WAVING ON TUESDAY.....

....after having been MIA for a few weeks.

Our temperature has dropped by ten degrees since Saturday, but the sun is still shining and today saw me doing this:

When I dropped a friend home today she invited me to pick some grapefruit from the tree in her garden.....I couldn't believe how many were on it!

The weekend?...our Charity Christmas Bazaar was on Sunday, which meant that Saturday was spent preparing for it....and on the day itself a grand total of just over 5000 euros was raised! 

One of the highlights of the day was one of our Craft Group ladies (a self-confessed 77 years of age) performing the splits after a very entertaining dance routine!

A special wave to SIAN and her Monday Wavers.....and hoping the week brings good things to one and all!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

ZIZO

It's been a few weeks since I took part in HELANA'S weekly photographic meme, but I am actually organised this week!...though, as it has turned out STILL late in posting!!

ZOOMING OUT

You may remember me mentioning a few weeks ago that our local Charity had opened a small hospice facility at a place called FONTILLES...it is high in the mountains about 10km from here and this is the  view down to the coast at DENIA

ZOOMING IN

What you DON'T see in the above photograph is the huge wall surrounding Fontilles:

The reason for the wall is that Fontilles was actually built as a Leper Colony and Research Facility for the disease. The wall was built as a reassurance to the local villages, as opposed to keeping the patients in. There are still about four ex-patients in the facility, who live in apartments onsite (they had nowhere to go when the facility was no longer needed for that purpose)

There is still a Research Dept there...researching Tropical and all sorts of other diseases.....and the hospitals are now used to serve the local community. There is a Dementia/Alzheimer's hospital and then the main hospital is used for people who need a temporary stay in hospital for postoperative periods, convalescence from illness, chronic conditions, rehabilitation after orthopedic surgery etc. but is also 'home' to many long-term patients, sent there by Social Services when there is no family support available or conditions are too chronic to be dealt with outwith a hospital.

I have become very attached to it during the short period of time we have been involved .....the level of care is exceptional, it is spotlessly clean (and nasty smell-free!) and there is just such an air of tranquility each time I visit.

I realise this has been quite long for a ZIZO, but thought some of you might find a little bit of local history interesting!

Wishing you all a happy and sunshine filled weekend!

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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THE WEEK THAT WAS

This week I have:

READ,,,,,

One I've been meaning to read for a few years.....and I'm so glad i got around to it..beautifully written

RECEIVED.....three beautiful quilt blocks, as part of  FIONA'S FRIENDSHIP QUILT

from the lovely SIAN

from the lovely ABI

from the lovely DEB TURTLE

some PL supplies

LOST.....0.75 KG

WORKED ON....

Project Life

TOOK PART IN.....

a 5km walk through the almond groves

A good week, all in all......I hope your week was a good one too!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

HELLO WEEK!

This week I'm saying:

HELLO to an early morning trip to the Airport tomorrow, to wave goodbye to Craig again :(

HELLO to two lunches out...whilst trying to get myself back  on track diet-wise!!....that should be interesting

HELLO to the gathering together of all the items I'm responsible for, for the Seminar JVH are running on Saturday

HELLO to three of 'the girls' arriving on Friday ( the other arriving next week)....they're visiting for just over a week this time!....which in turn leads to:

HELLO to lots of fun and laughter! :)

I do hope there's some fun and laughter in your own week!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

LOOKING UP AND DOWN....

....at my Summer!

LOOKING UP

if I haven't been doing something or other connected to this......

LOOKING DOWN

.....I've been playing this!

Thanks to HELENA'S weekly photographic meme, I shan't forget this 'Summer of Madness'!

Hoping all is well in your corner of the blogosphere!...I am still catching up with my blog reading, so please bear with me!!

Thanks for dropping  by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

THIS WEEK.........

........is another busy one, though no house guests are involved nor any trips to the airport!

Tuesday sees the culmination of almost two months of blood, sweat and tears of frustration (I have to say the tears haven't been mine, but there have been a few of our number who have let things get to them)....the opening of the new JALON VALLEY HELP (JVH)  Charity Shop, in the neighbouring village of (funnily enough!) Jalon.

You may remember me mentioning in previous posts that we had been refurbishing the shop in our own village...that refurb was part of an attempt to bring both shops more onto an equal footing, as we knew the Jalon shop was moving to these new premises which would (after some serious hard graft) look bright, shiny and new! 

