One year of Andalusia with you......Happy New Year !

Mis queridos, my lovelies, the countdown will start in a few hours here...I still don't know what to wear to welcome the New Year...to tell the truth I don't know whether I really want to go to this party and celebrate or just cuddle in bed with Monchéri.

What I do know is that there was no way i would vanish without sending you, you and you, all of YOU, my best and warmest wishes for a HAPPY and BETTER New Year in spite of the alarming news. Let's all hope 2009 will be less bellicose and more luminous. In my eyes, we've already seen a ray of light with the election of Obama, let's pray we're heading towards a better world....

More than ever, I feel like declaiming one of the very few poems I know by heart....in fact the only one...by my favorite e.e. cummings:

Dive for dreams

or a slogan may topple you

(trees are their roots

and wind is wind)

Trust your heart

if the seas catch fire

(and live love

though the stars walk backwards)

Honour the past

but welcome the future

(and dance your death

away at the wedding)

Never mind a world

with its villains or heroes

(for God likes girls

and tomorrow and the earth)

and also I want to thank you for having shared one year of Andalusia with me ! So here's for you, my dear readers, a review of my fave pics of my little corner of the world....

a gaudi-esque beauty at El Corte Inglès

pomegranates, the emblem of Granada

my beloved Alhambra Moorish palace

fresh orange juice from the oranges in our sweet Lecrin valley

one of my favorite trendy cafés in Granada, MomentO2

the charming old little shops in Granada

my little neighbor round the corner

doggie having fun in Mirador San Nicolas in Granada

the traditional black clothes during Semana Santa in Granada

me too, I want to wear a lace mantilla

ok i'm not a fetichist but you have to admit, they are darn sexy !

batucada in Granada, on solidarity day

Nazari feast in Salobreña on the coast


one of the numerous houses decorated with plates in Salobreña

sardinas on the beach

no comment...(i'm just salivating in front of my screen)

the Moorish castle in Salobreña


the house I would love to buy in Granada (sorry you're just looking at the wall) - quite impossible at the moment because no money -

the incredible 1000 plates house in el barrio Sacromonte in Granada

Patti Smith giving an intimate concert at Federico Garcia Lorca's former summer house, in Granada
the flamenco festival in Restabal, one of the nearby villages in the valley. The pics were taken by my friend Tim. He also took the pic of my banner.


feria time.....and time to choose a dress

and a caballero
isn't he cute ?
cool concertist in Granada
Young men like to play the guitar in Granada

and practise in Mirador de San Nicolas, facing the Alhambra

one of my hobby jobs is baking cakes for a restaurant and cooking.....

.....with Monchéri....
......for the coolest music producer in the world, Youth. (on my right, -last summer south African rock star Arno Carstens - on my left - came to record his new album, a super cool and very kind guy)

chilling out on my friend Gym's roof terrace, under the Morroccan tent

a graceful street dancer in Granada
the shepherd and his goats

me dancing flamenco in Paris, a few years ago.....this year i must persevere !

and for me...the best of all is Monchéri !! especially when he helps me baking. Tim took this pic 3 years ago and unfortunately Monchéri cut his hair. Never mind, he still looks romantic....

My lovelies, Happy New Year to you all !!

Peace and love in your heart