Friday Smiles 2024 #Week 16

Summer is on the way, and the village is waking up after it's Winter quiet season. This week we have enjoyed temperatures in the low thirties, and I have started to wear my summer dresses.

There are more folk around on the street, stopping to chat to friends instead of hurrying back to a warm house. It is still breezy but the strong winds have passed, for now anyway. At the end of last week the circus rolled into town. It pitched up on the area at the back of our house, on the far side of the 'green zone'. It is amazing how quickly they can put the Big Top up. They did performances on three nights, Friday-Sunday. Although they were so close to us we didn't hear much noise from them. I don't know how many people attended. It is an expensive evening if you have a family to take. I don't think they have any live animals these days, but their poster advertised a large gorrilla, described as a King Cong animatron. This was taken from my back yard.

By Monday night all sign of them had gone. I guess they had another place to be for this weekend.

I was hanging out my washing this week and to do this I look over next door's garden. It used to be a lush orange grove, but now the house is empty, and workers only come in occasionally to do essential tasks. Many of the trees have died, and some have been replaced by other fruits such a pomegranet,  jujus, and figs. But mostly it is just brown earth and a lot of stones where much of the soil has blown away. But the few remaining orange trees are still watered and under them, the weeds grow strong and tall. Everywhere has changed so much since we came out here. I have photos of this garden covered in lush grass and full of wild flowers after the winter/spring rains, but not any more.

This morning I went into our bathroom and saw this little cutie on the wall. We welcome the geckos both in the house and outside, as they eat mosquitoes and other bugs. But this little chap had been in the wars and lost most of his tail and injured his back, right leg. Fortunately for him, his tail will grow back. If any predator tries to catch a gecko by the tail, they will just shed it and grow a new one in a few weeks. I am not sure whether the leg will regenerate too. But it didn't stop him from moving around. I was able to catch him and I carried him outside and carefully placed him on a potted plant. He was better camouflaged than he looks in the photo, and I thought he would be less vunerable to our cats outside.

I am slowly working on my Floral Blooms blanket. It is a bit different from anything I have done before. I have finished all the flowers which were the most straightforward part, as well as a few of the leaves and a strange shaped joining piece. The leaves have to have some surface crochet and top stitching to finish them, and although there is a pattern for each joining piece, there is still an element of free-crochet to fill any spaces, which is something I haven't tried before. I have to be in the right mood to tackle each piece, and really concentrate on it, so I have the odd night off when I really want to watch something on TV. But there is no rush for it at all, so I can take my time and enjoy the process.

So now it is time to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles.

P.S. Wewoke up this morning to RAIN. And it is still raining. Yay!!