THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

BACK TO NORMAL IN SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY;

SUNDAY 30^th/ NOVEMBER 2014.

Well we had a well deserved lie in this morning and awoke to a beautiful crisp day in sunny Manilva with clear blue skies and the sun out! We then started our 44^th year together as man & wife with ‘Poached Campo Eggs on Toast’ as you can see below;

Its rather quite here in ‘Doggy World Heaven’ at the moment but we are back to normal on Tuesday when ‘Reina’ is with us as well as ‘Scruffy’ for a two day sleep-over, we are really missing having ‘Charlie’ around as he’s just the best company for us also!

So last night we had a very lovely meal at our old favorite ‘Restaurante Victor’ over in Guadalmina, well worth the 60kms round trip!  It’s a family owned and run restaurant of the old class with proper tablecloths and napkins, cut glasses, old waiters and great food served ‘Gueridon Style’- even using Soup Tureens for the classic Fish Soup! The Head Chef ‘Victor’ and his brother the Restaurant Manger are keeping the standards going after their father who was always behind the bar has died in the last couple of years.

To start the house ‘Amuse Bouche’ arrived – small ‘Beef Chipolatas’ on a thin toasted crisp bread slice. I ordered a fine ‘Cava Rosado Reserva’ as we choose from the extensive menu, Brenda had the classic Fish Soup with Shrimps, Clams & assorted White fish in a rich broth while I had my favorite Tomato Soup laced with Gin!

For our main course Brenda had the ‘Sea Bass’ baked in the over on a bed of sliced Potatoes and Red Peppers with a wine reduction, the whole Sea Bass is filleted at the table. I had the ‘Entrecote Steak’ grilled Med-Rare with Frits, the large 12oz steak is sliced ‘French Style’ and sprinkled with Sea Salt – on the side we had a dish of fine French Green Beans – sounds familiar?! With her fish Brenda ordered a large glass of the House Rioja – served ‘chilled’ Spanish Style! No Dessert was called for, we were offered a drink on the house with the ‘Petit Fours’ so I had a large shot of ‘Limoncello’ served on crushed ice! See the pictures below.

A memorable 43^rd ‘Wedding Anniversary’ – we shall return  for the 44^th – god willing!!

PS; Check out yesterdays Blog for the ‘Dressed and Posed Pictures’ before we headed out.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A DAMP SUNNY MANILVA

A STILL WET SUNNY MANILVA ON ANNIVERSARY SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 29^th/ NOVEMBER 2014.

                                            MALCOLM & BRENDA’S 43^RD WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

I started today out in the rain with ‘Charlie’ on his early, not too early, morning walk down past the ‘Plaza de la Vendimia’- he just walks on a loose lead like the “ Dog Whisperer- Caesar” shows you on TV around the route that I have taken him in the past!  We both look forward to Brenda’s rub-down on the large towel when we get back!!

We are really going to miss him, he’s a joy to have around the house and is a real character, he is very well behaved and we can’t stop hugging him as he plays around us, he is also very good company for all our other dogs ‘Chispa, Scruffy & Reina’ here in ‘Doggy World Heaven’ Brian is picking him up at lunchtime.

So today we are taking things easy with a nice at home day getting ourselves ready for tonight’s ‘43rd Anniversary Dinner’ at “Restaurante Victor” over in Guadalmina; I have set up the new camera on the tripod that Den has loaned me to practice with so we will have a ‘Selfie’ picture of us before we set off out – watch this space! We had a test run yesterday to get the timing and pose right!! See Below - the heading was from Den & Josie -' thanks and cheers' !!

Before;

And after !

The weather forecast for tomorrow and into next week is back to normal for this time of the year with clear blue skies, dry and sunny here in sunny Manilva; the only bad news on the horizon is that the ‘Euro’ is down a little so our pensions due over the next two weeks will be down a bit – just in time for Christmas!

Next week we are back to normal in ‘Doggy World Heaven’ as ‘Reina’ is with us on Tuesday & Thursday and no doubt ‘Scruffy’ will be back with us, we are waiting to hear when from Rose. He's back with us on Tuesday & Wednesday for a two day sleep-over.

At the moment I’m watching on the smaller PC ‘Saturday Kitchen Live’ as I’m typing the Blog on the larger PC. This afternoon I will be following on both of the PCs today’s sport as it happens; the ‘Rugby Union Internationals’ sees England welcome the Australian’s and Wales welcome the South Africans.What great results - England won 26-17 and Wales won 12-6!!

In ‘La Liga’ Malaga welcome Real Madrid and tomorrow Barcelona travel to Valencia, in the ‘Premiere League’ today Liverpool take on Stoke at Anfield while tomorrow Manchester City travel to Southampton and Everton go down to Tottenham!

At the moment my ‘Child Bride’ is washing her hair and pampering her self as she gets ready, the outfit has been chosen and we will have a our regular ‘Happy Hour’ cocktails before we head off out.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A RATHER WET SUNNY MANILVA;

A SHOWERY AND SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF OUR " ANNIVERSARY" WEEKEND !

