A Name Fitting Of A King

     

     Looking good at the age of 75 is hard work, especially if you are celebrating your birthday in the public eye. Things began to bulge, sag, and deep lines started to appear some years back. Out came the filler, and the bulges and sags were tucked away carefully by the hands of an expert. It is no different if you are a human or a building; we all need a little help sometimes.

    That is what happened to the Hotel Grand Mencey Santa Cruz some years ago: the professionals moved in. Restoring this prestigious hotel to retain its character and originality.
This fabulous hotel has been opening its doors to Kings, queens, musicians and film stars for the last 75 years and will continue to do so. Because its beauty and grandeur are unmistakable and unforgettable.

    Film greats such as Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Sophie Loren and Matt Damon have stayed there. The city of Santa Cruz itself is regularly used as a film location, and many undisclosed stars of all nationalities stay there or visit its fabulous restaurants.
A hotel worth the name Mencey, the title given to the Gaunche rulers of the separate kingdoms within the island of Tenerife before the Spanish conquest.

 

    To celebrate its 75th birthday, I wanted to share with you some photos I took on a visit a little while ago.

    I hope you enjoy.

New Year has Dawned

    

 

    A new year has dawned, and I decided it was time to unburden clutter from a cabinet that had been groaning and sighing for a very long time. It is where I keep notebooks, pens, in fact, most of my stationery. 
What I had forgotten about was a file buried under a pile of empty folders, which surprisingly contained multiple pages of A4 pads filled with outlines and chapters from two incomplete manuscripts.

    Now, I find this inspiring, especially when one of the outlines is for a sequel to the book I am writing at present, and another, which is a sequel to another book I finished a long time ago. A book that I submitted to lots of agents with no luck, so I filed it away, promising myself that I would do a rewrite at some point. Hmm, never did. 

    Therefore, once my current project is finished and edited, I will have plenty to get on with in 2026.

    Have a happy one, stay positive and productive in whatever you are doing and wherever you are.

 

 

Her Name is Bella

 

     ‘Her name is Bella, she is a robot,’ for some reason I wanted to sing that line to the tune of Copacabana, by Barry Manilow.

    But Bella is most definitely a showgirl, dressed to impress in Romanian national dress and helping to serve tables in a small, bijou Romanian restaurant in Puerto de la Cruz, Tenerife. She brings the fabulous food they serve from the kitchen to the table, then the server takes over for the human touch.

    While I was initially sceptical when I read about a robot being used, I changed my mind when I saw her in action.

    The service in this restaurant has always been impeccable, and this time was no exception. Bella certainly enhances the service and keeps the diners amused as she glides among them, going about her work.

    Unfortunately, I won't have Bella to help me with serving Christmas dinner, but as there will only be my partner dining, it is unlikely I will be rushed off my feet.

    Hoping you all have Happy Holidays!

 

 

 

Friendship

  

 

 I had the pleasure of writing a poem for a school poetry reading project in Kenya, and was delighted when I heard the young boy reading it aloud in front of his peers via Facebook.

 I wanted to share the poem with you today. 

 

  

 Friendship

The boy stands in the playground on his own

He is new to the school and feels alone

He watches the other boys and girls having fun

They laugh, they play and even run

One of the boys playing notices him

He is a classmate who loves life to the brim

He asks the solo boy, why he is sad?

Is being here so bad?

He tells him it is because he has no friends

The schoolfellow offers his hand, it is a problem he can easily mend

In this school we have friendship to share

Each and every one of us will always care

 

© Christina Rowell 2025 

A Trip to the Museum and Lord Nelson

Recently, I visited Santa Cruz de Tenerife Museo Militar located in the Almeyda Fort. I particularly wanted to view the exhibit related to Admiral Lord Nelson, who famously lost his arm here in the Canary Islands after being hit by a musket ball in the Battle of Santa Cruz in 1797.

 

The flag captured from Nelson’s forces is proudly displayed in a glass case alongside various paintings, mannequins dressed in a typical British uniform of that time and old notes and journals. Nelson, even after losing his arm, wrote a letter to the Spanish thanking them for his care. Unfortunately, this letter is not available here but is held in a military museum on the Peninsula.

 

I was interested in reading that a note, which was written after his recovery and return to the UK, was sold recently at an auction in London. He wrote down his personal thoughts on the loss of his arm and thanked God that he had recovered and desired to continue in his role as an officer in the Navy.

 

If you are ever in Santa Cruz, the museum is worth a visit, and unlike other museums entrance is free. I have written a post on Nelson before, and if you want a quick read, here is the link. Nelson’s Retreat

Those Little Rascals

  

 

 

Where have all the days and weeks gone this year? Over the last few months, I have been busily editing a contemporary romance that I recently completed writing. 

Therefore, unfortunately, I have neglected writing posts for my blog. So thanks to my readers, both old and new, who have continued to visit.

Although I am happy with the end product, if I don’t sit down and read a chapter every day, I have severe withdrawal symptoms.  I continually want to check that the comma or semicolon hasn’t left the page overnight and gone on holiday.

Even finding one little escapee punctuation mark always gives me a sense of achievement that day. Sad but true, I am afraid.

Hopefully, I will cure this compulsion soon. The cure is likely to be by restarting an old project. Something I have half-written, it is all plotted and outlined from beginning to end. So, I hope it won’t take me too long to get back into it.

Ernest Hemingway said he edited The Fifth Column and the Forty-Nine Stories 49 times. I will always need to remind myself of that.

Goodness, does that mean I’m on the search for those little rascals of punctuation again tomorrow?

Life Enrichment

 

 

 

When I visit cities, whether here in the Canary Islands or elsewhere in the world, I love visiting public parks.

On a recent trip to Santa Cruz, the capital of Tenerife, I visited Parque Garcia Sanabria. A public park in the middle of the city, away from the hustle and bustle of the busy streets, is an urban sanctuary for all, young and old.

It was hard to choose which path to take, but with each turn I took, there was always something to capture in a picture, whether it was trees, plants, sculptures, or water features. 

While I was snapping away, an elderly local gentleman approached and asked me if I would like him to take a photograph of me and my partner. I explained I didn’t want pictures of us but of the beauty that surrounded us.

 

He said that the reason he asked was that when he and his wife went on holiday for many years, they had taken many photographs of themselves individually, but none of them together.

 Then he produced an old Nokia from his pocket, and he told me his phone was unable to take photographs. However, his son insisted he carried it with him when he took his walk in the park twice a day. 

Now, ninety-three years old, he thought it was probably a good idea in case he got into difficulty. Of course, he said the other reason he believed it was a good idea was that his wife would contact him when it was time to return home for lunch or dinner!
 

He then asked where we originated from, and I explained that we were Scottish but now living in his country. He told me that he had great admiration for the Scots because of the love they have in their hearts. I thanked him for this compliment, and he bowed and left us to continue with his daily enrichment of life.

 

My visit to the park resulted in an ideal day to take pictures, but also a perfect day to restore my faith in humanity.

 

https://www.webtenerife.com/que-visitar/jardines-y-parques/parque-garcia-sanabria/