Year: 2011

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December 26, 2011 astrid

Timeout

My system, has asked for a time out For reasons quite manifold I certainly hope it’s a short bout Right now it is leaving me “cold” My writing, my love and my passion J Will have to be put on hold I hope you will wait with compassion For stories that long to be told […]

December 18, 2011 astrid

Positively (in all connotations of the word) shocked by BBC News

A while ago I read Shantaram by Gregory David Roberts. I was fascinated by the book, the author and the country which he so vividly described, India. The former convict relates a story that is as revealing about his own life and the complex nature of his character, as of the many faceted and in […]

December 9, 2011 astrid

Plans

Today I had a plan. Or a to-do-list. I often make lists. Usually, just before I go to bed I jot down things that reealy need to be done and things I’d like to have accomplished, but don’t grow stale if they wait another day. More often than not, therefore, the list comprises things that […]

November 27, 2011 astrid

The Calm after the Storm

We live in a country with few large scale natural disasters. No typhoons or cyclones,  no  volcano eruptions threatening to wipe out entire cities, no earthquakes to speak of (in front of Californians, Japanese or others living on top of faults between constantly shifting tectonic plates) and no heath waves in the real, southerly sense […]

November 24, 2011 astrid

Calpe Rock

One step at a time, easy does it. I set one foot in front of the other. Easing myself along the path, in some places providing barely enough space for one foot, in between or on top of smooth and slippery lime stones. Polished by the elements and all the feet having trod here before […]

November 17, 2011 astrid

Norwegian Food

Having enjoyed our own cooking for several days, we decided to treat ourselves to some Spanish food for a change. Nurturing thoughts of tapas, paella, gazpacho, chorizo sausage, serrano ham and the likes, our mouths had already begun to water when we began what was to be our quest. Previous trips to the small town […]

November 12, 2011 astrid

Out of Gas

We did get a little suspicious the other day when the heating system suddenly came to a standstill.  And when the hot water abandoned us, we understood that something was amiss. Or rather empty. Our hosts had meticulously written down instructions for how to act in such a situation, so I picked up the phone […]

November 10, 2011 astrid

Guadalest

Guadalest is perched on top of a ridge of granite, close to 600 meters above sea level, in a valley surrounded by several mountain ranges. Guadalest, meaning Eagle’s nest, was established around year 1200, by the Moors, a north-west African people who conquered and ruled the Iberian Peninsula for nearly 800 years. They constructed and […]

November 10, 2011 astrid

Altea

«Oh, what a beautiful morning!» Singing at the top of my lungs, probably scaring the early daylight of the neighbors, I opened the doors leading out onto the patio. It was bathed in the morning sun, as was the garden, the pool, treacherously inviting, but cool, and the rest of L’Alfas del Pi and the […]

November 8, 2011 astrid

Hunting high and low

Today was Real Estate Day. The dream of finding a Place in the Sun has always been present, albeit for long periods of time, dormant. Now were the time and the opportunity to see if anything was waiting for us “out there”.  We had made an arrangement to meet up with a real estate agent, […]