T for Tostada con Tomate

Good Morning Ladies, Happy T Day, the weather is beautiful here, rather hot when we have any jobs to do but a quick dip in the pool afterwards is always refreshing.

Last Sunday we went down to Bolneuvo for our walk and breakfast, Tomatoes on Toast, a dibble of Olive Oil, sprinkling of Pepper, delicious and A cup of Flower of Jamaica coffee!

This is the view from our table,

We extended our walk along the seafront, a five minute sit on the bench and then back down the paseo for breakfast, around the campsite and back to the car, it's a couple of miles and lovely views. While we were taking a five minutes break we were watching a man trimming the palm trees, the building behind him is a two storey building.

I love the way they chop them so the round bit below the leaves looks like a pineapple, he was just tied on with a line but you can see how he leans back and bearing in mind he has a chain saw hanging from his belt!!!

The Paseo, lots more people opening their holiday villas this week.

Bolneuvo is famous for the Sand sculptures, made by erosion from the wind and rain. Believe it or not people climb on them to take selfies, one part, you can just see to the right hand side a flat piece balancing on the top, that has fallen while Lockdown has been going on so it's all roped off as some fell on to the Car Park!

I thought this might make you smile, we see this lady on the other Paseo at the main beach, always makes me smile as she always takes her dogs for a walk, an unusual way to exercise them don't you think!! Taking three of them out in her shopping trolley.

I made this card for a challenge, it was suppose to be to use splats and sprinkles but when I went to post it I realised it was supposed to be a CAS card, hardly that but it's another card for my stash. I enjoyed messing with brushos but it ended up too dark so I sprinkled Gold Micra poweer on too, I die cut the TH Apothecary Bottles with some acetate that has bits in it, never used the die before even though I had it for some years, I used the poppy die to make the flowers, tied some gold beading around it with a tag, it took me two days to finish it!

Hope you are all well and keeping safe, you could almost think nothing had happened here apart from seeing people in masks, I must admit it scares me a little but people are keeping their distance although one lady in the supermarket was told off at the check out for going to close to the man paying, maybe she didn't see the great big orange strips on the floor!! some people, LOL Have a Happy T Day. Jan x

Friday Smiles

Hello Ladies, life seems to be going really fast now we are allowed a little more freedom, our region of Murcia have had no new cases and we have been told the last person has left hospital, that’s great news, Spain only had one death yesterday too, thank goodness, it’s so sad that so many people had died, Spain are having ten days of mourning for those who have lost their lives, our flags are all at half mast.

we are allowed out at any time and leave our Urbanización, that is wonderful. We now walk every morning, we do our shopping on the way home, in the port shopping seems very strict but more relaxing, no lines and not many people inside as all shops have gone back to normal working hours, still 2 metres apart, still masks, gloves and sanitizers at the door, I feel more relaxed, instead of rushing and getting home all shaky from the stress of it all.

Sunday we went to the smaller beach hoping it wouldn’t be too busy, most people walking were careful but some still won’t keep to the side so we were doing a zig zag along the seafront.

This is the view along the Paseo, a lot of the houses are empty, it surprised us as we thought most people lived here but obviously not seeing as only a handful had anyone in them , this weekend will be different as we are allowed to move around but only in Murcia so I’m guessing many will come down for a visit.

This is a restaurant where normally have tapas but they don’t open until 9.30am so too late for us, we are coming out early to avoid the late risers. They have a lovely garden and massive inside area where they have a BBQ area. Our family love to go there when they come over as they do a good selection of Tapas.

This is the view from the restaurant, there’s some lovely house overlooking the beach and sea, we would need to win the lottery to buy one though.

My biggest smile today is that it is our 49th Wedding Anniversary, not sure where all the years have gone, It’s also our sons 5 th wedding anniversary today, it was funny when he said he was getting married, we said how nice that they were getting married on the same day, our son said, is it really, LOL, Steve was looking on google to find out what anniversary it was for 5 years, apparently it’s wood, our son said no problems we have a wood shed full of it, our DIL shouted it’s not wood it’s fish and chips, Steve sent over the money to pay for the fish and chips and a bottle of wine, we aren’t going out, we still don’t feel safe but we will be have lamb steaks, scalloped potatoes with salad, I’ve made a butterscotch tart, we know how to celebrate, ha,ha,

Hope you all have a lovely weekend, keep safe, a quick funny that our DIL send this morning.

