Friday, August 16, 2013

Another week of positivity!

First of all a big apology to family and friends who only follow me on this blog. If you are wondering whether last week was so bad that I had nothing positive to say, that was not the case. For some unknown reason, (except it must have been human error - mine!), my post ended up on my other blog, which I keep mainly for my craft. So if you want to know what you missed, click HERE.
But I am back where I belong this week. It has been a quiet week, much of which has been spent just trying to keep cool, from sitting under a fan to dipping in the pool, it has been too hot to do much else. 
However, we are kind of aclimatised so when we
have to do something, we do it, and this week I had to do some ironing. I confess that it is not a chore I ever choose to do, but during the summer I do as little as possible. Most of our summer clothes do not need ironing, but some of Chris's shirts and a few of my dresses really do need a quick press. Both our wardrobes were looking a little bare, so I was happy to find that one morning was overcast and there was a slight breeze.  I opened the front door and set up the ironing board just inside it. With music on the keep me going, it was soon done. That is probably it for another month, though I expect I had better dig out a few warmer clothes for our trip to UK early September, and they may need an iron.(In case you are wondering why I have a photo of me doing things like the ironing, I take them for my Project Life album)!
I have to add another bug for this week, and this
time it is pretty red dragonfly that sat on the side of our pool for ages. It is only quite small but such a pretty colour. It comes each year and often there is a blue one too, but he has appeared so far.
A couple of weeks ago I showed Chris taking his street-bike over to a courier friend who delivered it to our son Ben in Birmingham. Ben rides to work
everyday and was finding his mountain bike too heavy. He wanted something lighter and faster, and as Chris' bike wasn't very suitable for the rough roads out here, they agreed to swap. This week Ben's bike arrived here, and Chris is very pleased with it. He has had a few short trips in the cool of the evening, but he will use it more as the autumn approaches.
Kim was in trouble this week. He is such a big boy
now that we forget he is still only a puppy, and at eight months everything is worth investigating. This plant was perched on step in the porch but I thought it was heavy enough to be safe. But I guess Kim got bored one morning and a bit too nosey, and he knocked it off.
But he is not like most puppies who know when they have been naughty. They won't meet your eye and hide away from you. But Kim just sat looking at me as much as to say "Well you left it there. What did you expect?"



We did have some entertainment this week on Sunday night. It was the final day of Theatre Week and we had seen road
signs to say that the roads in the village would be closed from 22.00-24.00! We had no idea what for, but when I walked Kim around tea-time there was a van parked on the car-park and a row of long 'sit-and-ride trailers'. It was hard to imagine they had all come out of the van but they must have done as there were no other vehicles around.
Anyway, sure enough at 10.00 we heard loud music coming from the direction of the plaza, so we walked up the road to take a look.What we saw was such fun that I am including quite a few photos of it.
We were so surprised when round the corner came five huge figures.
Each one was on its own trailer driven by a man in smart red uniform. The lights behind him changed the colour of the figures which were also lit from inside.

The driver had a box of levers on his handlebars that he could use to change the lights, make them spin, and bow their heads. 

Each one had its own top volume music. They all had a dual face, but some were happy and some sad.

This one looks quite anxious.
They were huge, taller than the trees and the buildings.
Despite it being almost midnight by now, the street was heaving with people of all ages.
We followed the procession up to the little square in front of the village church.
The drivers dismounted and set off huge 'party poppers' filled with shiny pieces of paper that had the children running around trying to catch them.
Then they made their way back down to the plaza, and we went home to bed!
Part of the fun was that it was so unexpected, and different.
Well after that long and photo-heavy post, I will leave you with one more picture. This time it is Paco, our 'campo' cat, rescued when he was just opening his eyes, bottle fed by the kind lady he was 'dumped' on, and adopted by her dog, we took him at eight weeks and he is very much at home with us. He is outside all day in the summer but never wanders far from home. I found him trying to fit into a narrow strip of shade on the outside sink. He looks as though someone has stretched him.
I shall link this to Annie's Friday Smiles.
I shall also link up with Celtic House to join the other positive thinkers, and see what they have had to smile about this week.

11 comments:

Di said...

Oh Kate, what a lovely post! So many interesting things going on in Sunny Spain (err, forget the ironing though). LOVE the piccie of Paco - his legs even seem to be lined up in the shape of the shade!

Hugs, Di xx

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

I was almost in bed when I saw your comment and had to come visit before turning in.

You look comfy ironing. That's something I never do anymore, unless it's craft related (grin). And those dolls were stunning. It was good that you followed the noise and the crowd to the plaza because I really enjoyed seeing them. They are like NOTHING I've ever seen, and probably never will see again in my lifetime.

Cats can get in the most uncomfortable looking position, but apparently they don't mind. And Kim is so cute and adorable, even with those big "I dare you" eyes.

Happy Friday smiles.

Virginia said...

Oh my how wonderful for you to discover this adhoc street procession - amazing stuff, loving the photos. Loving the fact you also take random photos for project life, I really need to get back into doing mine if I'm honest!

Your dog and cat are gorgeous, loving the expression on your dogs face and your cat keeping as cool as possible on the tiles.

I've recently learnt how to hang washing so that it needs minimum ironing - never knew about it and definitely wasn't taught by my Mum on this front, it was my sister who mentioned it and now the ironing pile is most definitely small than it used to be!

Hope you have a beautiful and blessed week ahead.

Much love

Annie said...

What a fab post Kate. I love sharing your Spanish carnivals with you. We have memories of the amazing night life over there. Thanks for sharing.
Hugs,
Annie x

Gill Edwards said...

never a dull moment there, great pics and story

Gill x

Gill Edwards said...

Hi Kate,
I did reply to you on my post but in case you dont see it i thought id post it here too.
Yes i am in UK, in Essex to be exact. Im afraid the med would hold no pleasure for me as i hate hot weather with a vengeance Lol.
We do have a lot in common dont we. Whats your choir like? do you have a say in what you sing or is it all arranged for you?

thanks for dropping by

Gill x

Elizabeth said...

Lovely post, Kate. Those figures must have been an amazing sight, and all the better because they were so unexpected too. Your ironing session reminded me where I did the ironing during the long hot summers I spent in Germany (6 of them) ... the patio became my ironing station when it was just too hot to stay indoors. Love photos of your pets - plenty of time for Kim to learn that 'I did wrong but don't scold me' face :) Thanks for sharing. Elizabeth xx

Caro said...

What an unexpected piece of fun you stumbled upon! I love the photos of your pets, both so adorable in different ways. Thanks for sharing. Caro x (#8)

misteejay said...

What amazing photos and such a super positive week.

The rain has been putting in an appearance the last couple of days but the temps don't seem to have dropped much here in the UK.

Have a lovely week ahead.

Toni xx

Lesley G said...

I leave the ironing to my husband, he's so good at it! I know the feeling with the temperatures, 40 in Florida when we're used to 20 in the UK. That puppy is just too cute :)

Angie said...

What a wonderfully interesting post ....beautiful dragon fly ...gorgeous felne ...and amazing but very strange figures,what fun to see them close to. thanks for sharing. xx