I’m back in Cornwall again. It’s only about 6 weeks since I was last here but the garden and the field have exploded into green growth and flowery abundance. I came back so quickly because I needed to see my dogs and cats and couldn’t wait till August. All of them have had one problem or another and seemed to be messaging me ‘Come Home’.   Teeth, back legs, front legs, gum infections, loss of appetite, excessive appetite, mystery stomach cramps……have I missed anything? 

Now I am here all seems well but it is clear that old age is affecting at least two of them and so, as we sit for our virtual vermouth, I can breathe a sigh of relief but also tell you about my concerns over how to look after them all and most important – where?

We can sit here in the evening sunshine looking out over the Cornish hills – the last hills of England before the cliffs at Lands End drop down into the Atlantic
Yet again the weather here is beautiful.  The sky is blue and the sea is calm and the bluebells are out.

Or maybe you’d prefer to come and sit by the pond and listen to the blackbirds singing their evening recital

The dogs come and go between two homes – my old house where my two still live and my neighbours who also help look after them.
The houses are linked by this stile

 As we sit and sip our drinks they will probably appear and then run off again in their pack of 5 – four border collies and one bearded

Blue is the oldest and she is now having problems walking on the gravel so today my friend and I put some paving slabs on the path. A sort of doggy equivalent to putting up a handrail for your old aunt.

Now she dances along rather than looking like someone walking over broken glass.
I am a bit all over the place – as usual when I come to Cornwall. It’s a strange feeling – my old home, my lovely dogs, the garden which I never have enough time here to look after, the pending decisions all hovering over my head. Friends to see, thoughts to think, feelings to feel, walks to walk.
Some part of me copes. Another part is paddling madly under the surface.
I notice that sometimes before speaking I automatically practice what I need to say before opening my mouth.  Then I remember that I don’t have to. I can speak English!
Walking down Morrab Road in Penzance today I thought how interesting that here at the end of the road there is often a splash of blue sea

In Granollers at the end of so many streets there is a hill. I like both views. Different but similar.
Leading your eye out into the unknown. My friend Tiffany also commented on this in her blog.
This made me laugh today in Penlee Gardens. The plaque says In Memory of XXX

Please, if you ever plant something in memory of me, don’t choose something so spiky and mishapen!
Well, if you have come to have a virtual vermut with me this evening I must apologise for being late, for rambling on about totally disconnected things and for getting up in the middle to wave goodbye to my friends in their beautiful Morgan

It has been that sort of day and I am still adjusting to the change of environment. See you soon!

Un petó is a kiss and un petonet is a little kiss.
I like it when people send me drawings as well as words on a card or envelope so I thought this a good name for my pictures.
This is for all of you!

Phew it’s a relief to sit down at last with a glass of vermut and time to chat.
If you have time to join me that would be great and I can tell you about my day while we watch the town begin to wake up again after the lunch time break. It doesn’t take long to get used to this rhythm of life – a late lunch followed by a migdiada if possible

So what’s new?
We went today to look at a house for sale. It is too expensive and didn’t look promising from the photos but you have to start somewhere and it’s always good to look around. I like visiting houses and dreaming about possible lives in them. It was much better than I expected with a little walled garden, three floors of light rooms and views over Granollers to the Torre de Pinos on the other side. Unfortunately the large soap factory is also plonked directly in front so right from the first moment it was obviously not the home of our dreams.
News from the gym?
Yes I went today and it was very good. Twenty minutes running. I haven’t done that for years. I don’t bother with the ipod since I realized I like the music on Flash FM which is the same station the boy listens to at home.  Two days ago I had my first conversation with someone at the gym when he apologised for coming into the ladies changing room. I replied that I do acupuncture so I am accustomed to peoples bodies and anyway I never get changed or shower in there. This seems to have changed something for me at the gym as today I was greeted in English by another of the men and everyone said Hola and Adéu!
That reminds me of something I wanted to tell you – it is interesting here that when you meet someone you know in the street they say Adéu as they pass.  So they are saying goodbye!  It took me several months to stop saying Hola and start saying Adéu and even now it feels weird but I can do it.
“Hello hello! I don’t know why you say goodbye I say Hello”   Apparently if you say Hola it means you want to stop and have a conversation. Adéu shows that it is no more than a passing greeting and you don’t have time to stop

I went to the market on Thursday and bought these white trousers. I am fairly oblivious to current fashions but even I noticed that Zara is full of white stuff and all the young people in the street are wearing white and black clothes. So I took the risk of buying something from a stall even without trying it on and they are great – a little see-through but who cares about that?
I wore them today with a pair of the white shoes that the Tieta gave me and felt much more a city girl than my normal country bumpkin.
And look at the beautiful bracelet – it was made by one of my nieces Alisoun who is raising money for a project working with traumatised children in Rwanda. She decided to send one to all the women in our family and I’ve been wearing it all week, amazing at the brightness of the colours when it is touched by the sunshine.

So, it’s getting chilly again and too cold to sit outside for long. This April the UK seems to be getting all the sunshine while we have the showers which is only fair and I’m glad to think of my dogs running and playing in the warmth.
Hope to see you next week for another Virtual Vermut and if you would like to write one yourself let me know and I’ll send people on to your table!
Oh! I didn’t get to tell you about the football….oh well another time and perhaps…is it possible…you are quite glad to escape?

Tomorrow – Friday – we can have a virtual vermut together if you would like to join in!

Oreneta said she might be able to come! And perhaps Bodhi Chicklet as well. Everyone is very welcome and you don’t need to bring anything but a friendly face and a smile.
What does it mean?
Just that I will have a real vermut and perhaps a little bowl of olives and will tell you some of the things I might say if we were really sitting outside in the sunshine sharing a drink. A Friday evening wind down.
The weather is forecasting rain all over Catalunya so perhaps we will need to sit inside and listen to the patter of raindrops on the terrace. How cosy!
See you then….