Month: January 2019

Sunday Sevens #173 27.1.19

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Another week gone, I hope it’s been a good one for you. Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens…

A quiet Sunday

Sunday was a quiet day, a bit of pottering, homework with the Little Postcards and a nice sunset to end with.

Super wolf moon

Early on Monday morning (6:12am) there was a total lunar eclipse. I was asleep when that happened. Eldest got up early to see it but not early enough – it was supposed to be a red/brown colour which gives it the name ‘blood moon’. The very large normal coloured moon was still in evidence when I left the house for the first time on Monday morning. That was spectacular enough for me. Sadly this photo doesn’t do it justice, it was beautiful to see.

Back to sewing

After a rather long hiatus for Christmas and New Year, sewing classes started up again this week. It’s so nice to be back and to catch up on everyone’s news. Oh, and work on my jacket sleeves began…

Rough seas

We have been exceptionally fortunate with our weather lately. We often have a lot of rain at this time of the year, but thankfully we haven’t seen much at all so far. I can’t help feeling it won’t be long before the wellies are back out again. It was a bit gusty though midweek. It doesn’t look too bad in this photo, but the sea was a bit choppy – not a day for going out in a little boat.

Watercolour class

My watercolour of Sacred Heart Church ceiling is coming on apace in my art class. I’m enjoying slapping a bit of colour on it now!

Blue skies

The lovely weather continued on Friday (above) and Saturday (below) it doesn’t feel like January at all … until you get a cold gust of wind or stand in the shade for too long – then you know it’s not summer!

A big plane

I’m not sure whether you can make out the huge grey plane through all the netting, but we were rather taken by surprise at Littlest’s football match yesterday. All of a sudden this rather large RAF plane appeared behind us coming in to land on the runway – it was silent until we heard a sudden roar! ‘Only in Gibraltar’ as they say round here…

So that’s Sunday Sevens for another week, I hope the next seven days are kind to you.

As always I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

Friday photo challenge 2019 (week 4) Moon

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How fortuitous that ‘moon’ should be the subject for the photo challenge this week? We started our week with a total lunar eclipse early on Monday morning. Unfortunately, I missed the eclipse and it’s ‘blood moon’, but I did get the chance to see the super moon before it set behind the hills above Algeciras across the Bay of Gibraltar from where we live.

The last time we saw a super moon in Gibraltar was in November 2016. I went down to Europa Point to see it.

I’m linking with Alison in Andalucia for #52fridayphotos this year.

Sunday Sevens #172 20.1.19

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Sunday evening again… another week flown by. I can’t believe how fast the days are going at the moment, we’ve had another busy week, but then I seem to always be saying that!! Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Sunlit walk home

Last Sunday afternoon we had a walk to the Alameda Botanical Gardens. The Little Postcards whizzed down the hills on their scooters – I had my heart in my mouth! After a lovely time playing in the park, we made our way home just as the sun was setting. It was lovely to see the place lit up with gorgeous golden sunlight.

Monday Med Steps

I started the week with a lovely trip up the Med Steps. It was a stunning morning. I even took a detour once I’d reached the top and walked up to O’Hara’s Battery for the first time (Gibraltar’s highest point). It was a lovely morning.

O’Hara’s Battery

A birthday walk

On Wednesday, it was the birthday of a good friend of mine. Along with three other friends, we took a drive across the border into Spain and went for a walk from Alcaidesa towards Gibraltar and back along the beach. It was such a lovely walk (if a little hard going on the legs in the sand). We had a very excited chocolate Labrador for company too.

We had such a lovely time we pledged to do it again on a regular basis.

Back to watercolour class

There hasn’t been much in the way of arts and crafts going on lately, what with the break for Christmas and general chaos since. This week, I made it back to my watercolour class and had a very enjoyable time adding some colours to my painting of the ceiling at Sacred Heart Church.

A close call

Mid week I got a rather nasty fright. I’d plugged the dishwasher in to do a load of dishes, left to bring the washing in and returned about 5 minutes later to see sparks and smoke coming from the plug. It was a bit of a wake-up call. I’m so glad I spotted it and was able to turn off the power when I did.

Crochet again!

So, as with all of my ambitious projects, when I started this jumper, I was very gung-ho and was confident it would be finished in time for me to wear it at Christmas. Well I finished the back of it by Christmas…. I made a bit of progress on the front this week!

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series featuring seven photos from the last seven days & I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

I hope you have a good week!

Sunday Sevens #171 13.1.18

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Hello and welcome to yet another Sunday Sevens, my word, that week went fast. It’s been a great one for us here in Gibraltar weatherwise, distinctly un-Januaryish. Normally at this time of year we can get some very wet and rainy days, proper soak-you-through-to-the-skin rain, but we have been remarkably lucky and had lots of clear skies and sunshine. Here goes…

Sunny Sunday walk

The aforementioned sunshine was out in abundance last Sunday, so we headed out for a nice afternoon stroll with scooters and looked for good spots to get up a bit of speed. I even got roped in for one of the races, not sure what the people who saw me zooming past thought (can I just point out that it felt like zooming to me, but was probably more like crawling to the onlooker).

