Another gorgeous day in Juzcar, warmer than the previous week, good day for a swim after a long walk in the hills.

Two of the pups have now gone with the owner of the daddy so we have a bit of relief as these puppies are a lot of work and require a lot of attention.

We are also quite busy at the moment in the hotel and the restaurant; business has certainly picked up from a low in June/July. We've had a steady flow of customers for lunch on the weekends and the hotel is full at the moment for a week; we've also had a very good flow of clients in the hotel since 12 August. In fact, next week we will have our first days free since then. At the moment, we have a group in from Scotland who are walking and painting; they arrived on Saturday and depart on Saturday.

Speaking painting, our Art Gallery is just about ready for a launch party. Ivan is working with this artist from Ronda named Jose Cabeza. He came by this passed weekend and hung a whole gallery of paintings and set up sculptures on stands around the room. I meant to have some snaps to load here but have not had the time to take any yet. Anyway, it is looking very good. With the new lights we installed last week which highlight the painting in a much better light, we are working towards having the gallery opening with a wine and cheese or cookies sort of thing; we will be inviting the people of the village as well.

The gallery now has a name, the Sheila T. McCabe Galeria de Arte, named in memory of my mother who was an artist and who passed away a couple of years ago. We have several of her work hanging here in the hotel already none of which will be hanging in the gallery. I prefer to have them hung where they are on display permanently to all of guests in one of our dining rooms.

Anyway, this art gallery idea is making me a bit nervous as I'm not sure how this will work out but it is rather exciting to have oiur own art gallery. There is nothing quite like this space anywhere in the whole Ronda area. The room is rather large with plenty of natural light. There is a view of the mountains which Jose said he would love to have for himself out of his studio. With the new lights, it is like a different place, funny to think of this place within the hotel.

This is like the idea of our apartment in the hotel, it is like being in a different place altogether.

Well, it's kind of late and I need some rest so I'm off.

New photos of our French bulldog puppies.
11-09-2009
Am I adorable or what?

Wow, what's this big thing... is it for peeing?

Just ate, can you tell.

Very cute.

And still cute.

All are doing very well, are healthy with good appetites and are ready to be taken to a new friendly loving home... any takers?

The news here is that we unfortunately appeared to have acquired a cat. This kitten appeared abandoned near the hotel a few weeks ago and so Ivan, who takes in strays apparently, started providing food to it. So the cat started to feel more confident about coming to hotel to beg for food. Next thing you know I am finding the cat asleep on my bed in the flat upstairs. Something that did not make me happy, I must say. Yesterday, it was in the ktichen and so I told Ivan the cat has to go!! Not sure what we are going to do about it but I just do not want to have a cat, period - full stop, no changing my mind. More on this next time.


Weather - it has changed a bit in the last couple of days. It is a bit cloudy but no rain... a bit cooler but still quite warm when the sun peaks out from behind the cloud cover. Temperatures are in the upper 20s, centigrade of course. So the weather is actually ideal for walking. the hotel has been fairly busy of late as well and the bookings are just coming in. We had lots of French here last weekend, the most at one time ever actually. And last night, we had four Dutch couples, two English and a German while tonight that has changed to two Dutch couples, three English couples, and two solos - one German and one English, so pretty busy. We are shy one room from full tonight, tomorrow we are full and Sunday we are shy one room from full so all in all, pretty good. Many, well actually most of these people are here for walking, the remainder are friends visiting from London so keeping us busy.


I must now show our new art gallery to one of the Dutch who is an artist and is interested in seeing our small gallery. We have hung the few paintings we have and we have found a local artist from Ronda who is interested in hanging some of his work here including a sculpture or two so all in all good. I will post some photos here of the gallery shortly.

The Fiesta de Ronda starts today. That means that the hotel is full for 3 nights, good business for us. The weather has been quite hot so perfect for a fiesta. This is the fiesta de Pedro Romero and this is when the La Corrida Goyesca happens. There will be three days of bull fighting in the Ronda arena, the only time when there is bull fighting in Ronda during the whole year. Tickets can be quite dear to experience this occasion.

The main part of the Ronda fiesta is held at the Ronda fair grounds which were opened only 3 years ago and is located along the Ronda by-pass road. One could have seen much activity there in recent days as the preparations were under way for the fiesta. Big rides going up, casitas being built, lots of lights being installed, buses and trucks parked along the fair grounds, animal trailers about as well.

Last night was a parade which would have started next to the Ronda bull ring and snaked its way through Ronda eventually ending up at the fair grounds.

The centre of Ronda was abuzz with preparations earlier this week as well. There, too, were tents going up for casitas, as they are called. In the Plaza Socorro, a big structure was being put together and I am curious to see what is the finished structure as it was quite large. There are lots of street parties in Ronda during this time, speakers out in the streets blaring music, lots of people standing around chatting and drinking/eating tapas, all very festive actually. And the principal shopping street, Calle Espinel, was already decked out with colourful balls hanging over the street, people selling balloons and other blown up things for children and other memorabilia.

We are hoping to go into Ronda to check out the fiesta for a couple of hours at least ourselves later today.

Another gorgeous day in Juzcar, oh to be sitting by the Bandolero pool with a cool drink to hand and a wonderful book.