Friday Smailes 2022; Week 30

I can't believe it is Thursday again already, the day I like to prepare my blog to publish the next morning. It has gone fast but I am sure there is plenty to look back on with a smile. 

Last Thursday we had an evening out, but as my post was already written I saved the photos for this week, so here goes. The event we went to was Noche de Velas or Night of Candles, up at the village of Mojacar Pueblo. This is a relatively new event, I think this was the tenth one, and it is the second time we have been. I thought our son Tom might enjoy seeing something a bit different.

The Pueblo is very small, sat on top of a hill, so there are no cars allowed up there for the night. Instead we had to drive to the beach, park up and catch one of a fleet of buses that kept up a continuous service through from 7.00pm to 3.00 the next morning. Walking up to the Post Office where we were picking up a bus, I took this photo and liked how it turned out so it is the wallpaper on my new phone now.

The whole of the Pueblo was full of candles, in windows, on Plazas and hanging in small pots from all the railings. But the majority were small candles in plastic tubes, set on a bed of sand in a paper bag!

This seems an unlikely situation but despite the crowd we didn't see a single fire. One or two got trodden on, but they just went out. I was more concerned that one of the little girls' dresses would catch alight, but that didn't seem to happen either.

The Pueblo is a maze of tiny narrow streets, most inaccessible by car, with several levels that meant going up and down some steep steps, but they all looked so pretty with their candles aglow.

We were glad of them too on some of the dark steps.

On the main plaza we saw the iconic Indalo man with his candles, and from there I looked down in to the square and took a picture to show how very crowded it was. 

According to reports the next day, there were around 17, 000 visitors that evening, as well as the actual village inhabitants.

It was suggested that the visitors should try to wear white so we all found a white top,  and I think about half the crowd were also in white. There were several entertainers who also stayed with the white theme. Here are just a couple of them.

We went inside the big parish church, which is very beautiful anyway, and that night it too had its share of candles glowing.

I took the oportunity to try out one or two settings on my camera-phone, I loved this section of wall covered in different tiles. Considering it was properly dark by the time I took this, I think it came out quite well.

I also used the night setting to take a -view- from the top of the pueblo, looking down over Mojacar Playa and the many hotels etc along the coast road, towards Garrucha.

Apart from that we haven't done much all week because it has been so hot. I know you have seen photos of my thermometer many times. It hangs on a wall in our porch that does not get any direct sun so we feel it is bit more accurate than others we see. But on Monday this week I took this one, and it is the first time since we came here, that I have recorded it showing more than 40º. We have made good use of the pool but even there the water is 30º so it is like getting into a warm bath, but it is still refreshing when you feel hot and sticky.

We have had some intersting visitors in the garden this week. Last night a big dragonfly was zooming around. We are used to a couple of little 'darters' a red one and a blue one, that visit us regularly in the summer, but I have not seen a full size one here before. It was moving much too fast to get a photo. Out here they go by the lovely name libélula.

But I did get a photo of this praying mantis. She was resting on our fly screen. She was a large one, around 6cm long, and she slowly climbed up the screen and onto the bougainvillia so maybe she was looking for somewhere to lay her eggs.

Then there is this one which looks quite fiercesome but is actually completely harmless. It is a cicada, again resting on the screen, which they often do in the early evening. Normally the air would be filled with their screeching in this heat, but they seem to be in short supply this year.

I have to admit they are not very pretty, but designers of aliens for films etc don't have to look far for inspìration when creatures like this are around. He gave me a good excuse to try out taking a few close-up shots.

The next two are much prettier. We have a rather agressive weed growing through the orleander at the back of the house, called Dutch- man's pipe. I quite like its purple pitcher flowers and large seed pods, and I don't try to cut it out as I know it is the favourite food of the swallowtail caterpillar. A couple of years ago I found loads of these caterpillars but I never saw one hatched butterfly. This year I did not see the caterpillars at all, but for two day running a swallow tail butterfly has been fluttering around the pink bougainvillia. I am including a couple of photos but they are very poor because she is much to active to get a good shot, and I took these from a distance , through the fly net. If I had gone outside to get a better look she would have flown away.

And finally I spoted this little spider. It is a yellow crab spider and he is perfectly camouflaged to match the petals of my dwarf sunflower. Isn't that amazing?. I have seen a white one on a white daisy and a green one on a vine, but I don't know whether they change colour as they travel around, or whether they match where they hatch, and just stay there. But either way I think they are very cute.

When I was manager of a nursery school, one of my favourite activities with the children was playing with bubbles. I have a kit that will form a bubble big enough to encase a small child, if the conditions are just right, and I used to have bubble wands in all shapes and sizes that I left at the nursery when I retired. But this week I released my inner child and bought a bubble gun that produces a huge cloud of tiny bubbles. They are so pretty and soon I had filled the porch with them. I just hope the grandchildren don't think they are too old to enjoy them when they come to visit next month. I know I am not, and I shall have fun with it anyway. These hot days often give way to very humid evenings, and that is perfect conditions for bubble play!

And on that note I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and be ready to publish this in the morning.