T is for

 Happy T Day once again, thank you for your visits last week and kind comments, they are much appreciated.

Still chilling in the shade,  funny in the summer we look forward to cooler weather and in the winter we look forward to Spring, when I was complaining last night about the heat my DH said he will remind me of that when I complain about having to clean the log fire every morning!

I’ve been reading a couple of books my DIL bought me for Christmas, one I really enjoyed, one of those books you can't put down, The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah, made me cry at the end , the second one The Red Lotus I’m struggling with, it’s not my kind of book but it is so heavy going I’m still debating if I should abandon it, something I don’t like to do.

Another meal we had at a Restaurant with our family, Restaurante Piccolo, very near to home, I only took photos of the starters, it was so busy that we had quite a wait even for the starters, so long that our GS had eaten most of the bread basket by the time his food arrived!

They offer a  three course Menu including a drink for €20! They always have different dishes on the menu and always plenty to choose from.

 Our son and DH had the Chilli Prawns,I’ve had this starter before and they are delicious,

My starter, called Brie surprise,it was so tasty, Brie wrapped in filo pastry,with honey and walnuts

I made this card for our sons Birthday, I’ve had these Embossing Folders for years and never used them but I had the idea to use the King and Jack as our son jokingly calls himself King Ding A Ling and our GSs name is Jack, he was really pleased when I gave it to him, always gets harder coming up with ideas for their cards after all these years.

I took this photo on the Marina a couple of weeks ago, everyone feeds the fish and a few weeks ago when our family were over there were only massive fish in there, now they are all the tiny fish.

My ticket to the T Party for this week, this is Mariano’s Restaurante, it’s just across the footbridge from our villa , we have our breakfast here quite often, always tostada con Tomate, I'm using the bottles of drinks on the bar as my drink for this week, I hope that's allowed!!

Have a lovely week and hope you are enjoying some cooler weather, apparently it's going to be 100F today and it's humid already!!

Jan x

T is for Time to Chill

 Happy T Day Ladies, I've been AWOL for a few weeks as we had our family over from England and then we've been slowly getting the villa back to normal, takes some time in the heat as we only do one job per day, we were getting up at 7am to clean before the sun came out!!

We had a lovely visit and our 7 year old Grandson kept us on our toes, he decided we all had to play volley ball in the pool, he of course made the rules up as we went along, always in his favour of course!! it was fun but tiring, luckily with the heat he was only allowed in the pool for 15 minutes at a time during the day, half an hour or so  in the shade before going back in, in between he tried again to teach me Roblox, at least he said I'm much better than his Baba, who apparently can't go in a straight line LOL

This is the other Marina, much smaller but it’s where the Restaurante Eduardo's is, the beach looks empty but it was really busy further along.

The restaurant where we took our son to for his Birthday, 51!!!! They had never been there before so it was a lovely surprise although we had a ten minute walk as it's so busy we couldn't find anywhere to park.

Our starter was a salad, it had feta cheese, walnuts, pine nuts etc, it was delicious, we shared it with our Grandson who loves salads, we’d already started before I remembered to take a photo

Our son had Carpaccio, looked lovely but I don't like raw meat. 

Our GS had Carbanara, I forgot to take any more photos unfortunately, our Son, DIL and DH had pasta dishes, I had chicken Escalope I think it was called.

 I always think of it as Schnitzel, I loved them when we lived in Germany, especially with Zigeuner Sauce, I think translates as Gypsy Sauce.

This is my ticket to the T party, we’ve had so many Strawberries, I’ve made Jam and we’ve had smoothies but I have bags of them frozen so I decided to make Strawberry Gin, this is my first batch , I’ve tried a taster and it’s lovely with tonic, I will be taking some to England for our son and DIL to try, it also looks quite nice too.

I hope to join you all at some point , it’s still baking hot but not quite so humidbut we are chilling out in the garden in the shade and taking the occassional dip in the pool, we are keeping away from the seafront as it’s packed with holidaymakers! How Dare they, LOL

Take Care Dear Friends.

Jan x

T is for Tenth Anniversary

 Happy Tenth T Day Anniversary to Elizabeth and Bluebeard,  a big thanks to Elizabeth for keeping the T Party going for ten years,  it’s been o lovely to meet up with so many friends each week.

