Day 11 and 12 Moved to Spain

Thursday and Friday called for another walk along the coast and yet another paddle where I saw the most pretty jellyfish, I'm afraid it's the one that got away, as by the time I had focused the camera it had dived to the bottom of the sea out of sight!

Sections of the sea are cordoned off for either bathers or boats

The ferry is just leaving, guess its to La Manga in the far distance

Near the Post Office where I needed to buy stamps is this lovely old building
sadly needing a lot of TLC

A trip  to a nearby shopping centre

Meal for today, no expense spared!

An evening game of Rumikub

More sea side walking. I MUST be getting fit with all this walking
almost everyday I have doubled my walking target on FitBit

I can just see this mosaic wall as a quilt.

 Fish and chips again at Villa Martin followed by shopping in La Zenia, the largest shopping area here. They have a C&A [I miss them in Northampton] and the summer sale is on... three blouses for 21 euro, less than £20, happy me.

To explain the 'Moved to Spain'  we have booked a total of three months here next year, which is probably more time than we spend at home! 7 winter weeks and 5 autumn weeks.

Day 10 A paddle

Can't believe we have been away for 10 days already, time flies when your having fun.
Decided to go for a stroll along the sea front and could not resist going for a paddle, the water was lovely and warm. It was about 10am and already there were a lot of people in the sea and enjoying the hot sunshine.

Palm Trees and sunshine

Nice to be able to wash off your feet before leaving the beach

Didn't fancy the look of this jellyfish

Chris enjoying the paddle

Me keeping an eye out for anything that might sting!

There was a lovely sunset in the evening, but we had gone for a walk and by the time I got back on the balcony and able to take a photo it had almost gone, still the view is great.

The view outside the villa

One of the many walks we take

Too late for a sunset view, plus I probably need a better camera

View from the bedroom balcony

Day 8 & 9 La Manga Market and a haircut

Sunday we drove to a market near La Manga, boy was it crowded and parking all most non existent. We drove around some back streets and then squeezed into a small space only to have the owner of the property come out and ask us to move, I pleaded we would only be half  an hour and I don't think she understood my English but she said OK. It was very hot and crowded and half an hour was just about enough.

I remember some yeas ago buying these pretty Spanish dresses for my granddaughters

Everything you could possibly want Peppa Pig !

On the way back 'home' we passed this strange contraption it was moving really fast and everyone was looking at it.

Looks most uncomfortable

Monday. Shopping and washing were first priority this morning,no photos its just a boring fact of life.
The temperature is in the 30's but it is very humid today so I hid myself away with the aircon on and worked on my family tree on the laptop for a couple of hours. I then had an appointment with a hairdresser, she spoke only Spanish and I only speak English but we managed fine and I am pleased with the cut, plus she only charged Euro20 less than £18 and far less than I pay in England.

My new hairdresser

New hair selfie

Managed a little knitting, starting the twin Christmas sock.

I like to knit two at a time to avoid the "one sock syndrome"

Out admiring the orange trees, that are still green at the moment

Day 6 & 7 Friday and Saturday

The highlight of Friday was a trip to Villa Martin for Fish and chips, it never fails to be great, chips perfectly cooked and fish in a light batter... yummy. Well worth the 30 min car ride.

All this for about £5

Today is Saturday and I am already loosing track of time and day, feel like we have been away from home for ages. We started the day with a trip to the local market. Crowds of people of all nationalities, colours and creeds throng the stalls. parking is a complete lottery but we were lucky and did not have too far to walk. Managed to buy a few little gifts for the grandaughters and some beans, love the Spanish snap beans, also walked until I had really had enough and completed my steps for the day... it is a big market!

Lots of fresh produce

Loved this guys painting

Everywhere is so bright and colourful

A new Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints was under construction when we were here in January and although it looks finished I have not seen anyone to ask for information until today. A group of teenagers and Elders were playing football in the grounds [ there are a number of games courts around the building] so I entered and asked what time was the  Sacrament meeting? To my surprise the very first meeting will be on September 16th at 10.30 the same day that the church I attend at home will celebrate its 50th anniversary.  I look forward to attending even though it will be in Spanish.

Christmas sock progress...

Finished the tree and turned the heel.

Day 5 Watching the Vuelta cycle race

After a little shopping this morning, I needed a cable needle ! we spent a restful day until this evening. The Vuelta Cycle race was ending stage 6 in San Javier, we took up a position at 5pm in the 35 degree heat and waited for it to arrive in Los Alcazares. Decided I could not face the crowds of people at the finish line. It was exciting watching all the police motorbikes and cars of the different teams, eventually the helicopter was overhead and the cyclists appeared. I just clicked away at my camera hoping for some good shots.

