La versión en español está después de la versión en inglés.
MY BRAIN IS ON RANDOMIZER today. It was the last straw yesterday with our lawyer — well, with our lawyer’s virtual paralegal who continues to tell me she is in in regular contact with the court and they’re running behind schedule. Does she not read my emails? Does she not appreciate that I know she and our lawyer have been lying to us for at least a few years? But enough of that, I have everything under control and expect to receive the documents indendently next week. And, thanks to David Travel Penguin, I know exactly what I need to do to file a grievance against our lawyer (who we were told was on vacation this week but it turns out was in his office all along).
I had searched all over town for dried flowers and never found much of anything, which is why I put plastic flowers in our West Soo matchbox (click here). The plastic flowers looked fine from a distance but, for me, they didn’t hold up on closer inspection. While passing a charming little pet boutique across the street from Mesón Salvador yesterday, I saw baskets filled with wrapped bunches of dried flowers. I stepped inside to find more. In a pet boutique! Although the shop didn’t have lavendar, there were plenty of other choices. So, other flowers will have to do for now. The owner told me she wanted dried flowers for herself and couldn’t find them anywhere in town. She found a place in France that ships them to her and she figured others would want them, too.
I bought new food and water dishes for the cats, too. They approve. She also had an odd little hard cube of catnip. I bought it. Dudo swatted it across the flower a bit and then ignored it. Moose played momentarily, but when he saw me with the camera he stopped. I left it for them for a while and could hear it sliding around the floor, but it seemed to cause them to be disturbingly vocal. Moose doesn’t need any help. The normally quiet Dudo let out a yowl that scared the beejeezuz, as San Geraldo would say, out of me. The cube has been stashed away. Dudo prefers the tissue paper everything was wrapped in anyway, as you can see in the video. Isabel was here at the time and he was monitoring where she was with the vacuum cleaner or he would have gone totally crazy.
The summer carousel on our nearby plaza has arrived. There are still no British tourists, so not many fashion sightings. The Kid Brother is fine. I’m concerned about the covid variants and am hoping they won’t affect my August/September trip, which has grown in scope. I read that it takes about three weeks for a drivers license to arrive in the mail. It’s been 15 days since I passed my exam. What are my chances?
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MI CEREBRO ESTÁ EN RANDOMIZER hoy. Ayer fue la gota que colmó el vaso con nuestro abogado, bueno, con el asistente legal virtual de nuestro abogado que continúa diciéndome que está en contacto regular con el tribunal y que están retrasados. ¿No lee mis correos electrónicos? ¿No aprecia que yo sepa que ella y nuestro abogado nos han estado mintiendo durante al menos algunos años? Pero basta de eso, tengo todo bajo control y espero recibir los documentos de forma ininterrumpida la semana que viene. Y, gracias a David Travel Penguin, sé exactamente lo que tengo que hacer para presentar una queja contra nuestro abogado (que nos dijeron que estaba de vacaciones esta semana, pero resulta que estuvo en su oficina todo el tiempo).
Había buscado flores secas por toda la ciudad y nunca encontré nada, por eso puse flores de plástico en nuestra caja de cerillas West Soo (haz clic aquí). Las flores de plástico se veían bien desde la distancia pero, para mí, no resistieron una inspección más cercana. Mientras pasaba ayer por una encantadora boutique de mascotas al otro lado de la calle de Mesón Salvador, vi canastas llenas de ramos envueltos de flores secas. Entré para encontrar más. ¡En una boutique de mascotas! Aunque la tienda no tenía lavanda, había muchas otras opciones. Entonces, otras flores tendrán que funcionar por ahora. La dueña me dijo que quería flores secas para ella y que no podía encontrarlas en ningún lugar de la ciudad. Encontró un lugar en Francia que se los envía y pensó que otros también los querrían.
Compré nuevos platos de comida y agua para los gatos. Ellos aprueban. También tenía un extraño cubo duro de hierba gatera. Yo lo compré. Dudo la golpeó un poco contra la flor y luego la ignoró. Moose jugó momentáneamente, pero cuando me vio con la cámara se detuvo. Lo dejé para ellos por un tiempo y pude escucharlo deslizarse por el piso, pero parecía hacer que tuvieran una voz inquietante. Moose no necesita ayuda. El normalmente tranquilo Dudo dejó escapar un aullido que me asustó, como diría San Geraldo, beejeezuz. El cubo se ha guardado. Dudo prefiere el papel de seda en el que todo estaba envuelto de todos modos, como se puede ver en el video. Isabel estaba aquí en ese momento y él estaba monitoreando dónde estaba con la aspiradora o se habría vuelto totalmente loco.
