HFF

Valderrey, Algete, Madrid Province. View through dining room window.

A future HFF shot, perhaps.

Algete Church on yet another very dull day. Iglesia Nuestra Senora de la Asuncion. One day I might even go in and have a look round.

I DO WISH THE DELETE BUTTON WAS FAR AWAY FORM THE EDIT BUTTON. APOLOGIES TO ALL THOSE WHO ADDED VERY INTERESTING COMMENTS. :o(( OK; again ... I passed this way half an hour later and the whole lot had been strimmed. The council do this every year, apparently as it is a 'fire risk'. Why they can't wait until after the colourful spring wildflower display completely beats me! TONIGHT I WILL SHOW THE AFTER EFFECT. THOSE OF A SENSITIVE DISPOSITION SHOULD WAIT UNTIL TOMORROW BY WHICH TIME I WILL HAVE DELETED IT (deliberately this time!).

A tree that appealed to me but my phone couldn't identify it. Any ideas? ANSWER: IT'S THE FRENCH TAMARYSK. es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamarix_gallica Sorry, I can't translate it into English. Hope you can translate it into your own language. Parque de Eva Blanco, Algete. The colourful fence is standard for children's play areas everywhere in Spain.

HFF everyone (the fence is there in the background ... just visible!) Cardoons are edible but I don't recall ever eating them in England (I do know they were popular in the middle ages and later). I guess they must have some similarity to their cousin the artichoke. They are eaten here these days in Spain; but I'm not sure what part of the plant is eaten nor how it's cooked. I suppose I should Google it. I'll report back later! Got it! It's the stems of the leaves that are blanched and the end result is a little bit like braised celery (apparantly) www.youtube.com/watch?v=twVdHnc_IM8 Another roadside find. Latest info Actually more likely to be MILK THISTLE, but very closely related to Cardoon and the French even call it Chardon Marie.

HFF, Everyone! Madrid. Parque de El Capricho. Palacio de Los Duques de Osuna.

Mainline train above and metro train below.

A local park, filled with ornamental (ie old and gnarled) olive trees.

HFF, Everyone! The next day the snow had all gone. The view from my sister's home (now mine too for the time being!), looking over the hen coop and the roofs of Valderrey, our community. Early evening shot. Best on Z.

Welcome back! Principe Pio mainline and metro station - formerly Estacción del Norte, one of the main Madrid termini.

Madrid in the far distance. (35 km away) Best on large / full screen.

The parish church (Iglesia Nuestra Señora del Carmen), Valdemanco, Madrid Province. The brooding hulk of Mondalindo lies behind. Better on full screen.

Parque de Santander, Madrid. My local park until recently.

A street in Algete just before the big freeze this winter.

Taken just before the big freeze. Ronald, sorry - I saw you gave a yellow star just before I deleted another upload which was the wrong one! Frustratingly, the HFF group is again closed to me. I read the reasons a while ago but I don't abuse the system. Just sometimes I need to go to bed early and I don't know what tomorrow will bring so I would have liked to add it to the group at 22.07 on Thursday evening. And I don't think that's so unreasonable.

Somosaguas Centro, Metro Ligero (Metro light) station, by La Finca Business Park, where I taught many hours a week at one time.

An oldie, from 2012, first shown on ipernity in 2016. I didn't see it as HFF potential then but do now, seeing as I didn't have many fence shots early on!