MEMOS, MAIL,ME.......

Well there HAS been progress since I last posted...I can just about see the light at the end of the tunnel...and it's been an awfully long tunnel!

The bedroom has been plastered and had an undercoat of paint

the ensuite shower room is fully tiled and 'just' waiting for the toilet, vanity unit and shower screen to be fitted..it actually looks better than this by today but the light isn't very good for a photograph!

My sanity is just about intact thanks to: 

a)  a visit by one of 'the girls'.... we laughed, ate and drank our way through the week...I even sat in the sun (under a parasol) and read some books.....thanks Lyn!

I didn't read them ALL while Lyn was here, but after she left I was on a roll

....and b) a bit of a scrapping blitz once Lyn left. Sarah Jayne from LOTTIE LOVES PAPER has had sketch challenges on the LLP Facebook page this weekend, so I used them as inspiration;

While I was looking at the photos of my great nephew, I did this page too;

I have to say the mailbox has ben pretty uninspiring BUT a delivery arrived on Friday afternoon....the wardrobes and bed I had ordered from IKEA the day before ands told to expect Friday COMING ...now I have all this to add to the chaos which is our house at the moment;

I won't be posting next week....I will be in Rome(!) meeting up with Craig for a few days...I've never been before so am rather looking forward to it!

Hopefully by the time I post next, I will be back in my own bedroom and life will be returning to normal

Waving to SIAN and the other Monday Wavers....and wishing you all a great week!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

MEMOS, MAIL AND ME....

Hello again blogland!

As I mentioned in last week's post I have been 'gallivanting', as my Gran would have said...to the North East of England this time, to visit my girl and her boys (one human and one of the four legged variety!)

The weather was sunny but cold for the first few days, but by the weekend if I had closed my eyes I could have been at home.....such a pleasant surprise!

We had an afternoon in Durham..and fitted in lunch AND Afternoon Tea:

I caught up with old friends and dog-sat the the four-legged boy:

There was some retail therapy and a visit to the Cinema to see this:

.....and loved it!

While I was away I read this book:

....finishing it on the plane on the way home.....a slow starter but a real tear jerker by the end (always embarrassing whilst sitting on a plane!)

By last night I was home and, as yet haven't had time to check my mailbox for any mail...I am hoping there is a notification to go and pick up a box of scrapping goodness!

Waving to SIAN and the other 'Monday-ers' and wishing everyone a good week

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

SNAP!

Belatedly joining in with the weekly photographic meme organised by my friend HELENA.

I have just returned from a trip to the USA..... Craig was there on business and I tagged along!

We flew in and out of New York, but the rest of the time we were in Phoenix: whilst there I was taken to a HUGE Asian Supermarket and I was intrigued by some of the produce there:

GOBO (apparently it originates from Japan)

JACKFRUIT (supposedly the largest tree-borne fruit in the world!)

COCONUTS (I thought all coconuts were brown!)

WHITE DRAGONFRUIT

Oh!...and those hands?......

I forgot to mention who took me to said supermarket:

....our very own DEB TURTLE!

.....and her lovely daughter CARRIE!

As always, it was fun to spend some time with these two!

Hope you've all been well while I've been gone

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

ME ON MONDAY......

Well actually Tuesday......making the most of an overcast day to sit outside with my book!

The weekend?......it was time with Craig, buying some new garden furniture, looking for a new sofa (unsuccessfully!), booking a trip for Craig and myself at the end of September, booking a flight for mum to come over and generally eating too much kind of a weekend....not to mention being eaten alive by mosquitos- they are really bad this year...i have NEVER had so many bites as I have at the moment!

Hoping you have had a mosquito-free and fun weekend my friends.

As always  sometimes on a Monday (or indeed a Tuesday!) waving especially to SIAN and her merry band of 'wavers'!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

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ME ON MONDAY

Waving to you today from sunny California.....yes, you read it correctly! I am in San Jose with Craig.....a trip that I knew might be upcoming, but which I wasn't at all sure I should make, given the situation with dad.

In the end though, Craig decided I needed a break and booked for me to come over with him....so here I am, sitting in the sunshine outside Starbucks!

I'm still at the jetlag stage, but managed to sleep for a few more hours last night than the previous one so I'm feeling ALMOST human.

The weekend?.....I met up with Craig at Amsterdam Airport, spent around ten hours in the air (I had a window seat,which I like) during which time I read a book ( THE GIRL WITH ALL THE GIFTS by M R Carey; highly recommended by Kirsty and I thoroughly enjoyed it) and played Sudoku, as well as watching out said window- I am always amazed at how vast and empty Canada is as you fly over it. Between Passport Control, waiting for luggage and standing in the Car Hire queue,it was another three hours before we left the airport. Once Craig got the meetings he needed to organise set up, I was able to get in touch with RINDA and make arrangements to meet up with her on Wednesday ( so looking forward to that!)

As always, thank you all for your kind comments and promises of prayers and keeping us all in your thoughts ; there's no real change in dad, but then I'm not expecting there to be.

It's been a holiday weekend both sides of the Atlantic, so hope you've all had a great one!

Thanks for dropping by!
Take care of you
Alison xx

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ME ON MONDAY

After arriving home on Sunday night, having spent a week visiting mum and dad in Scotland (where the sun DID actually shine for two days!) I enjoyed my first cup of coffee sitting in the sun

The weekend?......I travelled south for a funeral, spent twenty four hours with Kirsty, drove back to Scotland, visited dad in hospital, met up with friends for lunch and coffee and flew home!....a very mixed bag this time!!

