Blanket, jedi warrior and knitted ghost

Ok, that blanket I was knitting turned up to be veeeery long, so we can cover ourselves with it all four of us when we watch TV or something. It can also be used for fun photoshoot :)

Colors

 Even now, in winter, Fuerteventura's sun is strong and colors striking. And here is Timur, in his bright t-shirt, sitting against blue-grungy wall background, and completely disinterested in being photographed. How unfair is that, I ask you?

First Christmas on Fuerteventura - just a few pics

Apart from being first Christmas, it was also a first time we all went on our bikes together. Mine is blue :). This is Corralejo Flag Beach again, our nearest good beach. Kids read and chatted and we engaged in accumulating a stash of userpics :)

Gnomes, pimientos de padron and sparkler tornado

On Christmas eve, gnomes bought for Yuri in Stokholm found their way on our patio table :)

baking, knitting, eating and making cairns

Those chocolate cookies work with local ingredients just as well as they did with others :) Baked a batch today and want to do another one tomorrow  

not much to report

There's nothing much to report recently. We kept unpacking and finding places for our stuff and I am proud to say that finally all the books are on their shelves. Now it's pictures turn - and we have a lot of those.
Fish above is scrambling for a piece of bread - there was a guy on a pier yesterday who kept feeding pigeons and fish in turn. Pigeons can't swarm like fish though, that's for sure

sparkler games

 Today we finally found sparklers for sale in Corralejo. Not that we were looking very hard before, of course, but there weren't any in first two likely-looking shops we asked. Third time, in a basement "shopping center" off the main street, they have some - short and thin ones, unfortunately, so they don't burn for very long, but it's a start.

unpacking essentials - 2

We are still unpacking and will be doing it for another while. Main problem is not so much opening the boxes, as finding a place for everything to go to. We have already found a lot of things that were managed to forget about, but haven't found some that we are specifically looking for.

Timka's soft toys were given a wash, and survived it nicely

assorted Sunday

This cat, although different in color, in attitude and expression is a spitting image of Muta from "The Cat Returns". From his position of perfect safety he was observing the street, mostly right in front of him, that is, not bothering to even turn his head.

kites and Christmas lights

Yesterday we went for a walk in the dunes with Yuri. The intention was to go to the "proper" dunes - ones that don't have any vegetation, with nice wind patterns on them, but when we came up to the border of the nature park, we spotted an unusually large group of kites  over Flag Beach. So we turned towards it. Unfortunately, by the time we got there (takes about 25 mins walking), surfers were already closing the shop so to speak - it was getting late.

unpacking essentials

yesterday, after nearly four months of travel, our stuff finally turned up. And I went from having no fully functional lenses at all to having three of them.

We started with unpacking essentials - such as those two birds. I made them er... about fifteen years ago at pottery courses. They held surprisingly well, I think. And now they go to see the world too, with those piercing eyes.

Well, to be honest, we didn't mean to unpack those specifically. But they were mixed with kitchen stuff, so here they are

Lilac evening - and my lens is back

Today I was reunited with my main lens. It took just over three months for it to be fixed (and involved it being sent to Barcelona), but finally it's here with me and I am a happy bunny again. Next time, though, I might want to fly to Barcelona myself, it will probably be cheaper considering the lost time. Not that cropping 21 mpx to 10 wasn't fun, but sometimes you need all of your pixels.

To celebrate, we went to the beach and took a few long exposure shots. We got there a bit too late, though, it was getting really dark. But moving water is always beautiful

Festival de Cometas

Today there was the last day of kite festival. This year they weren't very lucky with the weather - out of three days in the dunes, only today was sunny and warm, with at least some wind to keep the kites in the air. But never mind - today was great.
What with the background  of sand and blue sky, the bright sun, large but weightless objects in the air and small figures underneath, it was all very Dali-esque.

more dunes, new pair of shoes and observation about postal services

Here Timur's doing what he likes to do best.

dunes - flying sand and drawing zumba logo

Timur prefers dunes to ocean. He doesn't mind one hour walk each way to get to the large, steep, completely plant-free dunes - just to jump or run off them. And now the biggest crowds of visitors are gone, there is a good chance to have an undisturbed sand to walk on, which makes for nice picture

Festival de cometas — unexpected preview

We went for a walk in the dunes today and unexpectedly got ourselves a preview of upcoming kite festival (festival de cometas). the festival itself starts on the 10th at El Cotillo, and will hopefully be a lot bigger, but looked like participants are arriving and starting to fly the kites already. Today they were on a beach past RIU hotels as you go from Corralejo towards Puerto del Rosario.

