If you haven't been able to figure it out until now, I love the outdoors. Funny thing is, I didn't figure it out myself until a few years ago. When I first came to Spain, I was attracted to city-living in Madrid, which has a lot to offer for students: great public transportation, even better night life and lots of window-shopping. Funny thing is, why was I always trying to grow a garden on my teeny balcony?
Then came marriage, suburbia, children and yet another balcony, which actually did start to flourish, but there was always this "gotta get outta the city" feeling on the weekend. We started to spend our free time driving around the countyside looking for the place where we would live, first in Segovia, later in Toledo.
The place turned out to be a little village in La Mancha, with wide open spaces and room for boys to run and bike, and land... lots of land.
At about the same time, internet came into all of our lives, mine probably later than most. I discovered websites that sold English roses, then ordered a catalogue from Peter Beales (http://www.classicroses.co.uk/), and I was done for.
So, now I am in the midst of starting a drought-resistant cottage garden with antique and English roses in the middle of sunblazed Spain. Crazier things have happened...