Ha llegado el carrusel de verano en nuestra plaza cercana. Todavía no hay turistas británicos, por lo que no hay muchos avistamientos de moda. El hermano menor está bien. Me preocupan las variantes de Covid y espero que no afecten a mi viaje de agosto/septiembre, que ha crecido en alcance. Leí que el carnet de conducir tarda unas tres semanas en llegar por correo. Han pasado 15 días desde que aprobé mi examen. Cuales son mis posibilidades?
• No un juguete.
• Incluso las sandalias tienen rayas. El sombrero fue una decepción.
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One day I’m going to come and visit Fueringerola. I will wear clashing colours, how about a cerise pink floral top, red diamond shorts, one leg longer than the other, a knotted handkerchief on my head to keep off the sun and non matching stilettos shoes and see how long it takes until I end up being photographed and on your blog. Best of British!!!
Karen:
I’d do an entire post just on you!!!
Oh, that picture of the carousel made me happy!!!!! Just seeing them makes me happy let alone a ride on one.
And I see the match box turned out very nice. Love what you did with it.
Mistress Borghese:
Carousels make me happy, too. We have a two-level carousel near the port that remains in place all year. It has also reopened for summer. Thanks re the matchbox.
Was that an optical illusion or was that twin engine flying boat/seaplane (Canadair CL-215 or CL-415) pretty close to the beach? A tad low. They use that kind of plane to fight wild fires (skims surface to collect water and then does aerial drops). Are there fires around Malaga right now?
And yes, I am an airplane geek.
Mary:
I’m impressed and I trust your assessment of the plane. Yes, it was VERY close to the beach. I’ve seen the planes doing practice water collection and drops in years past. This one simply flew by low and close to the shore. You would probably enjoy talking to David Travel Penguin. He loves planes, too.
The flowers in the match box lovely, possibly even better than lavender. I like the variety of shapes and colors. And I think Stripey Guy pulled off the look quite well – I found the colors color combo to be calming rather than clashing. And of course the shoes made the whole thing come together.
The driving license sure sucks. It takes hard work to make system work so poorly!
Wilma:
I liked the purple of the lavendar with the green box, but real dried lavendar is not so purple. I agree with you about Stripey Guy. Kind of classy… except for the hat. He could have at least had a striped hat band. Traffic Department is my first experience of a completely awful bureaucracy here, from start to finish. I haven’t experienced anything admirable.
Dudo does to tissue paper what my little Cujo does to my shoes. Off to the manse!
Deedles:
We’ve been very lucky these cats don’t go at anything they shouldn’t… well, except for when Moose used to find photos on my desk and tear them to pieces. But he seems to have outgrown that.
The flowers are great! The tissue paper video was hilarious!
I don’t know what the legal issue is that you are having–have you told us more, and I missed it? I’m sorry to learn of it. Damn.
Judy C:
It all had to do with Surrogates Court and some final issues of my mother’s estate. It should have taken perhaps a year, but our lawyer lied to us every step of the way. We’ve been waiting for the final documents since he told us all was settled. Kept being told by his paralegal (who turned out to be a virtual paralegal who has her own business in another state) that “they” were in contact with the court regularly, but the docs were late because the court is way behind schedule. It turns out the documents were done and sent to our lawyer 14 months ago (13 months before he even told us the case had been settled), they were returned to the court as undeliverable. I phoned the court Monday and learned this and told the paralegal so. She continued to tell me this week she was in touch with the court regularly — completely ignoring the facts I had shared and continuing to lie. The lawyer was supposedly on vacation all week so I couldn’t speak with him directly. I called his office anyway and the answering service tried to connect me but then came back and said, “Oh I’m sorry, he must have stepped away from his desk.” That resulted in a very nasty email from the virtual paralegal followed by a very indignant and direct email from me. Sorry for the LONG version (not as long as it could be). Anyway, I now have it all under control and should have the docs here in Spain within the next two weeks. AND I’ve started the grievance process against the lawyer. Lying, unprofessional, cheater.
