Rocking Your World 2018: Week 41

Here I am a little earlier than usual. I am not able to do my usual weekend 'milk and bread' shop as today in Spain it is La Fiesta Nacional de España, or Día de la Hispanidad, which is a bank holiday so all the shops will be closed. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to blog early and save the rush before I go to choir practice later.

I am starting with two pictures that I took last week and forgot to post. These little birds (mostly sparrows), are roosting in a tree down in the green zone behind our house. They had been on a feeding frenzy and were settling down for the night, but first they had a good gossip session about their day. They may be tiny, but boy did they have a lot to say!

My week got off to a good start as we had a special service of dedication at church - where we re-dedicate ourselves and the church  for its work in our community. And of course, we followed it with one of our great fellowship lunches. I had made my offerings on Saturday, tuna fish paté wrapped in puff pastry, and a 'Yum-yum cake', a cross between a shortbread and a cake topped with cherries and walnuts in meringue. As usual there was an abundance of food, and everyone enjoyed sitting around either outside in the sun, or inside where it was cooler, chatting, eating and drinking and enjoying the 'Fellowship'. We sat with our friends David and Darren.

David, in the white shirt, is our church rep, liaising between us and the two other churches in our chaplaincy. We are lucky to have so many willing and able men in our gathering. Two others who joined us when they moved out a few months ago, are also making themselves useful.

Keith (far left) and Peter (centre back), have taken over the organisation of our food bank. This week, with the help of some friends,  they sorted and delivered twenty-three bags of food to Zurgena Town hall for distribution to needy families.

A few weeks ago I showed some wool I was knitting with. It has been a bit of a struggle, as the recent damp weather has woken up my arthritis, but I am happy to say my cardigan is finished... and even happier to say that it fits! I just love the Autumnal colours, and though it doesn't show in the photos, there is a gold lurex thread running through it too.

Needless to say I still have other projects to finish, but even so I gave into temptation and ordered some more wool! My squishy parcel has arrived and I love all those bright colours. But when one of my friends posted this on our sewing group Facebook page, I had to smile.

But I don't just collect it, I do use it, and I have already made a small start on a new blanket. I have other things that I need to finish before my UK trip next month, but I am intrigued by this pattern, and wanted to have a go. It is called mosaic crochet, and it depends on the use of two contrasting colours to highlight the interwoven pattern. There will be seven sections; i.e. seven different patterns. Some people are doing each section in a pair of contrasting colours. Others are using one variegated yarn and one plain one for the whole blanket, and some are changing colours randomly as they go along. I am going for the last of these, so at some time first one, and then the other colour will change, so I will use up some of my 'half balls' of yarn, and I think it will be an interesting result. This is my opening rows.

The designer is from Iceland and her original blanket was made in aran weight yarn (worsted weight for my USA friends), but that would make a far too heavy blanket for me so I am using my favourite DK acrylic yarn. There is a Facebook page for people making this blanket and just out of interest, the administrator asked us to say what country we are in. Amazingly there are people making it in forty-one countries worldwide. It is called Havana. I shall have to be strong willed and leave mine now until I have finished what I need to do, but I am looking forward to working on it through the winter.

Yesterday we had a drier day than of late so I decided to go round the road and into the green zone to see whether the pomegranates are ripe. It is a bit of a mission, because although the children play down there, and have trodden down some rough paths, no-one actually cares for it, or clears away the debris each season, and you have to tread carefully. To gain access you have to climb up three crumbling terrace walls, which are easier getting up than back down! All summer it has been quite barren down there. The tall grasses had died leaving long brown stalks that scratch and trip the careless walker, and the trees were bare and brown. But after the recent storm it has come alive again, and it was good to see it looking so green.

I managed to locate the pomegranate tree that I can see from our railings and it was heavy with fruit.

They look ripe so I selected a few to take home.

I have often shown photos taken from the back of our house, looking down into the green zone, so before I left I took one of our house, looking up from the green zone. The first one shows how high above the zone we are situated.

And this one shows more clearly our lovely bright pink bougainvillea and the pink oleander next to it. The window on the left is my craft room, so this is my view when I am sitting here at my desk.

When I got home I washed my fruit. They are such a lovely colour and they shone in the sunlight. I haven't used them yet, but I will. These are the ones you saw on my blog as bright orange flowers, and then tiny fruit forming, several weeks ago.

