Friday, February 21, 2014

Rockin' Your World 2014; Week 8

Another Friday swings round, and I find myself considering all the things I have to be thankful for in the past seven days.

First here is my smile of the week. This is my beautiful fluff ball Arwen, in her usual place, taking up most of the space on my crafting desk.

She has the most extraordinary fur, thick and soft, but when she moults, it doesn't fall out. It just lifts away from her skin and mats, so in this photo, her back is one really hard lump of felted hair. Although I do occasionally manage to snip some knots from round her face, she is not very friendly, and I cannot brush or comb her, though I know from her very friendly brother who died last year, brushing doesn't really solve the problem. She was a rescue cat, and when I took her in she was badly neglected and abused, so I excuse her behaviour, and very, very slowly, she is responding to the love lavished on her, and will allow me to stroke her a little. She even purrs sometimes now, but she won't let me pick her up for a cuddle yet. Anyway, once or twice a year, when her fur gets bad enough, I take her to the vets to be sedated and shaved, I did this on Wednesday so this is what she looks like now.
There were a new couple working as dog groomers in the vet's this time, and they have not shaved her quite so close to the skin as usual. I always ask them to leave her face, tail and boots, so now she is my poodle cat! I don't think they had ever been asked to shave a cat before, and they thought it was hilarious. She does look a bit odd for a few weeks, but actually she is so much happier, and more comfortable without all the tangles, so it is worth it.
The next thing that made me very happy was a
parcel arriving from UK containing a wide selection of vinyl. (As I explained to my son in an e-mail today, I mean vinyl of the sticky-back plastic kind, not records! He collects vinyl records.) I couldn't find a company over here that would supply small quantities for a crafter, nor one that stocked the range I wanted, so I decided that it made sense to pay the postage just once, and order all I am ever likely to need in one go, from England. So now I have small rolls (with 1 or 2 mtrs on each, of metallics and glitters, in several colours, and a lot of sheets (24"x9") of gloss in all the colours of the rainbow. There is still a 5m roll of black and one of white to come. I can't wait to make something, but I have no idea what it will be!
I see our platypus got in on the corner of that photo. We bought it for our youngest son on his first Christmas. He will be twenty-seven this weekend, but I still can't part with it, so it lives on our spare bed, which is where I have spread the vinyl until I find a proper home for it.
I had a long chat with  my son on skype this week. He is away on holiday so I won't be able to speak to him on his birthday, so we had a chat before he went. I love skype. When we do a video call it is just like being in the room with him.

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day so we drove the ten minutes down to Mojacar Playa and had a walk along the sea front. It was as beautiful as ever, and although we did see one couple, probably holiday makers, lying sun-bathing on the sand, the actual beach was almost deserted. 

I had to smile at this group of cormorants gathering on a rock for their morning chat. There are usually a couple there, but this morning there were seven of them. For once I wasn't tempted to dip my toes in the water, but it was lovely and warm, and we soon shed our jumpers as we walked into the sun. After half an hour we turned around and strolled back, and then had a lovely lunch at our favourite cafĂ© before driving home again. Here's one more photo I took down there. 

Mojacar has a Moorish history, and many homes and hotels reflect this influence with their white walls, arches and domes. This one has a splendid backdrop of the mountains as seen from the coast. I usually show you them from round the other side where our village is.

We walked back to the car along the road which runs
all along the coast, only separated from the sea by a few shops and bars. As we walked we passed this lovely bed of mesembryanthemums out in flower. They reminded me of how I used to try to grow these in my little patch of garden I had as a child, because I loved their bright colours, but they only open their flowers when the sun is full on them, so I never achieved anything like this.

