This lovely picture is of the Morning Glory that grew in a great mass all over the bottom
of our garden when we went to live in Spain: I loved it and stared at it through the kitchen window and through the bedroom window every day and took numerous photographs.
We, that is all the people who lived on our hillside payed a small sum each which allowed us a few hours work weekly from the man, Juan who looked after the whole hillside
I was horrified one day to find him hacking all the beautiful Morning Glory down to ground level. I ran down the garden to ask him to leave it but he told me 'pero son las
malas hierbas senora' 'but it is a weed senora' so I tried to explain that I loved it anyway
so could he leave it but he was having none of this nonsense from a newly arrived
foreigner - 'no van a crecer mas de la casa' No, he couldn't leave it or it would grow all over the house! He knew native plants and I didn't so when he said it would be just as big next year I had to believe him and of course it was true - I had to struggle with his knowledge at Christmas though when I came back from the shops to find he had cut back
a 6 ft hedge of glorious Poinsettias - I cried.
When you live in another country you have to deal with many different and to you strange
customs. I never got used to the great love the Spanish have for Nispero fruits or Loquat as they are called in some countries. They were brought to Spain more than 2000 years ago by sailors arriving in ports in the Valencian region and they do actually grow well wherever citrus grows. I hated them as they tasted sour to me and I could only think they could be used to make a pickle but the Spanish adore them and the aforementioned
Juan would be my very best friend each year when I invited him to strip the tree and take
them away. It all adds to the spice of life as they say.
