"Life enjoyers"

Clas surprised me with a nice fish meal tonight.

Not much is happening right now.
We are only eating and I have been on the internet almost the whole afternoon.
I have become terrifying lazy at the moment! I mean in some peoples eyes...

First when I woke up today I decided to sunbath on the balcony, but after a while I changed my mind when I saw all the clouds.
Not fun at all! Who like to look like a pale ghost on Tenerife?

If you live up north it's okay to be pale. Then you have to explain if you suddenly show up with a tan on your face in the middle of the winter.
Here on Tenerife it's a shame to be pale when that means you spend a lot of time inside your home in the daytime.

To be normal here you have to be out in the sun, spending time with the tourists and the "winter-birds". That's what the most of the people do.
Clas full-filled his duties today and made a rapid trip to the Scandishop.
I haven't showed up for many days now!

Like always we run our own rules.
The life for us is to be able to do exactly what we like to do at the moment, and so far it has worked out well. Maybe you can call us "life enjoyers"?
We do what we do, we eat what we eat, we buy what we buy, we sleep when we sleep...etc.
The only must do for us is that we must play the nights we play, and that's just fun. We both like to sing and play and it feels more like a hobby than a work.

To live like this works well, because you don't only like to do fun things. You don't like to be lazy all the time!
As an example we both like to have things in order, and when the home starts looking unclean or in disorder we get a strong desire to start doing something about it. Then it suddenly is fun to work like a horse.
Why do things in the moment when you feel it's not fun?
The life rules itself if you just leave hold of the reins. Doesn't it?

Nice dinner

Thanx to Nicke on Facebook who gave me the idea tonight to make the pork fillet steak with a taste of sweet&sour and honey.It was lovely!

Roses

I got these roses last week from two different men in the audience.
Aren't they beautiful?
They are very big and the one to the right is over one week old and still in such a good condition.
I really wonder how long they will stay fresh.
However Clas don't have to buy any roses for this weekend either.
Normally he buys a bouquet of roses every Friday.

The thing is that there is a man walking around selling roses in the area where we work now.
He walks around the tables at La Karina, every now and then, and sometimes people buy from him. Most times the men buy a rose to the wife or to the fiancee.

At Lewinski, where we worked before, a lady was walking around selling paper roses.
I got quite a lot of them and one night when we had anniversary we got many in the same night.
It's good to be an artist! Isn't it?

Our night off

We are off for three days again.
Tonight Clas made a lovely dinner on the balcony.
He was grilling curry chicken and I boiled rice to have with it + we had some vegetables + a sauce made of sour cream and sweet & sour salsa + Vina Norte with red cap, which is the best wine that is produced here on the island in our opinion.
It's a long time since we last had a barbecue and like many times before I forgot to use the camera and now there's only the dishes left in the kitchen.
Sorry! I Hope for better luck next time.

Broken heel

I will tell you a secret...or... I don't know if it's a secret... but...
Thanks to the "kitchen ladies" not many people saw what happened last night at La Karina!

We were playing "Y viva Espanja" and when I was dancing and jumping on the stage one of my heels broke off and i suddenly were standing there with one high boot and one low boot.
Oh, what a shame!

First I tried to put the heel back in place but it fell off when I moved the foot.

Then I put the tambourine down on the floor, trying to stand on it to get balance. But it didn't work when the tambourine stood straight up every time I stood down on it.
I tried to continue dancing like nothing had happened standing on the toes.

Finally Clas took a tape out from the box of the mixing console, and taped around the nail that is inside the middle of the heel and I put it back in place and stomped on it and we could continue the show like nothing had happened. The heel stayed there the whole night through!

I think only four people at the tables close to us saw it!
The ladies who work in the kitchen like the "E viva Espanja song" and last night they came out to dance again and the audience were so surprised by their presence that they didn't see what happened on the stage. Good luck for me!

I will now bring the boot to the cobbler to ask if he can fix it.
Hopefully I don't have to throw them away. I think I have used them only five or six nights so far. I bought them last winter.

It's not the first time this happens! It has happened about five times before with other boots when I have been line dancing and jumping with the weight kept onto the heels.

I don't know what you think when you read this... but maybe it's time for me to get into a diet?
Or do you think they make weak heels in Spain?

Facebook members

Clas and I have now become Facebook members.

Millions of people use Facebook everyday to keep up with friends, upload an unlimited number of photos, share links and videos, and learn more about the people they know.
It's almost like a blog when many keep on updating what they are doing at the moment.

I don't know how much time I will spend on the site, when I'm already busy with my blogging, but it's quite interesting to read about all you know and what they are up to etc.
It's a good way to stay updated and you can get new contact with people you haven't seen for many years.

If you like to become a facebook member you just surf in and sign in at
facebook.com
Then you can start building up your network by inviting all you know to be your friends.

12.000 Visitors!

My blog will hopefully reach 12000 visitors today.
Would be interesting to hear who the number 12.000 visitor is.

Natural gas to Israel

Here some news and thoughts about Israel - Hamas - Palestina:

Over 88 billion cubic meter of gas has been found in the Mediterranean sea 90 km west of the northern harbor of Haifa.
That means Israel will not have to depend so much on the gas supplies from Egypt anymore and they will earn some extra money too. A nice contribution to the state funds.
Or would you call it a nice blessing in the right time?

