Friday Smiles 2023: Week 17

It has been another quiet week with warm sunny days. In fact it has been very warm, some might say hot, some days, and tomorrow we are forecst up to 40º. It is a bit ridiculous for so early in the year, and everywhere is looking dry and brown, with cracked earth, and few wild flowers around. We have all been warned to 're-think' our use of water. I am guessing we may have some water rationing before the summer is over. But for now, there is enough breeze to make sitting out in the shade, quite pleasant, so we have been doing a lot of that.

Of course most sunshine has some shadows too and we had a shadow cast on our week when the Town Hall announced the sad news that 'Pedro from the Farmacia' had died. He was a really lovely man who went out of his way to help each of us, even getting up at night to unlock the farmacia when someone needed urgent medicine. He was only 46 and has left a wife and three sons aged 15, 8 and 4. Over 10% of the village population posted comments and condolences on the announcement, and the church couldn't begin to house all the folk who attended his funeral the next day. He will be very sorely missed.

Another small cloud passed by on Monday when I walked round to the recycling bins and managed to fall over. I know since my back has been bad, I haven't been picking up my feet properly, so I should have been taking more notice of where I was putting them! I soon picked myself up and apart from a small bruise on my knee there was no visible damage. However I banged my right elbow which agrivated an existing problem with the muscles in my upper arm and shoulder, so for a few days I couldn't do much at all. But hey-ho, with painkillers and muscle rub it is easing and I am almost fully functioning again. Chris says I shouldn't be allowed out on my own!

On Tuesday it was my Rudolph Day Challenge that I enter on the 25th of every month with  one or more Christmas cards. Fortunately I had made my cards well in advance this month so I was still able to contribute. I used one very simple die from a well-known Chinese outlet, and tried to use it in different ways, and here are the six cards I made.  I liked the simplicity of the image, and it proved to be quite versatile.

On Wednesday evening, Kim started barking and wouldn't stop, so we went out to investigate what he had found. As we had expected, having walked around the yard with torches, we finally found this little fellow curled up by the barbecue. It is probably the same one we found before, as we have never seen another one in the village. We gently lifted him up and put him in the green zone where he must live. It is too warm for them to hibernate properly this year so he was probably hunting for food and water. He may have discovered that there are several bowls of water in our yard.

The garden continues to give us lots of pleasure. My little ground cover daisy is covered in pretty mauve flowers again. We bought one small pot of it a few years ago and now there are bits of it all over the garden. As well as covering the ground, it also trails nicely and these are hanging from a window box. I love all the daisy-type flowers.

Apologies to those who follow me on Facebook as you will have already seem my roses, but they are so lovely, I just had to share them on here too.

This morning we went to Garrucha so that Chris could have an eye test and hopefully he will have his new glasses in a week's time. I then went to a little jewellers to have a new battery and strap fitted on my watch, and then, as it is a Bank Holiday, or a red day, here in Spain as well as in UK on Monday so all our shops will be closed, we stopped by the supermarket to pick up a few bits, so it was quite a sucessful outing.

Now I must return to my sewing machine as several items of clothing are waiting for alterations. I am not a bit like Annie. I do not enjoy sewing, but needs must ...

I will be linking up with Annie's Friday Smiles in the morning, so I'll see you all there.

Friday Smiles 2023: Week 16

It has been a quiet week here, and mostly sunny though a few degres cooler than last week because of a sharp easterly wind.  The flowers are loving the sunshine so that is what most of my photos are about this week. The roses are coming into their own, with loads of buds showing colour now.

I always call this a 'potato tree' but it is really called lycianthes rantonnii, and it is a member of the Belladonna family. It is also know as Tasmanian kangaroo apple. Ours is a straggly little 'tree', which doesn't like having its roots confined in a pot, but the flowers are so lovely that I can't get rid of it.

The Christmas before last, our poinsettia stayed quite healthy looking, so we tried planting it in the little square of earth at the front of the house. It has survived and is now covered in smallish red bracts. They started showing their colour at Christmas but it has taken until now for them to be fully changed.

My pelergonium is looking lovely and the crown of thorns in the pot below it has grown up to almost the same height.

This one is a tuff succulent that grows almost as a weed, and can be found on sandy beach heads as well as gardens and roadsides. It is a ground cover and can get out of hand. I rescued a small piece from the beach when we moved here from the  flat fourteen years ago. It didn't take to life in a pot very well either, but this year it has taken off and now creeps along our path, and has at last produced these stunning pink daisies. Its botanical name is Carpobrotus aciniciformis, but it has a whole list of more common names. Here are a few of them.   Sour fig (on account of its edible fruit,), Hottentot fig, Pigface, Highway ice plant, Sally-my-handsome, Elandssuurvy and Elands sourfig. Aren't they great!