Waiting for the cyclists to appear

I've never seen so many police motorbikes

OK where is Peter Sagan?

Overhead helicopter for TV shots

I dont remember them coming to San Javier before.

The back of the pack

Day 4 Christmas socks

The temperature is way in the thirties, so time to start knitting Christmas socks!
The day started with breakfast on the front deck with an air display by the local equivalent of the Red Arrows, well actually there was only one doing acrobatics, but it was entertaining.

Preparing breakfast

I absolutely love knitting and wearing hand made socks so brought a number of skeins of wool with me. It has probably been fifty plus years since I knitted anything with a cable stitch so thought I’d start with the One Tree Heel socks I found on Ravelry.
I think it’s a rule when you go on holiday to forget something... yup no cable needle! a large bodkin will have to do.

Cannot give credit to the designer as i is not on my pdf printout

Day 3 home for the next four weeks

The next four weeks we have booked the same villa we stayed at in January. The owner gave us a good deal and it has everything we want in a rental. Lousy photo from our last visit!

After five hours in the car, with the sight of yet another huge accident, a lorry had rolled over a number of times across the central reservation and landed on its side, from Zaragoza we arrived at Roda, on the Mar Menor. The villa is on a golf complex and the service guy, Mike met us with the key. Having had a quick cuppa we went shopping and with a loaded shopping trolley unpacked and dinner thrown in the oven, it is time to relax and enjoy the holiday. 32 degrees at the moment outside, but the air con is keeping the house just pleasant.

2nd Night from France to Spain

Zaragosa is our next overnight at the Tulip Inn.  Don’t you just love the colour of this place.

Uneventful journey across the Pyrenees into Spain, other than passing a vehicle that had take a long brick wall out and gone over the edge! The hotel was very comfortable and clean, but no drink facilities in the room, glad I always travel prepared with mini kettle, cups and drinks, we also have cereals and bananas for breakfast to save a little on the travel costs.

Day 1 August/September holiday

We are spending the first night of our holiday in Poitier France, having traveled from home through
the Euro tunnel. Left home at 3.15am! Yawn! Managed to get on the 6.35 train through to France. Clocks went forward one hour.  Good journey with a couple of stops for food and to stretch our legs, everywhere is really busy, hardly a parking space at the service stations. A lorry had taken out a section of the metal rod barrier and made for looong delays on the north side of the road.

Arrived at 3.30pm. Our Kyraid hotel for the night in room 007 same as we had last time we were here. Very tired so ate at a diner then hit the sack.

Pitsford Church

Decided to visit Pitsford church, which is only a couple of miles from home, to see if I could find the burial site of my Gt Gt Grandmother Hannah Hickerson.

Although I didn't find any family graves,
it was nice to think of the times my family would have attended this pretty little church.

Ruby Wedding celebrations

My cousin Helen and her husband Chris celebrated their Ruby Wedding in style, firstly with a party for friends and then a dinner with family. It was lovely to be part of the family lunch party and meet up with cousins I had not seen for quite a long time.

Left: Chris, James [ son] Helen & Chris, Jess [daughter] and husband and his mother.
Right: Sheila and Steve [ 2nd cousin] Margaret and Norma [in law cousins] Ian and Jackie [2nd cousin]
Christine and Mike [cousins] 

Great company and interesting wall art, a mix of old cutlery nicely framed.

Helen and Chris

The cake was even made with a red sponge!

Stars of America

Back in 2009 [YES NINE years ago] I started making Stars of America from Carol Doak's book

I love Carol Doak's method of paper piecing and each star is named after a USA State.
Having visited 31 different States I thought this would be a nice way to remember my travels.

The book comes with a CD for printing off the patterns

I printed the patterns onto thin cheap notebook paper and although I have finished making the stars I still have a lot of paper to remove!! Why of why did I not remove it as I went along.

This is definitely a UFO that needs completing, so I will take it on holiday with me and try at least to get all the paper removed. Watch this space.....

Early morning visitor

Every morning I like to go out and feed my fish and the past few days I have had someone looking at me, so I figured he deserved to have a photo on my blog.

I don't know a toad from a frog and guess he will not turn into a Prince but I love seeing the wildlife in the garden and hope he finds lots of slugs to eat.