Blog - written by Oska about life in and around the self catering holiday destination Cortijo Opazo in the Alpujarras, Andalucia, Spain.

This is my page, and that's me wearing my new blue name tag whilst out walking in the mountains. As pedigree dachshund in chief, and officially awarded a prize as best puppy in my class - see link here - my job is quality control and looking after the welfare of the guests staying at Cortijo Opazo. Big responsibility, don't know how I find time for it all, but I think I'm doing OK. Anyway, on this page I bring you up to date with the various happenings at Cortijo Opazo and the world around us. I welcome comments, just address them to Oska at info@cortijoopazo.com. Thanks for reading!

By the way, I am supposed to mention that it's a pretty fab place for a holiday.

Click here to see past blogs:

December 2011

November 2011

October 2011

September 2011

August 2011

July2011

June 2011

May 2011

April 2011

March 2011

Feb 2011

Jan 2011

Blog from 2010

January 2012

Days of oranges with skies of blue

Greetings. Yes, I know, it's very late in the month for publishing my Dogblog, but it's not my fault. My human companions have been absent, away on holiday, if you please, as if I know what one of those is! Don't mistake me, it's not that I have any help in the actually writing of this Dogblog from the talls ones, far from, it. What you read is entirely the musings and 'penseés' of a dachshund mind. The help that I need is with the mechanics of it all, the actually input of the ideas onto the computer. As a dog, I have two front paws, each of which has three protruding pads which are not as dextrous as fingers and certainly cannot manage the complexities of the QWERTY keyboard. So, during their travels, I have been forced to allow the Dogblog to be placed on a back burner until now. But whilst I am writing about absence of our usual tall companions I must extend a big thanks, on behalf of myself and Ella, to John and Cath who looked after us admirably and who gave us extended walks every day - not to mention numerous dried pigs ears. Thank you, we are most grateful for your care.

Now, the title of this blog gives a reference to two of the major themes of life here in Andalucia in January this year. The first is the fact that the orange season is in full swing and along the sides of the roads you can see many an orange seller, trading his wares in a manner that would tempt Nell Gwyn. How clever of nature to make the orange ripen during the winter, when our need for vitamin C is at its greatest. How clever too to make one of the principle labours of the year, the olive harvest, also coincide with the coolest seasons, winter, thus ensuring that the hard working Spaniard does not over heat as he gathers his produce. The other reference in the title is to the blue skies - as seen in the above photograph. They have been phenomenal this year. There was not a single day in December without sun, and as we are nearly at the end of January I can only remember two days this month when we were not warmed by the rays of our celestial friend - one of which is today when it is actually raining. For those who have chosen to stay here during December and January the experience really has been a treat. And now the almond blossom is making itself known, the hillsides are as pretty as they get - more of almond blossom in February's blog when we will embark on the annual almond blossom tour. Yes, January really has been a t-shirt sort of a month - not for me, of course, I simply shed or grow fur as required.

January is also an important month for myself - and everyone in the household - since it marks the anniversary of my arrival at Cortijo Opazo. I am proud to say I have been an incumbent for a whole year. Look at that picture of me, taken in January 2011. My how handsome I have become! although nobody can quite explain what is going on with the tatty mass of hair that has grown wildly on top of my head. To those of your who have made my acquaintance during the year, I send you my thanks for the company you have given me; to those reading this blog who have not met me, I ask you, what is keeping you away? With a calendar rapidly filling up for the year - September, for example, is almost 'sold out' - you had best makes you plans to visit me soon.

Apart from looking after our guests, the work continues as normal at Cortijo Opazo. A blitz on the weeds one day, digging over the vegetable bed the next. Unusually we have been having a number of bonfires on the land this week. Great fun, collecting up all the loose cuttings then setting fire to them. Ella, who has a passion for sticks, has been sending us crazy by dragging them out of the pile then pestering the tall ones to throw them for her. Me, I make myself useful, scouting around the permitters for sticks that might have gone astray. Apparently there are heaps of tasks that need to be done before the spring arrives, and we intend to start opening the garden to the public one more in March, so we'd better get these paws moving. Any willing volunteers out there?

Of course, if the tall ones hadn't spent two weeks treating themselves to a holiday, we might have made more progress. They took themselves off to the Atlas mountains in Morocco, where they had a few days trekking with a guide and a man with a donkey, and more days it would seem eating Moroccan food. They reported well on it all and tell me they are fresh with ideas for Moroccan cuisine to grace the menu here at Cortijo Opazo, Lamb and prune tajine, and Berber omelettes, to mention but two. I wouldn't mind a little more Moroccan lamb on our menu, as it happens, but I think our meals will continue to come from the same supermarket tin as always.

Ella and I very much enjoyed all the extra walking we had when our usual companions were a way, so we've come up with a plan. As the week has progressed we have become more and more boisterous, and our demands for attention when in the house have become much more assertive, especially when there are some house visitors. We know that in order to quieten us down they will have no choice but to take us out for a long walk this weekend. I have recently discovered the intense joys of playing in snow, and at this very moment it is snowing heavily in the high mountains, so this is where we will go, high, up into the white stuff. Who knows, they might even take me skiing with them next month.

Yours, in ski anorak and a wooly hat,

Oska

To view the December 2011 blog, click here.