Rocking Your World 2021; Week 33

This week we had another family birthday. On Tuesday it was our middle son's birthday. Jonathan is more at home, and most often photographed, behind his huge drum kit which he plays with great gusto in the three or four heavy metal bands he is involved with. They do gigs around his home town of Manchester, and further afield whenever the opportunity arises. But I just love this photo taken a couple of months ago, of a tender moment with his wife and their new baby girl. It is part of a set taken professionally and my favourite.

 

Jonathan had a somewhat turbulent childhood and teenage years, and has always loved his heavy metal music , so the thought of him ever holding a baby, changing a nappy, or even pushing a pram, was way beyond anything I could imagine, but he has taken to Fatherhood like a duck to water and likes nothing better than being left in charge of his little princess while mum has a time-out for herself. Of course A. has changed since this photo and at 4 months already rolls over and over and is trying desperately to crawl. They don't stay babies for long.

In his early teens the one thing that Jonathan wanted was a pair of black Converse boots, and at the time they were impossible to find. We eventually managed to get him some for his birthday from America. So when I saw a cutting file to make a little multi-coloured running shoe, I just knew I could convert it, and made him a birthday card like a black Converse boot. He loved it and he remembers that we paid $13 for his pair around 1997 I think, and at the time it seemed a lot for some canvas boots, but apparently you would have to shell out £65 for some in UK now!

Our week has been mainly spent still taking turns to sit with Kim to make sure he doesn't chew his foot etc. We had another trip to the vet on Monday, intending to have the stitches removed but the toe has not healed sufficiently well, so I have antiseptic to clean it with twice daily and another course of antibiotics to hide in his food. But they were more concerned about his eye which had become inflamed because the stitch is irritating it, so back we went on Tuesday so he could have another anaesthetic, to have the stitch removed. I can tell it is more comfortable for him now, but I have to try to put anti-inflammatory cream on it and antibiotic drops in it twice a day. And of course, the collar is still necessary at night, until his toe is completely healed. The tablets make him sleepy so he spends much of his day laid out on the porch, under a fan, with one or other of us sitting beside him.

We left him (with his collar on) for a short while on Sunday to join in with a bit of fun in the village. It was the end of the 'Week of Culture' when various activities took place at the new theatre on the edge of the village. (They used to use the school playground, but now they have this lovely purpose built venue). There was a family film one evening, plays by the village drama group, and a visiting drama group came another night. (Our grasp of listening to Spanish is not good enough to make attending these events worth while, but the theatre isn't far from us, and we could hear quite a bit just sitting on our porch!) But on the last night there is always some form of street entertainment, aimed at the whole family, right down to the youngest members. It has been something different every year we have been here, and some are much better than others, but this year it was quite fun. 

Starting on the plaza, three strange vehicles arrived manned by a young man and two girls, and another man on quite high stilts, the sprung metal ones that meant he could bounce around. 

Things like this don't start until 10.00 so it was quite dark, but they had very bright lights on them so we could really only see them in silhouette at first. The man ran around the plaza with a long pole carrying a firework that shed sparks and screamed which got everyone's attention. You probably realise that they are allowed to do thing here that wouldn't be permitted under Health and Safety regulations in UK, but we have never seen anyone come to any harm.

Next the man on stilts started bouncing around. He had a big 'cannon' that shot a constant stream of paper into the crowd. It took everyone by surprise but they loved it. Especially the children who started rushing around trying to collect the most streamers.

They did a short bit of dancing and then started to process around the streets of the village, with the crowd following on behind them. At various suitable places they stopped and moved the crowd into a circle around them to watch various tricks. At the first stop the young man did some quite impressive tumbling, and then got a single-side ladder from one of the vehicles. The two girls supported it while he again did some gymnastic moves on and through it.

Then we continued up through the village. All the way the stilt man continued to fire his paper cannon, making sure to reach families watching from their doorways up the side streets, and on high verandas etc. At another stop the girls brought out a long skipping rope. They turned it while some of the children took a turn at jumping in it. Then the man on stilts also skipped it which was quite clever. He was tall so they had to turn the rope high enough to go over him. It is blurred because of the motion but you can see the rope in this photo.

Lastly the young man took a turn jumping the rope, normally first, and then doing handstands over it etc. At the end he did press-ups still jumping the rope at each turn which was also quite impressive.

They danced and bounced all the way still firing paper at  the crowd. Here you can see some of the little girls still trying to collect bunches of it. Finally they made their way back to the plaza for some pretty good break-dancing, more fireworks and paper shooting , and then it was all over. 

Even though it was nearly midnight by the time they finished there were plenty of children, including toddlers, running around and enjoying themselves. Of course, in true Spanish style, they would all have had a good siesta before coming out. It was a fun event, and I am impressed at how our little village tries to raise everyone's spirits during the summer holiday season. It is good because many village families do not have a holiday away from home, and these events must give them a real boost.

It has been crazily hot again this week, but not as sunny. We have had a couple of days with grey overcast skies, and although the temperature has dropped a few degrees, it is still above thirty, but feels several degrees hotter because of the high humidity. So we have been happy to sit under the fans and sometimes the aircon, and I have read a lot of books, done quite a few  online jigsaws and still managed a little crochet. So this week I started to join my Tropical Coast squares. As with most of these Crochet-Along, the blanket is quite small, so I decided to use a narrow lace join which will add a few centimetres to the size. 

I may add another layer along the two shorter ends before I work the border. I did try to design a variation using extra squares, but it wasn't going to work. Also I knew I didn't have enough matching yarn to do that and as it was bought from UK, and my last order attracted a 50€ tax bill, I couldn't justify trying to buy any more. But I think I have enough yarn left to make a row of waves at each end. I love the design and it reminds me of beaches in Thailand, so I am glad I decided to make it.

Without Paco demanding attention, Tango and Tolly have become more attached to me and also more friendly together. One morning I caught them relaxing together on the table out the back. They would never have lain together like this before.

Another thing that has pleased me this week is to see flowers on my Adenium (Desert Rose). I really thought it had died during the winter. It didn't just lose its leaves, it lost all signs of life. But I kept watching it, and watered it occasionally. I knew it could 'drown' if over-watered. Then a few weeks ago, a tiny green shoot appeared, and now it has had several flowers. Isn't it beautiful? I think something I did last year was not beneficial, and it is not such a big and healthy plant as the original was, but I have read up about looking after it, and hopefully I will do better this year, so it blooms again next year.

And that's about it for this week. I have written this on Thursday night again as tomorrow morning we are back to the vet for Kim to have a final check before the vet goes on holiday and the clinic closes for a fortnight.

They are warning us of another heatwave and temperatures around 43º on Monday, so I guess we are in for another quiet week. But first I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and Rocking your World 2021.