The elections in Israel will be the 10th of February. Benyamin Netanyahu is the most popular among the prime minister candidates and on second place is Livni.
Imagine I have met Benyamin in real! Unbelievable!

Israel is now preparing for the next fight: The one against the Media and the Court process.

Hamas has started torturing members of Fatah (The Movement for the National Liberation of Palestine). At least three members have got there eyes cut out and about 100 persons have been killed or injured. The most of the media keep silent about it.
It's probably not clever to mention it now when they have been defending Hamas during the war blaming Israel for all what have happened to the Palestinians. Where is the sympathy for the Palestinians now?

Hamas is a terrorist group that like to annihilate Israel, but they also do terror against the people in Palestine who don't agree with them.
They don't feel any guilt when they have involved the civil people of Palestine in the war.
Instead they say it was good they gave them the possibility to die like martyrs for their Gods sake.
If that really is true... Why did they then hide themselves like scared rats, down in the underground of Gasa , during the Israeli attacks? Stupid!

The Elk Party

Rigmor, Susanne, Clas, Jan-Egil, Graham, Robert and Steiner.

Oh, it was a really lovely dinner!
We were eating out on the terrace close to the pool.
The meat was very tender and nice and this couple are like specialists when it comes to elk meat.
They had first kept it in a marinade for two days and then it had been in the oven for 15 hours.
That means it took them about three days to prepare the meat and I think it was the best elk I have had in my life.
I have had elk hundreds of times before when my dad is hunting elks every autumn in Finland.

One of the guests tonight, Graham, is from England and I learned from him that you call the animal moose in Great Britain.
By the way, Graham and Robert are also country musicians here on Tenerife.
They are very good and play every night at Ancor in Las Americas.

The host and the hostess ; Tove and Jan-Egil

Elk Party

It's Monday and we have a day off again.
We are invited for "Elk meat party" to Jan-Egil and Tove tonight.
They are from Trondheim, Norway but have an apartment here on Tenerife and because of that they visit the island many times every year.
Jan-Egil has himself hunted the elk that we are going to eat and they brought the meat to Tenerife on the plane.
I will try to remember to use the camera and put up some photos here later.
Have a nice evening!

No kisses!

This is the first autumn since we moved to Tenerife, that we haven't had any soar throats, runny noses, fever or other cold symptoms.
Maybe it's because we didn't go home to Finland in December this year.
We also got to play inside at Oasis Mango during the coldest period which was very nice.

Now really many people have got the influenza and I hope we will not get it.
Please, don't kiss us if you have got the symptoms.
I don't know if it will help but think it's probably better to act in safe instead of the uncertain.

To be honest, some men even try to hit straight on the mouth, but now I have learned how to fend off and they will only end up on the cheek. *smile*
The culture here in Spain is to kiss each other on both cheeks, but some of the tourists like to take advantage of the occasion and give smoochs straight on the mouth. God bless you!

.

The Rainbow

We had a beautiful rainbow in Los Cristianos last night.
It started at the Guasa mountain and went all the way to the Chayofa willage.

Loose weight

Talking about loosing weight is a quite sensitive subject in Sweden now.
The debate waves are going high about the bad influence some of the bloggers make on the young girls when they write about sharing plates when they eat and about how they starv to loose weight.
My opinion is that it's not only the bloggers who cause this problem in the society.
The magazines are also writing about loosing weight every week. And what about the fashion industry? The whole world is filled with these bad ideals!
But of course it's not good to write about your anorexi- habits like they would be normal when there is a risk that it can be an entrance for the young girls to get into them.

He,he! It's not easy to be a blogger and to find the middle course of the blogging and the Scandinavian Jante law.
I got critics because I showed too many nice dinners on my blog which is exactly the opposite!
I think whatever you do there will be people who are unsatisfied and sometimes it's because of jealousy. You can't please everybody! Can you?

During the last autumn I lost about 6 kg weight and I felt much more satisfied with my life.
Many tourists were surprised when they came back to the island and saw it and I felt so happy about it.
In November I somehow just forgot to think about what is healthy or not healthy, and now I have gained three kg back. *sigh*

I feel very fat now and I need to start doing something about it again. If I don't I will soon end up where I started!
I have had too many heavy dinners, and too many chocolate bars, and even a few ice creams that have been absolutely unnecessary.

We also have had many days off which means I haven't been dancing much line dance lately.
I haven't been out walking either even when I have had more spare time than normal and I haven't been doing any strength trainings.

I think I get much more done when I'm in a hurry. To be off just makes you lazy and I spend many days sitting at the computer. Some days I don't get out in the town at all.
When we work much I am out hunting new outfits in the daytime, running back and forth, and even when that is a more stressful life I like it more when I get much more done.

Tonight we had the dinner at the Little Italy restaurant close to Linares here in Los Cristianos.
We had Plank steak with mashed potatoes and bearnaise sauce.
I still feel stuffed and think I could have left more of it than I did... But, it's a new day tomorrow and a good reason to start a new life. The only problem is that I need some more inspiration to really get it going. We'll see!

Volcanic Activity

The Teide Volcano with clouds. It's not smoke!

