Our plans have gone a little array, poor Theo has gone done with something and is feeling very under the weather, so they may not come up tonight, but the most important thing is for Theo to feel comfortable and happy in his surroundings. These things happen with little ones, but hopefully if not tonight then we shall see them tomorrow. It´s only a 15 minute drive up so not a long journey
Wishing you all a very Happy Christmas with lots of love, health and happiness
take care
xcx
Wrapped some presents, made some gift tags and finished off the cone christmas tree, Theo started to help and I was astonished at the dexterity he showed after being told the pins were sharp, especially when he added the sequins, alas his attention didn´t last but he did very well.
On a very last minute decision, they decided to pop back to the Uk to see Antoni´s family in Nottingham for a long weekend. Flights were not too much and reasonable times too. They rang on the Saturday whilst waiting for a bus to take them into town, they looked like frozen peas, Theo was Not impressed by the cold and was slightly mollified by the chance of a nice hot chocolate.
Sunday was the fourth anniversary of Rose´s birthday, I had already given them a card and little pressie to take with them, then lit a candle whilst preparing dinner.
Yesterday was Chris´s birthday so we all got together for a nice meal, I did a loin of pork with rosemary, garlic breaded crust, along with all the veg. Rebecca and Theo had made some lovely chocolate chip muffins which we had with custard and a couple of birthday candles. Chris didn´t want a fuss so it was a nice way of finishing the meal off.
Few things left to do, but at the same time if it doesn´t happen it doesn´t matter, the joy of being together is the main thing.
I remembered to book a delivery slot early so the main groceries are coming tomorrow, saves time and energy and so worth the little that they charge for delivery. especially up here.
Time for dinner prep
take care
xcx
We retrieved the Christmas tree and decorations from the loft all ready for Theo to help. He enjoyed putting the tree together and sorted out all the colour coded branches. His face was an absolute picture as we opened boxes and he found the goodies. He was careful in his selection and very gently placed them on the tree, I suggested a few but no, he had his ideas and rejected them. Lift me up was his cry when he couldn´t reach.
I then gave him a box of baubles or various sizes and a metal stand, he spend ages, quite happily arranging them to his taste, using them all up. At first I thought it a little over the top, but on a second look it was really well put together with the tiny baubles on the outside, really artistic for a 2 year old.
I´ve been making little Suffolk puffs for Theo, I bought a small polystyrene cone with the idea he can use them to decorate it. I´ve made baubles in the past using these and they are quite pretty.
Most of the decorations are hand made over the years, quite satisfying to see them each year. This one is a patchwork star, made several years ago.
Have fun with your decorations
take care
xcx
I have mainly been concentrating on making advent drawstring bags for Theo. Everything has come from the stash, I brought all the craft stuff with me when we left the farm years ago, which has proved to be very useful. I´ve topped up some things like ribbons but all the Christmas material has come into it´s own.
I asked hubby to print out some luggage labels with all the dates on then glued them to red card, I did contemplate making felt ones but decided there wasn´t enough time and I couldn´t be asked lol. Had to lay them all out and divide the gifts so they made an interesting find on opening. Decorated a wooden box with tinsel and wrapped the gifts carefully mixing them up so Theo has to find the right number. Thought it would help with his numbers and also learn patience with only one a day.
I made a special one for the 18th using Christmas Rose material as a remembrance for baby Rose.
I left it on the table ready to take only to find that Sashi had made herself very comfortable in the box, should have taken a photo, but I was more concerned in getting her off.
So yesterday we visited Theo, we explained the concept and he looked in wonder that there were so many bags in there. Last year Rebecca bought a set of advent books, so he was in his element of choosing which wrapped book he wanted, which was read twice at bedtime, then as a treat he was given a little chocolate one, lucky boy with three.
He has been finding going to nursery a bit of a struggle and we have been trying to uncover why. Last weekend he said "Mummy, I have a problem" aww bless, not even 3 yet. Turns out a new boy is being a bit of a bully and upsetting him. Hopefully the calendars will be a bit of distraction for him.
