Rocking our World 2021; Week 29

Last week I started by saying it was hot. Well this week it just got hotter! We had a freak temperature surge on Monday when even our shaded thermometer went up to 41 degrees. Going outside was like hitting an invisible wall of heat, and when the wind got up as well, it was like a hot hair-drier blowing on you, and to add insult to injury, it was carrying a lot of desert sand!. Needless to say we stayed inside with the aircon on. It is a rare occasion when we have it on all day as I find it very drying, and I am not convinced it is healthy to make the room too cold when it is so hot outside. But there are some times when it is very necessary and Monday was one of those times. The animals came in with us, and while Kim sprawled out across the floor, Foxy sat on the settee. She was just across from Chris and he managed to take this lovely photo of her. It really shows her blue eyes at their best. She is very camera shy so we rarely get a good picture of her.

I was very glad that we had made an appointment for Kim to have a much needed trim on Saturday. We were worried because he is notoriously uncooperative with groomers, to the extent he has had some very bad cuts, and on two or three occasions they have phoned us to collect him while he is still wet because he was so stressed out by the drier. Two groomers have even refused to have him. But we went to a different girl who I had been told had managed a friend's big dog very well, and we were really impressed. She was only a slip of a thing, but she did a really good job. She explained why his coat was not suitable for a close shave, but she removed all the undercoat, cleaned up the long hair on his rear end, and the back of his legs, trimmed his nails and feet, and bathed and dried him. She even sent me a video of him just laying there while she used a really quite fierce drier on him. She has a magic touch. He is a very handsome fellow, and even more so now he has been trimmed. I would definitely go to her again. I am sure it kept him a bit more comfortable in Mondays heat too.

Fortunately the intense heat only lasted for a day and by Tuesday we had a ten degree or more drop in temperature. Apparently we can't call it a heat wave as the temperature has to be above a certain level for three or more consecutive days for that, but whatever you call it, one day was plenty. For that day it was even too hot to get in the pool until late evening as it is in full sun, but we have made good use of it for the rest of the week. 

One morning I heard some noise out in the yard, and went out to find Chris starting to dismantle our old shed/changing room. It has become a dumping ground for pool towels, old garden chairs etc, and since it got wet inside when we had our big flood, the floor is unsafe and the whole place smells musty. So for quite a while we have talked about taking it down, but hadn't quite decided how we would tackle it. Of course, it didn't occur to Chris that it would have been easier if he emptied everything out of it first!  But it was too hot to work on it for long, and the next  morning we did empty it. I sorted everything into three piles, one to keep, one to throw away and one for the charity shop. We have to wait until 21st July for the next time we can put 'large items' out by the bins for removal, but that is not long now. Then all the broken chairs, old sun lounger cushions, and the panels of the shed can go in one lot.  The charity shop bits have all been washed, so I can take them down to Turre in the morning. The rest of the shed will be tackled early one morning while the sun is still low enough not to cook us while we work!

On Tuesday we had our first proper market. It was back in its own home, in the street parallel with ours. This week it is our village's patronal fiesta and although it is still very low key, there will be some fairground attractions for the little ones to enjoy, and the temporary market site on the car park was needed for this. But as well as being in its old position, there were more stalls and once again we were allowed to pick our own fruit and vegetables, using the disposable gloves provided on each stall. I was happy with that, and as this is the height of the summer fruits season I was able to come home with this lovely selection.

I love the little flattened peaches known as paraguyos, but they ripen very quickly so we will have to eat them first. But my best buy were these beautiful black cherries. Sometimes they lack flavour and don't ripen well, but these were just perfect and we are enjoying them immensely.

Gradually my hand settled down last week, though it troubled me in the night again last night, but I was happy to find that I can still handle a crochet hook, so here are the next squares for my Tropical shores blanket. I finished all four needed of the palm tree squares, and this week's one was much easier. It represents the waves and white foam as they break, and again I need four of them. I am on the third one so I expect I will have done all four by Monday when the next pattern is released.

It is a simple square so the designers picture board is simple too, but she has caught the essence of it very well.

And that my friends is it for this week. I have still failed to comment on some folks blogs, but had more success with others, so I will keep trying, and hopefully Blogger will do something to sort it out soon.

Linking up with Rocking Your World and Annie's Friday Smiles.