T is for Trying to keep cool

 Another week of really hot weather, we actually woke up on Friday with thick mist, we knew then it would end up hot and humid, fair wore us out even doing nothing, just when we were saying that the weather had cooled a little

We were just going into town, you can see it’s quite thick, on the way back the mist was coming from the sea and covering one area of the beach all up into the hills.

I noticed my succulent is flowering, quite pretty little pink ones right on the tips of the plant

This is the other end of the garden, the Arbor, we've had this for about twelve years but this year I drew the short straw and had to climb on the top to reseal it, we had some leaks so armed with a roller I went up, I was too scared to stand so I knelt using a roller on a long pole! The worst part was climbing down as the step ladder wasn’t high enough so my husband had to guide my feet down while I shuffled backwards on my stomach, not a pretty sight,  my sons told me off doing that at my age, ha,ha.

More plants in pots on the wall and the BBQ is down there for the moment.

The Eagle eyed among you may notice I haven't taken the plastic wraps off the seat cushions yet, I wanted them to keep clean until our family arrive, I know a bit crazy but we don't sit down there in the summer as it gets too hot.

The patio door is our bedroom, we had the window taken out years ago but what a struggle getting the Spanish builder to understand that I wanted semi circular steps but the doors had to be in the middle, I ended up drawing the outline as he kept putting them off to one side, I tiled them and put slate on the tops, I also put all the slate on the back wall in the seating area too.

The pool is my husbands pride and joy, he sweeps the sides and bottom every day, he never swims just cleans while I swim around him, ha, ha,

I think you’ve all seen my mosaic on the wall on the right, it runs the length of the pool and took me ten months to finish.

Exciting day tomorrow, we are finally going to Murcia to collect our new Residencia cards, an early start as our appointments are at 9.05 and 9.10 and it’s an hours drive, at least there’s a  cafe next door where we can have breakfast, in the evening we are being taken out for an Indian meal by our neighbours, he’s been given some vouchers so he asked if we’d like to join them, how could we refuse!

My drink related photo this week, plastic glasses, we’ve been all over trying to find some, these are the best we could find, still need to wash them and take the labels off them.

I will be missing for the next two weeks, our eldest son, DIL and youngest GS arrive next Tuesday for a week, it’s been two years since they’ve been able to come to Spain and a year since we’ve seen them all, luckily we have facetime but it’s not the same,  I have warned our GS that Nan is expecting lots of hugs and kisses, ha,ha. Until next time

Happy T Day

Jan x

Keep it Simple

 I'm joining  Neet at Hickydorums for the first time, I'm new to art journals although I've had my journal for a few years but sometimes I like to play when I'm in the mood.

I made this piece a few months ago but I thought it would hopefully fit for this challenge.

I started out with a sheet from a Marianne paper pad called La Musique, it has instruments and different objects including this transistor radio, took me back to my teenage years when I lay in bed with my tiny radio with a tiny ear plug listening to the charts on the pirate radio stations, Radio Luxembourg and Radio Caroline, I loved Tony Blackburn!! I would listen to the countdown hoping my favourite song would be number one!!

I used texture paste with my music stencil and generally went over the top playing with different textures I typed the sentiments before cutting them up.

Jan 

T is for Trying a new place

 Another hot week but at least after the storm the humidity has dropped. Now it’s just baking hot.

Wednesday we decided to drive to Cartagena, my husband wanted to buy a new drill but wanted a black and decker to match the tools he already has, he can use the same battery for any of them, now he has four matching batteries! Then I went to get a new swimming cozi for when we go to the beach, couldn’t find one without massive foam pads in the bra top so gave up on that, had a coffee and decided to head back for lunch.  We were shocked to see how quiet the shopping centre was, well apart from the cafe and supermarket.

Views coming over the mountain, unfortunately my husband took us the not so scenic mountain route so not so picturesque.

It's hairpin bends all the way and narrow, when we first moved here we used to come this way all the time to check on the villa, before the motorway was built.

We decided to try Leonardos del Mar restaurant on the small marina, as you can see beautiful views out to sea, two jet skis going by.

One side of the Terrace overlooking the small Marina.

Mixed salad, we had already started before I remembered to take the photograph, disappointing as it had three olives and a couple of capers,  Mostly lettuce and tomatoes with a few slices of onion. It was so windy  some of my lettuce leaves blew onto the floor!! My husband said it looked as if id missed my mouth.

