The Molinos De La Plana, A Peacock And A Peahen, A Spot Of Macrame And Crochet And Cheerio For Now (Maybe!)

Well it’s been a long time. Please don’t think I haven’t had my blog on my mind, not a day goes by when I don’t think about writing a new post. But thinking about it and getting round to it are two completely different things.

I wish there were just a few more hours in each day. I think around 32 would suit me, providing we still only have to sleep 7-8 of course 😁. Trying to cram everything I have and want to do into 1440 minutes is a feat I rarely accomplish. I suppose I shouldn’t have so many interests. Which brings me to the third subject of today’s title.

I have been lucky enough to make a few pennies from a hobby of mine. Well, actually, two hobbies, macrame (macramé in Spanish) and crochet (ganchillo or punto de gancho in Spanish, punt de ganxo in Valenciano). Thanks to my sister-in-law, who has displayed some of the items I have made in her salon, I have received quite a few orders. From baskets to key rings and wall hangings to place mats with a few bags along the way.

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“Cap Prim”, “Cala Sardinera” and “Cala Barraca” Walking Routes (Jávea), Artichokes “A La Brasa”, Air-Fried Yuca And A Grain Free Almond And Kumquat Cake (recipe included)

For those of you that practice these crafts you know how time-consuming they can be. Along with all the work around our house and huerta, gigs, Pep’s school’s end of term concerts (we’ve had three this last month with all the rehearsals they involve) we never seem to have a spare minute. I’m very grateful for the way I live my life, I wouldn’t change it for any other job, no matter how high the pay. But something has got to give, for now at least. Which brings me to the last subject of today’s title.

I’m the sort of person that doesn’t like to admit defeat and I’ll keep pushing myself until I finish something. And if I can’t then I just get myself in a tiswas worrying about it. Not being able to write posts for my blog makes me feel like I’m failing in some way. People ask me when I’ll be writing a new entry and it makes me feel so sad knowing I can’t dedicate the time needed to write a new post.

When I started the blog over two years ago we were in lockdown. The temporary job I had in a lawyer’s office in Benissa was cut short due to the pandemic. The blog was a great way for me to feel like I was doing something valuable and interesting, to some people at least 😁. Subscribers often used to tell me how much they enjoyed reading my posts during those peculiar times.

I’m not saying this is the end of the blog, in fact I’m certain it isn’t. But for now I need to put it on hold, even if it’s only temporary. Seeing as I can make a bit of pocket money from my two hobbies, that obviously comes before the blog at the moment. Our huerta is also more of a priority and takes quite a lot of our time, but as we can’t live without food we must keep at it!

We aren’t really doing too many things that are blog-worthy anyway, which makes it even harder to write new posts. But no doubt when we do I guarantee that our adventures will be told at some point. Which brings me to the first subject of today’s title.

For my Birthday at the end of April we often go away for a few days. Thanks to the Benissa fiestas Pep has a week off at the same time and it’s always a good excuse to have a wee holiday. This year we decided to stay home though, we’d had a couple of days in Alcoy at the beginning of April (post here) so we weren’t too desperate for a short break.

Thankfully we did stay put, the weather was fantastic. After all the rain we’d had it was marvellous to feel the warm sun on our skin. And seeing as it nearly always rains on my birthday it was even more enjoyable.

As usual we visited a few of our favourite restaurants. I won’t bore you with the details as I’ve spoken about them before. But we did manage to venture on a short walk close to Jávea that we’d never done before.

The Molinos de la Plana sit atop the “Elephant’s trunk” of the Montgó mountain, close to the Cabo de San Antonio. There are a variety of walks here, some take you down to Jávea, others lead you to Denia or to the summit of the Montgó if you fancy a longer, more strenuous walk.

There are 11 mills in total. They were built because the “Llebeig” (southwesterly) wind blows almost constantly. One of them was supposedly built in the fourteenth century, the rest in the eighteenth century and they were used for wheat flour. They are the largest set of flour mills in the Valencian Community. If you’d like to read a bit more about them you can visit Jávea’s website, it’s in English as well as lots of other languages.

Well that more or less sums up our travels this past few weeks. We had a very short, one night trip to Valencia a few days ago to see the guitarist John Scofield in concert. As usual we had a fabulous time, we love Valencia. We ended the couple of days with another concert, the guitarist Eric Gales. When we arrived home that night at 1:30am we were completely pooped, we’d done so much walking in the two days I felt like my legs wouldn’t want to move again 😂. If you’d like to read more about Valencia and my favourite parts of the city you can do so here and here.

