The leaves of the chestnuts were at their peak about 10 days ago. They are looking very autumnal now as they lay on the ground, accumulating in piles along the road and in the countryside.

We had a bit of rain the other day but not enough to bring in the mushrooms that are sourly lacking this year due to the poor weather. IT has turned colder now though which is about time as it felt like Indian summer for weeks here and it was getting to be a bit too much.

Business has been slow in the week but we have a few rooms tonight including a couple of walkers coming from Ireland for a week. We did have a big lunch on Monday for a German lady who was celebrating birthday 67 with all her friends from their community down there on the Costa del Sol. They were 18 and all had a very nice time. The weather was perfect for what she wanted, a luncheon outside on the pool terrace with all her friends. Ivan made a big Chocolate Volcano Cake which Ingrid said was just perfect. They left happy and all promising to recommend us to their neighbours.

Last weekend was also the big mushroom weekend. While the hotel has an O.K. amount of business, it could have been better. The organised weekend include a cooking demonstration which was organised for here in the hotel restaurant at 13,00 hrs, not good timing for us, I'm sorry to say. We had not thought it through, but with a mushroom cooking demonstration happening from 13.00 hrs, it did not finish until almost 15.00 hrs and so there were people that wanted to eat but did not want to wait around and so we lost that business, at least three table worth. You love and learn and so next time, it will have to be earlier so as not to disrupt our lunch service.

In any event, we were told that 94 types of mushrooms were found that day in the Juzcar countryside including one type that may be a first find in all of Spain, so quite an impressive take of mushrooms, despite the lack of rain. I imagine people want home quite pleased after a weekend find like that.

Of course there had to be one client problem but the problem was the client. She was awfully quick to threaten an official complaint because she could not lock her bedroom door properly. The funny thing was that this was a returning client who was staying here as a guest of the village hall as one of the organisers of the event. But she was just a difficult person, the type that probably goes around most places and gives them a hard for minor things, like she did to us. She even made fun of the way I speak Castilian which is why I thought she was bad mannered and was actually the real problem not what she complained about. Well, I suppose that is the nature of the business we are running and one does not like to disappoint client, lo que sea.

Next weekend is a big one in Spain as there are two national holiday one right after the other. The first one is on 6 December which is the National Constitution Day followed by 8 December which is the Feast of the Immaculate Conception. As a result, we have the hotel full for three nights. Ivan's parents are coming to lend a hand as is his brother and perhaps his sister. It will be nice to have them around for a couple of days.

I've started a new activity, writing Ronda restaurant reviews for Andy, the chap has a relatively new website for Ronda tourists and expats living in the Serrania de Ronda. My first review is now on the Ronda Today website|blog at the following page:

http://www.rondatoday.com/808/bar-maestro-calle-espinel-la-bola

More will follow with time; please do have a read.

The hotel has been busy during the weekends of late with a full house again last night; we had a family from Malaga come up for a birthday party last night. It turns out that they have a restaurant in Malaga city and invited Ivan and I to go there to check it out at some point.

We are closing from this afternoon for a couple of nights to go to Madrid to meet our new nephew born last month. Next weekend is the 3rd Annual Juzcar Wild Mushroom Seminar, of course the hotel is fully booked for that already and has been for several weeks. The big question is: will there be any mushrooms?

With the weather we have been having here in the Serrania, and you will note that I have mentioned the weather on several occasions here and in my Tweet account, it has continued to be warm and dry during the day. The temps at night are about where they should be for this time of year having cooled off about two weeks ago. One can smell wood fires going in the late afternoon, early evenings now. But during the day, the temps are still comfortable and there has been no rain to speak of so there are few if any mushrooms growing in the countryside. That will leave many disappointed in the week to come. In fact, we had a booking for a couple to come and stay this weekend for the mushroom package we have on offer and they postponed their stay due to the lack of rain.

We will be closed for Christmas this year. I put a deadline date on for Christmas bookings if any were to be taken and that date was today. We have not received more than one query and so we will be closed for Christmas for the period 15 - 28 December. The hotel is almost fully booked for New Year's Eve, we have two rooms to go and hopefully we will get two more couples to come along and stay for the event.

I had an American friend from Hong Kong come and stay last weekend for the first time since we have been here. Michael lives in San Francisco now and is quite the traveller. In fact he organizes holidays, one of which I would like to go on with him as they always sound so fabulous and fun. He was here in Malaga to take a cruise from Malaga to Miami, a re-positioning cruise, something I previously knew nothing about. These repositioning cruises mean the ship is going to its next home port for the season; as it has to go anyway and it is not a regular cruise, there is a fantastic discount offered for the cruise. I hope to take this cruise next year actually as it is 12 days and very inexpensive; Michael got a great room for USD1,300 which includes room and all food with most beverages... sounds like quite the deal to me! The ship has 14 restaurants on board as well as a spa and many other activities. He said you have to go with your own group but it is lots of fun... sounds like a great idea to me.