Friday Smiles 2022: Week 52

So; here we are at the end of another year. It is fair to say it has been a bit of a roller-coaster for most of us, but it is good that we are still all here and smiling at the end of it.

We have had a peaceful week as Christmas is traditionally fairly quiet here as our Spanish neighbours gear up for the arrival of the Three Kings on 6th January.

Christmas morning was the start of a warm and sunny day, one of the best we have had, so we went into the yard at the back of the house to take our traditional selfie that I use to send greetings to family and friends near and far.

I made a traditional roast beef dinner which is a real treat for us. Although I do a 'Sunday roast' every week, it is rarely with beef which is in relative short supply here - there is little grazing so we don't see cows in our area. I was quite proud of the Yorkshire puddings I made which tried to grow out of the oven! We were able to eat our meal out in the fly-free porch too which was an added blessing.

We managed to have video chats with all our boys so it was good to see them all enjoying time with their families.

Of course Boxing day is a very British tradition and is not celebrated here so it was back to normal in the village on Monday, though some shops only opened for half a day to compensate for Christmas day being a Sunday. We stayed at home, and with it being another lovely day we sat out on the porch all afternoon. I had sent for a kit online to make three macrame Christmas trees. It is years since I did this craft and I fancied having another go. The kit came with instructions that were little help as the print needed a magnifying glass to read it, and the pictures showed a tree being made in very dark green rope so the stitches couldn't be seen. Luckily I searched on youtube and found a video for making a very similar one, so after a few rocky starts and a lot of untying, my first tree was made. Making the other two was relatively straight forward and now they are hanging by our chimney.

I hope you all had some lovely presents for Christmas. The one I love is this huge red Oodie. It may not be the most flattering garment but it is so soft and warm, and is big enough to slip over whatever I am wearing. You may think that is a bit over the top for someone living in Spain, but no matter what the day is like outside, our house is cold, especially first thing in the morning, and particularly in the kitchen. We have no heating until we put the fire on in the sitting room at night, so now I slip into my oodie and curl up to enjoy my first cuppa and some breakfast feeling cosy and warm. The hardest part is persuading myself to take it off again!

And on the subject of clothing, these socks caused some merriment.  I have quite a lot of diabetic neoropathy in my legs, especially the right one so compression socks are quite helpful. These new ones are the most comfortable I have had, but oooh.. the fun we had getting them on! I needed the help of Chris's hands which while not as strong as they used to be, are a lot stronger than mine. Once on, the socks stayed put all day and then we had another pantomime to get them off! It was worth it though for the relief they gave me.

Last night we went outside to change the gas bottle  for the fire when it ran out.  For safety reasons the bottles are usually housed in a small covered cubby hole outside, and the one for the fire is under the sitting room window. As we passed the little garden area in the front corner of the yard, I could smell a rose. So using the flash on my phone camera I took this picture. I have often quoted a verse from my mum's Patience Strong calendar which says "God gave us our memories that we might have roses in December". Well out here we don't need our memories for that. We have several roses in bloom, and although the flowers are not as big and showy as the summer ones, they are still beautiful and fill the night air with their scent.

We are particularly grateful this week to our insurance agent. He lives a couple of doors up from us and his ofice is a wee bit further on, so he knows us by sight, but apart from taking out car and house policies with him, we have not had much dealings with him. But when we went back and explained that the damage to our car was more than we had at first thought, he followed us to the work shop in Vera, helped us to explain the problem and then drove us home. Yesterday the garage phoned but we had difficulty understanding what they were saying, so again Nicolas telephoned them and translated for us. When it turned out that their 'expert' had seen the car and felt it was safe to drive so we could collect it to use, and he would have it back to repair straight after the Three Kings fiesta, Nocloas drove Chris over again to collect it. He really did go beyond the call of duty and we were very grateful to him. It is good to know there are some really helpful people around us when we need them.

I finally I have something very exciting to share. Tolly is going to have a little playmate. Tolly is big and strong but at two years old he is still a kitten really. He wants to play and poor Tango is old and just wants to be left in peace. So somehow I have persuaded Chris to let me have my final dream of a cat. Meet Leonardo (he will be known as Leo). He is a Maine Coon kitten, and will be joining us at the end of January. I think they could be a well matched pair.