Having finished ALCALALI'S  'facelift' a couple of weeks ago, it was straight into the actual physical moving of everything in the OLD Jalon shop which needed to go to the NEW  one, and also of course the 'facelift' for the new premises!

And Tuesday evening is the BIG opening!......tomorrow will- hopefully!- see the last of the labels for the shelves and rails being put in place (typed, printed and laminated by myself...people are beginning to think I have OCD when it comes to ensuring everything is perfectly cut to size and MATCHING!).

I am also responsible for the buffet being served at the Grand Opening.......my shopping list today included; Cava, Juice, Water,Olives and these fabby little bread snacks I've recently discovered:

Hopefully, by 4.45pm(ish) tomorrow evening, I will have the trestle tables looking festive and all the lovely ladies I've roped in , begged persuaded to help will turn up with quiches, sandwiches, vol-au-vents and various mini-kebabs to help the party go with a swing!

Wednesday morning will see me at the hairdresser's...a much-needed appointment I  have to say, and the end of the week sees me re-organising the books in our (JVH's) new storage facility!

How is your week shaping up?

Thanks for dropping by!
Take care of you
Alison xx

LOOKING UP AND DOWN

Hello my friends...another busy week here, due to the re-furbishing of the Charity shop where I work...why we decided to do it in this heat, I can't quite remember!!!

We are sitting between 30 and 35 degrees(C) every day...at this moment it's actually 38* on the terrace, hence the reason I have come into a cool part of the house to write this!

I can only sympathise with my friend DEB TURTLE, in her post YESTERDAY.....I feel your pain, my friend...but I totally agree with her that you accept the 8-10 weeks of intense heat and learn to adapt...the thought of our cooler -but still mainly awesome- weather from September keeps us all going!

My pictures for HELENA'S weekly photographic meme...LOOK UP, LOOK DOWN are directly linked to our weather this week.

LOOKING UP

The sun almost directly above us at 1pm today

LOOKING DOWN

Boo's favourite daytime spot at the moment...under our bed!

I do hope the sun is shining where YOU are...it's even shining in Central Scotland! Mum is hiding indoors, while dad (having got out of hospital at the weekend- thank you so much for all your lovely comments and enquiries about his health!) is enjoying sitting in it!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

HELLO....WHILE LOOKING UP AND DOWN!

At long last I've managed to find five minutes this week to sit down with my laptop, when I'm not searching for  Birthday presents or flights!

It's been a hectic week, and so far I've said:

HELLO to two afternoons trying to re-shelve the books in the Charity Shop Library..we have moved the Library to a different room, meaning (obviously) that all the books had to be moved too...unfortunately the person who moved them DIDN'T keep them in alphabetical order and it has been a mammoth task trying to get them back in the right order!!

HELLO to cleaning terraces and patios

HELLO to one morning working in the shop and one morning at the Drop -in- Centre

HELLO to last night of Line Dancing for the summer

HELLO to a very pleasant lunch out with friends

HELLO to someone having turned our temperatures up to an almost-constant 30 degrees from 9am until 8pm every day this week!

HELLO to having booked another few days back in Scotland later this month

HELLO to dad being back in hospital again...hopefully not for long, as they stabilised him quickly and there don't seem to be any added complications this time.

Given that I'm likely to be MIA for the rest of the week (due to ongoing Library and Shop refurbishment duties!), I just wanted to post my pictures for HELENA'S weekly photographic meme LOOKING UP AND DOWN:

LOOKING UP

I suddenly noticed this Hibiscus rose growing up through our neighbour's tree...it has obviously found a route through the fence (which is about 7 feet tall) and continued growing upwards...I  keep the bush pruned to about 3 feet on our side of the fence

LOOKING DOWN

the lowest flower on the Hisbiscus bush

I'm hoping to catch up with some blog reading over the weekend...until then I hope you are having a less hectic week than me and that you and yours are well!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

HELLO MONDAY......with a glass of something cold!

This week I'm saying HELLO, whilst offering you a glass of icy cold Sangria (or whatever your choice of beverage might be), because I'm joining up with ABI , for her monthly 'tea' meme.

 If you don't mind sitting in the sun we can sit outside, but at the moment we don't have any parasols to give any shade.....you might prefer to sit in the naya, where I have all the doors open and there's a pleasant breeze coming through.

