Friday Smiles 2024 # Week 9

Well the forecasters were right and we did have a significant drop in temperature this week, but in sheltered areas the sun still meant it was often warmer outside than in the house.  But the main downside has been the wind, so fierce that some days it was safer to stay indoors. The garden is full of dead bracts from the bougainvillea, even though Chris has been out several times to sweep them up, and the covers blew off the barbeque and cane furniture. But there has been no major damage for us.

We had to go down to Garruchs on Tuesday. It was a lovely sunny morning but only a few folk had ventured out. I took these photos looking across the main road at the barge moored at the port for loading, while I waited for Chris to come along to collect me, but looking at these tranquil scenes you would never know that it was blowing so hard I could hardly stay on my feet. Only the swaying palm trees give any indication of how rough it was.

On Tuesday night I put the sheets in the washing machine over night so I could peg them out on the line before I went to sewing group. I put several extra pegs in each piece and they did hold, but the sheets were billowing out like giant sails. Of course they dried well and by lunch time I was able to take them in again. I have nowhere indoors to dry washing exctept on an airer by the fire in the evening, so I am always happy to get it dry outside.

The wierd weather has given us some stormy skies but the dark clouds brought little rainfall that had no impact on the water shortage here. This was the sky at teatime on Tuesday.

Wednesday was Día de Andalucía which is a very important celebration for the local folk.  It does involve sitting in a marquee listening to several long speeches by the mayor and other officials, so we decided to give it a miss this year. It is followed by a communal lunch of cold meats, cheeses, bread and raw broad beans! Then there is music and dancing that continues through the evening until midnight. 

I went to my usual sewing group in the morning but when I heard the music in the afternoon I decided to walk across to the marquee to stretch my legs. Sadly most of the green and white bunting had blown down and was tangled around lamp posts etc. 

But they did manage to raise the Andalucian flag on the plazza and that was fluttering somewhat madly. 

The marquee was full of people chatting and enjoying the music, and out on the car park they managed to secure a large bouncy castle securely as well as having several 'fair-ground' style stalls selling sweets and toys for the children. It was too windy to make walking around very pleasant, so I soon returned home.

Our little tree is dripping with lemons and the new blossom is starting to appear on it, so I thought I should use some of them. So on Saturday I had a baking session making a lemon meringue pie, some little lemon shortbread bites, and two jars of lemon curd.

Today I had another session in the kitchen and was quite pleased with my multi-tasking. By lunch time I had cooked chicken thighs in the instant pot, made puff pastry chicken slices with half of it, and frozen the rest for another day. I also made a loaf of bread, a lemon curd and raisin slice, a lemon drizzle cake, (it is dark because my recipe uses dark brown sugar), and several jars of lemon marmalade.

I did promise to show the project I was working on with the laser cutter my friend has loaned me, so here it is. I have said in a previous post that my son Ben has started his own business and has organised a new studio at home for playing and recording his music, so I made him this wall plaque. His new biusiness is called 'Totally sound', and this is the font he has used on his information cards etc.

For the photo I used one he had sent me a few weeks ago which I made into a black and white sketch in gimp, and then engraved onto the base wood. If you are interested is knowing more about how it was done, there is a detailed write up on my craft blog which you can find HERE. (Apologies to those who have already seen this on Facebook). 

I only posted this to Ben last Friday so I was really surprised to hear it had arrive on Tuesday! Of course Ben loves it as I knew he would.

We are supposed to only take rubbish out to the big bins on the street after 7.00 but last night I went just before that as the sun was setting. The light was catching some of the mountain peaks at the bottom of the village making lovely light and shadow patterns. So I hurried back to grab my phone but by the time I got out again it had faded, but I still managed to take this shot. 

Back at home, out the other side of the house this rather dramatic sky was rapidly fading too.

So now it is time to link up with Annie at her blog, here.