Oops!
Today I realised that I had not made a Blog entry for some while but was shocked when checking that it is actually more than 10 weeks since last I wrote. Very remiss of me but I wonder how many people have missed my ramblings!
So what have I been doing and why haven’t I been writing since 11th January? Before I begin I send my apologies to son David who will probably slap my legs for rambing on for too long and tell me again that I should write more and shorter entries – but here goes!
My Crafting – I am really hooked now on crafting. I have sorted out our home office and moved all the files out to a spare shelf in a wardrobe so we no longer have a home office but I have a very organised crafting room instead.
I have accumulated a lot of crafting stock, in particular card which has now all been sorted into clear plastic folders and colour coded. I have a fair few stamps, inks, paints, pens, pencils, gems, peeloffs, glues, cutters, embellishments, toppers, ribbons and all manner of other things all now sorted and stored in labelled shoe boxes. I need to buy some more shoes though as I could do with a few more boxes! LOL!
We have been learning lots of different techniques to make cards at craft class and as my sorting out made me realise just how much stock I had accumulated I am making an effort to stay away from craft shops for a while until I have used up some of my stock and I have been using all the new techniques we have learnt to make my cards.
I have also started dabbling in acrylic and water colour painting and have made a few cards from small pictures I have painted. I must move on and progess a bit here though as there are only so many trees and views from our villa that you can paint and that is all I have mastered so far. I am now thinking of joining an art class as I really enjoy doing this.
I have not done any glass painting for a while but I think we are going back to doing that at craft soon and I do have a couple of things that I would like to decorate. I also have some pots and urns that I intend to paint and decorate but I just don’t seem to have found the time to do those either but I will get round to it.
Propogating – I set some bedding plant seeds in February and have ended up with hundreds of seedlings. I have managed to prick out and pot on about 400 so far and still have loads to do but am now thinking I might give some away to friends and let them pot them on. If the seedlings survive and grow Peter will then have another big job on his hands planting them out. We should have some lovely splashes of colour though providing the wild rabbits don’t eat the plants first!
What Peter has been up to – He has finally, finally, totally finished his mountain garden. Hooray! The ‘cherry on the cake’ was the installation of a rope handrail alongside all the steps leading to the bottom of the garden and continuing along the bottom edge of plot. This entailed drilling holes in the bedrock for 16 posts to loop the rope between and I tell you it was no mean feat! He hired a Kango which was worse than useless so ended up with the good old fashioned method of hammer, chisel and hard graft.
The finished product looks great and looks like a professional landscaped terraced garden. Well done Peter – it was well worth your 6 plus years of effort and hard work.
Peter has also spent 3 weeks rigorously cutting back and pruning shrubs and trees. Everything grows so quickly here and it is important to keep things under control or you will soon be living in a wilderness and after visits to the garden centre he has also been busy planting shrubs. Some are additional shrubs that I have always coverted and some are replacements as we do find that perfectly healthy plants will suddenly just up and die on you for no apparent reason.
Peter still goes to, and enjoys, the driving range with the men once a week and sometimes goes there on his own for an hour or so. He is now seriously thinking of taking lessons and is going to bring my set of clubs back from the UK on our next visit so that he and Bob can try a round on the course. Next step will be to buy his own set!
Mountain Drives – Every year in February we go on a drive up into the mountain which we call ‘The Almond Run’ so called because you drive through and look down on the sea of almond blossom which is really spectacular and we did it again this year and one again it was fabulous.
Then last week we went with friends Bob and Lin on another drive further north. This drive is called ‘The Cherry Run’ which as the name indicates is to see the cherry trees in bloom. Sadly we were a little early as the blossom had not yet reached it’s full potential but I must say that the views were stupendous. We drove up and down mountains along good and rough roads and tracks and stumbled across a massive lake (reservoir) settled in a valley surrounded by mountains which was stunning. We were able to park up and walk down to the water’s edge where we sat and enjoyed a picnic lunch in lovely sunshine. Will definately be doing that trip again!
Socialising – We have been very busy dining out with friends and going to events since we came back to Spain in January. We have tried a few new restaurants and the results have been a success. It is rare to have bad eating experiences here.
I won a raffle prize for a lunch for two at a Spanish restaurant we had not been to before out through the Jalon Valley in Parcent and we were so impressed that we have been back there a couple of times since. Good food and cheap too - 15Euros for a 3-course meal inlcuding bread and wine.
I went with some girlfriends to a fashion show at a hotel in Calpe and struck lucky again. This time winning 2 raffle prizes. 50Euros to spend at the show and a Rejuvinating Facial worth 48Euros. I redeemed the first prize on the day and got a nice jacket and some tops and last week I had the facial which was out of this world. Think I might be having them on a regular basis now!
We joined our friends Bob and Lin and a group of their family and friends, many having made the trip over from the UK specially, to help them celebrate their Ruby Wedding. This was a wonderful happy time with a great group of people and the celebrations went on for over a week. Congratulations Bob and Lin.
Our closest friends Pam and Bob came for a 10-day visit at the end of February and we had a lovely time with them. While they were here, among other things, they treated us to a visit to Benidorm Palace for dinner and their show spectacular. It was a great evening and we really enjoyed the new show. Peter and I went there again last week, this time to see ‘The Rat Pack’, another great show over from London. The guys playing Frank, Dean and Sammy gave excellent performances.
The Weather – Since we came back in January we have had wonderful weather most of the time, with lots of bright and sunny days and temperatures in the 20’s and just the odd day giving us some rain and/or high winds. Apparently they did have a week of dreadful weather in February here but as we often manage to do we missed it as we had nipped over to the UK for a few days.
I think I had better stop at this point as some will say I have rambled enough. On a closing note we are going back to the UK on 3rd April until the 29th when we will be spending time with family and friends and undergoing routine health checks. We will try to take some nice weather with us!