I should explain that the shortage of parasols is due to the fact that when we threw out the old ones, a couple of months ago, we discovered that there weren't any actually in the shops yet to replace them! However, that is one of the jobs on the 'to do' list when Craig arrives tomorrow.....he is here for four days, and I think you'll be able to tell that I'm happy about that (and not JUST because of the parasols!).

By this time, hopefully, we'll be settled with our drink of choice and I'll be wanting to hear your own news....hoping that most of it is positive: that the family are well and that you are finding time for being creative.

I'm sure you're wondering why I have so many pieces of paper with names, menus and lists on them.....they are for the '60s Night' which I am helping to organise on Saturday night

If you had dropped in last night, you would have found me tearing my hair out, trying to get the numbers to tally...but all's well now and the menu choices have been sent to the restaurant.


 I'll be wondering if you joined in with SIANS 'Big swap of very little things'...and if so, would love to hear what was in the package you received...I'll also confess that I only posted my package to CHERI this morning, along with another few bits of 'Happy Mail'.

Can you hear that thunder in the distance, and do you see how the clouds are rolling in over the mountains?....I think we're in for a storm...yes, here are the first big raindrops beginning to fall- in fact it's actually hailstones! Let me shut all these doors...and please excuse Boo- she gets really afraid during storms.

As the hail turns to rain, I'll be telling you how relieved we all are that my dad is showing signs of improvement again...and although he's still in hospital, we're hoping he'll get out later this week.

Oh look...the rain's stopped just as suddenly as it began...yes, you're probably right to leave while it's dry...but please do stop by again next month:I really DO enjoy these visits!

One thing before you go....remember it's 'STORYTELLING SUNDAY' over at SIAN'S PLACE ......see you there?

Thanks for dropping by!
Take care of you
Alison xx

HELLO MONDAY

This week I'm saying:

HELLO to the May Fayre  being over....(sigh of relief!)

HELLO to having raised over 5000 euros!!!!.....making it WELL worth the effort!

HELLO to getting to BOTH Keep Fit AND Line Dancing...I  have managed to get to one or the other recently, but not both

HELLO to realising that my two brothers are capable of more than any of us (including them!) thought...dad's back in hospital and they are really keeping on top of his care and what can be put in place to make life easier for dad and mum ,when he gets home.

HELLO to being grateful for social networking...FB allows my sister in New Zealand, my brothers and myself to 'talk' without having to repeat the same things to each other constantly

HELLO to getting a package put together for SIAN'S GREAT BIG SWAP OF VERY SMALL THINGS (I honestly haven't forgotten, Cheri!)

HELLO to maybe..just maybe......getting some scrapbooking done this week! 

HELLO to trying not to feel guilty for getting on with my life, when I know how poorly my dad is

I do hope there are good things for you to be saying HELLO to this week!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

LOOKING UP AND DOWN

If you read my previous post, you will know that this week is taken up with preparation for the local May Fayre...so it seems appropriate that this week's 'up and down' pictures (inspired by my friend HELENA) are related to these preparations!

LOOKING UP

checking the spacing for the bunting

LOOKING DOWN

sorting out raffle tickets

.....and with that, I must go and actually sort out the raffle tickets instead of taking photographs of them!

Hope you're all having a good week...I can't quite believe that we're almost at the weekend again!!

Tanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

HELLO MONDAY...LATE YET AGAIN!

This week I'm saying:

HELLO to being home again....hopefully for more than a couple of weeks this time!

HELLO to Kirsty having a permanent job!

HELLO to  the May Fayre on Sunday...the local charity's biggest event of the year...and for which I'm responsible for food and refreshments

HELLO to LOTS of lists which will, hopefully, ensure that I don't forget anything important for said Fayre!

HELLO to getting the bunting finished, and some more hair clips made for said Fayre! 

bunting and hair clips for the May Fayre

HELLO to getting out into the garden, to help cope with the stress of said Fayre!

HELLO to Sunday night, when it will all be over!!!

Hoping your week is looking good!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

HELLO MONDAY!

This week I'm saying :

HELLO to a trip to the airport, to pick up mum and dad's friend Barbara who arrives today.

HELLO to lots of signs of Spring in our garden

HELLO to a visit to the Grooming Parlour for Boo..she can hardly see out of her fringe!!!

HELLO to the first meeting of the Stitchcraft part of our Craft Group at the local Drop-In Centre...I don't 'do' sewing, but as the organiser of the group feel I should be present!

