I met someone we know yesterday in the supermarket and I enquired, as I always do, how her husband was and where he was. And I got the feeling from the response that his mother must have died, and she had, in June, and she was 104 and a half…  can you imagine?! The ironic thing was that unsurprisingly she had needed a lot of care over the last ten years or more and was cared for by her son, who is 70 years old himself, and her daughter and husband who are in their 80s, good heavens, all I can say is can you imagine! The things people will do for their family. Touching really.

Anyway back in the land of Bubión my back treatment worked for a week, then I stupidly did something that undid it all, so more treatment followed and more avoiding twisting, which is as near impossible to avoid as it gets. We shall see, but it’s getting boring now, I have work to do and can’t do it… a bit of a disaster to be honest. On a more positive note I did manage to talk to the border collie breeder in Granada yesterday and she will know next week if the female dog is indeed pregnant after she goes for a scan, the dog that is… And then we will be invited to meet the parents (mummy dog is a merle, we’ve always had black and white collies or tricolour ones so that would be exciting!), and they will suss out if we are suitable border collie owners, I really hope so… It was very positive step though to be vetted, pardon the pun, as they clearly love their dogs and are not going to sell a pup to just any old joe. I wonder how Norah our cat will feel to have her space invaded by a puppy… its interesting though that when I do my stretching exercises in the morning, when I’m lying on the floor, Norah calls by looking for a cuddle, I am much reminded that Jess couldn’t resist coming to see me when I was doing yoga or something, and he always had to put his head on my chest, ALWAYS! He got bored after a while and went away, but it was obligatory… Wipe tear away, again.

Things are hotting up all round in the village, it’s darned hot at the moment,  and there were a fair few guests arriving for rental houses yesterday and today and all the month of August. We met Julia for breakfast this week, (Julia who ran over 1000 kms from North to South of Spain from mid March, April, and until mid May this year, barefoot…),  its always great to get a boost of Julia’s energy. She is running a ‘Zen running camp’ this next week so I will no doubt bump into her and the guys again through the week. A Zen running camp combines running, and meditation etc… just in case you wondered. The other quirky thing was being questioned by a Guardia Civil officer regarding strange noises we heard in the early hours of Thursday morning. Another story for another day… My photo today is roses on the monument near the kids playground in the village, which are always beautiful. I have heard 2 versions of why that monument is there. I will endeavour to find out which one is true.