Rocking Your World 2020; Week 6

My week got off to a good start with a lovely church service on Sunday morning celebrating Candlemas (when the infant Jesus was presented at the temple and Simeon recognised who he was, and also when the new church candles are blessed for the new year). We were each given a little candle as we arrived, with a cardboard circle around it to catch any wax drips. These were lit during the first hymn, and we were then invited to bring them to the front and press them into two trays of wet sand prepared for them.

They burned happily throughout the service. It was intended that we would collect them again on the way out, but sadly one or two folk had accidentally left their cardboard circles at an angle, and during the closing hymn one caught fire, and a quick thinking gentleman grabbed the trays and took them outside to burn themselves out!

It was out first time trying this so I guess it is a lesson learned and we will do things a little differently next year!

On Tuesday we went round to the camp site at the edge of the village for a meeting with officers from the British Consul, and the organisation "Brits in Spain", who were talking about how we can expect Brexit to affect those of us who have migrated to Spain. It was a super sunny day and there was a good crowd already there when we arrived.

We joined the queue at the front to collect some handouts, and then found ourselves seats around the swimming pool as the patio was a bit crowded.

I can't say we heard anything really new, but it was reassuring to have some of the rumours confirmed in our favour. Those of us who live here permanently and have our residencia and Spanish drivers licenses already, really have nothing to worry about. There will be some changes for those who 'to and fro' throughout the year, but not until after the transitional year.

I made good use of the oranges I was given last week with one more batch of bitter orange marmalade and one of a darker one with thick cut peel. So now my shelves are full. I will be given some grapefruit soon from a friend, so I shall be making one or two lots with them, and I hope to get some of my hot ginger and chilli jam made too, but I need to sell some of this lot first so I have space on my shelves. Last week Annie asked me about my jars. Most of my customers do bring them back when they are empty, and also add some from jam they have bought in the supermarkets. I can't use all of them, but any that are too big, or too small etc I recycle at the glass bank. The lids do wear out over time, but I can sometimes buy replacements in one of the todo shops. Even when they come to me looking really clean, I put them all through the dishwasher, store them without lids to prevent them from smelling musty, and immediately before I use them, I sterilize them in the oven.

The weather has picked up again but it is very unstable with some days being warm and sunny and some still quite cold. I have said before how green everything is looking, because we have had several spells of rain with enough coming down to do some good. It is hard to decided what to wear each day. On Tuesday this week it peaked at 25º in the afternoon and the next day it was 15º. Even the wild life is confused. We have had a tortoise in our yard this week and one night, Chris got up to investigate because the dogs were yelping in an unusual way, and found they had spotted a hedgehog walking across the patio. The dogs are enclosed in the fly free porch at night and were frustrated because they couldn't get out to the intruder. Hedgehogs are quite rare here, and we have not seen one on our land before. I am sure both of these should still be hibernating. At least there is plenty of green vegetation for the tortoise to break his fast on.

The combination of wet and warm encourages everything to grow and I have been watching what many would call a weed, growing outside the kitchen door. It is in fact a herb called fumitory, and according to the internet, it can be bought dried, and burnt, and the smoke is supposed to clear a space of bad spirits! This one was a tiny shoot in a square of soil where we used to have a shrub growing. I had placed an old plastic seat over this square and sometimes I sit on it while the dogs are eating their food near it. Anyway, in just a few weeks the fumitory grew up the legs of the chair, across the seat, and right to the top of the fence behind it. The fence is covered in a type of artificial grass bought by the roll here and used mainly for privacy. You can see the bright green of the plant climbing up it though. It is incredible how quickly it has grown to the top. It now has flowers all over it, and I think they are really pretty.

Probably my biggest smile of the week came yesterday. The Christmas before last, you may remember that Chris bought me some hand-made shoes at a Christmas Fair. (See here). They were made of red and orange leather and had a picture of cacti on them. My friends called them my 'hippy shoes', but everyone who has seen them has loved them.

This Christmas I returned to the same fair hoping to buy a blue pair and was very disappointed because the lady who makes them was not there. They are the most comfortable shoes I have ever worn, but I do wear a lot of blue, and the orange ones just don't 'go' with them. Anyway, I asked around and although lots of folk know about 'The lady who makes shoes', no-one could tell me how to contact her. I did learn that she lives just outside Bédar, the little white village up behind our's, but that is all. I have spent a lot of time searching for her online, but without a name I was not having much success, but then I discovered a travel page with a link to a Facebook group called  'People who live in the Village of Bédar'. I sent them a message and someone sent me the email for Beth's shoes, and that was it. I had found my lady. I wrote to her and explained what I was looking for and yesterday she came to my house, and brought about a dozen pairs of shoes for me to try! How is that for personal service?

She was so nice, and we had a lovely chat about the area, markets she sometimes attends, and the problems involved in small scale selling within the bounds of the law in Spain. She didn't have any blue one with a painted design on them, but I settled on a plainer pair made from three shades of blue leather, dark at the side, paler at the back, and a bright turquoise on the toes.

Then my lovely husband Chris said he would buy me one more pair so I have these gorgeous black and green ones with a hummingbird sipping from a flower on them.

So now I can have comfortable feet whatever colour I am wearing, and that is something to be really grateful for.

So now it is time to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World, and see what is making you smile too.