Rocking Your World 2018: Week 4

Here we are at the end of another week, and here is the photo that really made me smile.

The back row is my grandson, my daughter-in-law and my grand-daughter, and in the front is my son. They are in their costumes for the Harlequin  Pantomime Productions show that took place near Wolverhampton all last week. It was based on Red Riding Hood but somehow the Three Pigs got involved and Ben was one of them (a very camp little piggy or so I am led to believe). They are an amateur group but they give a very professional performance. I was able to go over to watch them a couple of years ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. I'd love to have been in the audience this year, but it just wasn't possible, but hopefully I will see the DVD eventually.

My first grateful for this week, is that I am now feeling almost back to normal after that awful virus that laid me low for the past month. I am still a bit clogged up, but now feel able to get back to my normal activities and that is good.

So Friday evening saw me setting off for choir practice. I knew the room would be cold so I put on several layers of clothes. We are learning some great pieces of music for our big event in London in the autumn, so we had a good sing and it was good to be back. And as an added bonus, my husband offered to drive me there, so I didn't have to worry about driving home in the dark, something I really don't like but have to do if I want to stay in the choir!

On Sunday I went to church in the morning, and it was a treat to see it all sparkling white in the sunshine. When Zurgena Town Hall heard about our special event next month, they sent painters round and painted the whole building inside and out, so it looks wonderful.

On Monday I had a day at home, so when I had done my bit of housework for the day, I sat in my craft room and put the finishing touches to my big set of Christmas cards that I made last week. I had a few images left so I used them and in the end I had a set of 25 cards. I am trying to make an average of twelve a month, so this was a great start. I tried the same last year and failed miserably, but maybe I can do better this year. My set has now been posted in the Rudolph Day Challenge that I enter on the 25th of each month, so I can now show a picture of them, and you can see them in more detail if you click HERE to go to my post on my craft blog.

On Tuesday we had arranged to hold the fist meeting of our House Groups for this year, mainly to plan what we could be doing this term. Unfortunately half the folk were missing as the bug is still affecting loads of people around here. But it was lovely to meet up, and chew over a few ideas, and hopefully at our next meeting we will have most people able to join us again.

When I got home from the meeting I made us a late lunch and we sat outside on the porch, Chris with his laptop and me with my knitting. The sun was really warm and and it reached 25º by midday, so we wanted to make the most of it. I decided the plants needed some water. I don't do them as often during the winter months, but, because they are all in pots, they do dry out and need a drink now and then. When I was watering a cactus, I saw a movement and a spider ran out and up the fly-free netting. He was such an unusual colour I just had to take a photo of him. Sorry to those who don't like spiders. (I freak out if they get on me, but I can still admire them from a distance!). This one looks pretty big, but I have zoomed in on him for the photo and he was much smaller really.

While we were sitting on the porch I heard the distant sound of the bells that the goats wear around their necks, so I guessed a herd were on their way to the green zone, and sure enough, soon they were there, grazing on some very dry scrub. They were big, healthy looking animals, and they had a few babies with them. This time it was the older goat-herd with them so he had no smart phone to occupy him. But he did have a lovely young puppy with him, obviously learning to be patient and sit around with his master until it was time to move the herd on again. The goat-herds are all very friendly, and he waved and called out a greeting when he saw me, but when our dogs started barking excitedly, it was probably too much for the little pup and he moved them on.

On Wednesday I returned to my sewing group. There were a lot of people there, though several were looking as though they too were just recovering from the virus. But again it was good to meet with friends and catch up on what we had done over Christmas - it seems ages ago already!

That evening, as I called the cats in for the night, I noticed that the street lights looked different and I wasn't sure why. But when I opened the front door to investigate I saw that it was very misty - almost foggy. That is a phenomenon that we don't usually see out here. I think this is the first time I have seen thick mist since I lived in UK. It was still there when we got up Thursday morning, but the sun broke through and soon burnt it off. But now we are moving into a new band of weather with a very cold wind blowing today and the likelihood of clouds and rain throughout next week.

So yesterday I might have opted for another day at home but I had arranged to go up to the little white village behind ours, El Pinar, to have lunch with some friends. It is a tiny village and every road seems to be a hill, and I had no idea where I was going, so of course I got lost, but fortunately I could ring one of the group and they talked me back to the right house. We spent a very pleasant couple of hours together which was a nice change as I rarely meet up just for a social chat. Usually I am attending organised groups or meetings. Of course I didn't think to take a photo of the four of us, but that shows we were enjoying ourselves.

Another little happy moment yesterday was when my new Kindle e-reader arrived. My other one was quite old and the on-off button had become very temperamental, which was frustrating when I wanted to read and it refused to turn on. So I treated myself to a Kindle paperwhite, and I must say I like the look and feel of it. Although I am equally happy holding a 'proper' book, some can be quite heavy, and the Kindle is perfect for reading outside, even in the brightest sunshine. And of course it means that when I go on holiday I can take several book with me in a very small package. So I have put a few books on it and I'm ready to go.

An update on last week's post when I said I am trying to finish off some projects, and I showed my Seaside Winter blanket, assembled but awaiting the finishing touch. Well it is now completely finished, so another project I can cross of the list! 

I used some of the colours from the main squares, plus the neutral edging colour to work a simple linen stitch and small scallop border. I think that was a good choice and I am happy with how it turned out.

Another project I am still working on is my digital scrapbook of the holiday we had in Ireland back in 2012! At the end of the holiday, which had been a tour of Southern Ireland from Cork to Donegal, we crossed over into Northern Ireland so that I could fulfil another wish, and visit The Giant's Causeway. I am so glad we did. It was majestic, and worth every minute of the detour. So this week I have made three pages about this part of the holiday. There is one more page to come for this section, which is planned but not executed yet.

Now today it is really windy. I can here it whistling round this side of the house. But at least it has blown some of the clouds away. As the forecast for next week is so poor, I decided I had better get the sheets washed today, so they are now hanging out on the line, with about ten pegs on each side to ensure they blow dry and not blow away like the last lot of washing did!

As I haven't shown any sky photos for a long time, I will end with four that were all taken as the sun was setting last night. As you can see, the clouds were already gathering but that just makes for a prettier sky.

Now all that is left is for me to link up with Rocking Your World, and Annie's Friday Smiles.