Rocking Your World 2020:Week 27

Well we have hit the mid-point of this strange year, and are now counting back down to Christmas! I have two friends who regularly post on Facebook, how many weeks, Mondays, etc are left before Christmas. It can either be annoying or funny, but I do know that my son's birthday last Friday is the middle day between one Christmas day and the next, so we are certainly on the slippery slope downwards now! And what a year it has been so far. Probably not the one we might have predicted back in January.

Here summer has hit us like an oven door opening in our face. This was the thermometer on our Farmacía yesterday afternoon. (approx. 100ºF)

We never take its reading as gospel as we don't know how much protection there is around the sensor, but the thermometer on our porch which is always in the shade, has shown 35º some days, and by anyone's standards that is HOT!

So we are very grateful for our little pool which Chris keeps lovely and clean so it is always an inviting way to cool down. And one night this week I had my first after-dark dip of the season.

The water remains warm, around 27º this week, even at midnight, so it is easy to slip into. There is a bright light just under the surface of the water, which casts shadows from the ripples on the surface, and the street light behind Chris as he took this one, casts his shadow on the water, so it is quite strange.

After my swim I threw on an old kaftan that I bought in Thailand back in 2008, and relaxed on the porch with the dogs at my feet, as I sipped my favourite nightcap - a dark rum and coke. Who wouldn't be grateful for such a life!

Kim looks pretty relaxed there, but he is struggling with the heat. He does have an exceptionally thick coat, which makes him a very handsome fellow, but also makes him too hot in the summer. He sheds hair all the time but it never seems to get any thinner!

So we made an appointment for him to go to the groomer in Mojacar yesterday morning. They all find him very difficult to handle, and he had a very bad experience with one, and now hates to be groomed. They quite justifiably insist he wears a muzzle which he spends the whole time trying to get off. He is a gentle giant and never hurts anyone, but they don't know that. He lets me brush his back and sides, but touch the tail or below, and he says 'NO!'. So this was another groomer that was recommended to me and it was a very nice lady who greeted us. She was working in a very confined space which made it difficult with such a big dog, but she seemed to have his measure. I had agreed to get some calming tablets from my vet to give him first thing, as we have used them before. In fact our vet suggested using them after she called us from the groomers in her clinic because he was so worked up, she thought he might have a seizure. So he was not sure what was going on yesterday, and was a bit 'spaced out'. It took her 2½ hours, and by the time he was ready to go home, he was still rather wet because I had warned her he didn't like the hair-drier, and to be honest, he doesn't look a lot different from when we left him there, though she did have a good pile of hair from him. But at least he has had a bath and his rear end tidied up. When we got him home, he gave us a mournful look and crashed out on the settee. When I sent this photo to my son he said "Mum, if his medicines makes him feel like that, you could sell them on the black market"

Of course he is back to his old self today, but the bath has made him so fluffy that he looks even more 'hairy' than usual.

We knew she would be working on Kim for a while, but it was not worth driving home just to come back again, so we had our first coffee since the bars re-opened. The tables on the patio were well-spaced out, it was waiter service only, and we were expected to wear a mask except when we were drinking. But it was shady and pleasant to while away some time. When we called and found she still needed at least another hour, we browsed the local shops and I got a lovely fine cotton sundress and a pair of navy shoes , so it was a win, win for me.

I was impressed with the little lock-up shop where I bought the shoes. They had a box of plastic socks on the counter for anyone wanting to try on shoes, and any clothes that were touched/tried on, and not bought, were hung on a rack and a young girl was continuously steaming each one before it went back into circulation. For such a small place, they were doing really well to keep us safe.

Sadly, despite all the precautions, street cleaning, masks, hand sanitizer everywhere, and a smallish community, we were told this week that the first case of the virus to be positively tested in our village, occurred on Wednesday. We don't know which family is involved but I am sure they are being well contained, and hopefully there will be no more cases.

I have had a few small parcels this week but this is the one that pleases me. I think my eyesight is getting dimmer and I find I need a bright light for any sort of handwork, so I have one uplighter at my shoulder when I am crocheting, and one by my desk for computer and craft work. This one had been very efficient for some years, but recently the weight in its base started to crumble, so it kept falling over on me. So on Wednesday Chris ordered two of these rather stylish ones, one for me and one for his office, and they arrived the next day. It has a choice of cold, warm or neutral light, and a dimmer switch to choose what level of lighting is needed, so I am very happy with it.

(I haven't master how to wrap text around a tall thin photo like this in the new blogger, but I am working on it!)

Last week, Lynn, who links to Annie's Friday Smiles, showed a lovely photo of her market purchases, and it made me think that it is long time since I showed mine, so when I got home from the market on Tuesday, I arranged my lovely fruit and veg. to take this picture before finding it all homes in the fridge etc.

Isn't that just beautiful? We are so lucky to be able to buy such fresh items, many grown locally but a few imported - bananas don't grow around here for example, but as we mainly get them on market day, not from the local shops, I have to buy a week's supply and keep them chilled as they don't last more than a few days in the heat. The big golden peaches are not very interesting to eat raw, but lightly poached they are just like tinned ones, and we have already enjoyed some of those. Yesterday we attacked the pineapple so I think it will be some of those luscious cherries today.

And one more lovely picture - my desert rose as it looks now. Many of the buds have opened and it really is stunning.

So now it is time to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and Rocking Your World.