Rocking Your World 2020: Week 36

I sat down to write this post this morning and then a good friend video called me, and we spent over an hour putting the world to rights, which was lovely. So here I am, in the middle of the afternoon and just getting started.

And of course, having enjoyed seeing so many happy faces of children getting back to their schools this week, I have to start with a picture of my own. This is my two gorgeous great-grandsons, all ready to start in Years 1 and 5. It doesn't seem possible. Their mummy is a teaching assistant, and works at the same school, so will understand any  strange new rules and ways of doing things that they have to get accustomed to. 

Sadly my week was not all smiles as yesterday I received the news that my eldest sister had passed away peacefully in her nursing home. This was not altogether unexpected as the family have been called in on three or four occasions in the last couple of months thinking it was the end, but that doesn't make it any easier when the time comes. Evelyn was 92 years old, and was married for 68 happy years. Her husband passed away two years ago. They had five children, 27 grandchildren, and I have lost track and lost count of the great-grandchildren. So she had a long and happy life, but in her last years she suffered from lung cancer, and I am happy for her that she is no longer in pain. Our family of eight, of which I am the youngest, is now down to four. This is the last photo I have of us five sisters together. It was taken at John's funeral in 2018. Evelyn is the one front right. She was a wonderful support to me when I was going through a divorce with two small children to care for, and also when our mum died, 26 years ago. Although I haven't seen her much in the last few years, I shall miss knowing she is there. R.I.P.Evelyn. (Not a very good photo but the background was very busy so I have partially edited it out; not very well as I can't spend any more time on it!).

When my new kitchen was installed a few years ago I asked for a waste-disposal unit in the sink. They are not generally fitted out here, but I think it is perfect for this climate, as I have almost no organic waste now. (I have no plantable land so there is no point in my setting up a compost-box). I also have three big bins in the back yard for recycling plastic and cans, paper and cardboard, and glass. I take these to special bins on the edge of the village whenever they get so full I cannot close their lids. That leaves me very little for the kitchen bin, so I only take it out to the big basura on the street once a week. This is emptied every day in the early hours of the morning, except for Sundays, but our rubbish has to be in a plastic sack and I won't waste one by taking it out more often. This week, when I moved the bin to take its sack out I found a tiny little gheko trapped under it. It got under there so it should have been able to get out, but sadly I couldn't revive it. It was only a baby, no more than 2cm long, and so thin it was almost transparent. He may have been chased there by a cat in the night as the end of his tail was missing, (it would have grown again), and his legs were a bit damaged. But just look at those cute little hands and fingers with suckers on each one to enable it to run up a vertical wall. We have quite a lot around here, inside and outside the house and they are welcome visitors as they eat the bugs.

Tolly continues to drive us mad and then be so cute you forgive him anything. I try to keep him occupied so he doesn't annoy the other animals for too long at a time, and this toy has proved quite successful. But his favourite is a little pink rubber ball and he runs around with it in his mouth like a little puppy.

Kim is getting increasingly tolerant of him and he allows him to jump up onto "his sofa" and sleep with him.

Each evening I continue to do my crochet out on the porch as I am no good at sitting doing nothing, and I can only cope with so much screen time before I start to see double.

My current project is a study in textures, so there have been a few new stitches for me to try out. I love the way they are turning out and they are enhanced by being worked in aran weight yarn. This is thicker than I am used to working with, but the pattern called for it, and I happened to have a big bag of this very neutral colour that I bought a few years back, intending to knit a jacket for myself. But as knitting became increasingly difficult for me, I knew I would not handle the heavier pieces of work, so it got put to the back of the cupboard. So I am happy to be using some of it now. Here is a little bit to show you the pattern. The project should be finished in another two or three weeks so I will show it again then.

At the other end of the scale, I have a second project on the go for when my hands are not so good and I need something really light to hold. This is made from 4ply cotton, and involves making 90 of these little motifs, six each in fifteen different colours.

Each one is quick and easy to make, but making 90 all the same is a bit boring, so I just keep it by my chair and do the odd one or two when I want a change of eyesight. But 'the odd one or two' soon add up, and I was surprised when I sorted them out today, to see how many I had done. This is my collection so far.

When they are all done I have a further sixty motifs to make all in the same colour but in four different shapes, so I will be working on this one for a while yet.

We have had slightly cooler days this week, only by a couple of degrees, but it makes it so much more comfortable. They forecast rain which never came, but we sometimes wake up to a light cloud cover which soon disappears, and in the evenings, small fluffy clouds start to form, which have given us some pretty skies. Here are a few of my best photos.

And to finish with, here is something I saw today which made me smile. You need to be familiar with story books that we read to our little ones, to understand these. I used them when I was running my nursery/preschool in UK. I hope they make you smile too.

2020 editions of familiar children's story books.

And my nursery children's favourite.

Ans with that I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World. Stay safe everyone!