Well, the big news so far this month is that we have seven new French Bulldog puppies, 3 white with black spots and the remainder black or with some white spots. The pups were born on 04 August, the same birthday as Barack Obama, so they have a big path to follow.
As those of you who have been here know, we have three barrels on our bar terrace. When we arrived in Juzcar in October 2004, the bar terrace was sad. Here is a photo of the terrace then:
October 2004
You can see the three barrels that were there on the terrace when we arrived. Ivan had the idea of using them for something. The barrel in the background is the one that I fell through last summer while fumigating the oleander which is behind it in this photo and quite small so barely noticeable. That barrel has been discarded as rubbish.
The barrel next to the rail and terrace entrance was cut into two pieces with a glass cover over the opening. Ivan filled the barrels with water and placed lotus plants and fish inside them. The both of the barrels are now tables on the terrace that everyone loves; many have said what an original idea and then plan to do the same for their own gardens back home wherever that may be.
The last barrel (which is the one in the middle) was turned into a fountain of sorts. Ivan placed that next to the entrance of the terrace, just to the right as you entered next to the plumbago plant. This one had a water feature in it as well as plants, rocks and fish. Children were quite entertained by it, standing next to it, looking for the fish, putting their little fingers in the water. Even the local cats were entertained by this barrel as there were many a time when I arrived or came out of the bar and found a cat perched on the rim of the barrel looking to get its paws on one of the fish, and perhaps even did so at some point.
The problem with that barrel was that it had been left empty far too long. One of the premises for using a barrel is that it is filled with a liquid which keeps the wood moist which thereby helps to keep the wood swollen and therefore water tight. As these barrels were left for too long with nothing inside them, the wood dried a bit too much. No matter how much time passed, water kept leaking out of the barrels, especially this one, the fountain barrel. So a week or so ago, Ivan drained the fountain barrel thinking we would just get rid of it as it was getting worse and it appeared to really be a waste of water (having to continually refill the water to the proper level, at times it almost emptied itself completely). But one last hurrah to try and salvage it with a plastic liner; we bought the liner but then had to pull the barrel out of its place to install it. That is when we saws there was really no point at all to salvaging this barrel. The wood had dried so much that the rings holding the barrel together had, all but one, fallen to the ground, leaving the barrel to fall open like a petals of a flower, but nothing that pretty.
So that barrel is now in our pile of firewood for the coming winter, at least will be used to its fullest. Ivan is attempting to make something to fill in that space and maintain the idea of a water feature of a sort. Here are some older photos of the changes that have happened on this terrace. In the photo above, you will note that the name of the hotel is not yet in place on the wall where it says"Restaurante".
05 May 2005
New hotel name sign in place, no plants around the bar door as they almost does in Jan 2005 from frost, but new plants along outside of the front of metal railing.
14 May 2005
Newly installed porch on the terrace provides much needed shade from hot Andaluz sun, flowering, smallish oleander behind Bandolero on "my" barrel, very small bougainvillea planted on just outside railing against hotel wall, wires hanging from building.
May 2005
Hotel Main Entrance - Small plants, very stark compared with how it looks now.
May 2006
Maturing plants, growing bougainvillea, still waiting for the ivy to show itself along the railing.
May 2006
Left - Close up of one of the barrel tables with lotus flowers.
Right - Barrel fountain with lotus flowers blooming.
May 2006
Some of Ivan's mouth-watering tapas on the glass top of the barrel table.
April 2008
Hotel entrance, nicely green and maturing.
May 2008
Growing plants, year on year, ivy doing well finally, lavander and rosemary are quite healthy in front of the railing and the bougainvillea is flowering but does not take off until later in 2008.
May 2009
Maturing bougainvillea, very mature plants in front of now hidden railing, roses spilling over wall on right, very green porch, Scottish flags as we had the Scottish Gaelic workshop in May.
