Cupola in the living room

What a grand place ! :o)
When I lived in a 200 year old cottage, I could touch the beamed ceiling by just putting my arm up ! lol

I bet it had it's own charm, Hywel.

This is very dramatic feature of this house.

hi, Klahanie, what does mean "gated community", please?

Hi Katarina. It is a selfcontained development with restricted access to anybody who does not live there.
Ours have "gates" and a guard house but some have only electronic gates with a remote control in your car.
They are becoming very popular in North America.
Makes people feel safer...I guess. One of course have to pay for that "privilage". I am personally not a fan but here in Mexico I do not mind. You would have to live here to understand.

In 21st century it sounds quite strange, almost like rudiment of medieval times. If something like that exists, it just underlines serious disproprotion in development. And that is always source of violence. I am afraid, gates and fences won t be good enough.

They have a little different meaning in North America, Katarina. They attract mostly retired population (but not always). I think they are targeting the baby boomers and promoting active lifestyle, some with a golf courses, gyms, tenis courses, swimming pools and such.
Have you heard of Sun Cities in USA?

No, never. But I now what you mean. I saw such fenced sun city in Dubai.

Now there's posh:-))

Little bit over the top. But it is popular house feature in this region. Also something called boveda domed ceilings is popular, made out of bricks. It is also intriguing.

Klahanie, is cupola in English the same as kupola in Czech/Slovak?

Cupola is local name (spanish) I do not know the English name for it. I call it cupola as well when I speak English. I do not see this kind of ceiling in Canada.It might exist but I have never seen it. I think the Czech word is kopule?? Right? It could have different meaning or purpose.
It is Spain's gift to Mexico's colonial architecture .

Lots of houses here have this feature but not as big as this one. It serves mainly as skylights

Yes, kupole in Czech or kupola in Slovak is the same as cupola in Spanish. If cupola is on the photo, lol.

I though that in Czech it is kopule LOL :-)

Well , Klahanie , how splendid is that ?
As Hywel says , it is Grand .
I hope that you had a good Christmas , and wish you a happy New Year .
What other languages do you speak , then ?

There are quite a lot of gated communities in Surrey. No guards tho'. You ring the number at the gate & the resident opens it if they recognise you on the camera, & of course there's the mike to speak into. I'm sure you pay quite a bit for this extra security. Sign of the times that people feel the need for such measures.

Driad, This is a grand, elegant house. We are used to open spaces on the Island and this village here in Mexico is probably 800 years old and so congested. The streets were build for donkies not for trucks and SUVs.
That said, we have chosen a large house with open south view for that reason. I am happy.
I pretend to speak few languages but none of them really well. Including my mothertongue.
Also the "thing" called ageing is starting to stand in my way of thinking :-)
We had very quiet Christmas.
All the best in 2014 Driad to you and your family.

Feverfew, thank you for your comment. I share your sentiment.

Kopule, Klahanie. You were right! No, any aging is standing in your memory....Ach, Klahanie, this is for you, I hope you will understand...a little bit lower quality of sounds, because poets are not so interesting nowadays.(for others, this is one poem from Jaroslav Seifert, Nobel prize winner in poetry)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhylMiYlHU4

Very poetic and lots of wisdom in the piece, Katarina. I was looking on the internet for the written words but could not find it. Can you point me to the right direction?

Hm, I didn t find this poem written on internet. It is just in books.

I did find it translated to English. It does not feel the same.

I think it never does. Poetry is very nation-specific thing. Although, from time to time there are found excellent translators and they make from translation even better masterpiece, then was original. Can you, please, send me the English version of this poem?

This was translated by Mr.Ewald Osers...one of the excelent translators (I think)
This is the link to the book and this specific poem is on page 120-121?
http://books.google.com.mx/books?id=0Ma6kFB7xJcC&pg=PA121&dq=jaroslav+opens+the+door+to+some+exotic+country&hl=en&sa=X&ei=NhjKUuvUHNLJkAfqhoG4DA&ved=0CCkQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=jaroslav%20opens%20the%20door%20to%20some%20exotic%20country&f=false

I did the search from Mexican google so hopefuly it will work for you.

Thank you.

You are welcome