FRIDAY 28^th/ NOVEMBER 2014,

“Charlie” was up early this morning and promptly got into bed with us for a quick nap before I took him out for his first walk of the day in the light rain, when we got back to the house we both had to be dried off by Brenda and stay on the large towel as instructed!

Overnight we had more storms and at the moment its just light showers in between dry spells; yesterday morning up the coast in Torremolinos they were hit by a classified 1 ‘Tornado’ with lots of damage and Marbella was the wettest spot in Spain!

Anyway after a quick breakfast I shot out down to Sabinillas to go to ‘Mercadona’  for our main shop, it has an underground car park which is great in this damp weather, meanwhile Brenda stayed at home to look after ‘Charlie’ I was lucky as going down and coming back to the house it was dry! The forecast for Saturday is more of the damp stuff but its then clearing and the sun is back for Sunday and into next week!

At lunchtime ‘Scruffy’ is arriving for just the afternoon, he knows ‘Charlie’ – they are good friends - so they will be no problems, all the dogs in fact get on very well and it gives then some added company to be together. Yesterday ‘Reina’ was full of sprits after her ear operation on Wednesday and played with ‘Charlie & Chispa’ - ate all her food and looked for more!

For supper this evening we are having ‘Fillets of Hake in a Duglere sauce’ with finely sliced Green Beans and Saffron New Potatoes, I will make the classic sauce later after blanching in hot water and then refreshing in ice cold water the Tomatoes to make the ‘Concasse’(diced and seeded) to go in the white Wine Cream sauce.

Last night over in Germany in the ‘Europa League’ qualifying match Everton beat ‘VfL Wolfsburg 0-2 so go into the next round of the knockout stages – Brian ‘Charlie’s’ dad will be very happy when he picks him up tomorrow lunchtime, he traveled to see them with his mates, all true blue Everton supporters like ‘Big Bri’ – they went via Madrid to Frankfurt and then by train to Hamburg!

This evening after supper we will find a film to watch, last night because of the storms we kept loosing the signals as we tried to follow a couple of films due to the severe storms hitting us and effecting the reception!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM A RATHER DAMP SUNNY MANILVA;

A RATHER WET DAY IN SUNNY MANILVA ON THURSDAY;

THURSDAY 27^th/ NOVEMBER 2014.

The storms overnight had gone away this morning so I shot out with ‘Charlie’ for his first walk of the day before ‘Reina’ arrived for the day; yesterday ‘Reina’ had a little operation on her ear so she is taking things very easy today and is in her Duvet, she has just ate all her meal and ‘Charlie’ has as well, he slept all night despite the thunder and lightening.

So I then took advantage of the calm and went out for some pre-shopping down to Sabinillas and then Duquesa Marina; I called into the bank for some cash and then carried on to the ‘English Butchers’ in the marina for some Kidneys for next week before coming back up to ‘Super Sol’ for some small English essentials and another ‘Poinsettia’ I just about missed the rain but I don’t think I will be as lucky later as I take the dogs out for their walks and tomorrow as I go down again for our normal shopping; Brenda is ‘Doggy Sitting’ as ‘Scruffy’ is also with us on Friday!

At lunchtime we managed to take little 'Reina' and big 'Charlie for a nice walk in between showers,when we got back to the house 'Chispa' came calling to see her friends and so at the moment I've the three dogs at my feet up in the office playing! See the picture below of the three of them with Brenda - just!

This means that its an at home day today and Brenda has already started on defrosting the fridge, catching up with the ironing, mopping the floors and anything else that she can find to do, meanwhile as usual I’m up in the office on the WWW!

For our supper for tonight we are having again as we enjoyed it last week the special “Sexton Style Tortillia” with just a little Mixed Salad on the side to make up for last nights ‘Treat’( Josie is a little concerned for my Diet!) which was a big hit on facebook with over 20  world-wide ‘likes’ so far, Brian christened it a “ Big Malc ” and Jane called it “ Malcolm’s Massif  !!

Last night we found a rather nice film to watch with no violence, shooting, fighting, car chases, bad language or sex! To give it its full title “ The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel for the Elderly & Beautiful ” from 2012 with a ‘Ensemble British Cast’ of Judy Dench,Celia Imrey,Bill Nighy,Ronald Pickup, Maggie Smith, Tom Wilkinson,Peneope Wilton and Dev Patel;  Its about a group of retired pensioners going to an  old hotel in India and what then happens! Watch it as it’s a delightful film to watch!!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A CRISP AND BEAUTIFUL DAY HERE IN SUNNY MANILVA ON WEDNESDAY;

WEDNESDAY 26^th/ NOVEMBER 2014.

