2 Engineers Retired

Here at the lake we use solar energy.  It was not really an environmental decision, had Ontario Hydro been running a line at the edge of the property we likely would have signed up and gotten our power that way.  But, in fact, Ontario Hydro is about 4 km away from us, and the logistics and expense of hooking up to the grid was easily decided against. Panels near the lake So – we have a ground mounted solar array feeding a (very large) battery, which in turn supplies an inverter that powers our home.  Currently the panels and their mounting frame are located next to the lake (luckily, we face south).  When we originally placed the panels we also considered the option of roof mounting, but ultimately the decision between using some of our land space vs putting huge number of mounting holes in our roof….. we decided on the ground mount option.  Most ground mounts include a rack of some sort to hold the panels and a concrete base big enough to avoid the pan...

Hi folks – yes we are back from Spain and have finally downloaded the last of our photos Nerja Balcon de Europa We had a relaxed end to our stay and spent a bit of time doing the things we should have done earlier (like hiking locally) and getting a few photos of Nerja itself.  For anyone who does not know, Nerja is the town that we stayed in for Jan, Feb & March in a rental furnished apartment.  This turned out very well, with the exception that by the time we left (after 3 months) we realized that we should have made an effort to find some English-speaking friends.  There are a lot of British pubs in Nerja but we had decided that we were not after a British experience, so we avoided them.  Ultimately though, our Spanish was not up to real conversation so we realized a bit late that British or not we should have sought out places that English speakers went to.  Good learning for the next time I suppose. So – the town of Nerja is very cute a...

Cordoba Mezquita During our trip we also made a quick visit to the city of Cordoba.  When I say a quick visit I mostly mean that we pick one thing to see, and then have a meal or a coffee or an ice cream.  So – not a major assault on the tourist sites.  In Cordoba, the chosen thing to see was the Mezquita also known as the Mosque-Cathedral of Cordoba.  And what a place it was!  First it is enormous, estimated at about 400 x 600 feet.  There are large buildings everywhere in the world – but this was essentially one large room, supported by many, many arches, most of them double arches.  It dates back 12 centuries, was a mosque and now has a cathedral right in the middle.  It has had Holy Mass said daily since 1236.  Astounding. Naturally a building of this size was one that had additions done over the years but luckily there was a wonderful consistency of the architecture so the building flows as it should.  It is a UNESC...

One of the things we did in our last week in Spain was a day hike on a route called Caminito del Rey.  entrance tunnel This is a wonderful walk of about 6 or 7 kilometers depending on which starting point you use.  The section at the beginning goes through a gently forested area, and from our starting spot it also went through a (to me) long tunnel without illumination.   All you really see is the opening at the far end and not where your feet go, nor where the side walls are.  I was in the front and apparently kept going slower and slower till I was more or less just shuffling along.  Pretty freaky I tell you. The mid section of the hike is the most spectacular.  This middle 2.7 km is on a walkway attached to the side of a cliff along a gorge.  The views are truly wonderful and even though the distance is not extensive, the walk takes a fair bit of time because you are spending most of it looking around (and up a...

City view Barcelona Of course everyone has heard of Barcelona, and most people have either been or want to go.  We had a wonderful week there with a friend of ours from Canada.  Now, Barcelona is a big cosmopolitan city, very different from sleepy Nerja.  There are many museums both in the city and nearby that one does need to pick and choose – and like all picking and choosing we did some better than others.  In any case, we stayed right in the city center (Plaza Catalunya) and most of what we wanted to see was nearby which worked out very well.  Probably the most amazing part for us, was the architecture.   Spain has a wonderful history, and tradition of architecture and art – with well known figures like Picasso, Gaudi, Miro and Dali as part of the mix.  Art also seems to be celebrated in the fashion which can be colourful and fun.  There is a store all over Spain called Desigual that we went back to several times – though it...

The city of Ronda – as described by our guidebook is one of the most spectacularly located cities in Spain.  And, boy it is! Somewhat surprisingly to me it is anot a location that I had heard about prior to leaving North America. Looking out over the countryside The views in all directions are wonderful.  It is high on a rocky outcrop and this position allowed it to be one of the last Moorish bastions to fall to the Christians. The town (for tourists) is basically in two sections – and older section with various museums and historic buildings, and then the newer section which also houses one of the oldest and most important bullrings in Spain.   The older section and the newer section are joined by the “new bridge” which is from the 18 th  century.  The place was quite full of people as we were there on a weekend, and as far as we could tell there were a lot of Spanish families there for a day out.  The "New" Bridge This ...

Well, here we are, in Spain for three winter months.  Quite a change from our normal Ontario winter – and so far, so good.  Our rented accommodation is quite fine.  Two bed, two bath, not too big, full kitchen, and walking distance to pretty much all we need (groceries, restaurants, beach (though it is a bit too cold for that).  Our plan is to rent a car from time to time and see what we can in the general area of southern Spain. One recent adventure was a driving day trip to the Sierra Nevada mountains.  The driving route we chose was twisty and beautiful.  We set up the GPS to take a secondary type of route so that we would get away from highways, and that seemed to work out pretty well.  Our ultimate destination was lunch in a town called Trevelez which is known, apparently, for its air cured ham so - of course - we went to a restaurant called:  “House of Ham” (in Spanish of course)  and had a plate of ham, and one of green ...