Rocking Your World 2018: Week 41

Here I am a little earlier than usual. I am not able to do my usual weekend 'milk and bread' shop as today in Spain it is La Fiesta Nacional de España, or Día de la Hispanidad, which is a bank holiday so all the shops will be closed. So I thought I'd take the opportunity to blog early and save the rush before I go to choir practice later.

I am starting with two pictures that I took last week and forgot to post. These little birds (mostly sparrows), are roosting in a tree down in the green zone behind our house. They had been on a feeding frenzy and were settling down for the night, but first they had a good gossip session about their day. They may be tiny, but boy did they have a lot to say!

My week got off to a good start as we had a special service of dedication at church - where we re-dedicate ourselves and the church  for its work in our community. And of course, we followed it with one of our great fellowship lunches. I had made my offerings on Saturday, tuna fish paté wrapped in puff pastry, and a 'Yum-yum cake', a cross between a shortbread and a cake topped with cherries and walnuts in meringue. As usual there was an abundance of food, and everyone enjoyed sitting around either outside in the sun, or inside where it was cooler, chatting, eating and drinking and enjoying the 'Fellowship'. We sat with our friends David and Darren.

David, in the white shirt, is our church rep, liaising between us and the two other churches in our chaplaincy. We are lucky to have so many willing and able men in our gathering. Two others who joined us when they moved out a few months ago, are also making themselves useful.

Keith (far left) and Peter (centre back), have taken over the organisation of our food bank. This week, with the help of some friends,  they sorted and delivered twenty-three bags of food to Zurgena Town hall for distribution to needy families.

A few weeks ago I showed some wool I was knitting with. It has been a bit of a struggle, as the recent damp weather has woken up my arthritis, but I am happy to say my cardigan is finished... and even happier to say that it fits! I just love the Autumnal colours, and though it doesn't show in the photos, there is a gold lurex thread running through it too.

Needless to say I still have other projects to finish, but even so I gave into temptation and ordered some more wool! My squishy parcel has arrived and I love all those bright colours. But when one of my friends posted this on our sewing group Facebook page, I had to smile.

But I don't just collect it, I do use it, and I have already made a small start on a new blanket. I have other things that I need to finish before my UK trip next month, but I am intrigued by this pattern, and wanted to have a go. It is called mosaic crochet, and it depends on the use of two contrasting colours to highlight the interwoven pattern. There will be seven sections; i.e. seven different patterns. Some people are doing each section in a pair of contrasting colours. Others are using one variegated yarn and one plain one for the whole blanket, and some are changing colours randomly as they go along. I am going for the last of these, so at some time first one, and then the other colour will change, so I will use up some of my 'half balls' of yarn, and I think it will be an interesting result. This is my opening rows.

The designer is from Iceland and her original blanket was made in aran weight yarn (worsted weight for my USA friends), but that would make a far too heavy blanket for me so I am using my favourite DK acrylic yarn. There is a Facebook page for people making this blanket and just out of interest, the administrator asked us to say what country we are in. Amazingly there are people making it in forty-one countries worldwide. It is called Havana. I shall have to be strong willed and leave mine now until I have finished what I need to do, but I am looking forward to working on it through the winter.

Yesterday we had a drier day than of late so I decided to go round the road and into the green zone to see whether the pomegranates are ripe. It is a bit of a mission, because although the children play down there, and have trodden down some rough paths, no-one actually cares for it, or clears away the debris each season, and you have to tread carefully. To gain access you have to climb up three crumbling terrace walls, which are easier getting up than back down! All summer it has been quite barren down there. The tall grasses had died leaving long brown stalks that scratch and trip the careless walker, and the trees were bare and brown. But after the recent storm it has come alive again, and it was good to see it looking so green.

I managed to locate the pomegranate tree that I can see from our railings and it was heavy with fruit.

They look ripe so I selected a few to take home.

I have often shown photos taken from the back of our house, looking down into the green zone, so before I left I took one of our house, looking up from the green zone. The first one shows how high above the zone we are situated.

And this one shows more clearly our lovely bright pink bougainvillea and the pink oleander next to it. The window on the left is my craft room, so this is my view when I am sitting here at my desk.

When I got home I washed my fruit. They are such a lovely colour and they shone in the sunlight. I haven't used them yet, but I will. These are the ones you saw on my blog as bright orange flowers, and then tiny fruit forming, several weeks ago.

That is just about it for this week. A week or two ago I showed our elderly cat Paco, actually sharing a table top with Charlie, and this week I was even more surprised to find him asleep on the settee with Kim. I am amazed either of them are tolerating the other at such close quarters. I managed to creep in and get this picture of them, but neither of them look too happy to have their rest disturbed.

And finally, of course, I have one sky photo. There have not been many red sunsets lately, but there have been plenty of cloud formations, and on Wednesday I just caught it as the sun funneled its dying rays down around the clouds it was beautiful.

So now I am linking up with Virginia at Rocking Your World, and Annie's Friday Smiles, and popping over to see their happy moments from this week. Why not follow me?