Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 29

 In contrast to last week when I had more photos than I knew what to do with, this week I have very few, so I will keep this a short post.

My week has been dominated by all the horrifying photos coming on the news from Spain. The wild fire was, of course, right by what was my home village until last year, so I recognised the area, and knew many of the people mentioned and interviewed. Although the fire was not actually in Los Gallardos village it was in the area under its juridiction, and it did come right up to the perimeter of the village so the smoke and ash have left their mark, and the air quality is awful. Plus the death toll is so sad and there is still fear for the more than twenty people who are unaccounted for. We went up to Bédar many time, and took our visitors to a restaurant there that we liked. Because the houses are made of stone, many are still standing but the wooden parts, door frames, outbuildings etc, are gone. So too are the livelihoods of the Spanish families who have lost their orange groves and almond groves. This should be the week of the big annual fiesta in Los G. but that has of course been cancelled. It all has made me very sad.

But this post is supposed to be about what has made me smile so here are a couple of garden photos.  As the back garden is not yet ready to do much to, I scattered a packet of marigold seeds over some pots, (each containing a baby fruit bush that hopefully will come into their own next year), and they have given me so many flowers, making a lovely splash of bright colour out there.

Also, despite the heat, our new rose bushes are giving us a second flowering and the little 'tequila sunrise' is so pretty. The flowers are smaller this time, but they are very full and frilly, and go through a lovely range of yellow, to orange to pink. I am really glad we chose that one.

As it is too hot to sit outside until late afternoon when the garden has some shade, I have been busy in my craft room. I made three birthday cards needed this month, and also a set of six Christmas cards using a clear script stamp which is one of the very first ones I owned. It was bought on my first visit to the NEC craft show in Birmingham some thirty plus years ago. I was fascinated by Barbara Gray (Santorelli then I think) and her Clarity stamps. I stood watching her demonstrating for ages and this was one of the stamps I bought.

And that is it for me this week. Stay cool and hydrated everyone.

Friday Smiles 2026 # Week 28

 Well I have a lot to smile about this week, and lots of photos to share, but I will start with last Saturday when again the park came alive to the shouts of excited children as TNS (a local football team who play in the Welsh league), organised a fundraiser fun day, with bouncy castles, inflatable football pitches and games. And No! I didn't take any photos even though I met my very excited grand-daughter over there. 

It was also the Oswestry Food and Drink fayre so all the streets around were lined with stalls selling street food, local produce, baked items and locally distilled whisky. It was too crowded to take a meaningful photo, but I bought some very tasty pies and some lovely cheeses.

However, the day before that, on the Friday I took loads of photos when I had a day out with my daughter-in-law Ella. Months ago she told me she had been to Oswestry Ironworks with her sister and I mentioned that I had never been there but woud like to one day. She promised me we would go there for lunch one day but it has taken until now for us to find a day when we were both available! Fortunately it was another lovely sunny day so off we went. I wasn't sure what to expect though I knew they had sculptures made for scrap metal. Probably their most famous sculpture is the "Knife angel" - an angel made entirely from knives surrendered after an arms amnesty. Sadly that was not on show for us as it is currently on a nationwide tour.

But we did see the famous gorilla made from 40,000 plastic spoons collected by children from around the world. 

https://www.blackcountrymetalworks.co.uk/spoon-gorilla

It is in the centre of this collage along with some more fantastic exhibits.

These are some of my favourites, especially the 'Grim reaper' carrying a lantern in place of a scythe. I hope you can click on the image and enlarge it enough to read the caption next to him. 

I also liked the cut away head listening to music through headphones. The work involved in creating each one is amazing.

There were some cute little characters with an explanation of the materials used, and also some characters familiar to the younger visitors.

These fruits stood out because of their bright colours which clearly show the cogs and gears used in their construction.

The vehicles were pretty cool, especially the car made from drift wood, and the van with a millipede wound round it and each of its legs was a golf club.

Of course there were lots of mythical creatures allowing the makers to use their imagination, and all were very striking.

We walked a good few steps as the sculptures were spread over a wide area. I couldn't stop taking photos which is why I have put them into collages, but this is only some of the ones on show. But tired and hot, and mindful of the time when Ella's daughter needed to be met from school, we decided to stop our wanderings and were glad to settle in this lovely restaurant for a very tasty late lunch.

And finally, not an exhibit but my lovely smiling grand-daughter enjoying her day out.

One last happy event for this week is that now the garden is cleared of builders rubbish we decided to buy a little bistro table and chairs for our patio. There isn't much space out there yet but this is big enough for a cup of tea each, and even a light meal if we wanted it. It is a very pretty design, and we actually both agreed on the same one which made buying it easy.

And that is more than enough from me for this week.