Breathing in

It was obvious that the baby blanket had to be redone, despite me saying it was not going to be. The contrast between the two creams, although indiscernable in some light, was naggingly clear to me. With recent events, crochet has been on the back burner a bit, until now.
Despite working extra hours all week to catch up on a huge backlog (getting paid for it this time yippeee), it is QUIET in the house. Only me and Big J and he is not around much. Cooking for two, washing for two, me and Bosley hanging out. It is a like being on hols.
So out came the squares and I am slowly unpicking the wrong cream, crocheting up the right cream, blocking them and putting them together. It is strangely satisfying to be doing it properly.
This is my basket of homework....

and this is a strip being fixed

Off now to sit on the patio for an hour and work.
Ciao.

The rest of the week

Spain came to an end and here are some of the last shots. A house I found for sale...a wonderful window, a church bell and my loved ones...

Just after we got home and Big J departed for Whitley Bay, the girls and I went to Bedfordshire to see my BFF, Colette and her two beautiful daughters who are here from Japan for the summer hols. It was quite a reunion for our respective girls. It is some years since they have seen each other. They slept in a tent in Colette's sister's garden and re-bonded! Despite a heavy shower while the tent was being put up, they had a dry night.
It was so good to see Colette and to TALK to her. I wish we had more time.

Girls in the tent!
Then we had this:

My brother married the dearest girl and baby is due in two weeks. What a day, what a week. Tears of sorrow and of joy.

Tonight Big J gets home, finally. It will be good to have him back.

in the last week.....cont

There was dancing in the street. Part of the local music festival, and people love to dance.
We took a day trip to Barcelona, where the boys headed off to see FC Barcelona's stadium and the girls went to Sagrada Familia. Most of the photos are on Em's camera of the latter, but these few shots might give an idea of the scale of the place. We loved it.
A stroll along La Rambla and a visit to Mercat de Sant Josep, the awesome food market. I bought fresh dates and Big J got slices of watermelon. Had we lived closer, we may have gone mad!
The hamburger in the photo is a cake, as is the daisy cake. Mosaic is so Mediterranean and this pillar is inside the market place.

In the last week.....continued

We ate wonderful, fresh seafood....

and visited the food markets in Parafrugell and Barcelona. A feast for the senses.

Neighbouring Pals is a beautiful old town where Big J and I pottered for an afternoon.

In the last week

Much has happened and I do not want to let it all slip away.

We were in Begur in Spain (Catalonia) last week. It was beautiful.

The clock tower on the church is in the plaza where markets and concerts are held and where we often found ourselves in the evening with a drink and some tapas. This photo was taken from the castle.

It is an old town with a castle ruin above it on a hill. A lovely jumble of narrow streets and colourful houses.

A heavenly, quiet beach, with deep clear water and walls from which to plunge into the depths. Demonstrated here by some local kids....Hannah and I bravely did it as well, from a lower wall, but it was still brilliant fun.

There is more to come, pop in again!

A shared goodbye

I drove the girls to Heathrow this morning. They were so upbeat and excited. They also insisted on doing everything themselves, they did not want help to check in. They know the drill.
On the road we thought of Big J, Nancy and A, who were also saying goodbye, to Ivan. We would have liked to be there too.
As the girls disappeared passed security, I and another mum, who was saying goodbye to her daughter, stood side by side. We found out that our girls are away for a month and they are all heading East. We agreed we hate to say goodbye and that we worry. We shared a mum moment.

Ivan

We have had a lovely, lovely time in the Costa Brava. Five of us, family, loads of silly jokes, swimming, good food, really chilling out and loving being away from the daily grind. All our phones were off and sadly, this meant that we did not pick up the message to call home urgently. While we were away, Big J`s dad, Ivan, passed away. He was large and colourful and funny, and so accepting of J`s new family. J is at home now, with his mum and sisters. This week he will be looking after them and I will be here looking after the girls and A if he is around and needs it. My little brother marries on Wednesday, so we will celebrate with him and Kris. On Friday, we will remember Ivan and the girls will fly to Japan.