RAIN in the mountains of Andalucia while it was glorious weather in Ireland.

THE DARK figure trudging along the river bed straight into the dust storm turned out to be a woman, bent almost double against the wind, barely staying on her feet.

IT seems to be the search for communion with nature that brings foreigners to remote Ireland, similarly to remote areas of Spain.

TODAY, the hills and mountains are white and the tall, leafless poplar trees are beautiful, all dressed in snow.

IN THE MORNING sunshine, carpenter bees buzz around the facade of our rented house in the Sierra Nevada and find their way into niches between stones.

WHEN the first flakes scudded past the window at lunch time, I thought they were almond blossom petals drifting on the wind.

WHILE waiting to move into our long-term rented house in the Alpujarras mountains, south of Granada, we left Spain and went to Africa, arriving at midnight in Tangiers with no arrangements made.