Living in Spain: Sun buttered sycamore seeds.

Living in Spain: Sun buttered sycamore seeds.

To those in England now abed...or watching TV and winding down. I wish I could send you a few moments from my evening. Some sleepy harbour cats, the warm air, the red of the broken earth, and a slice of sun buttered sycamore seeds to view!

I really love it here. So do my kids. In some ways it's better than when we first arrived as we have solved our immediate problems: Where can we shop? What can we buy the kids will eat? That sort of thing. I mentioned to my husband that there must be an ideal balance between new and known. He tells me there is an equation for it, lots of science and research done. Scientists have worked out how much we should explore new things for our optimum survival! Well I'm no scientist but I can tell you that no new things is too little! I'm glad I shoehorned my family out of our rut!

I've decided that life's activity can be put into three categories; Making a fool of yourself, not making a fool of yourself, and doing the things you are brilliant at. The fun is all in the first and the last catagories.

For example I made a fool of myself when I told everyone I was going to have 25 facepainters working for me in Sussex, Kent and Surrey and had it all worked out to turn over £100,000 a year in facepainting! The most I ever had work for me was four, part time, and it was still only a marginally profitable business - but I don't regret all the hours of planning, organising and working! I had a blast making a fool of myself.

I think I made a fool of myself starting a craft fair in a downturn, when a farmers market a week was closing in the UK! I did start it, and it ran for several successful years but I was never able to expand it enough (get more fairs in different places) to make a living. I think I helped a lot of artists, I know I had a lot of fun, but honestly - didn't make too much money for the effort!

I didn't make a fool of myself when I took a job that was well paid doing technical textiles, not creative textiles, it was a good job, sensible choice, and I learned what it's like to drag yourself from your bed to face a hated 9:00 to 5:00 for six months, then I made a fool of myself and quit without a plan or a job to go to!

The other good category is "doing what you are brilliant at" joy is also to be found here. My four years doing a BA in textile design, messing about with fabric, dyes, paints, printing machines and looms panned out as fun, fun and happiness. Likewise my morning a week of designing for my current studio is a looked forward to treat. I get to work (instead of cook and change nappies) I get to excel, be me, be a designer, someone with a future, independence, and great competence born of study, observation and lots of practice, but, and here is my point, once upon a time I made a fool of myself trying to start a textiles degree while still unclear the difference between textiles and fashion! And long before that I made a fool of myself learning to draw. All the good stuff follows after making a fool of yourself!

And if you lack the confidence to walk into new places and new situations, I give you this brilliant tip from my big brother, pretend! Acted confidence, to the people around you is in no practical l way different from real confidence! And the beauty of this tip, we have both found that real confidence naturally follows pretended confidence, you start like you know what your up to and shortly after you do! 

So now I'm thinking what shall we do to make fools of ourselves in June when our time in Spain is over?

Buy a minibus and convert it, I don't really have the know how or funds so I'm bound to make a fool of myself trying! Try to get a house sit in some exotic location to give us more time to save for a built camper? Set off in a trailer tent with no plan! I'm not really planning to not make a fool of myself and rent a little flat and resume normal!

What do you think?

Father Christmas is a bit boring!

Father Christmas is a bit boring!

I realise that this is disloyal as I am British and we have Father Christmas there, and I realise that this will be controversial but Father Christmas is a bit lame!

I never thought about it before but we miss an opportunity with the fat man who does a bit of breaking and entering. Why don't we see him? Ok, you can go to a fair and sit on his knee, but that is about all, he sneaks in and out without making an entrance!

On the 5th of January the Three Kings visit Spain. They arrive everywhere simultaneously. In some parts of Spain they arrive on horse back but in Javea they arrive by boat! Sailing into the harbour in triumph! Fireworks blast from the headland, boat horns blare and three kings arrive to deliver presents for the children, and these are kings, so they have dancers, heralds, guards, bands even live goats and geese in their court! They process through the town, girls dance in glittering costumes wearing earrings so big they must feel like wearing a spanner in each ear! Men in satin headdresses carry huge litters full of presents and throw sweets to the kids in the crowd. After all this you could go up and sit on the three kings knees and meet their beautiful wives - and guess what? Get given free sweats!

Being Spain they do all this in the evening and then take their kids home to eat afterwards - if they are not too full of free sweats!