Med steps on a Monday morning

I headed off up the Med Steps first thing on Monday, it was a clear morning in the diary. As I had just dropped the Little Postcards off at school for their first day after the holidays, I thought the laundry could wait and I’d head off for a walk to burn a few of the calories I may have consumed over Christmas and the New Year. There were a few apes about early on in the walk which is rather disconcerting as it was at a rather narrow part and I wasn’t able to give them a wide berth. I’m pleased to say they weren’t bothered about my presence and continued picking fleas off each other or whatever it was they were doing while I continued past.

Boring jobs

This is the point in Sunday Sevens when I would normally post a photo taken at my sewing or watercolour classes. They are yet to start up again after Christmas, so I made use of my time by getting some boring admin jobs done. Hopefully there will be more creative photos in next week’s Sunday Sevens.

Something’s afoot

When I was out in town during the week, I happened to pass the old police station in Irish Town. It’s been lying empty for a few years now, which is a real shame because it’s a beautiful building. I was sad to see it slowly falling into disrepair, but it would appear that something’s going on. I hope that whoever has taken it on, will treat it with respect, because it’s facade is beautiful.

More sunshine!

I’ve got nothing much to say about this photo other than to show you more sunshine. I was out and about doing jobs and spied some tourists heading off up the Rock on the cable car.

Fluffy clouds

I don’t normally walk this route, but I ended up walking this way past St Joseph’s Church on Friday and it struck me how pretty this flight of stairs is down to Scud Hill below, especially with the boats in the distance.

A quick jaunt into Spain

Yesterday morning, once our footballing commitments were finished we headed into Spain for a bit of retail therapy, well actually it was just a trip to the supermarket, but it was nice to have a mooch around somewhere different and get some things we can’t get hold of in Gib as easily. It’s always nice to see the Rock waiting for us on our return.

That’s all for Sunday Sevens for this week. I hope you’ve had a good one and if you’ve returned to work / restarted a school routine this week, that it’s run smoothly for you. I have to admit I’ve enjoyed having a bit of time to myself again, as much as it’s nice to have everyone around at Christmas.

Have a good week!

As always I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

2019 Friday photo challenge (Week 2) ‘Think big’

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This week’s Friday Photo Challenge theme is ‘think big’ and nothing says big to me like the Vatican. We visited as a family in the summer of 2017 and it was truly huge. St Peter’s Basilica (above) was the largest church in the world until very recently, and this ceiling in the Vatican Museum (below) is just awe inspiring, totally covered in paintings in gilt frames. I have never seen anything like it.

If you would like to read more about our trip to the Vatican City, you can see my post here.

I’m linking with Alison in Andalucia for this year’s photo challenge.

Sunday Sevens #170 6.1.19

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Happy New Year and welcome to the first Sunday Sevens of 2019! We are on the final day of the school Christmas holidays here. And I’m writing this to avoid thinking about school uniforms and packed lunches! Here goes…

The sun goes down on another year…

This was the last sunset of 2018, a calm end to the year. We spent New Year’s Eve at home and ate nice food before watching the coverage of local celebrations on the TV as the clock ticked down to midnight….

Bring on the fireworks…

…and then the skies lit up all around us. Several neighbours put on rather impressive firework displays.

New Year’s Day Med Steps trip

We thought we would start the year as we mean to go on and headed off up the Med Steps late morning on New Year’s Day. It was the first time we’d taken the two youngest Postcards up there and they loved it. They did so well, especially Youngest, who has the shortest legs of all. Two and a quarter hours door to door, which is very good going I think.

All the fun of the fair

There have been Christmas Fair rides and attractions in town all over Christmas. We managed to avoid them until this week (cruel parents that we are). Fortunately ours aren’t great fans of rides so a quick go on hook-a-duck was enough to satisfy Youngest.

Unusual boat

This huge crane ship has been in our eye line for weeks. It appeared across the Bay at Algeciras before Christmas and then around New Year’s Eve, it moved out into the Bay to be serviced by some of the bunkering ships from Gibraltar. It disappeared off into the Med not long after.

Christmas done for another year…

And so, after all that build-up, Christmas has been packed away back into boxes for another year. I felt sad putting my fairy lights away though, I love it when they twinkle at night!

Cavalcade

The 62nd annual 3 Kings Cavalcade took place in Gibraltar last night. It was honestly quite a sight. A few years ago there were concerns that it might stop as fewer floats being entered. This year saw its second biggest number ever, with 17 floats in total. Some of them were amazing this year…

Well done to everyone who took part!

And so that’s Sunday Sevens for another week. I hope you’ve had a good start to the New Year.

I’m anticipating that things will be a bit busier than usual for me in the next few weeks (all good things though) so I may not be around as much as usual. I will endeavour to keep up with Sunday Sevens and Friday photos, but there may not be the chance for much else for now.

Thanks for stopping by, and until next time, have a good week!

As always I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

2019 Friday photo challenge (week 1) Sunrise

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This year I am taking part in Alison in Andalucia’s #52fridayphotos. Today’s challenge theme is ‘sunrise’.

That was a bit of a problem as I don’t have any sunrise photos. Living where we do on the Western side of Gibraltar we get to see some fabulous sunsets though…

This photo was taken while sitting on the platform at Manchester Oxford Road railway station waiting for an early train. That’s as close as I can get to sunrise! (I’m not really a morning person!)