Typical Semana Santa

I think that all of Spain must have been pretty naughty over the last few years as there's been a definite pattern of lovely warm spring days on the lead up to Semana Santa and then rain throughout the week. It is such a shame, but has happened for perhaps the last five years without fail!

The rain started on Saturday which was the first day of Semana Santa and also the day of our municipal pig killing in the village square. The matanza is where pigs are killed and turned into sausages etc. At the end of it there is only the pig skin and teeth and everyone (bar two) joins in having different jobs.

There was thunder and lightening and I pointed out that to a student that this probably meant that god was a pig and was wreaking his revenge, which I quickly changed to god having a soft spot for pigs, as I realised that my original comment had the potential to offend!

Still, the rain will be good for asparagus and this year I intend to make paper from the asparagus stalks. Wonder what that will turn out like....

Bad angel

I have an adult student called Angel, and he didn't come to class last week , therefore I think of him now as being bad angel. I wonder when I'll get used to these funny Spanish names.

Larry and the Lovebirds Parrot Food

I am very frustrated. This time last year toddler-alike Larry, our parrot, was ill because he wouldn't eat anything other than sunflower seeds. We tried so hard over the last year to find food that he would eat, but I guess because he has only ever eaten sunflower seeds, he has been suspicious to anything else. As well as being like a toddler, he is like a cat. So he will show interest in a type of food one day  (Celery? I LOVE celery,yum yum) and then freeze in horror at it the next (Celery? Do I look like the sort of parrot that would eat celery?)!

He's been getting better with his food (I think partly due to the lovebirds who eat anything), and after Christmas we treated Larry to this big tub of premium parrot food. And much to our surprise, he liked it! It is like super muesli, I put his food out by a handful and sometimes there'll be a whole peanut, or a walnut and other times it will just be seeds and dried fruit. So there's lots of variation and he's been getting used to lots of different types of food.

Although it's a little like Basil and Tinkerbelle. Basil never used to like big dog chews and Tinkerbelle used to chew his chews, and when she had softened it up for him, Basil would take over - and Larry won't eat big pumpkin seeds and stands there peeling little grains of millet, while the lovebirds (not always with success), will certainly give a pumpkin seed their best shot.

Anyway, we were so happy with this food I ordered some more, I put in a big order because this food is only available from one company - and then it all went wrong. The parcel came damaged and we sent it away, and now are waiting - and waiting, for a refund. And I won't reorder until they've refunded the money...

So I've been looking for other suppliers, and this hasn't been easy because I think we were buying from the manufacturer, the prices were good and similar food seems so much more expensive elsewhere.

Which made me think about making our own.

Parrot muesli - brand would be Larry and the Lovebirds.

Now if that won't make our fortune, I don't know what will.....!

Passionflower

Our first passion flower of the year. And I remember the passion flower at Nanny's house too!