And finally my Elephant foot palm. This was one small plume of leaves when a friend gifted it to me when she moved back to UK some years ago. I put it in the biggest pot I could manage to manhandle and it has flourished. I was so surprised when it produced one tall stem of small, insignificant flowers, and then I was dissapointed when it seemed to die off after flowering. But I soon discovered a new rosette of leaves were forming, and these too produced a flower the following year. I am not sure it flowered at all last year but this year it has no less than seven flower stems. Three are standing tall from the top branch: ....

... And three more from the main centre branch, and now one more has shot up a bit lower down.  I had no idea it might do this, but I like surprises in my garden.

I am pleased to say my back is improving and I am now able to walk around, almost upright and without limping. I have a permenant dull ache in my lower back and leg and it is difficult to stand up if I sit for too long, but there is definitely an improvement. As I am better standing and walking around, than I am sitting down, I decided to go ahead and make strwberry jam yesterday. I managed to go across to the market on Tuesday and I was surprised to find beautiful strawberries for 3€ per kilo. I don't expect them to get that cheap until the very end of the season when there are just a few scappy boxes left (which are fine for making jam). These were almost too good to use for jam but I bought two two-kilo boxes and I only need three kilos for my jam so there were plenty left for us to enjoy. I took this photo because it looked so lovely with the sun shining through it. It actually looks as though it is just juice, but it does have lots of fruit pieces in it and it taste good!

Today is our forty-forth anniversary, which also seems almost impossible! We didn't do anything special today but we plan to have a meal out next week. Instead I had an exciting day planning a holiday in UK. I am going to be there for the whole of August. I decided to escape from the ever hotter summer, and get to see all my boys and my two sisters down on the South coast. Chris will go over with me, but he will retrun after the first week and look after the animals at home. He loves the hot weather and will be happier here. But on the recommendation of a couple of friends, I have found a new house-sitter making it possible for us to both go to our son's for a big family gathering on 5th August. And now he has booked the flights so I am all set to go! The rate the weeks are flying past, it will be here in no time.

And on that happy note I will prepare this to publish and link to Annie's Friday Smiles tomorrow.

Friday Smiles 2023: Week 15

Well another week has rolled by. It has had its ups and its downs, but mostly I have been at home. My back has continued to give me trouble, so I can't sit in any one chair for long, but I potter in the kitchen when I need to stand up, and move between seats when I want to sit down.

Last Saturday there was some improvement, and as Sunday was Easter Day, I really wanted to go to church, so Chris agreed to drive me there. It was a lovely service. We had forty-two people in the congregation, the most we have had since the pandemic started, and it was so good to see our little building almost full. I was doing one of the readings which is my forte, as I have a good strong voice when I need it. Fortunately there are only two steps up to the lectern so I managed it without stumbling.

Some of the ladies wore their Easter bonnets, and looked very festive. (Not me as I have had a hatred of hats since childhood when I was forced to wear one to church eveery week! I have a very short neck so hat brims hit my back and tip crooked, and feel uncomfortable and just don't look good). But some people wear them so well and a few can be seen in this photo. We always share tea/coffee and cake after the service and enjoy chatting together as we come from all directions and many of us only see one another on a Sunday. Through Lent we have not had cake, just plain biscuits, so this week was a celebration and cake was once again on offer.

Some of us took our drinks out into the sunshine and we were joined by a very friendly German shepherd dog. He was with a man and a little boy who had come to play on the swings. Our church building belongs to Zurgena Town Hall and they have installed  some children's play equipment on the patio. It is rather nice and gives us a chance to interact with some of the local village folk. The dog was just interested to find so many strange people there and wanted to say hello to every one.

Last week we ordered a new big fridge to go in the garage to replace the one that died back in the Autumn. I missed it but have managed without it during the colder months. But now it is needed again to keep drinks cold, and store more of the food that needs to be in a chiller during the summer. Also the very old drinking water dispenser that my friend gave me when she returned to UK a couple of years ago, had started to make an audible noise, and the water aquired a 'taste' that I didn't like. We tried to clean and sterilise it but it got worse so we decided to replace it with a big 8l water tank to go in the new fridge, and it seems to be working fine. The dispenser took 20 litres so we will need to fill this more often, but it will take me a while to drink 8 litres and it is easy enough to fill.

I wouldn't want to make you all jealous, but we have had warm sunny days all week and on Wednesday the temperature hit the dizzy heights of 32º. It is back down to low to mid twenties today which is far nearer to what we expect in Spring. But actually we could do with some of the rain that my UK friends and family have had this week. The local big reservoir at Almanzora is down to 15%, more what we expect at the end of the summer, not the beginning, but it is only April so we may yet get some heavy storms to help raise the level a little.

We have needed to get the hose out to keep our pots alive, and we were repayed when my Easter lily produced a flower for Easter day. It usually only has one at a time as it is confined to a pot, but at least I haven't managed to kill it yet.

I bought a nice pink mandevilla/dipladenia/Brazillian jasmine or whatever else you want to call it. It is to sit on a low stand by our front door and it looks good, but soon I will need to give it something to climb up.