A few more pics follow.

неспокойно синее море

Went to make a few long-exposure shots in the evening. Waves were a bit smaller today.

Big(ish) waves today

Yesterday, all of the Canaries were put on "coastal phenomenon" alert. "Orange" alert was today for Fuerteventura. The explanation mentioned sea swell and a possibility of waves up to 5 meters high. I actually spent (or perhaps wasted) some valuable time trying to figure out if avenida Grandes Playas is likely to be affected - we take it quite often, when we go into old town, and Kirill takes it when he goes to teach his zumba lesson, dragging his musical equipment with him. I figured that probably not, and most of Corralejo is shielded by the pier and Isla de Lobos. But of course I wanted to go and check it out. Early morning weather was good, but when it was time to get out of the house, fine but dense rain started, so by the time we were by the old town we were both wet. There were no waves on town beaches, but large waves were visible further in the ocean. To see them closer, I went past the pier a bit.

A few more pics of the waves and people follow

Dunas de Corralejo Half Marathon

Today there was a half-marathon in the dunes. Unlike some other local events, this one at least managed to make me aware of its existence - for example, by displaying a large banner by the entrance into Corralejo from FV-1, with, amazingly, a wrong date on it. The banner said 31 October, the half-marathon was today, on the 30th. I strongly suspect that decided to re-use last year's promotional materials without any changes. But anyway, by some googling I've found their website and confirmed the date. Just hope nobody turns up for running one day late, that's quite a handicap.
After looking at the route of the run (big loop around the dunes), I figured that I can first turn up for the start, then get on my bike (literally) and go along FV-1, meeting them on their way back. First part of the plan went swimmingly. There was a small hiccup later on, but it was a good plan, anyway. Below are some more pics and some notes about route.

events of unknown nature and birdwatching

While we've been staying on Fuerteventura, there always seems to be somethings going on and almost always that mysterious something is not very obviously advertized, so it's practically impossible to find out any details. Or maybe I lived in England for too long, and got used to the fact that every tiny local event will announce itself well in advance. Today, for instance, there were at least two of those somethings going - one a watersports event in the harbor, and another skating (?) one in the skatepark. What were they exactly, I can't say. I just can say that I like this boy's helmet very much

El Cotillo - La Vaca Azul and our container's moving (apparently)

In El Cotillo, we ate in the restaurant called La Vaca Azul (The Blue Cow). I am not entirely sure what's the origin of the name, and they specialize in fish, really,  but they do have a blue cow on the terrace upstairs as a visual support.

El Cotillo and sudden sign of life from Canon

Yesterday there was another holiday, kids didn't go to school, and we went to El Cotillo. This time, instead of heading straight for the beach, we went around the village, which didn't take very long - it's a very small place. It was sunny and hot (surprise, surprise), and pretty much empty, apart from an area close to the marina, where restaurants were fairly busy.
Given the bright sun/strong shadows, prevailing squarish architecture and sparseness of vegetation, Fuerteventura tends to show nice limited-color abstracts everywhere, and El Cotillo is not an exception.

Puerto del Rosario - cow on the roof, new dress and my lens's still missing

We went to Puerto del Rosario again on saturday; Timur, who is very unlike Yuri in this respect, demanded some new clothes. I also bought myself some stuff, including rather funny little dress below (photo taken by Kirill). In my defense I can say it was on sale, plus our container is still out there somewhere (!), so we have to survive with a very limited wardrobe.

a woman in dunes (I want to break free)

A real-life "woman of the dunes" that I am now, I gotta start every single day with sweeping. The same fine white sand that makes Fuerteventura's beaches so beautiful makes my floor gritty and unpleasant to walk on, and we all like to walk barefoot.
Today, after I put on my shorts and short top, I thought that that they'd combine nicely with my sweeping broom. A short photosession followed, with Kirill doing the actual shooting

Have a look if interested

growing basil and other things

Those are tiny basil plants that are now growing in a pot on our sunroof. I am surprised - I thought when bringing them outside that they might not be happy about so much sun. It appears I was totally wrong.

