Friday Smailes 2022; Week 30

I can't believe it is Thursday again already, the day I like to prepare my blog to publish the next morning. It has gone fast but I am sure there is plenty to look back on with a smile. 

Last Thursday we had an evening out, but as my post was already written I saved the photos for this week, so here goes. The event we went to was Noche de Velas or Night of Candles, up at the village of Mojacar Pueblo. This is a relatively new event, I think this was the tenth one, and it is the second time we have been. I thought our son Tom might enjoy seeing something a bit different.

The Pueblo is very small, sat on top of a hill, so there are no cars allowed up there for the night. Instead we had to drive to the beach, park up and catch one of a fleet of buses that kept up a continuous service through from 7.00pm to 3.00 the next morning. Walking up to the Post Office where we were picking up a bus, I took this photo and liked how it turned out so it is the wallpaper on my new phone now.

The whole of the Pueblo was full of candles, in windows, on Plazas and hanging in small pots from all the railings. But the majority were small candles in plastic tubes, set on a bed of sand in a paper bag!

This seems an unlikely situation but despite the crowd we didn't see a single fire. One or two got trodden on, but they just went out. I was more concerned that one of the little girls' dresses would catch alight, but that didn't seem to happen either.

The Pueblo is a maze of tiny narrow streets, most inaccessible by car, with several levels that meant going up and down some steep steps, but they all looked so pretty with their candles aglow.

We were glad of them too on some of the dark steps.

On the main plaza we saw the iconic Indalo man with his candles, and from there I looked down in to the square and took a picture to show how very crowded it was. 

According to reports the next day, there were around 17, 000 visitors that evening, as well as the actual village inhabitants.

It was suggested that the visitors should try to wear white so we all found a white top,  and I think about half the crowd were also in white. There were several entertainers who also stayed with the white theme. Here are just a couple of them.

We went inside the big parish church, which is very beautiful anyway, and that night it too had its share of candles glowing.

I took the oportunity to try out one or two settings on my camera-phone, I loved this section of wall covered in different tiles. Considering it was properly dark by the time I took this, I think it came out quite well.

I also used the night setting to take a -view- from the top of the pueblo, looking down over Mojacar Playa and the many hotels etc along the coast road, towards Garrucha.

Apart from that we haven't done much all week because it has been so hot. I know you have seen photos of my thermometer many times. It hangs on a wall in our porch that does not get any direct sun so we feel it is bit more accurate than others we see. But on Monday this week I took this one, and it is the first time since we came here, that I have recorded it showing more than 40º. We have made good use of the pool but even there the water is 30º so it is like getting into a warm bath, but it is still refreshing when you feel hot and sticky.

We have had some intersting visitors in the garden this week. Last night a big dragonfly was zooming around. We are used to a couple of little 'darters' a red one and a blue one, that visit us regularly in the summer, but I have not seen a full size one here before. It was moving much too fast to get a photo. Out here they go by the lovely name libélula.

But I did get a photo of this praying mantis. She was resting on our fly screen. She was a large one, around 6cm long, and she slowly climbed up the screen and onto the bougainvillia so maybe she was looking for somewhere to lay her eggs.

Then there is this one which looks quite fiercesome but is actually completely harmless. It is a cicada, again resting on the screen, which they often do in the early evening. Normally the air would be filled with their screeching in this heat, but they seem to be in short supply this year.

I have to admit they are not very pretty, but designers of aliens for films etc don't have to look far for inspìration when creatures like this are around. He gave me a good excuse to try out taking a few close-up shots.

The next two are much prettier. We have a rather agressive weed growing through the orleander at the back of the house, called Dutch- man's pipe. I quite like its purple pitcher flowers and large seed pods, and I don't try to cut it out as I know it is the favourite food of the swallowtail caterpillar. A couple of years ago I found loads of these caterpillars but I never saw one hatched butterfly. This year I did not see the caterpillars at all, but for two day running a swallow tail butterfly has been fluttering around the pink bougainvillia. I am including a couple of photos but they are very poor because she is much to active to get a good shot, and I took these from a distance , through the fly net. If I had gone outside to get a better look she would have flown away.