I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas present too. The cold temps badly effect the Fibro so to save energy and the fact that trying to bend and do low jobs like wainscoting, edges, mopping etc are very difficult for me, I decided to organise a cleaner to come once a week for a couple of hours. I still find myself thinking, I should be able to do this, but we have 5 reception areas, clockroom and kitchen downstairs, plus 8 cats, so to have some help is going to be marvelous. So instead of beating myself up, I´m thinking of the nice things I can do with the energy saved, grateful that the hard jobs are being done and enjoy a fresh home. Defiantly a Loreal moment, yes I´m worth it. Also the person enjoys cleaning and gives her a little pocket money, win, win. We have a friend coming to stay at the weekend and she is willing to do the guest room, remake beds so that will be a relief.
Our front bell is ringing which means the groceries have arrived, better go and get that sorted.
take care
xcx
Hmmm I think I jinxed it, had the log burner going now, our lounge is on the north side so doesn´t get much sun, lovely in the summer but chilly now. It used to be the donkey stable, which was ideal for them, but I like warmth. It´s also on a lower level than the garden, about 5ft, so a sunken patio, so we have cut the shrubs back on the top to allow a little more light.
We have had some lovely play days, but poor Theo succumbed to yet another tummy bug on Friday, with Antoni doing a viral presentation in the afternoon to about 65 people he was unable to do child care, so Rebecca had to ask, very nicely, to take a half day holiday to be able to care for Theo. Oh gosh, I really wanted to help, but these tummy bugs get me 100% so in the view of self preservation I had to honestly say I couldn´t help. Rebecca insisted she wouldn´t have asked me anyway, but I still feel mean. Luckily by late Saturday all was well.
Theo has suddenly been taken with his little kitchen, using his play food to cook pizza and cookies, he so enjoys his stints in the kitchen making muffins, pancakes and biscuits, I think this has spurred him on to use his imagination. So I decided to get all my felt out and make him some additions to his fun food. Some were really easy, some were a little challenging, but he was so pleased and identified all the food, even though Yayo struggled on the tomato slices lol.
It´s been very warm and mild here, haven´t even thought about needing to light the log burner, probably jinxed it now. Managed to get out into the jungle for a while each day, so it´s gradually getting clear again. We will have to wait until there has been substantial rainfall before the town hall will issue a burning license.
The Moroccan holiday wasn´t quite what was expected, mainly French spoken, they were on the second floor without a lift, which made it quite hard with Theo. Rebecca had a couple of massages which she enjoyed and although the water was quite cold the various pools were tried and enjoyed. They did a couple of excursions which they enjoyed, one to a crocodile park and another to a little place that produced Argan oil. They had a go at grinding, all done by hand and hard work. No wonder the oil is so expensive, but the moisturizer had a wonderful texture and absorbed very quickly. They brought us back a little gift which was so thoughtful, a hand painted scene, painted on stretched goat skin and a couple of pretty coasters.
At last we have taken delivery of our new back/lounge door, we ordered this in June, it´s taken so long, I know every thing stops for August, but even so. Then we were given an installation date with the warning if we had to rearrange it would be another 4-6 weeks before another appointment. Really! This door was beyond repair, it was so ill fitting with an inch gap at the top and the rest deteriorating day by day. It was single glazed and let the elements in. Now double glazed, snug, triple locks and doing its job.
I painted the kitchen door today after the repairs , needs another coat, but so much better, on the hunt for the right paint hubby found the wood preserver for our double front door, so that was applied. The sun and wind dries everything out so much. So nice to get these little jobs out of the way and preserve what we have.
We were given an old drinks trolley which I think I mentioned, but now its finished so Theo can use it as an outside kitchen/work area. A good dose of Blue Peter, as in sticky back plastic for the storage bottles and the tops.
Continuing on with the blanket and here are the little stockings I´m working on.
More to do,
Rebecca took some amazing photos of the decor in Morocco, I´m hoping at some stage they will provide some inspiration.....you can always hope lol
Dinner prep now
take care
xcx
Not quite sure where the month has gone since the last post.
We´ve had lovely play days which I thoroughly enjoy, Theo is very inquisitive and loves to find out how things work, he loves his trucks that you can take apart with his plastic screwdrivers and reassemble, keeps you on your toes. I bought some little scoops and more pom poms to go with our sparkly ones, he so enjoys sorting, transferring and filling the containers that I save, like the plastic herbs tubs etc. he does this with dried rice too, great to focus on dexterity. I´ve taken to adding a little something to his toy area for him to find, I wait until he explores rather than give it as a present. He is also in tune with his surroundings and offers kisses and comfort if say you knock yourself, its so adorable to hear him with his please and thank you. Yesterday we showed him something and he just said one word, ámazing´, he makes me smile and chuckle.