And on that happy note I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and wish you all a Happy and Healthy 2023. Keep Smiling!

Friday Smiles 2022: Week 51

It is Friday again and our penultimate chance to post what has made us smile in 2022. I am starting this week with the little trip we had last Thursday night, after I had finished writing the next day's post. We went to Vera, I guess that is our nearest 'proper' town, to see the lights and the model of Bethlehem that is installed every year.

We parked on the edge of the town and walked up to the market area passing under this fun archway.

It was just dusk as neither of us really choose to drive after dark so we wanted to leave as soon as the lights were switched on.

We came to the big plaza outside the church which we knew would be lit up later, but for a while we just enjoyed being 'tourists' looking in shop windws, and posing between these two Nutcracker characters that guarded the entrance to the Town Hall.

These big bells were fun above the Social Services office.

In the centre of the plaza there was a flower bed absolutely crammed with bright red poinsettias. We think they were each in a pot making them easier to arrange and to remove the odd one that succumbs to the cold wind.

Just around the corner is what used to be a convent, and is now used as a concert hall, art gallery etc. (It is called the Convento). Every Christmas a man from Vera and his son, build a huge model of Bethlehem, or El Belén as it is known. This is the first year we have managed to visit it and we were both very impressed. The detail, and the work that went into it is truly amazing. It stretched the whole width of the room, and was lit from above with lights that gradually changed to denote the passing hours of the day. It also extended quite a way back so you could peer through arches and see the rocks and hills behind. I took so many photos, none of which really do it justice, and I couldn't show them all here, so in the end I used Photoshop to design a scrapbook page of our visit and here it is. (I will add a few embellishments, stars, bells etc before I print it for my album). I hope you can click on it to enlarge it and see some of the detail in each area.

After that we retuened to the plaza where the lights were now on. Huge chandeliers of golden lights hung from wires, and we became tourists again, posing inside a big lighted star and bell.

As we walked back to the car we saw another fun archway and a succession of lights across the road beyond it, and round the corner, a different design of lights were shining.

We even managed to get home before the sky was really dark.

On Friday lunch time we went for our usual Fish and Chip lunch at the local camp-site, and as we got out of the car I spotted this patch of rainbow lights in the clouds. Known as cloud iridescence, it is formed when there are rain drops or ice crystals in the clouds. It was very pretty.

On Saturday I drove down to Mojacar to join a group from my church and our sister church in Mojacar to sing carols in the 'Parque Commercial'. The Parque is one big supermarket and quite a few small lock-up businesses. It is mostly undercover but in the centre there is a large open air plaza with cafés all around it. We go there to sing every year, but this year we went to the front end so for once we didn't have the sun in our eyes. There are always lots of folk having coffee and snacks there and they were very appreciative, and gave generously to our charity collection.

Sunday passed in its usual way. Church in the morning, roast dinner, an afternoon doze, and TV in the evening. Then came Monday.

On Monday I decided to pick the oranges. They grow on trees next door, but the ones that hang right over onto our land, are legally ours to pick. The trees run the length of the pool yard, and soon I had filled two crates. Usually I juice some once or twice a week until they are gone. (I would do it every day but as a diabetic I am suposed to be careful how much juice I drink as it takes about three oranges to make one glass of juice!). 

Anyway, with two full crates I should have been satisfied with my harvest, but No. I had to have the one big one that hung high, just out of my reach. So I placed a brick to stand on and reached for the orange, but I didn't see that it was cracked underneath and it gave way, tipping me straight back onto the tiles, on the back of my head. We do tend to fall a bit hard at my age, so I stayed where I was for a few minutes to collect myself and see what damage I might have done. I soon discovered that my head was bleeding quite a lot, as heads do, but fortunately Chris came out at that moment and helped me up. I was not seriously hurt but because my head was still bleeding he said he would drive me round to the medical centre to have it checked out. The bleeding soon stopped and I have a feeling in UK I would have been given a quick drop of 'super glue' a paracetamol and been told to take it easy for the day. However this is Spain. So I have a small bald spot shaved on the top of my head, then a big pad of gauze was applied, which was held in place with several wraps of wide crepe bandage, and then a tube of stretchy gauze was pulled over it all. I just needed a sprig of holly on the top to look like a Christmas pudding! 