The president of the Spanish Volcanological Society has affirmed that the possible dangers from volcanic activity in the Canarian archipelago is rising.
He also criticizes the fact that, neither the State Plan nor the Special Emergency Plan regarding volcanic risk has been formed, despite the urgent need for them being cited in the 1996 directive.
(Source; Island Connections)

When we moved here 2004 Tenerife was under yellow flag. At that time they also talked about the need of making the plans but nothing has happened.
There are four different colors on the flags; green, yellow, orange and red.
We are right now under green flag.
Orange flag means we have to be evacuated and when the eruption starts we are under red flag.

At The Wok Buffet

We had dinner at the Asian Wok restaurant tonight.
We picked a table close to the buffet counters and when I had finished the meal I started watching the guests while I waited for Clas.
It was very interesting!

First there was a man, who probably had been eating the buffet many times before. He walked around with his friend from dish to dish explaining carefully what everything was and in what order he was supposed to eat of it.

Then I watched a lady who took three breads from the buffet table and put them on her plate. Suddenly she changed her mind and replaced two of them into the box! Hopefully she had clean hands and didn't pick her nose before she got into the restaurant!

Then an other younger lady started taking the most of the food with her hands and she even tasted some of it already at the counter, licking the fingers every now and then.
Why didn't she use the ladles and saved the eating until she got back to the table? Isn't there any table manners?

There was a fun man who first walked around watching all the different dishes in the same time as he rubbed his hands. It looked like he was thinking; -" Now boys, I'm gonna eat!"
In the end he only had salad and he returned to the same counter to have more. Maybe a vegetarian? Poor man! He missed out all the delicacies.

After a while an old man showed up. He thought the soup cups were meant for the sauces and he poured different sauces into different soup cups and carried them to his table.

In the same time an other man started picking cake pieces by hand and put them on a plate.
The cakes are all placed on their own small plates in the fridge, but he liked to get them together on the same plate.
Two of the pieces fell into the fridge. When he finally was ready he had a lot of cream on his hands. Then he brought the plate with the cake pieces over to the table offering the "desert" to his friends.
I would have neglected to eat of it!

We took it easy and stated it was good we got there early before some of these people started messing around.
Now I'm not interested in having any buffet meals for a long time.
I haven't been watching the buffet guests before and became surprised when so much happened in a short while.

Why do people start behaving like pigs at the buffet tables? Or is this how they normally behave?
To be honest...The buffets are quite beneficial here on Tenerife and I think it was many "hillbillies" eating there tonight. Some men even had shorts and beach slippers on and you could see their dirty toes.
I don't mean that I am perfect myself, but sometimes it's just too much!

New handbag

I forgot to show you my new handbag that I bought some days ago.
Here it is!

Burkini

The Islamic ladies can now have a day on the beach if they like.
This is how they look in their bathing suit called burkini.
The photo is taken in Sweden where people sometimes swim naked,
and because of that there is a man without clothes in the background.
A mix of two extremely different cultures.

Rolex watches

Clas has bought two Rolex watches in one month.
He is almost like possessed by them!
He speaks about them in the morning, in the daytime and in the afternoon.
He has been studying them on the internet and knows all about them
and last night he even slept with the gray one on.
I felt chocked when I woke up this morning and saw it. I woke him up and told him that he has forgotten to take of the watch, but he just smiled and said it's okay to sleep with them on.

First he bought a "Rolex Oyster Perpetual Supelative Chronometer, Cosmograph Daytona 2009 Yellow Gold President" (long name) at Christmas and two days ago he bought an Rolex Daytona 116520 steel.

How can two simple things like two watches get a man to become so excited?
It's really a mystery!

I checked out the ladies Rolex but didn't become amazed. They are too small!
I think the watches I already have got are more beautiful.
I prefer big watches and if I would by a Rolex I probably would need a male one.

It looked very dark on the first photo,
but here's a better picture that Clas took of it.

Three days off

We have three days off again. We play next time on Sunday night.
We both feel "amen" about it when we now are used to have more days off than normal.
But we will soon start playing more nights.

Today I have been cleaning our home and now it looks normal again.
I also made a nice dinner for us tonight; Fillet steak of pork with blue cheese and rice and salad.
Now we are stuffed and satisfied and we both sit here in the studio working on the computers.

Clas has been out hunting a spare part for one of our speaker that has started buzzing.
Hopefully the music shop here in Los Cristianos can find it for us so that we get it tomorrow.

My son Daniel called today.
Their boat was outside of Las Palmas , Gran Canaria. Not far from us at all.
They had been down to Ghana and Togo and he had bought an ivory as a souvenir.
Daniel has been in much more countries than me and he is only 22 years old.
When he was 19 years old he sailed from Canada down to the US, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay two times.
I haven't even been to South America yet. Nor have I been in Africa.
He thought it's very cold here around the Canary Islands when it was about + 40 degrees down in Africa at the equator.

We also feel cold today and we had the dinner inside tonight.
They say it's the coldest winter ever, for 26 years, that has hit our islands this year.
Be prepared with warm jackets or sweaters if you are on the way down to the Canaries!
It's only + 16,2 degrees outside right now and it's soon 10 o'clock in the evening.
In the daytime it's about + 22.

La Karina 20.01.2009

I have made a short video clip from last night.
Many of our guests are people who have visited us
many times during the last years here on Tenerife.
I am so glad you all find us in our new place.

Please, click on the arrow to watch the video clip.

