At last time to sit and blog... though really I should be working as I have gallons of work to get through.
October/November were busy with visitors and how fabulous that was. I had lots of lovely days doing touristy things, eating out and talking, talking talking to people who could actually understand what I was talking about.
The weather is getting cooler though still hot during the day - hotter than normal for this time of the year I think.
The house is just about ready for us to move in though we are going to paint the walls before we do that. The electricity is connected and Mohamed has been levelling the ground at the back of the house so we are starting to have the appearance of a garden. I think we might move before next weekend - which is the weekend of Eid el Kbir. This is when everyone eats a sheep in commemoration of Abraham and Ismael (a particularly happy day for Ismael). We will probably go over to Ait Iazza (with sheep or goat in the back of the car) for the day of the Eid but come back home in the evening. I must remember to get Mohamed to buy some charcoal before then.
We almost had an addition to the family as there was a tiny little puppy wandering round the village and I finally managed to break down Mohamed's resistance to any dog that was not a police trained attack dog (he has totally irrational fears about my safety - well I think they are irrational anyway). Unluckily for the little dog we could not find it once we had decided to give it a home. We later found out that it was from a litter of 6 (so it might not have been the same puppy that we kept seeing) and they were all either back with the mother or had found homes elsewhere in the village. Although I had convinced Mohamed that any dog would do for barking, general security etc he is determined to have boy and there were only girls left at home. It is probably better for the cats if we wait till they are settled in the new home before we introduce a puppy to the mix so we will just wait. I don't suppose it will be long before we find another little pup looking for a home.
Mohamed has been applying for jobs - SwissAir were looking for Moroccan cabin crew so we have sent off his CV and he is now thinking of applying to other airlines. I don't know if anything will come of it as competition is very fierce but it would be good for him to have the opportunity to get out and see the world a bit and use all his language skills.
Gosh I almost forgot... wildlife highlights ... when my sister was here we were heading off to get some drinking water and met one of the wild pigs on the road! Everyone (including the pig) was so surprised that none of us got a picture.... but it was great to see it close up. I know we will probably see a lot of them at a distance from the house but it will probably be a while before we get so close to one again. I wonder if we will ever see the wolves that everyone talks about. I am a bit sceptical - probably just feral dogs... but then again at the tannery in Taroudant they have wolfskins - so maybe? I have heard some yipping up on the mountain in the evening.
The picture is up in the mountains on the way to Immouzer looking back towards Paradise Valley (and yes there was water in the river!). Ian took the picture.
