DAILY PAINTINGS

I have just created a new blog www.margaretmerrypaintings.wordpress.com on which I hope to feature every day an original painting or book illustration from my archives. I have scanned all my work over the past few years so I have plenty of interesting pictures to show you although these may include paintings that have already been sold. I hope you will enjoy looking at them.

This is the first entry, called December Dawn in Guajar Alto, which is the view from my terrace.

10 MINUTES WITH...

SUR in English is the major English language weekly newspaper in Spain and is distributed throughout Andalucia. They contacted me a couple of weeks ago asking me if I would submit an interview for “10 minutes with... “. This is a regular feature which takes the form of an interview with a local “celebrity”. For example, this week the interview is with Katie Price, aka the glamour model Jordan. Apparently she is making a quick visit to the Costa del Sol.

I willingly accepted to write the feature as I thought it would be good publicity for my books and rushed off my copy to meet their deadline for next week’s edition. This morning I have checked their site again to look at next week’s newspaper which has just gone on line and there I am on page 18. If you would like to read it on line go to www.surinenglish.com/print-edition/.

FIESTA 2009

This weekend Guajar Alto has held its annual summer fiesta in honour of its patron saint Virgen de la Aurora. As usual the village was packed with visitors, mainly emigrants from the village returning to share the festivities with their families. Smartly dressed relatives living in Barcelona and Madrid stood out from their siblings who have spent their lives in this little village.

The economic crisis has had its effect even up here and the mayordomos (stewards) were unable to raise enough money to lay on the amount of entertainment we have had in previous years. Nevertheless, the firework display on Friday night was as spectacular as ever, the band of young musicians from Nigüelas entertained us morning and afternoon, the pop groups kept up their noise all night long and the communal paella today was enjoyed by all.

AUGUST EXODUS

August has arrived, signalling the annual exodus from Granada Capital to the beaches of the Costa Tropical. Most families living in the city own an apartment in one of the coastal resorts dotted along the Costa Tropical de Granada. During the rest of the year these are mainly occupied at weekends, but when August arrives the city is deserted as its residents flee from the oppressive heat to enjoy a month by the beach and a climate tempered by the sea breezes. Photos taken yesterday of the centre of Granada published in today’s Ideal, the provincial local newspaper, show deserted strees with the headline “Dos de Agosto,la cuidad fantasma”.

There is no sea to cool off in up here in Guajar Alto, so summer visitors are few; but we do have our own little beach by the River Toba. Here, the villagers partially dam the river for the summer to create a swimming lake. This year it has been improved as the access road has now been cemented, the area cleaned up and stone tables and benches constructed. This is a favourite place with the village children and a popular picnic spot for families. See photos taken yesterday.