical and subtropical areas, as well as in mild Mediterranean climates. The plants form dense masses, growing up trees, on walls or over rocks, and are covered with flowers in the cool, dry season.

 

 Flame vine          

            .....or flame flower, golden shower, orange creeper, orange trumpet creeper, orange trumpet vine......  climbs up to 6 m or more. The leaves have paired leaflets (5.0–7.5 cm), and a long, central 3-branched, twisting tendril. The crowded clusters of flowers are formed in the leaf axils on the tips of shoots. 

The capsule is narrowly cylindrical and filled with winged seeds. After the petals fall off, they hang for a day or so by the style before dropping. In the wild, P. venusta is pollinated by hummingbirds.

 

 

Although a dazzling spectacle when in full flower, in some parts of the world it has become naturalised and a weed.

A Day Out.......

Early Friday morning, not too long after daylight, saw us  driving up the road to La Garnatilla to collect our son from Villa Tranquila where he had been resting and recovering for the past week from a very stressful job back in the old country.   He was due to meet the love of his life who would be jetting into Malaga mid morning.  She, unfortunately, could only manage two days away from the cold winds and rain so we were hoping that the next two days were going to be as warm and as sunny as usual.

The new flyover on the Puntalon/ La Garnatilla road is almost completed and looks as if it will be in use in a few days which means, we think, that work will be commencing underneath on this long awaited stretch of the A7/E15 coast motorway.  Yes, we read that the work was about to re-commence but…….

well, it has been years now since it was promised.

All aboard, the going was good, not much traffic about and we took our time.

It’s a pleasant, scenic drive along the coastal motorway to Malaga with plenty of sea views and wide sweeps of the sea to enjoy. 

After dropping the lad off at ‘arrivals’ in plenty of time to find his hire car, we wound our way back down to the motorway and off at the next junction where we actually managed to go round the roundabout only twice this time  before finding the exit we needed.    I remembered, on our previous visit to Ikea, we reached  Torremolinos, having missed the motorway exit altogether and sailed past the giant Ikea warehouse, before we could turn about. 

Ages later, carrying things we didn’t know we had needed and not finding the very thing we intended to buy, we exited the store seriously in need of refreshment.    Only someone exiting the desert with a terrible thirst would want to drink the coke or coffee on offer in the store.

Back in the car we headed west, herself determined to seek out the ‘Iceland’ that has been the talk of Motril for some time now.  ‘Have you been to Iceland?’   seems to be the latest question on everyone’s lips or,  ‘so and so’ went to ‘Iceland’ with the Club last week……

Himself  thought it was situated around about Fuengirola so, after reaching Mijas Costa, some considerable distance past Fuengirola, we decided it was time to turn back.

Much later we suddenly pulled into the underground car park at a huge shopping complex with thousands of cars.  Herself  became quite agitated  at this sudden and undiscussed decision and as she wasn’t sure we were where we should have been anyway, we turned around and pulled out again. 

Driving around, himself spotted a small sign that said ‘Iceland’ so we drove back into the underground car park and parked.

Up the escalator and out into the surprisingly uncrowded shopping mall, we spotted a large map on which we located our destination before heading off for a much needed drink.   Finding a very attractive looking KFC we ordered a meal  sat down with our drinks and waited…and waited…and waited.  

Over twenty minutes later arrived a freshly cooked chicken burger and some underdone chips.    A lesson not to be repeated.

Feeling stronger  we headed for ‘Iceland’  only to find that it wasn’t where it should have been and after walking around the area for a while and re- discovering the ‘map’ and then discovering that we were lacking map reading skills, also discovered  that  ‘Iceland’ was somewhere outside the shopping mall altogether.

Back down to the car park.

We did find it eventually and were even luckier to find a parking space as by this time we could quite easily have given up the search and headed for home.

‘Iceland’ was heaving, bursting at the seams.  A couple were fighting with another couple over the frozen bacon packs.  Some of the freezers and food sections were all but empty.   The heat from all those bodies had sent the temperature rocketing and the checkout queue seemed a mile long. 

Were we glad to get out of there.

 I can’t say that we won’t ever go back but right now it’s very unlikely.

Layla & Dobby dogs gave us a huge welcome home.  Himself found his sunglasses chewed up and one or the other had torn up a newspaper and spread it about but it was a relief to find that no large holes had been dug anywhere.

Three hours later we were spruced up and on our way to a merry party. Arriving home again well after midnight we received another warm doggy welcome and all seemed well until…………

Next morning around 10 am there was a knock on the gate.   Himself answered the door as usual and was greeted by the resident Paying Guest who complained that our dogs had not stopped barking yesterday, all day long and then all night!

Himself promised that it would not happen again.

. 

Now,  if we want to go out anywhere together, we will have to take Layla & Dobby along with us. Our resident Paying Guests are here for the next eleven weeks so,  no more ' Days Out' for us for a while!

Heading Home........

Taking a short cut through the Market Gardens........

