Two Days in One

It was another of those days when we had a plan, but the buses didn't cooperate, so we went to Valletta as our first stop. Did a little Saturday shopping. Where but in Malta, do you have to follow the garbage truck along a main street while the guys run and pick up the bags all set out on the sidewalks. The bus driver patiently waits his opportunity to go into the oncoming lane and pass. We have our priorities.

We wandered down the main street in Valletta looking for souvenirs, another scarf for Bob and shoes for me. We found a nice scarf but no shoes. But I did find a lovely cashmere poncho and a twelve page watercolour book with the same 5 x 8 pages in case I run out of room in my journal. I've been in several art supply shops in Malta but no one carries the Moleskines.

The shops are preparing for Carnival next weekend with all the masks and costume paraphernalia.

It had been the plan to go to Birzebbugia, another fishing village along the southeast coast. The 12:30 bus doesn't come til 12:50 but I can always pass the time people watching. We travel in a very full, very loud bus with maybe two more people that I would consider not to be locals. The Saturday afternoon chatter is constant. Mix that with a 'chirping' dialogue of a group of African women, a great amount of laughter and we are caught up in a wonderful cacophony of sounds.

Birzebbuga.. ......we're not sure where we're going so we stay on the bus as it does a circular route around town. Bob has seen a meat store along the route so we are on a mission. It looks like Pretty Bay is the busier, more scenic area but we got off the bus at St George's Bay. It is beautiful and very peaceful. Farther out we can see the big freighters leaving the docks, guided by tugs or pilot boats.

 

I sit in the sun while Bob shops. I am hungry and need to pee. The meat store owner offers his bathroom once his 'colleague' is finished. I politely decline and we head for the bus stop. After a 30/40 minute wait our #119 turns out to be a mini bus which we almost miss flagging down. Within twenty minutes we are back in M'scala and making the walk back up our hill. I stop at the corner store to reclaim the cream we left behind yesterday.

It has not been one of our better days but it is somewhat reclaimed by a tasty dinner of homemade French fries and garlic sautéed prawns with a pesto/mayonnaise dipping sauce. Yumm!!!

Today is Sunday. Our wine people from St Paul's Bay are bringing us our last supply of wine this morning. They are coming to M'scala to visit Tania's mother and do us the service of making a delivery.

I sent a thank you email to them with a picture of my journal page that I had done of their shop and a reminder that I will have a toast to her on her special birthday that she will be spending in Paris. It is on April 3. Easy to remember cos its Sherry's birthday too. We will probably be on Vancouver Island. Not quite so glamorous but then we will have just spent our winters in Malta and Mexico. Can't complain can we?

 

We decided we didn't want to walk down to town being Sunday and not knowing what shops would be open. Our fridge is empty except for the prawns. It's a sacrifice but we will just have to eat them two nights in a row. We are having a general maintenance day. A little cleanup in the apartment, a load of laundry and a little sitting in the sun.

Later in the afternoon we are watching a man in his field across from our apartment. He is walking along chopping out cauliflowers, putting them into a plastic crate and then carrying it on his shoulder down to his truck. It is an idyllic picture. I don't think the word 'stress' would be in his vocabulary.

We wondered if he might sell us a cauliflower to have a fresh vegetable for our dinner. His truck is just inside a stone wall across the street. I walked over as he was bringing another crate to the truck. I asked if I could buy one. He told me to come with him and pick a cauliflower and a broccoli. He wouldn't take any money. His name is Martin and he lives in the tiny house at the top of the fields with his three dogs. He has a brother that helps him with various crops, one of which is 5000 strawberry plants. He will deliver these to the grocery shops early tomorrow morning. He is also a builder of stone walls. This is Maltese farming, says Martin. We have seen the odd small tractor in Malta but mostly the fields are worked with a rototiller or a hoe. He says he will get three crops in the year and then turn the field over.

Bob is on the patio watching and photographing as I collect our harvest.

 

 

Our bounty. How fresh is that? This is my kind of shopping.....

The afternoon is cooling off and by 3:30 he has finished his collecting and is gone. His timing is good as the wind picks up and we get a rain shower. I have brought in the laundry which is sun dried and fresh smelling. The sky is dark and light as the storm moves in but the sun is still shining. As we are going to bed we can see fireworks way off in the distance....maybe from the town of Zabbar. Then it is another thunder, lightning and rain storm. The contrasts in weather here are always spectacular.