Our drinks this week, I did like the fancy glass they gave my husband for his beer.

We waited for at least twenty minutes from them taking away our starter plates to getting the main course, even though there was just one other couple who arrived after we did and were already eating their main meal.

I had chicken in breadcrumbs with salad and fries, the chicken was lovely but as you can see not many fries and of the matchstick variety, the salad was lettuce and tomatoes and I lost some of that too.

My husband had pasta Mama Mia, very strange as it had a  fried cheese kind of bowl with the pasta in it, he enjoyed it but he wasn’t too keen on so much cheese, especially fried!

unfortunately he had already broken the bowl before I took the photo.

  

We sat waiting for the waiter after we’d finished our meal to take an order for coffee , after about fifteen minutes the waiter appeared, didn’t even ask if we’d enjoyed our meal so my husband asked for the bill instead, we decided we couldn’t be bothered for another long wait for coffee, needless to say we won’t go back, we didn’t give them a tip either after such dreadful service.

There's no way we could take out five year old GS there as he would get bored waiting to eat. I dread to think how long it takes when they are busy. The funny thing is that the couple who recommended the restaurant told us the next day that they had the same experience too, begs the question as to why they actually recommended it in the first place!!!

When we got back to the car it was boiling inside and the thermometer said 40c although it soon cooled to 37c when we were driving home.

So the saga of my fly screen, my husband measured the window and decided HE would cut it to size,  So we took it outside and he had measured it wrong, too short, he was very annoyed with himself as you can imagine, I didn’t laugh, honestly, I did want to after he blamed me the last time, luckily the mesh only cost us €2 so we bought some more! We are now on plan 5, it’s too difficult to fit the mesh into the rods we bought so my husband bought some plastic rods and made a frame outside the window, we can’t seal the bottom as the rain needs to be able to drain away off the windowsill

I had some exciting news on Sunday, Nancy Our lovely T Party friend chose me to be this weeks featured stamper on Splitcoaststampers, I’m so honoured, thank you once again Nancy and for all the kind comments you’ve left on my gallery, the ladies have been busy visiting my Gallery and choosing a card to make, they've made so many beautiful cards already, I don't feel worthy as the ladies are very talented.

 Until next week, keep safe Ladies.

Jan x

T is for thunder storm

 Since last week we had another small job to do, my husband said he would make me a fly screen for my craft room window, I've only had the craft room for eighteen years so maybe it could have waited for cooler days, my fault really as since we put the fly screen over the door it blocks out the breeze, I mentioned this and so he went out to buy the bits and pieces.

We started at 7.45am as it was slightly Misty and lovely and cool, so the first three sides were quick but doing the top part, again it was a concrete pillar with metal rebars, the drill actually stopped working but luckily my husband still had the old plug into the electric type, then the raw plugs were too small then the screws were too small so an hour later , in the sun we decided enough was enough, two hours we’d been up there, we still haven't put the mesh in as it's been too hot, maybe tomorrow, early.

Good news, our vaccine passports arrived by post, that’s ticked off the list, I was excited when I saw it was front the health authorities thinking it was my new medical card, oh well at least one of the three documents we are waiting for has arrived.

Reading Elizabeth’s blog and seeing the photo of her Poinsettia, well this is mine from last Christmas. It’s slowly going green, I’m assuming in the winter the flowers will appear again. I did keep in the the conservatory until it started to wilt in the heat,  then I took it outside in partial shade, didn’t like that either, now it’s in the shade and it’s growing again.

We have trees over here that have flowers that look like poinsettias, one village has them growing along the road and the trees look quite bare but have the big red flowers on them. I had a poinsettia a few years ago, planted it in the garden and it grew into a small tree until my husband decided it needed trimming, sadly it died, I was quite annoyed and banned him from touching my flowers after that

Walking around the Marina last week we saw this beautiful ship, it’s from Gdańsk in Poland, I'd love to know if it actually sailed from there, we’ve been told  you can pay to look around, a bit disappointing as we thought you could go on a trip, it has a pirate flag and thought our GS would enjoy it.

It's beautifully made and even has guns on the top deck at the front.

It' very hot and humid at the moment so we've had to start using the air con during the night, I haven't been spending much time up here in my craft room, half an hour and I'm melting!!

