THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

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A BREEZY, WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON MONDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEK;

MONDAY 31^st/ OCTOBER 2016.

No lie in this morning, ‘Reina’ arrived first thing, she’s with us for her normal five days this week, she’s still on her ‘ Carrot’ only diet as she has put a little weight on, ‘Pax’ slept well and we then took him out for his first walk of the day, ‘ Chispa’ has called in over the weekend as usual.

After breakfast of our favourite ‘ Smoked Bacon Butties’ with mugs of steaming tea we sorted our week ahead out; tomorrow it’s a ‘National Bank Holiday’ here in Spain “ All Saints Day “ when all the relatives visit the cemetery in remembrance of the dead. We have no appointments this week, next week is when we are at the hospital over in Marbella, on Friday morning I will catch up with the weekly shopping, otherwise we have a quiet week here in sunny Manilva.

This morning the ‘ Lavante’ breeze has got up a little making it breezy but the sun is still out and the sky is clear, the week is looking settled but we will find out later on the main afternoon news on ‘ TVE’ what the forecast has in store for us, watch this space.

Over the weekend the ‘ Moffatt’s’ Tim & Thea have been spotted in Javea ( Xabia ) – the most western spot of Spain, sticking out into the Mediterranean, in the area around Alicante/Valencia, they are visiting friends and are staying on a site above the coast, see the picture below.

See the picture below of the ‘ Wynne Gardens ‘ entrance in Old Colwyn, which is at the top of their street ‘ Wynne Avenue ‘! Just a reminder of where home is!!

This evening for our supper we are having ‘ Escalope’s of Pork Fillet Schnitzels’ with ‘Spaghetti Milanese’ – I'm making another batch of my ‘ Tomato Salsa ' later this morning, this week’s menu’s have yet to be agreed, watch this space.

See the picture below of the ‘ Sexton’s Halloween Supper ‘ !!

Last night after supper we watched the next to last episode ( 9) of this year series of ‘ Poldark’ – a business windfall means that he can reopen the mine, his ex-love, that he seduced last week, has now gone and married , for money, not love, his evil arch enemy after he didn’t make contact with her, his wife, Demelza, is broken hearted and goes off to a house party and gets drunk, three men then try to seduce her, ‘ Malcolm’ the army Captain, who she closed the door on, then two other chaps have a go to try her honour, the local squire and a creep, both their candles were put out when she jumped out of the window and escaped”!

Back in the mine Ross discoverd a major seam of copper, making him a rich & wealthy man again, will Demelza now have him back, will his ex-love seek revenge by moving back into the ‘ Poldark family mansion with her new husband?! Will the local Doctor join the Navy, will Ross also go back to being a Captain?! All will be revealed in next week’s final episode, watch this space.

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

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A WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SUNDAY;

SUNDAY 30^th/ OCTOBER 2016.

We managed another nice lie in this morning after the extra hour! Brenda showered first, I’m later, we then took ‘ Pax ‘ for his morning walk around the village, I then was treated to Brenda’s famous ‘ Poached Eggs on toast ( not ‘ Campo !) to start the day off in the right direction.

We then got this evenings supper on the go, I made the ‘ Charcutiere’ sauce first; a ‘Julienne’ of Onions, Shallots & Gherkins, sweated off in White Wine Vinegar & Red Wine, the secret ingredients and a strong English & Dijon Mustard Paste are then added, I adjust the seasoning, colouring and consistency to taste and leave to cook off, meanwhile the ‘ Vegetable Chef’ is preparing the Cabbage with Acelgas and Crushed Baby Carrots and some Boiled Potatoes for the ‘ Breton’ style Potatoes this evening. I cube them and then toss them in Vegetable Oil to brown off, adding at the same time the sautéed, diced, Onions,Garlic, Red, Yellow, Green & Orange Peppers that I braised off this morning. Finally I cut the ‘ Medallions of Pork Fillet’ from the middle of the Fillet, the rest of the Pork is sliced & flattened for ‘ Schnitzels’ for tomorrow night! See below this evenings supper!!

We have another glorious morning, the sun was out early, the sky is bright Blue and the ‘ Levante’ breeze has dropped a little, as we were walking it was warm and sunny, next week is now looking fine & settled with more of the same weather for the start of November! 

