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Christmas and New Year NEWSLETTER Dec 2011 |
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| This edition: Christmas Greetings, origame ideas, 2012 walking ventures , a seasonal recipe for Burns Night, last-minute gift ideas, traveling mindfully, Down on the Farm and more… |
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| Euonymus Japonicus or spindle tree of which we have an elderly but still thriving specimen at La Dominga | |
Wishing you all a very joyous Christmas and a peaceful and happy New Year – ¡Felices Fiestas! – Paul and Fiona |
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Our cheerful red and green spindle tree provides us with a lovely un-prickly substitute for holly each solstice with its glossy, dark green leaves and clusters of vivid red berries. In fact, it entertains us all year with the various seasonal changes it undergoes as the pods split and scatter berries, tiny sprays of blossom appear and then swell into bunches of creamy pods which split and - shazam! - out pop the red seeds again for the next annual round… Traditionally, euonymus japonicus (sounds like a horticultural innuendo from Ian Dury - Ed) is planted just outside the front door of the local cortijos to provide shade The name euonymus is said to be derived from Euonyme, the mother of the Furies in Greek mythology or perhaps meaning of good fame or lucky, from GR. eu- good noma- a name, eg of good name. With japonicus meaning “of japan” It’s an age-old tradition – using fresh holly branches to adorn your table and give your home a festive look – but conservationists are warning that using too much could leave wildlife out in the cold this winter. Holly is a valuable source of food and shelter for a number of birds, mammals and insects. Thrushes, robins, dunnocks, finches and goldcrests use it for nesting as the prickly leaves provide excellent protection; blackbirds, fieldfares, redwings, mistle and song thrushes, among others, eat the berries; and hedgehogs, toads and slow worms hibernate in the deep leaf litter that builds up beneath the plant. more… |
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Vegetarian Haggis |
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| Try out this tasty veggie recipe for a New Year’s Eve with a heart-warming hibernian flavour or wait till the end of January for a cracking Burns’ Night! 1 small carrot, very finely chopped 1 small piece of yellow turnip (rutabaga), very finely chopped 1 medium onion, finely chopped 8 mushrooms, diced 1 clove garlic (optional), crushed 2/3 - ¾ cup whole mixed nuts (hazelnuts, almonds, walnuts) 1/3 cup dry red lentils 600 ml vegetable stock or water ½ cup cooked red kidney beans, mashed 1 tsp dried thyme ½ tsp dried rosemary ¼ tsp cayenne pepper ¼ tsp nutmeg salt to taste plus black pepper a good amount for authentic bite 1 Tbsp soy sauce 1 1/3 cup fine oatmeal 1 ½ Tbsp lemon juice 1. Roasting nuts enhances the flavour, so place on baking tray in a 350F oven for approximately 10 minutes or until they are light golden in colour (do not over-roast), allow to cool, then finely chop them for coarser texture or blend just until very coarsely ground for finer texture. |
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| ¡Que aproveche! |
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Origami Boxes |
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| Once Twelfth Night has come and gone what do you do with all the beautiful greeting cards you receive at this time of the year? Most get thrown away but you can recycle old cards by reusing them to make origami boxes.