Yesterday afternoon we had rain, slowly the sky became darker and darker, suddenly we heard strange banging, it was massive hailstones, they were bouncing off the villa, we were sat outside and they were actually hitting us underneath the roof, it was quite nice until the lightening came, I had to go inside, scares me. This was 2pm believe it or not.

The bits are hailstones that have smashed up.

The thunder rumbled on for a couple of hours but after that everywhere was so dry you wouldn't believe it had rained.

Part of Our beach has washed away so it roped off for now and the main street in the Port was flooded, again, some had photos that looked as if they had snow on the ground.

Although I didn’t join the ATC  swop due to the slow postal service I have made one for the occasion.

 A crafting friend send me the vintage ads I used for the BG and I added brown glitter to look like hot chocolate, also my ticket to the tea party for this week.

Thanks you to all my lovely visitors last week, after seeing the awful floods in so many countries I hope you ladies are all safe and well.

Jan x

T is for

 Time to join Elizabeth and Bleubeard for another T Party, soon comes around, I sometimes find it hard to remember what I’ve been doing since the last weeks Party!  

It’s been slightly cooler weather, still hot but bearable,  we had a couple of small jobs to do but we’ve been up early to do them, my husbands main weekly job, sometimes twice a week is cleaning the pool, the wind brings dust that sinks to the bottom of the pool so it’s an ongoing task, 

I think I mentioned that we had a trip to buy a fly screen, the sort that has hanging strips, well my husband put up the hooks, it was hard going as the beam he had to drill has metal bars running through it, anyway he finished and we hung it up and we were both speechless, it was too short, of course I got the blame, my husband insists he told me 230cm and I wrote down 213cm.

 It wasn’t wasted as I now have it hanging outside my craft room door! we’ve been all over to find a longer length, eventually we went to  visanfer builders merchants who have some made to measure, chose the colour, clear with gold spirals, who doesn't like a bit of bling, paid a deposit then the girl rang to say they can’t make it, we went back to ask if any of the others on display could be made in that length, she rang to say yes but unfortunately only white, oh well, matches the door! At least when it arrives we just have to hang it up. Our next project is making a fly screen for he small window in my craft room, it’s all go being retired you know !!

So had another visit to the Chinese restaurant,  if we arrive at 1pm we are usually the only ones in there and it’s cool, we ordered the duck and chicken, again, this time my husband decided  to try the bananas and I had the apple fritters with honey., I think the heat was getting to the waitress, she tried to pour my wine into the glass without taking the cork out, made us all laugh, she pointed to her head and said it’s too hot!

Luckily the Apple fritters in Honey were a smaller portion than the bananas, thankfully!

Tomorrow lunchtime we are planning to try a restaurant we haven't been to before, it's been recommended to us by some friends.

This is our BBQ area although it’s now our seating area, it’s lovely and cool now we’ve had the roof put on and having a gap around the top means we get a lovely breeze, most days, the flowers are all artificial, it takes too much water in the heat to keep them alive so this year we bought more pots and flowers, I bought the trailing plants to hide the drain pipe so I’m quite pleased with it now

I tiled the walls, with help from my husband, he was the labourer for that job, the brick pillars were just concrete so we covered them with handmade bricks.

I made a bacon, tomato and cheese quiche for dinner, it lasted two days with salad, I made it with creme fraise instead of cream, it makes the filling really creamy, my husband also made the potato salad with it instead of Mayo, I don’t like Mayo so I really enjoyed it. I usually put out the meal because, as you can see, this is my husbands idea of a small portion,  he then complains when I can't finish my meal!!!

My drink this week, I haven't had Lemon Barley water for years, I spotted it in the  local English supermarket, I do get tired of drinking water so it's been a refreshing change.

Nothing too exciting to do in this heat, it's getting harder and harder to park at the beach now the holidaymakers are here and that's at 8.30am when we arrive to walk, apparently it's hard to see the sand during the afternoon as there's so many people on the beach.

Hope you are all keeping safe and enjoying the summer, take care.

Jan x

T is for Toooo Hot

 This last week has been soooo hot, Tuesday morning we  had our appointment in Murcia to have our paperwork checked and fingerprints done, firstly we were miles early, the motorway was manic but we parked and had a coffee sat in the shade, parking was €1.50 for the day but some people wouldn’t pay so left their cars on the road, both sides, so we had entertainment when the police arrived and put parking tickets on all the cars, one man spent ages arguing with the police , foolish man,

We went inside and after going through the scanners the joy of a massive room with aircon,  all went without a hitch, driving home the car showed 37c,it was 39c but dropped slightly, 

as soon as we got home we put our documents away and went straight in the pool, the water was 31c, 

Wednesday we went to Cartagena to buy some solar lights for the BBQ patio but had to take our receipt to Jose so he can get our appointment next month to collect our TIE cards.

