Marmalade skies

I got up to let Mystère out at 7:30 this morning and just had to grab the camera and pop out into the garden to capture the sunrise. Benefits of a south-facing terrace: sunsets and sunrises! Extra: yesterday evening's sunset and moonrise.

Spanish lesson this morning with Mar, as Fifi is still off sick (yes, she tested positive). It was a good lesson; Mar is very imaginative in her methods of teaching grammar. We are still doing conditionals, and she played us a bolero, Si tu me dices ven and got us to fill in the appropriate verbs. Do listen to it, it's muy bonita! And we also talked about immigration and asylum seekers, finding ourselves very much in agreement.

Back home,  the next task was street marmalade. Find a cul-de-sac with no traffic (in this case the entrance to a closed hotel) and snaffle a few oranges from the roadside trees. They are always bitter oranges and will just be swept up and binned otherwise. I did this yesterday. A good scrub and into a pan to boil and then soak overnight. It certainly is a faff making marmalade, but at least you can spread it over hours or days. I now have four jars, and Fiona's excellent recipe is here.

In the afternoon, French friend J Whatsapped to see if we wanted to meet for a drink this evening, to which we happily agreed. Her son, who lives in Québec, is currently visiting -- reluctant to go home because of the snow -- and we had a very convivial evening, maybe a little longer than intended, before nobly hiking up the hill homewards. No streetlights on our road, and a sliver of moon -- the stars were lovely.