The hills are alive with the.....sighting of dolls!!!

This morning we got back into our 'routine' of going out for a nice drive in the sunshine and as usual I took along a couple of dolls so that I could photograph them.  Today I took two of my Little Darlings, Ellie, a number 1 sculpt and Gem, a number 2 sculpt, both hand painted by Dianna Effner.

We drove up into the hills behind Torre del Mar, into the area of Lake Viñuela and beyond to the edge of the town called Rio Gordo.  The roads were very quiet except for the usual groups of cyclists....I really admire how they cycle up those mountain roads, it wears me out just thinking about it!

The clouds love to hover over the mountains like a protective wrapping of fluffy white cotton wool!
 

As in most parts of Andalucia, there are olive groves everywhere.  Always planted in straight neat lines!   

We stopped at a point in the mountains where the girls could get out and stretch their legs and of course have a few photos taken.  The lake can be seen in the distance.

Ellie was glad she wore her hat because the breeze picked up a bit as we got higher up.....Gem wasn't so fortunate ;)

The girls spotted their first ant of the year, quite a biggy too.  He seemed to be on a mission and was completely oblivious to us pointing the camera at him!

We drove a little higher....

Gem's hair really got windswept!  

Before turning around and heading back down to the lake.....

We've not seen the level of the lake this low before....it is incredible.  There has been so little rainfall that it's beginning to look more like a large 'puddle'!!!

Even Ellie is looking a little concerned about the level of the water ;) 

Whilst Gem just wonders how I can dare to show her on my blog with such messy windswept hair!

Olives, olives, everywhere!  As far as the eye can see...

After we left the lake area, we drove to a local bar where we sat outside and had a welcome cup of coffee ...

And you really can't have coffee in a bar without sampling the tapas, can you? ;) 

We chose a half portion each of......

Pork meatballs in almond sauce......

Ensaladilla.....which is tuna, hard boiled egg, olives, boiled potato, raw tomatoes, onions, orange and peppers all mixed together in a light mayonnaise.....

And another ensaladilla, this time chopped up peppers, tomatoes, onions, cucumbers, chopped up prawns, seafood sticks and pulpo (octopus) all mixed in olive oil and vinegar....delicious!!!

Thank you for stopping by, I hope you have had a great weekend and that the week ahead is a good one for you :)