Rocking Your World 2018: Week 1

Hi everyone. I am starting the new year with my quickest post ever. The head cold I said was starting last week, turned into a full blown cold type virus and I have been very under the weather all week. The doctor gave me a cocktail of strong analgesics and antihistamine, which knocked me out so I slept for the first few days. They also prevent me from driving safely, so tonight was the first time I stepped out of our gate all week.

But that doesn't mean there was nothing to smile about. On Tuesday I heard the front door bell, and when I went to answer it, there was friend with a big box of 'sunshine' for me. Don't they look lovely?

They are, in fact, not quite as lovely as they look, because these are bitter oranges, but I am very pleased to have them as they are what I use to make my marmalade. The friend has moved away now, but she used to live in this village so she knew I make marmalade to sell for charity, so when a friend of hers asked her if she knew anyone who could use them, she thought of me, and drove over with them. The lemons are from her own tree, and they are also very useful, as each batch of marmalade I make uses 4kg of oranges (about 15 fruit), and five or six lemons, which yields around sixteen jars of marmalade.

So this morning I set to and made one pan full, and there is enough fruit here to make two more batches sometime next week.

After a whole week indoors, I was ready to venture out tonight, so I wrapped up as warmly as I could, and Chris and I walked over to the village plaza to watch the Three Kings handing out presents to the children.

There was an excited chatter in the big marquee as the Kings entered and sat on their thrones up on the stage.

Then one of their helpers started calling out the names on the parcels (left at the Town Hall by the parents earlier today), and the children filed out to receive their gifts, say a few words to their King, and have a photo taken while sitting on his knee.

The format is exactly the same every year, and it is more important to them than a visit from Santa on Christmas Eve. I love to see their excited faces, and see them all tearing off the wrappings from the presents.

Tomorrow is the Three Kings Fiesta in our village when there is a re-enactment of the Kings' visit to the palace of King Herod. There is also a small medieval market with craft and food stalls. Hopefully it will be a nice enough day for me to wrap up and get over there for an hour or two. It is our tenth year here and so far we have never had a wet Three kings day, but the forecast is not so good for tomorrow, so we will have to wait and see what the morning brings.

One last little smile before I go. Because I can't drive on these tablets, yesterday I asked Chris to go down to Garrucha to buy bread and milk for the weekend. He was soon back with the milk but he had forgotten the bread! He did buy a bottle of wine and one of bacardi though! So I guess we are fine until Monday. (To be fair, he did go out again this morning for some bread). 

That is all from me this week. Hopefully by next Friday I will be fighting fit and ready to get involved with everything again.

So I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World, and go and see what has started everyone else's year off with a smile.