Month: March 2017

A stroll through the clouds… 

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I wasn’t planning on going for a walk up the Med Steps this morning, but I’m so glad I did. It was beautiful and I also got the chance to climb up through the clouds again. You may remember I took a similar walk like this just under a year ago… A mini stroll in the mist.

The sun was shining as we set off from the western side of the rock but as we walked around to the eastern side it was a bit cloudy. You could still feel the  sunshine beating down through the clouds though.

Looking up the sky immediately above us was so clear and bright!


  

As we climbed and looked out to sea it became obvious the clouds were actually forming a low blanket which the top of Gibraltar was just poking up out of.

From the summit you could just spy the northern tip poking out above the clouds.

Looking north

Looking south towards Morocco, the clouds were creeping around from the Mediterranean and into the Strait of Gibraltar.

Looking south
To the north, on the western side, the airport runway and part of town had been hidden from view as the misty cloud swept around and into the Bay.

Looking north west
We headed back down the Rock after our exertions in the cool shade feeling proud of ourselves for having achieved our goal. Within an hour the two cloudy arms had joined across the Bay and were encircling us in a giant cloudy hug. 

I drove into town to find myself severely underdressed (the T shirt was a bad idea!) and shrouded in cloud…. Can you believe these two photos (above and below) were taken just 10 minutes apart?!

Looking up the Rock from town
I’m pleased to report that the cloud has now burned off and we are basking in bright sunshine and blue skies!

Ahhh that’s better!

Main Street
How many seasons in one morning?! The weather and the micro climates around the Rock are part of the fun of living here.  It’s not just the apes, British Bobbies and red phone boxes that make Gibraltar unique.

2017 Weekly photo challenge (week 10) Floor

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So this week the prompt for the weekly photo challenge I’m taking part in is ‘Floor’. I had this image in my head of a beautiful Victorian tiled floor when I looked ahead to this several weeks ago, or perhaps some beautiful Moorish tiles. Only problem was I didn’t have a photo of either. 

I remembered back to my visit to Sacred Heart Church in Gibraltar’s Upper Town (the ceiling there was my photo for week 1 of this challenge). 

Outside the front entrance to this beautiful church is a rather nice geometric tiled patio…

Another historic building in Gibraltar with a rather nice floor is the Garrison Library.

In the upstairs rooms you visit on the official tour around the building, you get to see some really beautiful examples of wooden parquet flooring with gorgeous patterns inlaid around the edges.

As there are book shelves and furniture covering a lot of the floors you can only see some parts in doorways.

The star detail in this window reveal is really lovely, wouldn’t you agree?

The Garrison Library is a gorgeous old building with truly lovely floors.

Why is it that when I think of a good floor it’s always in an old building? Can we not make gorgeous doors anymore? 
This weekend, I visited a friend who lives in an older property in town and literally walked over this beautiful floor to get to her apartment. Now this is the kind of tiled floor I had in my mind when I started looking out for nice floors…

I’m joining with Wild Daffodil and Nana Cathy for this weekly photo challenge throughout 2017. If you fancy joining in, pop over to their blogs to find out how to get started.

Sunday Sevens #73 5.3.17

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Hello and welcome to another edition of Sunday Sevens. It’s not quite turned out to be the week I expected, plans went out of the window as I nursed a sick child and two sick bunnies… so here are my seven, oh ok, eight photos from the last seven days.

Citrus blossom scents the air

The citrus trees in our patio are covered in blossom at the moment. The lemon and orange trees are laden with the beautifully scented flowers. As soon as you head out the door you can smell it. In fact if you bring your nose right up close to the screen you may even be able to smell it it’s so strong!

Sunset 

This is the lovely sunset we saw on Monday night. Monday didn’t quite pan out as I expected as I got a call from school at 10 am to go and collect a Little Postcard from school who had suddenly fallen ill. I’m pleased to report that he is completely recovered now and he only missed two days of school. It did mean that no sewing got done this week though.

Poor little bunny

We’ve had a bit of a week as far as the Postcard Bunnies are concerned (four visits to the vet in total for me!). This little chap had to have an op. I won’t go into details but as we have a boy and a girl rabbit and we don’t want to be over run with rabbit babies, Diamond needed a ‘procedure’. 

He is normally a tad crazy and bounces from one side of his cage to the other when you walk in the room. After his trip to the vet, he was a sorry little soul and didn’t move much for two days.

I’m pleased to say that he has recovered well and is due for a post op check next week. He is eating voraciously and is bouncing again. He’s back to his crazy self.

Welcome back blue skies!!


Wednesday brought us some gorgeous blue skies. I had a trip into town and took this lovely photo from the ICC multi story car park. You can just make out Morocco in the distance peaking out above the buildings in the distance.

Tranquility


On Thursday morning I felt like I’d got a bit of normality back and headed off up the Med Steps before going to my watercolour class. It was so tranquil up there. It was very cloudy but the shafts of sunlight on the sea looked magical.

