Completing the Spanish House - and a Holiday with Fredi
In 2006 we had saved enough cash to be able to finally complete the work on La Divisa. The pictures below tell the story of the building works in June and July and also a 2 weeks holiday which we were able to spend at the house with our granddaughter, Fredi.
| Work began with the Spanish workmen removing the old llano (adobe style) roof from the remainder of the old house |
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And in a month they had transformed this |
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| To this - with our 16 inch telescope ready for action. We love to sit on this terrace in the dark and look at the sky |
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........and this |
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| To this. The lower terrace will be a lovely place to sit in autumn and spring (too hot in summer) | |
The reinforced concrete pillar which runs up through the house and into the observatory |
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| holds our 14 inch Celestron telescope rock steady for visual observing and imaging | |
Fitting the dome was the highlight of the entire building programme |
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| and the finished house is lovely | |
Our August holiday started with Fredi trying on hats |
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| We explored our grape vines and discovered lots of baby grapes on the them | |
And on our 11th wedding anniversary (12th August) we celebrated with a mini-fiesta on the patio, surrounded by friends |
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| Jose (our builder) and Tony (our local astronomer friend) took the opportunity to discuss a little business | |
Speaking of friends, we visited many of them, here seen with Val and Bill about 10Km down the road |
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| We found them battling with two litters of kittens, so guess who got to cuddle them? | |
We managed a lot of walking locally, and here we are passing our neighbours as they load one of their mules |
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| More mules at another point in the walk. We are getting pretty hot and grumpy by this time (some of us).............. | |
But the grumbles are soon replaced by shrieks as we douse our hot bodies in the cold pool |
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| But it's fun to cool off after a hot day | |
The local food is excellent, and mealtimes are always welcome, especially when there is local wine to go with it |
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| And melons are a special favourite | |
Fredi slept on our bed settee in the corner of the lounge and was really rather comfortable |
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| And after another glorious Spanish sunset | |
We prepared for some more astronomy. The house has passed its first test with flying colours |
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