 

 

 

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The Pendulum Swings

Yesterday was such a beautiful day. Things then went to hell in a hand basket?...,after we went to bed. We ran out of propane and the heater started sputtering. I got up and turned it off. We won't freeze to death without it so I emailed George and he will bring a new cylinder over in the morning. Back to bed and for the first time since being here I can hear people in the stairwell and the elevator moving up and down. That's OK I can sleep with that. Then as I'm almost asleep I hear our intercom buzz. It is an unfamiliar noise and startles me. I am out of bed in a flash looking at it wondering who could be calling on us ...lol...then in my sleep stupid mind I realize our buzzer must have been pressed inadvertently. Back to bed but by this time I am wide awake. I must have fallen asleep for a short while when I heard rain beating on our floor to ceiling windows in the bedroom. It almost sounded like hail but it was only rain followed by a half hour of lightning and thunder. The lightning was so bright it hurt my eyes. As much as I am entranced by extreme storms I had to turn my eyes away. I think I finally went back to sleep about 2:00am.

George arrived at 7:30 with a propane tank for our heater. We didn't realize that our hot water tank is also run on propane and it turns out that is why we have had cold showers for the last two days. He is back again at 4:30 with another cylinder for the hot water tank. It seems that this is the way all homes work. They don't appear to have big storage tanks, just 20lb ones that are delivered by truck. I wonder how older people manage because they are so heavy and awkward. Another question for George. He has confirmed his invitation for us to go with his family to their six acre 'field' on Tuesday for a BBQ. February 10th is St Paul's Day, a national holiday.

In between all the propane action we made a trip down to town for bread and wine. We sat for awhile watching the fishing boats but the wind was cold and the sun would be behind clouds for awhile so we climbed back home. I spent the afternoon catching up in my journal after our busy day yesterday.

 

An easy dinner of back bacon and a mushroom omelet then an early to bed for me to catch up.

Observations for today....

Any other place in Western Europe I would be able to understand quite a bit of the spoken and written language. But not here no matter how long we are here unless I was to take lessons.

Buying lottery tickets is universal...you buy, you hope, you check, and then you throw the tickets away.....

 

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Living like a Local

Despite both of us having colds one after the other we have been sleeping so well. Often it's hard to sleep in strange beds but we are managing a good nine hours in the absolute quiet. In St Paul's Bay there wasn't a car on the road after 8:00 and here in Marsascala we are up so high on a dead end street that all we hear is the wind blowing around the roof tops.

Today, with nothing on our agenda, we set out walking down to the bay and there we will pick our destination. We can go along one side of the Bay or the other. We start out by looking to see if we can go inside the church.

A group of passing women tell us it doesn't open until 5:00pm. We may say we are going to live like locals but we can't hide the fact that we are not Maltese. Bob in his shorts and even me in capris and sandals, we always stand out.

We can see our apartment high above us. The building to the far right that looks like a shadow is ours. And that is our rooftop terrace on the extreme right corner.

The fish boat is in again with a nights catch displayed for buyers. Apart from the cafes that line the front of the harbour this is a working fishing village. People are out every morning for their daily shop. The two produce trucks do a non-stop business. It is a surprise to find that things like potatoes, that we figured would be local, come from France or The Netherlands. I suppose it's not much different than at home when we see where all our produce in the grocery stores comes from....California, Mexico, Chili...etc...

There is always somewhere to sit and enjoy the sun along the harbour. As I walked by, all the benches were occupied so I continued to walk out onto the wharf. When Bob caught up after taking pictures of the many Luzzus in drydock, he snagged an empty one and I walked back to join him. That's him second from the left. We walked and sat and walked and sat. The further we walked towards the end of the bay the fewer people we encountered.

Just like St Paul's Bay, Marsascala has every type of anchor buoy imaginable. The harbours are literally filled with them. It is hard to imagine what it would be like in the summer when a boat is anchored to each one.

People live along the bay...their front doors opening onto the walk with the benches right there in front. I spoke to an elderly couple that were just coming out from their home. I expressed what a lovely place it must be to live. They said yes except when the nor'easters are blowing into the bay and the water washes up to their door step. But they wouldn't change it.....I think he said something like "being closer to heaven when their time came".