I am grateful to a friend who dropped by with this gift for me. It is a big bag of grapefruit straight from his tree. They are delicious, and we have eaten a few and had a some in my blended fruit juice drinks. I have now bought a jar of preserved stem ginger in syrup, and tomorrow I shall make some grapefruit and ginger jam. I have made it before and it was lovely.
I was thinking that we hadn't had any very exciting skies to show this week. Then last night there was a scattering of tiny clouds reflecting the last of the sun and it looked so pretty, so I took this photo. I was so surprised to look out of the window half an hour later, to find it now looked like this.
Beautiful isn't it?
And on that happy note I shall leave you to pop over and link this up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Virginia's Rockin' Your World blog.

13 comments:

Bleubeard and Elizabeth said...

Arwen sure looks different between the before and after shots. It's good that she is happy with her shaved body. But you are right. She doesn't look as shaved as one would expect right after visiting the vet. Usually you can see the pink skin. It's too bad she was mistreated early in life. I swear I'd like to string people up who mistreat animals, small children, and the elderly. There's just no excuse for it.

Your grapefruit look good enough to eat. I bet they are juicy, too.

Were those contrails in the next to last sky photo, or cirrus clouds? Lovely photos of your sky regardless.

Annie said...

I love your cat. She has such chatacter...esp with her new hair cut :-)
I can almost feel the warmth from your photos Kate. Gorgeous flowers, fab scenery and amazing skies...what's not to love?
Hugs,
Annie x

Virginia said...

Oh blogger is being naughty this morning, loving your post, Skype is such a fabulous invention for keeping people in touch. Loving your cat photos and apologies now if you get more than one comment off me! Hope you have a fabulous week ahead and I've managed to link you up! Hugs

Myzdamena said...

Oh what a gorgeous fluffball!! .. and what lovely gorgeous photos. Fabtastic colours <3

Jean said...

I can almost feel the warmth in your lovely sunny photos, we have got sunshine today but accompanied by a cold wind. Better than the rain though.
Jean x

Twiglet said...

Such a sunny post of colour - thanks for sharing. Love that puffball! x Jo

BumbleVee said...

Thanks for a furry grin.... and, may I say what a beautiful area you live in..... it reminds me of Portugal when we visited there and almost thought..."we could live here"...... especially when we have BIG snow winters as we did here this year....

Laura said...

Aw, all that fur must be quite heavy? She definitely looks more comfy trimmed.
I wish I lived a little closer so I could try the marmalades you make!
And, wow, another amazing sky photo. So pretty.
Thanks for the smiles,
Laura

Creative Cardiology said...

Thanks for popping by Kate.
I love to see your beautiful photos, I feel like I want to visit Spain every time you post!
Arwen reminds me of a cotton ball when she is fully furred, but even shaved down her fur looks very soft.
Have a super week!
Hugs,
Mchelle

MaryH said...

Hi Kate, didn't see me in your followers' list so I signed up again. Loved reading about your rescued baby, and she was so cute once she got a pretty haircut. Enjoyed seeing your beautiful photos too, with all the sunshine & flowers. Your sky pictures were awesome. I try to shoot sunsets sometimes, but never achieve with the camera the loveliness my eye is seeing (I'm a very poor photographer!). Thanks for a most enjoyable read & nice to 'get to know you'. Hugs

Stitching Lady said...

This is a wonderful post, Kate, I read it with much interest. And I will follow you by bloglovin. And thanks for stopping by my blog (Stitching Lady - Germany and France).
You "babe" is a wonderful creature. I did not know that a cat must be shaved. It is looking cute as a poodle cat.

Carmen said...

Your kitty cat does look so much happier (and cooler) after her visit to the hairdressers :D

Always love seeing your photos of where you live - it's so beautiful!

Have a lovely week!

Carmen x

Hettie said...

How did I miss you last week? Never mind, I am here now!
Your poor pussy looks quite cheesed off in the first photo but looks happier.
Beautiful photos of your area again and those sky pictures. Naughty platypus!
Hugs
xx
PS, The vellum I used is pretty thick and more like parchment so it may work for you. Just cut a little bit and try it out. As for colouring it with Copics, you should be able to use any colouring pen as long as it is alcohol based. Good luck and thanks for calling by.
xx