Jinxed it

 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.

I did expand it making different pepper slices, more carrots and would you believe I was actually dreaming of how to make Oreos. Made several more of the tomatoes, it will keep him going for a bit. When they came up on Sunday he was thrilled with them.

I made felt Christmas tree shapes and kept all the little cut offs from the food, and we had fun gluing all the bits together making a picture.

Chris decided to paint a picture of our original girls, Tammy and Lucy, he doesn´t have a dedicated studio, just up in the Naya, so is exposed the the weather conditions, although under cover, too warm and the paint dries on the brush, too windy and it blows the pollen and dust, plus the furries want to help too, any way here is his latest picture

Just taken our car down for its ITV, (MOT) Rebecca kindly collected Chris to bring him home and will do the return to pick up. Quite strange to be without transport up here but there we are, collection Wednesday, hopefully.

Time for dinner

take care xcx

Jungle

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.

  

They had a trip to the local market but found it to be too pushy and expensive, they purchased some spices but realised they were being ripped off when the stall holder tried to charge them 70e for not very much, and got cross when they refused the amounts he was pushing and settled for a much smaller amount. Took the fun out of it. They did enjoy all the different tagines though.

First week of November nearly gone so I must crack on with the advent calendar I want to make for Theo, little drawstring bags to pop in a little gift, they can be used over the years then. Although it´s quite hard thinking of  so many items that will fit.

Right, out into the wilderness again

take care

xcx

Blue Peter

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.

Mentioning Blue Peter, I actually appeared on the show in the mid 70´s, we were interviewed by John Knokes, who kept fluffing his lines, but I was part of a girls weight training team, we rehearsed, then went to recording, eventually we got there. On our way to our coach we met Dick Emery, who immediately went into his acting mode of Mr Lampwick playing with our weights and causing great fun, hilarious. I then met John Knokes again when we visited the ponds at Elstead in Surrey and he was walking his dogs, very nice, cheerful man. Many years earlier I was sent a Blue Peter badge as our guinea pig had given birth to 8 babies and I asked if it was a record, they couldn´t confirm but that was my first badge.

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

  

A month

 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.

  The Gerber´s are still flowering too, along with the begonia, I bought some cyclamen from the chino at 2.50e a pot, well worth it.

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

Something different

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. 

Theo wasn´t doing too well on the boat and kept asking to come back to me, bless, so when they were disembarking I was waiting and he ran straight into my arms for a cuddle, special. We then walked to one of the fish restaurants on the quay side for a bite to eat. 

These restaurants have all sorts of fish menus, obviously right by the landing area, but gosh some of them were eye wateringly expensive, 160e for 4 people or 190 for 6, these dishes  have everything though, but half the time you wouldn´t know how to tackle the variety of fish. Rebecca had monk fish and it was delicious, very meaty and filling. It is the most uglist of fish you can imagine when you see it in the supermarket and I wouldn´t know where to start to fillet it, glad they did it for us lol 

Tiny little shell fish as a starter, can´t remember the name but not very filling, bit like tiny clams.

The children were getting very tired so we made our way home but so nice to experience something different.

Moments to treasure

take care

xcx

  

Gently does it

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

  

Busy

 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