Rocking Your World 2021; Week 9

Good morning everyone. I am starting today with a great quote I came across, that seemed very relevant to this post, as Rocking Your World is aimed at looking at those things that have made us feel grateful this week, and Annie wants to see what has made us smile. And even in these difficult times, we can all find something to smile about.

"Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life. It turns what we

have into enough, and more. It turns denial into

acceptance, chaos to order, confusion to clarity. It

can turn a meal into a feast, a house into a home, a

stranger into a friend." Author Unknown.

So here are the highlights of my week. I had a lovely messenger chat with my grand-daughter and she sent me these pictures of their latest family member,  a gorgeous little cockerpoo called Lady.

It is her husband who has always wanted a dog, but the boys are obviously thrilled with her.

Isaac and Alfie had to return to school, but after just two days, Isaac is again isolating at home because someone in his 'school bubble' is positive! The upside for him is that he is now responsible for looking after Lady so that his dad who is working from home, can get on with what he has to do. He looks quite happy with that arrangement.

It has been another quiet week. Unfortunately we are one of only eight municipalities in Almeria that is still under lock-down. Everywhere else has a rate below 500 per 100,000 so they can now leave their homes to travel to other towns nearby, albeit under quite strict conditions. Our rate in the village is coming down. We are currently at 732, which is a lot better than the 1,330 we were at, so because we are below 1,000 now, non-essential shops plus bars and restaurants, can open for limited hours. That doesn't make a big difference to us, but we are hoping to get below the magic number of 500 by next week, so we can go to the bigger supermarkets beyond our village, and travel elsewhere if we want to.

We are getting a small market each Tuesday, so I went there this week and it was lovely to see the new season's fruit and veg in plentiful supply. I was able to replenish the chill compartment of my fridge which was looking a bit empty, and as a treat we bought a spit-roasted chicken and chips to bring home for lunch. It is a simple meal, but a treat all the same as I didn't have come up with an idea of what to cook, and it was very tasty.

Out here, when we reach a certain age we are entitles to what is called a sesentacinco card (65 card). Chris has his, but I have never bothered to apply for one. It does give us discounts on some things like travel, and shops, but I have not really needed one. 

But now we want to apply for something else which does require me having one so I downloaded the form to fill in and found I needed to send an up to date passport size photo. There was no ruling about not smiling, taking off glasses etc, so I decided to go for another selfie and after about ten discarded attempts, I settled on this one. I hope it is acceptable. I am not sure how long I will keep long hair for, though I am quite happy with it for now, but I have a feeling it won't last as long as my 65 card will!

We have something to look forward to as we have both ordered ourselves a new office chair. We had our current ones at much the same time, and they get a lot of use. Mine to scoot between my computer desk and craft space, and Chris for the many hours he spend on his computer. We have ordered them online which is a risk, but it could be quite a while before we can go anyone to 'try them before we buy them'. They are to be delivered on Monday.

I had a walk around the garden this morning. It is a lot colder again this week, with grey skies most days, but once Spring begins to show signs of coming, you can't really stop it. I was delighted to find my first freesias in flower, and there are still a few pansies smiling out at me from Chris' office window box. There is lots of new life on the hydrangeas. It is almost time to cut off the dead heads from last year. I read somewhere that you should leave them for the winter as they offer some protection to the new shoots in the cold.

I also found some buds on the squill. I didn't think I was getting any this year, but when they start to appear, they grow very quickly. In a few weeks I hope there will be some nice cones of blue flowers. They are one of the few really true blue flowers that I know. The bottom part of this photo is from a few years ago to show what they will be like soon.

I mentioned I was recycling some Christmas cards last week and some folk were quite interested so here are some I made. They are now posted on my blog challenge so you can read more about how I made them HERE.

And that's about it for this week. I shall link up with Rocking Your World and Annie's Friday Smiles. We would love you to join us and share your happy moments too.

Rocking Your World 2021: Week 8

Hello my friends. I'm a bit late posting today as I needed to finish a card this morning to get to our Post Office at lunch time. It is only open 1.00 - 2.00, so I have to time it right. Mail is taking an age to reach UK right now so I wanted it to start its journey before the weekend.

Once again we have had a mixed week weather wise. On Saturday it was like a Summer Day; really quite hot early afternoon, and the sky was a clear blue all day. On Sunday the Cabrera mountains huddled under a thick mist, making them almost invisible. Here they are on the two days, as seen from the back of our house.

One morning there was a lot of noise coming from across the road, and I spotted this line of starlings all chattering, probably discussing the weather just like us! (Sorry about the wobble. My hands aren't steady enough to take long zoom photos without a tripod!)

The last couple of weeks we have noticed a lot of activity around our purple flowering shrub. (Polygala myrtifolia for those who like to know. Also sometimes called the sweet pea bush). It turned out the carpenter bees were back and busy visiting the flowers. They love this bush and always come to it, though we don't often see them anywhere else in the garden. I love these bees. They are the largest that I know of out here, sometimes as much as 2cm along their body, black with beautiful iridescent blue wings that shine in the sun. They make a lot of noise flying by you, and sometimes crash around a bit, but they are totally non-aggressive. They don't live in hives, but are solitary creatures, boring holes up to an inch in diameter in any wood, to lay their eggs. Hence the name Carpenters. The shrub, or tree as it is now, had loads of them flying in and out of the flowers, but they wouldn't sit still enough for me to get a picture of them this time. In this picture you can just see one hovering out in the space alongside the tree, but there are loads more in the flowers that you can't see.

So I am adding this picture, two images from the internet and two of my own from previous years, so you can see them properly. Aren't they the most beautiful creatures?

Something else that has made me really smile this week is our jasmine starting its annual display of blossom. That is a sure sign that the warmer days are here. By next week you won't be able to put a pin between the flowers and their scent will fill the whole house. You can see all the buds covering it now.

We managed to pot up our palm tree in the new container, and Chris has been busy weeding and pruning, so the garden is looking good now.

I have as usual, been busy in my craft room. I have made a set of Christmas cards from the ones I received last year. I always like to add die-cut frames, fancy papers and sentiments so that each one looks quite different from the original. I won't show them here as I will be using them for my monthly Christmas Challenge next week.

I have also done quite a bit of crochet in the evenings though I sometimes have to wait until Tolly has been put to bed. (He sleeps in our small spare room so that he doesn't run out on the road at night. The others have a cat-flap in the back door and are free to come and go as they please). He loves to play with my yarn and crochet hook so I can't do much when he is around. But I have finished another three squares from a whirl ball called Key lime. It is fun watching the colours gradually change so you end up with three very different squares.

The next set will move through purple and pink to red and orange. That will be a bit different. This whirl is called Red velvet sunrise, though I think it is more like a sunset!

I have also made a good start on my cardigan with the green wool I ordered recently. I quite like how it is working up. I am hoping it doesn't get too heavy for me to hold, which is why I am doing the largest piece first.

And apart from lovely long chats with our boys that is about it for this week. So I will link up with Rocking Your World and Annie's Friday Smiles before I come round to visit everyone else.