Rocking Your World 2016: Week 24

Here's a little smile to start my post with. Yesterday Miki went to the groomers to have her annual haircut. The temperature is teetering around 30º now and she was beginning to feel uncomfortable. Every year she comes back looking a little different so I like to take a 'before' and 'after' picture each time, so here she is.

This time they have trimmed her ears a bit too close for my liking,  and left her with her side whiskers, but it is quite cute and I am getting used to her new look. She has to go back for a tidy-up next week, because the water was cut off before they had time to bath her and give a final trim where needed, but I think she is already feeling the benefit. As one of my friends on Facebook commented, "It must be like throwing off the duvet", and we did that a few weeks ago!

None of our dogs are very keen on the camera, but when the other two saw that Miki got a little treat every time she looked at the camera, they wanted to pose too. Kim looks a bit reluctant but Foxy is alert and bright as usual. The photo's a bit deceiving because Foxy (on the right) is actually about a third of the size of Kim. In fact he can stand across her like a bridge. Kim is huge now, but he is a handsome fellow, and probably the most gentle of them all. We call him our gentle giant.

I know some of my faithful followers, (and I do appreciate you reading my sprawling post each week), like to hear about the fiestas in the village, so here is another one that took place on Sunday. It is not a big fiesta for everyone this time, but a more personal one, especially for the folk who regularly attend the catholic church in the village. It was the celebration for Corpus Christi, which begins with a mass inside the church.

The young boys and girls sitting each side at the front, are the ones who took their first communion last month.

The little plaza outside the church is decorated with a long carpet and an altar set at the head of it. The local band are on hand to provide the music. The village guadia were also there but their only task was to make sure no vehicles came along at the wrong moment.

After the mass, this plaza was suddenly full of people. The priest came out with his little group of helpers who held a canopy over him, and he knelt at the altar to pray.

On this day, anyone else from the village can build a similar altar outside their home. The priest and his retinue, including the children, and anyone else who wants to, then slowly make their way around the village, stopping at each altar as they go.

The altars are lovely, usually covered in a white or red cloth, and decorated with red and white flowers, candles or other religious items. Other plants and flowers are arranged around them, and each one has a carpet or white pillow in front of it so the priest can kneel and pray, I assume asking for a blessing on the home and the people who live there.

We had gone out for a little while that evening, so we stopped in a street that had two altars in it. I spent a while talking to the lady who was setting this one up. She was very friendly and explained a little about what was happening, and told me I was welcome to take photos. I love the white and red gladioli and carnations that she tied up her window railings.

The lady setting this one up was also very friendly. It was around nine o'clock before the procession arrived at the street. Just before they got to her, she lit the candles, and threw flower petals all around. She had a large poster on her railings depicting Virgen del Carmen, the patron saint of our village.

The priest knelt say a prayer at each altar and when he stood up, the little boys rang hand-bells - they obviously enjoyed this bit of the ceremony - and the little girls scattered more petals from the baskets that they carried.

The white dresses and little sailor suits are the clothes the children wore for their first communion. This always takes place on the first Sunday in May. I love the beautiful embroidery on the priest's shawl.

As soon as the procession had moved on to the next street, the ladies began to dismantle everything, and within the hour, you wouldn't know there had been anything there, except for the flower petals drifting around in the breeze.

Apart from that, it has been a fairly quiet week. As the weather is hotting up, I do less and less, and spend most afternoons sitting under the fan doing some crochet etc, and dipping in the pool for a cool down. I still have a couple of busy weeks ahead, but July and August are very quiet, except for the village's main fiesta mid-July.

I completed the latest part of my Crochet-along in good time, and the next part is not released until next Tuesday, so I have had time to finish off another blanket for my Africa project. I shall try to get some more squares sewn together, but the edging may have to wait until the weather is cool enough for me to have a blanket on my lap again. In the meantime, I have plenty of other projects to be working on.

During the week Chris again worked on covering our back door. We used to have a curtain of chains across it to keep out the flies, but I often nearly strangled myself on it when I went through with washing to hang out etc. So recently he took out part of the bottom railing and fitted a cat flap, which the cats all ignored and walked around it to squeeze through the next rails! But they can't do that now because he has fitted the lower half of the door with a perspex cover, and the top half with a fly screen. This gives me a lot more light in the kitchen and utility area, and makes it easier for me to go in and out with my hands full. However the cats have not yet mastered the flap, and just sit next to it waiting for me to open the door for them. I have tried tying it open during the day, and they have come through a couple of times, but they are not impressed. Tango and Paco sat and watched the work being done, but their lack of interest in the end product is fairly obvious!

I am enjoying the garden for a few more weeks. It is a lot of work watering all the pots, but I do like to see all the flowers, so it is worth it. Out at the back the stephanotis is again in bloom and the scent in the evenings is heavenly. Also at the back, the cactus that we threw away over the railings because we were tired of its tiny hair like spines getting us whenever we passed it, is continuing to flourish on neglect. Once again it has lots of buds and new 'ears'.