Painting…


If you’ve seen the last few Sunday Sevens you’ll know that we’ve been slapping the paint about all over and been looking for our ‘inner abstract’ at watercolour class. This week we’ve been developing those abstracts into something a bit more recognizable. So here’s my flamingo and citrus blossom…

Another poor rabbit


So, since last weekend our other bunny, Snowflake who we rescued from the Alameda Gardens, has been a bit off. She hasn’t been eating her food – in fact I had to empty her bowl at the end of the day on Wednesday because she had barely touched her carrots and kale. I finally decided to take her to the vet on Thursday. It turned out after an x-ray that she had an intestinal blockage caused by eating her winter fur coat.

As we are heading into spring, she is losing some of her fur and like cats, rabbits lick themselves to make themselves presentable. Unlike cats, rabbits don’t bring up fur balls, and this one is having trouble passing said fur the only other way. She is currently having four different medicines at different times of the day and is being fed a syringe of baby food every two hours. Honestly I thought it was hard looking after sick children….Anyway I am pleased to say that we have had results, the treatment is working! 

This photo was of her at the vet on Friday. You might notice the missing patches of fur on her ears and nose. That’s from the mange she must have had when she first came to us – that’s all cleared up and her fur is slowly growing back. Check out the EasyJet tail fin going past in the background. There can’t be too many vet consulting rooms in the world with a runway at the end of the road!!

Happy post

I had a real treat yesterday morning. I had to collect two parcels from the Post Office on Friday but was too busy to open them. I knew what was inside and wanted to take my time and enjoy opening them. It was like Christmas morning unwrapping this gorgeous bundle of fabric and my February subscription to the Little Box of Crochet. 🙂 It was a grim old day weatherise yesterday, so it was a real highlight to have these before heading out in the wind and rain!

Thanks so much for stopping by! Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie from Threads & Bobbins.

Postcard from Gibraltar Podcast No: 006 Gibraltar International Comic Con

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Are you a fan of Manga or perhaps have harboured an obsession with comics since childhood? Are you fascinated by science fictions films or is table-top gaming your thing? If you answered yes to any of those questions you are in for a treat very soon.

The first ever Gibraltar International Comic Con takes place in Kings Bastion on the ‘May the fourth’ weekend and is expected to draw fans of all genres to the Rock for a weekend of workshops, cosplay, competitions and lots more.

In this episode of the Postcard from Gibraltar Podcast you can hear from three members of the team who are working behind the scenes getting everything ready for the event :

Derek Carrillo
Joanna Jadczak

 

Jay Callejon

*TO HEAR THE PODCAST, CLICK HERE*

To find out more about the Gibraltar International Comic Con, please check out the event website: Gibraltar International Comic Con

You can also find them on Twitter and Facebook

If you would like to get in contact with me about a future podcast, please send me an email to postcardfromgibraltar@gmail.com or via Facebook. You can also find me on Twitter and Instagram as @postcardfromgib

Theme music: Happy Me by Twisterium

Rocksy & Gib’s Med Steps Adventure

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Do you remember Rocksy & Gib the mascots of the Gibraltar Crochet Collective? Last week, when the sun was shining they ran off and left the balls of yarn and hooks behind for a Med Steps adventure… do you want to see what they got up to?

It was hard work climbing up the hill to the start of the Med Steps. First pit stop was to admire one of the new signs which have appeared recently… This spot is 160 metres above sea level and this is just the beginning of the trail.

Ahh, time for a breather before the real work begins. So lovely to the feel the sunshine on your back after what feels like weeks of grey, damp and windy weather. These two posed for photos in the sun… admiring the view.

First climb completed and Gib soaked up a few rays at the entrance to the Twin Caves. Rocksy looked completely composed … not even a spot of perspiration yet! Next up… more steps and then the tunnel. Surely everyone who climbs this trail has their picture taken here by the sign? Not Rocksy, she was powering on through to the next bit!

Ahh, now that’s what you call a VIEW!

Knowing what lay ahead of them, Gib and Rocksy took a few moments to chill before attempting the final climb to the summit…

Here goes… these steps weren’t built for little crochet ape legs were they?

Phew, collecting themselves for the next mega step ahead….

Slowly but surely…

What more steps??

Holy Moly, I can see the top! But there’s a heck of a lot of steps to get up there!!

Did we really climb all that way up??

Time for another breather before the final push! What a great view of the Mediterranean…

They didn’t get very far before the next pit stop… Gib was looking a bit overwhelmed. Little did they know that they weren’t alone…

Literally seconds later, look who was sitting in exactly the same spot!

Better not monkey around any more then (sorry couldn’t help myself), last few steps and they were at the summit!

Phew – made it! That’s enough adventuring for one day… back home now for a cup of tea and some crochet!

If you are interested in joining the Gibraltar Crochet Collective, please check out our Facebook page for details of our next get-together. Beginners are welcome as well as experienced crocheters.

Our current project is a blanket for the Sixty Million Trebles project, the project aims to raise awareness about the plight of refugees worldwide. Today’s the first day of Lent, how about making a crochet square each day of Lent to help us make as many blankets as possible? (It’s far more pleasurable than giving up chocolate don’t you think?😉)

If you want to find out more about the Med Steps you can read all about it in my post: The Med Steps: a few facts & figures

And for some Med Steps inspired crochet you might like this: Wild flowers of the Med Steps.