A day late waving to SIAN and her merry band of Monday 'wavers'...but I know she'll forgive me for that!

Hope your week holds lots of good things!

Thanks for dropping by!
Take care of you
Alison xx

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ONE PICTURE, TWENTY WORDS

Joining in with ABI's monthly meme

Boarding Pass printed....passport ready...car booked in for Airport Parking...getting ready to go and visit mum and dad!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

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ME ON MONDAY....

...yes I do know it's Tuesday, but this WAS yesterday:

In one of our favourite shops...one I know that RUTH will recognise!

 

 

The weekend? It was a sudden decision to fly to Scotland, run up and down to hospital to visit dad ( who has, thankfully, now responded to treatment and is back at home), try to keep mum sane, meet the boyfriend (Kirsty's, not mum's ;) manage a quick coffee break with friends, drive to Newcastle to go to an appointment with Kirsty kind of weekend!...stressed?....only slightly!!

 

However, by this morning I am sitting in a sunny spot in the-friend-who-puts-me-up when I am in the area's house, breathing deeply before I go to meet Kirsty and said boyfriend for lunch, knowing that I can feel slightly less guilty about heading home tomorrow after doing my duty as a responsible daughter and mum!

 

Thank you all ffor your good wishes for dad...and I sincerely hope your own weekend was less stressful than mine has been!!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

 

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CHRISTMAS CLUB (and ME ON MONDAY)

Sian from High in the Sky has invited us to share a Christmas story in the few weeks before Christmas....I missed last week but here I am, squeezing two posts into one and with no idea when the next post will manage to be written!

You may have realised I've been back in Scotland, both to attend a wedding (which was such a lovely day) and to bring mum and dad back over to Spain with me, for Christmas.

As I used public transport most of the time I was there, I was looking forward to seeing lots of windows lit up by Christmas trees....I have so many memories of travelling on the bus with my mum and siblings counting the trees in windows in the Glasgow tenements....all of us trying to find the most and squabbling about it as we went along.

You have NO idea how disappointed I was to find so few on my journeys! I know I start my decorating early, but  my mum always said that the folks in Glasgow started putting their trees up in November...well not now they don't ; a sign of the times perhaps, when people are much busier, caught up in the commercialism of Christmas? My memories of Christmas as a child don't seem to have my mum running around like a headless chicken trying to buy the copious amounts of gifts we do today. We all had one 'special ' gift and then our stockings filled with sweets and annuals (how I loved my Bunty annual every year!!). I remember 'smellies' from Aunties (in the form of bath cubes!) and handkerchiefs from grandparents....and we all thought how lucky we'd been.

I did eventually find a Christmas Tree lit up in someone's porch....and though I was disappointed not to have found many more, I was glad that the lack of them brought back such good memories!

As for Me on Monday..well it's not really me at all:

.....it's my dad waiting to get on the plane to get us all back to Spain! 

Me?...I was keeping mum calm, making sure we had all the bags at every stage (not to mention the Passports!) and breathing a huge sigh of relief when we actually got dad in the door of my house without any issues - health or otherwise!!

Hoping the run up to Christmas is filled with good things for you my friends!

thanks for dropping by!
Take care of you
Alison xx

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ONE PICTURE, TWENTY WORDS

Joining in with ABI's monthly meme (late of course!)

Home again after a few days in Scotland and Newcastle....the sun feels good after the chilly United Kingdom!

I'm hoping to get to back to blogging 'normally' next week, and I'm trying to catch up with some blog reading over the weekend.

In the meantime, I hope the weather allows a weekend of replacing some plants that didn't make it in the heat of the summer...hoping you manage to do some things YOU enjoy!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

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THE WEEK THAT WAS

I haven't done one of these posts for a while, so thought I might share the last week with you:

Last MONDAY saw me in my role as 'Catering Manager' for JVH....up early to prare this lot

before heading off to this beautiful location....a hospital facility called FONTILLES up in the mountains about 10km from here.

Our own Charity and a local Cancer Charity were having the opening of a small Hospice unit in an annexe of the hospital...something we have been working towards for a couple of years now. The British Consul was supposed to be coming to open it, but King Juan Carlos decided to abdicate that day and the Consul was called to Madrid, leaving us with a very nive Vice Consul to do the honours!

TUESDAY saw me heading for the airport...off to Scotland to see mum and dad;

I managed to get dad out for lunch on Wednesday (as always to a local Garden Centre) and as we walked in the door this display greeted us;

And I remembered the list for RINDA'S SUMMERTIME SCAVENGER HUNT.....I had my first entry!

By THURSDAY, dad was exhausted after our trip on Wednesday and needed a day at home...I took mum and her friend Barbara for a bit of retail therapy then went out to 'play' with 'the girls' that night.

After taking mum to the Hospital for a Treadmill Test on FRIDAY morning,it was time to head back to the airport and home.......it's always such a relief and pleasure to get back...although these feelings are always accompanied by guilt.

YESTERDAY I managed to get some shopping done, then worked on the garden for a while in the afternoon. I took the car out late in the afternoon, and before I got to the end of the road I realised the car didn't feel right...I pulled over and discovered I had a tyre as flat as a pancake...and the hubcap was half way down the road!!

TODAY has been a lazy day...though I have managed a few chores here and there ...and have even managed to catch up with some blog-reading!

Hoping everything is good with you and yours

Thanks for  dropping by!
Take care of you
Alison xx

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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