Back in time

We asked our mechanic, Dennis at Advantage Automotive, to give our car a once-over for old time's sake. Dennis and his wife, Judy, to whom we've been taking our cars for 20 years, are retiring. 

Their lease runs out at the end of April. Then at some point soon after, they're pulling up stakes and moving to the west coast to be near one of their kids. They bought an RV. They'll drive it out there, park on the daughter's property and live in it until they figure out where they're going to buy or build a house.

"It's exciting but it's scary too," Judy told me today. I'll bet.

In any case, this was our last chance to get Dennis to work on the Toyota. I'm guessing if we brought it to him for a spring tune-up, he wouldn't have found so much work to do on it, but he says it needs new filters and brake work: $560 in total. Given how little we've spent on this car over the ten years we've had it, that's nothing. And we trust Dennis implicitly. If he says the work is needed, it's needed.

He did the diagnosis today. The work he'll do tomorrow.

*

I did go for a walk this afternoon, I did take my camera, and I did take a few photos, but I didn't even bother to look at them when I got home. They weren't very inspired or inspiring. 

Instead, I started scrolling through the raw files of my pictures from our 2018 winter trip to Gran Canaria, Madrid, Naples and the Amalfi Coast. Could I find some hidden gems I'd overlooked or dismissed the first time through? Well, maybe not real gems, but some shiny pebbles anyway. Here's a sampling.

Gran Canaria, Las Palmas: near the cathedral

Gran Canaria was not our favourite place. We happened to be there for a run of lousy weather not seen in decades (or so they told us): torrential rain at times, and cooler than normal temperatures. The villa we'd rented was in a little place in the hills called Las Vegas. It's some way from  major attractions, and about a 30-minute drive to Las Palmas, the main city.

Valsequillo, the small town across the ravine from Las Vegas

So we drove a lot. The driving was trying, especially in the mountains where the roads are none too wide and quite twisty. Tejeda was one place we drove to in the mountains. A cute little town in a valley in the middle of the island with great mountain views and lots of shops and restaurants catering to tourists.

Tejeda

We liked Tejeda well enough that we went back later when Caitlin, pregnant then with Louis, and Bob came to visit. 

We also took them to Maspalomas, an interesting place on the tourist strip, the site of impressive sand dunes built up from sand blown across from Africa. It looks like a mini-Sahara. I found it picturesque, but was also intrigued by the way tourists just meandered aimlessly around in the dunes. We saw one group of kids, part of a family group, having a sand fight. Delightful!

I personally dislike being in sand, so tramping in the dunes held little appeal. But I was happy to take pictures from the promenade.