Spanish landscapes

I'm creating a drawing a day, just for the art of it.
Today's, yesterday's and the day before's are Spanish landscapes.
#drawingadayclub

#createadrawingadayforhumanrights
http://www.youthforhumanrights.org

Living in Spain: pirates, salvage and ice-cream!

Living in Spain: What Can we salvage from our Chevy? And history with ice cream!

So the broken Chevy arrived in England today. Dumped outside my mum and stepdad's house by a huge truck. My mum was quick thinking enough to film the unloading so at least my two year old was happy!

The classic car garage in Rouen quoted £4,000 to replace the transmission unit but you can get them reconditioned on eBay for £400. There may also be something wrong with a piston but even that could be fixed according to our mechanic friend in Spain (who we made two days too late to ship the van here!). We need to catch a break with this van as it is ALL our savings.

It has lots of good points. Low milage, undersealed against rust, five new tyres and two new batteries (normal one and one to run laptops, kettle etc.) clearly a huge part of the quote is labour. So if someone wanted to fix it themselves, (not us we don't have the skill set) they could get a great van cheap. Do any of my friends know anyone interested? Or even know what I can charge for it broken? Any advice is welcome?

On another topic, back in Javea, I keep thinking about the fact people have lived here since pre-history. All the beautiful greenery around here is kept alive by black water pipes that loop round every tree. The palms don't grow in the sand like that without them. So when people first came here it must have been a brutal, baked place. Broken red earth and caucus plants, scraping salty rocks to find something alive to live on. Today it is raining. Those people from pre-history would have willingly handed over the last of the dried lizard meat to the gods for such a gift! English kids will be familiar with a day off for snow, Scottish kids will be familiar with wishing they got one, some kids here got a day off for rain! (I have been corrected, power cuts as a result of rain).

Even when the people here developed farming and irrigation their existence was still tough, pirates so molested the town by the sea, that the townspeople got together and had a meeting, where they all sounded like the villagers in computer games; "hrmm! humph! hrmm" as a result of the meeting they packed up the whole town and moved it two miles up hill, and inland, and built a wall around it! Me and my kids have done the "attacking pirate walk" up the hill to the old town and my nine year old will tell you, the last thing you want to do when you make it to the top is fight anyone, even if they are not behind a meter thick wall, ice cream is in fact the only way to recover! Please note: you may want to check a few dates and such if you are planning to repeat my history lesson in an exam - also don't say anything about computer games!

I have been teaching my kids to make rubbings and have included a rubbing of the city's coat of arms. We got it off a drain cover! Although it can also be seen on the court house wall. Also a shot of part of the wall that still remains in the old town and the face my daughter makes to any pirates that might survive the climb! Towns people 10, pirates 0!

Three bright Spanish light pictures!

I'm creating a drawing a day, for two years, just for the art of it.
Only 36 days left! What would you like me to draw in the remaining days?
Today's and yesterday's, bright seed, bright trees, bright hibiscus!
#drawingadayclub

#createadrawingadayforhumanrights
http://www.youthforhumanrights.org

Mountains from the balcony.

I'm creating a drawing a day, for two years, just for the art of it (only 43 days remaining!)
Today's (and yesterday's) are the mountains from my balcony.
The close one is El Montgo, 753 meters high, 2,470 feet. That means it's not really a mountain in Scotland, mostly Scottish people only classify it as a mountain if it's over 3,000 feet, a Munro (after the climber who first listed them). There is a crazy sport in Scotland where you run up and down three Munros in the SAME DAY, as if tossing trees around was not a hardcore enough sport! I'm not planning on running up the Montgo, even if it is just a hill. The way it goes straight up from almost sea level would make it a brutal climb, and I don't think there are streams up there so you would have to carry a lot of water.

The mountain range in the distance is the Sistemas Prebeticos. We flew over them on the way down. I'm pretty sure some of them are the real thing!

I'm afraid I have completely lost track of where the art blogging ends and the travel blogging begins, hopefully my friends are interested in both. :)

#drawingadayclub

#createadrawingadayforhumanrights
http://www.youthforhumanrights.org

Living in Spain - The "What am I doing still here?" Feeling and two drawings.