I then had to see the doctor who prescribed paracetamol, in a stronger dose than I can buy  over the counter, and was told I could take my 'hat' off the next day. Needless to say, as soon as I leaned back in a chair, it started to ride up and by the afternoon it was off. The next morning I got under the shower and very gently washed the copious congealed blood out of my hair and, apart from a few aches and bruises,  I am fine again. And yes, I am smiling: smiling and counting my blessings as I could very easily be in a hospital bed with a broken hip. Our tiled floors are very unforgiving. So what are a few aches and pains compared to Christmas in hospital?

What I am not quite so happy about is that while I was being attended to, a lady drove passed the medical centre in a carefree manner and scraped all along the side of our car which was parked there! We thought it was only a scratch but above the wheel it was deep enough to make it worth having it seen to at the body shop, before it rusts. Fortunately the lady uses the same insurers as us, and a nearby shop holder took some photos for us, so it will be dealt with in the new year at her expense. But yesterday, when I went shopping, I stopped on the way home to fill up with diesel, and when the tank was almost full, it started to leak out making a big puddle on the garage floor, so obviously she has also cracked the top of the tank or the pipe that fills it. So now it will be at the workshop for longer but we are hoping to have a courtesy car while the work is being done. Again, there is always a silver lining, and at least no-one was hurt.

On Tuesday we had a little walk around the village to hand deliver a few cards, and called in at the market. As we passed the Town Hall we stopped to look at a new building that is almost finished now, to house the local police headquarters at the front, and a new library behind it. But for this month, the library has our own village Belén display. We have not had one before, but a small group of ladies from the community have built this and it is very fine. It will probably be added to each year. The shops are full of the characters and animals each December, and many people have quite a big display on their own porch. They always do have a stable/Nativity scene somewhere, but also show the life of the community.

I treated myself to an early Christmas present this week. When I stayed with my son back last spring, I was given their main bedroom to sleep in, and next to the bed there was a little box that played the sounds of the sea to lull you to sleep. I had it on every night, and decided to look for one. It turns out they are called white-noise machines and are quite common. Years ago when I was complaining to my doctor about my tinnitus, he told me to go to sleep listening to white-noise but I hadn't realised that they make machines for this. Because I wan't sure it was what I wanted I ordered one of the cheapest and I am pleasantly surprised. It is sold as an aid to train babies to go to sleep at regular times, but suggests it is also suitable for adults, meditating, doing yoga or as a sleep aid. Anyway with a dimmable night-light, a wide choice of noises, including the ocean, a timer and easy to use buttons, I am very pleased with it.

Chris gave me a funny look when I dashed out with my phone on  Wednesday night, so I told him there was a 'very photographable' sunset, which would be gone in minutes. Sure enough it was, but not before I had time to catch these two shots.

Sorry this is such a long post again. I had so many photo to share, and I sure can talk when I get I started. But I promise you my posts will be 'short and sweet' again next year.

Now I shall link up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and with this not too good selfie of Chris and I inside the Vera bell, I wish you all a Happy Christmas, and hopefully a New Year that is Healthy and Peaceful.  x

Friday Smiles 2022: Week 50

My week really starts last Friday just after I posted week 49, because while Chris stayed at home to watch the football, I walked over to our little theatre to watch the local choirs singing carols. There were five choirs there from Huércal-Overa, Almanzora, Vera, Garrucha and of course Los Gallardos. This is an annual event when each choir sings around three carols, and then they all come on stage to sing one together. (It is much better since the theatre opened and we have a proper stage). Each choir is given a plaque to commemorate their involvement. Here are the five choirs. Huércal- Overa was the largest and most professional group, while Almanzora was a very small group including two children. Our village choir are the ones in dark pink dresses with mint green accessories.

Spanish carols or villancicos as they are called here, are always sung with gusto and include clapping, shouts, tambourines,and 'Olés'. I don't think I have ever heard one sung gently! But that makes for a noisy and joyful concert which I enjoyed.

