Rocking Your World 2014: Week 23

Here we go with the high spots of another week. Come over to Virginia's blog at Celtic House, and share your happy moments too. It is a good way to lift your spirits.

I am starting with my Friday Smile which this week is a sort of  'Shaggy Dog' tale. Meet Miki.

Definitely a shaggy dog! One of Miki's parents was a full breed German Shepherd, but I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to what the other one was. Just look at that soppy grin!

She is perpetually untidy, very friendly, and peace-loving, lazy with a tendency towards being overweight and no inclination to do exercise to help with that. (I could be describing me instead of the dog!!). We love her to bits, but you have to wonder what is really inside all that hair?

Well now you know.

Yes. This week Miki went for her annual haircut. Doesn't she look different? The poor thing was on the grooming table for four and a half hours, but they did a really good job on her, and she finished off with a bath and blow-dry, so she smells better too! Her body is firm and smooth, but not as fat as we had expected. I have to admit that really I like the shaggy mop-head look, but this will be so much better and more comfortable for her during the summer. She looked quite happy with it when she settled down for her siesta this afternoon.

I shall link this up over at Annie's Friday Smiles. Do come over and share a smile with us.

Well the week has flown past. We had another very successful Cantante concert last night. There was a good audience who all said how much they enjoyed it.

I managed to find a day to make a big pan of Picalili.

It is quite a long task to actually prepare and chop all the vegetables, which is done the evening before, so they can be covered with salt and left to marinate overnight. But the next day it is quite quick to mix up the sugar, spices and vinegar, and cook the rinsed vegetables. I think it looks lovely in the pan, with all the colours. I made sixteen jars but I expect they will soon be sold.

Tango is continuing to find his place in the family. I have been keeping him indoors as we live right on the main road into the village, and I don't know how street-wise he is. Also I didn't want the other cats to chase him away before he is familiar with his surroundings. But they are all getting along quite well. Paco and Luna mainly ignore him, but there have still been no fights, and this week I had a real surprise when I went down to my craft room and found this!

Feisty Arwen doesn't even like sharing 'her window-seat' with me, and it is my craft table! Tango didn't stay there for long, but it is a sign of his temperament that he was prepared to risk it, and he got away with it. Arwen would never have allowed the other cats up there. Fur would have flown!

So now I am leaving the back door open some of the time and I am delighted to find that Tango is happy to go out for a while, often sitting within sight of the others, and then he comes back in without me calling him. In fact he looks quite at home out there doesn't he?

He'll never be able to 'smile for the camera', but he purrs a lot.

I was pleased when I went for my monthly diabetic blood test recently and my sugar count was just one point inside the 'normal' range. Once you are on the register for diabetes you cannot get off it again, but this was my best result in the five years we have been out here, and it shows that all my fruit and vegetable blends are doing me more good than harm. I was a bit worried about the amount of sugar in the fruit, but I seem to be processing it correctly. Next week when I get my annual in-depth analysis results, I will find out whether it has done the same for my cholesterol levels too.

It is getting quite warm out here now, but we have had a few showers that are really needed, so we are not complaining about them. But it has also been very windy in the afternoons, and the wind is so strong that we have had to close some windows, and stay indoors. But today was calm and this afternoon I sat out on the porch to do some of my rather neglected cross-stitch. It is a good, bright light for sewing, but shady so I don't get too hot. I rarely sit right out in the sun, and if it is too bright, I can't see to sew. 

The dogs like it when we sit out with them, but today

Kim wasn't keen to let me sew. He kept coming up and putting a paw on my work to stop me. I had to give him a bit of fuss and then he settled down again for while. In the end the heat got to him and he joined Miki in having a siesta. I actually got quite a bit of sewing done too. But it isn't going to be finished any time soon!

And finally here is a piece of wall art for our room that I finished yesterday. It has been 'in the process' for quite a while, but I shelved it so that I could finish similar pieces to take to my sons in UK, but I am glad it is now finished. The background was made in Adobe Photoshop, and the words are cut from vinyl using my silhouette cameo machine. If you are interested in knowing more, you can read the process on my other blog by clicking on This Link.

Right, now it is link up time with Annie and Virginia. Have a great week everyone.