Rocking Your World 2019: Week 15

We have been lucky with the weather this week starting with Sunday when it was the Lions Club Party in the Park. This is probably the largest charity event in this area and we like to support it as the Lions do so much good work for Spanish and English groups and individuals. The event takes place in a big park in Vera about 15 minutes drive from us. When we arrived the sun was out but it was quite windy. Some of the trade stalls were having trouble holding on to their displays. But there was still a good crowd sitting at the tables and enjoying some lunch.

All around this area there were local handmade goods for sale, so I had a wander around the stalls while Chris headed straight for the 'Irish bar'. I joined him there a bit later. It is a smaller area enclosed all around by high walls which protected it from the wind, but it is still open air and was a real sun trap. There is of course a bar, where Chris was able to buy his favourite tipple - Guiness, and a small area with an open grill where they were doing a good trade in burgers, hot-dogs etc. In one corner there is a small roofed stage where a constantly changing list of performers were singing mostly country style music and of course some Irish tunes.

People were coming and going but the area was mostly full, and my friend from The Lions told me it was the stall that took the most money for food and drink! We stayed to hear a friend of ours sing. Shaz advertises herself as "The little lady with the big voice". I am short but she only comes up to my shoulder, but she can sure belt out a song and has a great range too.

We stayed to listen to a few more sets and then went over to the big stage. Here they have a variety of musicians as well as other entertainers. We saw some children from a local dance school, doing what I think you would call modern free-style dance, and they were very good as well as very enthusiastic. Everyone enjoyed seeing them. Unfortunately some performers let them down at the last minute so Shaz was asked to step in and fill a gap with a few numbers from the big stage, and she was very appreciated there too. We saw a punk band that I didn't enjoy much, and then a music group doing 'Scar' music who were very good.

There was still an hour or so to go when they announced that the Lions bar next to the stage was offering half price hot-dogs and bacon butties so we had a bacon buttie for our tea and they went down really well.

All in all it was an excellent event, and despite a rather unsettled forecast, we enjoyed sunshine all day. The Lions raised around 7,000€ for their next project so they were very pleased, but it takes a lot a work to make such a large event successful, so full credit to them. I am glad they did well.

On Monday I had to set my alarm rather earlier than I am used to as we had some workmen coming, and in Spain they can arrive anytime after 7.00. So I was up in time to see the sun rise. The eastern sky is mainly blocked by buildings from our house, but there is one gap I can occasionally see a sun rise through. On Monday it was partly hidden behind a line of dense cloud, but it manage to break through on either side just as I fetched my camera.

Before long it had escaped the cloud altogether and we had another nice day. We were pleased about that because the men had come to repair our swimming pool after the floods of last autumn. We had been talking about getting it done anyway, so the flood kind of made the decision for us. We had lost random tiles from the lining, and there was green algae in the corners, and all the grouting was worn and grey. So the first day they pressure blasted it and sprayed it with chemicals to kill any mould and bacteria, and remove any loose tiles, leaving it looking a lot cleaner, but a bit patchwork.

The shower to the side of the pool was in an even worse state as all the tiles in the tray had to come off.

On Tuesday they replaced all the missing tiles, and emptied the filter - that was a smelly job. They replaced the sand in it with glass beads which are longer lasting and easier to keep clean. On Wednesday the last of the tiling was done and everything was re-grouted and it now looks splendid.

Needless to say there are a few leaves in it already because it has stayed rather windy all week, but they are easy to sweep out when we are ready to put the water in.

I shall enjoy using it again this year. It used to be illegal to fill a pool from the mains water but Chris had heard that the supply has improved and can now be used. So this morning we went to Galasa offices to check and they said Yes it was fine. It will work out cheaper than buying two tankers of water which we were going to do. So we are giving it until the end of the week for everything to dry out properly and at the weekend we will be filling it again. I guess it will need quite a lot of sunshine to get it up to a usable temperature again!

Chris and I managed a trip to the garden centre to buy some colourful flowers for the pots in the front garden, so I spent one morning getting them planted out. Now we have some lovely pertunias...

...and my favourite little pansies that will flower for weeks, and are filling up the pot around last year's hydrangeas that I am hoping will eventually flower again this year.

My other favourites are any kind of daisies, so we have a pink and a white Marguerite in a large pot with a deep purple verbena to set them off.

We have also put some geraniums in the two window boxes. The boxes don't do very well as they dry out too quickly and don't seem to retain any moisture, but the geraniums are always a bright splash of colour and we fill around them with succulents and trailing plants.

We parked our car outside Galasa this morning, and when we returned to the car I noticed the field beside the offices was covered in yellow daisies, so I had to just take a quick picture of it. (Shame about the lorry park beyond it but they have to park somewhere).

It was so lovely still even though some of the daisies are going over now.

On the way home we stopped at a bar which is on the forecourt of the garage at the edge of our village. There is a nice sunny patio to sit on for a morning break, and although it is right on the main road to the village from the motorway, it is set far enough back for us to not really be aware of the traffic. We had some lunch there before going home and it was really pleasant and peaceful looking out at the mountains and the glorious blue sky with just a tiny bit of white fluffy cloud.

We really are so very blessed to be living in such a lovely place.

As I heard from all the boys on Mothering Sunday, I wasn't expecting to speak to them again just yet, but I managed to have a long chat with two of them this week, which always makes me smile.

I hope you are feeling as blessed as I am. If so why not write about it and join me in sharing it at Rocking Your World and Annie's Friday Smiles.