Rocking Your World 2019; Week 14

Another weekend is rapidly approaching so time to look back at what has "rocked our world" this week.

Apart from the inevitable food shop on Saturday, I don't think anything very important happened. We did manage to get to bed a little bit earlier than usual to make up for the hour of sleep we were missing as we moved our clocks on to Summer time.

Sunday was Mothering Sunday for UK though not for Spain, and sadly it was the dullest wettest day we have had since Christmas, and it was none too warm either! I went to church as usual and this was the view from the little patio where we sometimes sit for our after-service refreshments.

At least you could see the closer mountains, though not the ones in the distance. When I left home the Cabrera mountains that are such a lovely backdrop to our village were completely lost in low cloud.

But we still had a lovely service honouring mothers everywhere. 

At the front of our church there are two small semi-circular windows, up above the altar.

We started with an old favourite hymn from back in my Sunday School days, "All things bright and beautiful", and as we sang it, a little bird arrived on the outside ledge and started chirruping. Soon he was joined by another and another until four little birds joined in our praise. Whether they were sheltering from the cold and rain, or were actually attracted by our singing I don't know, but it was very apt to see them as we sang , "Each little flower that opens, Each little bird that sings, He made their glowing colours, He made their tiny wings".

Just in front of the altar there was a board with the outline of a tree, and as we arrived we were given a small piece of pink paper and were asked to write our mother's name on it. These were collected during the service and arranged on sticky tape 'branches'. I can't see my mum's name in this picture but I know she is there, probably on the lower branch that later had some flowers put in front of it.

At the end of the service my dear friend Margie, who is a registered lay reader, handed out posies of flowers to all the ladies. 

As there were plenty to go round, some were given to the men as well, and others, who were going straight off to have a meal out, took some for the restaurant staff and I heard they were delighted to be included. Here are mine which went in a vase as soon as I got home, and they are looking just as fresh still today.

While I was shopping on Saturday, I popped into a Día supermarket because it is the only place I can get special food for two of my cats, and they had some strawberries on special offer, so I bought a couple of kilos to make some jam.  It made ten jars which have already been sold. So on Tuesday I went to the village market to see if they had any at a good price and one man said they were 2.50€ for a kilo (which is good) or 3.50€ for a box containing 2 kilos (which is excellent). He was surprised when I said I would like two boxes. So yesterday I stirred my cauldron again and made another 18 jars of jam, which are all labelled and priced now ready to go on sale. I am afraid I got carried away with the task and forgot to take a picture of all their lovely red lusciousness. But I am pleased to say that my recipe calls for 3 kilos of fruit so there are plenty left for Chris and I to enjoy!

On Monday I decided to do a little spring cleaning. We have a large, heavy glass door between the kitchen and the garden, which slides, and it has been getting difficult to slide because the runners had collected cat hairs and dust! I couldn't clean it very well in situ, so Chris managed to lift the doors out and when I had cleaned the runners thoroughly, he lubricated them and put the doors back for me. That's one small job to tick off the list, and they do run a bit easier now.

On Tuesday we had our church AGM and I am now an elected member of the PCC (Church council). I am not usually a great one for business meetings, but I hope I will able to be of some service during my year(s) in office. After the meeting we all stayed for a meal which was excellent, and it was a good opportunity to chat to people from the rest of the Chaplaincy, who we don't get to meet socially very often.

This morning I intended doing some washing, but once again the sky was dark grey with a threat of rain, so as I rely on drying my washing out on the line, I decided to postpone that. Instead we did a little bit of gardening. Neither of us are up to working out there all day like we used, but little by little we will get it tidied up. Today we managed to sort out the big palm, and cut off its lower, dead fronds. Then we weeded all the pots, and cut off the dead foliage. I potted on a baby tree that a friend gave me. It has survived its first winter so I am hopeful it will continue to thrive.

Then we drove down to Mojacar and found a little cafe that had some tasty dishes to choose from. Generally the Spanish restaurants offer 'menu del día', which is a three course , reasonably priced meal, and sometimes that is what we have. But we don't always want three courses and it is not easy to find somewhere where you can just choose one main course. But today we did, and as it incorporated a bakery, I bought a slice of lemon and ginger cheesecake to bring home. We had it this afternoon with a cup of tea and it was excellent. And although there were still a few clouds around, and a coolish breeze, on the sheltered patio we were able to sit outside to eat and feel comfortably warm.

This afternoon I had a little play in my craft room. While we were tidying up in the garden I cut down a 'weed', (they are all wild flowers to me), and I noticed it had lovely heart shaped leaves, so I collected a handful, and this afternoon I spread them between two sheets of paper and pressed them through my die-cutting machine. Although the leaves were green, they left a pretty brown pattern on the paper, which I will hopefully find a use for on a card soon. 

I then wanted to try again with something else so I had a wander round outside and came in with a head of bright red geraniums. They made a very colourful paper, though the prints are purple rather than red.The squashed petals are still in place in this photo, but they will fall off, or be easy to remove once it is really dry.

And that is about it for this week. Tomorrow morning I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World. See you there.