 It was quite funny as we decided to have breakfast in our town before driving to Cartagena, we went to a cafe we’ve never been to before, first we bumped into our friend Pedro, we haven’t seen him for over a  year, then when the waitress came with the coffees and tomatoes on toast we asked for pepper, she said yes I Remember, we were puzzled,  she then said she knows us from the cafe on the marina, honestly everywhere we go we bump into waiters who we know from different restaurants, the man from the BP Garage, we have been here a long time though!!

A funny story, years ago my husband had to show photo ID to the young lady to pay by credit card for his diesel,  he showed her his photo and said look Tom Cruise, so yesterday he filled the car and he went in to pay, she was training a new girl, she said here's Tom Cruise, my husband, always the joker lowered his mask slightly and said, no George Clooney, he said they both fell about laughing, I wonder why!!!

We always know when it’s officially summer, the floating slides

The grannies seats in the sea as we call them, I know some of the ladies are most likely my age or possibly younger but not in my mind! I really can’t think of myself of that age, well until I try to get up off my knees or bend down, LOL

Someone had a lucky escape, this boat was rescued two miles out from Cartagena, we thought it had hit the rocks near our beach, apparently the helicopters etc were called and everyone was rescued but they towed the boat here to have it repaired in our Marina, it’s now in there being repaired, that will cost a pretty penny I'm sure, our sons friend had a boat, he used to say BOAT stands for Break out another thousand!!!

My ticket to the T party this week, coffee, beer and wine, delicious fried bananas in honey, we had a Chinese meal last Friday, we had sweet and sour chicken, again, with  duck in orange sauce, forgot to take a photo but I was very naughty and had this for my afters, my husband was a good boy and only had coffee, it was delicious, they also do apple too, might have to try that next time!

Yesterday we had a heatwave, 40C, it was so hot we had to go inside at 3pm to escape the heat, even with swimming it was horrendous with the humidity, at 10pm it was still in the 30's, we had the aircon going all night but I woke up this morning wrapped up in the sheet! Apparently it's going to be 10c lower today so fingers crossed.

Have a Happy T Day ladies, thank you so much to everyone who paid me a visit last week and the kind comments, they were much appreciated. Take care and keep safe.

Jan x

T is for Tuesday, already!

 Is it really Tuesday already, the week really flies by,  it’s been quite relaxed this week, an early morning walk, breakfast and shopping or collectling meds, nothing exciting really.

I have been trying to craft but since I was ill I can’t seem to get my mojo back, I’ve had the odd hour here and there. I join the challenges on Splitcoaststampers but I’m so far behind, I have about three different ones on the go, I start off well and then my idea floats away.

One of the challenges was anything faux , I’m made faux metal,  this is the front of one of the photo journals, I’m making one for both sons, I’m quite pleased with it as I didn’t want anything flowery.

 I rummaged through my stash looking for textured pieces to stick on it before covering with silver gaffer tape as we call it, I think it’s really called insulation tape. I had to smile as I ask my husband if he had any, he never batted an eye lid or even asked me what I needed it for, he just said he would look in his tool room, he didn't  have any so he went out to buy some for me, what a star he is.

Of course since I took the photo I've added some Indigo Gilding Wax on some parts to darken it! This is the point when I usually ruin things just going one step to far, luckily this time it's OK

I’ve been making strawberry jam and lemon curd to use the fruit, I have to pick the strawberries twice a day as they ripen so fast, the tomatoes are now beginning to ripen too. We asked Alvarro who owns the cafe where we eat breakfast if he would like a bag of lemons, he said yes please so at least we can give some more away as the fridge is full!

My drink, a coffee on the beach.

First time we had been to this cafe, very slow service so wouldn't want to go when they are busy

As you can it's right on the beach

This is the view to the right of the cafe, how lovely to have a holiday home right on the beach although they have been demolishing some further along the road that sit on the beach so perhaps not!!

Well must dash as we are off to Murcia to have our finger prints taken for our new TIE card, have a Happy T Day and keep safe.

Jan x