Rocking Your World 2014; Week 10

Today I was reading my friend's blog and in with a longish, humorous post about 'The facts of life at various ages', I spotted this quote, and I thought it summed up the ethos of this challenge so well. 

Always remember to forget the troubles that pass your way; 
BUT NEVER forget the blessings that come each day.

If you are unsure of what I am referring to, pop over to Virginia's blog, Celtic House, and read about the positive approach we have to our weekly ramblings. (Well they are ramblings from me anyway, because that's just the way I am).

But first I will start with my Smile of the week which will be linked up to Annie's Friday Smiles. This week it is some colourful knitting donated to my Knit for Africa Project. The first, a colourful blanket and lovely little jumper and hat set, was left for me at our local bar, by a lady I don't even know. She had heard about what I am doing and wanted to help. Isn't that kind?!

I started this project about two years ago, and originally I just intended to send one small parcel of knitted vests and hats to a blog friend who was collecting them for an African charity, but somehow it just grew, and now occupies a lot of my time. My entire dining room is taken up with knitted donations and wool, and I field enquiries from all around the world. And my friends at church and at my Wednesday sewing group, are so generous with their time and efforts, as well as the materials that they buy. I am overwhelmed by them all.

Some folk are happy to knit but are daunted by the

prospect of sewing things up, so they make blanket squares for me. This week I decided to sort them out and found I have 284 of them! And there will be more when I go to my group next Wednesday.

They look so lovely and colourful all together.

I have already stitched together one blanket and I learned a new crochet stitch for edging it which I like. I am sure I'll be using it again as all the blankets need some sort of edge to finish them off properly. Now I have stitched the next blanket together but this one needs a wider edging to bring it up to the required size. So that's my next job.

So a big thumbs up to all my knitting/crochet friends, and to the local Lions club who have given me some generous donations to buy more wool.

I am grateful to my kind husband who this week has helped me with tasks around the house such as washing the floors and changing the bed linen, and also came with me for my monthly shop, (He is not normally very domesticated), while my back has been playing up. It is slowly getting better but still feels very weak, so his help has been appreciated.

I was very grateful for another gift this week. The men who look after the orange grove around our neighbour's house, because she now lives away and only visits occasionally, came over this week to tidy up the trees and dig the ground over. One man cut back the 'other side' of our bougainvillea, which we cannot reach, which is good for the plant. 

Another was picking some oranges when I went out

to hang out the washing, and he asked me if I'd like some. A few minutes later he handed a big bucketful over the fence. I got Chris to take them and tip them into a box so we could give the bucket back. They are really nice ones so we'll be juicing most of them over the next few weeks.

I have been stirring my brew again today but this time the mixture is a different colour. I took a break from making marmalade to do a batch of strawberry jam. Several folk have asked me when I will have some, and I had run out myself, so, as the strawberries had dropped in price a bit this week, I decided to make it. There are twenty or so jars lined up in the kitchen now, awaiting their labels. I think it has set well, and if it tastes as good as it smelled while I was making it, then it will be fine.

A couple of photos from the garden now. I did warn

you that you'd be seeing more of the pink jasmine, so here it is. Just look at the flowers on it now. I have never known a jasmine that flowers so freely, and they will last for several weeks. Everyone who walks passed the house, stops to talk to us about it. (I took this photo just at dusk, so the colour doesn't look as pretty as it does with the sun on it).

This is the other flower that can now be seen

wherever you look around here. It is one species of acacia, but I know it as mimosa. I believe my Australian friends call it wattle. There are other types out here, but this is the most common one. When I was growing up in UK,  I remember it as something quite exotic, that you might get a spray of in a wedding bouquet or expensive flower arrangement, but I never imagined I  would have it growing in my own garden. The tree in this photo is the one my son cut down almost to the ground just a year ago. I love to see it, but it gives me hayfever, and one tree is right outside my craft-room window! In a few weeks, the pollen will turn our swimming pool to custard, and the yard will be yellow, even staining the dogs feet! Then the tiny black seeds will be everywhere, and when the late summer winds blow, the leaves will all come down. So all-in-all, it make a lot of work for us, but I still like it!

And of course, we are ending with some sky photos. One evening this week I was playing around with the settings on my camera, and the angles used for each shot and I got some pretty cool photos. I like this one.

The wind was chilly and I soon went inside, but half an hour later I rushed out again when I looked through the window and saw this.

The next evening I took this one, with the same conical cloud formation. It must be the high winds we have been experiencing most afternoons.

