Thanks everyone for the nice commments. Lol Beverly.....actually those are locusts, not grasshoppers! We do get them here sometimes but lately not in biblical proportions although there have been some bad swarms on the islands at times. They come over from Africa. This series of 8 documentaries will be about about the diverse flora a fauna of these islands so they will certainly have many more species of local wildlife, including those that creep, crawl and slither. This was just the little trailer film clip to show what is in the works. SharonCb

Thank you for your kind comments. Yes this time of the year here is full of colour rather than being drab. And another beautiful plant that grows everywhere, covering fences and carport roofs is the pyrostegia or flame vine, with orange flowers that bloom brightly all winter. Here's one covering a neighbour's garage roof. Gina you should be able to grow poinsettias in your climate. I'm not sure of the temperature range they need but they grow like weeds here. I once used some tall poinsettia stalks that we had pruned down in February one year as support stakes for tomatoes I was growing. Darned if the stakes didn't take root themselves and created a little grove of poinsettias growing in our back yard. And they're still there, now about 10 feet tall. Beachlily I will take some new photos of Bibi, who is truly beautiful now that she had put on weight. I think she is allergic to beef, or at least cat food containing beef as she was unable to keep it down. Now I give her only fish and chicken and she's not been sick since, so she's rounding out. SharonCb

Lars it seems there is no one chart which describes the temperatures accurately here as there is such a difference from one end of the island to another. The south is much warmer and Santa Cruz - the capital city about a half hour drive from here on the east coast - has another temperature range again. Here's the official temps for Santa Cruz from the Spanish Office of the Environment: Coldest month Dec....mean temperature is 66.2 F. (19C) Warmest month Aug.....mean temp is 77F. (25C) Yearly mean temp is 70.16 F. (21.2C) That's taken from a study 1971 to 2000. Another range of temperatures comes from the north airport - Los Rodeos, and still another from the top of the volcano area. Sufficient to say that it's shirtsleeve weather during the day most of the year - except when it rains, or if you're hiking up on top of the mountain when there's snow LOL. One of my ex-work colleagues in Ibiza lived for years in Costa Rica and her sons now live permanently in San Jose. She told many stories of her interesting life there. One of my cousin's sons has also settled somewhere in Costa Rica. I hear many Canadians have retired there because of the beautiful climate and peaceful life. Lars if you like hiking then this is hikers' paradise. Our German friends love coming here and spending many days climbing all around the ravines and the volcanic area. There are many hiking groups here which organize and transport folks with buses to the main starting points for hikes from the easiest to those reserved for experienced alpine climbers. It is a common daily sight to see people walking around wearing German hiking shoes, shorts, walking poles and knapsacks. They will have just come off a bus after having been somewhere up in the mountains. The large older crater area at the base of the volcano is called "Las Cañadas" and it has an amazing lunar-like landscape, part of which was used in filming the original Planet of the Apes. You can see plenty of images of that on this Google image link. Teide is the name of the volcano. There was a cable car which ran nearly to the top which may still be in operation. My brother once took it and walked right up to the existing crater where it was hot, and the air was thin. Another beautiful hike is to the mountain hamlet of Masca. (Click to enlarge the photo at top left corner.) There the roads are so steep that I am nervous even driving in a car. There's a very steep hike from there down to the sea, where a small boat will pick up the hikers, but it's really for only the most experienced mountain climbers. Needless to say I haven't done that myself but I love to see the photos LOL. Ilisa I think everyone is feeling the cold right now even in Europe. A friend just e-mailed me that it's -0.4F in Munich, Germany right now ! Guess I shouldn't complain when I have to wear an extra sweater at night ! SharonCb

Yes Shaun....that's a real girl....all covered in gold including her face (I should have taken a frontal pic) standing so still that she looks like a statue. I think it's quite often seen in many places nowadays. It's not the first time we've seen people do that, painting their faces the same colour as their clothing, eg grey....to look like a statue. People dress up and stand dead still and only move or smile usually in a mechanical way, as though not really human, when money is dropped into their bowl. One way to earn a bit of money, if you can do it LOL! SharonCb