Antoni was all set to go on his company cruise, just around the Med, but then he tested positive for covid, then Rebecca did too, so that was that. It´s manifested itself to heavy cold with us. They are over it now and winging their way down to Morocco for a few days as I type this.
Several ´jobs´have been tackled, panels replaced in our en-suite, only waited 2 years, but whos counting...we investigated replacing our kitchen door, rain had got into the cat flap and caused some rotting, and the door was a nightmare as it caught everytime you opened it, after a quote of 2000e, Chris tackled the worst pieces, replaced the rain deflector, trimmed the door, now it opens like a dream, just needs to be painted inside and out and saved a fortune in the process.
We have some pretties in the garden, the Spanish rose and Bougainvillea making a nice display.
I´ve been working on the crochet blanket, having shown Rebecca, checking for size, she asked for it to be at least double bed size... so that´s on going. I finished a jumper for Theo that I started ages ago but it wasn´t a priority as it was too hot, quite plain but give another jumper
The photo has made it quite dark, but it is really a pretty blue
I´ve turned my attention to Christmas items, you always think you have ages left to make things then find the time has all disappeared, I wanted to make some decorations that Theo might like to put in his room, so a couple of little felt stockings and some sweet bobble hats. I thought Theo might like to make some too, obviously with lots of help, but for an older child these would be ideal, no glue and with parental prep easy to make. Just cardboard tubes, a little yarn and patience
Still more to go but at least I feel a little more creative
Also been playing with ideas for napkin rings for the Christmas table, not sure at this point...I like to put a little gift beside each persons plate, so maybe some more little stockings.
We are having a mild time at the moment, warm winds from Africa drifting up to us and wrapping itself in a little cocoon, lovely
Well take care, thank you for reading my various ramblings
xcx
R, A and T had some friends over from Reading, they are Argentinian, a lovely couple and so nice for them to all meet up whilst they were over here for a month, with a little boy same age as Theo and a little 6 month old girl.
We were invited to join them on a sunset cruise leaving Calpe, Chris has sea legs, I don´t, too many horror stories for me in boats, not my thing, we all met up at the port and I waved them goodbye. It was my intention to sit on the beach or rocks and take in the gentle surroundings and chill, however the weather decided against that, it was blowing straight off the sea and was rough, after walking to my spot I gave up and sat in the car with my crochet to continue with the throw.
Getting out passed the rock was apparently rough but smoothed over once round, very interesting to see the other side of the rock and take in the scenery.
Last week was so different, no Theo and his Mum popping up after nap time, but we did meet up for a nice meal in Calpe, the service was so slow, but Theo was very good and his reward was riding his bike along the sea front afterwards. The routines are quite different now Rebecca is working full time, bit sad, but life changes.
Spent a lot of the week making anklets and girls bracelets for my board at Maria´s. I also made some flower hair slides. I revamped the board to make it more aesthetically pleasing, have to wait and see if it works.
I started this post a couple of weeks ago, but various things have got in the way before finishing it. I had an early morning call for help on the Friday, as Theo had been unwell in the night. With R & A both working full time I went to be with Theo for the day, he was fine, had a lovely day playing and having fun. Saturday afternoon I was feeling rather unwell, then it hit me, the usual tummy bug had been going around the nursery and I got it full blast. Oh what a pickle, desperately unwell, couldn´t eat a thing and even cooking smells were awful. On the Monday I managed a little bland white fish, then very carefully added to the diet, the fatigue was horrible and I am still not feeling 100%. Didn´t even want to read let alone do anything else.
Gradually I have been pottering, a bit of tidying in the courtyard and doing the crochet blanket. This Saturday Rebecca and Theo came up late afternoon and stayed the night, something they haven´t done for a while. I was so tired when they went home, Theo is a complete ball of energy, very inquisitive and full of go, but it was lovely to spend time together.
We had quite a rain storm at the weekend which the garden has been very grateful for and I can already see the plants perking up. Just hope my huge rosemary and sage bushes recover.
