Dry, Dry and Drier

According to records this spring has been the warmest and driest on record. We took a detour last week on our way back from friends to Portomarin, a very pretty village on the Pilgrim route. This is a village that had been moved when 'they' dammed the Mino river for a hydro electric scheme, flooding the old village. The water level is now so low that the old buildings are clearly visible and the track through the old village is now back in use, and what should be mud banks is now green grass. After over four years here we have come to the conclusion that all this rain that Galicia is supposed to get is mainly on the coast or very high up in the mountains.
All the fields are tinder dry and gardens need constant watering if they are to stand a chance of producing anything. maybe the rains will come, we will wait and see.

Poppies

The rain over the weekend has cooled things down and it is now a nice comfortable temperature about 18c, if however we believe the forecast it is going to get hot again. Anyway, I'm sure that the rain and a couple of days cooler temperatures will have done the gardens a lot of good, weeds as well, still you can't have everything.It is very hard not having a garden here to work in, knowing what needs to be done, and wondering how our newly started garden in Ireland is faring, at least it shouldn't curl up and die due to no rain and hot sun. We sit here planing all the things that need to be done when we get back, or should that be 'what' we want to get done? It's now only six weeks until we go but six weeks seems a very long time when you are waiting.

Rain and roses

Since March there has been very little rain so the rain that arrived on yesterday was most welcome, for once the forecasters had got it right. Heavy thunders storms in the morning with about an inch of rain in a very short time, now everything smells and looks fresh and washed.
Galicia is supposed to be a very wet province but we really have not found it so, it can rain and when it does it is normally very heavy but does not go on for weeks as it can in the UK and Ireland.
The roses in Galicia are something to behold, just about every house and garden have roses, mostly highly scented ones, we have found that they are very easy to take cutting of and all of the climbers here have been grown from cuttings given to us by an elderly gentleman in the next aldea. We shall try to take cuttings with us when we make the final move.