Quite a few years ago I bought what looked like an almost dead stick for 1 euro, from a small garden centre in Turre. It was the deep fuscia pink bougainvillea that I like so much. I wasn't sure what its chances were but I planted it, watered it well, and talked to it, and somehow it hung on to life and grew. Eventually it thrived, and this week, in the warm sunshine it is looking glorious.

We have trained it across the little back gate and over our bedroom window, and round the corner it has swamped our defunct satelite dish, and tumbled down, and now I am encouraging it along the back railings, though I have to trim any stems that won't be trained, as it has some wicked thorns that catch our clothes as we walk by.

Today little Leo went to the vet to be neutered. When I brought him home he was still asleep and he looked so cute with his little soft blanket covering him. He is now awake and enjoying his tea. He was very indignant this morning when he realised he wasn't getting any breakfast so I expect he was hungry by tea time. I am hoping this will calm him down a bit. he is very good all day but he has a crazy hour before he goes to bed.

So now I will get ready to publish this and link up with Annie's Friday Smiles in the morning.

Friday Smiles 2023: Week 14

This will be a fairly short post as I am suffering a bad attack of sciatica (I think), so I cannot sit for long, nor lean over my computer keyboard. Sadly, sitting in a chair does not improve it and it is almost impossible to stand up again. But I am lucky enough to have a recliner chair that also tips up to help me stand, and this is the first time I have really needed to use it. It does help!

However, it will pass I am sure, so let's look at the highlights of my week. Sunday, as you may be aware, was Palm Sunday. We have a lovely service at church on this day when we are each given a small cross woven from palm leaves, and we take them outside while the priest reads the story of Jesus entry into Jerusalem, and then he blesses the crosses. Then we all process back into the church while singing the lovely old hymn "All Glory Lord and Honour...". 

In our village Palm Sunday wasn't celebrated until the evening so we walked up to the little church for that too. The church was full, and more and more families were arriving, so we stood at the back, but we were still handed a 'plastic' palm branch to wave during the procession. You can see several folk holding tham in the photo, though many were laid on the ground during the mass, for safety sake as much as anything.

The village band was waiting on the plaza outside to play the National Anthem as the people left the service.

This celebration features the younger members of the congregation, many of whom were wearing brown robes and orange head-dresses.  After the service they led the procession out along with the priest and his little helper. There was a child-size statue of Jesus on a 'trono' , similar to the huge and very heavy ones carried by adults through the main Easter processions. The children took their role very seriously, and anxious parents walked along side them to steady the trono whenever it tilted.

The rest of the congregation followed, carrying their palms, and we processed through the streets of the village. We stopped frequently so that other children could take their turn at being a trono bearer. Even the tiny ones got a hand on it, while the lady in charge tried to match the heights of the children at each change.

The procession ended back at the church and the trono was taken back inside and then the crowd dispersed.

You may remember that when our son was over here in January he cut down a tree for us, and we wanted to replace it, so on Tuesday we went to a garden centre. We decided to buy a nice little grapefruit tree. My back was already causing issues by then, so Chris did the planting of it and as you can see, it looks very happy in its new home. It has lots of flowers which I thought might drop with the move, but they have stayed on for now. The citrus trees always produce copious blooms and at least half of them will fall off in the April winds. But hopefully a few will hang on and we will get at least one grapefruit next year. It is not a very mature tree yet so it may not hold fruit for another year or two, but it will be nice if it does. They are pink grapefruit too, which I love.

Also you may remember that we bought a new large succulent at the end of last year that sent up several tall flower stems. I was looking forward to seeing how they developed when a windy storm cut all the heads off. Well this spring it has produce a lot more, and although the individual flowers are not very significant, they are a deep pink and the whole plant has a pink crown now. There are also new branches coming off the main plant. If they grow much more I shall try cutting them off and planting them in new pots.

 

I visited my doctor on Monday and I was quite relieved that she studied the results of my blood sugar and did not suggest insulin as I had feared. But she did say I must avoid all 'carbs from flour' for a while. That is a challenge for me as I love the local bread sticks that we buy still hot from our local baker.  But I have been researching other alternatives and there are some non-grain flours that I am experimenting with. I can't say I am impressed by anything yet, but everything I have read about it says it will be trial and error unitl you find the particular mix that suits you. I also avoid adding any refined sugar to my food, and I don't like any artificial sweetners, so I use Stevia, a natural sweetner made for the plant leaf. So far I have used the white powdered form but this has another natural extract added so I decided to try the 100% Stevia which is the leaves ground to fine powder and it is a deep green. I used it in a loaf that I made. It was a cross between a bread and a cake and it turned out to be an awful khaki green colour. I have to say it tasted much better than it looked, but I may have to try something different next time.

And on that note I will prepare this to publish tomorrow morning and link up with Annie's Friday Smiles.