Rocking Your World 2021: Week 39

The best word I can use to describe this week is "Wet"! I know that is nothing unusual for most of you, but for us it is very different.  The worst day was Tuesday when we were woken up in the early hours by the sound of thunder, and torrentail rain pouring from the spouts at each corner of our roof. That is the downside of having no gutters, but we need them so rarely and at least we don't need to go up ladders to clean them out all the time. If I know the rain is coming I try to move my pots so that the spouts don't hit them, but I misjudged that for one this time, so my Easter Lily was well and truly washed out. 

Fortunately it likes water, so I will put new compost around it soon and I am sure it will recover. Thunder and lightening don't bother Kim much, but Foxy hates any loud noises, and although they stay dry where they sleep on the porch, it wasn't very pleasant for them, so we got up early and let them in. Shortly after, two very 'soggy moggies' came wandering in. They have a cat flap in the back door so they could have got in at any time, but once it started they obviously thought it was better to stay put for a while. But as daylight dawned, they took the risk and ran through it to get home. I rubbed each of them with a towel and then they quickly found a spot each to have a thorough clean.

But that is not all doom and gloom. We really needed a good downpour. The reservoirs are low, and the plants are all looking very fed up with the hot, dry weather. Every year the Council work to improve the drainage system around the village, so most of the water soon ran away. The flat areas are baked hard and it took a little longer to soak in there. This is next door's garden again. So that will be covered in little green seedling again soon. But it will be good to see some green instead of brown everywhere.

Despite the rain it has stayed warm. The temperature has dropped several degrees but I am still in summer clothes and using the fan most days. But there is defintely a feel of Autumn in the air.

My grand-daughter sent another lovely photo of her two boys. Isaac has just had a birthday and is now ten, and Alfie is six and a half, and both are crazy about football. They were both awarded 'Man of the match' for their respective age groups at the weekend; hence the big smiles all round.

The rest of the week has been mostly grey clouds with a few lighter showers, and still periods of sunshine and blue skies in between, so we are very lucky really to be able to enjoy it.

On Tuesday I drove up to my friend's house and we spent the afternoon putting the world to rights. She is 80 now and has just had a knee replacement, but I am ashamed to say, she is probably more active than I am. She must be better motivated than me, because she actually looked quite frail. But it was nice to see her again and exchange our news. I didn't take any photos of us as she is quite a private person, but she does have a superb view of the Cabreras from her front gate so I took this photo.

Her village is higher up the mountain at the back of ours, and from the end of her road she can look out over the sea.

Then on Wednesday I had a video call from my friend in UK so we had a lovely chat too. I have also had a long catch up with my eldest son who is a vicar. It was good to hear that his church is getting 'back to normal'. He moved to London just before the pandemic started so he didn't really have the opportunity to get to know all his new parishioners, but he is making up for lost time now.

The evenings have not been so inviting to sit out on the porch and we have spent more time in the sitting room. On Wednesday night Tolly was restless and kept moving from one seat to another, but in the end he settled on the sofa and went fast asleep. But just look at the position he chose. How can that ever be comfortable? I only wish I was half as bendy as he is.

Yesterday I decided to do a bit of baking. I have been meaning to make a cake in the mini-oven just to try it out with something different, but we don't actually eat very much cake these days. So I just made half a Victoria sponge cake mix, and I have to say, it rose well and cooked evenly, which is more than it did in my main oven which always had a 'hot corner'. It is quite nice as it is but I will probably cut it in half, spread it with jam, and stack it as a semi-circle. That way we should manage to eat it all.

Then I decided to make drop scones for tea. I can't remember the last time I made those. (Some of you may know them as Scotch pancakes). They are so easy to make and cook in seconds on the gridle. The trick is to flip them before the bubbles burst so you really have to watch them and keep the spatular ready. Chris had his with lemon and sugar and I had a little butter and maple syrup and they were light and delicious. You only use a tablespoonful of mixture for each one so it does make quite a lot, but they can be warmed up for breakfast tomorrow, and I think I have frozen them before, but they are very soft so you have to be careful not to squash them.

And that looks like a good place to close, so I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World. Do come and join us if you have some happy moments to share.