Oh, what a night

Even the girls who work in the kitchen joined the party tonight.

We came home from work about an hour ago.
It was a real party night again. We have had party nights every night since we started at La Karina. The audience there is always in a good mood and it's many dancers.
It's very fun to play and I almost can't wait until tomorrow.

Tonight we were very crowded again. Many tourists were standing out on the street watching when there were no more tables left.
I have told people to come before 8.30 to be sure they will get a table, but tonight the restaurant was packed already about ten minutes to eight and we start playing 8.30.

Please, come before eight to be sure you will get a table.
The restaurant has got very nice food and I recommend you to give it a try.
Many people eat there and Clas and I also eat there every night before we start playing.

We were feeding the monkeys

Here's a video clip from the Monkey park.
He, he! The little cute monkey tried to steal my necklace.
Please, click on the arrow to watch it.

The Monkey Park

My favorite animal is now this monkey.

But I also like cats.
Look, it's nails have got like a brown nail polish!
Their hands feel very soft and cool.

I am so excited! This day has really been an experience!
I just think about the cat monkeys all the time now.
They are so cute and fun and if it would be possible I would like to have one.

The thing that makes this park different from all the others is that you are allowed to walk inside the cages among the animals.
Mick, Me and Frances.

There were lemurs and cat monkeys in the first cage.

Isn't this lemur cute?

The lemurs were quite curious and two jumped up on
Clas directly to check him out.
They are so cute these animals! Not scared of people at all!
They are very friendly and like to climb on you.

A monkey jumped up on Frances head and it looks like
it started checking out her hair to see if it could find some fleas.

This acrobat really showed us what it could do.
Suddenly it started hanging up and down over the path.
Maybe it enjoys to be photographed.

There are a lot of different monkeys in the park.
These Golden hand gibbons were not interesting in climbing on us.
They just looked at us and jumped around.

You are, of course, not allowed to walk in the cages with the big monkeys.
This one was sitting at the window watching the tourists.

Look what a big iguana!
I almost get scared when I think that I have been standing close to it.
I am not a fan of reptiles and lizards.

There were also a lot of different birds and parrots in the park.
And even three jaguars and a couple of crocodiles, lemmings,
guinea pigs and some turtles etc.

I recommend you to visit the Monkey park while you are on Tenerife.
It's only 10Euros to get in, and it's the only place I know, where
you are allowed to walk inside the cages.
It's really an experience! Specially if you like the small monkeys like I do.
But don't wear brand new clothes when they can urinate on you.

I also recommend you to buy the small plastic bags with nuts, seeds and
bread they sell at the entrance.
When the monkeys see you have got the bag they come to you and like to have a taste.

Remember to look after your jeweleries when some of the monkeys will try
to steal them from you and don't wear big earrings!

Oh, I already long to go there again.

A short update

Oh, I have been so busy the last two days that I haven't even had time to be on the internet.
I have spend the most of the spare time out on the balcony in the sun, doing rehearsal of new songs.
I tried to get two flies in one slap, like we say in Swedish, and took the chance to get some tan in the same time when it for ones was nice weather.

Saturday night we went by taxi up to Adeje, a small mountain town, with Mick and Frances.
We had a nice dinner at restaurant Rambla and after that we went back down to Los Cristianos and went to Lewinski for line dancing.
Debbie Stone was singing there and it was really many line dancers.
A lovely night.

We played at La Karina Sunday night and it was again very crowded.
Many of the guests had been visiting us before and it was famous faces everywhere when we looked around. We are so happy you all start finding us now. Thanks to the internet and to the bush telegraph!
We had ones over thirty people out on the street watching us, of which many were waiting to get in as soon as they could have a free table.
La Karina is a good place for us. There's room for about 200 guests and we were packed last night.
People were dancing the whole night through and it was many line dancers.

Tomorrow we are off again and we have decided to visit The Monkey Park with Mick and Frances. I will put up some photos later.
I love the monkeys, in the style of the one that Peppi Longstocking had, and I can't wait to get to see them tomorrow.
It's the first time we are going to visit this park that is located outside of Los Cristianos.

Tenerife has got many parks and zoos.
We have the Loro Parque, the Jungle park, the Monkey park, the Camel safari park, the Ostrich park, The Parrot park to name some of them.

Clas and Frances in Adeje.

Mick and Me.

Restaurant Oyster Chatcher

Clas, Susanne, Frances and Mick.

We have been out with Mick and Frances tonight.
We went for dinner to a restaurant called Oysters here in Los Cristianos.
Sorry we have got only one photo and it don't look very nice.

I have decided to not blog much about what we eat and where we eat when some of you readers almost start vomiting when you see all the food... But when we go out to new places, like tonight, I will tell you how it was and what I had.

I had mushrooms in aioli as a starter and then I had green pepper steak with mashed potatoes and vegetables as the main course and Chocolate fudge cake with ice cream as desert. Guess if I was stuffed!
The meal was very nice and I like to recommend the restaurant to you.
They have a lot of flambe menus which is a little special and sometimes they make the flambe at your table.

After the meal we went down to Tarahalles to listen to Andreas and about 11 o'clock we went up to Lewinskis to listen to Graham Gold. But Graham didn't play anymore when we arrived and we didn't get to hear him sing. He only played music of other artists through the speakers the last hour.

