Magic carpet

Like countless others, we had a go at bargaining for a Moroccan rug. One for our beloved J de P who looked after Pou and Lily so well. The other for us, or so we thought. There's been a takeover.

Morocco

We nipped off to Marrakech and Essaouira for five days and had a fantastic time. My gorgeous travelling companions awaiting lunch after a morning perusing wares in the souk.

Greg commented, "Henny surrounded by pouffs. Nothing's changed then..."

Gary and Colleen in their 'office' in our riad. We had the place to ourselves.

Cooking class. Making chicken pastillas.

If we had the funds, we could imagine turning this ruin into our Essaouira hideout. I loved watching the Atlantic crash into Africa. A la prochaine, Maroc!

Blue Surprise

On Christmas Eve our friend Erica presented us with a gift. Imagine our amazement and sheer delight to open this beautiful water colour of Lily, completely out of the blue! Erica shrugged modestly, "I saw the photo on your blog and decided to paint it this morning. I had a couple of hours spare." Hello?! It's absolutely our favourite present. And Erica, everyone who's seen it has been gobsmacked by your talent. We just love it, and you for painting it for us! Thank you...xxx

Happy New Year 2014

What a wonderful, warm holiday season we've had! Lavish drinks parties, delicious meals and the company of our funny, beautiful, generous friends. We feel very spoiled and truly, truly lucky. Last night was the culmination, Lizzie and Ali's big New Year's Eve party for a mere 46 of us. It was also the debut of our folk trio, Peter, Paul and Gary. We managed to pull off our set of 7 numbers in front of a very supportive audience.

Photo nicked from Richard Nightingale, thanks!

To clear the cobwebs today, an annual picnic at the beach. It was Henny's and my first time at this event, which apparently has been blessed by good weather 4 years out of 5. A great time was had, especially by Lily who ran around visiting lots of other dogs and was, hooray, perfectly behaved. We felt grateful and hopeful for this year to come. We wish you all good health and great happiness for 2014.

Merry Christmas!