Rocking Your World 2020: Week 51

Well this year Week 52 will actually fall on Christmas Day so I doubt I will be posting again at least until New Year's Day.  But there is time to still share a few smiles with you this week.

And first up is that little amaryllis I bought at Lidls a few weeks ago. It is now in full bloom and absolutely beautiful. The first stem has four flowers on it.

And when I turn it round, you can see that the second stem has also grown up tall and has another set of buds ready to burst any day now.

Chris has made the most of the nicer weather this week to tidy up the garden. There was a lot of cleaning up to do after last week's high winds. There is still plenty of colour in the front yard including the red geranium I bought back in October. It should really be hibernating by now, but it still has lots of flowers on it. I also spotted these roses as I opened the window one morning. They grow so high we almost miss them, but the flowers are on a level with the sitting room windows. They looked so pretty against a deep blue sky.

The post man has just been here with a lovely set of cards from friends in UK and elsewhere. But understandably there are far fewer being sent because of higher postage, and inability to get to shops and Post Offices everywhere, so I knew not all my usual card strings would be filled. So when I saw these cutting files by Carina Gardner, in the Silhouette store, I bought the set and decided to make them into a banner to fill one of my empty strings.

They were fun to cut out, and some pieces were really tiny and a fiddle to assemble, (I think there are 20 separate pieces in 'eight maids a milking') but the banner is fun and it was nice to make something other than cards for a change. My Silhouette Cameo cooperated for once, and everything cut well first time, and all the card was pieces from my stash.

One good thing that happened this week is that our restrictions were slightly relaxed. They haven't moved far yet but the one that mattered for us is that we can now leave the village and move around Almeria Province. That meant we could do a major shopping session at the bigger supermarkets and I was able to get everything on my list I had been compiling over the past few weeks. They were all things I had been unable to buy in the village shops. So now the larder and freezer are full and I will only need to pop out for bread, milk and fresh vegetables until Next Year!!

As you probably all remember from previous years, I have a reputation fro making good mince pies, with the result that I am asked to make them to order by several friends, and I also donate several dozen to church meetings, carol service refreshments and Christmas markets. So every year I struggle to find enough mincemeat in our shops. (It is one thing I decided a long time ago, is not worth the hassle of making myself). Usually I end up with a dozen or so small jars, and if I am lucky a larger tub. So it was ironic that this year, when I only needed to make a couple of dozen pies for own use, the only mincemeat I could get was in a giant tub, the like of which I have never seen in our shops before.

However, with nothing else available, I bought it and yesterday the kitchen was filled with a warm spicy smell, as I made just one batch of my special pastry and around three dozen mince pies. I will reseal the mincemeat well once I am sure I have finished with it, and it will keep well until next year,

The weather has been changeable again but with more sunshine and less wind this week. There has been some clouds so of course the evening skies have been interesting. I had so many photos I couldn't choose just a couple to show, so here is a collage I made of just some of the sunsets over the past couple of weeks.

And that is probably it for this week but I thought I'd just share these pictures my sons posted during some  banter on our family WhatsApp group. You all know how important the Nativity is to me at Christmas and I make sure if features in my cards and decorations, so I hope no-one is offended by these Nativity 'smiles'. They certainly made us chuckle.

It was followed by this one, apparently carved entirely from cheese!

Another son added this one.

And here is a slightly 'nutty' one I spotted somewhere.

Thank you to my regular visitors and commenters. I have enjoyed your company during this troubled year. Wishing you all a Peaceful  and hopefully a Happy Christmas. May you all find things to make you Smile through any sadness you may have. Family and Friends will all be there to greet us next year, so make the most of what you have, and here's to a much better 2021.

Linking up with Rocking Your World, and Annie's Friday Smiles.