Rocking Your World: Week 17

Hi everyone. These Fridays sure come round quickly don't they, but Friday is when we think of the good things that have happened this week, so here goes.

I am starting this week with a link to a video of our youngest son. He recently went to see the London stage show 'Book of Mormons', and although he said 'Don't go there mum. You'd hate it!', he thought it was the best comedy he has ever seen, and he loved the music from it. He is a musician who writes, sings and plays his own songs, but also does covers of other people, and he wanted to do one of the songs from the show. Unfortunately it needed two people, so he dug out an old wig and pair of glasses and doubled up himself. He'd never done that sort of video editing so I think he did a good job. But it makes me smile because I just love to see him having such fun  with his music. I shared his video on Facebook with the caption, "My son Ben and my son Ben, having fun together". If you are interested you can see his video on youtube, by clicking here. (apologies Annie. I know you saw it on facebook).

But there have been plenty of other things to rock my world, and make me grateful this week too.

Chris has had his stitches out. His wound is healing nicely and he is beginning to feel more comfortable.

I went to the doctor for myself,  with some trepidation, knowing she is not very easy to talk to and expecting to have to fight for a referral, but I did my homework so I could speak to her all in Spanish, and before I got to ask for it, she gave me the form to apply for a hospital appointment. It's nothing too serious, but I am happy that it is going to be investigated.

On Wednesday it was our 37th wedding annivesary. It passed quietly. We have never made a big 'thing' of anniversaries, though we did make a couple of significant ones quite special, and we are thinking we may do something special again when it gets to forty years!

I spent a very pleasant afternoon yesterday, at a friends house, enjoying a Royal Tea Party. It was done as a church fund-raiser to replace our usual St George's day dinner that was cancelled through the ill health of the hosts. Anyway, sixty guests came to our tea, and those of us on the Fund raising committee all helped with the preparation of food. I have never seen such an array of sandwiches, scones and cakes. Fortunately it was the one day all week we had full sunshine, so we were able to spread around the garden. We had set up tables for eight on every space available, and while folk were still arriving, we worked in teams of four to complete a quiz on the Queen. I have to admit I didn't know many of the answers, but as a team we did OK. 

It was suggested we try to wear red, white and blue, and most people had at least one of those. One or two took it a bit further and wore their 'patriotic hats' as well.

While we took round plates of food, our church organist and her husband, entertained us with traditional English folk songs. Then, when everyone had eaten all they could, Ron did a couple of funny recitations which were well received.

We finished the afternoon with two big birthday cakes and glasses of cava (local name for bubbly). It was a good afternoon, with opportunities to chat with folk we don't sit and talk to very often, and I am sure the final sum raised will make it all worthwhile.

It has been another slightly uncertain week weather wise, with lots of windy days, a fair amount of cloud, and a few showers, but it doesn't get really cold any more which is a blessing. After one fairly grey day, the wind broke up the cloud early evening and I sat around the back of the house watching the sky. You could clearly see where the wind was whipping  up the clouds, and I thought it was really pretty. I think the 'flying sauce' must be a bird flying straight towards me!

On the greyer days I sat indoors to do some crafting in the afternoons, and I finished my bobbin lace bell. It was quite a fiddle to get the filler done but I managed it in the end. It was very small and delicate and would work well as a feature on a Christmas card. But I really wanted a slightly bigger one, so one evening I spent hours trying to enlarge the outer edge of the pattern, without enlarging the filler as that would have made the mesh too big. Eventually I managed it, so I then made it again using red and gold threads. I am quite pleased with it, but I may try another approach some time soon, that could make it a bit simpler to do. Here are my two bells so you can see how they compare in size.

As I mentioned last week, Lisca sent me the pattern, and now she is making it up too, so I am glad we have both managed it.

I have also been busy with my crochet hook. Part two of my Frida's flowers Crochet-along was released on Tuesday. It is another fairly straightforward motif, but I think it is a bit prettier than the first one. I have done two of the new ones, and as recommended, I am joining as I go, so they are each linked along one edge to a purple motif from part one.

The main colour is called petrol and it is a bit dark to work with by artificial light, so last night I made all the central flowers instead. There are six more, two of which will be the centre for two more whole motifs, and four will be on the side of half-motifs. I will easily get these made over the fortnight before part three of the pattern is released, but then we will be working on a much more complex flower motif, so I am not sure whether I will keep up with them. I'm looking forward to it though.

And while on the subject of flowers, after we had been to the medical centre this morning, to have Chris' final dressing removed, we drove to Vera and visited a newly opened garden centre. They had some lovely plants and we came home with two pots, two hanging baskets and this beautiful array of flowers.

That's not quite true as the daisies on the right (osteospermans) were bought up at the Albox market last Saturday. But today we bought a daisy pot to plant them it. (The little one in it now is a filler for the hanging baskets, but it happened to travel home in the car, inside the pot!).

I loved the bright colours of these little beauties. They are a type of Agapanthus lily from S. Africa, and the man promised me that when they have flowered and died down, they will stay dormant until next Spring, and then grow and flower again. I hope so. I guess tomorrow morning will be spent gardening!

One day I had arranged to ring my son Ben using Skype, and it keeps track of your call. It is so good and, when the internet connection holds up, it is just like sitting in the same room with him. We always did chat a lot together, and we suddenly discovered we had been talking for two and a quarter hours. I love Skype!

Another evening this week I sat out the back again just watching the sky, and enjoying the noise and flight of all the little birds looking for a roosting place for the night. It was later and the sky was getting dark, but again there were some interesting clouds.

In this one it looks as though there were some snow-capped mountains in the distance, but it is just the way the light caught the clouds.

I spent ages trying to catch some of the birds on camera, but they are mostly swifts, ducking and diving as they catch the little bugs that always wake up as the sun goes down, and they were just too quick for me. This was my best shot which does show just how fast their wings beat.

And finally, a couple more sky photos taken on an evening when there were still lots of broken clouds, but a slightly stronger sun behind them which lit up the places where it broke through. The first was taken on the same evening as the one higher up in this post, and you can see that the plume of windswept cloud was still there. It looked more dramatic as the sky darkened.

So now I will go and link up at Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World at Celtic House, and I'll try to visit some of you. I was a bit slow visiting last week because we had all sorts of internet problems, but it may have been the weather conditions, because we seem to be fine now. Thank you for stopping by. I do appreciate your comments.