A cake to celebrate the Anniversary and also my number ten.

My swap partner was Chris, (Pearshapedchris), who sent me a lovely package of goodies.

My package from Chris. Thank you so much for everything, the Handmade card is beautiful and the Butterfly note card.

My ATC from Chris,  a lovely blue BG with the pretty cup and saucer, I love the pretty lace across the bottom,

These are the two postcards Chris sent, the top one of the John Rylands Library at The University of Manchester.

Beautiful Napkins especially as they are from the recent Coronation of King Charles, I'm not sure I will be able to bring myself to use them!

The Envelope from Chris, the stamp was a lovely one of the Late Queen Elizabeth.

I was also lucky enough to have a beautiful ATC from my friend Sharon, (Foxystamper), It feels as if it's been made from a Napkin? Sharon and I are old friends from Splitcoaststampers.

It’s beautiful with the pretty bird, it also came in a pretty envelope.

This was all the lovely goodies Sharon sent to me, two pieces of embossed card and die cuts, pretty bird cages with birds and lovely butterflies.

My envelope from Sharon, the stamp is a pretty pink flower but I can’t say what it is.

This my ATC for all the ladies of the T gang to wish you a Happy Tenth Anniversary

Cheers Ladies, Hope you all have a Happy T Day

Jan x

T is for Trying To Keep Cool

 Not much to going on here at the moment with the excessive heat, we’re getting ready for our eldest son, DIL and youngest GSs visit in ten days time, last Wednesday our family from San Francisco left after their two week visit, it was a sad day made worst by having to be up at 6am to get to the airport.

Our son was mid flight from San Francisco and DIL and GSs at the airport in Berlin when the airlines cancelled their return flights from Spain to the Uk so our poor DIL spent the afternoon at the airport trying to find another flight, ended up flying into Birmingham, miles from London, in the end they hired a car with driver to collect them from Birmingham to drive them to Oxford where our DIL was staying with her sister and then taking our son on to London for his flight home the following Day, Hopefully they will get a refund on their original flight as it cost an extra £900 for the flights and £300 for the car! Quite disgusting that they are allowed to just cancel leaving people stranded.

Our GS pointed out the sky as we were driving to the beach, dark rays across the sky.

We had a lovely two weeks with them, it was exhausting as our ten year old GS loves the pool and so I had hours of fun with him, also playing Uno, we had a championship every evening before bed, it was fun but they are all very competitive so you had to have your wits about you at all times. Also some cheating going on too!

Our ten year old GS wanted to play in my craft room, he made this card for his Mum, he embossed the BG and he wiped pink distress inks over the raised pattern before adding the flowers, bling and the MOM across the front.

I think he did a great job for his first time!

it's 9.30am and already hot and humid, we have already had our walk and breakfast,  today and Wednesday we have heat warnings as they say it may get up to 46C, never had more than 40C here before and only once I think, fingers crossed it doesn't get that hot!

My ticket to the T party for this week; I sent this photo to our son to show that we are preparing for his visit, we always take a couple of beers to the airport, wine for DIL and cold drink for GS, to celebrate the start of their holiday, usually sandwiches too just incase they are hungry, it keeps GS occupied as it's a 90 minute journey from the airport, he told me over the weekend that he is travelling in his swim shorts so he can jump out of the car and jump straight into the pool, I had visions of him sitting on the plane with his swimming goggles on too. LOL

Hope all the ladies of the T gang are happy and well, that's me for this week, off to the pool for a swim, the water is 31c !  Take Care Ladies

Jan X

T is for Two Days

 Happy T Day, lovely to join Elizabeth and Bleubeard at the T party again this week, we’ve been busy preparing for the invasion, stocking the freezer up with ice creams, filling the wine fridge, also lots of soft drinks and water to keep everyone hydrated. I have another list for tomorrow, another supermarket dash for the rest of my extensive list, we always end up eating up what's left in the fridge and freezer after they leave although we have the youngest GS ten days after they leave so ice creams will definately not be wasted.

I thought you might like to see a photo of our Grand doggies although our GS tells me they are our GreatGrand doggies, Evie and Freya, they were from the same litter, very boisterous but very friendly. I can’t tell them apart but apparently one has some darker colouring!

I really enjoying going out for walks with them both while we were over earlier in the year.

Evie is quite lazy and when we were by the old quarry she would wait for Freya to get the stick from the water and then take it off her, she obviously didnt want to get wet!

My husband found this photo, a replica of the Phoenician boat that was found in the harbour in the Puerto de Mazarron, its made of steel and sits on the traffic island in the Puerto, it’s had red lights put around it to celebrate Blood Donation Day, looks quite stunning.

We had lunch out last Thursday, we had a dental appointment booked for yesterday but they rang to see if we’d like to go earlier so we thought yes let’s get it over with, not my favourite place! I thought I might need a tooth out , we didn’t know if they would do it there and then, turns out the pain is that the bones in my gums, they are weak so inflame my gums, apparently it will get worse, oh joy, anyway after half an hour of a painful clean and Polish off for lunch, although DH did have a filling on Friday, 

We met an English lady while we were waiting for the dentist, she has a holiday home over here,  she lives only half an drive from our son in England, what a coincidence! Anyway she asked if we could meet for a coffee some time but we found that we aren't in Spain at the same time until next January. She told me she owned a shop, I asked hopefully if it was a craft shop by any chance as I know there is one in Faversham, she has an arts and craft type shop where she sells her own jewellry, disaapointing LOL.

We decided to go to Blanca's restaurant, they had a large party arriving so we had to sit inside, as usual it was delicious.

A salad which I forgot to take a photo of and this lovely bread with aioli, garlic Mayo, homemade and strong! If one of you eats it you really both have to.

Gazpacho, obviously homemade as it was slightly thicker than shop bought, so delicious, with croutons and a drizzle of Olive Oil. Very refreshing on a hot day.

My DH had Codillo, pork elbow, that was solid meat, it fell off the bone, two potatoes cooked the the juices.

My Pork in Pepper Sauce, the pork was so tender,I didn’t eat those peppers in case they were hot ones.

We didn’t have a Postre just coffee as we were full to the brim.

My ticket to the T Party this week.

My DIL sent this photo, don’t you love the barman’s face, LOL, 

It’s our DILs cousins wedding , she married a famous footballer, well famous in Poland !they hired the whole hotel by a lake for the wedding and all the guests stayed overnight with a BBQ before they left.

I must say the Polish people like a drink, my husband asked for a non alcoholic beer when we went over and they didn’t have any but offered one stronger than you’d normally drink, they also make their own fruit vodkas, we haven’t tried any but apparently it’s very strong.

My final photo, the cakes, I think the little boy looks like our GSs cousin, just wish I could see his face! 

DIL is over there with her sister and the two boys, our son couldn’t get the time off work unfortunately. 

Only two days to go before our family arrive, Thursday evening,  they should have been arriving at 4.30pm but their flight was cancelled so now they arrive at 9pm, luckily they are arriving at Murcia airport, only 40 minutes from home, our GS told us he will be straight into the pool when he gets out of the car, they are in Berlin at the moment, this morning  they are catching a train to Prague before flying to London to meet up with their Dad so at least they will be over their jet lag, hopefully!

Happy T Day Ladies, see you all in a few weeks time

Jan x

T is For New Place fr Breakfast

 Happy to say summer has finally arrived, weather sunny and warm , we had our first swim on Saturday, quite cool getting in at first but lovely once I started swimming. My DH doesn't swim he just gets in the water and goes round the edges cleaning and skimming the top, I swim around him LOL

Yesterday as usual we had our walk around Bolnuevo, this is a beach bar they erect every summer, they have a few in the Puerto too.

This is Las Redes, the same name as the one I think I mentioned that had to close down on the sea front.

Not the same staff so we think it's been taken over, shame as the other staff were really friendly, the girl here couldn't smile if her life depended on it!

The small outside terrace, just across the other side of the road they have a large dining area.

The inside of the restaurant, through the window, there's a few tables to the left behind the window too, I like the nets and beach theme they've used.

You can just see the Jamon with a cloth over it on a small table, you can have some thinly sliced on the tomatoes but I prefer it with melon.

Our breakfast, Tostado Con Tomate, We like pepper with our tomatoes but there was more pepper in the little packet than normal!! I do love the fancy plates they use.

The bread is lovely, I think they bake it themselves as it always tastes as if fresh from the oven.

Lovely coffee and my ticket to the T Party for this week.

Our circular walk is just over two miles and ends just down the road from the restaurant.

The wet weather we’ve had has bought out the ants, they have been coming out of the grout between the tiles in the conservatory, I hate them and get quite obsessed with them so I’ve been spraying the grout , I’ve found dead ones the next morning, we’ve had a few small flying ants too but not as bad as other years, it’s my ongoing battle!

Later this week we will have to dig out the grout and see what's happening under there.

I made this card to honour a friend on 

Splitcoast Stampers, she was chosen as Stamper of the week, we had to choose a card from her gallery to make, I tried to copy the Moroccan tile effect, this was the only paper I had that looked anything like a tile, everything was from my stash, the accordion flower die I’ve had for years, it’s hardly been used, like many things in my craft room!

Finally managed to wash the Duvet so I can store it for the summer, we only use the thin summer weight Duvet so luckily it fits into my washing machine, we actually had to put the fan on in the bedroom last night as it's very humid with the rain and now the heat drying everything.

We are also preparing for our family arriving next week from San Francisco, they are in Cuba at the moment, pictured in a Pink Cadillac, haha, they are flying to New York and then Berlin before arriving here so I'm guessing they will be quite happy to chill out by the pool for two weeks!

Happy T Day Ladies

Jan x

T is for Tuesday

 Thank you all for your visit last week, kind comments and Anniversary wishes.

I'm sure most of you will recognise this man, the famous Robin Hood, this statue stands outside  Nottingham Castle, our son recently flew from San Francisco to England for a wedding and decided to do all the touristy things as he hasn't been back for about ten years.

As a child I hated having to visit Nottingham Castle when we had visitors, but loved going to Sherwood Forest, in those days you could go inside the trunk of the Major Oak, supposedly the tree that Robin Hood lived in. The last time we went it was roped off as the roots are being damaged.

One of my favourite programmes as a girl was The Adventures of Robin Hood, with Richard Greene, I've never really enjoyed the films made about Robin Hood Since as in my mind Robin Hood is Richard Greene, although I think Erol Flynn played him too and many others.

He also sent this coaster, it's an old saying from Nottingham, it means  "Hello my Dear", or words to that effect,  haha, duck was used by the older generation when I was a girl although I doubt anyone else says it nowadays only my husband as a joke to our neighbour who is also from Nottingham!

We had a lovely meal on the Paseo last Thursday but after taking this picture I totally forgot to take any of the food. We had homemade chicken croquettes, I had Pork Medallions, Steve had BBQ ribs, all delicious.

This photo looks out towards one side of the Marina, the boats are on the other side, the tall building is a restaurant with amazing views. There are quite a few restaurants over there, Italian, Moroccan, German and an ice cream parlour.

My drink this week is a bottle of Gin, Nordes, we bought this on the boat coming home  in March, it’s actually made in Spain, I think I should have googled it before buying it as it says it has a flowery taste with herbs and spices, I liked the bottle, LOL  but it was far more expensive than I would pay for Gin, it's actually on offer in our local supermarket for less than we paid on the boat which is supposedly duty free!! I’m saving it until our eldest comes over as he likes the occasional G&T in the summer.

I've also made some Kumquat Gin, I think it tastes good but I will see if our DIL likes it, our son bought some Pink Gin, Strawberry flavoured, at Christmas it was delicious so I'm experimenting!!!

Our weather has improved but we were still getting thunder during the late afternoon and evening, some rain but it quickly dries, Steve has been trying to empty the water butt as it is sludgy at the bottom but every time he uses the last drop it's rained again! It's played havoc with the pool as it's been bringing down red sahara sand, always makes a mess and takes quite a bit of cleaning, with our family arriving in a couple of weeks it needs to be sparkling clean!

 Take Care and Happy T Day Ladies

Jan x