Well not much is planned, just taking things easy, an ideal opportunity to start on the garden tidy and pull weeds after the rain, to be honest, it can wait, they will still be there next week, just a bit bigger lol. It´s just rather a pull of getting started that I must and will resist.
take care
xcx
There are still a few hot spots appearing from the fire, they have been using thermal imaging drones to detect possible problems then dealing with them, so grateful for technology
A busy week, we suggested that R & A could store their belongings in the casita, thus saving them 90e a month from being in storage, so we had Theo whilst they borrowed our car to move as many boxes as they could, then we had great fun cooling off in the pool, still more to do before the end of the month
I bought some cat litter trays only 2.95 each, we then used one for dried rice, using tubs and scoops for fun, hardly any spillage and the other I put in lots of sparkly pom poms of various sizes which was great fun for sorting, colours, counting and then incorporating cars and lorries as transporters. That kept Theo entertained for ages.
Theo has been doing potty training for the last 3 weeks and he has taken to it so well, hardly any mishaps, he was ready and now he accepts it as the norm.
During our call tonight he said the car had a broken light because it hit a tree, I asked who hit the tree, "Oh Daddy did" lol out of the mouths of babes eh, lol
I have been making beaded anklets for my board at Maria´s, we haven´t been there for ages so it was nice to go and catch up, we came away with 80e from my board and post cards, wow, incentive or what to update and continue
Keep forgetting to take pics, must rectify that, anyway keep safe
take care
xcx
Gosh what a week, constantly monitoring the situation, seeing the fire expand, licking its flames onto some of the larger towns. People rallying round to help others with accommodation and pet rescue. Then it suddenly spread sideways coming nearer, but that was hit with plane upon water plane and helicopters.
Then out of the blue, a weather front appeared and saved some of the towns with 43mm of rain in a couple of hours, it certainly helped the progress but not enough to extinguish it. Our valley didn´t get any rain, so we are still parched. When you consider the weeks on end we had so much rain earlier in the year it all just evaporates
Hot spots kept appearing and it would flare up again, apparently due to the ground being so hot that flares keep appearing.
There are 4 stages to the fire according to the authorities, stage one has been raging all week, but thank goodness, news has just come in that its reached stage 2, so under control but not out.
The forest area will take ages to regenerate but as we know the seeds lay dormant then with rain they will spring back and start to spread, nature has it´s ways
I suppose you could say life can be complacent, so never under estimate nature and enjoy today just because.
take care
xcx
We had a thunder storm on Sunday, mainly in the next valley to us, only a little rain though, but the horrific part of natures storm is that it started a wildfire. This area is mainly campo with animals, forests and farming.
I woke Sunday night to smelling smoke in the bedroom then hubby said the lounge was filled with smoke too. Then Monday came the news that the fire was out of control and spreading. We have access to a fire watch site which allows us to see what is happening. The air was acrid with smoke, our valley was filled with it and we could see the amber glow of the fire away in the distance. Unfortunately, August is when we have a lot of wind, not helping at all.
Again Monday night we had smoke hanging in the air in the house. Today it was reported that there are 26 plane and helicopters in the vicinity, 65 personnel, the fire was covering over 65km and so many town have been evacuated and over 1200 people displaced. It´s heartbreaking, on the site there are people people volunteering transport and housing for animals along with requests for housing.
This evening it is reported the fire has widened, encompassing more towns, villages, with more evacuees. Back in 2016 the area around Javea had huge fires, which were frightening and horrendous, but this one is 11 times bigger.
The advice is to prepare evacuation bags containing essentials, medication, documents etc, so scary, we only have a normal car so how would we transport 8 furries in their carriers also where would we go. We have two ways out, one is through very wooded twisty road, the other our normal is similar.
Imagination running riot at the moment, it spreads so quickly, the dedication of the personnel dealing with this are too be applauded, these brave people continuously bringing the water planes and those on the ground, they are amazing.
We are safe at the moment, wind change or mishap, I just ask for protection from the powers that be, all we can do is wait
xcx
I am so pleased for Rebecca, she has secured a new position, Monday to Friday which works with nursery, although a few Grandma duties needed here and there. It means weekends are relatively free for altogether time and a few adjustments into menu planning etc means it should work out.
Well, a week has passed since the fiesta, where it went I don´t know, the numbers attending were vastly down on previous years, to be honest I didn´t make an appearance for one reason or another, Friday I needed to get some rest ready for Grandma duties the next day, although the band was so loud that was very difficult, then Saturday I was pooped, luckily they band wasn´t so loud enabling me to sleep. They didn´t finish until 3am. Sunday with not so many attending they finished early. The charengito was collected, along with the extra bins, the bar was dismantled, all the bunting removed and you wouldn´t have known anything had occured.
This is the little church were we had our wedding blessing
I hope you are all finding ways to keep cool in these high temps, we are up again today 38.5 with a hair dryer wind, grey water being used for plants as usual. I´m so pleased that we have our new taps as it´s much easier to turn them off whilst teeth cleaning washing hands etc.
Theo has been doing his potty training, he took to it straight away, very little mishaps, marvelous
He has gained so much confidence in the water that pool time has been great fun.
Keep cool, enjoy the weekend
take care
xcx
Been keeping our heads down as our temps have been quite high. Several occasions reaching 40c but mostly between 34-36 now. Consequently the temp in the pool is a very pleasing 30c, no cold water shocks, bit of a wimp with cold water. Managed to increase the lengths to equate to 400m, not every day but every little helps. Theo has been enjoying the pool too, he loves to jump off the side and is gaining confidence in the water, with that and the trips to the beach, he is quite the water baby.
Rebecca has been looking for a job, always a difficult search but in the mean time with Theo going to nursery every day for full days she has taken what she could which has mainly been villa cleaning. Not a particularly pleasant job, especially in these temps so I take my hat off to her. I´ve been doing Grandma duty for the times when work and nursery conflict. She had an interview yesterday so we are keeping our fingers crossed for her.
It´s been quite busy in the plaza, they are having the annual fiesta weekend again, first since covid. trimming, strimming, freshening up. They delivered the charengito on Monday, basically a portable lock up bar, although beer is free, or rather comes out of the funds collected, other beverages help pay towards the bands etc. At the risk of sounding like a wet blanket, I have not missed these weekends as they party on till 2 or 3 in the morning so sleep is out of the question as the plaza is just below us. The furries are not happy either as we have to round them up and keep them in especially during the evenings and the Sunday morning church service. It goes from being sleepy to probably 5-600 people
I have tackled a few indoor jobs, like clearing out the bodega and shelves, finding little treasures and things like the citronella night lights tucked away. I used cut down 8l water bottles to give storage solutions, cheap and cheerful, but they work. It´s tidy and free from items that we really do not need any more
Started another crochet throw, great to keep fingers busy but not too taxing.
Off to download a book, hiding in the cool in the lounge
take care
xcx
At last the plumber arrived, we gaily showed him the new taps we had purchased and left him to it. He fitted the bath/shower taps but found that the taps in the double wash basin had rusted so badly he couldn´t release them. New basin needed! so we trot off to choose one but because designs change we could only have a single basin. Didn´t really mind after all we have never used the dual one in 15 years.
The plumber returned, quicker this time and fitted it, the delight in having a tap you can 1. turn and 2. water comes out has been quite exciting.
Next changing the taps in the clockroom, he found the same problem, rusted in, but after much huffing and puffing and brute force, he managed to free the old ones, I thought we were in for yet another trip and delay. Shiny taps not only look pleasing but ultimately will save water as they are much easier to regulate. It´s the little things that give pleasure
I was sorting out some linen, including some old linen that my Mum had collected, unfortunately some were passed saving, but I came across a couple of crochet cloths that I remember Mum having on her dressing table. There were a couple of age marks on one which I couldn´t remove, but after a careful wash they came up as good as new. The best part - the colours, the same green as I had painted the bathroom mirror and cabinet and the soft pink that goes with the fabric lined walls
Trying to keep in the cool of the house I started the bunting for Theo´s room, so whiled away a couple of hours piecing it together.
Still keeping up with the swimming, but we seem to be sharing the pool with the swifts, they build their nests in the roof of the naya then come swooping down to drink the water. It´s usually between 5 and 6 we go out there, obviously cooler for them too at that time. Then a couple of days ago I noticed a black splodge on the inside of the pool and discovered a very bedraggled bat, probably a piperstrelle , we carefully scooped it up and left it to dry off safely, a couple of hours later it was no where to be seen, so hopefully it returned to its colony.
Right, off to play with pentagons
take care
xcx
I found some photos from the Moors and Christians festival
This wolf gently came toward Theo and touched him, let just say that Theo was not the slighted bit impressed.
We have hit 38 a couple of times already, but have learnt (the hard way) how to manage the heat. lower expectations, jobs early in the day, etc etc, seems the Uk are making heaps over the expected heat wave, as that slogan says you just adjust and carry on.!
Rebecca has been building up clients for a villa clean etc, hard, hot sweaty work but bless her, she is game to crack on and make something in the season. She leaves the boys at the beach of a Saturday morning where they have great fun, then joins in with them to share fun too, except she was very badly stung by a sea anemone, the red cross patrol said it was not as bad as a jellyfish sting, bet they were glad not to be on the end of it cos it hurt like billyo. Having been stung by jellyfish in my youth I can feel for her, it hurts like 100 x nettles being wrapped round you, go to the chemist for some cream. Luckily its gone down, but then working today she was stung by a wasp, poor love not her week at all.
Just done 40 lengths of the pool, equates to 304m, quite chuffed, we are earlier this season for the pool with the higher temps quite early. Surprising how much evaporation from winds and heat occurs, so we need a top up for the pool and one for the house, hopefully he will come tomorrow.
Need to start dinner,
take care
xcx
We went along to the fiesta parade in Benissa on Saturday, this was the Moors and Christians festival. There were bands marching and various groups in very different costumes, they must have taken an age to make, very rich colours. We didn´t go along to the actual siege on Sunday, but apparently it was very good.
We have been in the pool most days and I am trying to build up the number of lengths as a good form of exercise. I´m up to 34 at the moment, although our pool is 10m in length, 2 m of that are shallow steps which are brilliant for Theo to play on, although he enjoys splashing around with us too.
I haven´t a clue what they are called, but these succulents by our little pond have been flowering, they remind me of little fairy hats.
Sashie and Sonia seem to be settling down more now, they venture out into the courtyard, but we have blocked up the escape routes until they are calmer. They have been trying to make friends with ours, but there is plenty of room for all of them to do their own thing.
Amber, on the chair, is rather feisty, she is a don´t pick me up kind of cat but does enjoy a smoothing on her terms, I think Sashie and her had had words.
Been a bit lacking in the crafting scene, but I have finished two beaded butterflies for my wall hanging, which is going rather slowly. Now I have to think of what to put in some of the other squares.
I have got a finish though, the crochet blanket, very simple, something you can do while watching the telly. There wasn´t any real thought in the design, I was just using up yarns from other projects.
Time for a swim I think
take care
xcx
We seem to have skipped Spring and landed straight into Summer. We had temps of 37C on Thursday and 35C yesterday, thank goodness for the pool.
We went into town on Thursday as we needed to choose new taps for the en-suite, we have been putting up with them for ages, they are so old and clogged with limescale they hardly work. We went to the showroom first then on to the warehouse to collect. They had everything in stock and we were given a 35% discount which was very nice. Just have to wait for the plumber to come and fit them, that is usually manana, manana.
There was a cleaning party in the plaza on Tuesday, cleaning the church and strimming around the area. We were surprised as it was far too early for the fiesta in August. It turned out it was used for a christening yesterday. In the meantime Sunny hadn´t been home since the clean and our neighbour was also away. We managed to get the keys to the church etc but no Sunny. We really thought he had gone, maybe in a car or something. Then yesterday after the church was opened and the neighbour returned, there was Sunny waiting patiently outside the courtyard gate. Obviously hungry and thirsty, but other than that he was fine. We asked him where he had been but he was too busy filling his tummy lol
I have been using the pool and gradually building up the exercise, yesterday I managed up to 30 lengths, which with the size of the pool equates to 240m. It was suggested walking up to 45 minutes a day, but in this heat, no way, so this is the best alternative.
I received a call saying that my sewing machine was ready for collection. At last, it was the week before Easter it went in, but it needed a new inside panel that regulates the speed, 3 lugs were broken, how this could be I don´t know as it never goes anywhere. It was dispatched from Switzerland, hence the delay. The service engineer got it running to make sure I was happy and he showed me a couple of things that I didn´t know it could do. In his halting Spanglish he insisted I had a very good machine and that I should get to know its capabilities. Bit cheeky really, but true, Although I don´t make clothes so don´t need the buttonhole foot, Patchwork is usually straight sewing apart from free machine quilting so its usage has been pretty straightforward easy sewing. I would like to explore the embroidery side a bit more so You tube and manual will hopefully get me going. Just have to be brave
take care
xcx
Hi all, been a bit quiet as I didn´t have much to say, ticking along, a little reading, a little knitting and not much else.
Saturday was Rebecca´s birthday , her hubby had organised a little surprise for her and kindly invited us to join in.
We had quite a long journey, along a route that had long gradients taking you up to 3000 ft, so we decided to go in 2 cars to save over taxing them, traveling at a reasonable speed, we managed to keep the fuel consumption steady, it was mainly duel carriageway but we traveled through areas that were quite diverse, pretty and interesting.
Our destination was Teruel, up in the north, Chris has been several times visiting the ski slopes up there.
It was a long way but the reason it was chosen was because it had adult spa facilities and a childrens Dinospa, so Theo could enjoy the fun too. While they took Theo into his area we had an hour in the spa, a main pool large enough to swim and several small multi spas, even a cold water dip which I chickened out of but was apparently very refreshing.
We then swapped over and had Yaya duties so they could enjoy free time too. After showers and changing we took a taxi into the town. Very different to around here, it was buzzing and very busy with lots of walkside cafes.
More glossing of doors with some still to go, second coats too, have to pace myself and acknowledge when I´ve had enough.
Rebecca and Theo have been up several times, lots of play and enjoyment of their comany.
Rather a sad week last week, we lost two of our eldest furries. Lucy on Tuesday, after a very short illness, she was 14 and then on Thursday her nephew, Simba, was 13. Such a big hole left. Then Rebecca asked if we would take on their two, Siamese mix, they were house cats, but when they moved back to the UK they were allowed outside, so got used to coming and going. Consequently when they moved back here into the 3rd floor apartment the girls were house bound again. They were getting upset, bored and cross with each other, then they realised that Antoni was becoming very sensitive to them as in allergic reaction. Not good for any of them. So we are presently keeping them inside to get them acclimatized with the run of 2 downstairs rooms before we let them venture out.
I was given this pot of lillies several years ago as a birthday present. They flower each year, but this year they have given a rather spectacular display, with multi headed blooms, I have moved them to a place where the furries don´t go as they are poisonous for them.
I have wanted a new sofa for ages now, but we have a problem with the chemicals, formaldehyde that they use in manufacture, so we have to buy second hand, we found one recently, in excellent condition, a two seater with recliners for a very reasonable price. You can just see a glimpse in the cat photo. It was delivered and the old one removed, they also took away an old sofa bed that had certainly see better days, Ok we had to pay 12e each but so much easier than contacting the council or trying to remove them ourselves.
My sewing machine, a Bernina 630, went off before Easter to have a service, the foot pedal was not responding and it wasn´t happy. I then received a call explaining that a piece had broken and to confirm the cost of repair. They hoped the part would be in Spain, if not it would come from Switzerland. They still haven´t received the part! so long now, always the way, there are several projects I would like to do making rice bags for Theo as a throwing game, bunting for his bedroom and a cushion for his chair. Just have to be patient awhile longer.
Enjoy your day
take care
xcx
A couple of days very heavy rain, again, put paid to any decorating, too wet, damp and unable to open the windows. Quite a bit of prep though, washing and sanding down ready to go.
Yesterday was a nice warm bright sunny day so I took the opportunity to start glossing again. In our bedroom suite there are 8 doors, 5 of them slatted (they are going to be a pain) plus the usual wainscoting etc, anyway the 2nd bedroom door and the balcony door got the treatment. I placed the onion in the area but the fumes were pretty strong so I added a bowl of dry bi carb, that seemed to do the trick.
With all the rain in the last month everything has gone bananas, this is the pretty time with all the flowers parading before the temperatures rise, but this year its gone potty.
This geranium seems to have quadrupled in size
The herb garden is mainly rosemary and sage at the moment, it´s great that its gone potty as I use a lot of these herbs. The bees are loving it with all the purple flowers in bloom, a constant hum with their busyness.
A ´sea view´across the top garden, it´s well in the distance but still there lol, we have a different view from the courtyard, Calpe which is must nearer and can even make out the shipping.
A little reading too, treated myself to a couple of books on kindle that had been recommended, rather than the rubbishy freebies. A little knitting, clothes mending and a few play dates. Friday went down to play and then Theo decided that he was quite happy playing on his own, which gave us the opportunity to sit and have a lovely chat and good old catch up. He has a large car transporter with different compartments for his smaller cars, I love the way he pronounces the words so clearly and matter of fact. He has started to tag on the word actually at the end of his sentence, all in context, so sweet.
Warm and sunny again so I think more painting, have to finish it before the temps rise too much and the paint dries on the brush
take care
xcx