All the time it was being a nuisance by the front gate, it never had any flowers on it. But they are actually very pretty, and at least where they are now, they can't do anyone any harm.

Out in the front, where most of the plants are, (because the dogs are only out there if we are), my osteospermums are doing well. When I bought them at Albox market a few weeks ago, I also bought a lovely wide pot for them, with daisies painted round the sides, and I was disappointed because all the flowers died really quickly. But I have continued to water them regularly and they have come alive again, and now all four colours have blooms on them.

Next to them, the verbena that I planted last year has also grown again. It trails rather nicely over the side of the pot, and is flowering really well.

And finally our little Bird of Paradise tree is doing amazingly well. We had to give it some support in the high winds last month, but it is a mass of flowers now, and there are still lots of new buds coming, so I think it will continue to greet me as I open the sitting room window each morning, for quite a while to come.

Other highlights this week have been a long chat with one son on Skype, hearing all about his holiday, and a long telephone conversation with another son to hear his exciting news.

Discovering that our current favourite local bar has opened a new outside area. We were able to sit out there for our intercambio group this week, and it was a very lively, fun evening. 

A couple of impromtu trips out with Chris, late evening, for a drink before bed, when we ending up sitting chatting to friends until late.

Just the general slowing down of life, and a season to relax and forget our usual rather hectic routine.

There are no more nice skies these days. There are not enough clouds to catch the rays as the sun sets, but maybe I will be in the right place at the right time again soon.

Now I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and Rocking Your World, and see what has been making you smile this week.

Rocking my World 2016: Week 23

I am sorry I was absent last week, but now I am back on home ground, so I'll do a quick catch-up on the last fortnight.

My smile this week is the next motif for my Frida's Flowers CAL. This pattern was released on Tuesday, so, of course, I had to get one made so I could see what it was like. It is called the 'Heart Rose', and I think it is the best one so far.

Because I am joining up as I go, this is already attached to the previous motifs. Now I am doing the other three as a production line, and I am up to the outer flower ring already, so they will soon be done, and I will have time to work on my other projects before the next part is published on 14th June.

Before I left for UK we had a little drama here. I had been clearing my larder out, and had a bundle of empty plastic bottles for recycling, so I walked down the road to the bin with them, and on the way back I noticed a small plume of smoke rising from the green zone behind our house. Once home we had a look over the back railings, and as we couldn't see anyone, nor hear any voices, Chris walked round and found an old armchair had been set alight, but there was no-one around keeping an eye on it. I am always worried about fire down there because the area is full of dead trees, plus broken pallets and other rubbish, and it is all so dry that even a small fire could soon take over. Then we heard the crackling of flames so I decided to phone the bomberos. I will always have a go at speaking to people in Spanish now, but on the phone it is much more difficult, but I managed to make myself understood, and before long a small fire truck arrived and the fire was extinguished.

I was so grateful that I was home at the time, and caught sight of it before it had time to spread and do any real damage.

The reason I had an unplanned visit to UK, was so that I could attend the funeral of my brother. He was approaching his 87th birthday, but I was grateful to hear that, although he was suffering from cancer, he passed away peacefully in his sleep, having spent his final few weeks in a lovely nursing home, where he was well cared for.

Of course funerals are not the happiest of occasions, but as so often is the case, this was an opportunity to meet up with family members, many of whom I had never met before. My brother was a frequent visitor to my house back when our mum was living with us, as were my other brothers and sisters, but he lived too far away for us to see him often after that, and his family were grown up and had moved to various corners of the country. So it was a real pleasure to meet his five children, in the photo below, along with his many grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Although the names of his children were well known to us, it was only his eldest daughter Margaret that I had really spent much time with before.

It was especially nice to meet up with his second daughter, Kathleen Jean, who was named after my sister and I. I was twelve when she was born and I remember being so 'chuffed' that he had chosen to give her my name! She remains Kathleen Sargent, which was my name before I was married.

As well as two brothers, I also had five sisters, but as Jean and I were the only two born after the war, the rest are now all in their eighties, so it was quite an achievement that the five remaining sisters all made it to the funeral too. Here we are, enjoying a chat together.

Because it had proved very difficult to get flights at the right time to the right place, I ended up flying to Jean in Bournemouth, and we travelled to the funeral in Slough by train. My youngest son, Ben, was free that day so he came down from Birmingham by train and met up with us there, which was an added bonus.

Jean and I got back home by early evening, and I was just in time to take a photo of the sun setting at the front of her house.

Such a lovely peachy pink colour in the sky.

Once again I seem to have taken a bit of Spanish sunshine over in my case, because the weather was lovely all through my visit. I had the choice of flying back home at "silly o'clock" the next morning but that seemed a bit too much of a rush, and the next flight wasn't until Monday, so I had a few days with Jean which was nice. We fitted in a visit to our sister who lives a short distance from her, some clothes shopping and a trip to Hobbycraft, but I had to be very careful what I bought as I only had hand luggage to pack it in to. I must say I found the big supermarket near her house rather frightening! I couldn't get over the range of choices for just about everything. I have obviously forgotten what it is like but I don't think it was quite so mad when I moved away some eight years ago. Now I am used to our small supermarkets where there are only a couple of alternatives for most things, and no choice at all for others. I found it restrictive at first, but now it is actually liberating, and makes shopping much more straightforward.

