Rocking Your World 2018: Week 39

I'm starting this week with a photo of Foxy giving dad a 'high-five'. Kim is so much bigger than her, and rather 'pushy', so it is good to see Foxy getting her chance for a bit of fuss.

In fact, if you peep around her you will see that Kim has already commandeered the seat beside Chris, and has a proprietary paw on him, so Foxy did well to get a look in at all.

Of course I was out at church on Sunday, as I always am, and while I was away Chris decided to tackle the bougainvillea along our side fence, which was once again growing out of control. The dogs were round with him being their usual helpful selves, and Kim suddenly got very excited, barking at the wire fence dividing us from next door's land. When he investigated Chris spotted a good size tortoise scurrying by. He tried to take a photo for me, but the camera on his phone is not very efficient, and there was too much contrast between the bright sunlit area, and the deep shade cast by our fence. So you will just have to believe me that somewhere in this picture there is a tortoise, completely at home in its natural environment!

I blew up the area where I think it is, but the resolution was not high enough to get a good image. Round about the centre of this square, there is a brown line which is the side of its shell.

We have seen several of them before, out on the campo, but this is the first time we have spotted one in the village. I am just happy to know that, despite the extremes of flood and drought, there are still some thriving in the wild.

We have had a mixture of grey dreary skies, short sharp showers, and spells of very hot sunshine, which between them have seen us spending more time than usual indoors. So when, on Monday evening, Chris suggested driving down to Mojacar and walking along the sea-front, I was happy to leave what I was doing and get some fresh air and exercise.

By the time we got down there and found somewhere to park, the sun was already sinking behind the mountains, but there was still plenty of light, and everywhere was very quiet and peaceful.

The late season visitors had mostly gone home, or to their hotels for a meal. It probably got busier again later, when they came out again for their evening stroll, but we had chosen the in-between time. There is a very long seafront at Mojacar, several kilometres in all, so we walked for a  fair way and then stopped at a bar for a drink. Many of the bars only cater for the high summer season, and they have already pulled down the shutters, and won't be opening up again until next July. But other do stay open for the early evening trade, and of course, many of the larger restaurants stay open all year for the those of us who live here. The bar we stopped at, informed us they would be closing in twenty minutes, but that was plenty of time for us to have a cooling drink.

I liked the way pale lines of chalk paint had been used to highlight the wood grain in our table. 

We were sitting on the road side of the promenade, and to our left there was a cycle lane, then a sort of hedge of palms and shrubs, and then the walkway and the beach beyond. From where we were sitting we could see the sea through the palm trees. The sun was setting behind us and pink sky was reflected at the horizon, giving a pearly haze to the scene. A gravel barge was going into Garrucha port and the rays of sun just caught it and lit it up. It looked so pretty.

I had read there was to be a large harvest moon on that night, so before we turned away from the coast to head inland to our village, I asked Chris to stop so I could get a photo of the moon rising over the sea. I only had my phone with me, not my camera, so it isn't all that good, but I was quite pleased with the result. It was a bit cloudy so the moon does not exactly shine, but at least I got the reflection in the water.

Although the drive home is no more than fifteen minutes, it was almost dark when we got in. We were driving into the setting sun, and although it had dropped behind the hills, the sky was still a vivid orange and yellow, (even when viewed through our rather dusty windscreen!)

The recent storms have at least given the earth a good soaking and the plants are all rewarding us with vigorous growth. My little bright pink bougainvillea that we planted as a bare stick several years ago, now spreads along the back railings and is making an archway over the gate. This week it was sporting this gorgeous bunch of flowers. Isn't it stunning?

Needless to say, the cats are less enthusiastic about the rain, and have been getting restless inside. But yesterday Charlie made the most of a dry spell and sat outside on an old garden chair. He is not a great fan of having his photo taken, and refused to look directly at the phone. But he is such a handsome fellow!

And now I have a couple of pictures of last night's sky to finish with. It was a dramatic sky with storm clouds rolling all around, and the final rays of the sun doing their best to shine through them, like little search lights.

In this one you can see that the clouds are literally rolling across the village, though they did roll away without spilling any rain on us.

And finally I had to do this close up of the cloud just before it got quite dark, because to me it is a clear face looking down on me. Don't you agree?

I am a bit late posting today as I have had a busy day, but I am back from choir practice now - only four more to go before our concert in London! So I have finished my post and will link it up with Rocking Your World, and Annie's Friday Smiles.