Crafty in the Med

I am here to enjoy meeting other bloggers and to share my love of craft ,mostly crochet, my thoughts and my daily happenings here in Alicante,Spain, my adopted country. I belong to a local choir because singing and music makes me happy. Flea markets and book shops are two of my favourite places to be. I read lots......sci´fi/fantasy,buried treasure, and off world adventures. I have a passion for history! I walk and walk and walk for about 10 months per year during the hot months I swim.

Friday 11 September 2020

On the trail

 

 

We went out on the trail again this morning!!

  

I overslept....had a sleepless night...I suffer from RLS( restless leg syndrome) at times and last night was one of those times. This meant I was late for our walk so I was not in the best of moods and dragged my feet for the first part of the route not paying attention to much....in other words feeling just a tad miserable.  I jumped pretty quick though when a black rat shot across the path right in front of us!!!!.   Daughter Nº1 had been respecting my morose silence but that was shattered when we both voiced our disgust at seeing a rat....we don't like rats!!!        

Do you remember our doggie friend Timba from our last little adventure well we had decided we wanted to find out how she was so my daughter had been asking questions in the town if anyone knew where she lived. The detail she obtained from some of the locals wasn't the most precise information but she was told about a house at the end of a path where Timba possibly lived. 

This is the place so we decided to call in there and ask if Timba lived there. We were quite hopeful and chatted about seeing Timba again and this could be the place... when... suddenly my daughter stopped and said to me "turn around slowly and lets get out of here!!"  I argued about stopping and why....and she said "lets just move away we can't call in here at the moment." I asked her why again and she said we are being watched ... I was a little put out but when she curtly said , "Mama, there's a big dog watching us."               I immediately caught sight of that dog which was a rather large German Shepherd and he was not chained up! Now I have always lived around animals and I am not afraid of them but I am not daft!. It was pretty obvious he wasn't in friendly mode going by his body language which seemed to me to be saying I'm watching you and if you come any nearer.....!!  He was obviously doing his job and he was definitely on guard duty!!  

So WE backed off !!! 


 

 

Now this is not the real guard dog but an image from Google. Very similar to the guard dog we left behind except in all fairness I have to add the dog was not showing his fangs as in this photo.

 

 We went on our merry way and soon forgot that bit of a fright. We decided we would use the photo I had taken of the place to check with the locals again if it was the right spot and possibly acquire the name of Timba's owner.


 

We finally found the blackberries that my daughter had seen during one of her walks and we couldn't find during our last trek. They did indeed look like blackberries but the flowers just did not coincide with the flowers I can recall from blackberry bushes when I used to go blackberry picking at home in the UK, so I was reluctant to pick any of the berries.


 

All the same we had the photos so we decided to upload the photos to the Med plantnet app that my daughter had recently downloaded to her mobile to be able to identify it.  Many thanks Linda at Linda's Crafty Corner  for that suggestion of uploading a Fauna/Flora app to our mobiles....great idea!

I paid more attention to the vegetation during this second walk and took the following photos:

 


Pomegranates 



Really not sure whether this is a tree or an overgrown shrub. It reminds me of a willow tree but not quite! The leaves are really whispery and feather like.


The three white horses were in their orchard again: White horses as beautiful as Tolkien's Elven steeds....well nearly!!!  I took photos this time!

 

 

 

I do not very much like that they are behind bars and the orchard they are in does not seem to be very big but my daughter assures me that she has seen all three horses out being ridden by their owners quite often.

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We decided to go a bit further this time and continued on into the Torre Azul residential estate...what a labyrinth......wonderful villas and beautiful gardens but we got a bit lost  and it was getting hotter so we decided to back track for the long walk back home. 

 

 

                                                                           Nearly home
 


Once again Tea and home baked croissants revived us considerably!!!

🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴🌴


Another  revamp:   

Last month we had the painters in to redecorate the lounge and the hallways. This meant moving practically everything into the spare bedroom. Sr P as usual tries and gets these onerous chores done as quickly as possible shoving everything in rapidly...therefore dear bloggers accidents do happen and a lamp shade was smashed. This particular glass lampshade (as you can see in the photo) was from a lamp which I had found some years ago in a little shop which does not exist now. It is quite impossible to try and obtain the same lampshade to fit this lamp. I was particularly proud of my find at that time and it was perfect for the little french writing desk I have in the entrance to my apartment.

I was thinking it would be quite impossible to get a replacement for the broken lampshade, never-the-less I gave it some thought and started looking around the shops for an alternative shade that I could adapt to this lamp.


I finally found a little ivory lampshade which only cost me 1,90€.

 

I knew this little shade wasn't going to fit on the lamp properly but I do have a glue gun!  I literally stuck it to the metal band at the back of the lamp and covered the horrible glob of glue with beads.

I chose some chocolate coloured beads from my bling bowl to cover the glue (those beads really do remind me of chocolate coated peanuts but with a bit more glitter) LOL!!!

My Bling bowl.


and there you are a little makeshift but not too bad 



Sr P complimented me effusively on how well it looks.......I should say so too Sr P !!!!

