Hive News

I have lost one colony which may have been mine fault for not ensuring that there was enough air cirulation. It was the weaker and smaller of the two colonies but while the others made a very busy appearance the other day when the temperature went up the other hive was deathly quite. On opening it up there was a musty old grape smell and inside my bees were dead and covered in mould. What a shame. I´m not sure now if I can use the frames again but will find my blow torch to disinfect it all. There was no sign of another illness so it should be ok.

Culture Culture everywhere

I was invited to give a talk about how Britain celbrates Carnival, at the local Cultural Centre. I had to think and eventually gave a talk about the village feites and showed a video I had from my teaching days of folk dancing and in particular Morris dancing. It made me sad to think that we are loosing so many traditions while here they are preserving them and passing them from one generation to the next. I was interviewed by Galician TV along with the council representative and had made a Simmnel Cake to take along. Other foreigners had also been invited and we had an evening sharing our different celebrations and food.

The next week we had a fancy dress procession around the small town accompanied by the local band. We stopped off at the old people´s home and danced and played lots of music.

Reclaiming the Forest Garden

In here somewhere is our forest garden. The brambles could have won the Guiness Records for length and sharpness as they passed over the top of the old fruit trees. It has been a very mild start to the new year and trying to get the old trees free of the jungle and pruned back into possible production was the goal. It´s been a huge job but gradually light and air are getting back in and old wood is being removed and stacked to dry out. A friend lent me a sythe attached to a long handle which has been a great help after being attacked several times by the brambles. There are apples, peaches and chestnuts so we are hoping that we were able to save them or will they be too old. There are Robins all over the place here and they follow us everywhere we go.

Con Madres & Con Padres

This is a typical custom of this area. Images are made of different people in the town or family. They are dressed in their clothes which in the past have been pinched off the washing line if the person wasn´t forthcoming to provide them. They are then displayed for all to see and burnt that night. I joined the women in my choir to prepare the effigies of the men. We used turnips and melons for heads and packed the bodies with straw. The following week it is the turn of the conmadres. It is all done in good fun although it was strange to see myself swinging from the tree as part of the choir I had joined. That night I was burnt on the fire while someone played the bagpipes.

Plants in rocks

Pine tree growing out of a rock on the banks of the Sil Canyon. How strange nature is and how resiliant.

Boxing Day

There are some real treasures on the Galican coast and we find one on Boxing Day. It was a glorious day probably thanks to Climate Change. We took a picnic and set off for some Celtic ruins I had read about. The beach when we got there was deserted apart from a few surfers. The ruins were magical and to be by the sea again was wonderful.

These ruins are at Castro Barona.

Christmas 2007

Christmas was a time for foraging in the woods for decorations. There was no holly but plenty of other material such as pine cones and lichen to bring a festive atmosphere to our newly heated kitchen. My daughter enjoyed making the decorations and finding them a place on the tree which was a piece of evergreen broom. Here they tend to give presents of the day of the Three Kings and a special celebration was held at the local nursery where there were three special visitors and lots of hot chocolate to drink.