The ancient art of paper folding originated in China in the first or second century A.D., and by the sixth century, it had reached Japan. The Arabs learned paper making from Chinese artisans captured in Samarkand in 751, and by 1036 the Moors had brought the craft to Cordoba. It has been speculated that the art of paper-folding was brought here too. Certainly the Salamancan philosopher and poet, Miguel de Unamuno (1864-1936), helped to establish a “school” of paper folding in the city which exists in Spain and South America even today. Unamuno even wrote two treatises on paper folding and was a popular figure in, where he could often be seen folding animals while sipping his midday coffee at a cafe. |
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First trim your card to make a square then fold two opposite corners together to make a diagonal crease. Repeat with the other two corners to make a cross. |
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| Repeat with each corner in turn until you have a grid of creases, then cut along four creases as below… | |
 
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| Fold one corner in, fold again then fold over the triangular end of the cut flap to square if off and repeat on other side of flap as below… | |
   
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| Next fold in the cut ends to the centre of the flap so they stand up at 90°, fold flap over at 90° to rest of paper… | |
   
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| Now repeat on the opposite side, then crease the triangular end of the remaining flaps the opposite way and fold over the squared off flaps to hold them in position. | |
   
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| To make the bottom of the box use a square slightly smaller so the resulting box is smaller, then the larger one will slip over the top neatly. You can line the base of the box with contrasting card or felt and glue down the triangular flaps for added strength. Lining with crumpled tissue paper makes a good setting for small gifts. Larger boxes can have compartments fitted inside – just quarter the same size of paper that you use for the base and use these four pieces to make boxes that side next to each other. | |
Have fun! |
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Looking for last minute gifts or something for a birthday in the new year? Here are some Bootlace suggestions: |
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| Artist Judith Bromley’s new book Climb up to the Moor, is a celebration in words and paintings of the glorious countryside. around Askrigg which she has roamed, loved and captured on canvas for nearly 40 years. Climb up to the Moor is a deeply reflective and thought-provoking account of the Dales landscape in all its changing and varied glory, season by season. Through her own, and husband Nik’s (fellow artist and contributor, Robert Nicholls) stunning illustrations, Judith does not so much tell as live the story of the moorland: of its abundant wildlife, its rugged beauty, and, paradoxically, its frailty. For though the prose reads like poetry, there is no mistaking the subtle undertone: that this landscape we love is a threatened one. Without preaching, and with no hint of the bossiness of many professional ‘environmentalists’, Judith nevertheless reminds us that the moorlands are a microcosm of the world we are in danger of destroying. | |
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“Climb Up to the Moor fills me with delight, these beautiful paintings are a great marriage of imagination and reality; through these imaginative paintings we are introduced to the real work of divine art which is the moorland itself. If the moorlands are gone where will we find our inspiration for such paintings and for healing of the soul.” Satish Kumar - Editor of Resurgence Magazine “Climb up to the Moor and stand in awe at the multicoloured tapestry of natural history that is made of peat. Read on and learn more about such amazing places laid down over 10,000 years of natural climate change. The Grouse say Go back Go back and so do I for there are always things to see in every season.” |
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To find out more, have a peek into the book and buy it go here |
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Alhambra Calendar 2012 |
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with 13 original photographs of the Alhambra by Fiona Primarolo €8 plus post and packing to order email using the form at bottom of page |
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DOWN ON THE FARM |
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Wooding – nothing quite warms you as many times as cropping your own firewood: first you have to clear away all the brambles that have clambered around the selected trunk and haul ‘em away. Then fell the timber, strip the small branches and twigs and drag them off (to be burned later…). Next section wood into pieces small enough to carry to the log pile and then process them into chunks small enough to fit in the wood-burner and finally stack into a satisfyingly high pile on a pallet, old bed base… or similar. (Like other good cortijeros in the Alpujarra we have many and varied uses for bed-bases – fences, gates and tomato drying racks all spring to mind). Thanks to our helpx-ers Josh and Maisie for all the help! |