We continue our walk out to where the road either ends or turns back into the village of Zonqor. Everywhere on Malta's coast are salt pans carved into the rocky shores. I don't really know if they are all still used but they are definitely a part of the history of the islands. Today I didn't bring my Sakura watercolour brushes so didn't have a water supply. I always have a variety of pens to enable me to do something in my journal. We found a path down to a group of salt pans where we could sit and watch the fishing boats returning to the harbour and the freighters passing across the horizon. There was nobody but us.

One of my first Sketchbook Skool instructors, Prashant Miranda, did his tutorial from Goa in India. He did a horizon watercolour wash and he used water from the Indian Ocean. His lesson was that whatever you use becomes a part of your story. With journal in hand and a plastic pallet I collect enough water to do a journal page.

Today has been one of the best of days. It has been everything I had imagined Malta to be. We have spent the first two months seeing everything that is famous, historical and anciently beautiful. I was a little concerned to leave all that had become familiar to us in the northern part of the island but after a few days of aclimatizing to the hills and the peace and quiet here I know this is the right place for us to be for our last few weeks.

 

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Why we came to Marsascala

Every day that I start my blog I wish I had done more sketching/painting. I don't know if I am procrastinating or just overwhelmed with all my other options. Nobody but me can make that judgement.

Bob is feeling better so we went down the hill to the Bay for more shopping. We stopped at the pharmacy and re-supplied Bob with lozenges. It doesn't take long before we are recognized and the pharmacist enquires as to how we were doing with our colds. Back to the only butcher shop we have found that is a stand alone shop. Mario and Gilbert are 2nd and 3rd generation in this family run business.

Even they remember me from my purchase yesterday. Chops, back bacon and a chicken breast and they put it back in the cooler for us to pick up on our way home. Next stop is the bay and the local fish boat selling everything right on the sidewalk.

Fighting with a live octopus. It takes two of them to get it into the bag. Bob is leaning towards buying one but I want to wait til I know we have all the ingredients to make calamari and accompanying sauces, ie; lots of tzisiki, sp? Another stop at the produce truck for potatoes, onions and garlic. We are loaded down for the climb:( but it has to be done.

When we reach the corners of these two streets we are only one level half block til home. It is a welcome sight when you are packing all your groceries on your back.

We spend a lovely afternoon at home in the sunshine watching everything that is happening around us.

Many observations for today:

Pigeons as a hobby with intricate cages set up on patios....roof tops are like extra rooms.....complete with solar panel arrays, satellite dishes, water supply barrels, antennas and the most common sight of all....clothes drying in the wind. As I have said before, everybody has a washing machine, nobody has a dryer. You don't need one when your laundry will dry outside in a matter of a couple of hours. Also wth no natural resources, electricity is very expensive.

There are no closets built into stone walls, only wardrobes.

All wiring us external.

No tourist shops, as Marsascala is not considered a tourist destination. I bought an infinity scarf and some post cards at the shop that is also the post office.

 

Sights from our roof top patios....

Looks like sedum and crocosmia?

Candid photo from the late afternoon sun. I have cropped this one eliminating the bulge in the middle and the arms that Stella first commented on in horror when she was two...lol...

We watched locals walk the little paths through the fields below us, a cat catch a mouse, kids laughing and shouting as they leave school, life in a quiet community that is still in many ways decades behind the world around them.

Today is a day of pictures, tomorrow maybe some painting....we'll see.......OK...just a little sketch when I was sitting outside looking at the floor :)

 

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Full Moon over Malta

It is a beautiful sunrise.

We are sitting outside watching as homing pigeons swarm around the coops on the patios of the buildings across the small valley that we overlook. We have seen them before but now have identified their homes. I am watching with my binoculars as a man puts feed out for them and Bob is taking pictures.

Bob is needing an at home day to fight his cold so we have an early lunch and then I headed down to the Bay looking for a butcher shop and a bakery. I am also looking for an easy way down and back to avoid the steep hill up from the main road. There is no way to avoid getting to our higher elevation without climbing it foot by foot. It is what it is:). All the cafes along the bay are busy with lunch crowds sitting in the sun. I tried to sketch two men sorting out their nets. It's not one of my better pictures but....I was trying to be surreptitious as they were doing serious work.

There is a children's park along the promenade. It is fence enclosed with some similar, but still different, climbing apparatus than we have at home.

I had a good walk. Found a butcher shop, a bakery, hit the ATM at the HSBC, struck out on some loose potatoes and bought two more Grand Lottery tickets for next Friday. We sat in the sun for the late afternoon and then watched the full moon rising across the bay as we cooked our dinner.

