Tag: Pollenca

Happiness is….

On By janeIn Favourite Places, MajorcaLeave a comment

I’ve been doing a bit of thinking. As you do. When you’re away for a month. With lots of time to sit around and do that kind of thing.

And one of the things I’ve been thinking about is the definition of happiness. And I’ve come to the conclusion that for me happiness is when I’m living in the moment, when the moment is where I want to be, and when there is absolutely nothing about the moment that I would change.

And I know what I’m talking about. Because out here in Puerto Pollenca those moments are blessedly frequent.

Like every morning. Because every morning I get up. And the sun is shining. And I put on my swimming costume. Wrap myself up in a towel. Leave the house. Walk the couple of hundred yards to my favourite view in the world.

First view of the bay
First view of the bay

I kick off my shoes, drop my towel on the jetty. Say good morning to the ‘the bird that isn’t a heron’ that always stands at the end of the jetty at this time of day. And walk into water that is translucent and gleaming and body temperature warm.

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This isn’t swimming, this is a daily baptism. I breaststroke my way out to the boats. Tread water, look back at the view of Pine Walk from the sea. The up and down roofs of the villas and apartment buildings, pink and cream and white and yellow, clustered along the water’s edge, shaded by the pine trees.

I swim back to shore, slide sandy feet into flip flops, pick up towel and head back to house for breakfast.

Happiness is….

Let them eat cake….

On By janeIn Majorca, PlantsLeave a comment

You know that proverb ‘you can’t have your cake and eat it’? Well here’s a question…. who says?

And another question…. why not?

I mean for crying out loud, you can’t get away from cakes at the moment, whether it’s baking them, eating them, having them, trying to stay away from them. And I bet you a tray of chocolate butterfly cakes with butter cream icing that with all the cake making going on at the moment there are plenty of people out there who are having and eating at the same time. No matter who says you can’t….

And you know something….. I reckon I’m one of them.

I came to this decision a couple of nights ago as I sat in a short sleeved shirt at 7.30 in the evening, guzzling a vast gin and tonic, with chilled out music wafting through the airwaves around me, looking out across the millpond water of Pollenca Bay. Pollenca Bay EveningSo Graham and I turn to each and grin and say ‘how lucky are we?’ And that’s when we have the ‘cake and eat it’ discussion. Cos someone has said to him that his trouble is that he wants to ‘have his cake and eat it.’ And after giving this a great deal of thought he has decided that his reaction is…. yeah, too damn right, you bet I do!

And this week we reckon we got it just about right.

We weren’t supposed to be there. I was meant to be hard at work, nose to the grindstone, garden designing my butt off. He was meant to be hard at work, nose to the grindstone, doing whatever it is he does when he isn’t having a wonderful time with me. But thanks to me putting my course on hold and him deciding that there is more to life than playing it safe, we booked last minute flights and went out to shut the house up for the winter.

Except for it was still summer out there. The weather forgot to change and we had blue skies and temperatures in the eighties. So you see what I mean – cake, have, eat. Simples.

So Pollenca this week was chocolate and coffee and carrot – all my favourite cakes rolled into one. Some had pink icing….

Pine Walk Pink
Pine Walk Pink

IMG_1493IMG_1501Some had red….IMG_1491

Some orange….

IMG_1516 Some even had blue…. IMG_1497There were multi coloured cakes….IMG_1510 And cakes with no icing at all….

Pollarding in Pollenca!
Pollarding in Pollenca!

And I’m going to leave you with this image. Spotted yesterday as we walked along Pine Walk beside the water’s edge. You can’t see them all but there were actually three dogs in the boat with this rather gorgeous girl.IMG_1494Who knows where the four of them were going….IMG_1495But I thought you would like to share them with me. Because they’re fab. And when things are as fab as this, having and eating at the same time are…. well it’s obvious isn’t it…. they’re a piece of cake.

So what happened to garden design?

On By janeIn Majorca, Most Popular Posts5 Comments

Hs anyone out there noticed that this blog is drifting away from the original subject matter? (Does anyone out there care?) Gardens, gardening, garden design….. That was where this whole thing started. So what’s gone wrong?

Well I’m still right on it with the whole garden design vibe. But there are other things out there that just seem to want me to write about them. So…. I’m going to.

Twenty seven years ago, when I first started going to Majorca it was all sombreros and sangria. Magaluf’s reputation for sun, sea and twenty four hour drinking cast a long shadow, and even now there are people who raise an eyebrow when I tell them where I like to go for my holidays. Which is fine by me. The fewer people who know about the bits of Majorca that aren’t all about nightclubs and bars (which is most of the island) the better.

The northern corner of the island, where we have our house, grows in style and substance year by year. Signs are that other people are catching on to what a special place it is. And I’m getting rather worried that our secret won’t be a secret for much longer.

A big cause for concern is that the best home interiors shop in the whole world ever just happens to be up the road from us in Pollenca. It’s  called Mestre Paco and it’s an Aladdin’s Cave of totally fabulous furniture and fabrics. I go there regularly – regardless of whether I need to buy anything – and wander from room to room, drinking in the gorgeousness, and wishing I had the money to buy everything I see there.

Things are displayed with effortless style. As if they just happened to come together without anybody really noticing how it happened.

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IMG_0454Round every corner there is something to die for, another one of those ‘I want one of those’ items that makes me want to throw out everything I’ve ever bought for my house and start all over again.

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The friends who come to stay look rather bemused when I tell them they’ve got to go to my  ‘favourite shop’ while they’re out there. Especially when they find out I’ve dragged them off to look at furniture. But once they’ve been there they join the fold and become converts.

Mestre Paco rules ok……