Jan x

T is for trouble with the Pool

Hello ladies, summer has arrived in Spain, at last, normally the first of April the thermostat turns up to hot, this year has been pretty dismal especially as we had eight weeks of total lockdown. I started this post for last week but just totally forgot what day it was until late Tuesday. The whole week was pretty busy for some reason.

Our first outing out of lockdown , we had a lovely morning, after dropping the car off we walked down into the port and along the beach.

This is a rubber tree, you can see how big it is compared to the car driving down the road, it’s even got a palm tree growing through it, the roots have pushed up through the pavement.

we stopped at the bakery for croissants meaning to eat them sat on the seafront but we know the lady at the bakery and as soon as we ordered the croissants she said, dos cafe con Lethe, Steve straight away said yes please, I’m panicking and thinking nooooo! We had agreed before leaving home that we wouldn’t eat or drink out so I had carried two bottles of water! We were the only ones there and I must admit it felt so good to sit in the shade looking at the beach, she told us they haven’t earned any money for eight weeks, it’s such a shame,

We walked down to the marina, around the block and down to see our friends at the pharmacy, they were all pleased to see us, asked about the family and all the ladies came out to say hello, what a difference to the pharmacy on our Urbanización, they really aren’t friendly at all.

I tried five stationers, four closed, the only one open didn’t have ant photo paper but walking back to the garage we passed the phone shop, they had some although it was expensive but now I’ve managed to carry on with my photo journals I’ve been making. I've actually made five pages in the last three days!

Thursday afternoon I had so much fun, I joined a zoom chat with I think fourteen ladies altogether from Splitcoaststampers, Sharon (Foxystamper) joined too, one lady from Australia, one from Canada and the others from various parts of the USA, all on different time zones, some even got up at 6am so we call all meet up, there was a lot of chatter but it was fun meeting all the ladies at last. We were supposed to be crafting! Some of the ladies did manage to combine chatting with crafting and one lady made several dolls from Handkerchiefs, they are so pretty, she intends to give them away, she wanted to visit the care home but obviously isn’t allowed for the moment.

Steve made us a lovely Pork Pie salad as I was busy chatting up in my craft room so we had a late dinner, it was delicious!

Since then I’ve chatter with one friend in Australia, we did get some crafting done and it was good to share ideas.

We now go to the Paseo every day to walk, usually we are there by 8.30am before it gets busy, today they are opening the beaches with restrictions, mmmmm that’s going to be interesting we are supposedly only allowed in our own region for now but shopping centres and larger shops can open. I pleased that they are still strict about shopping, face masks must be worn, hand sanitizer and gloves given out, they even have a guard on the door at one supermarket, makes me feel safer but they seem to let more people in so it’s a case of dodging the shoppers!

This mug has a photo of Woolwich Barracks on it, Steve did his army training there and a friend who's son lives near there bought it for Steve many years ago, it's never used of course but it's a memento of his time in the Army.

Hope you are all keeping safe, We are having the skimmers fixed on the pool, a massive hole has been dug at the end of the pool so the whole garden is a mess but at least they have found the problem, a pipe had collapsed and folded up so nothing could go through it, dred to think what the bill will be but it had to be done, looking forward to them finishing so we can go walking again but he hasn't even turned up yet at 9.10am and was supposed to arrive at 8am, pretty annoying!!

Happy T Day

Jan x

T is for More Tin painting

Hello ladies of the T gang, another week has past, a little more interesting now we are walking although we only go around the block so not too exciting but this morning was Steve's Blood appointment to check his levels, we walked over to the doctors, I had to wait outside, they took his temperature, good, his levels were perfect and he managed to get the doctor to sign my e prescription so I can get some as it ran out while we were in the UK, we would usually stop to have breakfast at a restaurant across the road from our house, it was open but it's far too early to risk it for us I'm afraid much as I would love a Cafe con leche (similar to a latte)

We will do the same at 1pm to collect his new schedule for the blood thinners, made a change from walking around the block but tomorrow is our first outing off our urbanizacion. I have a list of things we need while we are down in the Port while we are waiting for the car.