It was a nice evening. Mick and Frances go back to England Thursday and we will now spend as much time as possible with them while we are off.

The day was very sunny and i laid on the balcony the whole afternoon sunbathing and listening to the new songs I will take into the repertoire.
I have got about 10 new songs to learn.

My pepper steak flambe, medium. The vegetables were in an other bowl.

We'll relax again for three days

We had a nice evening at La Karina last night.
The restaurant was crowded and the most of the guests stayed the whole night through.
It was really a party night and I think we had about 150 guests.
The people were dancing and clapping hands and we are so happy to be back in a place were it's a lot of tourists and where we are more on display so that new visitors can find us too.

Next time we play will be on Sunday, the day when many of the Scandinavians go back home.
It's good for us to be free for three days, but many guests were complaining tonight when there is no more possibility to come and listen to us before they have to leave.

One couple said they only come to Tenerife because they like to listen to our music in the nights and this time they didn't get to hear us much when we have been off for many days.
We are so sorry, but can't help it. The situation is like this right now.
We know that many of you are used to come and see us every night, but remember we will start playing more nights after a couple of weeks. Maybe five or six nights a week.
Please, check out our sites to get the last information about where we are.

We are now at La Karina Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays, but as soon as the restaurant owner opens the new restaurant, there is a possibility that we will start playing there.

Restaurant La Karina 13.01.2009

We played our first night at La Karina in Las Americas yesterday.
The restaurant was very crowded, even when it was quite chilly, and we had a lovely night.
Many promised to be back and we really look forward to play again tonight.
We play at La Karina on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays 8.30 - 11.30 pm.

Please, click on the arrow if you like to watch the video clip.

Restaurant La Karina

Things are happening fast here on Tenerife!
Tonight we went to see the owner of restaurant La Karina in Las Americas.
He has called us some times before and asked us to come there and play, but we have always been busy playing somewhere else.
When we met him tonight he gave us job directly and we will start already tomorrow!

We are going to play there Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Sundays, 8.30 - 11.30 pm.
We will share the place with "Cecil Jamaica show" who also play three nights a week, and one night a week it's Flamenco show.

The owner is soon going to open an other restaurant in the same area and when that's ready we will start playing even there, which means we will then play 5-6 nights a week.
This sounds very good! We all feel so happy about this! It's just a big "Amen" in the heart.

La Karina is a restaurant with room for about 200 guests.
It's located at the main street of Las Americas, outside Hotel Tenerife Sol.
Treasure Island and Starco are across the street to the left and Leonardos' is to the right when you stand in the restaurant.

Tomorrow we will be busy again preparing for the night.
Clas and Paul will first bring the sound system there and then we have to sound check and later play in the night. It will be very fun!
I will try to remember the camera tomorrow and make a video clip from our first night.

Welcome to all of you who are on Tenerife or on the way to Tenerife!

Work five nights a week

People are wondering why we don't play only five nights a week.
Here is the answer:
Yes, it would be nice to have two days off every week and we would be less tired. But a normal work-week here in Spain is six days and the most of the restaurants like to have musicians who play at least six nights.
Some even expect the musicians to be there seven nights a week!
We tried that ones but said never again. It's not biblical, which means you step outside the blessing when you do it, and in the end it brings you into a state of ill-health.
You need to rest one day a week!

It's neither easy to find somebody who like to be "stand in's" only for one or two nights a week, and the restaurant loose a lot of money every night they don't have music.
As soon as they can find a band who is willing to play 6-7 nights a week, there's a risk they will give them the job instead.
The "imitating artists" (Elvis, Tina Turner, Abba etc.) can if they like, work a five-day-week here on the island. But instead they give an one hour show in 2-3 different restaurants in the same night, which might be quite stressful.

We are interested in working less if it just would be possible.
3-5 nights a week would be alright for us! Then we would get more time to do other things. We'll see!

I have a desire in my heart that I never get time to do, and nobody would be happier than me if I just would be able to start moving in that direction.
It's fun to play but it's not the most important thing. Sometimes I feel it's only a lovely thing that I do, while I wait for something else to start happening.

I will always sing, but I'm not sure if the singing will be the main work for the rest of my life.
I like it very much but look forward to be able to travel more.
I am interested in the African infrastructure and how it could be developed and if I could change the life for some of the people who live in poverty it probably would give me some kind of satisfaction.
Oh, there are so many things or burdens in my heart, but I can't even name them when they are too high goals to achieve.
Who am I? I can't do much impact on this world!
Sometimes I just don't know what to do with my dreams and my heart is aching.
Do you also get these kind of feelings sometimes?

No Dubai!

This is Tenerife!
First we were supposed to play Friday - Saturday at the Dubai restaurant.
Then they changed their mind, when it started raining, and said we can start Monday instead.
Today we got a telephone call from the manager of Dubai.
He told us to not come and play Monday when the owner has changed his mind.
He said they are not going to have any music at all right now.
Why, we don't know. But it's probably because it's not many tourists here right now.
It's very quiet everywhere and the restaurants can't afford to have musicians.

We brought the sound system there a couple of days ago because we would start playing already yesterday and now he told us to come and remove it from the stage.
It's not the first time in the history that this happens here on Tenerife, but it's the first time it happens to us.