That is just about it for this week. A week or two ago I showed our elderly cat Paco, actually sharing a table top with Charlie, and this week I was even more surprised to find him asleep on the settee with Kim. I am amazed either of them are tolerating the other at such close quarters. I managed to creep in and get this picture of them, but neither of them look too happy to have their rest disturbed.

And finally, of course, I have one sky photo. There have not been many red sunsets lately, but there have been plenty of cloud formations, and on Wednesday I just caught it as the sun funneled its dying rays down around the clouds it was beautiful.

So now I am linking up with Virginia at Rocking Your World, and Annie's Friday Smiles, and popping over to see their happy moments from this week. Why not follow me?

Rocking Your World 2018: Week 40

This picture makes me smile. Although Charlie is a lovely cat, he really doesn't like the dogs, and has not made friends with our other cats very much. He sometimes sits close with Tango, and just tolerates the rest, accepting that they live here too, but that doesn't mean he has to interact with them.

Just under the window in Chris' 'office' there is a spare table where he tends to dump folders, cables and anything else that is in the way on his desk, and Charlie likes to sit there in the mornings. But we were really surprised to go in there this week and find both him and Paco occupying a space on the table. They were both dozing, but later Charlie rolled over so he was facing Paco, and they still stayed there for a long time. There is hope for them yet!

We had a lovely service at church on Sunday, but it was a bitter-sweet one as we said 'Good-bye' to a couple who, having sold their house here, decided to return to UK. They have been a part of our 'group' ever since we moved out here ten years ago, and for several years before that. William is a trained worship leader, and his gentle wisdom has held us all together through some rocky times, as well as the good ones. They are both sign language users,(not out of need, but to help at their church in UK before they moved out here), and sometimes Sylvia would stand at the front and sign through one of the hymns, which was lovely to see. They will both be sorely missed, but I am sure we will all stay in touch with them. The lovely Father Alan took the service and blessed them on their new journey.

It was the first Sunday that we have put out the chairs and tables on the patio for our after-service cuppa, since around May, as it has been too hot. This week it was sunny and warm and several of us chose the outside rather than the more crowded room indoors.

This week I have been working hard to finish the cardigan I am knitting before my holiday in UK in November. There is not too much more to do so I think I will manage to get it done in time. I have also covered a couple more hangers but they still need some flowers to decorate them. October is our family's busy month for birthdays, so I had some cards to make as well. But yesterday I had a moment of madness and decided to make some bread. I used to make it all the time, and although I do have a bread-maker machine, I still prefer what I make by hand. But full of good intentions I do buy the strong flour sometimes, and the little cubes of fresh yeast which are readily available in our supermarkets, and in my opinion are far better than dried yeast, but they rarely get used. I can't think of when I last made a loaf from scratch, but the ingredients were in the cupboard so I had a go. I must say I was pleased with the result.

It's a bit lopsided, (quite a big bit if I am honest), so I didn't put an even layer of dough in the tin, but at least it rose, and had a good cracked crust on the top. Of course we had to eat some for tea, and when I cut it the texture was even with not too many holes, so I guess it was a successful try. The kitchen smelled wonderful while it was cooking. I must do it again soon.

This morning I made an earlier start than usual as I wanted to go to Turre market to buy vegetables for a batch of piccalilli, and you have to be early to get a parking space. But it turned out that there was no market today because it is their patronal fiesta, so the streets were lined with fair-ground rides instead of market stalls! So I drove on to Lidls for my fruit and vegetable shopping, as their fresh produce is always good, and then on to the other shops I needed to visit. In Lidls I bought two kalenchoe plants, an apricot orange one and a yellow one. In UK they are a popular house plant, but out here they prefer to be in the garden, and they keep blooming for months. They are also resilient in all types of weather, so I wanted them to sit on our porch stand. They are full of buds so should give us some colour for a long time.

And that's about it for this week. It is very pleasant here now, with temperatures around the upper twenties, a gentle breeze most days, and cooler, more comfortable nights so we sleep better. The clouds still gather some days but it remains warm. I just caught the end of one pretty sky earlier in the week, so I'll close with that, link up with Rocking Your World, and Annie's Friday Smiles, and I'll see you again next week.