And finally I spoted this little spider. It is a yellow crab spider and he is perfectly camouflaged to match the petals of my dwarf sunflower. Isn't that amazing?. I have seen a white one on a white daisy and a green one on a vine, but I don't know whether they change colour as they travel around, or whether they match where they hatch, and just stay there. But either way I think they are very cute.

When I was manager of a nursery school, one of my favourite activities with the children was playing with bubbles. I have a kit that will form a bubble big enough to encase a small child, if the conditions are just right, and I used to have bubble wands in all shapes and sizes that I left at the nursery when I retired. But this week I released my inner child and bought a bubble gun that produces a huge cloud of tiny bubbles. They are so pretty and soon I had filled the porch with them. I just hope the grandchildren don't think they are too old to enjoy them when they come to visit next month. I know I am not, and I shall have fun with it anyway. These hot days often give way to very humid evenings, and that is perfect conditions for bubble play!

And on that note I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles and be ready to publish this in the morning.

Friday Smiles 2022: Week 29

Another quick one today. It is just too hot to move away from my fan and comfy chair out on the porch.

We had a busy weekend as it was the village fiesta from Friday through Sunday. It was pretty much the same as other years as the Spanish do love their traditions, but this is the first time our son Tom has been here fiesta week so we made sure we took in some of the main events.

As usual the street lights were very pretty.

                   

As were the lights and lanterns that covered the main plaza.

                               

We watched some of the children learning flamenca dancing and they were very good.

We also stayed late one night to see the 'orquestra' which entertained from the main stage from around midnight until 7.00 each morning. Again they had excellent voices and plenty of variety in their programme but we only lasted until around 2.00am before wandering back home.

The plaza all around the stage is covered in small tables with chairs and they are served by one of the three temporary bars set up on each side. In the centre there are rows of chairs for those who just want the music without the bar service. The older folk especially, really love to dance and as soon a song started up in Pasa doble rythym, they all came out onto the cleared space for dancing.

We enjoyed the almost obligatory mojitos from a special stand, and I also had my churros with hot chocolate dip. (See I have my own traditions for fiesta week!).

One afternoon we went over to the road beside the plaza to watch the 'cintas' competion. For this, a wire is stretched across the road and on it there are several ribbons or cintas, wound round a cardboard roller, and each one has a small ring at the end. This is raised or lowered according to the age of the racers. The man in a white shirt was the 'referee' making sure it was all done properly. The man in a black tee-shirt is our Mayor, Fran. He is always involved in everything we do.

The competitors (all male) race up the road with a stick about the size of a biro pen, and try to catch one of the rings, unrolling the ribbon. They then take this to one of the beautifully dressed ladies at the side, who ties the ribbon round him like a sash and gives him a small gift and if he is lucky, a kiss! These races are done by all ages starting with toddlers who ride trikes, toy cars etc. They are often too shy to greet the little tot in a flounced dress, who is waiting to attach his sash and give him his gift.Then young boys on bikes, and later the teens and twenties on motor bikes, quad bikes etc. But the one we went over to watch was the older boys on their horses. For this the street is filled with sand, and the horses race up one at a time, with lots of cheering when they 'catch' a ribbon, and even more cheering if they get a kiss. They can try as often as they like, taking turns until all the ribbons have been caught.

Here are some of the older girls in their fiesta dresses, waiting to greet each lad who catches a ribbon, and to have a photograph taken with them.

Of course the main event of the fiesta is the mass for Virgen de la Carmen, the patron saint of the village. This took place around 8.00 on the evening of her saint's day, Saturday 16th July.  Everyone comes to the plaza dressed in their finery. Even small children have more flounces on their dresses than they know how to move in. Those wanting to take part in the mass sit on the rows of seats acros the plaza, while others stand around the edge to watch. There is an altar set up at the front, and the village choir were seated along side this. They led the whole mass with their singing which is lovely to listen to.