Saturday morning Steve spotted this butterfly on a gate as we were walking around, I've never seen on like it as it had four wings, I thought it was two, mating but no it was just one.

I also spent most of Saturday painting the other two tins, I really enjoyed myself, I was covered in stains and ink by the end but it was fun. The first one I had already painted the top but I finished the sides. On all the sides I used the left over parts from the TH die cut, I glued them all around the edges, painted them and then used a spray before wiping over with treasure silver wax.

This one has Christmas paper on it, not thrilling but I thought I would use it rather than something I would use later, I also glued the red and white paper around the edge but then decided to use the zigzag ribbon, I've had it for years but the gold isn't a good colour so I thought that could be used too. More stash used!

The last one I glued die cuts on the top, TH Scrollwork, I used the pieces from the centres to stick around the sides again, painted it all white and then dropped some brushos on to the wet paint, moved it around with a paint brush and then dropped some beads and micra flakes for texture the rubbed it all over with distress silver paint and then silver wax.

We also had Fresh Mackerel for dinner with Salad, delicious, Steve does make a great salad with avocado, I had to google the spelling as I think of it as aquacate, the Spanish spelling. The funny shaped piece near my potatoes is the Roe from the fish, Steve gave me that bit to try, not a bad taste but I don't like the texture of it.

These earthenware bottles have Snaps in them, we met a German lady when we were living in our caravan twenty years ago, her husband bought them over and gave them to Steve, they've been in cupboard all those years! I always forget when the boys come over to get them out for them to try. Steve used to love a glass of snaps with a beer when we lived in Germany but he doesn't drink alcohol any more due to all the meds he takes. So does anyone know if it goes off, I wouldn't like to poison our sons, they have never been opened!

Well see you all next week, hopefully, we are off to back to the Salud, take care ladies and Happy T Day

Jan x

Friday smiles

Friday again and the end of our eighth week of lockdown, I hope you are all still well and coping, I’ve made enough birthday and Christmas cards to last about three years I think! We are only allowed out to walk in our own area so we are just walking around our Poligono, five times is almost two miles, I managed 9946 steps yesterday, after our walk I went shopping so my steps were higher than normal, it's all that backtracking I have to do to find things I haven't bought for a long time!!

The nearest houses from our road.

The roundabout or Glorietta as they call them here at the end of our road, the residents have planted all the trees and flowers on it.

the good news is from Monday we can now travel in the car together, not sure why we couldn’t before seeing as we live together!

We have the car booked in for it's first service, by appointment only so we can walk down to the beach and finally do some shopping at the English shop, it's amazing, it only sells Tesco brand although it's not called Tesco's. I'm hoping they may have flour and Domestos, the Spanish bleach just isn't the same! I've also run out of photo paper for my travel journal so I'm hoping the stationers will be open.

Since Our neighbour found us some cola blanca,( grout), Steve has dug out all the tiles that had lifted with all the rain cleared out the old cement and I’ve re laid them, it’s looking so much better now.

A couple of funnies that our DIL sent me, There are some great jokes going around to cheer us all up.

I’m not saying that our son is worn out keeping our four year old GS amused but he sent this photo, the title was day 874 of lockdown, that was on week five, LOL

I managed to get some Spanish flour last week and was looking for a recipe to use some bananas that were getting too ripe, I spotted a recipe for old fashioned Butterscotch Pie, I though I would make it and slice the bananas on the top. It turned out great and I cut us both a slice, after we had eaten it I realised I didn’t put the sliced bananas on the top. It really is absolutely delicious but a little goes a long way!

I guess that's all I have to report for this week, not a lot going on but hopefully next week I will have some photos of the beach!! Can't wait. Stay safe everyone, until next time!

