A VERY SUNNY MANILVA ON FRIDAY AT THE START OF THE WEEKEND;

FRIDAY 1^st/ AUGUST 2014.

I was up early this morning as little princess ‘Reina was being dropped off by Daniela on her wedding morning! She is having a two day sleep-over with us and being picked up on Sunday mid-morning to be back with the honeymoon couple – congratulation to Lee & Daniela – “ Health, Wealth and Happiness!”

Meanwhile ‘Scruffy’ was collected later after his two day sleep-over, he will be back sometime next week. At the moment ‘Reina’ is sat at my feet with ‘Chispa’ who has just come calling.

We are taking things easy today as we are going out for dinner to Claus & Doreen’s this evening, Bruno & Kathrin are also guests – we are really looking forward to the “ Tapfelspitz mit Meerrettichsosse ”?!

Meanwhile here in sunny Manilva the council have been showing off the latest updates/repairs/improvements to the promenade parking and walkway towards Duquesa, the new road works on the bottom of ‘Calle Loboto’and the surrounding streets next to ‘Plaza Pozo Del Rey’ and the second road down to Sabinillas past the senior school which has been widened – the Mayor, Antonia and Mario & Diego look rather pleased with them selves! See the pictures above.

This month down in Sabinillas mainly due to it being the height of the holiday season there are all sorts of events taking place, it started last night with a Medieval Market and Firework display in Castillo Duquesa and an open air ‘Darts’ competition in Duquesa port; tonight there is ‘Flamenco’ show in one of the parks and tomorrow a sports festival on the beach.

Next week on the ‘Rastro’ ground it’s time for the annual four day ‘Manilva Feria’ with lots of folks eating,drinking,dancing and singing into the wee small hours - as well as the fairground! Then later in the month there is a ‘Manilva Summer Festival’ followed by a ‘Tourists’ day.

There are also various dance and music concerts at different times before the big celebration for “ Verbena Saint Luis De Sabinillas” – the patron saint of Sabinllas! Towards the end of the month there is ‘Beach Rugby’ competition – finally at different spots on the beach on various night’s there are also open air ‘Film’ shows taking place.

I’ am sure that I have missed something but no doubt there is lots to keep the ‘Campers’ happy for now!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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A VERY HOT AND SUNNY MANILVA ON SATURDAY ON A BUSY WEEKEND;

SATURDAY 12^th/ JULY 2014.

We all had a little lie in this morning to prepare us for the weekend ahead; after breakfast I shot around to the butchers and picked up our ‘Steak a la Plancha’for tonight’s supper as Brian could be joining us before he goes out on his travels!He went out on his travels and brought his mate back,after phoning to see if it was OK,so Jesus joined us for supper  - 3 steaks into 4 - as usual we always have more ready- so no problem! 

At the moment my ‘Commis’ chef/vegetables is preparing all the ingredients for my famous and in demand ‘Ensalillida Rusa’- at the same time she is getting tonight’s finely sliced Green Beans(extra whole ones for the Nicoise salad!) and Frits ready as well as some of the Buffet for tomorrow nights feast! We have also started to work on the dessert surprise to be finished tomorrow!

Yesterday evening here in sunny Manilva and down in Sabinillas and Castillo Duquesa there was all sorts of things happening; at the sports ground there was a floodlit football tournament, meanwhile down in Sabinillas on the promenade it was the regular ‘Artisan’ market, on the beach they were getting ready for the ‘Moon Festival’ tonight; in the square there was two concerts, the first was the children from the handicapped home and later the ‘Junior Brass Band’ of Manilva.Earlier the new ‘Motor Train’ started running for the summer.

Over in Castillo Duquesa they were getting ready for the ‘Sardine Festival’ today and next Wednesday’s festival for the “Virgin Del Carmen”- the patron saint of the fishermen! Finally in the square of the castle there was a live pop/music concert which was rather lively and taking place under the full moon! See the set of pictures above to give you a little idea, sadly we are not able to participate in any of the activates at the moment, too much walking – so the pictures will have to do!

