We arrived very late in the evening, he met us at the airport and we got our hire car and followed him back, as it is sometimes hard to get to at first. The next day we woke to see Melanie, and the two girls Zeli and Nina. After a few weeks holiday Jayne and l were sick of lying about, so Jayne suggested we improve a couple of his garden beds, so next thing i'm out with a maticks, digging into ground that is similar to Teneriffe at home, Jayne is drawing out a plant plan, with the boys occasionally helping between dips in the pool, or games with the girls. We then went to a couple of nurseries and finally decided on some pots, plants and soil to add to the dry dirt that was there. So we dug the soil in, began digging holes and soaking them, and adding the plants that we either removed from somewhere else, or a few that he bought. The pots we got were great as they will really soften the place. Two large ones with oleanders in them and the other 7 may end up being hibiscus.
But as we dug and planted, Melanie unfortunately was getting a bit sad and difficult, they had just had her father the week before, and another group the week before that, so maybe she was getting sick of visitors ( or maybe its a French thing)
Then the water system in the house played up and we had to turn it off often to stop the leaking, and the hot water had not been working at all ( later we found out a tap had never been turned on to the showers and kitchen) So with the water problems and Melanie not being happy, we thought it was time to find somewhere else to go, we went to the local town for dinner, and while there we found a great hotel to stay at in Elche. But unsure about the conversation in english/ spanish we decided to drive there to confirm, once there we saw how great it was, and decided to drive back to Stefanes , get all our things and go straight back to the air conditioned hotel with pool, garden in Elche. So for the remaining 4 nights we spent there, catching up during the day or at night with the others, and that seemed to ease the tension dramatically.
Stefane and the girls finished off a few things in the garden beds, and he is going to get a lot of mulch for the beds to protect them from weeds and moisture loss. And the plants for the smaller pots.
the rest of the time, we went to the beach, palm groves in Elche, which has the largest palm groves in the world, and checked out the main church, tower and museums in Elche. We did not go into Alicante this, time, but we have been there, and to be honest, we now have done a great deal of the area, maybe next year we might go somewhere else in Spain.
I had given Stefane two oil paintings l did in Bologna that were inspired from my time in Spain, though more around Cordoba and Seville, and he had them there, so l was able to get some wood and stretch them up for him, and now they look great on the walls.
Lunch with Stefane and others in Alicante house
Palm garden in Elche
Coastline in Puglia
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