Unrelated pics follow

short-lived croc

Today, at flag beach again, this young couple decided to build their own piece of sand art. They choose a nice spot for it - damp sand a little away from the waves edge. It was a crocodile, and it was just starting to shape up nicely when the tide started to come in.

town abstracts

Some semi-abstracts snapped around the town. Enjoy

sand art - professionals

Couple of days ago I've posted a picture of sand iguana on Corralejo flag beach. Now let's have a look at how professionals do it :) I must say I was really impressed with the skull. Less so with a pyramid below, but still impressed.

Plus the guy who made a pyramid has interesting tatoos.

Have a look

Fiesta del Mar (queueing for)

We went towards the port of Corralejo to see what was on offer at Fiesta del Mar. We knew that it was starting at 10, but I can't bring myself to get up this early on saturday, so by the time we got there, it seems that fiesta was all about queueing (funny spelling innit).

It was not, of course, even though it did look from the distance that a mass christening was occuring on  one of the boat slides. The queues were for free watersports - normally quite expensive. We saw sea kayaking, jetski and what looked like a start of snorkeling trip. There was probably a lot more stuff happening. and of course there were freebies from sponsor - green straw hats especially noticeable

A few more wet pics follow

We finally found a way of planting our plastic windroses wherever we want. All you need is a large-ish volcanic stone with a through hole from a local beach. We are probably not meant to remove "beach material" here either, but every single garden I looked into uses those stones, so I guess it's ok.

More unrelated pics below

pomegranate and cactus

Today we started to talk about plants and what can and can't grow round here with Rosa. I was mostly interested in whether it's worth buying and trying to grow a small orange tree (there are some in our local garden center/shed). I am still not sure about the orange tree, but Rosa is also very interested in things that grow, so she shown us a some of her current favourites around the site - small pomegranate tree (even given us one tiny fruit of it) and a beautiful cactus blooms that will last just today. Don't know what cactus that is - maybe there are some experts reading, identification will be appreciated. The flower is about 12 cm in diameter, very pale magenta/pink, the bloom is taller than the rest of the plant

Cactus pictures to follow

visitor that walked by herself

 Meet our new neighbour. She moved in, with her accompanying humans, a couple of weeks ago. Two weeks seems like a long time for a cat, but she's still confused as to which house is hers - or maybe doesn't really care. We tend to sleep with windows open, so she feels free to drop in any time.

Couple of unrelated pics follows

sand art

What to do in the dunes if you forgot to bring your book :)

parque natural - flora and some fauna

One of the species of Salsola (saltwort) that is flowering at the moment on the verge of parque natural across the road. My attempts to identify it to species weren't particularly successful so far - I am divided between Salsola vermiculata, which seems to visually fit better, and Salsola divaricata - I am not sure how significant is the difference between yellow and pinkish color in this case. The attraction of thinking that it is Salsola divaricata is that this species is endemic to the Canaries.

Macro and some more nature shots follow. Warning - there's a very big caterpillar in there, open with caution

underwater

At the moment Timur doesn't just jump in the pool holding his nose closed with his fingers - he even swims under water like that.

He already had three days at school. He doesn't understand much Spanish yet, but fortunately, there's another boy in his class, who speaks both english and spanish. He's helping Timur out with difficult bits (which is pretty much everything right now, apart from drawing and having a snack)

butterfly car

 Looks like someone else is missing butterflies, too.

Tomorrow primary school starts. It feels odd, as if our kids are going to school for the first time ever again.