‘Charlie’ has settled in very well, last night he ate all his dinner and we went for three walks on his route down past the Police station and back around ‘the Plaza de la Vendima’ which meant that we found some new ‘Pine Trees’ around the electricity sub-station above the park for our Xmes decorations! He’s had a good sleep and we all got up this morning when the gas bottle delivery man called down our street - ‘Chispa’ has just called in and made friends again with him!

We will go for a walk a little later with both of the dogs as its another beautiful day here in sunny and warm Manilva but the bad news is that the rain is due to hit us tomorrow a day early and will be with us for a least a couple of days! We bumped into Mano & Anna in 'Bar Las Vinas' and joined then for a coffee,Mano and I had the Bacon Baps to keep us going,Mano is on holiday for two weeks so they are going to join us for supper one night next week,Anna has requested " Steak & Kidney Pie" ! See the picture below of Sabinillas beach this morning.

We have just come back from the chemists after picking up all our prescriptions/tablets; I also called into the ‘Tabac’ to put some credit on my phone using the 50% bonus!

Last night we watched the ‘Champions League’ football as Messi broke another record whem he scored a hat trick and became the leading goal scorer ever in the League as Barcelona won 0-4 but the ‘Match of the Day’ was when Manchester City beat 10 man Bayern Munich 3-2 after ‘Aguero’ scored a hat trick with two of the goals in the last five minutes! Tonight Liverpool travel to Ludo Razgd?! -while Real Madrid play FC Basel. Real won 0-1 and Liverpool drew 2-2.

Before our supper we went for a walk with'Charlie' and as we got to the police station we could her music,it turned out that it was coming from the 'School of Music' above,it was a 'Super Group' practicing a 'Beatles number, it was Mano's grandson Dylan singing with his four friends on drums,electric pianos and guitar - all under the age of ten! We gave then a round of applause from outside the studio! See the pictures below of 'Charlie' before we went out.

This evening for dinner we are having my famous “Sextons ‘Tower’ Burger” made with a fresh Beef Burger from our butchers, shredded Lettuce, a thick slice of local Beef Tomato, sliced Gherkins, sautéed Onions & Mushrooms, crispy Smoked Bacon with mine topped with a ‘Campo’ Fried Egg and Brenda’s as a ‘Cheese Burger’ with a slice of Gouda Cheese on her burger! On the side we are having a ‘Bucket’ of twice-cooked homemade Frits!! Our butcher makes three sorts of burgers, Beef, Pork and Chicken so I cook all three of them and then choose which to use and which one to keep for tomorrows lunch!! See the picture below.

Jane has called them " Malcolm's Massif " and Brian " Big Malc ! !!

After our supper we will settle down to watch the news,sport and weather details before finding something to watch on our 60 channels!

PS; The storm arrived early and 'Charlie and I were drowned as we dashed home with the lightening and thunder overhead!!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

A CLEAR AND DRY SUNNY MANILVA ON TUESDAY;

TUESDAY 25^th/ NOVEMBER 2014.

Little princess ‘Reina’arrived as usual early this morning with her sleeping bag/duvet and promptly went to sleep inside it on our bed, we did the same under our duvet and we all had a good lie in! The sun is out but there is a little breeze today but its still rather pleasant here in sunny Manilva - 22/24degs; the forecast is for more of the same but a little cooler and by Friday the next front is coming in off the Atlantic with a lot of the wet stuff so I will have to get the waterproofs out as ‘Charlie’ needs his four walks each day and ‘Scruffy’ is with us also on Friday afternoon!

‘Charlie’ is arriving at lunchtime today for his short break with us, he’s here until Saturday morning, and we are really looking forward to seeing him again as he’s a real character, loads of fun and is very well behaved, he’s a joy to have around, he thinks he’s still a puppy and jumps on you all the time for cuddles, in fact he is now a rather big dog as you will see in the pictures later if I can keep him still! Meanwhile ‘Chispa’ has come calling as is playing around my feet as I’m typing the Blog as ‘Reina’ won’t let her under her duvet! See below 'Chispa' in the kitchen!

 'Charlie' has just arrived for his break!

Over in Old Colwyn one of our friends, Judith has just received in the post one of the ‘Ceramic Poppies’ from the display in London around the ‘Tower of London’ - its in a commemorative box and gives the name of a soldier killed in action on March 23^rd 1918, age 23 “ Albert Conway” See the picture below

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We (Brenda!) is catching up with all the chores around the house, washing, Ironing etc, before the painters arrive later this afternoon to re-paint out bedroom in Satin Gloss as they used Matt Gloss the first time by mistake! So I’m keeping out of the way in the office on the WWW!!

This evening we are having grilled ‘Chicken Wings’ with a Mixed Salad and a Baked Potato as we watch the football on ‘TVE 1’as Barcelona travel to Apoel Nic?! in their ‘Champions League’ Qualifying match, meanwhile upstairs in the office I will tune in to follow the Manchester City v Bayern Munich game.Brenda likes to pick them with her hands and teeth while I trim them with my knife & fork! 

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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