Tonight there is an amazing colourful hue in the sky over San José, the photograph below doesn’t do it full justice. We’re blessed with having some amazing cloud / light combinations here in our paradise, especially autumn through to spring – sometimes in summer too.
Clouds over San José
(for a larger picture visit: http://melaniemichele.com/free.html)
I am an artist.
This does not mean I will work for free.
I have bills just like you do.
Thank you for understanding.
And please think twice before asking me to
donate art for your charity.
* Unless it is to help another artist.
Because it doesn’t help me one bit with exposure.
Someone asked me a few weeks ago if I had any photographs of lighthouses… well ACTUALLY, I do have a few and this is my favourite, that is of course if it’s possible to have a favourite photograph of a lighthouse 
Chipiona, Spain
I also like this one…
Langstone Harbour, UK
And finally, just because it’s where it is…
La Habana Oeste, Cuba
Cooperativa Intergral Cabo de Gata
Yesterday I was fortunate enough to attend the launch of the Cooperativa Integral Cabo de Gata at a Cortijo in San José known as Pez Verde (Green Fish). The purpose of this launch was to discuss the reasons that led to the promotion this project, its philosophy, objectives, services, activities, spaces available for dynamic, internal operations, legal cover and forms of association.
In summary, the objectives of this newly formed cooperative are given as follows and they have very clear-cut plans (short / medium and long term) to fulfill their objectives:
Cooperativa Intergral Cabo de Gata
Yesterday was a fantastic day, all speeches and presentations were well delivered and easy to understand, even for a Londoner like me and there was a comprehensive question and answer session afterwards. Some of the questions reflecting the more practical worries that the “consumer” might have, e.g. affordability and availability of products – some of these questions certainly pulled no punches… that is of course if I understood it all correctly!
I for one am in support of this initiative which I think comes at a good time – it’s a very difficult concept to get off the ground and to come this far is a big achievement in these troubled financial times, I truly hope that they will be able to sustain the project and realise their objectives, their hearts are most definitely in the right place to succeed.
Whatever YOU think of the cooperative you must agree that it is a positive step in a direction that in our hearts of hearts, we’d probably like to follow.
You can read more about the project in this blog (in Spanish) – http://decrecimientosanjose.blogspot.com.es/
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…and last but not least, there was an amazingly delicious buffet afterwards – humble thanks to everyone concerned
Photograph by Jesus Contreras
Last night was the debut performance of the Oz Nature & Music project; three slide-shows of photographs taken around the province of Almería by our good friend and project director Jesus Contreras were accompanied by live music. Firstly the beautiful flamenco guitar of Juanmi Requena followed by the solo saxophone of my good-self, both of these two sets were about 20 minutes long and the music was entirely improvised to suit the mood of the photographs. The third slide-show, also 20 minutes long, was accompanied by the music of both Juanmi and myself in a semi-improvised set.
There was a fantastic audience of just over 100 people who were very receptive to this new initiative for Almería. We are looking forward to more of the same and developing this idea further – Almería no es nuestro objetivo sino nuestra alma (Almería is not our goal but our soul).
Oz Nature & Music
Short video of some moments…
Well, all this talk of the super-moon of May got me excited on my trip back to the UK… and there I was on Saturday night, camera & tripod ready and guess what?? Too cloudy!!! So, back the following night (Sunday) and guess what?? Actually, not as cloudy as the night before but never-the-less, not that brilliant where I was.
So here is a photograph of my parent’s house taken by the much-diffused moonlight – me?? Disappointed??? Nah 
Halfway Farm
I guess to many people who haven’t experienced “proper” tapas, the concept is a little strange. I meet lots of people in San José on holiday who have no idea how it works. Tapas bars in London and I guess other places outside Spain don’t operate in the same way for example in a London tapas bar, you would buy a drink and then the tapas separately. In my lovely little village, there are some great tapas bars and slightly further afield in Almería, there are the best tapas bars I’ve ever been to and the concept is thus… you buy an alcoholic drink, mosto (grape juice) or a non-alcoholic beer and the tapas comes with it… free, yes that’s right FREE. The tapas are usually about two to three bites big but after maybe three drinks, you’ve had a nice light sized meal and a great night out.
Chorizo al Infierno – I like to toast my bread!
Many of the bars pride themselves on their house specialites as well as the more traditional tapas such as carné con tomate (meat with tomato sauce), patatas bravas (spicy potatoes) and pincho moruno (spiced chicken mini-kebab). Such specialities include my favourite chorizo al infierno (chorizo from hell) – a small spicy sausage served on fire like a sambuca would be, raxos (a Galician style tapas) – pork fillet (lomo) in a savoury sauce, choto al ajillo (goat in spicy garlic sauce) etc.
Seafood Tapas
Some bars serve very upmarket tapas but NOT at upmarket prices! It’s very rare to pay more than €2.75 and for that you’ll get a very good quality glass of wine… well actually, you’d be hard pressed to find a wine in a Spanish bar that isn’t a good quality There are also a number of bars that specialise in vegetarian and vegan tapas e.g., cherigans (a bit like crisp breads with various toppings), tortilla de patatas (potato omlette), pimientos rellenos (stuffed peppers) so there is indeed something for everybody.
The word “tapas” is derived from the Spanish verb tapar, “to cover” and according to one legend, the tapas tradition began when king Alfonso X of Castile recovered from an illness by drinking wine with small dishes of food between meals. After regaining his health, the king ordered that taverns would not be allowed to serve wine to customers unless it was accompanied by a small snack or “tapa”.
Huevo a la Plancha
The most popular history of tapas is that the original tapas were the slices of bread or meat which sherry drinkers in Andalucia used to cover their glasses between sips. This was a practical measure meant to prevent fruit flies from hovering over and spoiling the sherry. The meat used to cover the sherry was normally ham or chorizo, both of which are salty and activate thirst. Because of this, bartenders and restaurant owners began creating a variety of snacks to serve with sherry thus increasing their alcohol sales. Tapas has evolved through Spanish history by incorporating ingredients and influences from many different cultures and countries.
A big thank you to Amber McClean for providing the photographs, I realised after starting this article that I actually have NO photographs of food!