RAOCK

 I made this RAOCK at the end of June. 

Her Majesty is in flight;off and away to start up a brand new Honey Bee Hive. 🐝   

 I used Katia Capri cotton for her Majesty and a 2,5 hook. This was a free pattern but I did tweak it a bit!  The crown was my own freeform work in Anchor Nº5 cotton.                                              

She will be dropped off  in the park in front of our housing estate very soon.











Have a wonderful weekend

 

 

keep well

 

Amanda :-)












19 comments:

  1. Urgh - a rat. Not at all nice. And a scary dog too - that was quite a walk!
    The lamp looks great - clever you!
    xx

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    1. Exactly how I feel about rats!! thanks I was rather pleased with the result of my lamp makeover and it was cheap and quick to do :-) A x

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  2. What a sweet RAOCK. I would love to be in the park and find her. :-). I enjoyed the story of your walk with your daughter. How fun to be able to adventure together but I'm sorry about your Restless Leg Syndrome. I have a friend that suffers with that and I know it's miserable.
    Dennis doesn't like German Shepherds very much because of a bad experience as a child, but I think they are gorgeous dogs. Of course if they're guarding something or someone it's best to stay far, far away. The horses are so fairy-take like. Beautiful, beautiful creatures and they do look like they came right out of Tolkiens tales.
    I appreciate your sweet comment today on my blog. Dennis & Jamie arrived safely today and the Memorial service is tomorrow. No evacuations for Chloe and myself as yet and I remain hopeful that it will be a quiet weekend.
    Blessings,
    Betsy

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    1. I Always enjoy your comments Betsy...so glad to hear the fires haven't got to you!! Mr Guard dog was doing his job and doing it well...I'm pretty sure he would have gone for us if we had got much closer! A x

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  3. Thank you for the shout out Amanda I hope the app works for you they are usually quite accurate. Nobody likes rats awful things but apparently they are all around us UGH! anyway I enjoyed reading about your walk it's always nice to have a lovely companion to walk with you, my daughter is always too busy to walk and it has to be said not a great fan of wooded areas which is a shame. What beautiful horses and how scary the german shepherd incident must have been. It's a shame that you haven't found Timba's place of abode but I'm sure you will one day. I'm sorry to hear that you have RLS it must be awful, I get a lot of cramps which keep me awake quite often I think my zombie state after a poor night's sleep is quite normal now haha. I love your lamp revamp it looks amazing and whoever finds Her Majesty will be very lucky indeed she is so cute,, you are a very talented lady! Have a great week. xx

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    1. We even get rats in the garden here in the complex Linda but luckily there are numerous cats too!!! We will continue to look for Timba in my daughter's little town but I think next week we will go for a walk along the beach for a change. Sleep...what's that!! I used to be able to sleep on a park bench in the past....those were the days!!! LOL! A x

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  4. What a shame you didn't find Timba or her owners. Keep looking! You made a lovely job of re-vamping the lamp. I think I prefer the new look! And that RAOCK - gorgeous. I'm sure some little girl (or possibly big girl) will snatch that one up and treasure it. xx

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    1. Hello HH,thank you for your comments and it seems the new look for my lamp has been successful as even my husband said he preferred it!. We do plan to keep looking for Timba somebody must be able to lead us to her! A x

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  5. Sounds like quite the adventure, so glad there wasn't an incident with the German Shepherd. Love the revamp of the lamp, a job well done.

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    1. Many thanks! A scary moment indeed but taught us a lesson though!! A x

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  6. No I don't think I would've gone inside with a german shepherd there either Amanda. We used to own one & they are very good guard dogs. I hope you don't mind me saying but I actually like the lightshade better now that you have revamped it ... I think it looks wonderful & I like it much nicer than the "before" to be honest. Sometimes it just works out like this ... great work.

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    1. I certainly do not mind you giving your opinion about the lampshade quite the opposite I welcome it! I have been drumming in that constructive criticism is good and helpful to my students for years now. LOL! A x

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  7. You are so lucky to have your daughter close enough to walk with. I'm glad she saw that dog and had you back out. I like how your lampshade turned out.. it looks wonderful! ((hugs)), Teresa :-)

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    1. Thanks Teresa! I hope the fires near you have abated now!! Thinking of you A x

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  8. Boy are you having loads of adventures. Stay safe Amanda.

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  9. Exactly what I was saying to my daughter...think we will go for a beach walk next :-) A x

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  10. Thank you for dropping by my blog-we are really enjoying the cooler mornings for sure-and eating breakfast on the deck has been wonderful
    Enjoyed your walks-and guard dogs-scary stuff, best to move on and not to provoke them. Enjoyed reading of your "doings" Happy Monday Kathy

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  11. That is a frightening story. I love dogs, but guard dogs are so well trained to protect I fear them. Your daughter has good sense to say, Mom lets leave

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    1. Indeed she has kathy! She was very quick to tell me but she was quiet about it too which did not set the dog off. A x

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Thank you for your comments. I do read them and try to reply to all as well.Please keep them coming. Amanda :-)