Assorted pics follow

butterfly

schools and saturday walk

This week, on the 1st September,  we made one more step to settling properly - went to the both schools where kids will go and filled in/picked up various forms that need filling. The secondary school visit went a lot easier - the administrator spoke English quite nicely. Primary school admin's English was rudimentary, worse than our combined Spanish, but even with him we achieved understanding - by repeating everything a few times. Interestingly, his approach to making himself understood by people who clearly are struggling (us) is not to speak slower - rather louder. But we got there in the end - or so we thought till next morning, when Kirill's mobile rang. Apparently, there was a duplication of paperwork, and somehow Timur's record was showing that he already was studying at school here. The funny bit was that it was the same no-English guy who rang. By the end of conversation, when everything finally was sorted (fingers crossed), Kirill spoke with three different people, with better and better English each time.
Anyway. Some pictures from today's walk. Enjoy

windrose roundabout

Today, while checking out the schools, we walked to the roundabout that is completely covered with Claudine's wind flowers. It looks somewhat odd with volcano and malpais in the backdrop, but I liked it a lot. She keeps fixing it - in the strong winds of Fuerteventura plastic flowers keep propelling away. It lacks scale and permanency of Cesar Manrique's creations for Lanzarote, but I think it's part of the deal - make something ever-changing with recyclable material, rather than something permanent with metal and stone

unlimited supply of blue sky

Picture above is taken from the top of small artificial hill in botanic gardens of Corralejo. I'd say to call them "botanic gardens" is a bit of overstatement, but that's what they are according to a little plaque next to one of the gate. Basically, there are cacti, palms, olive trees, some other low-growing plans with no nameplates yet, water feature, playground, little skatepark (below) and that's pretty much it at the moment. What is remarkable about it is that it's almost brand new - opened in march this year. It was a wasteland before. They keep doing small adjustments to it - adding tables, planting more stuff, but I never managed to catch the work in progress, although we pass it every day.

bright day

Another bright and sunny day today. Timur's relaxing after a swim - once he is in the ocean, it is very difficult to extract him from there.

moving water

Long exposure shot of some stones on nearest beach. I must say that I miss having a "normal" lens at my disposal. It's been a while since my broken lens was sent (I hope) for repair, so, fingers crossed, maybe our reunion is getting closer. Also, our container should be getting closer, too, and there are some lenses in there.

blue pearl

I didn't use Apophysis for a goodish while, and a new version became available meanwhile. And today I suddenly discovered the I can make flowers with it. Something to do with variation called "blob" of all things - check it out

green-haired man

I don't like small fiddly things. Timur, on the other hand, loves them. When we were in local art and craft shop, he spotted those little white men and later oh-so-casually mentioned them to me ("... and, by the way, they are only one euro ninety five..."). So of course we bought one. I am pretty sure the coiffure should ideally be thicker, but Timur's happy, and so am I. Tomorrow we will give little white man a haircut with manicure scissors

Ghost crowd and fishy sandstorm

Yesterday we went to the belltower again, bit there's really just one road junction worth recording visible from it, so we went for light smudges this time.
This one looks like a crowd of ghosts, or maybe hattifatteners again

Hattifatteners and shrimps

 

If you aren't a fan of Moomin Books, here's what wikipedia has to say about Hattifatteners
The Hattifatteners are tall, thin, ghost-like creatures.... They are constantly, silently and purposefully on the move. I am pretty sure there was a picture in one of the Moomin Books where Hattifatteners were casting long shadows, heading into the sunset. Seeing those thin euphorbia shoots in the dunes made me think of them.

view from belltower - by night and by day

Yesterday Timur got really impressed with car trails photo on a cigarette vending machine (of all things). I've shown him the star trails photo but he didn't look particularly convinced. So we climbed the only accessible high point close to us - belltower in Campanario shopping center - and took a few photos of the only good road junction that is visible from there. That involved placing my camera on the edge of the window outside metal railings, as my tripod is still in transit. All in all, we did well.

Orange kite delivers

I don’t understand much about kitesurfing, but my best quess is that the point is not so much going to and fro very fast (as in the last picture), but to do tricks. We observed a big bunch of wind- and kite-surfers yesterday on the Flag beach. It took me a while to figure out that one of them was doing something other than just turning and heading back into the deep almost every approach — a guy with lot of bright orange in both his kite and underside of the board.