Lazy Days of Summer

Minnie Sleeps

It's been too long since I last posted to my journal and I apologize for the long interval. This summer has been very busy with activities that have taken me away from blogging. Reorganizing and painting rooms, a lovely visit from my sister and friend from Canada, touring the island and taking classes and exams, which are now over. Oh and I almost forgot....I had a major disk crash which put me out of action for more than a few days!

So I think I'm now able to continue.
Here is a photo of Plaza del Charco in Puerto de la Cruz, taken in May from an upper floor window.

May: Plaza del Charco - Puerto de la Cruz

For June....what better than a bowl of chilled gazpacho at La Quintana Restaurant in Alvaro's Tennis Club, in La Paz, Puerto de la Cruz.

June: Gazpacho Andaluz

For July...a wander through the shady streets of Santa Cruz, Tenerife.

July: Santa Cruz in Summer

And for August, a bouquet of many roses picked from my garden:

August: Roses from the Garden

I've made a slideshow of summer photos taken when my sister and a friend visited the island. We drove up the volcano Teide, visited Santa Cruz, went out to dine on tapas and visited a couple of beaches. Click here if you would like to follow us on our island tours.

I hope everyone has been enjoying their summer.

Goodbye for now and I promise not to be away for so long next time.

¡Hasta la vista!

87 ~ Tenerife's Carnival Queen 2010

Alicia San Juan McNulty

Photos with kind permission from La Opinion.es/Tenerife

Last night's gala of election of Tenerife's carnival queen was themed History of Carnival in Tenerife, remembering the beginnings and ensuing years of carnival on the island and the various outstanding characters who have become so loved and familiar each year. Tenerife's carnival wouldn't be the same without the figures of Charlie Chapman, Cantinflas and Fidel Castro walking on stage and in the parades.

The show timing was brisk, by Tenerife standards, and the spectacle of hundred of islanders in their costumes was almost overwhelming, especially when the TV cameras gave closeup shots of the costumes worn by the murgas and comparsas. One could see the immaculate details of workmanship and materials that goes in to the confection of these outfits.

And when the elaborate costumes of the queen candidates began to emerge they were truly a feast for the eyes. Called fantasias or 'fantasies' they take many months to design and construct and in the last years have come fitted with wheels underneath to facilitate movement.

Now that the queen has been elected by votes with her four damas de honor (maids of honour), the carnival celebrations will move into top gear with parades, street dancing and sleepless nights for many.

Here's another popular carnival song "Chicharrero de Corazón" on a You Tube display of carnival posters over the last 47 years. Chicharrero has come to be used as a fond reference to an inhabitant of Santa Cruz or of Tenerife, the name originating from the fishermen of La Laguna, who in former times of hardship fished the Chicharro (Spanish link) or jurel which was often considered a meal for the poor. Nowadays I have seen chicharros for sale in the supermarket here.

The song has become a favourite around carnival time, calling those who are chicharreros or islanders through to the heart, to pick up the drum and go into the streets because the carnival has begun.



I love this carnival music and I hope you do too!

¡Hasta la vista!

85 ~ Storms Over Canarias

We were warned by the weather office that thunderstorms would be coming over the Canary Islands these past days and they were right.

Most islands have had torrential rain and in some parts, intense flooding, as was the case in Santa Cruz, the capital city on the east coast of Tenerife.

Here is a news item with photos from a British newspaper which show the water streaming through the streets of Tenerife. Some areas received as much as 200 liters per square meter. Luckily there were no fatalities. We're lucky to be living in a part that didn't receive the brunt of the storm, so our garden is still intact and thankful for the fresh rainwater.

Here's a video of the streets of Tenerife:



A more cheerful sight a few days ago was a bouquet of our own roses lying on the patio table. Our garden helper Antonio finished the rose pruning in record time and there were still so many in bloom that he lay them where I would find them. The many reds were La Sevillana and Heinzelmännchen, the multi-coloured was Granada, the white was Iceberg and the pink Sonia. I love them all.

We don't prune low to the ground as there is no frost here and I've found over the years that the rose bushes produce a much better display if they are cut to about one third of their normal height.

This is Queen Elizabeth, a Grandiflora which doesn't like to be pruned low.

And new shoots are appearing almost instantly on other bushes pruned a week earlier.

The grapefruit tree is coming back beautifully although the new leaves are still affected by the blight that has affected all the citrus trees in Canary Islands.
The leaves curl and bubble due to an insect that breeds on the underside of the leaves.

One of my window doves looks for food on the sill. I dare not put it in the bird feeder in the tree or it would be soaked. The birds don't like wet food!
The sun will probably shine again tomorrow. At the moment the temperatures are mild...21C (69.8F) and it's starting to rain again.

Here's hoping you are having a mild winter. Thanks for stopping by.

¡Hasta la vista!