HELLO to a Curry Lunch on Saturday

HELLO to the annual ALMOND BLOSSOM WALK on Sunday...the only problem being that with the high winds we've been having, the likelihood of there being much blossom left is very slim!

I do hope those of you in the northern hemisphere are staying safe and warm!

Thanks for dropping by!
Take care of you
Alison xx

SIMPLY A MOMENT

JANUARY 17 8.05AM

My consciousness begins to stir and I half open one eye to check how light it is outside...as I do so, I am thinking 'What day are we at?'! It takes a couple of seconds for my still-sleepy brain to get the message to me that it is Thursday..... great!I don't have to be out particularly early, so I lean over and switch the electric blanket on and decide to have a sneaky extra ten minutes cosied under the covers. I also switch on the little blower I keep at the side of the bed to take the chill off the room, and as it starts to whirr gently I open my eyes properly to have a look out of the patio doors to check out how the day is looking.

I see the sun beginning to rise to the left of the house, and even through the voile curtains, it looks as there aren't TOO many clouds in the sky. It is very windy again, though...... the trees  are waving madly at me! I am suddenly aware of a gentle snoring on my left hand side, and turn to see Boo curled up in a ball beside me...she obviously has NO notion of rushing up either. 

My mind starts to go through the list of 'to do's' for today....Slimming Club this morning, Committee meeting this afternoon, baking a banana loaf for said meeting, sorting out bags of wool from the Charity shop for a new knitting class about to start at the DROP IN CENTRE in the village, and as the alarm on my mobile phone plays its merry (too merry actually!) tune, I know that it's time to get out of my cosy nest and start my day.

Thanks to ALEXA for the inspiration to 'Share a Moment' every month!

NB.....for anyone interested I lost all of a pound (0.4kg) this week- not a lot, but a start!

Thanks for dropping by!

Take care of you

Alison xx

WAS I ACTIVE?.......

......Yes, I think I was, my bloggy friends! 

I chose ACTIVE as my OLW for 2012. As in 2011 I didn't take part in the online course or even keep a written record of how I was doing, but I did find it helpful to have it at the back of my mind.....in fact it actually ended up practically taking over my life in some areas!

I declared my aims as follows:

to continue being physically active, with my Keep Fit and Line dancing classes ....and get back to walking Boo 'properly' (i.e. not just 'round the block'!! -I continued with both Keep Fit and Line dancing, but poor Boo didn't get much further than round the block!!

does she look bothered?!

to lose at least another stone (14lbs/6.4kgs)......FAIL!! I lost and gained the same two pounds all year :(

to become more active in our local community....I intend to volunteer to work in our local Charity Shop, and have already volunteered to be part of the 'Front of House' team for our local Theatre Group- not only do I now work in the Charity Shop, but I have ended up on the committee of the Charity itself- my main focus is on helping with the  planning for the numerous fundraising events we have.                                                                                                                     I have continued to do 'Front of House' at our theatre (in fact it's panto time again....THE WIZARD OF OZ- and I'm 'on duty' three times next week!)

to actively join in with blogging and online scrapping challenges.....I did reasonably well with this, though never actually finished the couple of classes I took!

to actively limit my time online (am not at all sure how that one will go!!)...AHEM!!

to actively make an effort to find some new recipes to keep me on target for losing that other stone.....see previous comment re weight-loss!

to actively support DD as she makes her decisions about her future...this is her final year in Barcelona and she has to decide 'what comes next'-and it's not likely to include staying here in Spain.......an ongoing activity! 

I reckon that I am going to continue being ACTIVE this year, so am using it again (also known as a cop-out, I know!)

Thanks for dropping by!

take care of you

Alison xx

ALL TURKEY'D OUT!

Thought I'd just drop by and let you that I have survived THREE Turkey dinners this week....I love how so many of you commented on the fact that two of them were with my Exercise and Slimming Group!

It actually made me stop and think why that seemed so strange (apart from the irony of course)...and when I thought back to my life in the UK, I realised that when I went to any of these groups there they were quite impersonal, and that unless you went with friends you didn't really socialise. Here though, after every class most people stop for a coffee or a drink and a chat...I'm not sure whether it's because the ex-pats are in a minority and so stick together more, or whether the lifestyle here is just more suited to socialising, but I must say I have no complaints! 

Lots of eating, drinking and singing!

I hope you too have had a festive week!

Thanks for dropping by!

take care of you

Alison xx