I'm sitting in "La Siesta" it means the nap. It's a beach cafe. The view is out across the sea to the headland. The floor is literally sand, although the beach here is shingle (they have brought it in to be more beach venue). The kids are at the flat with Tim, Dylan is having a real siesta. I'm drawing the view and the jumbled white carved couches and floaty curtains that decorate the place. The sea is quiet, it's only about eight meters from me, but every now and then it "cheeks" me by sending a sudden loud wave! Sparrows abound, clearing up the crumbs the French family in the next nest of couches have overlooked.

For the first time in a while, I'm not beset by the question "How did I end up back here?" And "I'm forty and I've done what?" It's actually a pretty unfair question because the town I grew up in is a privileged place to live, I just felt too much like I was stuck. The second question is also unfair, I've traveled widely, I've started and sold businesses, I've got my design degree and a brilliant world class studio to sell my work. I've got two perfect kids. I've got a brilliant husband who always steps in and quietly fixes the mess when my plans go wrong. Yes, it's Tim who dealt with the angry buyers of the last camper, and Tim who untangled the breakdown mess - mostly in French! Still I was loading the dishwasher back home and thinking... "What am I doing here? Back where I grew up? Among the middle class, suburban retired people? (And my collection of awesome friends - mostly not local!) One of said awesome friends keeps referring to this as our "first" trip, I think she might be right. I've been around Europe a bit (France, Germany, Holland, Italy, Poland, Austria, Hungry...) with a backpack and visited; America, Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Egypt... but it's different to move off and say "Now I'm out and it's the start of my travel." See what I mean? I mean this as a change, not a ten day mini adventure. And that idea has dispelled the "What am I doing here?" Feeling. :)

Now I better go pay for my lunch, that I ordered by pointing at the menu and saying "Please" in Spanish, it was yummy (mostly onion and oil I think!) if you get something horrid by this method you should always try to eat it anyway, as it's your deserved punishment for not learning local language and customs fast enough - unless it's cheese, especially mouldy cheese, if it's cheese you are excused! Well not if its this sort of yummy goats cheese they have given me... I might be making the rules up as I go! :)

#createadrawingaday

#createadrawingadayforhumanrights
http://www.youthforhumanrights.org

Living in Spain - get your mittens on!

Get your mittens on!

We are in Spain, Javea or Xabia. Why has it got two names? Javea is the Spanish, Xabia is the Valencian local dialect.

The city has an astonishing 50% non locals but you can spot the locals by their mittens and furry boots! It's only 19 degrees here and a bit windy too so they are in winter clothes next to the tourists and expatriates of various places in their summer dresses!

The mountain that dominates the view is El Montgo but so far it shows no signs of going anywhere. People have lived up there since prehistoric times.

Benedorm is near here and you can get a bus if you fancy some people trafficking or prostitution! We will give it a miss. Ibiza is so close you can see it on a clear day. I've heard that despite it's club land reputation much of it is unspoiled and lovely. We are planning the four hour boat ride. My daughter will love that, she loves boats and the sea.

My kids love it here, beach, beach, beach and more beach. It's taking all my will power to do some homeschool when I want to spend all day on the beach too! The Spanish look on, shaking their wooly hats on their heads - crazy tourists on the beach in November.

The fun thing about going somewhere new is that even mundane things like going to the supermarket become mini adventures "What might be in this packet labeled all in Spanish?" "What is this crazy looking thing?" Tim bought an amazing looking fruit and we were all excited to try it, it tasted like slightly too dry apple with the addition of many huge, very hard inedible seeds! So not a huge success! However the strange melon we bought was amazing!

The city seems half empty to me, (I'm used to rammed Sussex) and very spread out, what is all this land for? between buildings? between the cycle paths and the road? beside the car park...? The answer is nothing, it's just space, land is not at a premium here.

The city also is half empty for winter. People own flats here and only stay part of the year, many apartments in our building are empty, that always saddens me, so much wealth in the world and so much poverty.

The cycle paths I mentioned are everywhere and often tree lined! We want bikes to wiz along the front to harbour or sandy beach. We are looking in the second hand shops.

We are flying back for two weeks at christmas if anyone wants to see us. We will be emptying our stuff from the broken van and selling it for scrap and freezing because of acclimatisation...so a pretty depressing christmas plan! 😂

I wrote, was it really only a week ago? That I may have led my little family down a blind alley...well this beautiful sea was at the end of it! Perhaps a little crazy courage and a leap for change is not so dangerous after all!