Rocking Your World 2020: Week 32

Sorry I am late posting today. I have been distracted! 

It has been incredibly hot this week, and also a bit humid, so I have little inclination to do very much. This is when I really applaud the Spanish custom of an after-dinner siesta!

The evenings are a bit pleasanter, though some days I have still needed to put the big fan on in order to do any crochet. Not that I have done a great deal of that, with a little fur ball chasing my yarn all the time.

In many ways he would rather be chasing the other cats who are not impressed at the little intruder who doesn't take 'No' for an answer! The dogs are tolerating him. Foxy is quite interested, but Kim seems almost scared of him! But they will both settle down in the evening while he is running around them, as long as he doesn't bother them too much.

It took the little fellow a few days to get over his long journey, and confinement in a small cat-carrier. On Sunday he went crazy all morning, and then slept for seven and a half hours straight off. He woke up to eat some tea, and then slept all evening and night. He has regulated himself now and alternates times of playing with times of cat-napping, and he really is very good.

Of course I have taken photos of him all week. He will stay a little baby for such a short time. So rather than showing loads of them here, I have made two 12" x 12" scrapbook pages for my 'random pages album', which I will add instead.

And that is all I have for you this week.

The situation in Spain is not too good right now, with more active cases of the virus cropping up nearer to here, though the main outbreaks are still further north. It has curtailed a little of our recently allowed activities, but they are working hard to keep it contained, and I think they are succeeding. I just wish some of the general public would be a bit more sensible. The Town hall workers came round disinfecting our streets again today. We haven't seen that for a while. I am just grateful for anything they can do to keep us all safe.

Now to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking your world.

I believe my UK friends are enjoying a bit of a heat wave too. Stay safe everyone. Here is a little smile that seems relevant this week.

Rocking Your World 2020; Week 31

We all like to get parcels don't we, even when we know what is inside them, and I especially like my squishy parcels. Two arrived on the same day this week, from two different couriers. They were both ordered from UK companies on the same day, so parcel post does seem to be getting back to normal -- for now anyway. One was another 'parcel of joy'. like one I showed a few weeks ago. Inside was some mid-blue 4ply acrylic yarn, and two new crochet hooks, making my range across the sizes in the 'comfort grip' hooks, just about complete.

The second one, from my favourite yarn supplier who has just started shipping outside of UK again, had yarn for two projects in it. First there were these three balls of very pretty quick-colour-change wools. Instead of the one I am using right now, where the colour changes very gradually throughout the big ball, these are constantly changing in quite a subtle way. They will be used alongside the plain blue from the other parcel. (I only ordered it from a different company because it was on sale for a few days and saved me quite a bit of expense).

Secondly in this parcel, there were some smaller balls of a grey beige and denim blue yarn called Mighty, which is a mix of cotton and 32% jute. It is to make another bag, a more simple beach/openwork shopping bag. The Mighty yarn was recommended for it and I thought the jute might make it more hard-wearing. I was afraid it may feel a bit rough to work with, but it feels quite soft, so I will see how I get on with it. I have to finish my current project first anyway.

We have spent every evening this week, out in the fly-free porch. Some nights I have had to resort to using my big industrial strength fan. Chris thinks it is a bit noisy, so when I can, I manage with my neck fan, which has certainly earned its keep this year. The thermometer has shown above 30º right up to bed time, and when I had a late night dip, just before midnight, the water was still 28º. The forecasters have threatened us with 42-44º tomorrow, but hopefully the highest temperatures will be further inland. We are 10 minutes drive from the coast, but we do get the benefit of a little sea breeze to cool us a bit.

One evening we had two of our little visitors again. These two cicadas sat on the outside of the fly net for ages, just resting, before suddenly taking off again.

A short while later we heard some loud fluttering and we saw one of them had trapped itself between the roof of the fly-free and the overhanging roof of the house, a gap of about six inches, and it was fluttering and crashing around. Perhaps because it was now dark, and they usually are silent and presumably sleeping then, it didn't seem able to crawl out to where it could fly off again, and the animals couldn't take there eyes off it. Tango was sitting on the little table next to me so I got his photo and as you can see, he was mesmerized by it. Foxy was the same, but Kim slept through all the excitement!

Because we have no gutters on our houses out here, when there is heavy rain we get a fair amount of debris washed off the roof onto the fly screen, and as it dries it mostly blows away, and every now and then, Chris uses the power washer to clear the rest. But sitting out there, and looking at the last of the evening birds, making a final swoop around for supper before settling down, I couldn't help but see these three little bits of leaf or twig making a simple smiley face in the corner where the net panels join. I felt someone up there was happy to have our company.

Another evening I happened to glance up just as the sky darkened enough to see the moon clearly and I was struck by it's unusual appearance. It was dark around the curved edge and paler inside, and had one completely straight edge. It looked just like a slice of lemon. I said to Chris "Look. Someone has cut the moon in half tonight". He assured me it was like it two nights every month at the first and third quarters. This was the first quarter I think, and of course I had to capture it on camera.

And now for my real happy post. I have delayed publishing this as I was waiting for a very special delivery this morning. And just now it arrived. Let me introduce my new furry friend, ten week old Bartholomew.

He is a Ragdoll cat, from a breeder in Valencia, and he arrived in a little cat-carrier, by courier. Chris bought him as a special lock-down gift for me. I have cared for many, many  rescue cats, and dogs, over the years, so this time I have a pure bred, and he is gorgeous. I have wanted a Ragdoll ever since I watched Blue Peter with my boys some thirty plus years ago, and they replaced the BP cat when it died, with two Ragdolls. He is a bit scared after his long journey so he is not really ready for a photo shoot yet, but hopefully I will have better ones soon. And 'Well done' to Elizabeth, who knew my parcel last week was a cat litter tray. No-one else was anywhere near close.

So now it is time to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and Rocking Your World, and I'll see you all next week.