Rocking Your World 2016: Week 34

Hi everyone. here is my smile for this week. Two more bags of squishy loveliness that arrived in the post a few days ago.

I now have at least one ball of every solid colour in the Stylecraft Special DK range. They do make about six 'marled' colours, but as I am not so keen on those, I haven't included them in my collection. So now I have completed my set of colour-sample pegs, and I am really pleased with them.

I used them to select the colours I am going to use for my next project. It is called the Seaside Winter Blanket, so I decided on a range of blues and yellows, plus silver (not in the photo), and a very neutral colour (parchment) for the borders and joining of the motifs.

The blanket is made from small squares plus a few much larger ones, and I have seen it made in a range of colours, including some made with all the colours that folk have left over in their stash, but this time I wanted something more simple. It has been too hot to make a start this week, but I hope to get into it soon.

You may remember from last week that our son Tom is here for a fortnight. He has had better weather this week - if hotter is the same as better!(He says it is when you are on holiday) - and we have spent a lot of time just sitting in the porch and dipping in and out of the pool. So here are my menfolk enjoying the sun.

Tom borrows our car sometimes and goes down to the beach for an hour or so, but it is a bit too hot down there for us, but yesterday we decided we would all go on an adventure, in search of a small commune near the Rio Aguas - the only river in Almeria that is in constant flow all year round.

They say only mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the noon-day sun - or 37º of Spanish sunshine at any time of day, but at around 10.00 we set out. It took us a while to locate the area we wanted, but eventually we parked and set off looking for some signs.

The commune is a small group of people trying to live a sustainable lifestyle, growing their own food, generating their own electricity and managing their own water system. They took over the area when it was an abandoned hamlet and made their homes in the derelict buildings, which they weatherproofed with wood, plastic sheeting and other discarded items found around them. Many have now been made more complete, but it is all still very basic.

We followed a narrow path down through the houses. I have broken my 'dog-walking shoes' so I was only wearing sandals and I needed a hand on some of the rocky places.

The views were beautiful - lovely unspoiled countryside which was greener than anywhere else at this time of year because of the river below.

Tom wanted to try out my camera so I caught him on my phone instead, and at the end we combined our photos.

The path wound down through a garden of chumba, (prickly pear), which had sadly been attacked by the white fly that has nearly wiped it out in the province again this year.

There were lots of ripe figs on the trees which were very tempting, but these people live on what they can grow, so we didn't touch them.

There was plenty of wild life, from this lovely red dragonfly...

... to these frogs, sunning themselves around a rather murky pond.

We were told there were a lot of turtles down near the water, but maybe we were there at the wrong time of day, because we didn't see any of those.

Our path took us down through a bamboo wood.

Then finally we were rewarded with this view of the river.

The steep incline down to its edge was a step too far for us oldies, but at least Tom could revive himself with a cooling dip.

While he swam, we walked back a short way to some steps we had passed, and sat there in the shade, drinking gallons of water, and regaining our composure before the return journey. I took this selfie of us. We do look a bit 'glowing' don't we!

Of course, what goes down has to come back up, and the walk back to the car nearly finished us off! But we made it, with a degree of relief that it was Tom who was driving home.

At the start of the walk I got funny looks from Chris and Tom when I pointed at a rock and said "Look, it is smiling at us". But it was. Don't you agree?

But you know me and faces. I went on to see them everywhere. Here is another one on the far side of the river.

And I can see at least three in this rock face.

When we got home I was surprised to find it was still only about 12.30, so we had a quick swim in the pool, and then relaxed in the sitting room with the air-con on while we all calmed down. Tango wanted to sit on my lap and was very disgruntled when I wouldn't let him! The last thing I needed was a furry blanket.

That's just about it for this week.
I was pleased with the treatment I received at our village medical centre. I went there a couple of weeks ago with a small raised lump on my leg, that has been there ever since I had an insect bite way back last Autumn. I thought it was getting bigger though there was no sign of infection, but I was worried that it might be developing into a diabetic ulcer, so I thought I'd better get it looked at. The practice nurse did something to it,  with a clear liquid that turned black, and then put a special dressing on it. I have been going back to have a new dressing every couple of days, and today she said it was fine and has left it uncovered. I wasn't supposed to get it wet, so I have been wrapping it up to have quick dips in the pool with Tom, but I don't have to worry about that any more. It was very strange but I am glad it has been dealt with, with such efficiency.

I love the hibiscus flowers that bloom out here all summer. We have a yellow one and a double pink one, but I wanted the more traditional red one as well, so a few weeks ago we bought a trough that turned out to have six small plants all squashed into it. It was difficult to keep them watered - they are quite thirsty plants, so a week ago we replanted them, with three in each of two big pots, and they are now covered in flowers. Isn't this beautiful?

And finally, here is one pretty sky. Once again it is not a sunset, but another sunrise that I took when we were out walking the dogs. Such a beautiful promise of another beautiful day.

And while on the sky, did you see the moon last night? It was full and bright - here anyway, but I am no good at taking photos in the night. But it really was rather splendid!

Well I actually wrote most of this in the morning instead of the hour before midnight like I usually do! Now I am back after a very nice lunch at a local hostelry which means I have a day of from cooking. Win, win for me! So now I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World at Celtic House, and then I will join the others in the pool.