Rocking Your World 2020: Week 24

I saw this  the other day. It is just one of many that are around right now, but point number 8 is the reason we are here each Friday, to share the happy moments and things that have made us smile this week.

So here are my happy moments. I think 'Bright and Breezy' best describes our days this week. There has been enough wind to keep the temperature at a comfortable level, though for a couple of afternoons it has got a bit too windy for sitting outside. We even had two days of intermittent rain, but that made me smile too as I didn't need to get the hose out for all my pots of flowers.

They are loving the weather and the front yard is looking good. That hydrangea I showed you in bud a few weeks back is now in full flower.

.. and so are the pinks.

One of the roses decided to flower again and I counted a dozen buds on it, most of which have now opened. The stems can hardly hold them up. It looks much more beautiful in real life.

I saw this wasp on my Crown of thorns. It isn't the annoying common wasp. This one is a good pollinator and not aggressive.

The silk tree we planted out a couple of weeks ago, is much happier in its new home than it was in a pot. It only took a couple of days to settle in, and of course, the rain had helped. It soon had bigger leaves and more of them, though sadly it shows no sign of flowering yet. It has a rather thin stem/trunk right now so we used a sturdy pole to support it, and within a week there were new shoots emerging all the way up it, which are now 
doing well. 

When I bought our Bird of Paradise tree I inquired about a silk tree, and the dealer told me he didn't stock them because they are too expensive, and he couldn't sell them. So I was very grateful when a friend, moving back to UK, dug up this self-seeded baby from their garden for me. It was a tiny little thing then so I am pleased at the way it is growing now.

Back last May, when we were driving our son and his wife back to Almeria airport, we stopped off in Nijar to visit the cactus garden. We bought a few plants there, and one was this desert rose. It had two flowers on it at the time, but once they died, it looked a bit sad, and I wasn't sure it would survive. I have tried moving it to various locations to offer it more sun, and have ensured it has sufficient, but not too much, water. This May it was still not showing much sign of flowering though there were a few new leaves growing, but now it has one lovely flower and several buds ready to open. So I am really happy to see that.

But enough of the garden. I have done some card-making in the afternoons, but my evenings are still spent mostly crocheting, while watching TV or sitting out on the porch with some background music on. This is my current project. It is proving too be very 'challenging', so I won't show you more until I prove to myself that I can do it!

During the summer months I am working mainly with 4ply yarn which is lighter than my usual DK, and mostly with cotton, or cotton mix yarns. Fortunately I can buy this at a local shop, as my favourite online yarn store is still not sending out of UK. This bag has what I need for two other projects. I have the patterns for them, but goodness knows when - if ever - I get around to making them.

This lot I did send for just before lockdown. It will be my 'go-to' project when I am not in the mood for anything more complicated. It requires a lot (over 100) of small motifs which are relatively simple to make, so I can pick it up and make a few more whenever I want something quick and easy to do.

And as if that wasn't enough to have going on, I had some happy mail this week with this big ball of cotton and pattern book. It was from a company that I know takes their time with deliveries, but there was no rush for it, so I took the chance, and actually it arrived sooner than I expected. So that was a nice surprise. I had to buy a big book of patterns just to get the one I wanted, but actually there are several items in it that I might have a go at one day!

The Christmas before last I was visiting my son in Manchester just at the right time for the big Christmas market there, and one of the things I bought was a metal spinner. It is made up of lots of concentric metal rings in blue changing to gold further into the centre, with a gold sun in the middle, and the centre piece is a big colourless crystal. Other crystals hang in a metal spiral under it, and as the wind blows it round there is a lovely effect of circles moving outwards and changing colour. Unfortunately, where I was able to hang it, in the archway of the porch, it is too sheltered to spin very well, so I managed to buy a small motor for it. This week Chris suddenly realised he could realign one of the porch lights so that it shines onto the spinner, so with that and the motor running, I had a beautiful light show. It is quite mesmerising to watch. I took a video of it and tried to collect a few stills from it. I made a strip to try to show the effect. It is not very good but it's the best I can do. I am sure you get the idea.

Time now to link up with Rocking Your World, and Annie's Friday Smiles.

And that, lovely people, is it for this week. Take care everyone, and I'll see you next week.

(P.S. A message for Virginia on Celtic House. I cannot get my comments to publish even though I do send one every week. I think the problem may be in your settings as others can see my comments. Is there any other way I can contact you? Via WhatApp etc, so you can cut and paste it in yourself. I understand your desire for privacy so the lack of contact details on your page, but I don't know how else to do it.)