Is is spring anywhere?

Hmm, I haven't put any pictures up from Budapest, or from Paris for that matter, which was after Budapest. I've just updated Facebook with Tenerife pics, so I'll put some of those on here this week for those of you who avoid Facebook like the plague ;-)

Tenerife: We absolutely loved it. We had brilliant weather for the most part, in the 70s the whole time, which in the direct sun was actually quite hot so it was nice when the clouds rolled over to cool down a bit. There were some threatening-looking clouds that hung over the interior of the island the whole time and the Teide volcano, but it stayed dry and sunny along the beaches. The only time we didn't have sun was when we drove up to the tiny village of Masca, nestled on top of Los Gigantes cliffs. Talk about your terrifying drive! This road was only big enough for one car, but was meant for traffic in both directions, and it was built with the tightest hairpin turns humanly possible, one after another after another after another...for approximately half an hour. W and I both agreed it was the most dangerous drive either of us had ever been on, and would have been even if the road wasn't wet. Thank goodness I didn't run into any of the big tour buses while I was driving! Unfortunately, Masca, which has only been open to tourists for a few years now, did not have any shops selling t-shirts with the slogan, "I survived the drive to Masca." Anywho, everyone was so friendly and bent over backwards for us the whole time...we had a lovely waitress at a tapas restaurant tell us where the Canarian "rave" was going to be, a big party essentially that pops up several times a year on different parts of the island for lots of dancing and good music. With every meal when you paid the bill, you got a free shot. We really liked one restaurant in particular and when we came back a second night they welcomed us like family. And the biggest one of all: we booked a catamaran cruise to see whales and dolphins on our last day, but got ridiculously lost on our way to the port and arrived in time to see our catamaran sailing away. Our faces just dropped, so the guy took pity on us and offered to take us in the Zodiac to catch up with the catamaran. What a ride!!! Wickus had no idea what a Zodiac was, and was a little anxious about equipment getting wet (such as the video camera), but ended up loving the brief, extremely bumpy high speed trip to catch up. As we climbed on board, everyone had turned to watch and wanted to know how much extra it had cost us to have the Zodiac included. W announced in a rather loud voice much to my chagrin, "Nothing, you just have to be late!" We had a brilliant hotel at Playa la Arena, a black volcanic beach, which I loved but W thought looked dirty. It's funny the sand there was softer, so to speak, than the sand on the black volcanic beaches in Hawaii. I don't know if Teide is older and so the sand has been ground down more or what, but there was a definite difference. Incidentally, my souvenir from Tenerife is a classy pair of round volcanic stone earrings, outlined in silver (on sale for half price, Mom). Neither one of us wanted to leave, it truly was a little 5-day slice of heaven, and a break I desperately needed from the UK weather.

But I'm back now...and counting down the days (30) to Cape Town. I am gaining confidence as a hand therapist, and am seeing all my clients now on my own, although I have yet to find a cure for my sister.