Rocking Your World 2019; Week 32

Yes, here we are at week 32 already. And where was I for week 31 I hear you ask. My answer, I don't know. My visitors arrived on Thursday night and it immediately felt like the weekend. A few days later I realised I had completely forgotten to write my blog! So apologies to anyone who came looking for it. Now to catch up. 

In the day or two before our visitors arrived, I had a sudden urge to make some scrapbook layouts so I made this double page about the foam party we went to a couple of weeks ago. They are made digitally using Photoshop and purchased templates, but I like to print them out 12" x 12", and keep them in an album so I can look at them now and then. These will go in my "Random pages" album.

There are not many good flights for the family to come out here now, but Mike and family managed to find flights to Almeria (our closest airport), at a very reasonable cost, but it meant arriving, and leaving a week later, quite late on a Thursday evening. 

As I don't like driving after dark, and they needed the space in the car, Chris went on his own to meet them, and I used some of the time to give the front garden a good watering, knowing it might be neglected for the next week. I came across this little fellow. Although not the biggest one I have seen, he was a fair size 2.5 inches (5cm) maybe, and such a handsome fellow, I just had to take his picture.

Before long the two cars rolled up; the first carrying Mike and his two boys, and then Chris with Mike's partner Lucy and her two boys. So we were one big family again all week which was lovely.

Although it was getting on for 11.00 at night, they all jumped into the pool for a cool down before the boys went to bed. That is the joy of having your own pool. The communal ones on urbanisations, and the hotel ones, usually have a curfew time around 9.00pm, but we love our late night dips.

Chris and I no longer enjoy long, hot days on the beach so we prefer to stay at home while they go off somewhere, and then they all come back, and we eat and swim together at home.

Mike swam in the sea before he was a year old, and he loves the sea. He was determined to swim in it every day while he was here, and he did. He also likes throwing himself of rocks into deep pools and has always encouraged his boys to do the same. They had seen a recognised cliff-jumping spot near us on the internet, so one day they set off there. They started off from the lower platform and the two boys encouraged each other to take a 'leap of faith'.

Then Mike and his younger son went up to the higher point and both jumped from there. Apparently the sea below was teeming with coloured fish and other sea life and they had a good time with snorkles and masks afterwards. They scare me sometimes, but Mike is very safety conscious and even though there were plenty of local lads jumping, he still swam around and checked the water depth and rocky edges before letting the boys jump.

One day I did go out with them and it meant leaving home around 6.00 am. We wanted to go down to the beach and watch the sun rise over the sea. There was a thinnish cloud layer on the horizon so we had to wait a while. How did Mike fill the time? With a swim of course.  The sea was warm and I almost wished I had taken my costume too, so I could join him. I paddled and got most of my dress very wet, but I soon dried off.

Lucy and her youngest son spent the time raiding the pools for stones and shells and together they made a sand art cat.

I could see a small speck on the horizon but couldn't make out what it was, so I set my camera on full zoom, and took this. It was actually quite a large fishing boat, probably making its way home to Garrucha harbour.

Our wait was eventually rewarded. We saw a pale red globe showing through the clouds. It gradually became clearer until it finally burst out, a hot, red ball of fire.

The teen stood on a rock watching it but I think he would rather have been at home in bed!

Was the wait worth it? Of course it was. I love to see the light reflected off the water. Here are a couple of pictures I took before we headed to one of our favourite cafés for some breakfast.

Another day we all went up to the huge pool at the top of the village. It is only open for July and August, but it is kept spotlessly clean, and water is lovely and warm.

In the evening we all went out for a meal together and we managed to get a fairly decent group photo (excluding Chris who was holding the camera).

That picture, together with this one, sums up a perfect holiday for Mike - surrounded by his family, with sandy toes and the sea right by him. So all in all it was a good week.

In the hour before they left for the airport, the youngest boy made me this card using the cereal packet he had emptied that morning. He was using a multi-coloured biro pen which is not the easiest, and there are a few hot, sticky finger-prints, but I think it is pretty good for a six year old, and I was very touched by it. I hope you can read it. Clicking on my photos should allow you to enlarge them.

Today it seems very quiet here! I am taking it easy, but I did get the first two loads of washing done. There is still a lot of bedding and pool towels to go, but the upside of these hot days is that they only need half an hour on the line to be dry. This is the thermometer on our Farmacia in the village today. (it said 42º when I drove passed it an hour ago).

Although neither of us have much appetite in this weather, we decided to go to the campsite for our usual Friday fish and chip dinner. At least it meant I didn't have to turn my oven on, and it was a very good meal, as it always is.
And that's it for this week. We have just under two weeks to recover before our next visitors arrive. If I haven't melted away completely by then, I shall be back next week. For now I will just link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking Your World.