A week with work, cycling, a wine tasting, and a mini photo session with a very pregnant colleague.
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A dog walk picture. Flowers breaking through a chain link fence. Maybe there is some symbolism here, or maybe it is just a happy snap:
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We had some really bad weather during the week. Not the whole week, that never happens in Alicante, but in the early part of the week there was serious wind and rain. But such weather provides nice photo opportunities, like this couple looking at the waves:
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While out cycling south of Alicante, I had the opportunity to see the impact of the bad weather on the vegetable growers. This is what a healthy field looks like:
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And this one has been damaged by wind and rain. The repercussions of the bad weather in southern Spain this winter have been felt all over Europe in the form of higher prices of lettuce, tomatoes, peppers etc.:
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One morning the sky over the sea as seen from the office was truly amazing:
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I have not manipulated much; this is really what it looked like:
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My lovely colleague Beatrice is pregnant with her second child. Just as we did 5 years ago, I photographed her during the last week before she starts her maternity leave. We used the photo/video studio at the office for the shoot:
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On Thursday we had our monthly wine tasting at the office. This time the bodega was Salvador Poveda, maker of some excellent wines both in the province of Alicante and in northern Spain:
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The presenter was Rafael Poveda, the current boss of the bodega. He is extremely knowledgeable and entertaining at the same time. A real treat to listen to him (and to taste his wines):
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Francisco contemplates the bottle:
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Another of my tablemates studies the wine carefully. The tastings are not just about drinking:
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But after all the studying the colour and sniffing the glass it is the taste that counts:
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Rafael Poveda has been a friend of the wine club for many years:
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A bottle of Fondillón, probably the most emblematic wine of this region. It is Alicante’s answer to Porto or Sherry:
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On Saturday I was out cycling in the mountains again. During the ride to Jijona, I stopped to “smell the flowers”, in particular the almond trees that make my rides so much more pleasant at this time of year:
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A closer view:
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An even closer view:
