Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 15

This week it is all about the flowers and they really make me smile.

This week, when I had a wander around the garden, these little self-seeded gerbera reminded me of the sunshine. Originally there was one little flower from a seed dropped by a bird. Now I have a whole pot of them.

I have even transplanted a few like these in one of the troughs hanging from the front railings. The little yellow flower on the right is a plant that I can't name but it is from last summer and should have died over the winter, but it is still going anf now it is trying to flower again.

Just looks at the buds on my little red carnation. This plant grew from a cutting I took some while ago and now it is also flourishing.

Round in the back yard, one of my troughs is looking particulary bright and colourful, and I can see this from where I sit on the porch, so that is nice.  The yellow daisies are osteospermum, again one that has lasted the winter, and all the purple ones are the perennial versian that always gives a good show of flowers at this time of year. The flash of red at the end is of course, a geranium and between them is a succulent I put there when it was looking a bit bare, and it turns from dark green in the winter to orange, yellow and a touch of red all summer.

The trough around the corner also has an osteospermum with one little flower on. I thought it had died but I am glad to see it is struggling on. It reminds me of a marigold.

But my biggest surprise was when I spotted this. It is on my very tall cactus, (much taller than me now), which started as a little spike mid-calf height when we arrived. I have watched it growing, swaying a little in the wind, and wandered whether it would live to out grow me, and I always hoped it would eventually produce a flower, but every year I have been disappointed. I half expected one white one right at the top, so you can imaging my surprise when this week I spotted these little red buds bursting out of the higher seams.

I have done some research and now know the cactus goes by the rather splendid name 'Pachycerus pecten-aboriginium', and it is native to Mexico, (commonly know as the Indian comb). Apparently the brown scabs that are all over mine, (I assumed insect activity), are most likely caused by overwatering!, but that is not something I do very often. I am of course hoping that the buds will develop and open before we leave but again, thanks to Google, I find they have to go through this stage...

... before getting to this one. But I live in hope.

They flower by night and die by midday, and are polinated by bats. So I will be checking first thing every morning!

Yesterday I had a dental appointment and when I came out I decided to have a little walk to the top of the village, as I don't walk half enough right now. I stood looking over the top railings and found there was a lot of activity below me. The area that used to be used for social gatherings by the Equadorians from our village and the surrounding communities, is now planted all over with trees. (I hope they have been given an alternative meeting place).  Last week I said how the orange blossom stirred up my hayfever, and this week I found another irritant. Everywhere you look there is a mimosia tree in flower. 

It is so very pretty, but just looking at all the flowers, you can see why they produce so much pollen to torment us all.

I mentioned a while ago how sad I was that the crysamthemums don't grow wild all over the campo like they used to, but just below the railings I saw this patch, all raising their little faces up to the sun, and that made me smile too.

And still, sort of on the flower theme, I have finished my cross-stitch sewing! I love to see the poppies and daisies growing together in the wild, so I am really pleased with this picture. I am packing it carefully as it is, and one day, when I finally unpack all the boxes, I will get it stretched and framed.

I hope some of you really like flowers as I seem to have rambled on a bit today, but now I will stop and get this ready to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and be published in the morning.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 14

Yay! We have just this minute booked our flight back to UK for Tuesday May 6th! That's something to smile about, but now back to the beginning of the week.

It has been warm and mostly sunny this week and after all that rain the garden is thriving and all the trees around us are bursting out in orange blossom. There seems to be a lot of it this year.

It is really a very pretty flower, but its perfume can be a bit over-powering. I can smell it as soon as I open the windows each morning, and it is one of my hayfever triggers so I have been coughing and sneezing all week. Many of my friends are in the same state, but it is still lovely to see, and smell really.

We have now had a few very windy days and the petals have been carpeting the ground in white confetti. As we are trying to keep the garden tidy for the new owners, Chris has been out each day sweeping it all up.

It has a slightly later season than the oranges, but our little grapefruit tree has loads of buds too, and there are few coming now on the lemon tree.

We have been busy signing contracts, making lists of things to do, and choosing flights, but I have still managed to pack a couple of boxes each day.

I also did a bit of baking, making our family favourite 'cup of cold tea' cake, (bara brith, fruitloaf, bam brak or whatever you like to call it) . For us it has always been Irish tea loaf, and my dad loved it. This time it was a good way to finish up all the dried fruit in the cupboard as well as most of the flour.

I then made enough of my special muesli, (very nutty but not very fruity this time) to last until we go. I have it for breakfast most days, with milk, and a handful of blueberries, banana or yoghurt on it.

And finally another family favourite 'peanut and lemon slices'. These are a bit of a sugar hit for me so I will have to pace myself eating them. They are basically crushed digestives, mixed with syrup, butter and a lot of crunchy peanut butter, and when it is set hard it is iced with lemon butter icing. Very yummy, but best kept for a treat.

My first husband was in the RAF and we lived in Cyprus for three years. On the day we arrived we were all warned to keep at least three days supply of food in the house; advice which proved its worth when the war broke out and we were confined to our homes until NATO  organised a cease-fire so all the families could be bussed up to the camp. (Scary times but that's another story). But the habit of keeping a well stocked store cupboard has never left me, and I usually have more like three months of food in store, and I can usually find ingredients for anything I want to make. So it is really strange now to find all my cupboards are empty. There are just a few meals worth of meat etc in the freezer, a few tins of beans, and whatever I buy on a weekly basis from the shop or market. I expect I will gradually build up a small store again at home, but now there are only two of us, and our needs are simple, it will certainly be a scaled down version.

On Wednesday Chris suggested we have a break and walk along the sea front for some fresh air, so we drove down to Garrucha. On the way down I said to Chris I liked Garrucha because the cry of the gulls gives it a real 'sea-side' feel. They are there of course because it is a fishing port, and I am sure they are well fed when the boats come in each day. That day they were flying high up, and although there were loads of them wheeling around above the palm trees, they don't stay still while you photograph them, so this was the best I could do. (Click on each photo for a closer look).

Instead of our usual walk around the marina, we strolled along the harbour this time. The men were washing out the auction depot where the fishermen bring their catch each day to be auctioned to local shops and restaurants. The fishing boats were moored along the water front and the men were checking their nets, and mending them where needed, or standing around chatting.The boats are real 'work-horses', but I wouldn't choose to be out on the sea in one in all weathers. 

There was a stiff breeze and the see was navy blue and quite choppy. Beyond it you can see some of the yachts moored in the marina and the huge barges loading and unloading at the port.

There was a chill in the wind so we didn't stay out for long, but it made a nice break.

I had a nice surprise this morning when I opened the front windows and saw that one of the roses that Chris cut back hard just a short while ago, now has our first rose of summer in bloom. And what a beauty. It even smells good too.

And now it is time to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles, and enjoy reading about your weeks.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 13

Well another week has rushed by with very little to write about. However I am grateful that everything is moving along as we hoped,  and I have managed to finish the main packing. There is still tools etc in the garage, but they have been sorted so it shouldn't be hard to pack them up. I just need small boxes as they are very heavy.

I had an unexpected call from my dermatologist clinic Tuesday lunch time, to say they had a free appointment that afternoon, so we drove to Vera for one last time. Dr Ana was lovely and she has given me medication to last through 'til June, and some useful information for a dermatologist in UK when I find one.

It was nice when Chris brought me in a card which the  mail man had left today. I wasn't expecting anything so I opened it. It was a Mothering Sunday card from my son. I have been so busy that I hadn't even registered that it was this Sunday, so that was a a really great surprise. It is a pretty card and I will enjoy having it on display now.

This week we said "Goodbye" to our last furry friend, little Luna. I took her as a rescue kitten from the vet when a litter was dumped on her door step over sixteen years ago. She has been mostly an outdoor cat, only coming in for food, and shelter when the weather is bad. But she is not unfriendly and since rehoming Tolly and Leo, she has stayed in the house for longer, even curling up on Chris' lap occasionally, though not for long. (I can't have her on mine). A man came to collect her on Tuesday and I also gave him all the food, dishes etc that I had left. I was sad to see her go but I know she was disturbed by all the boxes, wandering around and in between them and meowing, so hopefully she is more settled now. 

It is more than forty years since I had no cats at all, and it is really strange not to be greeted when I get up each day.

I had a long catch-up chat with my sister on Monday, which was nice.

It has been sunnier with intermittant grey clouds this week, and I have sat out on the porch to sew a thread or two of my cross-stitch whenever I need a break from packing. My back soon complains if I try to do too many boxes in one go.

And that is the week that was. Only a few more to go!!

So I am off to share this on Annie's Friday Smiles. see you there.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 12

Hooray, today the sun is shining. There is still more rain forecast but it was lovely to sit out on the porch after lunch and do a couple of strands of my sewing before coming in to prepare this. 

It has been another very busy week with most of my time being taken sorting and packing. The stack of full and sealed boxes is growing, and I am keeping a careful list of what is in each one. When they are all done I will type up a tidy list for the removal men to show customs at the border.

Yesterday I took the morning off packing to attend my sewing group, but when we pulled up outside the hall, everyone was standing outside on the street. It seemed the metal grill that is the safety cover for the entrance, had stuck, and couldn't be unlocked, so they were waiting for a locksmith to come and sort it out. So our leader contacted the bar where some members go after each week's meeting for a drink and light lunch, and he agreed to set up some tables for us there. So we all trouped off; the bar is only a few minutes drive from the hall. We were made welcome, and soon we had put several tables together and all sat around to do our sewing, knitting etc. We ordered a complicated list of coffees and teas, which he coped with well considering there were twenty or so of us. 

One lady was celebrating her birthday and usually we give birthday members a card, but these were all locked up inside the hall, but we sang Happy Birthday to her anyway. A few minutes later the same music blared out of the overhead system and the bar owner came with a cupcake for Linda with a candle on it. Such a nice gesture. (She said "They couldn't find an eight candle or they were too polite to put it on!).

Halfway through the morning we got a message that the doors had been unlocked, but we decided to stay where we were. Back to the hall next week.

I had a lovely long video chat with Ben last night. We hadn't managed to call for a while so we had plenty to talk about.

Other than that, my main problem has been trying to fill big boxes without making them too heavy. I wouldn't want to lift any of them, but the removal man promised there wasn't much he can't handle with his set of wheels, so I hope that is so. I am good at puzzles so I can usually fit things in to fit closely and not move about, and we have bought a variety of boxes to accommodate most things, but one item has been a major headache, and that is my laser cutter/engraver. It doesn't look very big but it has taken us two full days trawling through Amazon to find a box that it will fit in. I think we finally have one but it is not arriving until the end of next week, so I am getting on with other things while I wait.

We have continued to have rain most days, but fortunately we don't get snow down here like poor Lisca had in her village. Most days the sun does try to put in an appearance by the evening and one day I caught this rather lovely scene which shows both the blue sky on the right and the storm clouds rolling in on the left, with the sun going down between them. 

And that's it for this week so I will go and link this up with Annie's Friday Smiles ready for tomorrow.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 11

Yes I am still smiling, but maybe not quite as much, because Yes, it is still raining! It is on and off showers now with some of them quite heavy. Twice I have had to dry my washing indoors, which is a shame because I love to see it blowing on the line outside. But it was so windy on Tuesday that half of it lost some pegs, and was twisted round and round the line, srangling anything that had managed to hang on, so once again I moved indoors. Fortunately I now have a good size drying rack, and with it still being cold enough to light the fire in evenings, everything soon dries.

Between the showers we have had some lovely sunshine, and in places out of the wind, it has been warmer too. The wild flowers are loving the rain and sun, and are blooming everywhere. The oxalis is now a carpet of sharp yellow over the ground next door,and sometimes we pass whole fields of it, that shine out amid the campo's drab colours.

Next door it is covered in flowers, which close up at night but open up as soon as the sun touches them in the morning. Peeping out between the flowers are little pink stars of Erodium.

Also  we are now  seeing Echium plantagineum which  has flowers that start deep pink and slowly change through pale pink, mauve, purple and then deep blue. Because it flowers continuously for weeks and they are all at different stages, you often see all the colours on one plant and it is so pretty. But it is a 'touch-me-not plant as the leaves and stems carry hairs that are extremely irritating to our skin.

This week has been mainly taken up with a few official appointments with solicitors, attornys, removal men and estate agents. And between those I have been busy packing boxes while Chris handles all the administration, plus any heavy lifting. (We make a good team).  It all looks a bit chaotic right now, but I am actually fairly organised so it will all make sense soon.

We have now agreed that our boxes etc will be collected on May 1st, and will be delivered to a container site in Shropshire on 5th. Our son Mike will be there to supervise the unloading. As we are not taking the furniture with us, we will be able to remain in the house for a few days, and maybe go to hotel for a couple of nights, and we will travel to UK the following week when everythng is signed off. 

By the evening I am ready to sit and relax so some nights I do a bit more of my cross stitch picture. I can only do two or three threads before my sight gets blurred, but it is coming along quite nicely.

And that's really all my news this week, so I will get ready to post this tomorrow and link up with Annie's Friday Smiles.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 10

Yes I am smiling this week - because we have had rain. We needed some rain so desperately in this, the agricultural area of Spain. On Friday the man on the local radio announced that for the first time in his memory, rain was forcast for seven days 'on the bounce'. And this time they got it right. It  started Friday night and boy! did it rain!. It poured steadily right through to Sunday. Every one was warned to stay at home if possible on Saturday as the ramblas were filling up and there was localised flooding. And it has rained on and off ever since. This is a Facebook picture of the rambla at Sorbas, just a few metres up the motorway from here. And I guess ours is much the same. There is no point for viewing our rambla from the village except from a bridge out on the main road, and I didn't want to paddle that far to see, but they showed a picture of the road into the rambla being closed off by the local police. Ramblas are dry river beds and they are useful for carrying excess water from the mountains out to the sea, so it was good to see them fulfilling this function and leaving the village unscathed.

On Wednesday we had an appointment with out solicitor down on Mojacar player. It was a wet drive and very windy, but fortunately we didn't have far to walk. I took this quick picture of the tall palm trees, bravely standing against the wind. 

The sea was churning and breaking from way out, and crashing on the rocks along the sea front. Unfortunately I find it difficult to take a photo that captures the power behind this.

Today the rain has held off for a short while though heavy grey clouds are rolling down from the mountains, ready to drench us again. But I decided to grab the break in the rain to stretch my legs as I have been sitting around far too much this week. I walked up to the top of the village where there is a look-out bay out across the fields betreen us and the rambla. Just look at how green they are. They were just brown mud areas a week ago.

I really went up that way to see a new supermarket that opened last week. It was one before, but it was dark and cramped and I didn't go there much. It has been taken over by a young man who also owns the busiest bar in the village. He has gutted it, put in  new lighting and made a new attractive entrance. It is now  a well stocked shop with a wider range of goods than was previously available, all well displayed and clearly labelled. I was quite impressed. It seemed to be doing a good trade even on a day like this, and I am sure I will visit it again.

And finially this made me smile today. I cleared some debris and weeds from some of the pots in the front yard the other day, and I mentioed to Chris that one pot looked as though it had a little self-seeded pansy in it. And this morning there it was, smiling up at me, so I smiled back.

Now I have to get ready for two visitors this afternoon. The first is from a removal company to assess what we have to move, and give some advice of packing and labelling each box for customs. And the second is a girl from the estate agency to make an inventory of what we are leaving behind. So it will be all go from now on. First I will take this over to link with Annie's Friday Smiles in the morning.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 9

It has been a good week here starting with last Saturday which was Carnival day here in the village. After a week of lovely sunshine, it decided to rain on Saturday! and boy did it rain. We had a real downpour and I wasn't sure the carnival would go ahead, but the rain stopped at 5.45, and shortly after 6.00 the parade started almost on time. 

Fortunately non of the participants were too skimpily dressed this year, as with the rain there was quite a drop in the temperature too. We usually go down to the slip road below us where the parade musters, but it was damp and chilly this year so we stayed in our garden as the parade passes up our street, so we didn't miss anything. Here is a collage of the few photos I took. It is a fun occasion and everyone was smiling despite the weather.

Other than that I have finished two little projects. One is this Japonese flower pot stand. It is crochet rings, interlocked as you work it, and I have to admit there was some frustrated unpicking and re-doing as I struggled to get them interlocked the right way round, but I got there in the end.

The second project was this owl dream-catcher, cut with my laser cutter. I used three different woods - maple, birch and walnut - and added a little paint to a few pieces. Then it was glued together and spray varnished. It was something that had sat on my 'to-do' list for a while, but I had to order the sheets of different wood. I am pleased with it now that it is done.

Last Saturday was my son Ben's birthday and we had a lovely chat on the computer. Then on Sunday it was my sister Dorothy's birthday and she was 90 years young! Here she is with the photo book her daughter made for her with photographs collected from all of our extended family.

The big news this week is that we have provisionally sold our house. I say provisionally because the buyers have paid the deposit to remove it from the site, and we have all signed a preliminary agreement, but nothing is for sure until the contract is signed, and the full price paid, and that is some way off yet. We are hoping to be back in UK by mid-May, as long as there are no hitches on the way.

So all in all it has been a good week. So now I will get ready to post this tomorrow and link up with Annie's Friday Smiles.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 8

Hello all my friends. We have enjoyed another rather lovely week, with sunshine most days, warm enough to sit out on the porch for a few hours each afternoon, and then a cosy evening by the fire when the sun goes down. It has been good for me as I am taking yet another very strong anti-biotic which upset my insides as first and left me with little incentive to do much except sit and read or doze! Fortunately my body seems to have adjusted today so I was able to have a busy morning in the kitchen baking chicken pie for dinner, "maids of honour" cakes to use up the pastry, and a small brown and white mixed loaf. It looks good but we will know at tea/time whether it tastes good too.

When the sun sinks down behind the roof and the porch is in the shade, I sometimes sit round at the back, just below the window of this room. It is a real suntrap, and is too hot for me much of the time, but early morning and evening, it is lovely. It is very peace ful there and I sit and watch the birds swooping around for insects, or at this time of year, collecting dry grass etc to build a nest.

This tree that I showed when the first almond blossom appeared, never ceases to amaze me. It couldn't look more dead for most of the year, with dark, almost black branches, and not a leaf in sight, but in spring it suddenly produces blossom in a abundance. It will die off again before the nuts have time to mature, but right now the bees and other insects are having a feast.

When I walked over to the village for the market on Tuesday, I cut across the the village car park. This is an area of sandy ground, rough but worn down by constant vehicles. Most days, only the lower section is used, but on market day some cars venture onto the higher level, where I was walking. And it just struck me how very barren it is. When we had our first pups some fifteen years ago, we used to bring them here first thing every morning, and then they had a long run over the campo after breakfast. I remember then,  we were often knee deep in weeds and wild flowers, and the dew would soak our shoes and the dogs feet.  But they don't even try to grow now. It is just bare scrub land with a few straggly plants on the ground.

Round about this time of year I used to pick big bunches of bright yellow wild crysanthmums from here, and they would last for ages in a jar of water. Now I struggle to find any, though I did eventually find this rather sad little specimen.

It is sad illustration of how much hotter it is getting here, and how much dryer the winters are.

I was pleased to see a few asprodels were struggling up along the edges. These grow like weeds everywhere, and are often seen on the verges of roads. They are often taller and healthier than these, but at least they are still trying. 