Constitution Day - National Holiday

Día de la Constitución  

                                                                                 

Constitution Day marks the anniversary of a referendum held in Spain on December 6, 1978.

 In this referendum, the people of Spain approved the new constitution. This was an important step in Spain's transition to becoming a constitutional monarchy and democracy.

A monument in Madrid to commemorate the Spanish Constitution of 1978.

                                                     

On the days before Constitution Day, children and young people have extra lessons on the history, politics and constitution of Spain.                                

 Each year, a selection of high school students are invited to read the Constitution in the Lower House of the parliamentary buildings in Madrid a few days before December 6.                          

 The parliamentary buildings are open to the general public for one or two days. 

A cocktail party is held in the parliamentary buildings on December 6. 

Constitution Day is a quiet day off work for most people. They spend time at home relaxing with family members or close friends.

Symbols

Physical representations of the Spanish Constitution are important symbols of Constitution Day. 

An original copy of the Constitution, signed by King Juan Carlos I, is in the building of the Spanish Congress of Deputies on the Carrera de San Jerónimo in Madrid.

The national flag    is widely displayed on private homes, public buildings and even public transport vehicles on Constitution Day. It may be displayed alone or together with the European and regional flags.

 

 

Background                                                                                                      

Francisco Franco was head of state in Spain from April 1, 1939, until November 20, 1975. Spain needed a new constitution and political system after his death. General elections were held on June 15, 1977. The newly formed parliament started drew up a new constitution.  The Spanish Constitution of 1978 was approved by 88 percent of the people of Spain in a referendum on December 6, 1978.

In the Garden......

Colletia paradoxa

 Anchor Plant

                A wickedly interesting, spreading, deciduous, nearly leafless shrub from Uruguay, western Argentina and southern Brazil that grows slowly to 6 to 9 feet tall with oppositely arranged flattened 2 inch wide triangular spine tipped gray-green photosynthetic stems, called cladodes, that resemble a ships anchor and small creamy white lightly fragrant flowers, said to smell like almonds, at the stem joints in late summer or autumn.

                                                                                                

 New growth has small leaves that are present only briefly. 

Plant in full sun in a light to medium well-drained soil where it is drought tolerant. Can tolerate temperatures down to at least 20° F and some claim to as low as 0° F so long as the soil is kept dry. Prune occasionally to keep dense or contain size. 

Though it is best to plant this plant well away from pathway where on might find it dangerous, it is an unusually attractive and impressive barrier plant that nothing would dare go through. 

The genus name honors French botanist Philibert Collet (1643-1718). 

This species is synonymous with Colletia cruciata. Other common names include Crucifixion Thorn,  Thorn of the Cross and Jet-Plane Plant. 

Crazy Fine.....

The Seaside Gazette
Wednesday, November 30, 2011


 A resident of Motril has complained about his treatment by local police officers who fined him for walking in the road.
Ricardo Romero was completely flabbergasted at what happened as he walked down the very narrow street of  Piedrabuena, with his sister.
They had been shopping and had a small ‘pull along’ shopping basket, but the pavement was so narrow that they could not both fit, so Ricardo naturally stepped into the road.
The next thing he knew, two local police officers pulled up beside him on motorbikes… and this is where things become rather more serious.
Ricardo claims the officers said he should not be walking on the road, to which he explained that the pavement is too narrow to walk with the shopping trolley. Now, although Ricardo is a Spanish citizen, he was born in Argentina, his father is a local chap from La Rabita, and he says as soon as the officers heard his accent they asked for his papers. Then wrote him out a ticket for him to pay an 80 euro fine for walking on the street.
After three and a half years living in Motril, Ricardo was astonished that he should be fined for something most people do every day in the town, “I felt discriminated against,” he said, “I had a fine for something that I truly did not understand, something that other people are doing every day.”
So, the rightly miffed Ricardo set off to speak with the Councillor responsible for the police, but was told he was not available to speak with him, nor was anyone from that office.
So, feeling he had no choice but to pay the fine, as nobody would speak with him at the Council Offices, he wandered in with his 80 euros… only to be told that for some reason, the fine had been cancelled and there was nothing to pay.
Obviously, someone, somewhere, had a huge attack of common sense!

In the Garden.........

Tithonia diversifolia

    

Mexican sunflower 

   

       ...... is a favourite common name for this majestic plant although it does have quite a few common names.

                                                                                 

 Occurring naturally in Mexico and Central America this non hardygiant of a sun flower  has escaped cultivation and become established in tropical and subtropical areas throughout the world.

It becomes shrub like very quickly and is considered  invasive in parts of Southern and Eastern Africa, Australia and many Pacific Islands.  

  

                                                                                        

  

It flowers spectacularly here in late summer at a height of 2 – 3 metres and continues flowering until the temperature drops too low.

One plant can easily grow to 5m and spread to 3.5m in it’s second year here on the Costa Tropical.

Still flowering at the end of November, it is taking up considerably more than its allotted space in the garden.