Romantic ideas

[gavilan]

I was lying in bed last night waiting for the full moon to come up from behind the mountains. I could see its light long before it showed itself. Then it emerged slowly but quite quickly and looked at first almost like a large ball about to roll down the hillside. But then it freed itself from the few scant trees up there and floated off and up into space. So bright it makes shadows as strong as the sun and so sharp a light it made me shade my eyes to look at it. For me one of the most magical and romantic of sights is that full moon emerging from behind the mountains here.
And then I started to think about how many other romantic images have influenced my activities here. I do not think of myself as a romantic but I have done many things around this house and ‘garden’ with some sort of idyllic picture in my head. Now of course that ‘romance’ is tempered with reality! Like ... the stone seat in the shade below those wonderful huge old wild ficus trees Yes, wonderful they are and it is a delightful place to sit and enjoy mountain views at the end of a hard day’s work. But then comes Autumn and a million leaves fall and have to be swept up and carried to the far end of the terrace for burning! Like ... the patio covered by dappled sunlight coming through the vine. Well, it would be like that if the vine did not stop growing because it suffers from a disease which I have never managed to eradicate! Like ... if only the wisteria would grow enough so it would trail over the pergola I put there several years ago but it has not reached there yet! How long do I have to wait?! Like ... I wanted a friend of mine who works with stained glass to make some glass ‘pomegranates’ (in strong oranges and reds) which I would hang from some other trees in a rather dull part of the garden. But, luckily before she made them, I discovered that ferocious wind which tears down this valley with some regularity and twists and tangles any object in its path! and then there is the heat of the sun which would melt the lead between the glass. Not to mention sun and glass and fire potential! I could list many other ideas I have had over the years here which have had to be moderated or abandoned due to some problem I had not anticipated. So frustrating!

Then I started to realise how large a part romantic images have played in things I have tried to do here. And I got to thinking was it only me who had these sort of ideas? So now I am wondering what romantic ideas have you had? ... which made you buy your place? ... which prompted you to design a seat or part of the garden? or .... ? and then what happened?!

[katy]

There was a stunning giant cactus in the centre of one of the lawns (about 2metros). I had lights installed so it could be seen in the dark from the house. About a month afterwards a thick stalk started to grow from its centre. I looked up its details in a gardening book and it is called the "hundred years tree" as it only flowers once and then dies, leaving a horrible smell! For about 3 weeks the stalk grew to be about 4 metros with an ugly flower on top..then of course it died

[Don]

You must have been early to bed gavilan. We watched the moon in all its glory from the pool as it was bathing the area with its light. Indeed the moon itself provides many magic moments as when you are sitting watching it and a white glow of barn owl passes across your vision.

[hillybilly]

Our romantic al fresco moments always seem to get interrupted by hikers or a man with a horse or a campervan that appears out of knowhere...

[alisonb]

When the estate agent got us out of the car, apparently in the middle of nowhere, and we stepped down onto the plot (which is now ours) I burst into tears! And the view still does that to me.

Talking of the moon last night, what was the really big bright star close to it? Wednesday night it was below and to the left, then last night it was above and to the right.

[pete_l]

Talking of the moon last night, what was the really big bright star close to it? Wednesday night it was below and to the left, then last night it was above and to the right.

That's the planet Jupiter. The constellation to the right of it is
called "sagittarius". If you look at it right, it looks a bit like a
teapot.
The misty band that ascends through sag. up into the sky is
the milky way.

Pete

[Don]

Thanks for that Pete_l, always had an interest but never the time to study just what we look at at night. Moon not high enough yet to see tonight but will check it out a bit later. Saludos.

[mijasmagic]

When we moved here from Manchester we left behind a lovely 4 bedroom detached house, 80 foot garden, conservatory, etc, etc. We gave our wish list to two estate agents out here that we found on the web. One totally ignored our list and tried to sell us the properties he was clearly under pressure from his company to sell. The other one took us to see 11 properties in 24 hours, most of which we considered as, if not probables, then at least in our ballpark.
When, at 8 in the evening he told us that the last property was 30000€ under our budget, we almost didn´t bother. But boy, are we glad we did!!
When we walked in, we were charmed by the interior, but then we walked out onto the terrace and it was one of those WOW! moments. Don´t misunderstand me, it´s only a 2 bedroom townhouse, but the terrace is 30 feet long and the views of the surrounding large private gardens and Mijas Mountain (as we call it) are wonderful.
Every morning we wake to this wonderful scene and to be honest it´s hard not to be romantic.
Beats Manchester any time!! Viva Andalucia!!!

[mhic]

The closest I have been to a romantic moment recently was Tuesday when I got three out of the four mangled pilot screws out of my bikes carburators. My wife put a stop to romance shortly after we moved here, it interferes with her reading.

Mhic.

[wagon ropes]

Maybe she just finds it too hot for close encounters

Talking of magic moments though; I find watching the ISS fly by quite enthralling. To think that there are people up there looking down on us looking up at them is something else

[mijasmagic]

How do you know where it is, and when you can see it?

[Conehead]

Do a search for ISS Tracking, plenty of sites.

http://www.n2yo.com/

http://heavens-above.com/

for two.

The NASA site seems to be delayed!

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/tracking/

[wagon ropes]

We use the Heavens Above site and it seems very reliable.

I was musing on the original letter in this thread whilst doing my lengths in the pool today and I realized once again how good things are.
Ever since I was a teenager I dreamed of owning a house in the sun with bougainvillea round the door and a pool and a patio and now I have it all.

It took 58 years of hard work but we made it and now, 8 years on, we never let a day go by without saying thanks to our lucky stars that made it possible.

That really is living the dream I bet no television company would be interested in the story though.

[pkates]

Sat out but didn't see it . . . .

[Don]

Wondered if it was the ISS we saw last night at about 11ish. Very high, very quick, only one bright spot but it was travelling east to west not west to east as I believe the ISS does. Could have been a lone militiary plane instead.

[wagon ropes]

There certainly was a pass last night at about 3 mins to 11. I missed it 'cos I got involved in a TV prog.

[country boy]

That pass was west to east and very bright and relatively slow moving; there is a less bright one tonight at 2250 in the West, it will take 5 minutes at a low angle going to the NE