As I left the theatre the village Christmas lights had come on and this one shines at each entrance road to the village. It does, of course, translate as Happy Christmas.

Then as I passed the plaza I took a quick photo of the tree and snowman all lit up, that I described in last week's post.

On Saturday there were some very odd goings on in the village. We heard a lot of the annoying loud rockets going off that we use for fiestas, but we had not heard of any fiestas occuring around here this weekend. Later we heard music and singing and curiosity got the better of me, so I had to go over to the plaza where I thought it was coming from, to investigate. 

It turned out to be a celebration by our Equadorian neighbours. A large group of them live, mostly in one area, at the top of our village. They are friendly enough and we pass the time of day when we see them, but they mainly stick together and follow their own traditions. At weekends others arrive from surrounding villages and they have been given the use of the old football pitch in the rambla, to play games, dance, have barbeques and generally party together.

But Saturday was obviously a special day and from seeing their flag I knew it was the day of the Niño de Insinche. I knew nothing about this so I googled it, and this is a short version of what I learned. It has at some time been translated so the wording is a little odd. Copied and pasted from Google.

"In one of the provinces of the central area of the country, exactly in Cotopaxi, in the Pujilí canton, (This is in Equador), in the Isinche Grande Hacienda 3 kilometers from said canton, one of the most miraculous children is located, which moves the faith of many parishioners   

“It is said that at the beginning of the 18th century, a mule carrying a large bale of wool lay down and did not want to continue on its way. The muleteer removed the bundle from the animal and uncovered it. He was surprised when he found a carved wooden figure of the Child; That same night, the owner of the farm had a dream in which the image of Jesus appeared to him and told him that he wanted to remain in the place and to build a temple for him. This celebration lasts 3 days , on the first day (January 6) the Pase del Niño de Isinche takes place;  On the second day the mass is celebrated where the loas begin to be proclaimed by the kings and arches of flowers are set up where the image passes.

Finally comes the third day that is known as Homework Day. In this activity all the protagonists of the Child's Pass participate, the Mayordomo who is in charge of distributing the tasks to the foremen; When this task is concluded, they start distributing fruits, candies and bread.

There is a peculiar belief that with the passage of time the child grows and grows, a sample of this is all the clothes he has and that do not fit him. It is said that the child is very playful and mischievous because he loves to play in the middle of the countryside." 

So I am now a little wiser but not much! I guess this was all three days rolled into one and they were all having a great time. I know from previous Equadorian festivals, that their costumes can be a bit 'odd' and often quite ugly, and Saturday was no exception. I took some random photos and have made a collage to give you some idea of what it was like. There was singing and dancing on the plaza and it was all very noisy and chaotic, but they were loving it. We could still hear the music quite late at night, but everything was cleared away by morning.

On Sunday I went to church. It was a grey day and this was the view looking over the Cabreras which were shrouded in low cloud.

On Tuesday I had a day in the kitchen and made 6 and a half dozen mince pies. I am hoping I will be allowed to sell some of them at church to raise some much needed funds.

One morning I went outside the back door because I could hear the birds chattering and as I expected, they were mostly starlings. Of course many took flight as soon as I opened the door, but if you look closely at the trees, every tiny branch and twig has a bird perched on it. You wouldn't think the tree tops were strong enough to hold their body weight, but apparently they are.

On Wednesday my sewing group had their Christmas lunch. We went to a local hostel and they had it all set up so nicely for us. We had a beautiful meal with very good company, and everyone had a good time (Including our obligatory rendition of the Twelve Days of Christmas which never quite comes out right!). Of course I forgot to take photos so these two were very last minute, when we had done justice to the food and most of the wine, and we had just been handed an after dinner mint, which most of us had not tasted for many years.

Several weeks ago I showed you some cute nativity buttons and you all liked them and wanted to see what I did with them. Well this is what I made. I actually made six of them, and as some travelled to UK I couldn't show them until I knew they had reached their destination and been opened. For scale, they measure about 8cm, (3") across the base.

