Cheeky...who me?

 

I admit I have been a teeny weeny bit cheeky as I have copied something I saw on Radka from   "My stitching and other journeys" blog.  Admittedly it hasn't turned out as nice as what I saw on Radka's blog but I think it looks cosy and colourful there out in my balcony garden.

I had this very practical wooden bench in the corridor which leads to the bedrooms and I always use it to store the bed linen in it but never for sitting on. After seeing Radka's post on her blog "My stitching and other journeys" I had a bit of a light bulb moment and thought why not! I measured it to see if it would fit on the balcony ... and it did! Hurrah!                               I took off the old deckchair orange lounger cushion that I had there and spread it across the bench and added a few more cushions.

 

I can still use the storage space in the bench for my bed linen but we can now actually sit on it too.   It is a bit hard but I think if I buy a new double layer pad and cover it with the orange cover from the old deckchair it will be softer and more comfortable.  I only have to find a side table as well now to go with it 😀

You blog-friends do give me lots of inspiration!    

I have a new friend living in my balcony garden as well,a rather weighty one, my new stone tortoise which I picked up at a pottery shop in Agost the pottery village we went to last Saturday. This reminded me of the tortoises that Linda at "Linda's Crafty Corner"has in her garden so I bought a little one to add character to my balcony garden as well. I chose the smallest one as he is quite heavy.

 

Although perhaps I shouldn't say so myself but my balcony garden is looking better and better and actually a place I like to sit and contemplate with a nice cuppa tea. I do have to start being careful to not go overboard and make it too fussy looking though!  It seems Sr P has caught on as well and is paying some interest in the new balcony decor as he suggested we change the wall light to something more in keeping with the actual look.  

 We put this one up when we moved into the apartment some 33 years ago. It is fine and easy to clean and does its job but doesn't go at all with the actual decor so we are looking for something else. I am not quite sure what that "something else" will be but we will know when we see it. 

CROCHET

I have only ever made one blanket for myself. I find it really tedious crocheting large makes  my max is a baby blanket. Nevertheless I did manage to get one blanket done for myself or rather for my grand-daughter's bedroom. It usually lies on the bottom of her bed during the winter. It isn't used often and although I do wash some of our woollens in the washing machine I am very reluctant to wash this blanket there in case it goes all floppy and fuzzy so I  just shake it out well and hang it out for a few days on the balcony. However this time when I got it out of the cupboard it had that unpleasant "cupboard stored for a long time" smell even though I had slipped a few bars of smelly soap in-between the folds as I usually do. I therefore thought it needed a good wash but it being so big so I thought I would risk it in the washing machine on a gentle cycle.   I was very pleased to see it washed well and needed no blocking at all and it smells nice and just lightly of the little bit of softener I used.

Seaside

On Sunday after a drive along the coast we visited the coastal town of Santa Pola. It is named after Saint Paul and it is a small fishing town about 20 minutes car drive from Alicante City.   

 

Google image

 

It is a popular tourist resort and it seems that the tourist are flooding back to the popular resorts in this area as there were quite a few people about enjoying the sea and sun.  We didn't stay for very long but we did get in a stroll along the sea front

 

 

How about that for a rubber tree plant!    No pot required!

 

Last but not least.

 

At least someone likes my stew!

I had made a large crock of stew the other day and when we went over to see my daughter we took some over for her. 

My grand-daughter's cat Thomas Ra can be very fussy food wise but my stew seems to have met his approval,gravy and all!

Happy blogging 

Amanda :-)

Mobile phone anger

 

I have been meaning to see how I can blog from my mobile phone for quite sometime and yesterday with a calm mind and totally prepared to have a go at it I set to the task. I am quite happy sorting out things on my iPad or desktop computer but when it comes to my mobile phone it drives me loopy! I have to set my mind to it! I am sure you know what I mean 

 I signed into my blogger on the mobile and could see the different posts and also comments. ..brilliant I thought! That is really what I want it for to be able to reply to comments and post comments on other blogs. I prefer to set up my new posts from my desktop computer. All was going well so I thought I would reply to the comments on my previous post. I wrote a lengthy reply to Betsy's " The Simple life of a Queen" comment  and posted it but lo and behold an error message appeared! I tried again but this time I copied the text before posting, the same happened again… so annoying! I was getting a tad mobile phone irritated by then. I decided to check to see if it was a generalised blogger glitch and went to my desktop computer to try there.Absolutely no problem replying to Betsy’s comment on my desktop pooter!  Although I was pretty fed up with my mobile phone by then I went back to it to see if I could download a free blog app. Apple store has several  although I would have to pay for them so I was even more fed up then and decided to leave it for the time being! 

What a waste of time…grr!