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Aching and tired at the end of a long day brambling, strimming, hauling wood and digging out stumps we have discovered the joys and benefits of an epsom salts bath. This may not be news to you but just in case you haven’t tried it out remember that it’s a great source of magnesium – important in the regulation of enzymes and organization of other functions like muscle control, electrical impulses, energy production and eliminating toxins. Known scientifically as hydrated magnesium sulfate, Epsom salts are rich in both magnesium and sulfate which are often poorly absorbed through the stomach, however studies show increased magnesium levels from soaking in an epsom salt bath as magnesium and sulfate are both easily absorbed through the skin. Sulfates play an important role in the formation of brain tissue, joint proteins and the proteins that line the walls of the digestive tract. So at the end of a hard day’s winter walking or labouring draw a nice deep bath*, scatter in a few drops of your favourite essential oils (rosemary, thyme, lavender and juniper berry are all good for aching muscles and tea tree helps heal any bramble scratches!) throw in two cups of epsom salts, light the candles and luxuriate! * Do not take hot baths and salt baths (including Epsom salt baths) if you have heart trouble, high blood pressure, or are diabetic. For more on health benefits of epsom salts go here - Benefits of Epsom Salts |
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Olives and other harvests – it’s that time of year again. We’re down to our last few kilos of salted olives and the trees at La Dominga are ripening up nicely. Ready for Christmas we have dried persimmon – one of our favourites! The drying process takes away the astringent bite of the persimmon skin and gives us a sweet and tangy treat for winter walks. |
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As watchers of our Facebook site may be aware work has been going on to upgrade our nave agricola, a 40 sq.m. building as a temporary home for exchange workers, family and maybe even walkers… So far we’ve laid in water and electricity, and now the patio has been laid, the next steps are to build a tinao – a covered terrace with solar shower – and a compost loo. Watch this space for more in the next year… |
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Mindful Traveling |
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Travel holds the potential for revelation - a great trip can rejuvenate the mind and spirit. It can shake up your old ways of thinking, introduce you to new people, cultures, and ideas, and finally reacquaint you with the pleasures of home. But too often, when we travel, we take a “search and destroy” approach. As goal-oriented people, we have got to get to each destination ASAP, see all the monuments, snap photos, buy mementos, to prove we were there, and then hightail it to the next destination. Such an approach turns a vacation into a frenzied scavenger hunt - with you scurrying from one place to another, instead of really experiencing the journey. Next time you travel, try practicing the Zen Buddhist concept of “mindful awareness”. Mindfulness means living in the moment. Buddhists believe that you can achieve enlightenment simply by observing each moment as it happens. And learning to relish what each moment holds. Traveling mindfully means appreciating your path as well as your destination. It means stopping to enjoy the beauty of the landscape, listening intently to the natives you meet, or really tasting the pie at that little hole-in-the-wall diner. It means dropping your preconceived notions and agenda - and opening yourself up to the true beauty, people, and culture of where you are. Journeys can be stressful and expensive, especially for those who take a “search and destroy” kind of approach. Those who travel the Zen way will find themselves renewed and reinvigorated instead of tired and broke. So next time you travel, try packing some mindful awareness, in that suitcase of your soul. |
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MOROCCO 2012 |
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Morocco is, as someone once said to us “the nearest place to go to be somewhere else”. Just south of the Iberian peninsula, firmly North African but with a soupçon of French colonial sophistication, a pinch of desert mystique, and a liberal dash of superb Islamic architecture. Its connection to Europe and especially Andalucia, is clear if you’ve ever visited Granada, Cordoba or Sevilla. Each spring the ancient trade routes that thread their way past our home in the Berber influenced Alpujarra draw Bootlace to the south as we travel to Marrakech, where we begin our annual Moroccan treks. This year in two contrasting weeks we will explore the saffron-growing area of the Jebel Siroua, in the northern Anti Atlas and in a gentler tour follow the Atlantic coastline south from the pretty fortified fishing port of Essaouira. |
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There are still a few places left so if you’d like to treat yourselves to a break in the sun in March go here for more information, or just use the form at the bottom of the page to email Paul and Fiona! |
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To see some photos of last year’s Atlantic coast trek – go here |
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Coming soon |
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Winter Walking from Cortijo Romero |
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Despite the documentary evidence below, here in Andalucia we enjoy the mildest climate in Europe, where much of life is lived in the open air. All the winter months are warmer than early May in London, and flowers bloom throughout. Lunch al fresco can happen even in January, and some gentle sunbathing is nearly always possible. In the strong and brilliant sunshine, it often feels warmer outdoors than in. |
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From 4 to 11 February 2012 - Fiona and Paul guide this annual week based at Cortijo Romero: great walks, almond blossom and cosy evenings by the log fire - for booking contact Janice at Cortijo Romero, for more information - Winter Walking at Cortijo Romero |
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| Follow this link for more 2012 walking ventures | |
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And Finally…. |
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| something from Paul, taken from our front door at dawn a few days ago | |
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Wow! |
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To contact us just use the form below! |
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