...the swimming pool in Iñigo's house looking great and newly appointed with very
fancy rotomolded plastic chairs designed by Starck (I believe)...

...Pino (the Jack Russell Terrier) her usual self...

...Clarita (mix of Puli and Fox Terrier) still never missing a chance to swim, even at
age 14 (she's plunging into the pool in this picture)...

...Iñigo's nepenthes and orchids doing well...

... and the bar of the village still serving meals.

The next morning we ran a few errands in Almeria (30 mns. away) and ate these churros.

The succulent plants in the house were in good shape.

Also in good shape was Lola, proprietress of the bar with her husband Antonio.

The next day I took these pictures on my way to Nijar. The camera does not have
a long enough lens to do justice to the beautiful light in the hills.

And this is the crater of La Granatilla, so named because the wash that drains the
crater though the crack in the wall visible here face on is full of small garnets.

The next morning Juanjo, Paloma and Juan came to spend the weekend and together we
checked the yard of the house... and liked the "granadas"...

... then went to the beach at El Playazo (windy with onshore East wind)...

... and had lunch on the beach at Las Negras.

I took some pictuires of the house, which was looking great,...

This is the lady of the manor surveying the manor.

... and of the crop of scallop shells we got from Xidoiro Areoso, brought here to be put
in a glass jar.

For some reason, more of the blue agaves in the area (called "piteras" locally) were flowering
this year than in previous years..

This is Juanjo ready for anything with a caulking gun loaded with a german "synthetic mortar" that
helped greatly in the hanging of curtains and Barbara and Paloma hanging out..

We visited the nursery of a transplanted Austrian named Tony. A very nice place, run with
great enthusiasm.

These pictures were taken during a short jaunt into the wash by Tony's nursery, where fossils
(smallish scallop-like things, oysters, snails...) can be found... and were found.

And this is the unofficial symbol of Spain: an old ad for a brandy that was allowed to remain
standing in spite of the ban on advertising near freeways.