Then the statue of the Virgin was carried down from the church and set on a special pedestal at the front. On either side of her there were silver trestles and many people brought flower tributes and laid them there. Here are some of them queued up with their flowers. It took quite a while for them all to get their turn to fit their flowers into a trestle and have their photo taken. Small children were lifted up to kiss the statue etc. 

This year was the first time it has gone ahead properly since the pandemic and there were more flowers than usual. Both trestles were filled, but usually there is only one. After the mass the flowers are collected again and taken up to the church. 

The statue was then carried up through the village, taking in some of the minor roads on the way, and back at the church she was settled on another plinth while a series of very pretty fireworks were set off. This is the only time I see colourful fireworks here, and I enjoyed them along with all the children and adults who were there. 

Now it is all gone - moved on to another village with a fiesta to enjoy. It is fun but I am glad it only lasts for a few days. It is good to have quiet nights again.

The rest of the week has passed being lazy, dipping in the pool, popping out for essential shopping, reading, and getting to play with my new phone. This time I have one I am very happy with, but  it will be  a while before I understand its full potential. Tom has driven down to the beach a few times, but he is happy to lounge in the garden too and it is good to see him relaxing for a change.

Last night we had a little trip out, but as I would normally have written this before then, I will save that story for next week's post.

Now I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles before you all think I have gone AWOL this week. I will try to be more organised by next week.

Friday Smiles 2022: Week 28

Another very hot week here, but someone who is enjoying it is our son Tom. He arrived from a coolish Denmark on Sunday and is having a 'working break' in the sun. Fortunately we have good internet and as he has been mostly working from home thoughout the pandemic, he can carry on as usual, and still take time to relax, dip in the pool, and come out for a drinks with us in the evenings. He is hoping to stay for about three weeks, but next week will be booked off as a proper holiday with no zoom meetings etc.

Some of our flowers are looking a bit sad now in the heat, though we are doing our best to keep them watered when the sun goes down. But one that seems to love the sun is our Bird of Paradise tree. We pruned this right back in the autumn and weren't sure how well it would do this year, but it has come back better than ever, and right now it is covered in flowers. (I decided it should be my blog header for a while). 

The flowers are very pretty, yellow with long red stamens. The bees and other insects love them. It is no relation to the bird of paradise flowers, but is a member of the bean family!

This is also the time when the hibiscus come into their own. The orange one is stunning this year and I have always loved the yellow one. The red, more common variety, are outgrowing their pots and have smaller flowers this year, but they still keep giving.

This week it is our village fiesta. We had the music all through the night for the first time last night, and it will be repeated each night until Sunday. Today is a day mainly for the children, and this morning they had set up a water slide on the plaza which was being enjoyed when I walked over that way. We will go over later tonight when there will be the fair and all the stalls to browse round, as well as the many bars and food stalls to enjoy.

Last night there was a full 'super moon'. I couldn't get a picture of it on my current phone, but my old one can still be used as a camera so I tried with that. This is the same view taken first on an ordinary auto-photo setting, and then again on a full zoom.

I quite like this one which I took on a long exposure and I must have mooved it during the shot, so I got the two images superimposed on each other.

And finally I had to include this gorgeous photo of our new great-grandson Rueben with his two brothers. It is such a lovely photo. I don't think I ever got such a good one of my boys with their newest brother! Reuben is less than a week old here and he is so alert already.

And now I will link up with Annie on wipso-astitchintime.

Friday Smiles 2022: Week 27

It has been a long slow week of recovery for me, but yesterday I began to feel much better, and today I am back to normal except for a residual cough and bouts of sneezing.