I spent the last two afternoons video chatting with my son Ben and my sister Jean. It is always good to catch up with everyone now and then, and we always end up chatting for a couple of hours each time.

And finally I have a group of sky photos all taken on the same evening. We have had very high winds so the clouds are broken up making for lots of lovely colours in the sky. On this night it was very dramatic, and I did my best to catch that on camera. I can, of course see a face in at least one of these, but I will leave it up to you to spot if you want to.

So now it is time to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles. I am sorry this is a rather lengthy post. I had another little outing this evening (Thursday), but I am saving that for next week as I think I have rambled on for long enough for this time.

Friday Smiles 2022: Week 49

It has been a quiet week here with two Bank Holidays on Tuesday and Thursday. The first was a secular holiday for Día de Constitucíon, and the second was a religious one for Immaculate Conception. So shops were shut and many people had what is called a Bridge holiday taking Wednesday off as well. A few even had Monday off bridging to the weekend so they had a six day holiday.

But I filled my time by getting all my decorations up. I don't know many English folk out here who still decorate like this, and very few put up a tree, but I just love it. It seemed very strange on Tuesday when I was unpacking tinsel and boxes of tree decorations with the door wide open and sun streaming in on it all.

Sadly that was our last day of full sun and the rest of the week has been more cloudy, with some heavy rain - mercifully most at night, and noticibly lower temperatures. None of which deterred my on my decorating mission. The decorations are stored in crates in the garage, and as I open each one it is a walk down memory lane. Most of the things I hang on my tree have a story behind them, some made by my boys, some made by me; some bought on holidays in exotic places, some bought because they relate to our interests and hobbies, so I just love seeing them all again. Here is a collage of my main decorations in the sitting room.

Of course the tree is the 'main event, then moving round I come to my Danish corner with items sent to me by my son who lives out there, and some I bought when I visited him one Christmas.

My lovely 'Willow Tree' Nativity set is on the mantle piece, and above that is a large picture of an angel in Cross-stitch which I made many years ago. And finally a string that used to be used to hang cards, now carries numbers and folk art people depicting the song 'Twelve days of Christmas'. I made this a few years ago when the pandemic meant we received far fewer cards than we used to, and now, with postage costs and all the strikes, the situation is not likely to change.

But I was pleased to hear that two of my cards that were in the parcel I sent to my sister for her to post on, have arrived. So the system hasn't collapsed altogether.

On the other wall we have our TV screen surrounded by candles, more paper cuts, and my two new snowball globes. I re-made the nativity one in a round shpere like the deer one, without a constructed base, partly because I just like things to match, and partly because it now fits on the TV stand. Also it allows the light to shine through better.

The village is looking nice too with the lights across the street shining out at night. A wire frame of a tree and a large snowman covered in lights, are on the plaza and the angels are shining out on the telegraph poles down our road. Ours looked like this for a couple of days but last night it didn't come on, so maybe the rain has got to it. I will pop into the Town Hall to let them know and they will send someone down to fix it.

Most evenings, once I settle down with my crochet or just to watch TV, Tango appears and sits on my lap all evening. He is lovely and warm and is not bothered by whatever I am doing. But I had a surprise on Tuesday when Luna came in instead. She is almost thirteen now and semi-feral, so she has never been a house-cat but sometimes in the winter she would curl up with Paco. But now she only comes in the house for food. They have regular feed times and she has a very good internal clock and is always there on time. But when she has finished eating she runs out again, and she panics when I try to pet her or pick her up. So it was a big surprise when she appeared in the sitting room and even jumped onto my lap and let me stroke her. What's more, she stayed there nearly all evening. I have hardly seen her again since then!

I only have one sky picture this week. Despite the clouds we have had some pinkish sunsets and this one was so pretty.

Now I will link up with Annie's Smiles as I am a bit late this week. Then I will try and change my header to the picture of my nativity set for the holiday season.

Friday Smiles 2022:Week 48

Have you got used to writing 2022 yet because we will have to write 2023 very soon! I can't believe it is week 48 already. Time to climb up to the top shelves in the garage to find the Christmas decorations. I know I shall be busy doing mine at the weekend.