We heard ones about a quite famous musician here on the island, who got to the restaurant in the night, and put up the sound system, and then they told him to take it down because he is not going to play.
Some guests had already arrived and ordered some drinks and waited for him to start.
When they saw him removing the equipment and walk out from the restaurant they were disappointed and later they spread bad rumors about him to his audience.

We have also heard about musicians who have played the whole night, and in the end the manager or owner has payed a salary much lower than what was agreed. This is normally what they do here when they like somebody to finish.

We are not going to cry our eyes out because of Dubai! We will continue looking for a new place next week.

11 000 Visitors!

Who is the number 11.000 visitor?

Bad weather

The weather is very bad on Tenerife right now.
It has been raining the whole day and we have decided to not start playing at Dubai before Monday night when the forecast says rain and clouds for a couple of more days.
That means we have got three more days off.

I have been out on town the whole day doing a lot of stuff.
It's very chilly (only + 15 degrees right now) and almost everybody wear winter clothes.

This is how I looked before we went out for dinner tonight.
No short skirts like you see!

Our day

I'll tell you what we have been doing today.
Maybe it's a shame, but we didn't get up from our bed before two o'clock in the afternoon.
We still have problems to get to sleep at nights and we are staying up until the early morning hours.
I have really tried to change these bad habits but Clas hasn't (even when it was his idea from the beginning that we do something about it), and it doesn't help me to go to bed earlier when I still wait for him before I can sleep. It's really a problem!
Is there anybody who knows what to do about it?
We would like to go to bed before three o'clock in the nights but don't get tired.
He,he! I think I know the answer! It's just to start getting up in the mornings! Isn't it?

When we woke up we got a sms-message from Mick and Frances, that they have arrived to Tenerife.
We got up, got dressed and went out to see them outside their hotel at 3pm. We went together with them to Lewinskis' to have a breakfast/lunch.

Mick and Frances brought Clas new laptop that he has bought from England. It's a really small one and I wish I would have ordered one too.
Now he can bring the laptop with him out in town, if he likes, and he can be wherever and blog and read news etc. He is now out on the balcony and maybe I will not see him much here in the studio anymore.
Oh, I need to get one too! Then we could sit out on the balcony in the nights instead of here.
But I would like to have one from Sweden so that I get the åäö letters on the keyboard.

After the meal we returned home and I had decided to work with the play lists for tomorrow.
But after a while I thought I better go out and check the shops and I haven't still got the play lists ready. My next goal is to work on them when I go to bed...

Yes, I was out shopping but didn't find much.
Only a belt, a really nice white fur vest and two black leggings with different decorations down at the ankles.

I will soon go to bed now because it's a tough day tomorrow.
First all the equipments have to be moved to Dubai, and then we have to do a sound check, and then go back home and dress up, and then back and play the night.
It will take the whole day to get everything done but we both look forward to it.
We have had an extra vacation now for about a week and we feel ready to start playing again.

We will play Friday - Saturday at Dubai in Puerto Colon.
Welcome to visit if you are on Tenerife!

The white fur vest.
I will probably use it already tomorrow night.
It fits nice to all my colored silk shirts.
The nights are still quite chilly and it will be just perfect.
I would like to add that it looks more beautiful or posh in real than on this bad photo.

Christmas is over

We have been busy in our home today.
Clas has removed all the Christmas ornaments both inside and out on the balcony.
Most of the families here in Los Cristianos redecorate already the day after the three kings.
In Finland you keep up the Christmas ornaments until the 20th day after Christmas if you like. Thats one more week.

I have been doing a lot of ironing today and now all the outfits are hanging properly in the wardrobes.
I have one more important thing to do before Friday and that is to plan our play lists. I will start doing that already tonight after I have had a shower. Then I will go to bed, work on the laptop until I become so tired that I fall to sleep.

We will start already 7.30 pm these two nights at Dubai, and because of that we only play until 11pm.
For us it sounds early to stop at 11 o'clock but this is the system right now when it's a lack of tourists.

Have a nice evening! Or I better say Good Night! It's already 12 o'clock!
Time is running again...

Restaurant Dubai

The Puerto Colon bay

Now something from our private life..., or would I call it the work life?

Clas and I went by taxi to the Torviscas-Puerto Colon area tonight.
It's time to start looking for a new place and we thought we better go there and see what the tourism there looks like.
It's very quiet in Los Cristianos and Las Americas now and these two towns haven't got many restaurants with dance floors, which we are in need of.
We also like to find a restaurant with at least over hundred seats when a place with less chairs hardly can afford two musicians.

We started walking along the beach front in Torviscas toward Las Americas and found out that there are not many tourists.
It was a surprise to see how quiet everything was in the Puerto Colon area too.
It's normally the most crowded area in south of Tenerife. Specially summer time.
The restaurants had about 20-30 guests each and some restaurants were closed.
But this area anyhow had more tourists than Torviscas.

A PR-man on the street stopped us and asked us to come in to his restaurant and have a drink, but we told him we are musicians, only out looking for a new job.
Then he told us that their musician had stopped playing some days ago and introduced us for the manager.
The manager told us to came and speak to the owner later in the night and we decided to go somewhere and have a dinner while we waited for him to arrive.

The restaurant is called Dubai and it's located in the middle of the bay.
It's a really nice restaurant with 250 seats and it is possible to arrange a big dance floor in the front of the stage.