This afternoon I will be following the 8^th stage of the ‘Tour De France’ when its enters the ‘Vosges Region’ from ‘Tomblaine’ to ‘Gerardmer La Mauselaine’ crossing two mountains with a steep climb to the finish! In yesterdays stage the Italian rider Matteo Trentin won the sprint and dedicated it to his team leader Mark Cavendsh,Nibili still has the Yellow jersey going into today’s stage,

Over in Germany it’s the next round of the ‘Motor GP’ at the “ Sachsenring” – will Marc Marquez make it nine out of nine wins?! Finally on the sports front its the third-place play-off of the ‘World Cup’ over in Brazil when the hosts play Holland in a game that nobody including the players wants to know about!! Brazil lost 0-3 to Holland!!!

So after supper this evening we will find something to watch and later check out the full moon over Manilva!

Thoughts for the Day; See above.

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SUNNY AND GETTING EVEN HOTTER MANILVA TODAY

WEDNESDAY 12^th/ JUNE 2013.

The weather forecast that you can see above is in fact even better, today we are going up to 32degs and hotter tomorrow – 36 degs! This means that the nights have suddenly also gone warmer at the same time as you can also see in the night-time weather temperature's above!

Brenda is now in full ‘Mopping’ mode as she works herself around the house; the windows have been washed, kitchen walls cleaned and anything that needs dusting and polishing has been dusted ( I keep on the move – just in case!) The folks arrive at Gibraltar airport next Wednesday evening where we will pick them up in the hire car, it is an ‘Opel Zafira’ – hopefully – which has seven seats; the problem is the luggage which we will sort out when they arrive!I have just spoken to the car-hire people in Marbella and the Opel is being dropped off at 12-00 noon on Wednesday.

The dog has arrived early this morning and is playing around the house as Brenda is working, she follows her everywhere and calls into the office for a cuddle ( The dog not Brenda !) every so often as I’ am on the WWW. This morning I have made tonight’s supper, which Brenda requested, we are having “Brochettes” which I have just put together as you can see in the pictures above; diced Chicken Breast, Red and Green Peppers, Mushroom and Onions! Before they go in the griddle pan I will sprinkle them with herbs ( Tarragon ) and Virgin Olive Oil We will have them on a bed of Basmati rice with my Tomato salsa on the side!!

We are just about to go out for our walk around the village with Chispa as she is indicating that it’s time! All the different works are still on-going and some more are just about to start; the summer programme of events that I put on the blog yesterday ( See Below ) are all arranged by the different departments of the council as the holiday season kicks off.On our walk we stopped at 'Plaza Vendimia' as they have started to build the fountain as you can see in the pictures above.

Tonight we will channel hop after supper and find a film to watch.

Thought for the Day; See above.

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SUNNY MANILVA TODAY

THURSDAY 23^rd/ MAY 2013.

Today is the hottest day so far this year,27/28degs and rising – the sun has been out since 7-00am! We have just come back from our walk with the dog around the village; they are working on making good the outside of the ‘Plaza Pozo Del Rey’ at the moment, down at the church they are now stripping the roof tiles and have taken down the roof timbers of the main tower, meanwhile in the new ‘Plaza Vedimia’ that are putting up more tiles on the mural wall, the concrete base of the park is to be covered with flag-stones but the ones that have just been delivered are not the usual local ones – not the same quality -  I’ve just spoken to Mario our local councilor who happens to be in charge of the department and asked him why? 'Sexton Blake' has been out investigating and spoken to Mario's number two - the flag-stones have been dropped off up-side down!  See the pictures above.!!

We are having a nice day at home and taking things easy, this afternoon Brenda s planning to go out on the roof terrace to read and I will join her later for ‘Cocktails’ after I have watched the ‘Giro d’Italia’ stage 18 which is a 20km Time –Trial up a mountainous route from Mori to Polsa.This lunchtime I bumped into our friend Barbara so we are going around to her house in the early evening as Peter her husband set up my mobile phone when I first got it;it's past me so hopefully he will sort it out for me ! Watch this space.Thanks Peter for re-setting my mobile phone - all OK only got to connect to my Wi-Fi now !!

PS; Vincenzo Nibali the leader of the race won convincingly the up-hill Time Trail by nearly one minute and now holds the 'Pink Jersey ' over his nearest rivals by more than 4 mins! 

This evening we are having for supper one of our ‘Simple and Easy’ meals – flattened Breast of Chicken cooked on the griddle with sauté Potatoes and finely sliced Green Beans before we watch a film.

Thoughts for the day;

Much wisdom often goes with fewest words. Wisdom is to the mind what heath is to the body. No man can be wise on an empty stomach.

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SUNNY MANILVA