It’s so nice that we are going up to ‘Bar Rojas’ later Suzanne's ‘Paella’ sat under the ‘ Sonbrajo’ with a cool drink! Which was closed? -so we went along to 'Bar Ocana' to try ' Fran's' Paella' - it was OK but not as nice as Suzanne's! We then went across the road to ' Cafe Plaza ' and joined the couple we met the other day, Cliff & Madeline, who were sat with two other local friends, Alfred & Jane, it was vert hot as we sat in the warm sunshine taking in the sights & sounds of sunny Manilva. 


See the beach down in Sabinillas this morning!

And Colwyn Bay, North Wales!!

As Brenda was watering the wall plants, outside, Mario, our neighbour & Local Councillor passed, he confirmed that in two weeks time he will be confirmed/elected as the new Mayor, he has worked very hard over the past ten years and deserves the honour. Watch this space.

A quick update on yesterdays sport; Lewis Hamilton is on the ‘Pole’  position for today’s ‘ Mexican Grand Prix’ Manchester City won 0-4, Liverpool won 2-4, Barcelona won 1-0 in a ‘ lackluster’ performance, meanwhile Real Madrid beat lowly Alaves 1-4, Ronaldo scored another hat trick and missed a penalty!

We watched ‘ Strictly Come Dancing’ before supper a last night and then later channel hopped. In the afternoon we watched the excellent coverage on ‘Channel 4’ of the ‘National Hunt Racing’ from Ascot & Wetherby, next year ‘ITV’ is taking over all the race coverage so it will be interesting to see how they go on with all the new presenters?!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

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A BREEZY, WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY;

SATURDAY 29^th/ OCTOBER 2016.

A nice lie in for all of us this morning, ‘ Pax’ stays in his bed until we get up, he then waits as we get ourselves ready, we then went for our first walk of the day around the bottom of the village, this evening ‘ Reina’ is back with us for a sleep over as Lee & Daniela are going to a ‘ Halloween’ party, no doubt ‘ Chispa will be calling in later here in ‘ Doggy World Heaven’!  Later this morning its ‘ Bath Time’ for ‘ Pax ‘!! 

See the pictures below of the cleanest dog in Town after he came out of the bath/shower!

See the picture below of ‘ Doggy World Heaven ‘ on a busy day!

As we were going out we bumped into ‘ Lumy’ who used to run ‘Bar Rojas’- she lives above the bar and we see her all the time, the other day her younger son ‘ Paco’ was passing , he used to walk their dog ‘ ‘Brenda ‘ a lovely ‘ Boxer’ that Brenda fell in love when she was a puppy, hence the name! We asked after the dog and he told us that she had died ,suddenly, earlier this year, ‘ Lumy’ told us that she was bitten by a mosquito! She is still very upset and said that they are not having another dog, so sad, our thoughts go to all the family.

This morning has started with the sun the out, the sky is clear and there is a nice ‘Levante’ breeze, making it rather pleasant, over the mountains across the valley, there is a large/high cloud cover and down to the ‘Mediterranean’ the view is spectacular as the sun is rising and sea is sparkling, tomorrow we have more of the same and next week is starting to look settled, for now, watch this space.

This evening for our supper we are having a large ‘ Grilled Entrecote Steak’ cooked on a very hot griddle plate ‘ Med-Rare’- then left to rest before slicing it ‘ French’ style into fingers, garnished with seared Asparagus Spears & Button Mushrooms with ‘ Bearnaise’ sauce on the side, finely sliced Green Beans and our current favourite – twice-cooked ‘ Pont Neuf’ thick cut chips!

On the sports front this weekend it’s the ‘ Mexican Grand Prix’ which Lewis Hamilton must win to keep him in with still a chance to retain the World Championship; over here in ‘ La Liga’ Barcelona are at home to Granada and Real Madrid travel to  ‘ Deportivo Alaves’ in the town of Vitoria-Gasteiz in the Basque region, in the ‘ Premiere League’ Manchester City are going down the M6 to West Brom and Liverpool are also on the M6 on their way to Crystal Palace, tomorrow Everton welcome West Ham.