Jan x

T is for Free at Last

Hello ladies, I hope you are all safe and keeping well, thank you for all for your visits last week, it is much appreciated.

we are free at last to walk, only in our small area but at last we can leave the garden, we have been walking since Saturday, we walk five laps that is just under two miles.

A couple of photos showing parts of our walk. I don’t think some of you are familiar with traffic islands, I’ve ever seen one in CA, over here all have different things on them, handy when directing anyone, some have boats, sails, one has a tractor!!! Ours on the Urbanización only have palm trees and cacti normally.

Those are the nearest houses from our poligono.

We are surrounded by the mountains, I love to see them.

An outside view of our villa, my craft room is the room at the top with the solar water panels, notice the giant satellite dish, that’s the only way we can get English TV.

The pool is now warm enough to swim in, Steve took my photo to prove to the family that I had actually been in. I’ve been starting with twenty lengths, hopefully with walking and swimming I might loose some weight from sitting around so much.

It doesn't help being naughty and having Bacon, mushroom and tomatoe cobs for breakfast, they were delicious though!

Our Grandson made his scones and they look delicious.

A card I made from a stamped image I found while I was tidying, I just lightly coloured it and added it to a card, I didn’t want to use to many colours to clash with the BG, also colouring is not my strong point! it’s also my T related photo for today.

Apart from that I haven't much to report, not much happening really, might be exciting next Wednesday as our car has to be taken for it's first service, the garage emailed to say we can book it in so we will drop it off and walk around the beach area, it will be interesting to see what is going on outside of our urbanizacion .

Hope you have all had a more interesting week, stay safe

Jan x

T is for Tins, Tins and more Tins

Hello ladies, Ive made it back , last Tuesday I went shopping and it was lunchtime before we had breakfast, I felt out of sorts all day for some reason so I just decided to chill out, I didn’t even feel like crafting either, I was fine the next day, I think it makes me stressed, crazy I know!

With all the rain we’ve had in Spain we had a small leak in the conservatory, where they screwed the polycarbonate roof in place, they seal it with a small circle of rubber, one of them has perished in the sun, and then the gas boiler wouldn’t fire up, it’s only a few months old and Steve thought it was the gas regulator, we only have bottled gas in Spain, we can’t go out to get one so he asked our friend and also our odd job man who lives around the corner if he had one, luckily he had a brand new one so he pushed the box under the gate and also a tube of silicone sealer, Steve managed to fix both the leak and get the boiler working. Hopefully now the weather has cleared we can go back to solar heating for the water

We did have some excitement, Steve saw that the local Feretteria, (hardware shop) was making home deliveries so he rang and they delivered that evening, a massive tub of white paint. We have painted the back wall on the outside of the villa, it's quite high in parts but Steve has an extending pole that the roller fits onto, some parts he could stand on his raised veg plot to get a bit of height too, who knew we could get so excited about painting.

I've been keeping busy crafting, as I think we all have, inspired by Elizabeth's recyling and Erika's beautiful tins that she covered I also started on mine.

This was a small Chocolate box, my first effort. I covered it with decoupage paper, I bought it years ago and it's been sitting in the drawer, waiting!

A shortbread biscuit tin, I got quite carried away with the lid, it started off with gold but I didn't like it so I carried on with other colours, it went on for two days, i still have to finish the sides!

This is the ribbon holder I made a few weeks ago, I still would like some silver rings to put around the holes where the ribbon comes through but unfortunately Steve didn't have any in his tool box so that's another job for "after Lockdown" seems we are saying that quite a lot!

This was our evening meal last week, Roast Belly Pork, Mashed potatoes with Swede, Rutabaga in Spanish and I know they call it that in the USA, cabbage and cauliflower, we usually have more variety of vegetables than that but we were using those up. Steve also made roasted onions with garlic gravy, it's a good job we couldn't go out after eating, the smell of garlic would have knocked everyone out, LOL Also home made apple sauce and the crackling, teeth braking but we love it!!

My drink related photo is a coffee jug I bought years ago when we were touring France, I’ve never used it but I think it’s quite nice.

The back and the front

Hope you all staying safe, it's rumored that on Saturday they may let us out for a walk here in Spain, oh the excitement, watch this space! Jan x