Here is a close up of the flowers (from google). They are so pretty. I think in England they are grown as a cultivated garden flower.

My 'baby' Ben is 38 on Saturday. How time flies! I wanted a little something to put in with his card, so I made a couple of engraved coasters. He and his partner are in the process of buying an old railway station with a couple of carriages that they want to renovate for visitors to sleep in. So I used two of the photos he had sent to me, one of the waiting room and one of the signal box. I turned them into line drawings and engraved them onto squares of wood. This is the waiting room. 

I forgot to photograph the finished one of the signal box, but this is the photo I prepared. He loves them and that is the main thing.

Most days the sky has been cloudless, so the sun has set in a smooth band of pink and mauve, but one evening as I sat at the back, a bank of clouds rolled in and I thought they looked so pretty. More clouds soon came to cover them so there was still no sunset of note, but I liked the clouds anyway.

This has been quite a sad week in some ways as we said 'Good-bye' to both our lovely cats. Leo went on Satuday and then Tolly on Tuesday. They went to separate homes where I thought the environment would suit them best, and both sets of new owners have sent me photos to show they are settling in well. It seems as though my whole daily routine revolved around cats' feeding times, so I am all at sea with out them. Of course we miss them a lot, but it is good to know they are settling in well in their new homes.

So now it is time to prepare this for publishing tomorrow and linking up with Annie's Friday Smiles.

Friday Smiles 2025 # Week 7

 It has been another quiet week here but it was not without its positives.

For one, the sky has been blue every day so despite a cold wind, it is uplifting to look out of the window. I am almost always cold but I think that is mainly down to one of the medications I am on, and I just wrap up in a blanket whenever I need to.

I have finished my pink blanket and on Wednesday I handed them both in to the lady who collects them for food bank families. So right now my crochet is a bit in limbo. I need a few small projects that don't involve a big expense of more yarn, but will keep my hands busy in the evenings.

I have made a start on some cross stitch (just). I found a kit that didn't get packed when I was sorting out. It looked complete but when I opened it I found a piece of even weave linen, and my eyes are just not good enough to work on that. So I sent for a pack of four pieces of 14 count aida fabric. I had spent ages working out how many stitches were in it at the widest part, so what width of aida I needed, but when it came I realised that, although the design would fit onto it, there was only about half an inch spare all around - not enough to strech the finished work over backing card! So once again I went to amazon and found 14 count aida in a big piece and sent for that. The mistake was mine so I paid for it with good grace. The new piece was rather stiff, so after trying with a small square,  I decided to wash the piece I am using. I pegged it out and it was dry in an hour. Last night I found the centre and worked one line of green stems. The only needle I could find that fitted through the holes was so tiny I couldn't feel it or use it properly, so today I googled what size of needle is required for 14 count fabric, and ordered a set of them. They should be here tomorrow. I am obviously out of practice. I usually have "all my ducks in a row" beore I start a project, but hopefully I am on track now.

I treated myself to a new magnetic bracelet this week and I am very pleased with it. I have had a copper one for quite a while, but it only had one magnet at each end. This one has forty-four of them, all along the inside of it. Also the old one was an open circle and I was always getting it tangled in my clothes, or laying on an end and getting a bruise. This one is much better. I am not sure how much good it does you, but anything is worth a try.

One bit of good news is that I am pretty sure I have found a good home for Leo. It is with a family who already have two maine coons, plus two dachshounds, so I hope there is no jealousy, but he will be very loved, and get plenty of attention. They also have twelve year-old twin girls who love him already. The family came to see him yesterday, but the lady works all week and wants the weekend to make sure he has settled OK, so they are collecting him on Saturday. It will be a big wrench for me, and I will miss him so much, but it will be better for him, and that is what counts.

Once again I have exhausted the books on my Kindle, so I am going to upload a few more, and then sit outside in the porch if it is sheltered enough, and do some sewing while the light is good.

But first I must prepare this ready to link up with Annie's Friday Smiles tomorrow.