Milks the goat

While most of Europe is covered with volcano dust and many airports are closed, we are in the midst of peak tourist season.

Many tourists were not able to fly home, while others were not able to leave home. Fortunately, the situation is changing for the better.

It has been quite cold last week. Cold wind and rain made it very uncomfortable. It was colder than for the most part of the mild winter we had. That is also changing rapidly. Yesterday, we had 37°C during the day. Today, the heat is more bearable, as a haze is tempering some of the sunbeams.

2 of our turtles have built a kind of nest with dried weeds they found laying around. Does this mean they are females??? Time will tell.

The lizards have come out. Actually, I told Mohamed that I saw a big lizard already a few weeks ago (before the cold, it was also quite hot). He asked me to describe it an said : this is not a lizard, it is “milks the goat” (= translation from Arabic name which I am sorry to say I forgot in the meantime).

And when describing it, I realized it was not a lizard, because it is built differently, has another colour and balances on its tail while standing still.

I see it every year. It is living in the garden and likes to come out of its hiding place during the hottest time of the day to run towards the wall, to climb on it and sit on top of it.

The campers are marvelled at our rosebushes. They both are strong, huge and full of roses, free from diseases.

It is still busy camping wise. Zakaria likes to play hide-and-seek with the ladies and is handing out my husband’s business cards telling everybody that his Papa is on it, as is his Papa’s car.

He speaks a mixture of Arabic and Dutch these days, not yet making a distinction between both languages. He often talks Arabic to me and Dutch to Mohamed. Since a week or so, he started saying French words as well. He frequently says : ma tête, beaucoup, fini. It seems that at the age of 2, children start to separate the languages. That will not be long.

He is picking up a lot of words and starts being constructive, as well as tidying up. The only things he cannot stay away from are water taps… Nothing is more interesting and attractive than running water.