Friday Smiles 2023; Week 12

Well Spring has sprung in our part of Spain. It has been warm and sunny this week and we have enjoyed sitting outside to eat our lunch and relax in the afternoons. But I have also been busy in the mornings. 

I have done quite a lot in my craft room this week, starting with a bit of a tidy up. I came across a box of large rubber stamps on wood blocks which haven't been used for simply ages. This is partly because they are very difficult to get a good even impression with. So I took them off their wood blocks and used my stamping platform to print each one. Then I scanned these into my computer and used a photo editing programme to tidy them up. Lastly I used a programe called Gimp to turn each one from a jpeg file to a png file (one with a transparent background). I haven't learned how to do this with a coloured image but black and white ones are relatively straight forward. I now have a folder of digital stamps which I can resize and print for any card I want to make. And also I shall offer the large stamps to my craft group friends and any that are not wanted can be disposed of, so I now have an empty drawer to take some of the 'homeless' items laying around.

Next I wanted a birthday card for my grand daughter who is two at the start of April. She was here on holiday the day that little Leo arrived and she loved him, so I thought I would use his photo on her card. Although I have loads of photos of him, there was not one with him looking straight at the camers, so I told him to sit still and look at me, and amazingly he did. So I got this cute picture of him.

I did another lot of messing around on the computer and ended up with a card that has him centre stage. I hope she remembers him. I arrived in UK last year, the day before her first birthday. It was the first time I had seen her. It doesn't seem possible that was a whole year ago.

Her daddy is a heavy metal drummer, playing with several bands. I can't keep up with them all, but one of his first bands was called Blackstorm. They came to an end almost ten years ago when one member moved to America. But he is back and they are playing again. This was their Facebook promotion. Jonathan is the one on the right. If you can read what it says it may sound a bit like 'double dutch'. I don't begin to understand his genre and don't really like listening to them, but I do like to watch him playing. His poor drums certainly take a beating.

I guess it goes with his chosen style of music, but he does tend to wear a lot of black. So does his wife, so it is no surprise that little Aisling has quite a few black items as well. I have given her a couple of red dresses and other colourful things to help reset the balance. Ella, (her mum), sent me this photo yesterday saying I thought you would like the colours of this cardigan. Her other Grandma knitted it for her. I love it, and she looks so cute in it.

If I show you this picture from my kitchen this morning, you will know what I have been doing. 

Yes, it is more picalilli. I like to see all the colours in the pot. I spent yesterday evening chopping vegetables and I made double quantity this time, so it was a big task. I left it covered in salt all night, and today I rinsed it well and got cooking. So I have twenty two jars of pickle sitting on my shelf and I shall take most of it to my sewing group next Wednesday. Last time I took ten jars and sold them almost before they got set on the table. My sewing friends all seem to have husbands who love my picalilli. I am happy to make it for them because all the money I raise is donated to a charity, usually the food bank supported by my church. But I am going to tell them that it is probably the last lot I am going to make until after the summer ... maybe.

Of course last Sunday was Mothering Sunday in UK. (It was also Father's day over here). So I had lovely long video chats with each of my boys. The oldest one, Jim, is the vicar at St Bartholomew's church in Sydenham, and each Mothering Sunday they have a vase where anyone from the congregation can add a tulip for their mothers that they cannot see that day, either due to death or distance. So one of these tulips was placed for me. I think that is a really nice idea.

As we approach Easter, people here are practising, and getting ready for all the parades etc that take place throughout Holy week. One lady from our village has made a display showing some of these, and it is set up in the new library next to the Town Hall. She has put a lot of work into it. She is the shorter lady in black in this photo, and she is with our mayor, and other staff from the Town Hall.

 

And here are a couple more of her display. The people in the pointed hats and cloaks are not members of the Klu Klax Klan! They are the penetents who sometimes walk the parade with bare feet, who want to humble themselves and remain incognito.

And that is about it for this week. Now it is time to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and see what is lifting your spirits this week.