Rocking my World 2014. Week 46

We all know the old adage, "Never work with children or animals". Well here is Chris helping me prove why! I wanted a decent photo of each of our dogs, but they are hopeless with the camera. They either refuse to look at it, or else they walk right up to it. So I gave Chris their grooming box, (I had just been brushing their coats), with a bag of treats in it, and the idea was for him to keep two occupied while I photographed the third. Big Failure! Not his fault of course. They just know there are treats around, and none of them are prepared to miss out.

It looks as though a corner of these pictures has been cut out, but it is actually our newly-painted white wall, merging with the white of the page!

I think little Foxy must have done quite well out of it from the way she is licking her chops! But it doesn´t stop her watching in case there are some more.

Eventually I did get a few half-decent pictures and from them I managed to make these portraits.

I had really wanted to take them against a plain, light wall, but I know when to recognise that this is as good as it gets! So that evening I used photoshop and some Christmas scrapbook masks to prepare this card. I like to have an animal one to give to our vet, who is so good with all our pets, and to one or two family members who particularly like the dogs. (I´m the only cat lady in the family!). It is useable but I am not all that pleased with it so maybe I´ll have another go, perhaps using brighter colours for the backing layers.

And just to prove that the dogs can behave nicely, here they are sitting while I open the gate for them at tea-time. So that I  don´t get bowled over in the rush, they have to sit and wait until I have walked round the back and called them, and they are very good at that now. You can tell that Kim is ´top dog´. He always has the front position, and Miki, who is stubborn about sitting, is always at the back. Little Foxy, is smaller and still quite nervous, but she can hold her own when she needs to.

Here is an idea I saw on the internet this week. It is probably a bit soon to be thinking about next year´s resolutions, but I thought this was an excellent idea, and very much in the ethos of these Rocking Your World posts.

In the comments, someone suggested keeping one for a friend and adding a note each time they did something nice for/with you. Then at the end of the year you can give it to them along with a little `Thank-you´ gift for being a good friend.

I was pleased to find that, this year especially, Remembrance Day was taken just as seriously out here, among the British ex-pats, as it was back in UK. I got out my ´poppy dress´to wear to church for our service of Remembrance on Sunday, and I wore it again for Armistice Day on Tuesday. There are several quite strong British Legion Groups around here, and a week tomorrow our choir, Cantante, are singing part of our programme at their Christmas Fair.

A couple of weeks ago I planted up a few pansies in two pots that sit on our front step, and now they are giving us a lovely show of flowers. I just love their colours and their little smiling faces. I should have dead-headed them before I took this. I do do it most days as it makes them keep producing more flowers. They have appreciated the rain we have had this week.

This week my house group met at the home of a friend who lives up at the Parata, which is an area on the hillside between Mojacar Pueblo and Mojacar Playa. I don´t like driving up there as it is a narrow, winding road, that climbs steeply, but at least there are barriers on some of the tightest bends now. I am glad that I don´t live up there and have to make that journey every time I leave the house, but my friend says you soon get used to it. Driving back down the views over the sea are fabulous, but it is not a road you can stop on to take pictures. However, after the descent, I then drive up around the Pueblo to get onto the road for home, and along there I did stop to take a few photos. I have a newer smart phone - thanks to my youngest son who changes his techno toys more often than I change my clothes - and he gave me first offer on the discarded phone. I wanted to try out the camera on it, and I have to say I was very impressed with the quality of the views I took. Here are just a few of them. It was late afternoon and the sun was about to go down.

Then, as I drove on around the next bend, the sky was covered in broken cloud and the setting sun was trying to shine through the gaps. It was very beautiful, so I pulled over and took one more shot. (And Yes, I can see a face in it. Can you?)

There have been quite a few clouds around this week, so  the sky has been more interesting than it is on a really clear, blue-sky day. I took this one evening. It is the reflection of the sunset on the clouds at the front of the house. I feel you should be able to see the turrets of a fairy castle peeping out from the mist!

And finally, here is one taken at twilight. I love the colours in this and I think I will try to use it as the background for a silhouette card. So watch this space.

I had the same allergic reaction as last week, this morning and I have no idea why. It certainly wasn´t cucumbers this time. The reaction was identical to last time, but I had only had a couple of weetabix for breakfast and a cup of tea, so I can´t imagine what triggered it. I had no choice but to take a piriton again, which quickly eased the itching, and I then went out and did some shopping. But I was feeling tired when I got home so I quickly made our dinner and then I found myself sleeping in my chair for most of the afternoon. But I am still quite sleepy so hopefully a good night´s rest will get it out of my system.

So now I shall link this up with Annie´s Friday Smiles and Virginia at Celtic House, and then I shall fall into bed on the right side of mid-night for once.