Waterlogged!

Hi all. I think this will be a much shorter post than usual, (Hooray I hear you say!), as I have done little of any significance this week. It has continued to be grey and damp, though there have been a few occasions when the clouds have opened up to let a watery sun shine through.

I have still managed to be out and about nearly everyday, with an extra trip to Huercal-Overa on Wednesday to collect my new glasses, and to Albox on Thursday for my monthly parchment craft lesson. I can't show you what we made as it is a card I will be sending to someone very soon, and they might just spot it on here. My glasses are OK. I am not thrilled with them, but I guess I am still getting used to them. I shall persevere!

Do you remember this photo I posted back in the early summer, of our lovely yellow and red hibiscus. It only lives in a pot but it seems quite happy there, and every year it carries these big blooms for months. It is quite an unusual colour and I love it.

Well this week, it has suddenly decided to bloom again. I think the rain has confused all the plants. It would not normally be in flower now. But I did laugh when it opened to show this big bright orange flower! It is as though the rain has washed the red from the centre up through all the yellow, turning it orange. It has half a dozen flowers out, and they are all the same. It is still very beautiful, but I hope it reverts to its true colours again next year.

As many of you know, for the past six months I have been involved with a project to knit little vests and hats for the 'Fish and Chip' babies of Africa. I started out just responding to a request on a blog I follow, but the project here has taken off big-time, and we now have a web site and groups of knitters all over S.Spain, and in UK. When the original project ended I needed to find a new outlet for all the garments that we were still knitting, and eventually a lady from my church in Oswestry, put me in touch with Brian Hatton of Greenfields Africa. They now ship our knitting to Africa and supervise its distribution. Fortunately we have  a man at out church here who is a courier, and he has offered to take our parcels to Brian in UK, free of charge, which is a huge help. The good news is that Greenfields work among the pregnant women has been so successful, that now many of the babies are born free of AIDS so they have a longer life expectancy. This also means that there is now less need for all the little vests we were knitting, and more need for larger clothes to fit up to four year olds. They have also particularly requested blankets, so I am busy working on two of those right now. (I showed you these in my previous post.) I have been in touch with Brian to request some photos of his work that I could show to my knitters, and yesterday he sent me some. I will just put two on here but if you would like to read more about what we are doing, and see the rest of the photos, you can go to our web site by clicking here. (My friend looks after the site and she promised to put the photos on this week)

In the mean time, here is Oscar. He has only ever had a Fish and Chip vest, that has grown with him. I am glad to be able to say that Greenfields have now provided him with some more clothes.

The other item that they have requested is little teddies. They provide a pattern for this, probably to save them being showered with lots of unsuitable stuffed toys, and also so that each child is given the same. The caption on this photo says, "We believe that EVERY child, everywhere in the world, should have a teddy of their own".

I must just share this photo with you. Aren't they cute! Don't panic; they're not mine! While Chris and I were out walking the dogs yesterday, we spotted these in a typical Spanish back yard. They looked so sweet all cuddled up together, and all staring at us with wide, innocent eyes. Chris took a photo with his phone but they were too far away for a really good shot, so this morning I took my camera with me, and sure enough, there they were again, so I took this photo of them. They probably live out in the yard, but the house owner had put a dish of food for them, there is no shortage of water around, and they can cuddle up to keep each other warm. There was also an outhouse where they could shelter, but they seem to prefer the garden. Perhaps they all want to be as close as possible to the food bowl. It must be a bit of a 'free for all' at feeding time.

Well my local forecast actually says it will be sunny tomorrow so I am off to sort out the washing so I can put the machine on overnight, and get it hung out first thing in the morning, just in case it doesn't last. Even the Spanish folk are beginning to grumble about the rain. My friend Cati put on her facebook post, something about more rain today,  and then she said "Ahora entiendo los ingleses". (Now I understand the English!)