We have now made an agreement with the owner that we will give it a try.
That means we will play Monday - Tuesday next week and see how it goes.
If it feels right for the both parties we will continue playing there six nights a week. We'll see!
We know there are not many tourists right now but we also know that the tourism will come up after some weeks.

If you are on Tenerife Monday or Tuesday (12-13 of January) we would like to welcome you to pay a visit at our new place. We'll play 7.30 - 11 pm.
Go to Puerto Colon and we are exactly in the middle of the bay at the beach walk.

Welcome!

Israel - Hamas

Annelie Enochson wrote today an debate article about the middle-east conflict in Expressen, one of the biggest news papers of Sweden.
The head line said: Hamas use children as shields!
Exactly the headline I proposed a couple of days ago in my first post about the conflict.
She encouraged minister Carl Bildt to speak clear about the guilt of Hamas.
I am so happy there are still MP:s (Member of Parliament) who are brave enough to stand up for the justice. *Like to send a rose to Annelie!*

Hamas now say they are prepared with a lot of suicide bombers who will meet the Israeli soldiers in Gaza.
I hope they will not use children.
It's known that Hamas for many years have indoctrinated the school children through TV-programs, school books and youth camps and built up a hate in them toward the Jews + glorified the killing of the Jewish people.

Hamas have also gone so far that they use hospitals, schools, mosques and private homes as warehouses for the ammunition.
There are families in Gaza today that have to live on the top of rocket stores and ammunition depots and it's really difficult for Israel to reach these targets without getting the civil population involved. To win the war they have to reach all the targets.
To force somebody to live in such dangerous circumstances is against all conventions of war and the human rights! Isn't it?
*Like to send twigs to Hamas!*

Click here to read the Swedish article of Expressen.

The Gaza strip is to the left at the Mediterranean sea.

The Israeli conflict

Many still don't know what the conflict in the middle-east is about.

About three years ago Israel made an agreement with Palestine to leave the area of Gaza.
All the Jewish people moved out from the area and thought it will now be peace for a while.
They know it will never be total peace in Israel when the country is surrounded by antisemitistic (Jewish hostile) countries that like to exterminate them.

Anyhow, Hamas didn't keep the agreement and they continued sending Kassam-rockets into the south of Israel without any reason.
Specially to a town called Sderot where the people now have been living in fear the last three years and they have had to run to the security shelters many times every day.
The Kassam-rockets are not the heaviest of rockets but they can kill people and many Israelis have been injured during these attacks.

The third paragraph of the UN explanations about the human rights says that every single person has right to life, freedom and personal security.
During the last years ten thousands of people in this area have been living in fear and under threat of terrorists without any help from UN.

Israel has many times during this period tried to warn Hamas and told them to stop sending the rockets, but it hasn't given any results when Hamas is an antisemitistic organization and they like to exterminate the Israeli nation or at least keep the Jewish people in fear.
Hamas seams to like this all to happen when they become more popular among the Palestinians every time Israel make a defence. They got a lot of votes in the last elections and one of their goal is probably to one day rule Palestine.

Now Israel have got enough and when nothing else helps they have to do something about it and they have decided to go in to Gaza and destroy the launchpads for the rockets and fight the Hamas organization.
The problem for Israel is that Hamas don't wear soldier outfits or walk around with rifles on display.
They hid among the normal population and use them in that way as shields. When they act like this they put the people of Gaza in a dangerous situation. People who normally don't have anything to do with the situation.

For three years UN hasn't been doing much about the situation in the south of Israel, but as soon as the Israeli soldiers walked into Gaza they gathered for a meeting and had to make a statement. Even when they know the situation they first decided to bind up the arms of Israel.
Of course Israel is the stronger part when they have got a much better artillery and they are the ones who are very dangerous if they would flip out.
But if you think honestly about it, Israel is a kind human state and the question is how many states on this earth would have waited for three years without doing anything while the terrorists are attacking the country.
Every time Israel as much as move a finger they become more hated in the world. That's only because of the wrong picture the media have been serving when they have been afraid to tell the truth. All countries are afraid of terrorists and they don't like to become involved.

Hamas is more like a guerilla band and they have only got rifles and small rockets and shells.
But the situation can become very dangerous if Iran gets involved. Iran share in many ways the ideology of Hamas and they have got nuclear weapons.

Since 2005 when Israel left Gaza the terrorist organizations in Gaza have fired over 7000 rockets and shells toward civil targets in Israel. Of course Israel start thinking it's enough and they have to do something about it. But it's not possible to exterminate Hamas when new people are gradually recruited from the Palestinian population. Hamas have for a long time spread propaganda and many Palestinians stand with them today.

Politics

Like you see my blog has got a new label, called Politics, 2009.
I know the most of the blog readers are not interesting in international questions or questions about human rights etc.
Please, feel free to just leave these posts unread when you visit my blog.

I know my blog don't have many readers or make a big impact when it comes to the situation of the world, but the last days since I started writing about the Israel - Palestine conflict I've got much more visitors than normal.
That's because some people who are interested in these questions search on Google and other similar places, to read about it, and then they also can find my blog.
My thought is that if one single person who has power to make influence read my blog, let's say an journalist, then it's worth to continue writing about these questions.