It's hard to believe we have been here for six days already. Going home panic is setting in for me!

 

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Bob's got the Cold

This day feels just like a day at home when you don't have a lot of energy, or in this case, Bob is feeling crummy, finally succumbing to all the cold germs that have been flying around from me for the past two weeks. In some ways it feels good to accept a quiet day. We have been on the go steadily which is maybe why we have been knocked down with this cold.

We take each opportunity we can to sit outside when the sun is out from behind the clouds. I am also taking the opportunity to turn some of our photos into sketches in my journal. Sketching on site is not easy for me because it means staying put for a period of time. This is not easy when you travel with a non sketching partner.

This is our view looking over Marsascala Bay and Marsascala Parish Church, the sight of the wedding on Saturday night. The church bells ring pleasantly several times a day. They just started ringing again now as I am typing at 7:00pm.

On the back patio, looking over the fields, there is a big planter of miniature cactus. It is reminiscent of our desert days. Prickly pear plants grow wild all over the island. Some are so big I think they use them as wind breaks. We have been watching two older men working on building a block wall in the field below us. Our landlord George told us that you have to apply for a permit to build the stone walls around your field. He and his wife have bought a six acre field and are now waiting for their permit to begin building the walls.

 

The sun is setting and the stormy clouds that have been blowing around all day provide another interesting sky as the almost full moon rises, lighting up the buildings below. It is cool and we are in for the night with the heater turned on.

 

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Another "What Were We Thinking" days

We are up before daylight as usual. I enjoy my morning coffee but I think I will be glad to have our own Starbucks drip coffee when we get home. What we make is almost espresso, not quite a cappuccino, we add cream and raw sugar and some boiling water for a mug of strong sweetened coffee.

It's Sunday so we make French toast with fresh bacon. Bacon here still has the rind on and the little 'eyes' of gristle (aka riblet bones) in it. I don't know how anyone can eat bacon without using their hands and eating around these parts. It tastes good but it also takes work.

Maltese buildings are made of stone, the walls, the floors and therefore need a lot of heat at this 'winter' time of year. This morning our heater ran out of propane.

George brought a new 20lb cylinder over about 9:30. He has invited us to come with him for a family BBq on their six acre garden plot. We will arrange a Sunday before we leave. Sunday's are family days for the Maltese. They spend it with all the generations of the family, usually together for the mid-day meal, a walk and visits with friends too. They seem to work hard during the week, but Sunday's are for family, food and socializing.

We, (I), wanted to go to Marsaxlokk to see the Sunday market. We have been there during the week but this is supposed to be much bigger and much busier. It is not usually what we do on Sunday's but I still want to see it and the energy of all the Sunday crowds. Our first indication that this is not such a good idea is the buses. The driver strongly suggests we go all the way to Valletta to be able to get on a bus for Marsaxlokk. Even doing that we hardly get on the bus and we end up standing all the way, about a half hour. These are city crowds going to the villages for a Sunday outing. On Gozo no one would leave a woman standing without offering her a seat. Here young people and tourists don't even get up unless they are prompted by an older person.

The market is huge and packed with people.

We walk the whole market along the bay, turn up the hill to the bus stop we know, wait a half hour again and get the #119 directly back to Marsascala then up the hill to home. The plan is to sit in the sun and let the rest of Sunday pass us by. When we were booking this apartment we had read reviews about the beautiful views and the steep walk from the Bay. It is steep. I wonder how we will feel about it after doing it for three weeks.

Our laundry from this morning is dry. I have decided today is a good day to crack open my bottle of Prosseco, a sparkling wine best enjoyed in the sunshine in the afternoon and we sit on the patio until the sun is replaced with clouds and the temperature begins to drop.

Later to be replaced by a little red wine as the almost full moon rises over St.Thomas Bay.

This month will be different. I'm not sure if it is where we are or whether it is us. We did travel hard from St Paul's Bay and saw everything we wanted, more than once. Maybe we need a week of a slower pace to decide what it is we want to do with the remainder of our time here.

One observation....despite being in strange places and beds we have slept incredibly well. It is so quiet here at night. Maybe also we are relaxed knowing we have no phone, we have TVs, but have not watched them. We are unwound from our world, except of course from our iPads, lol......A VERY IMPORTANT CONNECTION.

 

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