Friday Smiles 2023: Week 21

Well we were promised a change of weather and we sure got one. But I am starting with a couple of photos taken at the end of last week when the sun was still shining and the sky was blue. (I thought last week's post was long enough so I saved these for this week).

I took a slow wander round the village as I wanted to get pictures of the entrance to our road, where the major make-over is now complete. A while ago I showed how they were making low walled 'garden' areas along the sides of the main road and slip road that pass along the front of the village, and they went on to make islands at several turn-off points, and covered them with artificial grass. Now all the work is complete, they have finished it off by placing knee-high lights on the central islands, and at the end of our road which is the main entrance to the village they have erected three flag poles. The green and white flag is the flag of Andalucía, the central one is of course the Spanish flag, and the purple one with three gold fleur de lis on it is the flag of Los Gallardos. They looked good all fluttering in the wind.

Then on a smaller island in front of these, there is a stone base to which has been attatched a metallic copy of Los Gallardos coat of arms. It has made it all look very smart, and made the traffic on our entrance much easier too.

As an added bonus the jacaranda trees were still in bloom, though you can see they are starting to drop their petals now. There is a line of them all along the slip road and they are so very pretty. I love their colour and the delicate way they bloom. Once the flowers are gone the trees break out in their lacy, delicate leaves and continue to look nice all summer.

I also saw some pomegranet bushes in flower. Their bright scarlett blooms really show up well against the dark green leaves.

Then everything changed. Starting on Sunday night, we had heavy rain, and it continued all through Monday and most of Tuesday. When we opened the front door on Monday morning to check non of our flower pots was under a water spout off the roof, we found this little lost soul on our door step.  She was dirty, soaked through, and shivering. I couldn't just leave her there so I took her in, sat her in a bowl of warm water and washed some of the dust and dirt off, and wrapped her up in a towel. I tried to get her to eat something but she refused both wet and dry food.

I knew she was 'snuffly' and probably not very well so I couldn't let her anywhere near my animals, but I phoned the vet and arranged to take her down there. She felt the little cat was older than I had first assumed and was just small and under-nourished. She said she would keep her overnight and do a blood test. The next day she rang to say that sadly the little one had tested positive for leukemia, and was unlikely to survive so we agreed to end her life straight away rather than make her suffer waiting to die naturally. It was sad, but I did all I could and at least we let her die with some dignity and feeling someone cared.

On Tuesday I had assumed there would not be much of a street market as everywhere was so wet, but when there was a break in the clouds, I went over just in case and I was able to buy some lovely fruit. I just love this time of year when all the summer fruits start appearing. I bought little apricots that ripen well in the fruit bowl, my first cherries of the year, and some of the squashed peaches called paraguyos. In the bowl at the back, and on the lower level of my fruit bowl,  I still have a few of the grapefruit that my friend at church gives me, plus some very late oranges, and some conference pears that are very hard and will probably need to be cooked. Delicious, all of them.

The rain and cooler days have continued all week but nothing like what we had a few days ago. Sadly some towns around us were hit much harder, with flooding, damage to property and cars, and even one death,  so we got off fairly lightly, and as I have said before, we really need that rain, though I'd rather it fell more gently. But we have plenty to keep us busy at home, and we know the sun will be out again soon, so we are not too upset by it.

And now it is time to link up wth Annie's Friday Smiles over on her blog. Do come over and join us there.