Friday Smiles 2023; Week 2

Of course my post this week starts with the Three Kings Fiesta that we enjoyed last weekend. The main event was on Friday and it was a lovely sunny day so the crowds turned out to join in the fun. 

The medieval market stalls were set up early ready for us all to browse.

This couple always make us smile. They are familiar to most of us as they live on the camp site and they love to dress up for any ocasion.

One of my favourite spots is to stand and watch the large birds. The feathers on this raven shone a deep blue as the sun caught his wings.

This is my favourite - the magnificent eagle owl. Isn't he handsome. His name board says he is the owl of good luck.

The scenes at King Herod's palace when the Kings come to enquire about the new baby were acted out as usual. The man who plays King Herod is perfect for the role and manages to look and sound very fierce. 

I think as part of the efforts to raise awareness of the fiesta in a wider reagion, the kings had several sets of new costumes this year, and wore them at various events throughout the fiesta. 

The Roman soldiers looked good too as they lined the road in to the palace, and carried orders from the King.

After the play there was the usual mass, this year led by the Bishop of Almeria, and the kings stood at the front throughout the service.

We don't go to the marquee for the dancing in the evening, but we could hear their music from the house.

Now all is cleared away. The street lights were taken down on Monday, and I managed to get all our decorations down and packed away in one day. It usually takes me ages.

On Monday the men arrived to start work on our little bathroom. It didn't take them long to strip out all the hardware, but it took nearly two days to remove the tiles from the walls and floor. What a noise and the dust.... But it shows how well-built out house is. It is around thirty years old now, and it was built to last! Of course I forgot to take the 'before' photo but here are a few of the work in progress. 

The shower tray is now down and the plumbing has been moved to suit our new design. The walls have been rough-rendeed ready for the new tiles but we are still waiting for them to arrive!

Meanwhile here is something to make you smile. A near perfect rose-bud that appeared this week. 

And just along from  that is this beautiful deep red one. As it has shot up and is now taller than me, I decided to cut it and have it indoors where I could see it. (Sorry the photo is blurred. I was trying to pull it down to my level and take the shot one-handed but I am not that dexerous these days!)

Our house is quite cool until we light the fire at night, so it has lasted well indoors, but now it is a wide open bloom turning darker with a purple hue, and will probably start to drop its petals soon. It actually fills the room with its scent.

I went back to the doctor this week as the ulcer on my hand is still not healing very well, so now I have a stronger antibiotic, to take three times a day for ten days. Hopefully that will do the trick, and it will soon be gone.

We have had to set out alarm this week as the workmen like to get started by 8.00, so I have been up in time to see a couple of lovely sunrises. These two photos were taken on the same day, the first looking out the front door at the sunrise, and the second looking over the green zone at the back of us at the sunset.

And finally I had to include another photo of my gorgeous great-grandson Reuben. This was taken on his "six-month anniversary". Any excuse to make a fuss of him and he is such a happy little chappy, and it always makes me smile to see his photos.

And with that, I will go over to Annie's blog to link up and see all your smiles for this week.

P.S. The bathroom tiles arrived this morning so more smiles from me!