Rocking Your World 2020; Week 18

So let's start with something that is sure to make you smile. After all, who doesn't like roses? Our weather has improved  a lot, and the sun has opened up all our roses. They are so varied and beautiful.

Lovely though it is to see the sun, I can't sit out in it for long, and tend to chose the start of the day, when it is cooler and so very quiet. The only noise during lock-down is the birds singing, and with the green zone being truly lush and green right now, there are plenty of birds around. I tried to take some pictures one morning, but they sense any movement and soon fly off, or hide between the foliage. I did manage to get some sparrows.

I follow a wild-life group on Facebook and they have just suggested an app. which identifies the different bird calls. It seems to be pretty accurate too. Even now, in the heat of the mid-day sun, it found sparrows, starlings, serins, and common swifts, all of which I know are there, but I have no skills to recognise their calls. So I am looking forward to trying it earlier in the day, when I can hear more variety.

We have had some wild-life visitors in the garden this week. Sadly this one was dead when I found it. It had lost one of its back legs so probably it had a run in with one of the cats.  To the best of my knowledge it is a slant-faced grasshopper. I haven't seen one quite like it before. I love the eyes.

We also had our first 'darters' on the side of the pool this week. That's a sure sign that summer is on the way. They come every year, sometimes with a blue one too, but they are so small and delicate. Her shadow is clearer than she is!

You all know I love the natural world, so I was  happy when a friend sent this poem, and I thought I would share it. I hope you like it too. (I don't know the author)

Nature’s Promise

“Who will pick our flowers to make a daisy chain?

We’ll hold-on” said the daisies, ”till the children play again.

We are under the same sky so united we will stand,

And the flora and the fauna will hold the human hand.”

 “Who will use our branches to shelter from the rain?

 We’ll stand tall”, said the oak tree, “till the lovers walk again”.

“It’s quiet”, said the robin, ”I do not like it so;

“Then sing louder!” said the blackbird, “and let the people know

 that the flora and the fauna will hold the human hand

 until the darkness and the fear is lifted from our land.

The blossoms will be brighter, and the bird song sweeter still,

 when we all can walk together – and I promise that we will.”

One evening I dug out my little point and shoot camera as I had been trying unsuccessfully to take a photo of the new moon with Venus shining brightly just of to the side, using my phone camera. It took a few attempts, but I did get this one in the end.

Last night I finally made the last join of the blocks for my blanket. It is big and heavy, but I still need to get a simple border made as quickly as I can, before it gets to warm for me to have it on my lap. I am hoping to wash it when it is done as it has had several animals on it along the way, but I am not sure whether my machine will cope. Hopefully next week the finish blanket will be displayed!

In the meantime, I needed a break from using dark navy yarn every evening so I made these crocheted hearts. Each one is about 22 cms wide. The pattern was called "Love Yourself Mandala", and the designer, Louisa Sheward, said that this heart is neither symmetrical nor perfect, just like us, so when we look at it we should remember that we are each unique and beautiful in our own way, and we should be kind to ourselves and take a few moments to 'love ourself'. I started off making one, but I liked it so I made two more which are even now on their way to special people in UK. The original pattern was plain brown, but I made them in rainbow colours which was a great way to use up some of those oddments left from other projects.

Another crafting project I wanted to have a go at this week required just a few materials. Here they are.

I also needed some cutting files which I downloaded from the designer's blog (Jennifer Maker), and my Silhouette cameo cutting machine. I knew it would be fiddly to do but had no idea how many problems it would give me. I had to have many attempts to cut the white parts, and was forced to use a lighter weight of paper than I wanted to. Then it came to the brown sheet and again I had to go down to a lighter weight, but eventually I did get some reasonable results. Then I spent all yesterday afternoon putting it together , so here it is - my apple tree.

As you can see, mine is a little bit on the 'wonky' side, and in fact it is struggling to hold its head up. This is of course, because of the light weight paper used for the tree trunk. I have now received a new blade for my machine (thanks to a speedy delivery by Amazon.es), so I am going to try again with the thicker brown card, and hope it is willing to cut this time. The white blossoms are a very delicate, intricate cut, so having finally got some reasonable ones, I shall try to reuse them, but that project is on hold for now.

We got another parcel this week containing a new drinking fountain for the cats which we ordered many weeks ago, and had almost forgotten about. It works well, but the cats haven't taken to it very well yet. They have another fountain which they love, but it is very old, and the surface is now rough and grows green algae on it very quickly, so we are hoping they will soon get used to this one. They drink a lot of water, and like it to be moving.

I am very pleased to say that Paco's wound is healing well, and there is just a small area left. I was surprised this week when this photo came up on my memories on Facebook, from eleven years ago. We had only just moved into this house and we went to visit a lady who had a litter of tiny kittens abandoned and hung in a plastic bag on her gate. They hadn't even opened their eyes. She dropper fed them until they moved onto a bottle, and once they were eating solid food she managed to find homes for them all. We picked Paco out on our visit (the little tabby with a white tummy, on the blanket), but it was another five weeks before we could bring him home. The lady had a big cat who showed no interest in the babies at all, but her old dog took them under her wing and mothered them, keeping them clean, retrieving them if they escaped from her bed, and let them snuggle up to her to keep warm (it was February). She did a grand job and it explains why Paco was never afraid of our dogs, though none of them let him get that close to them.

And finally I know this is a positive blog when we look at things that have rocked our world, and I have to say that over the years Arwen has rocked mine!  Hence this post.

She was a malnourished, scraggy little rat when we rescused her ten years ago, and had been kept in a cage on a verandah and used solely for breeding. But she turned into a beautiful princess. She was feisty and unpredictable, sometimes sitting on my mouse-mat as I used my computer, and gently tapping me with her paw when she wanted attention, and other times, hissing and growling and striking out with teeth and claws for no apparent reason. She stayed in my craft room though she was not a prisoner, occasionally venturing as far as the kitchen, but she turned tail and scooted back to her safe place whenever any person or animal came near her. Sadly this week we had to say "Good-bye". We think she was around 14 years old. I did venture out of the village on Wednesday to take her to the vet, and she couldn't believe that she was showing no sign of pain or distress, despite the fact that her organs were all failing, and there was nothing more to be done for her. I could have brought her home for a few more weeks but it seemed kinder to let her go, but I really miss her, when I come down to my room and there is no-one to say 'Hello' to. We gave her ten good years of comfort, good food and a safe place to live, so we did our best for her. RIP Princess Arwen. Here is collection of just a few of the photos I have taken of her over the years.

Now it is time to link up with Rocking Your World, and Annie's Friday Smiles. A few of our restrictions will be lifted this week, and from tomorrow we can walk out together but have to stay within a radius of one kilometer of our home, and it is advised that we wear a mask though they are very hot, so I am not sure everyone will stick to that advice. In larger towns there are different time slots for different age groups, but because we have a population of less than 5,000, we can go at any time between 7am and 11pm, so maybe next week I will have some different things to show you.