Well here we are again, and I am glad to say I feel considerably better than I did last week. I still have a rather raw throat, which is a pain as I am singing in a choir concert tomorrow night, but as there are only four of us altos who can be there, I need to do my bit. But I feel better in myself, probably because I have stopped all the tablets, so I have tried to get a few things done this week.
I knew I wouldn't be in church again on Sunday, so on Saturday I asked Chris to run me over to a friends house with some papers I wanted her to take for me. When we left her, Chris suggested we stopped off for some lunch before going home. I wasn't up for eating much, so I only had a snack and some rice pudding which features on every menu in Spain! But Chris had a good lunch which made up for some of the scrappy meals we have had while I was unwell. We sat outside on a shady balcony and from where I was sitting the scenery was beautiful.
Chris is looking a bit grim, but he didn't know he was in my photo! You can just glimpse the Cabrera mountains between the olive trees, which this week have mostly been capped with light clouds. The red and yellow flowers in the foreground are lantana. They are often referred to as the Spanish flag flower because they have tiny yellow heads in the centre, and fiery orange/red ones around the edge. They are very attractive and make a good display, but they are aggressive growers and soon take over if not kept in check.
Here you can see some in our own little patch of garden. They are in urgent need of cutting back, but I am afraid neither of us have been up to doing much gardening this year. I took the photo really for the rose of course. I wanted to show it to my friend who bought me the plant when I was so poorly early in 2018. It was slow to get started, but this year it has been lovely.
I stayed at home again for the rest of the weekend and all day Monday, but on Tuesday I went to my friends house because it was the last meeting of our house group before we stop for the summer, and we were following it with a bring-and-share lunch, so I didn't want to miss it. We had a very good discussion for our second look at the Book of Revelations, and then the cool-bags were opened and food spread all around the kitchen. This is just some of it, and it was only for ten people! A lunch fit for a king.
My friend's house has a good size fly-free area, similar to ours, with a dining table in it, and we sat there to enjoy the food and have a good chat together. We usually have a couple more men in the group but they were unable to attend.
Most activities come to a stop now, as many folk who find the heat too much, return to UK for the summer. others are busy with family and visitors, and it's hard to find times for everyone to meet.
I saw this lovely photo of Mojacar on a tourism page recently. The pueblo sits on top of a hill and we can see it from miles away. The views from the top are great and we always think of it as being so high up, but when you see it like this, it is dwarfed by the Cabrera mountains behind it. Beyond the village, Mojacar Playa (beach) stretches for several kilometers, part sandy and part rocky, and very lovely.
The yellow flowers in the foreground are oxalis which grow wild everywhere around here, and usually bloom from March to May.
And now for a couple of memes that I spotted. The first is bit mean to all the lovely dads out there, but it made me smile.
I'd be the first to admit I have on occasion messaged my sons or grandees to explain what their abbrviations stand for, so this one gave me a chuckle too.
On occasion I have managed to take a fairly decent photo of the full moon with my little camera. I would have loved to take photography more seriously, but I left it too late to get started, and now I simply can't carry the equipment, and my hands are not steady enough to go without a tripod. But a couple of nights ago I took my rubbish out to the bin and noticed one very bright 'star'. There was about a half moon behind me, but this one spot was shining so brightly and Chris said it was a planet, not a star. Well, of course I wanted to get a photo. My efforts at taking stars before have failed. All you get it a distorted flash of light. But I tried anyway and this is what I got.
Nothing startling I know, but considering all I have is a little point and shoot camera with a fairly good zoom, I thought it was good enough. It shows it is certainly a planet, and from what I have read it is probably Jupiter.
Apparently last night we had a big thunder storm. Chris asked me if I had heard it but I slept right through it! We actually had some rain with it, though not enough to raise the reservoir levels I don't think. This morning the sky is blue again, but it smells fresh outside, and everything is sparkling.
And with that I will link up with Virginia on Rocking Your World, and Annie's Friday Smiles.
8 comments:
Oh Kate - sorry to hear you have been so ill - and glad to hear you are on the mend. We too have lantana here and it can also be invasive! Oxalis is also very invasive here and is considered a weed... I have pulled buckets of it out over the years.
Revelation is certainly a book with a lot in it!
Your photo of Jupiter is fascinating
Take care and I look forward to next week's epistle.
Blessings
Maxine
Ah hun I'm so glad that you are feeling better, hopefully this week will see more improvements. I love the bring and share meetings you have and I can imagine discussions on the book of revelations to be quite indepth as it isn't an easy one for anyone to get their head around.
I'm glad you were able to enjoy a lunch out, I didn't know rice pudding appears on all the menus in Spain. Strangely enough we went out for a meal last night (pre-theatre dining) and for pudding I had rice pudding, it came with a small pot of strawberry jam and a shortbread biscuit and was absolutely delicious. It is years and years since I last had rice pudding, it always reminds me of my childhood - school dinners being the main memory, but I also remember my Mum making it occasionally on a Sunday for after tea.
The photo of the planet is brilliant, how fantastic to be able to see it so clearly. We use skymaps app on our phone that uses GPS to tell you what the stars are in the night sky, its stopped many a debate if I'm honest!
Have a brilliant weekend and week ahead.
Hugs
So pleased to hear your feeling rather better Kate. I love all your flowers...wild and otherwise. We enjoy our wild flower part of our garden most....I love it when nature decides to plant the wild seeds each year cos it always comes with surprises of what grows where.
Big hugs,
Annie x
Hi Kate. I had to smile when you said that some of your friends come back to the UK for the summer, they will need their raincoats at the moment as it's not stopped here and has come down really hard obviously making up for all the dry weather we had earlier in the year. The pond is so high that we are going to have to release some of the water before the fish swim into the garden! It's nice to see you all socialising and I'm sure you'll all be back together before you know it. Pleased to hear you're starting to feel a little better too. Happy weekend to you both, Angela xXx
Hi Kate, I'm glad to hear you are on the mend and that you got out and about. Lovely views over to the mountains - you live in a beautiful part of the world. The spread you and your ladies put out looks scrumptious. I think you did well with the photo of the 'star/planet' - I try with my wee camera and still never get a good crisp photo. I can identify with that texting for seniors. Have a wonderful weekend. Elizabeth xx
So glad to read you are on the mend. I'm sure if you save your voice, the sore throat won't hurt too much during the concert.
So glad your husband got a good meal, but your buffet style party with your Bible group looks even MORE appealing. You know how to put out a real feast.
Cute funnies this week, Kate. Hope the rest of your weekend is great, you sing well, and enjoy your time in the (hopefully) shade.
I'm glad you are feeling a bit better, and hopefully your voice was OK during the concert.
Looks like you have a great house group there. They certainly know how to put on a spread! Revelation is a wonderful and interesting book to study. Graham and i both love it.
What a beautiful photo of Mojacar. But your planet steals the show. Amazing that you could capture Jupiter! Well done!
Enjoy your weekend,
Hugs,
Lisca
Here I am again. My comment to you is not visible to me but I hope you received it. If not I think I commented on the lovely photo of Mojacar but that your planet photo topped them all. Fantastic!
I do hope you are feeling much better now and that you had been able to sing in the concert that night.
I giggled at your funnies. And have to admit that a lot of them I don't really know what they really are, but the senior version sounds good to me...
The Bible study bring-and-share looks really yummy. Revelation, yes we both love Revelation.
Have a good week,
Hugs,
Lisca
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