 

Replies to two comments from my previous post

 

Coincidentally, these two comments that I received from Cherie at North Yorkshire Craft Guru blog and Happy Hooker .an independent blogger, 

 

 

 match exactly what I had thought and commented to Sr P the day we were strolling through the Park of the Sea (previous post) and saw the pomegranate trees and the date palms.

I asked Sr P if it was alright to pick some. The trees were heavily loaded with fruit and it seemed such a shame for it to go to waste and particularly as Sr P likes pomegranates.  He told me it was no good picking any because they were "bordes". This confused me even more because "Bordes" in Spanish means to be stroppy,curt,rude or crude!  

I did a little bit of research on google and found that fruit trees that are used for ornamental reasons such as in parks are a weaker strain of fruit tree which is planted in a poorer quality soil which is not fed or enriched enough for the fruit to be edible. I gather you can try to eat the fruit they aren't toxic but your mouth would just be full of seeds and there would be no taste to it at all.  There you go Cherie and Happy Hooker that's my reply and the explanation. I'd say also to give a translation to the use of the Spanish word "Bordes" in this context I would say the fruit trees planted in parks produce  "Stroppy fruit" and you don't want to mess with them!   

 

Thomas Ra

Do you remember Thomas Ra who I posted about in March.

 

He is being very very naughty and will not leave Lunita the turtle in peace.

 

 

He just will not leave the poor turtle alone!   I mentioned  in that previous post that initially he had to be punished for trying to eat Lunita but he seems to have forgotten that and is now treating her as prey again. Thank goodness Lunita has grown quite a bit and he can't get her in his mouth. 

Lunita is a brave little soul too and she defends herself as the other day she bit Thomas on his paw...which he deserves. 

I have told my grand-daughter to give him another severe tail shaking if he continues to harass her. He doesn't like that at all!

 

 

Replies to last post comments completed 😊 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy blogging

 

  Amanda :-)

Under the flyover

  Warning: this post is photo-heavy!

 

Last Sunday we returned to the little Park that is so near to where we live. I mentioned this park in a previous post in April and by the way it now has a name which is Parque del Mar (Park of the Sea).

 There have been great improvements since then.   

The Commercial area of the Port here used to be walled off and it was not the sort of place one would go to for a walk except perhaps if you were waiting for or picking up the Ferry to Oran, Algeria.  When they built the flyover the walls were demolished and the redevelopment of the old Port which took several years created new roads and pedestrian areas. It therefore opened up this area to the city completely with large public areas and bicycle paths as well as attractive urban landscaping around the large Fish Market and the shipyards which made it easier to access.  

Unfortunately the waste ground under the Port flyover was ignored completely when renovating this area of the port and it became a real eye sore;literally a  dump! The whole area was targeted for no end of fly-tipping of household waste and also for homeless people sleeping rough! Drugs were sold there and used there and there were a lot of other unpleasant goings-on! It became known as a place to avoid and definitely not to go there at night.  There had been numerous complaints about this place from the local communities for years!

Thank goodness something was finally done about it and the city has gained another beautiful green public urban space.

It is like a real-life secret garden tucked away under that flyover.

I thought I would start off with this photograph of these pomegranates. I think it is the first time I have seen a pomegranate tree and there were several here in the park all laden with fruit. What they are doing in a park I don't know but I expect the birds will be grateful for them.   

 

 

 

 Another harvest the birds will relish are the dates on these heavily loaded date palms

 

 

Lots of flowers are still blooming. Although it is officially autumn here now the flowers don't know that and this mild climate allows them to continue flowering.  I don't know what they are called but they look gorgeous  🌻

 

This looks like lilac?

Those funny bottle brush flowers.

The trees have grown and there is much more shade now.

In fact this banana tree has shot up and is nearly touching the bottom of the flyover

I told Sr P to stand beside the Banana tree/plant just so you can see the sizeof it.

The pond with its waterfall is looking really lovely, a very big difference from what we saw here in April.

I can still hear frogs croaking too. 

 

 

A green lawn. Most of you will probably think "so what!" but a green lawn is a rarity here because it is so hard to keep that lawn green in this climate.  

 

...and an old olive tree 

 

These trees fascinate me or rather the trunks of the old olive trees!

I love the rugged way it twists and turns; natures own work of art .

It reminds me of a painting from Van Gogh

Google image

The Olive Trees  1889

 

 

and then we got to the end of the park but it isn't really the end because what I have shown you here is just the first stage of this project and very soon we will be able to continue walking on into the next part of this park.

Image from Google 2021

Construction is underway and the park will continue on all the way down over that bare ground that you can see. I would say about another year. 

I so look forward to seeing it. 

 

Replies to last post comments all completed.

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Blogging

 

Amanda :-)