MEMOS, MAIL,ME

As I sit looking out at the building site which is my garden.....

....I am hoping that tomorrow will see a tiler and a plumber turn up to start their parts of the job at hand...today is of course a holiday (!) which means all has come to a standstill; though to be honest not a lot was achieved LAST week, apart from Craig and I going out and buying everything we needed for the ensuite. People came and went to look at what THEIR part of the job entailed, but they then disappeared off to other (obviously more-important-than-mine) jobs!!!!

Yes, the Cavalry (in the shape of Craig) rode-well flew- in for all of three days, in which time we made decisions, loaded the car with tiles, paint and other assorted necessities, borrowed a van to go back and collect the shower screen, vanity unit and shower tray...in between which said Cavalry Officer tried to come up with a working plan the builders might actually be able to..well, work to!!!!

Whilst waiting for said people to come and go and whilst my poor husband manned the phone and met with contractors, I snuck in  a bit of scrapping (just to keep my sanity you understand!)
 .....

Once left to my own devices again I went off for a bit of my favourite kind of retail therapy:

....then spent a couple of hours in the sunshine planting and pruning...so good for the soul!!

Saturday night saw a Mexican themed night in the village, so a few of us popped down to show our support...

Unfortunately the weather hadn't been great for the previous few days and the rain had only stopped that lunchtime ( and yes, we even needed jackets!), so it wasn't very well attended...the children enjoyed the donkey rides though!

As for mail....the highlight of the week was the delivery of this:

....now all I need is a Vanity Unit in an ensuite in a bedroom into which I can unpack it!!!!!!

Waving to SIAN and the Monday Wavers...hoping the sun is shining for you this Bank Holiday Monday, as it is here!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

SNAP!

 It's a beautifully sunny and warm Wednesday morning here......I know that's not the case everywhere, and believe me I know how blessed I am to live here!

Whilst hanging out the washing, I remembered about HELENA'S weekly photographic meme and, having a quick look around the garden, realised how beautiful and plentiful the freesias are.

What amazes me about these is that (as you can see from the top two photographs) they seed themselves in between gravel and rocks and multiply every year....I've said it before- but ain't Mother Nature wonderful!

Hope there are pretty things to look at in your own gardens my friends

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

WAVING ON MONDAY......

....NOT Tuesday, but actually on Monday!

It's been a couple of weeks since I joined SIAN and her merry band of 'wavers'.....life has been busy here in 'the slow lane'....Christmas Bazaars, Carol Concerts, shopping for the local  Food Bank and - of course- decorating not only my own house but the Drop-In Centre are a few of the things which have been going on.....not to mention my Ornament Exchange last week. 

Me on Monday?

Labelling these packages for the FOURTH time!....they have been the bane of my life for two weeks (at least!) now.....Craig and I packaged them up when he was home a couple of weeks ago....FEDEX have been supposed to be picking them up, but every time the very patient, non-English speaking lady turns up the labels I have printed off have been wrong!! Another set has been printed and the pick-up was supposed to have been today....guess what?!- it didn't happen...hey ho!!

Whilst waiting for the pick-up I managed to spend a little time in the garden....and look what I found:

who would believe it?!...even here!

Some other pretty sights in my garden:

the Bizzy Lizzie is still flowering...it's struggling a bit now but valiantly still producing flowers even after our long, hot summer

and of course my trusty nasturtiums, which just self seed and spread everywhere if I'm not careful!

Hoping your week-before-the-week -of Christmas holds good things and not TOO much stress!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

PS....I'm hoping to get around to some blog reading this week...looking forward to catching up with you all!

PAIRS

Playing along with HELENA's weekly photographic meme, PAIRS...this week I've been in the garden:

IN THE SHADE

IN THE SUN

The same plant (an Alstromeria..one of my favourite plants) 

Why not pop over to HELENA'S BLOG to check out what other PAIRS have been discovered this week?

Thanks for dropping by!

take care of you

Alison xx

Posted with Blogsy

ZIZO (late, but what's new!!!)

ZIZO is the brainchild of my friend HELENA.....pop over to her BLOG to see what other pics have been taken this week!

ZOOMING OUT

My first shot at growing sweet peas here...lots of green!

ZOOMING IN

First flowers!!

Hoping things are blooming in your garden!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

Posted with Blogsy

TIME FOR TEA

Joining in with ABI's monthly meme..to enjoy more virtual tea and a chat pop over HERE

Do come in..you've picked a beautiful afternoon to stop by...can I offer you tea, coffee or something a little stronger after travelling all this way?..I have a very nice bottle of Rosado open!

You must excuse the mess..I haven't quite got the place back to it's usual state after having had Kirsty and Imane here and then setting off for Scotland almost immediately.

