  This Is my day in between. It should be a day for lazy luxuriating. I should be sitting serenely, feet up, perhaps lost in the vivid fantasy of a book, languishing in its words. Perhaps I should be surveying our beautiful garden, with a nice crisp chianti at my side. A snap shower a few weeks ago, akin to an ice bucket challenge, drenched our usually arid Verdi, so today, the beautifully mature trees look replenished with new pert green growth. I should be smiling up to the powder blue sky, admiring the few wisps of hazy cloud. Soft yet billowing cotton wool is building on the horizon, bathed by an array of pink yellow and orange as the sun majestically rises. These things should be making me smile. but alas not. Why? You say. Well, My home is in Spain. I moved here 8-months ago, retiring early to enjoy a more relaxing and serene life. My first 5-months were spent adapting to what is a glorious culture, creating a beautiful home and orientating to a more blissful relaxing way of life. However, all is not so serene! As my house has become a non profit making entity. A Hotel it seems! During the hot arid summer, our home is descended upon by family and friends, seeking relaxing sunshine filled full days and nights! In fact, in the last 60 days odd days, less than 3 weeks have been devoid of visitors; but this was high season. It’s a time where our sleepy hometown of La Marina is descended upon by the flip flop wearing, loud alcohol bathed fraternity whooping in glorious delight, day and night, it’s when our usually sleepy town echos the splashing and screaming of children and their families in their pools, when the bars and restaurants are full. There was many a stunning fiesta during this time, with spectacular parades celebrating the virgin that is Mary, toe tapping music events and so many late, merry, nights that we (my lovely hubby, and I) are just not used to! On the mornings that followed, I awoke with a delicate head, feeling like I’d slept adorned by a thorny crown. Thank Mary the fiestas have now abated! Reflecting on our first summer here . I liken my home to a birds nest. It sits on top of a mature oak, surrounded by a swath of leaves that are tussled by soft kisses from the gentle breeze. We worked hard to build it sturdily, like parent sparrows creating a solid, comfortable foundation in which to live, with only the best soft downy feather lining to ensure that we are comfortable and able to ‘nest and rest’ together; but then come our feathered friends. It’s delightful when the Beautiful blackbirds, with their established wings drop in to Pearce on the edge of our nest, bringing their joyful songs, and fun antics, sharing in the delights of an odd insect or two. We often flit back and forth between our and their nests, which is fun. There are of course the magpies! Loud, crawling and demanding, looking for free shiny opportunities to sit in our beautiful nest, fortunately, they are unable to land. The branches are too entwined, and they soon loose interest, having bought no bugs with them. Then there are our young, beautiful chicks. Delightfully loud, taking over the nest and flapping about on their immature wings, opening their vivid yellow mouths to demand our attention, bugs and entertainment. Like good birds, we fly back and forth, sometimes aimlessly, providing whatever their most recent demand is. Don’t get me wrong most of the time it is a pleasure! For short periods and definitely not concurrently! Our two chicks are so needy of love and life in different ways. One, squawks loudly. Not wanting just a simple grub, but having a preference for the more piquant caterpillars and dragonflies. She sits snugly and happily in the nest, but it’s not long before she flutters her humming bird wings, sings loudly to her adoring audience, and returns to her own nest. The other, likes to snuggle and stay in comfort, as with all chicks, however, he has to fly, with some resistance back to his own nest. Recently, he jumped out. And sits on the soft leaf covered forest floor, crouched down in the undergrowth, back turned, casting only a brief glimpse back at us with his deep black shiny eye. He’s not squawking, tweeting or singing right now, feeling somewhat abandoned. But I’m sure this will improve when he builds his own feather lined nest. I do also know a few lovely fluffy emu and even a beautiful pink flamingo or two, but sadly they often can’t reach our nest. Which is a shame. I wonder, what type of bird you are? So back to my day in between. It’s the afternoon already; my doggies have had a lovely walk on the sunshiny beach. A mammoth pile of washing dominates, which I am giving attention to and I’ve fetched some tempting bugs to fill the forever emptying fridge. I haven’t yet finished my nest hotel chores! There is still further foraging to do, feathers to put away, dinners to cook and even more washing in the pile, so my aspirations for my ‘day in-between!’ 
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  Hi, I’m Julie Rawlinson, aka Jules to my family and friends; happily married in 2018 to Shaun, and we have two adult children between us. As trained nurse and midwife with a Masters Degree, I have had a lifetime career in the NHS, both in clinical practice and in the last 10yrs, corporate healthcare leadership and management. I have gained a plethora of experience in my career including caring for people, as the most rewarding part, to leading change in failing services, chairing national forums and undertaking high profile expert investigations. I have also experienced the emotional impact and traumas of coercive and hectoring behaviors by supposed leaders, both to others, and personally. In 2019, disillusioned by my high flying career, I took the decision to retire early and enjoy life , so we moved lock, stock and barrel to the beautiful province of Valencia in Spain. A move we haven’t regretted for one minute! I now spend my delightfully relaxed life looking after my husband and my house, walking my two Westie doggies, and of course learning Spanish. Bliss! I also love to write, so I spend plenty of time enjoying the culture and beautiful outdoors in Spain; writing inspirational blogs on social media, with the perfect aim being to make people smile and help them reconnect with, and appreciate the good things in life. My life ambition, now I’ve retired, is to travel more, enjoy life and to write a book. 
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