Rocking your world 2014; Week 39

Another week has passed already, and I am starting my post with a photo of the day the clouds smiled at me, and I smiled back. I hope you do too!

It has been a week of mixed weather with everything from sun to wind and rain, but on the whole it's timing has been good!

Tuesday morning is choir practice time which I really enjoy. We have a lovely, if somewhat challenging programme for the season, and it is good to meet up with friends there too. The practice usually ends around 1.00 and just occasionally Chris and I go on to somewhere for some lunch. This week we went to one of our favourite restaurants perched right on the sea front at Pozo del Esparto, near San Juan. It is on a small strip of beach fronted by a row of bungalows which are mostly shut down over the winter, but are all busy with Spanish holiday-makers in July and August. So for those two months the restaurant is heaving with local folk enjoying a leisurely lunch, but for the rest of the year it is very popular with the English and Spanish alike.

It is approached down a narrow tarmac and then sandy road, which you think is coming to a dead end with a big drop down into the sea! In fact there is a very sharp right turn, (I always pray we won't meet anyone coming the other way at this point), and then a gentle slope down to some 'on the beach' parking.

When we arrived there were only a few cars parked there so we knew we would get a table, and we were soon seated right by the sea-wall, but by the time we had finished our lunch there was not an empty seat anywhere. It was lovely and warm but quite windy and they needed all the guy ropes to keep the sunshades steady.

All along the front of the restaurant, there are lovely shrubs planted in the sand. I am amazed at how well they grow despite the salt, the wind, and the lack of soil.

Two little friends sat on the wall beside me while I was eating, but when the man on the next table threw them some crumbs, they were suddenly joined by loads more. They seem to have a sixth sense when food is around.

On Thursday (yesterday) the forecast said there was a 90% chance of rain in this area, which was a bit worrying as we had arranged for a young man to come to do some heavy gardening for us. But he arrived at 8.00 in the morning, and was so efficient that he had finished by mid-afternoon, just as the rain started to fall! He started by cutting back the bougainvillea that runs all along the fence between us and our neighbours. It is very pretty for much of the year, but it is a ferocious grower, and quickly sends long branches out that reach right across the side path where I feed the dogs. Also it is right outside my kitchen window so it steals much of the light in there. So he has cut it back really hard and has also taken the centre out which was completely dead. So it doesn't look too pretty right now, but he has promised that it will now all grow back green, and I'm sure he is right.

Next we asked him to tackle the mimosa trees that grow just over the railings at the back of the house, where we look down into the green zone. Again, these were cut right down eighteen months ago but they just grew back bigger and stronger than ever. The main one was just outside my craft-room window, and as I am allergic to the pollen, that was no fun during the flowering season. So he has cut them down as low as possible again. There was an amazing amount of branches from them which he has laid as neatly as possible below the trees. We will try to find someone who would like to take the wood away for their fire, and hopefully the leaves etc will soon rot down. 

This time we have bought something to kill the stumps, so we are hoping they won't grow back. 

As you can see, calling the space behind us 'the green zone' is a bit of a mis-nomer right now. Our green tree cuttings stand out in sharp contrast to the very bare brown earth below them, but I am hoping this week's rain will start some greenery growing there again.

His final task was to cut down the fig tree in our tiny patch of front garden. This is the only piece of plantable land we have, and most of our plants are in big pots, so we were quite happy when the birds decided to plant a fig tree for us. We moved it to the centre and waited to see what would happen. Unfortunately, as a completely wild tree, it only had very poor fruit which was inedible, and it grew too big, too fast, and overshadowed the lovely jasmine and roses that grow there. So again, we asked him to cut it as low as possible, so we can make sure it is dead and not about to shoot again, and then we will plant something more suitable there.

It makes a big difference to my view from where I sit in the front room to knit or watch TV. So the young man got a lot of work done in the time he was here. It would have taken us several days to achieve all that, and neither of us are really up to it any more.

As he worked the clouds were gathering around us, and by mid afternoon it started to rain. It came down quite heavy for a while, in the way that rain tends to fall out here!

Soon it was spouting from each corner of the roof, and because it is so dusty everywhere, it washed a layer of red mud onto every surface. I think tomorrow I will be cleaning the windowsills etc, which are all red instead of white. By early evening the rain had stopped and the sun came out just long enough to give us a watery sunset.

Then the clouds won the battle again and we could hear thunder rumbling all around us. But there was no more rain, and at around mid-night we sat out on the porch and watched an amazing light show, as lightening flashed every second, and in every direction. I can hear it rumbling around out there again now, so I think we may be in for some more much needed rain tonight.

I am hoping there will be some more sunny days to come before winter is upon us, but I am grateful for the few degrees drop in temperature. It is still warm enough to sit outside in a sun dress but it is more comfortable, and especially at night, I appreciate that.

Last week I showed you the lovely fruit I had bought at the market, so here is what I made with it. There are forty jars of plum jam, and ten of peach and nectarine jam. I had to make some labels for the peach ones as I hadn't made that before. I also printed off some more plum ones, so now it is ready to pack away in the cupboard until I sell it. I also open-froze some peach slices to add to my fruit blends, poached more peaches and plums for the freezer, and made an apple and plum crumble for this week. So it was a very productive day!

Well I think I've rambled on for long enough, so I'll leave you as I started with another sky photo. The clouds were still smiling as the sun set behind the mountains, and the spreading rays lit up the happy face.

Now I must hurry across to Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking your world at Virginia's blog, to link this up, and I'll see you all again next week.

Rocking your World 2014; Week 38

It is not often that I start my post with a joke, but I saw this on the internet and it did make me chuckle, so I decided to share it with you.