In May we had a wee trip to Onteniente. We had a gig there, a first for us. It was a great gig, we started at 11am and were finished by 1pm. They’re my sort of gigs 😁. Course, by the time we’d finished and had packed up, our stomach’s were rumbling. We had a quick search on google to see what restaurants were around. The one that took our fancy was La Cuina Gastrobar (website here with a la carte and daily menus) and oh what a choice. If you’re ever in Onteniente you must visit. They serve a mix (or fusion should I say) of Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine. There are lots of vegan options too. It was hard to choose just a few things. Everything we tried was divine.

When we were leaving an elderly, local couple started talking to us. They had seen us playing earlier on and he had to ask me if I was English. He said my accent whilst singing songs in my mother tongue was a bit of a give-away. We said what a great lunch we’d had and they replied that it was the best restaurant in Onteniente. We’d been very lucky. It is number one on Tripadvisor for a reason. Sometimes you’ve got to trust the reviews!

One more restaurant I must quickly tell you about is La Sabrosa Taquería in Denia (Facebook page here). A couple of weeks ago we went for an evening stroll along the Las Marinas beach, my favourite place for summer walks. Suddenly it had gone 9pm and we hadn’t thought about what we were doing for dinner. We both fancied Mexican food but knew from previous times that we couldn’t find a decent restaurant serving this cuisine in Denia.

There was no way we were going to drive to Albir or the likes to satisfy our craving. Just in case, I googled Mexican restaurants in Denia. Low and behold there was a new restaurant (new to us that is, it opened a few years ago, how hadn’t we found out??) and the reviews were very good. Someone had commented that this was the Mexican restaurant that Denia had been missing. A quick phone call and we’d booked a table on their terrace.

The restaurant is situated down a pedestrian street off the Glorieta. There was only one table left outside, thank goodness we had phoned. We ordered the burrito menu and some tacos, all to share. It was scrumptious. The burrito tortilla was delicious, light, not thick and gungy at all. The filling was very tasty as were the tacos which had a lovely maize-y flavour. The only thing we weren’t too keen on were the nachos that are included with the burrito menu, they’re the typical Doritos style nachos out of a bag. But we didn’t really care about that. Everything else was great.

During my absence from the blog we had a bit of a surprise one morning towards the end of May. Pep had left for Pinos before I got up. When I turned my phone on I saw he’d sent me a photo. I couldn’t quite make out what it was, probably hadn’t got my glasses on. I opened our front door which opens into a covered riu rau where my cats sleep at night. They were all staring out the window, fixated to whatever it was that had caught their attention. I followed their gaze and couldn’t quite believe my eyes. A peacock sat on the old table on our terrace! Down below him by the fish pond lay a peahen, preening herself and minding her own business.

I had to slap myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming. My first thought was to ring Pep, when he was a child they’d had peafowl at his casita, he’d know what to do!!😳 When I told him the birds were still here he was amazed, he thought they’d have flown off. We knew one of our neighbours had peacocks as we hear them most days. “They must be his” I said, we’d go and ask him later on, if the birds hadn’t left before then.

I ventured outside to see what they’d do. We were a bit worried as these beautiful birds, like chickens, are rather fond of fruit and veggies that can be found in our “huerta”. Pep told me to try and shoo them off, to see if they’d fly back to their owner who I was convinced was our neighbour. The next hour or so entailed me wandering around behind this delightful couple, trying to get them to go back home. It didn’t work. They looked incredibly happy exploring their new abode, stopping every now and then to try and scrounge a raspberry or pull off a cabbage leaf.

Pep returned later and we somehow managed to entice them into the chicken run. To this day I don’t know how we did it but I suppose Pep’s used to it having had chickens for most of his life. Pep had previously taken our chickens up to Pinos so the run was empty. He passed by our neighbours house on his way to work but there was no one home. I went a bit later on and spoke to the man over the intercom.

Now this man lives in a beautiful house set on a lot of land. Aside from peafowl he also has alpacas, donkeys, horses, dogs, chickens, etc. That’s why I thought they must be his. When I asked him if he’d lost a peacock and a peahen he quickly replied that he hadn’t. At least, they were there this morning. “Hang on” he said, “I’ll go and have a look”. I then see him appear on a bicycle (this man has a lot of land!) and ride over to where the peafowl live. A couple of minutes pass and he rides to the front gate. Nope, he hadn’t lost them, they’re still there. I must have looked like a bit of a wally ’cause I wasn’t really sure what to say. I was convinced they would be his. Now what?!?!