We are having a quiet weekend just relaxing and basically doing nothing, because we can! Next week we have no appointments etc so we will be just out and about here in sunny Manilva, ‘Reina’ is back with us as normal, for the five day from Monday to Friday, ‘ Pax’ is with us for his last week, he’s being picked up by Jane on her return from Canada a week on Monday, we are going to miss him as he’s become great company, no problem to look after, he eats everything and sleeps all night, he’s a real character, he’s at my feet at the moment as I’m typing & posting the Blog!

Yesterday evening after supper we watched the next episode of ‘ The Level’ as the young lady detective was nearly killed, while undercover, by the nasty ‘ Bad Guy’ – he had just nearly killed the corrupt cop at the same time, the plot is unfolding, the missing truck was found with guns and drugs ( not illegal?!) – the other ‘ Bad Guy’ has got his hands back on the drugs after a police mistake and rings to say that he’s got the drugs ‘ Gold Mine’ back, to a very surprising source, watch this space!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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THOUGHTS FOR THE DAY FROM SUNNY MANILVA;

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A BREEZY, WARM & SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 28^th / OCTOBER 2016.

I was up early this morning to see ‘ Reina’ back with us for the day, I then shot off on my travels, I called into the local Surgery for some sample bottles (!) and the carried on down to Sabinillas, I stopped at our Banks cash machine, with great difficulty, the main square is being resurfaced, so the parking is closed, I called into the main ‘Ferraterias’ for some light bulbs etc, I then did our main shop in ‘ Mercadona’ before going along to the ‘English Butchers’ in Puerto de Duquesa’- on the way back I called into ‘ Super Sol ‘ for the English essentials, no flowers or plants this week.

After unpacking back at the house we then took ‘ Pax’ out for his first walk of the day, around the village, we take him out again in the early evening and then, if necessary, last thing at night, along ‘ Calle Mar’ He’s sleeping very well on his bed by the side of our bed, during the day he wonders around and follows Brenda everywhere, he’s eating everything and drinking a lot of water, tomorrow we are going to shampoo him and make him smell nice! Watch this space for the picture!

It’s another beautiful day down here on the ‘ Costa Del Sol’- the sun was out early and the sky is clear, there is light breeze making it very pleasant, the weekend is looking dry & sunny and next week’s forecast is also staying fine, at the moment, watch this space.

See below the picture of a spectacular ' Autumn' day at the Pier Head in Liverpool yesterday evening and ' Castillo de la Duquesa's' waterfront  this morning!

This evenings supper is going to be ‘ Poached Cushions of Hake Fillet ‘ resting on a pool of my ‘Tomato Salsa’ with ‘crushed’ Parsley Potatoes and Garden Peas on the side; tomorrow night its ‘ Grilled Entrecote Steak’- served ‘ French’ style with all the trimmings and then on Sunday we are having ‘ Pan-Seared Medallions of Pork Fillet’ with ‘Lyonnaise’ Potatoes, Cabbage with Acelgas ( Swiss Chard !) and my famous ‘ Charcutiere’ sauce!

Next week our monthly ‘ Pension’ cycle starts to arrive in our ‘Spanish’ bank account, the ‘ Euro’ over the past couple of weeks had picked up a little but sadly overnight its dropped again, not good news for us, watch this space.

Every day we watch the various ‘Quiz’ shows, this week on Channel 4 ‘ Deal or No Deal’ has reappeared, with ‘Noel Edmonds’ – it’s the last series as its being ‘axed’ after 3,000 shows, giving away over 40 million pounds over the last 11 years, only 8 contestants have ever won the 250,000 top prize!

Many year ago, back in the early 80s we went down to London for the weekend, with friends, and went to see the ‘ Noel Edmonds, Late, Late Breakfast Show’ on the Saturday evening ‘ live’ at the BBC TV Studio, we then carried on to Leicester Square to the ‘Premiere’ of the science fiction action/ adventure film “ Tron “ - afterwards we had supper at the top Chinese Restaurant  ‘ Kwok’- Deep Fried Seaweed, Lemon Chicken & the fabulous ‘Peking Duck’ being prepared by the waiter with super-fast hands, all severed on a large spinning ‘ Lazy Suzan’ table in the middle! I had ‘connections’ in those days for the tickets and reservations!!  

 ‘ Happy Days and Many Memories’

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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