Yes, dad WAS well thank you....he was exhausted by the end of the day, but happy! He really enjoys being surrounded by family and he was well surrounded on Sunday!

I am always happy to get home...even after such a short trip, and even though it's lovely to catch up with everyone.....and all the way home this time all I could think about was if the CHERRIES had survived!!

 I was SO pleased to get here and see this:

  

.....though on closer examination:

...the little blighters have found a way in to some of them!

However I am able to offer you;

...a bowl of cherries...the best crop so far..and quite delicious!

I don't mean to sound rude, but I am actually going out tonight, or it would be lovely to have you stay longer...but do bring me up to date with your own news before you leave.

Where am I going...oh sorry...didn't I say? We were approached a few weeks ago by some of the members of the AMAS DE CASA from our village (basically the Spanish equivalent of the WI) who were interested in having a language INTERCAMBIO once a week. The result is that six Spanish ladies and six British ladies get together for an hour (or so!)and speak to each other for half an hour in English and half an hour in Spanish....under the auspices of one of our JVH members who speaks fluent Spanish! 

It's been lovely to see you again...hopefully we'll catch up again soon!

Thanks for stopping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

ZOOM IN, ZOOM OUT

It's that time of year when I spend a lot of time in the garden...dead-heading, tying plants to posts , moving plants etc..

As I was  out there, I suddenly noticed that the little green bullets which were the start of the cherries only a week or ten days ago, had suddenly begun to ripen...I had to act fast!...last year the birds beat me to it and all I ended up with was a tree full of cherry stones, even though I had tied long strips of plastic to the branches.

This year's solution is tin foil!

ZOOMING OUT

The foils me of when I am having my hair coloured!

ZOOMING IN

What I'm trying to protect!

To see more ZIZOs, pop over HERE, where HELENA will be more than happy to have you visit!

I am off to celebrate dad's eightieth birthday this weekend, so Boo is being left with one of my friends who is coming to dog-sit...I am trying to keep my case hidden until the last minute, as she's already upset that Kirsty and Imane left yesterday!

I do hope you all have a lovely weekend.

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx 

ZOOM IN, ZOOM OUT

Rather belatedly (again!) I am joining in with HELENA'S weekly meme:

 

I went out to take some photos in the garden just as dusk was setting in a few nights ago:

ZOOMING OUT

I had just snapped this picture of the new growth around this archway:

ZOOMING IN

Imagine my surprise  shock when I moved to walk through the arch and saw this huge grasshopper!!

you can see the red dust which I still haven't got around to cleaning off after the Saharan rain a couple of weeks ago....also the wires ready to tie in the climbers...there was no way I was removing them to take the picture!!

hoping you all have a good Easter weekend....the sun is shining here: I hope it is for you too!

thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

 

ZIZO

Time to join with HELENA'S weekly photographic meme ZOOM IN,ZOOM OUT.

After having been stuck indoors  last week with the dreaded lurgy, l enjoyed a walk round the garden. I am always amazed at how quickly things start to grow at this time of year.

ZOOMING OUT

the apricot tree .....which looked like this a few weeks ago:

ZOOMING IN

...and on closer inspection I discovered the first fruit!

The sun has been shining here this week and there's some real heat in it now...... I'm hoping it's here to stay, but there's bound to be a few more April showers yet...just hopefully not full of Saharan sand...I'm STILL trying to wash the terraces clean!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison x

THE WEEK THAT WAS

It's been a busier week than normal here...believe me, you do not want to be bored by the details but here are some of the 'highlights':


TWO(!) AGMs

one of the AGM's was our own.....as you can see AGMs are the same the world over!

A book read

an absolutely delightful book...I would definitely recommend this one!

Took the photographs for ZIZO...and promptly forgot to write the blogpost!

ZOOMING OUT

a dead-looking plant in a pot

 BUT

ZOOMING IN.....

...I am reminded how wonderful nature is!

PLAYED CANDY CRUSH SAGA 

....and got to LEVEL 201!!!

DID NOT COMMENT/READ MANY BLOGS!!.....for that I apologise and hope to rectify it tonight, so look out for me!

I do hope you've seen some sunshine this last week..it's most certainly very springlike here;

the blossom on the apricot tree is out....

...and the Magnolia is just about to bloom...happy days!!

As I said, I'm hoping to get round some blogs tonight...if I don't get to you I'll be calling in at some point this week!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

THE WEEK THAT WAS

This week- among other things- I have:

Received two more quilt blocks :

This one from ALEXA....her own design!

This one from AMY

I love them both...thank you ladies!

FINISHED READING:

The third in a detective series set on the Isle of Lewis,Scotland 

BOUGHT and PLANTED these beauties:

COMPLETED:

Week 5 of PL

Went to:

and DIDN'T win either the Quiz or a Raffle Prize!

Hoping you had a good week too!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx