Spain week four, day three

Monday May 19th 2008

Hacienda, Villamartin, Spain

Still cloudy this morning but at least the wind has dropped. So yoga is still on the side terrace this morning and brunch is inside. Ellie hurried round with setting up breakfast and so was able to attend this morning's yoga class (she can always do the evening one).

It is also the first day of our second "learn to relax" course. I have been thinking about the structure of this over the last week and trying to take on board some ideas that we had after Eve's week. As always, we have an interesting group, with lots of different issues. Interestingly, the general test we do at the start - "how stress prone are you?" - threw out some genuine surprises for several participants. As always, however, we don't go into the detail of such things in this blog.

We were able just about to stay on the front terrace for the first meditation session, though everyone had to make sure they were warm enough before we really got started.

Everyone fancied a trip to the supermarket afterwards and Ellie and I did the next house shop including lots of new things that she thought it would be good to have. Our main problem is the lack of wholemeal bread and fresh herbs in Spain. Then Luigina, Nicky and Jonathan went off for a drive in the direction of Ronda, while Ellie and Kate went on a trip nearby, checking out a nearby hacienda that does evening meals and might be available for dinner one night this week, and then Villamartin for a wander round.

So I had an afternoon in at the hacienda catching up on admin and having a bit of time to think about things. I am rather missing Linda and Emma at the moment, especially after I had a quick call to Emma this afternoon. She is returning home on Wednesday for a few days revision. It seems ages since I last saw her.

Tonight's class included some harder Pilates exercises for Lou and Nicky who particularly want to do these. Then the highlight of the day - Jonathan's (the guest, not me) paella night. We just did one - chicken and seafood - and it was a total triumph I thought. He seemed very pleased to be the centre of a bit of attention and everyone seems to really likes him. I was a little nervous about having a gues who has suffered from stress related illnesses in the past, but I think it is going fine so far and he seems very pleased with his break
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Our guest Jonathan busy cooking paella

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His dish is unveiled to the group

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. . . . . . and gets a great reception

Ellie did dessert tonight - our baked bananas, with orange zest and ice cream recipe - and we had another evening with a fire which was very nice again. But the weather doesn't look like improving much at the moment, which is bound to be a bit disheartening for everyone, even if it is just 5 degrees back home in the UK.

A nice chat to Linda tonight before bed. Things seem to be ok so far with everything.