Rocking Your World 2020: Week 12

I guess this has been a difficult week for most people, but that doesn't stop us finding things to smile about. Like Annie, I have seen countless humorous Facebook posts about corona-virus; some have made me smile more than others, but here is one that did raise a chuckle.

But there have been other happy moments too. First I did manage to finish my Rozeta afghan, so here it is.

The designer, Lilla Björn, took her idea from a rose window in a church. Mine is far from perfect. I made some careless mistakes with the tension so the border is a bit wavy, but I love it anyway. Since taking this photo I have washed and blocked it, so it is in better shape now, but it is too dark to take a better photo today.

Fortunately I have other projects I can be working on while we are all confined to our houses, but the one I would like to finish next is at a standstill because I have run out of the main colour wool. I have ordered more and it was dispatched from UK on Monday, so just maybe, it will arrive next week. Here's hoping...

And I have also been busy down in my craft room in the afternoons. As well as colouring a set of digi images ready to make some Christmas cards, I also used my Silhouette Cameo cutting machine to make this cute little 'Pot of gold' for my husband Chris on St Patrick's Day. I had trouble finding any sweets in plain gold wrappers, so I used a little gold organza bag to hold some Smarties, (one of Chris' favourites) and covered them over with some butter mints. It provided a light moment on Tuesday morning.

It is a great shame that just as we went into complete lockdown six days ago, the weather took a turn for the worse and we have had grey skies and light showers every day so we have not been able to sit on the porch and enjoy the sun. It is set to stay the same until at least next Wednesday, and temperatures have dropped significantly too. But there have been a few sunny break-through moments so I had a wander around the garden. I call this photo "Where there's life there's hope. A week or two ago, Chris cut down our big bougainvillea that covers the fence between our back door and next-door's garden. It is old and knotted and he managed to cut it right back to the main trunk. But this week I spotted signs of new growth. Isn't nature wonderful!

Just around the corner the back railings has our other bougainvillea plant which I just love. It was a failing baby stem when we bought it for a song, some years ago. It is now well established but does not yet need such a ruthless pruning. Right now it is covered in flowers and I just love it.

Of course, this is not really their flowers, just colourful bracts that protect and help to spread the seeds when the flowers are done. The actual flowers are like tiny white stars, popping up between the bracts and they are a delight to see.

The back patio is narrow but there is just room for a couple of benches along the wall, and it is a really warm spot when the main yard is in shade. We had a roll of old garden wire under one bench but it kept blowing away so we moved it up on to the seat and Paco has decided it is a good place to lay. It looks most uncomfortable to me, but he likes it.

Today it is decidedly chilly and even the animals are feeling it. It is not often Paco and Luna curl up together like this, but that how they stayed all evening yesterday.

Normally they would be out for most of the day, but they are back on the settee together again today.

And over on the other side of the room, the dogs are curled together on the other settee.  They know they are allowed on that one, but Kim manages to screw up the protective cover every day! They don't like the camera and looked away as soon as I tried to get a photo!

Of course Tango was in with us as well,but he always climbs onto my lap if I sit down and then he is too close to get a photo.

I am old fashioned enough to prefer loose tea leaves to a tea-bag and I have a lovely glass infuser pot to brew it in. Unfortunately I cannot buy loose tea out here at any sensible price so we order it online through Amazon, and it comes from Ireland. I am diabetic so I don't drink any sodas, and strictly limit fruit juice or squash, and I don't even like wine or beer! Hence tea is a very important part of my daily fluid intake. We had a couple of packs left from our last order but I asked Chris to order some more (it comes in a bundle of four bags), in case deliveries of all but essentials stops. He ordered it on Wednesday afternoon and it has just arrived! Well done Amazon. Now that's something I am really grateful for.

We had a notice on Tuesday to say our post office service in the village is dropping to one hour on two days a week. I had made some Easter cards for family in UK so I decided to go up and post them straight away while I still could. The post office is only a few hundred meters up  the road from our house, so I felt OK about walking up there, but on the way home I was stopped by a patrolling police car. I was able to show them my receipt from the post office and they just told me to hurry straight home. It seems a bit draconian, especially compared with the measures being taken so far in UK, but it does instill a feeling of confidence that everything possible is being done to stop the spread of the virus. We all know where we stand, and everyone is really doing their best to abide by the new rulings.

I don't know whether our mail delivery is down to twice a week too, but I did get a letter this mornig which was a lovely surprise. We rarely get anything in our box except bills! Without thinking I opened it straight away and it was a Mothering Sunday card from my eldest son and his wife. (Truth to tell all the days are pretty much the same right now and I had forgotten that this Sunday was a special one, or I might have saved it until then). As you may remember, son number one is a vicar and as such he has a 'second family' making demands on his time so I am aware that although I always get a card from them on birthdays and other special days, it has usually been chosen by my daughter-in-law Jo, though she does make sure he signs it and sometimes makes him responsible for posting it, so I am not surprised if it arrives a few days late! This was a lovely card with a beautiful, colourful owl on it, but there was also a second card and inside Jo had written, I saw this and immediately thought of you, so I just had to send it as well. This was what was on the front.

The owl was lovely, but this is the one that made me 'hoot'. It is spot on. So Thanks to Jo for the smile of the week.

So here we are, day six of lockdown, and as you can see, there are still plenty of things to make us smile.

So I will go over to Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World to link this post up. Keep smiling everyone and stay safe.