On Sunday I asked Jean if there was time to walk across the common that starts right across the road from her house. It was another lovely morning and we had such a nice walk. The common, Bourne Valley, is huge, with everything from leafy paths through a wonderful mix of trees, to wide open fields and fishing ponds. I loved the variety of flowers that were in bloom, from the yellow buttercups and flag irises, to the pink campion and the mauve rhododendrons that grow like weeds across Dorset. We are so used to brown earth all year around, and only stunted shrubs and a few pine trees, so it was wonderful to see the green everywhere and I had to stop every few minutes to record some thing else. Here are just a few of the photos I took.

Sorry if that was a bit of a photo overload, but I was enjoying it so much, and just wanted to share it.

As we came off the common, we walked down to the end of the road where there is a small weir, built as part of a flood relief system. The water was rushing down at great speed, but as it levelled off, there was a calmer pool formed by the stones, and a mass of fish were sun-bathing in its shallow water. They had to fight to hold their place as the current was trying to wash them under the bridge and into the shadier water on the other side of the road.

That night I was too late to catch the sun setting in front of Jean's house, but I did get the pretty sky before the light was gone.

I was grateful to Jean and her husband Ron, for getting me to the airport at 4.30 am on Monday morning! We had all only had about three hours sleep, so I hope they got a bit more when they got back home. I am not very keen on flying, especially on my own, but it was quite a good flight and I passed some time trying to take photos out of the window, with my phone. It was quite clear, and rather lovely as we flew over the snow-capped mountains.

It was lovely to step out of Arrivals and find Chris waiting for me, and of course, I also had a very noisy and warm welcome from the dogs when we got home. Chris then took me down the road for a quick meal and I managed to get a few hours sleep before we were off out again to Albox. My choir had the honour of being asked to perform on the opening night of the Albox week of music. We were singing in a big church that was a very strange mix of traditional and modern. Seats were reserved for us at the side of the altar, but the rest of the church was full. Here we are sitting chatting while we waited for things to get started. Things move at a leisurely pace here, so you have to have patience! 

This photo shows our little group of altos and also some of the men. I included it because this one that Chris took of us during our performance, makes it look as though we are nearly all women, when we actually have a very strong men's section too.

We are all looking a bit dazed because this was our first proper public performance, and we were given a standing ovation. Very gratifying!

(There are some very modern angels in the fresco behind us aren't there?).

The whole concert was a great success and we had lots of very positive feedback afterwards.

When it was over, the concert organiser, and the town mayor, invited us to the pensioners club across the road for a drink, so most of us trouped across. I was debating whether or not to go straight home as my early morning start was catching up on me, but I was so glad we stayed. When we got in there we found a long table set up with plates and glasses, that ran the whole length of the room. We all sat down, the choir, our partners and friends, the town dignitaries etc, and soon the bar staff came out with bottles of water, jugs of beer and jugs of a very nice sangria. (My nice husband said he would drive home so I was able to enjoy the sangria!! Another little extra grateful). Then the food started to arrive, plates of salad first, followed by meat in sauce, fish in sauce, baked potatoes, calamaries, tuna pastries, bread and allioli, and much more. We couldn't believe it as another and yet another dish arrived, and there was more than enough of each one for everyone to try. The chatter was lively up and down the table. It was so unexpected and a really good way to end a lovely evening.

I am glad to say the rest of the week has been fairly routine, so the washing has all been done, the larder restocked, and my new flowers crocheted!

So now I will close with two more little things that make me happy. This is my first motif for another crochet project. I just love the colours.

I wanted to take something to do in the evenings at Jean's, so I was really happy when the wool for this project arrived the day before I went. I had, had the pattern for a few weeks but had only just ordered the wool, and it came really quickly. The pattern is for a blanket called Persian Tiles, and I want to make it twice as big as the pattern says, so it will cover our orange bed settee in the spare room. I made this one while I was at Jean's, and on the last evening I started another one. But when I got it out at home, I thought it was a bit 'wavy' and when I counted, I had made nine repeats of the pattern instead of eight, so I have some unpicking to do!!

I loved the motif when I saw it on the internet and the colours reminded me of our tiles which are on the risers of the all the outside steps. Moroccan influence rather than Persian, but the colours are right.

The other thing I have been doing that I am quite pleased with, is a little bit of photo editing. Our other brother, John, sadly passed away back in 1995, and I have very few photos of him, but while I was at my sister Dorothy's house, I saw this photo in a frame. I only had my phone with me but I took a few shots of it, none of which were very good because of the light reflecting off the glass, and my shadow on it, but I spent some time on it using my graphics program, and I am quite pleased with the result. I know Dorothy reads my blog, and I wanted her see how well it had turned out.

Now I will link up to Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World, and hopefully I will see you all again next week.