Rocking Your World 2014; Week 35

It has been a lovely week here. We have enjoyed having our son Tom here, and we still have him for a few more days; he leaves at 'silly o'clock' on Wednesday morning.

Although Annie's Friday Smiles is not up and running again yet, since her house move, I do have a little smile for you. In fact it was a big smile for me. One of my dear blog-friends, Di, posted today an old card featuring Benjamin bunny, that she had made for her grand-daughter's first birthday, along with a jumper she knitted for her with the same image. I thought 'I

know that jumper'. I knitted the very same one when my son Benjamin was one, and he just loved it, and wore it for ages. I rooted through some old photos and this was the best I could find in a hurry. He was just taking his first steps. Ben is twenty--seven now, so Di, it is a very old pattern, but your blog post brought happy memories flooding back. Do visit Di's blog which you can find here, and see her jumper with its lovely matching card.

Now for a little happy story that I should have included last week, but I didn't have time. The Friday had been a bank holiday here, so there was no market in Turre, so on Saturday I decided to go to the big one in Vera instead. This is spread over a maze of small streets and I always lose my sense of direction when I go there. Because the streets are narrow and very busy, I did not take my wheely-shopper, but instead had a big supermarket 'bag for life'. I did not intend to buy much, but as usual I got carried away by all the lovely fresh fruit and vegetables, and ended up with a much too heavy bag. Heading back to where I thought I had left the car, I felt the first handle of my bag start to tear. Soon it had broken so I tied it round the other one and continued on my way. Then the second handle gave way so I had no choice but to hoist this huge bag up into my arms and stagger the rest of the way. It was then I realised I had taken the wrong road away from the market, and emerged from the village quite a way from where the car was parked. I sank down onto a bench to consider my options. Hide the bag behind a wall and fetch the car was the best one, but I doubted whether it would still be there when I returned. Then I was approached by a small, stocky man, (S. American/Spanish I think). I was a bit apprehensive, and I didn't understand the torrent of words he came out with, but then it dawned on me that he was offering to carry my bag. I realised that he was one of the many unemployed men around who are just looking to earn the price of the next meal, but to me he was an answer to prayer. I warned him it was very heavy but he hoisted it up on his shoulders and off we went. It took us about ten minutes to reach the car and all the way we kept up a conversation in my limited Spanish and a few hand signals, but he refused to stop and rest, and soon my bag was safely stowed in the back of the car. I did give him what I hope was a generous tip, and he was as obviously grateful as I was! Angels in disguise etc....

Our week with Tom has been a hot one. We were little under forty degrees some days, and it doesn't really cool down all evening or even in the night. So Tom has been in and out of the pool all day, and we have had lots of midnight dips. 

One day we went up to the big pool at the top of the village. We are lucky to have such a big municipal pool and it is always warm and spotlessly clean. I like to go there as it is around 35metres long so I can do some serious swimming rather than bobbing around in ours. Sadly it is only open for July and August, so Sunday will be the last day. It was the first time Tom has been here when it is open, so afterwards we took him to the level above to see the football pitch and the picnic area. I took the photo of the pool, looking down on it from there.

From the end of the picnic area there is a lovely view across the motorway to our village...

...and beyond that you can just see the white village of Mojacar Pueblo, up on its hill.

As well as swimming we have been out and about enjoying tapas (anchovies on this day) and tinto verano....

Enjoying seeing Tom singing on karaoke night...

And today we took him to one of our favourite restaurants for lunch - la Fontera at Esparto beach.

I had tenera (somewhere between veal and beef - officially one year old!) and it was a huge slice of meat. More than I would usually eat in a week, but I think I did it justice.

The dogs have enjoyed having some different company, and Kim in particular pesters Tom when he sits outside, but he eventually gives in and falls asleep at his feet. This week we were amused to see him sleeping with his paw behind his ear. I don't know why he did it, but he stayed that way for ages.

A couple more things to be happy about this week; On Sunday a friend from church gave me a bag of cooking apples from her tree, so I set about preparing them while they were nice and fresh.

This morning, (before the lovely beach front lunch) we drove to IKEA. This is in Murcia so it is a couple of hours away, but I wanted a new bookcase for my craft room - part of the big reorganisation I am trying to do. Tom helped me make an accurate floor plan on the computer so I could see what I might be able to squeeze in. We came away with a slightly smaller bookcase than I had intended, and a super new computer desk, and even better, my lovely husband paid for them! (Hence me treating them both to lunch!). The goods will be delivered on Monday, so hopefully Tom will be able to help with the assembly. I am not very good with the big things, and Chris can't do them on his own.

And to end with here are a couple of sky photos. After a very hot week, today was just a couple of degrees cooler, mainly because there was a light covering of clouds. This meant we might get a nice sunset, so as I was out the back feeding the dogs their tea, I took this photo.

Then Tom came out and we sat we watched as the sky darkened and the clouds began to turn pink. There was just a tiny sliver of a new moon visible above this cloud bar.

And before the sun disappeared altogether we were treated to this glorious show.

So on that beautiful note I will go and link up with Virginia at her blog Celtic House, and I'll see you all, same place, same time, next week.