Friday Smiles 2023: Week 11

The church I belong to has its own Facebook page administered by my dear friend Margie. This is one of the pictures she posted this week. So true.

My response was to post these two little treasures that appeared in unlikely places in my garden last year.

We have had a lovely week with bright sunshine most days and very pleasant upper twenties temperatures. (I even shed my trousers today in favour of a skirt, though I suspect the trousers may be back on this evening).

On Tuesday we returned to Vera to collect our now very smart car, which meant catching the early bus. While we sat waiting for it, (actually waiting for the driver to pop in the bar for a quick coffee!), I took this photo of a tree. I just think it looks so beautiful standing tall with a backdrop of blue sky and the distant Cabrera mountains.

We drove straight home after collecting the car so that I could pop across to the weekly market. I wasn't intending to buy strawberries but these looked so inviting, I couldn't resist. And they actually taste as good as they look which isn't always true for the over-sized spanish strawberries. These were an exception, and as they have a very low GI I didn't feel too guilty enjoying some of them.

As you can see from the photo I also bought a rather beautiful sweet red pepper. We don't eat a lot of them but I probably buy one every couple of weeks, but I won't need another one for a while. This was the smallest one on the stall and it weighs over 500 gms (that's around a pound in UK).

Last night I decided I would go off for my walk just as the evening was drawing in, and in a mad moment I decided to walk the rambla - dry river bed, that runs round one side of the village. To get to it I have to cross the main road at the village entrance and follow a track around some houses to the place where there is no 'river bank'. It wasn't the best route for walking as the rambla track is uneven and covered in loose stones. On each side there are high banks of bamboo. There was no one else around but surprisingly I have no fear walking around the village on my own, but it was getting a bit dark so I hurried along because it is quite a long track and no other way of getting off it until the end.

As I came round the bend the view changed and ahead of me was a high stone hill side that shone with the setting sun and completely transformed the atmosphere.

I went under the old acequia bridge, and couldn't help wondering how safe it is. It has crumbled a good bit more than when I was last there. Most agricultural land includes a reservoir which is filled from rain and mountain streams, and it is used to water the crops. Once every three weeks or month, the land owner has a time slot when he can open his valve and let the natural water refil his reservoir. This is called acequia water, and most open land has a gully to carry it to the next property. But sometimes it has to cross a gap so you see these old bridges with culvets for the water. When we first moved here our neighbour used acequia water for her orange grove, but not many folk use it now near the villages where the infrastructure has improved so much. But out in more rural places I think it is still an important commodity.

At the end of my walk I came to the where the horses and donkeys are kept. These ore owned, or managed, by a Spanish man called Manuel whe we have got to know. He welcomed us and invited us in to see the animals. (He tried to sell me a baby donkey as a pet!). They were lovely and as I left I took this photo of one donkey with the rays of the sun shining on his head.

Today is "Old Woman Day". This is not a national holiday but it is celebrated in all the towns and villages around here.Some say it was started by the Fransican monks to provide people with the chance to party and eat well before returning to the hard days of Lent fasting. But other say it is a pagan festival dating from much earlier and the 'old woman' is the old year that is ending, as the Spring heralds in a new year. It is seen now as a day to meet up with friends and family for a picnic 'feast'. The children bring their own '0ld woman', usually a hand made muneca which means doll, on a broom handle, with a hand drawn face or a mask, and simple clothes made from paper or plastic bags. The head is like a pinata and is filled with sweets and after their picnic, the children throw stones or beat their muneca to release the treats inside.

Many families meet for this up at the sports pavilion where there is a lovely picnic area. There are several well built barbeques, and anyone can take their own charcoal and food and cook there. Some families send one member up early to 'book' a table, and others set up a pergola for shade, and pile their table with boxes and baskets of food for all their group to share. Some even take up a loud speaker and music and have a party. It was such a lovely day this year, so we went up with a light picnic and sat on the wall to eat it while we watched the families around us.

I decided to walk up to the pavillion which took me half an hour, and I arranged to sit on a wall to wait for Chris, who drove up a bit later and brought our lunch up. I found a shady spot to sit and then realised I was sitting under a mimosa tree in full bloom. This was not my wisest choice as mimosa pollen is one of my main allergens at this time of year, but doesn't it look pretty!

I  did quickly move away and find somewhere more suitable to sit. It was a pleasant way to pass a few hours. Here is a very tradicional muneca...

... and here is a whole family of them.

Some went to great lengths to make more elaborate ones, with masks and some of the children's own clothes on them, but all awaited the same fate!

The sunshine is bringing the garden to life. When I open the sitting room windows in the morning, the scent of jasmine wafts in. It was cut down almost to nothing in the autumn, but already it is covering half the wall again.

My peruvian squills are opening too. They are a deep true blue and the flowers are very pretty.

This is the hydrangea that I thought might be dead when we transferred it from a pot to the corner of the front garden. But as you can see, it isn't dead at all and it is sprouting lots of new shoots.

Last night we had an entertaining evening when Leo decided to risk trying to play with Tolly. Tolly has had nothing to do with him so far, but he did play for a while. They ran all over the room, hiding under the chair and patting out at one another from under the blanket that covers it, jumping on the table and swatting the other one on a chair under them. They played for quite a while, but in the end I thought Tolly might be getting a bit annoyed so I put little Leo to bed. Then Tolly jumped onto my lap, which doesn't happen very often, and almost squashed poor Tango who was already there. They ended up one on each side of me with Tolly's tail wrapped around Tango's neck. He doesn't look very impressed but then he doesn't often look impressed. The grumpy face is just his natural look.

Now I think it is time to get this ready to link up with Annie's Firday Smiles in the morning.