But I have some very happy news that really made me smile; at 7.39am on Tuesday 5th, my great grandson Reuben Stanley arrived. He was 9lbs 10ozs at birth so hardly looks like a new born, and he had to wear a second size suit as the first size didn't fit! His grandad, my son Mike, was 9lbs 7ozs and I had the same problem with his clothes so I guess it is a family thing. His two big brothers are thrilled to have him, but unfortunately he has to stay in hospital for a few more days. Apparently he was born too fast (is that possible?), and didn't have time to compress his lungs so he inhaled some fluid.  But he is in good hands and hopefully they will both be home very soon.

A couple of weeks ago I had some squishy mail and it was a lovely ball of mixed colour yarn, like you have seen me use before. I am making another mandala, this time with a fairly complex pattern, and while I was not well, I couldn't concentrate on it, so it is growing very slowly. But for the last few nights I have been sitting out on the porch until midnight. It has been so hot, and sometimes there is just a little breeze out there so I can handle the wool for a while. The downside is that my light attracts the bugs, even inside the fly-free porch area, so we burn citronella candles on a nearby table to deter them.  They tend to go for my ankles so I often have a candle down on the floor near my feet too.

Anyway, back to my crochet. This mandala was designed by a Russian lady, so it is no longer availbale to buy online, but someone has translated it for her (officially) and I bought a copy on Etsy. Some of the terminology is not quite what I am used to, but I am getting to grips with it now. I am working from the outside of the ball instead of the centre because I want the blue to be the outer rounds, and I was thinking the red had lasted a long time, so last night I was pleased to see the first strand of yellow has arrived. I love the way each colour blends into the next one.

This morning we went to the garden centre again so I could buy a few more plants. Here is todays buys. As soon as the sun has dropped a bit, I will get them planted out.

When we came back from the shops I found a small packet in our mail box. I had ordered a small piece of equipment from Amazon and I knew it would be sent from France. I thought Lisca would like the huge array of stamps that were on it.

You may be surprised to hear that when I had used the new phone for a few days I knew I was never going to love it. It fell short on a few points that I was not happy about considering the price I had paid, so I decided to return it (within the 15 days grace given with any purchase). The actual procedure was very straightforward, so I am waiting to hear it has arrived at the Repairs and Returns Centre in Poland, and then I will get my refund. It will take a few weeks so I am doing a lot of research to make sure the next one is more satisfactory, and in the meantime I am using one of Chris' old phones. It is fine for most things, but the camera is nothing like what I would like, so I will be replacing it as soon as I can.

And that is about it for this week. So I will be linking up with Annie's Friday Smiles in the morning.

Friday Smiles 2022: Week 26

Well here we are at the end of another week and this post really will be short and sweet. I knew when I wrote last week's post that I was not feeling good and sure enough I had a virus that  hit me like a sledge-hammer and meant that from Friday through Tuesday I spent most of my time either in bed, or laying in my recliner chair. I couldn't face food and even drinks didn't stay down for long.

Yesterday I felt a tiny bit better and today I am at least moving around and have eaten a little bit of lunch, so things are looking more positive now.

Of course I have nothing to write about as the most I have achieved is reading six light-weight novels on my Kindle!

It was a shame that my new phone arrived at the weekend when I couldn't muster any interest in it beyond unboxing it and letting Chris swap the SIM card across and sync everything from my old phone.

I am looking forward to experimenting with the camera and having watched a little video about it today, I realise I have a lot to learn. But for now I have a couple of photos taken from my chair before I even knew what the settings were all about. The fern is inside the fly-free porch taken on a zoom lens, and you can see the netting in the background, but the plant caught the light quite well.

The second one is, of course, our Kim, who likes to lay at the foot of my chair where he gets maximum benefit from the ceiling fan. He was almost too close for a good photo but I liked this one.

Apologies for those I didn't manage to visit or comment on last week. I will hopefully do much better this week.

I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles in the morning and I am sure I will be smiling by then because I feel so much better.