Rocking Your World 2014: Week 45

Here is a little newspaper clip a friend of mine posted on Facebook this morning, that I think will make you smile.

I´ll be linking that up later to Annie´s Friday Smiles.

But here is something that made me smile too.

This picture shows most of the items I have made over the past few weeks, ready for a coffee morning at a friend´s house, to raise money for our church. She asked me whether I would like to do a craft table there, and I decided to go for it. I made quite a variety of things, from knitted and crocheted items, (I have shown some of these in previous weeks), to decorated candles, vinyl cut on my silhouette cameo to decorate plates and baubles, my local photos used to create calendars, and of course, jams and pickles and mince-pies. Need I say that the mince-pies were the first thing to sell out! 

The coffee morning was yesterday, and there was a good crowd of folk coming and going throughout the morning. I sold a lot of my things, and have taken orders for more knitted chocolate covers, calendars and plates. So I was able to give a good donation to the church as well as adding some to my Knit for Africa project, and keeping a little to replenish my stocks - i.e.buy more mincemeat! I have done a post on my craft blog, explaining more about how all of these were made, and you can read it by clicking here.

My friend´s house is just outside a little village called Santa Maria de Nieve, (Saint Mary of the snow), and although you don´t really feel as though you are climbing as you drive there, they are quite a bit higher than us, and they do get a sprinkling of snow in the Winter. It is often noticeably colder there than at home, but yesterday we were blessed with a lovely day, so some of the stalls could be outside. Because it was a bit windy I opted for inside, and had a good position right by the door.

On my way home I stopped to enjoy the view. It is quite different in that area, with wide open spaces dotted with scrubby trees, and a lovely backdrop of distant mountains. It hasn´t improved with the rain there much, so  the ground was still brown. Where I parked there was a small dip and then a wall of rocks and mud. I love all the shadows.

Across the road behind me it was more open, and you could see for miles.

To my left, on top of the hills, these gentle giants were slowly turning. They get a lot of criticism, but I think they are quite beautiful, and if anything, they add interest to the scenery rather than spoil it. And I am all in favour of harnessing the natural elements to produce more power. 

On my right there were more muddy hills and despite the barren looking soil, the little trees were doing their best to add patches of green.

So it was a nice morning out, with plenty of time to chat with friends, some of whom I hadn´t seen for ages, and a good result money wise too.

Not every day has been so bright and sunny this week. On Monday our local weather forecast, which we both have on our computers, was giving red and orange alerts which were warnings of high winds to come and possible rain, and sure enough, as darkness fell, it started to blow hard. Then there was some rain so we had to bring the dogs into the porch, and make them comfy there. We would bring them indoors, but they are not used to being inside and they don´t settle down. They are happier outside, though they are quite willing to lie down together in the porch instead of their house, on nights like that. As we lay in bed we could here things moving and creaking, and the dogs stainless steel dishes flew off the outside sink and clattered down the side-way. In the morning we went out to inspect the damage. As expected, our big palm had gone over.

It is very heavy but we managed to right it again without too much damage. We are hoping to get it planted in the ground instead of a pot this year, in the hope that it will be more stable.

The little palm by the pool was over as well, even though it was tied to the wall. Oranges from next door´s trees were scattered in our yard and I had to collect them up as they are not good for the dogs to chew.

Chris had spent a lot of time last week making sure the pool was clean and shut down for the next few months, but sadly it is again covered in leaves, and some lengths of white plastic cable boxing that we had been using, are now on the bottom, so there is more work to do there.

Fortunately the rest of the week has been nice, and it is still lovely and warm in the sunshine, but there is more rain and lower temperatures forecast for next week.

I was pleased when I went for my monthly diabetic check this morning, because my sugar level is still low. This is the first check since the doctor agreed to cut my medication by half, so I was not sure what to expect. While I was there, I was also able to have my flu vaccine, so that another good thing out of the way.

I have had some nice long chats with my boys on the phone this week. That is always a positive for me. One shared the good news that his partner has just secured her first job after graduating as an Occupational Therapist. They had to scrimp and save while she did her training so I am very happy for her now. She is a lovely girl and will be very good at her work. I am sure they will pleased to have employed her.

Tonight, just as I went to the kitchen to prepare our tea, Chris suggested we walk down the road for a drink first. It is so good to do things spontaneously sometimes. We met up with some friends there and enjoyed a couple of drinks, and then wandered back for a late tea. (So I can blame him this week for me posting this so late again).

I had a parcel of craft supplies delivered on Wednesday and one of the items was badly damaged. I e-mailed the company and I am happy to say that a replacement is already on its way to me. I do appreciate good service from the companies I deal with, so Thank You Crafter´s Companion.

I am closing today with not one, but a whole series of sky photos. They were all taken on Tuesday night within about half an hour. The wind had broken up the clouds and they picked up the setting sun in a very interesting way. And it never stayed still. The changing colours and shapes were like a kaleidoscope. I just took picture after picture, and suddenly it was gone, and it was dark. They were too lovely to  share just one, so I have picked out ´six of the best´. Believe it or not, I am showing them in the order in which they were taken. I started at the back of the house for the first two. The next two were taken in front of the house, where there is only a weaker reflection of the sunset, and then I went back round to the green zone for the last two. Enjoy them, and I´ll see you again next week.

I will just go and link up with Annie´s blog and with Virginia at Celtic House. Then I think an early night is in order.