Friday Smiles 2023# Week 39

Unfortunately I didn't get this prepared yesterday like I normally do. I managed to take a tumble in the garden and ended up with some very bruised and sore knuckles on my right hand so I couldn't use my computer mouse, and a very painful left knee. So I spent the rest of the day in my recliner chair letting everything settle down. On the bright side, the damage is all fairly superficial, and at least I managed to keep my face off the ground. It is already a bit easier today so I am sure a couple more days will see me back to my usual clumsy self!

Now it is a little cooler in the evenings we have started to take short walks around the village, usually ending with a drink at one of the local bars, before going home for a late tea. Here is a photo
I took last week. It had been a sunny day and the evening stayed bright. This is the view as you approach the main road that passes the front of the village.

Compare it with the one we took this week. Admittedly we were alomost an hour later, but the whole atmosphere had changed and there was a feel of Autumn in the air. 

As we walked up the slip road we noticed the jacarandas were again in flower. Early in the year the flowers come on bare branches, and when they die, the pretty leaves appear. This flowers are now the big brown seed-pods you can see in this picture. But we don't often get the flowers out at the same time as the leaves. They are so pretty and I just love their colour.

Some people have an olive tree in their gardens and we saw that the olives look plentiful and are a good size. By the end of October the olive presses will open, and folk will take their olives to be pressed into oil. There is a minimum weight of olives that the press will take, so village folk with only one or two trees will join their harvests together and share the oil that is made.

At the top of the village there is a lovely open view of the Cabrera mountains across the campo, and again, last week, the light was just perfect to get a good picture. Sometimes they are so hazy that they almost disappear, but occasionally, as on this day, they are as clear as a bell.

Leo seems to be making some progress in that he is eating well and has gained a very small amount of weight. But he is still well under what he should be, and we are struggling to find out why. However our vet has done some research and has found a genetic problem that occasionally affects Maine Coons, and can cause anemia and weight loss. So yesterday we took him back for further blood tests. One sample will go to the usual lab to check whether the anemia is any better after the vitimen and mineral tablets I have been giving him every day, and the other will go to a different lab for genetic screening. We won't get the results from that until around a month's time, but it would be good to have a reason and know a bit more about the condition, thought there is not an obvious treatment for it. But as you can see here, he is doing Okay. His fur is good and he is not quite so 'boney', and he does seem to be a bit more alert and playful, so here's hoping.

My memories on Facebook keep popping up with lovely sunset photos but it is a long time since we had a really besutiful sky. Last night I did see there was some colour outside, but when I went to look, it was almost a uniform orange because there were no clouds to break it up. Sunrises have been better as there has been some cloud most days until it burns off, but we do not have a good place to photograph the sunrise from our yard, and I am not up early enough to go somewhere for a better view, so here is last night's sunset.

And with that I will link up with Annie's Friday Smiles. I hope to see you there shortly.