But today I am starting with the cutest little Christmas pixie/Santa. He is our youngest family member, my great-grandson Reuben, who is almost six month old. Isn't he gorgeous? He has the same easy, big smile as his brothers Alfie and Isaac.

Many of you left kind comments about my slice-form decorations last week. Thank you. Your comments are always appreciated. They were quite card hungry and each slice needed a new A4 sheet so I got through one and a half pads for each one. But I was left with a lot of fairly good size off-cuts, and this week I tried using some of them to make miniture slice forms. This is the size of the average glass bauble you would put on a tree. Yes, they were a fiddle to put together, but I am delighted at the way even the inticate nativity scenes cut with my Cameo machine, and I love the finished result. They need to be hung with a light behind them to see the inside properly but I improvised for the photo.

Today we went shopping and did the 'food shop' for Christmas. There are two bank holidays next week so shopping time will be limited then, and I didn't want to leave it too late. Obviously I will still have to buy fresh milk, bread and vegetables, but the main shopping is all done, which makes me very happy. On the way to the big Mercadona food store in Vera, we stopped by Lidl's to see whether they had their poinsettias yet and they did. I have had several good ones from them in previous years. Like most things, they were a bit more expensive this year so  I bought one tall one to stand in our porch, instead of the usual three, plus three to go in the new flower beds in the back yard, and a smaller pink one which will either go in a plant stand in the front yard or in the window of Chris' office.

When I took off their cellophane sleeves I saw two of them were in instant need of water. Hopefully I gave them some just in time, because once they dry out they do not recover. I ended up putting the taller one on a small stand in the corner of the porch and one of the others on the ground in front of it. It has turned much colder this week, as well as windy and the porch does give them some protection. They make such a lovely splash of colour.

I also bought two little hyacinths that are almost ready to flower. I know some people find their scent too strong, but I love it, so I will get these two potted up better and have them in the kitchen or in the front room.

We had a little visitor this week. The new fire we had installed last year, does not quite fill the hole that the old one had, but as it is a structural part of the chimney we can't do a lot about it. The chimney itself is supposed to be covered but unfortunately three times now, a little bird has fallen down into the space behind the fire. Tolly alerts us each time because he must be able to hear it fluttering around although we cannot. He sits in front of the glass and pats at it, and tried to get his paws into the little gaps around it. But luckily we can lift the front off the fire fairly easily and with a bit of luck the bird sees its way to escape and flies out. Until this week's chillier days, the door to the porch is always open so Kim can wander in and out, so the bird can fly out there but it is then trapped in the fly free area. You can see here it was a little sparrow this week. It flew around like crazy at first, but I shut the cats indoors and opened the porch door and eventually it had the sense to fly away to somewhere safer. A lucky escape. I hope it learned its lesson!

There is a small utility area leading off from the kitchen and this is where the back door is. We have a cat flap in it which all the cats soon learned to use, but several months ago, the flap broke, and all through the hot summer we have left it with just an open hole, and the cats are very used to jumping through it. But this week we decided to buy a new one so the flap would help to keep the draughts out, and maybe also deter a big stray tom cat who keeps coming in to steal our cats' food! It is a bit stiff at first and none of the cats want to use it. Here Tolly is eyeing it up as much as to say, 'What is this then? Why can't I get out?'

 

I have pushed both him and Tango through it a few times now and they are begnning to get the idea. I thought they would remember how it used to be, but apparently not. Tolly did manage to get in through it when I rattled his food around at tea-time tonight, but he still needed a little push of encouragement when he wanted to go out again. Tango just sits next to it and cries at me until I open the door, and I humour him a bit. He is an old man now, is completely deaf, and we don't think he sees very well either. But I expect he will get there in the end.

We  have had a few pink skies just lately and last night there was a glorious fiery sunset. It started out a fluffy pink and golden and became a sheet of red. Of course it only lasted a few minutes, but I was there at the right time to see it.

Now it is the right time to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles. 

The week ended on a sad note when I had a message fom our blogger friend Lisca to say Graham had gone to be with the Lord.But while we all send our best wishes and prayers to Lisca, I hope you have all had things this week to make you smile as well, so why not join us over at wispo-astitchintime.blogspot.