“Do you want two more?” I asked. When I told him what had happened he was quite surprised, but declined my offer. Oh dear 😬. Oh well, on to Facebook they go, to see if anyone had lost them. I also began googling how to look after peafowl. I had absolutely no idea what they needed in terms of food, what their shelter should be like, etc, etc.

One thing I did find out is that they like to eat small amphibians and reptiles. In my fish pond there are loads of frogs, a delicacy for these birds. Had they heard them croaking and decided to come and have a quick snack? Who knows? They didn’t seem bothered about the fish pond when they were roaming around our land so I’m not sure if that is what brought them to us.

The following day I nipped to Piensos Durà in Pedreguer to get some feed for them. The neighbour who owns peacocks told me that this is where he bought it from. I’ve known the owner for a long time, we used to buy things from him for our shop in Orba. I told him what had happened and he was flabbergasted. I said I was a bit worried about keeping them as I had no idea how to look after them. He took my number and said if anyone claimed them or if he could find a home for them he’d let me know.

Anyway, for now they’d be staying with us. I read they like berries so I buy them blueberries which I give to them daily and they promptly devour. They also like Swiss chard and thankfully we nearly always have some growing in our “huerta”. They also adore fresh peas (is this where they get their name from?!?!) which we have rather a lot of in the fridge. I also bought a better quality food online, I wasn’t too keen on the ingredients in the one I bought from Piensos Durà.

The birds are quite young I think. He hasn’t developed his full tail yet, although he does like to show off what he’s got. Although he won’t be fertile yet he’s constantly trying to mate with her. He parades around, ruffling his feathers and trying to hypnotise her. She’s not interested in the slightest. It’s quite amusing.

One morning I went out to them and she didn’t look well at all. Her wings were hanging down, dragging on the floor, not a good sign. I noticed she’d laid an egg, her first, in the little wooden hut that used to be the home for our chickens when they were chicks. I thought she’d just got a bit warm in there and was dehydrated. But she wasn’t interested in the blueberries I gave her. I knew something was wrong. I started to worry as I really didn’t know what to do.

When we used to have chickens in the run I would pour a watering can full of water for them on the floor of the run in the shade. They used to love it. Maybe that would cool her down a bit. But she only waddled about in it for a few seconds and it didn’t seem to help.

I kept checking on her all day, I’d read that she could be egg bound and it could be life threatening. I started panicking. She wouldn’t let me hold her to try and help her pass the egg and I didn’t know what else I could do. She settled inside the shelter that we built for the chickens, perching on top of the dry stone wall in there looking very tired. After 2 or 3 hours she passed the insides of an egg. I’d read that if this happens the shell could still be inside her and it could also be very dangerous. After a little while out popped the very soft shell. Thank goodness for that.

Two minutes later she was wandering around the run as if nothing had happened, gobbling down as many blueberries as she could. I felt so relieved and happy for her too. Since then she has laid 4 more perfect eggs but has now stopped, which makes me think that it’s her first year laying them. Hopefully from now on she won’t have to go through that ordeal again, and nor will I.

Not long ago I got a call from the owner of Piensos Durà, saying that he’d found an owner for the birds if I didn’t want to keep them. I turned him down saying that I’d become very fond of them and wanted to keep them. He was very pleased I had changed my mind, he knows what a softy I am. He said they’re in very good hands. I do hope so.

I was going to call these beautiful creatures Dolce and Gabanna but it didn’t stick. Their names are Mr and Mrs 😁, although he often gets called You wally because he parades around so much trying to impress his mate 😂.

Well, that more or less sums up our little lives these last 3 months or so. Our “huerta” is in full swing, albeit a bit behind schedule due to the weird weather we had in the spring. We’re getting inundated with courgettes though, the plants never fail in supplying us with fridges full of the delicious veg. Mmmmm, I love them done on the plancha with a little bit of olive oil and salt. Perfection.

Right, before I go here’s the poster of our summer gigs at the mo. If you’re in the area and fancy saying hello we’d love to see you. The more the merrier 😁. I best get going, we’ve got to get ready for tonight’s gig. It’s a lovely hot day, hopefully it will be a wonderfully warm evening. Oh I love the summer 😊.

Anyway, I won’t bid you adieu, instead I’ll say au revoir, I know I’ll be back eventually. I wish you all a lovely summer, making memories of relaxing moments with friends and family. That’s what this season is all about. That and eating copious amounts of courgettes 😁. Take care all of you, lots of love, Georgie and Pep xxx