Rocking your World 2014; Week 38

It is not often that I start my post with a joke, but I saw this on the internet and it did make me chuckle, so I decided to share it with you.

Two old ladies meet in Heaven...

SYLVIA: Hi! Wanda.
WANDA: Hi! Sylvia. How'd you die?
SYLVIA: I froze to death.
WANDA: How horrible!
SYLVIA: It wasn't so bad. After I quit shaking from the cold, I began to get warm & sleepy, and finally died a peaceful death.
What about you?
WANDA: I died of a massive heart attack. I suspected that my husband was cheating, so I came home early to catch him in the act. But instead, I found him all by himself in the den watching TV.
SYLVIA: So, what happened?
WANDA: I was so sure there was another woman there somewhere that I started running all over the house looking.I ran up into the attic and searched, and down into the basement. Then I went through every closet and checked under all the beds. I kept this up until I had looked everywhere, and finally I became so exhausted that I just keeled over with a heart attack and died!
SYLVIA: Too bad you didn't look in the freezer -- we'd both still be alive.

Not quite my view of heaven, but it still amused me.

Now what has really made me smile this week. Well, the weather for a start. There is just a hint of Autumn in the air. On Tuesday we had a heavy shower, and most days the temperature has dropped just a little. Don't get me wrong. I love the long, hot days of Summer, but after nearly three months they do get a bit wearying, and it only takes a drop of two of three degrees, to make us feel a lot fresher. It hasn't been cooler all day, and most afternoons we have had the dreaded hot wind, which can be quite unpleasant, but fortunately for me, that usually comes from the back of the house, and our fly-free area is protected from the worst of it, so I have been able to sit out for a couple of hours each day, keeping the dogs company, and getting on with my cross-stitch. I making good progress with that, and yesterday I finished the third of the four pages of pattern, and I have done about half of the last page. So the end is in view for stage one anyway. There is then more top-stitching than I have ever done on a picture before, but I'll worry about that when I get to it.

I ordered a few craft materials last week and the parcel arrived on Wednesday. I love getting parcels (don't we all?) but unfortunately one item was incorrect. I e-mailed the company and within an hour I got a reply. They apologised for the mistake, told me I could keep the incorrect item, and by the end of the day, the correct item was dispatched. Now that's what I call good service! And I have a free set of five mica powders in lovely rich autumn colours, which I will enjoy using very soon.

Another craft item that I bought recently is a set of Brushos. Crafters who read this will know exactly what they are, but for anyone else, they are powder paints with very strong, rich pigments, many of which separate into their component shades when sprinkled on wet paper. The uses for these are very varied, but right now I am just playing with them. I bought a set of twelve colours and made some swatches by flicking the powder onto wet paper, and also by spritzing the dry powder with water, and I pinned them all up on my cabinet to dry. (I actually use coloured magnets to fix things to my cabinet, not pins!).

The black and the dark brown had the best reaction. As you can see below, the black has elements of blue, orange and brown in it, which all dissolved at different rates so they can be seen individually.

i had a trip to Turre market this morning because I suddenly realised that the plum season will soon be over and I haven't made any plum jam yet. So I set off looking for some bargains and it was my lucky day. Most of the dark plums (I think these make the best jam), were 1.50€ a kilo, which is quite good, but I was hoping for even better. Then I spotted a small stall that had a separate box for 1€ per kilo because some of the plums had marked skins.  These were fine for jam so I bought all they had, around four kilos. Then as I was leaving the market, I passed an old lady who doesn't have a stall, but she sometimes sits with boxes of fruit from her own trees. She had a box that were mostly red plums, plus a few yellow ones and the odd peach as well, so I bought another two kilos from her. So I think I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!

I like to have some variety on my jam stall, and right now I only have marmalade in the store cupboard, so today I also bought a few mixed peaches and nectarines to do a small batch of jam. I don't think the peaches have enough flavour on their own, but the nectarines add some sharpness, so they should work well together.

I also bought plums and peaches to cook for us, and to put a few boxes away in the freezer for later on, so I shall have a busy day tomorrow.

The other buy I was rather pleased with was some peppers. Another lady who doesn't have an official stall, is often there with loads of varieties of peppers and tomatoes, that I think are home grown, and she bags them all up for 1€ a bag. So today I bought some mixed red, orange and yellow, small, sweet peppers, mainly because they looked so good! I was poaching some fish at lunch time and I halved a few of these and added them to the pan, and they were delicious.

Quite a few folk now know about my Knit for Africa project and I get given all sorts of bits and pieces, from complete garments, to unfinished ones, to oddments of wool etc, and I do my best to use all of them. 

I have a friend who is active with the Lions Club, and recently she was given a bag of knitted 'bits'. She passed them on to me but said probably the best idea would be to undo them and use the wool. When I got home I found there was a random mix of knitted 'pieces' in all sorts of colours, shapes and sizes! But it seemed a shame to waste all of someone's hard work, so I spent two afternoons patchworking them, and managed to make two complete blankets. There is no system to their arrangement, but they have colour and texture, and will certainly keep someone warm. When the evenings start to draw in and I can cope with the warmth of a blanket on my knees, I will crochet an edging on each one, and they can go in my next consignment to UK.

Now, of course I have some sky photos for you. With the slightly overcast days, we have had some lovely evening skies. There wasn't as much colour in it on Tuesday, after the rain, but the sun did come out late afternoon, and it set in a blaze of glory.

Last night was more colourful. The remaining clouds turned a lovely pearly pink...

...and about half an hour later there were bright streaks of orange and yellow, as the sun sank behind the mountains.

Now I want to get a post written for my craft blog, so I will link these up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and Rocking your World on Virginia's blog, and bid you all 'Goodbye' until next week. Hasta luego!