Friday Smiles 2024 Week 8

Friday again and the sun is still shining, despite orange and yellow alerts on the forecast page for rain, storms and a deep drop in temperature. So we will wait and see what the weekend brings. But in the meantime we will continue to enjoy the warmth and sun. I have even shed a layer of clothes because it was so warm sitting outside to eat lunch yesterday, though I know I will probably need it again in a day or two.

The garden is enjoying the sun too. This morning I noticed several buds on my fresias out in the front yard. It is way earlier than I usually see them. Also the jasmine is again bursting out with more flowers every day. You can see here just how many buds are on it. The lovely perfume fills the house when I open the window in the morning.

This is the poinsettia we thought we would plant out after it had sat in a pot all through the Christmas  season 2021. It hasn't grown a great deal but it still looks really healthy and now some of the leaves are turning red. I am hoping it will continue to grow and thrive.

I have been having fun getting to grips with the laser cutter a friend lent me. I bought some 15mm bass-plywood and a few A4 sheets of 3mm birch-plywood. Here are just a few of my trial runs. I cut a small square from the thinner wood and then engraved a picture of Leo. This started out as a photo so I had to learn how to use Gimp to change it to a black and white line sketch and remove the background before I could engrave it. One thing I learned is that it was a mistake to cut this against the grain of the wood, so next time I will turn the base around first.

Next I tried cutting out a couple of plain shapes. It took a lot of passes and the 'smoke' and fumes were not very pleasant, but fortunately I was able to work with the window wide open. You may just notice that I lost the tip of the music note tail, by being too impatient. Another lesson learned. Hopefully I will have a completed project to show in a week or two.

It really made me smile when I took in this parcel from a courier yesterday. I had ordered the wool for a new project and the only place in Europe I can order it from is the Netherlands. The postage was high, but as it was a big order I decided to accept that. They always send their orders in these boxes. I wonder how many others have smiled at it as it travelled across to me?

And of course, what was inside made me smile even more. I took this photo in bright sunlight but although the blue and grey are pretty close to their true colour, the third one is not orange as it looks here. It is a shade called 'tomato', and has a much pinker/redder hue with just a hint of orange.

Right now I am busy working on my Tunisian crochet hexagons. I chose a much better contrast colour for the second one and the pattern stands out well. Here it is on my blocking boards, to make sure it is the same size as the first one.

Tonight I will finish the third hexagon. I used a varigated blue wool for the contrast this time, and it has worked well. You can see why I need to block them. 

I am happy to have got the hang of this technique, but the blue main colour splits very easily, which is a nuisance. Also these are made with 4ply wool and I much prefer to work with Double Knitting weight, so I will be having a go at a motif with the new wool in a day or two.

Today is my 'baby boy's' birthday. He is actually thirty seven but he will always be my baby. Born when I was in my fortieth year, (which was considered unusual in those days), I was always grateful to have such a healthy and happy baby. He completed our family and has brought lots of joy to many people, with his music.

It was also my sister's birthday yesterday and she was eighty-nine. So a very happy birthday to both of them.

Now I will get ready to link up with Annie's Smiles in the morning, and get outside in the sun for a while.

Friday Smiles 2024 # Week 7

Another lovely week has flown by and we have had a few smiles along the way. There was lots to smile about on Saturday as it was our village carnival day. This is always a happy occasion with lots of folk, old and young alike, dressing up as part of a team, a family or an individual. The parade goes all around the village and folk line the streets to cheer them on. We are lucky as they pass our house so we can watch from our own doorstep. Here is a jumble collage of some of the people who were involved. (There are much more elaborate and larger parades at the towns around here, but we do pretty well for a little village).

Leo decided to sit beside me on the path to see what was going on. He never likes to miss anything, and he got lots of admiring comments which he accepted with his usual rather fierce stare!

Fortunately the sun shone on the revellers though, as usual, they were a bit slow getting started so the sun was going down by the time they got back round to the big marquee on the carpark where there is music and dancing for anyone who wants to join in.

I had some happy photos from the family including this one of our great/grandson Alfie who was awarded with a Gold certificate from his teacher. He has had the teacher's award for the week on several occasions, but apparently he had set his heart on winning a gold award this term, hence the big smile. Well done Alfie.

And here is our little grand-daughter Aisling helping mummy make pancakes, and having a wonderful time. At Christmas she had one of the high step-stools like Annie's Louie had, so she could reach the table top to join her mum cooking, painting etc. They are such a good idea.

Our youngest son Ben is setting up his own business offering to sing and play the piano at functions, but also to have local artists come to his studio at home to record and master their songs, and to help them improve their productions. He can make films of occasions using his drone and set the videos to music, and as a sideline he likes making soap to sell! This is his studio with his new wide screen monitor.

We have had some lovely warm days with Almeria region breaking records again for the highest temperature for February on record, but we have also had some gale force winds, and some very grey days. Today we had a very gentle rain fall around tea-time, but it wasn't enough to do the garden any good. All the reservoirs are even lower than they were last year, and we have not had any significant rainfall all winter. So this week we are all on water restrictions, with an allowance of 200litres per person each day. This is actually higher than the average household uses so it isn't too bad, but we are not allowed to water the garden beyond just 'sufficient to keep it alive', and no filling or topping up of swimming pools, so we will be sad if the restrictions stay in place through the summer as we usually top our pool up every week June-September. 

I had a hearing test this week which confirmed that hearing aids would be a good idea. They are very, very pricey out here so we are looking at options for now. I also had laser treatment on my right eye to clean the cataract lens, and everything is clearer and brighter today. Now I will get tested for new glasses.

The wood I ordered for the lazer cutter arrived this morning so I will be having a play again soon.

I have ordered a big bundle of wool for another pattern so I have something else to work on in the evenings. I get bored with one pattern all the time so I like to have a few projects on the go at the same time. This one will be very challenging as it is worked mainly from charts and I like to have a written pattern as well. But I have done a little test piece so I think it is worth a try.

We had to be up early for our eye clinic appointment yesterday so I saw a lovely red and orange sunrise. It cast a rosy glow on the white houses round at the back of us.

The night before had given us a strange funnel shaped sunset. Both were beautiful in their own way.

So now I am off to polish this up ready to publish and link up with Annie's Friday Smiles in the morning.