And that's about it. I sure have rambled on for a week when I have done very little!

Thank you to the kind folk who wade through my waffle each week, and take time to leave a comment. I do appreciate you all.

Now I must pop over and link these up, as it will soon be Saturday. It will here anyway.

Rocking your World 2014; Week 9

I am starting off this week with my Friday Smile, and it is a photo that I can take no credit for whatsoever. It was taken on a rather stormy day, from the mountains between Murcia and Almeria, looking towards Lorca. It was featured on the Facebook page of our local radio station - Spectrum radio. With almond blossom in the foreground and a rainbow falling from the storm clouds, I think you will agree that it is absolutely beautiful, and I just had to share it with you.

So, what else has made me smile this week. well mainly it is the way Spring is waving its wand over our little bit of garden. We have a scruffy little window box that I have never managed to keep plants alive and healthy in for long, so in desperation I stuck in some pieces that I broke off a succulent and see what has happened. Bright yellow flowers now greet me every time I come out the front door.

I think I'll have to put some cuttings up the other end of the box now as well.

There is a small length of wall that divides the front garden from the back/side yard, and this is covered by a jasmine plant. But it is like no other jasmine I have seen, and at this time of year, it is smothered with pink flowers, and gives off a very heady perfume that you can smell all through the house, and down the street. It is a little later than usual this year, but yesterday we noticed that the first flowers have opened.

As you can see, in a week or two this will be a sea of pink blossom, and no doubt I will be showing it to you again.

My third garden delight is this plant. When we visited some friends up near Arboleas, a few years ago, they gave me this pot of bulbs, because it had not flourished on their yard. The first Spring it gave me one flower, but for the last couple of years it has had no flowers at all. Then this year I saw that three of the bulbs had a flower head forming and now we have these beauties. It is an alpine plant and it's common name is Madeira squill. The flowers are a deep blue, almost purple, much darker than they look here, and it is so pretty.

I have been having fun making fruit drinks in my big blender. Just lately I have had fresh strawberries in the fridge which have a very strong flavour that usually wins over the other fruit I use. And I find a banana really smoothes out the drinks. But yesterday I decided we needed something less acidic, and as I was not cooking many vegetables with our dinner I juiced them instead. So for this I used two raw carrots, a small stick of celery (another strong flavour that dominates if you use too much of it), one large whole apple with just the pips removed, and about an inch of fresh root ginger. It made  us a glass each and it was delicious. My husband isn't always convinced when he sees me coming with a glass of coloured liquid, so I like to keep the ingredients a secret to see whether he can guess what is in them. He picked out the celery, but I was surprised he couldn't identify the ginger. But then, I knew it was there!

Today was an important day on the calendar for this area as it was Día de Andalucia. In our village this is celebrated with a concert in the morning, of the children from the two local dance schools. Their dresses are so pretty and I love to see them dance. Also the ladies, and a few men, from the village choir, sang some rousing songs. This is followed by a free meal of cold meats and cheeses with olives and bread (known as entremesas), which is set up on long trestle tables down the length of the marque, at the start of the morning. It is covered with sheets of paper, and it always amazes me that no-one touches it until after the concert has finished. Then the people pick up the chairs they have been sitting on to watch the dancing, and move them around the tables. We went to the concert but we didn't stay for the 'bun fight'. Instead Chris took me to the local bar for some lunch.

The day continues with live music and dancing that goes on until midnight.

At the back of the stage there is a row of banners which come out each year and I really like them. There is one for each of the provinces in Andalucia. They are: Almeria, Cadiz, Cordoba, Granada, Huelva, Jaen, Malaga and Sevilla.

I will now post various photos of the day. I have left them until the end, as folk who have followed me for more than a year will have seen them all before. As will all the fiestas here, they are part of the local tradition and they don't tend to change much from year to year. But I know I have some newer followers who won't have seen them, so I wanted to include them. The lovely green and white flower displays are the colours of the Andalucian flag. Most of the village turn out to watch, and the marque was packed.

And finally, for my sky photo this week, here is one I took on the same stormy night as the one at the top was taken. It had rained all day, but there was just enough sun at the end of the day, to break through the dark clouds.

Well, as I spent most of this evening chatting to my sister on Skype, I am very late posting this, but I have five minutes left to link this up to Annie's Friday Smiles, and Celtic House, before the clock strikes midnight and I might just turn into a pumpkin! Though of course, for my friends and family over in UK it is still only 11.00pm, so I still have plenty of time!