The media of today many times give an one-sided information without thinking about the justice.
That's because they can't be involved or be in favour of anybody.
I am just a blogger with no connection to any organization or movement and because of that I can say what I think and stand up for the truth as long as I don't make a defamation.

Maybe some people will hate me because of this, but the truth is that I am just a friend of Israel + quite interesting in international questions and human rights etc. That's all!

Would you like to read about our travel to Israel and the march we made in Jerusalem? Click here.

The Israeli - Palestine conflict

What kind of people are members of the UN security Council?
Is it only USA who is brave enough to stand up for the justice?
Last night when the Security Council sat down to make an agreement about their statement they first produced a proposal that said "cease fire!" to Israel.
That would have been to help Hamas, a terrorist organization! Wouldn't it?

I don't like war, but you can't rub the terrorists the right way!
USA did not agree about the statement when they meant it's not right to negotiate the Israeli rights of self-defense. To think in an other way would be to escape justice!
You can't tell a country that is under a terrorist attack to just sit down and relax! Can you?

Why are the members of the Security Council acting like this?
Of course it's difficult to deal with terrorists and to get a change in such a difficult situation, but to make a statement that is negative for the one who is accosted is a coward act.
It wouldn't have given them any points anyhow, and it would just have showed that they are afraid of Goliath (the terrorists) and choose to deal with David (Israel) instead.
They tell Israel to loose the game so that they can get the change (the peace) that the whole world expect them to have power to make. But it wouldn't mean peace for Israel when the terrorists for sure would continue sending rockets into the country.
The whole situation is really difficult and nobody know where it's gonna end.

Shalu Shalom Yerushalayim!

Hair extensions

I bought long straight hair extensions before Christmas because I like to get a ticker and longer hair.
My hair dresser told me to get the ones that are easy to put on and take off and where I can buy them.
I haven't put them on yet.

Today I read an article that said that hair extensions can make you bald-headed.
Some British researchers have discovered that it can make you loose your hair and they demand an immediate total ban of hair extensions.
The risk went into focus a couple of years ago when Victoria Beckham cut of her extensions and a bald space was discovered on her head.

When the extensions are welded to the normal hair they cause a high pressure on the hair roots and the hair sack can become so destroyed that it only produces thin hairs in the future or not any hair at all, says the hair specialist Bary Stevens to the Daily Mail.

Terrible! Now I don't know what to do with my extensions.
They are very long when I like them to go all the way down to the waist in the back and I think it will be quite heavy for my hair roots to keep them hanging.

Is there anyone who like to have them?
I will give them away for free when I otherwise just will throw them in the trash bin.
You probably can cut them shorter so that they will not be so heavy.
I don't have any use for short ones myself when my hair is already quite long.

Israel - Palestine

The coat of arms of Israel.

Again some of the media try to arouse a hate towards Israel.
They make big headlines telling the first victim, when the Israeli troops went into Gaza, was a child.
Some of them forget to tell what Israel have been spoken before they went in.
They said:
"The ones who use civilian, old people, women and children as "human shields" have to take responsibility for all damage of the civilian population".
Israel do not like to get the civilians involved!
Maybe a better headline would have been:
"Hamas use children as human shields"?

Please, don't forget that Israel is an approved democratic country.
A member of the United Nations.

Hamas and Palestine are not members of UN!
Hamas is a terrorist organization. Not even the official government of Palestine!

Why some democratic nations have difficult to decide how to relate to the "Israel - Palestine question", or try to be neutral, I hardly can't understand.
Do they hope to be the ones who will mediate an agreement of peace and hope to get some extra points if they can make it?
I mean it's for sure easier to get the contending parties listening when you are neutral.
But do they, in that case, think it's alright to deal with terrorists and to give them some rights so that they become satisfied too?
A terrorist organization is a terrorist organization! Isn't it?
As soon as they get advantage through a terror they start an other terror. Don't they?

The Hamas charter states:
"There is no solution for the Palestinian question except through Jihad".
Jihad means war! Hamas seams to be an organization of blood thirst!

Shalu Shalom Yerushalayim!

No unnecessary drinking!

I am so tired today.
We had a farewell party with Carola and Calle on our balcony last night.
They are going back to Finland tomorrow.
First we started with a fondue dinner, and home made apple pie with vanilla cream as desert, and then we were sitting and talking + singing until the middle of the night.
We had very fun and laughed so much that our stomachs were aching.

Clas got an idea that we needed to empty all the wine and spirit bottles we had in the home when we now have decided to not drink anything at all for a while.
I tell you, it was a lot of bottles and we were in a good mood.

Today our new life start and we will now stay white every day except on our day off.
We are off one day a week and then we are going to have wine or beer with the dinner.
I really look forward to this better life because now I'm so tired of all kind of wines and spirits that I don't even like to see them. I shiver if I just think about it.

Tomorrow morning we have decided to go out and have a walk in the nature.
We also long to start living a more healthy life when we need to loose weight to become in better shapes. But I don't promise that we will make it!
We would like to change our habits, but dreams are not always coming true...
We'll see! Time will tell!

Clas says we can't change everything directly but have to take it step by step.
I think that's clever and hope it will be easier when we are two working on it together.
He normally has a stronger character than me, but when it comes to spirits I'm the stronger one and hopefully we somehow can help each other and get into a better life.
That's my hearts desire right now.