Two old ladies meet in Heaven...

SYLVIA: Hi! Wanda.
WANDA: Hi! Sylvia. How'd you die?
SYLVIA: I froze to death.
WANDA: How horrible!
SYLVIA: It wasn't so bad. After I quit shaking from the cold, I began to get warm & sleepy, and finally died a peaceful death.
What about you?
WANDA: I died of a massive heart attack. I suspected that my husband was cheating, so I came home early to catch him in the act. But instead, I found him all by himself in the den watching TV.
SYLVIA: So, what happened?
WANDA: I was so sure there was another woman there somewhere that I started running all over the house looking.I ran up into the attic and searched, and down into the basement. Then I went through every closet and checked under all the beds. I kept this up until I had looked everywhere, and finally I became so exhausted that I just keeled over with a heart attack and died!
SYLVIA: Too bad you didn't look in the freezer -- we'd both still be alive.

Not quite my view of heaven, but it still amused me.

Now what has really made me smile this week. Well, the weather for a start. There is just a hint of Autumn in the air. On Tuesday we had a heavy shower, and most days the temperature has dropped just a little. Don't get me wrong. I love the long, hot days of Summer, but after nearly three months they do get a bit wearying, and it only takes a drop of two of three degrees, to make us feel a lot fresher. It hasn't been cooler all day, and most afternoons we have had the dreaded hot wind, which can be quite unpleasant, but fortunately for me, that usually comes from the back of the house, and our fly-free area is protected from the worst of it, so I have been able to sit out for a couple of hours each day, keeping the dogs company, and getting on with my cross-stitch. I making good progress with that, and yesterday I finished the third of the four pages of pattern, and I have done about half of the last page. So the end is in view for stage one anyway. There is then more top-stitching than I have ever done on a picture before, but I'll worry about that when I get to it.

I ordered a few craft materials last week and the parcel arrived on Wednesday. I love getting parcels (don't we all?) but unfortunately one item was incorrect. I e-mailed the company and within an hour I got a reply. They apologised for the mistake, told me I could keep the incorrect item, and by the end of the day, the correct item was dispatched. Now that's what I call good service! And I have a free set of five mica powders in lovely rich autumn colours, which I will enjoy using very soon.

Another craft item that I bought recently is a set of Brushos. Crafters who read this will know exactly what they are, but for anyone else, they are powder paints with very strong, rich pigments, many of which separate into their component shades when sprinkled on wet paper. The uses for these are very varied, but right now I am just playing with them. I bought a set of twelve colours and made some swatches by flicking the powder onto wet paper, and also by spritzing the dry powder with water, and I pinned them all up on my cabinet to dry. (I actually use coloured magnets to fix things to my cabinet, not pins!).

The black and the dark brown had the best reaction. As you can see below, the black has elements of blue, orange and brown in it, which all dissolved at different rates so they can be seen individually.

i had a trip to Turre market this morning because I suddenly realised that the plum season will soon be over and I haven't made any plum jam yet. So I set off looking for some bargains and it was my lucky day. Most of the dark plums (I think these make the best jam), were 1.50€ a kilo, which is quite good, but I was hoping for even better. Then I spotted a small stall that had a separate box for 1€ per kilo because some of the plums had marked skins.  These were fine for jam so I bought all they had, around four kilos. Then as I was leaving the market, I passed an old lady who doesn't have a stall, but she sometimes sits with boxes of fruit from her own trees. She had a box that were mostly red plums, plus a few yellow ones and the odd peach as well, so I bought another two kilos from her. So I think I know what I'll be doing tomorrow!

I like to have some variety on my jam stall, and right now I only have marmalade in the store cupboard, so today I also bought a few mixed peaches and nectarines to do a small batch of jam. I don't think the peaches have enough flavour on their own, but the nectarines add some sharpness, so they should work well together.

I also bought plums and peaches to cook for us, and to put a few boxes away in the freezer for later on, so I shall have a busy day tomorrow.

The other buy I was rather pleased with was some peppers. Another lady who doesn't have an official stall, is often there with loads of varieties of peppers and tomatoes, that I think are home grown, and she bags them all up for 1€ a bag. So today I bought some mixed red, orange and yellow, small, sweet peppers, mainly because they looked so good! I was poaching some fish at lunch time and I halved a few of these and added them to the pan, and they were delicious.

Quite a few folk now know about my Knit for Africa project and I get given all sorts of bits and pieces, from complete garments, to unfinished ones, to oddments of wool etc, and I do my best to use all of them. 

I have a friend who is active with the Lions Club, and recently she was given a bag of knitted 'bits'. She passed them on to me but said probably the best idea would be to undo them and use the wool. When I got home I found there was a random mix of knitted 'pieces' in all sorts of colours, shapes and sizes! But it seemed a shame to waste all of someone's hard work, so I spent two afternoons patchworking them, and managed to make two complete blankets. There is no system to their arrangement, but they have colour and texture, and will certainly keep someone warm. When the evenings start to draw in and I can cope with the warmth of a blanket on my knees, I will crochet an edging on each one, and they can go in my next consignment to UK.

Now, of course I have some sky photos for you. With the slightly overcast days, we have had some lovely evening skies. There wasn't as much colour in it on Tuesday, after the rain, but the sun did come out late afternoon, and it set in a blaze of glory.

Last night was more colourful. The remaining clouds turned a lovely pearly pink...

...and about half an hour later there were bright streaks of orange and yellow, as the sun sank behind the mountains.

Now I want to get a post written for my craft blog, so I will link these up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and Rocking your World on Virginia's blog, and bid you all 'Goodbye' until next week. Hasta luego!