It all had to do with Surrogates Court and some final issues of my mother’s estate. It should have taken perhaps a year, but our lawyer lied to us every step of the way. We’ve been waiting for the final documents since he told us all was settled. Told by his paralegal (who turned out to be a virtual paralegal with her own business in another state) “they” were in contact with the court regularly, but the docs were late because the court is way behind schedule. It turns out the documents were done and sent to our lawyer 14 months ago (13 months before he told us the case had been settled), they were returned to the court as undeliverable. I phoned the court Monday and learned this; told the paralegal so. She continued to tell me she was in touch with the court regularly — completely ignoring the facts I shared and continuing to lie. The lawyer was supposedly on vacation all week so I couldn’t speak with him directly. I called his office anyway and the answering service tried to connect me but then came back and said, “Oh I’m sorry, he must have stepped away from his desk.” That resulted in a very nasty email from the virtual paralegal followed by a very indignant and direct email from me. Sorry for the LONG version (not as long as it could be). Anyway, I now have it all under control and should have the docs here within the next two weeks. AND I’ve started the grievance process against the lawyer. Lying, unprofessional, cheater.
That poor fool in the unmatched hat!!!! If only Joan Rivers was alive today …
Our cats go insane for catnip. That’s one way we got Consuelo to stop scratching the furniture; we bought new scratch tower and “catnipped” it. Worked like a charm!
Bob:
Even a striped hat band would have worked. A missed opportunity. I actually rubbed fresh catnip on a cat scratcher I had installed on a wall to keep the cats away from the furniture. The ignored it.
Those flowers look lovely – just what was needed. As for those stripes – as fashion statements go they are a bit subdued for your part of the world.
Willym:
Very subdued. Much too elegant.
My sister had a cat who loved to play in clear or coloured mylar wrap from gift baskets. Catnip held no interest for her, but cello-wrapped peppermints drove her wild! (the cat, not my sister, LOL!). I envy your proximity to the beach and carousel for personal use, but the constant noise would drive me to drink…
Tundra Bunny:
Noise isn’t really a problem here. Currently, it’s the construction noise across the street and truth is that’s more like white noise (I just like to complain). Once the city gardeners and their leaf blowers are done, we mostly hear the surf.
HRH loved tissue paper, especially big piles of it on Christmas morning! She was all the entertainment we needed after opening our gifts!
Debra:
I could watch Dudo (or any cat) play like that for hours. Dudo, unfortunately, is constantly watching his back to ensure no predator is nearby.
Dudo is easily entertained, I like that. I agree, it looks like a water bomber.
David:
It was a water bomber that wasn’t bombing. I’ve seen them in years past mostly practicing/training.
Dudo looks pretty stoned!
The match box looks wonderful.
Jim:
Dudo was just being Dudo. I love seeing the match box finally displayed as opposed to simply stashed in the kitchen.
Tissue paper is a great cat toy. The matchbox looks even better. The Gilmore Girls never said anything sufficiently unkind that could be used to describe that lawyer and the paralegal. I could deliver a stream of profanity here, but I’m sure it wouldn’t be anything you haven’t already said.
Love,
Janie
Janie:
Oh, yeah, you can imagine the words I used when I read the last message from the paralegal and told SG about it.
Did you say them in Spanish or English? I think cursing in Spanish is particularly satisfying.
Janie:
I still automaticall curse in English. Need to work on that.
Dudo actually seems kind of hesitant at first, like he’s not sure if the tissue paper is going to strike back.
Kirk:
Dudo tends to take everything cautiously. You never know what might be lurking.
The dried flowers look lovely. Have you tried looking for silk flowers? They last longer!
I love the video of Dudo and the tissue paper. He is definitely not sure what it might do.
Frances:
I’ve seen silk flowers around but never small and delicate like I wanted. Also, silk flowers would not hold up to all the sun we get on the terrace. Dried/treated flowers are better suited. Dudo is always cautious. I call him a chicken, but I think he’s just very wise and knows not to trust anything on first glimpse.
I love roundabouts and those flowers look suitably hot and sunny!
Liz:
I’ve never before heard them called roundabouts. I had to look at the pictures to see what you were talking about. We called them merry-go-rounds or carousels. A new word for me, which will confuse my friends!
OK, I actually thought the plastic lavender worked OK — but you’re right. The dried flowers are better. The video is hilarious! Cats are so funny. I love the twitching “attack tail.” I would have liked to hear the vocal response to the catnip cube! I wish I could experience whatever cats experience when they smell catnip…
Steve:
I loved the color of the plastic lavendar with the green matchbox. But I didn’t love the plastic, which I saw every time I went out on the terrace. Great from a distance.
Steve:
I’ll try the catnip cube again and see what I get. Moose is always a talker. He walks around the house yowling… often we have no idea why; I think he just likes to hear himself. Dudo is a cat of few words, so when he let out that yowl (louder than any of Moose’s), I thought there was something seriously wrong.
what a happy pussycat!
Urspo:
That’s what happens when you get everything you ask for. Well, we know THAT’s not true, but they’re happy cats.