Sunday Sevens #79 16.4.17

Happy Easter Sunday to you. I hope that however you are spending it, you are having a happy time. We have enjoyed some gorgeous spring sunshine this week, although today the sun has abandoned us as things are looking rather murky and misty at the moment.

Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens…

A return to the Med Steps


Our trip back to the U.K. as well as other things have got in the way of me climbing the Med Steps of late. On Sunday I had absolutely no energy at all, I think it’s a combination of a couple of very busy weeks and hay fever kicking in (which is unusual for me), but after a very lazy morning I hauled myself up the Med Steps and felt much better for it.

I’m supposed to be doing the Med Steps 5 challenge next month and according  my training schedule (aka Mr Postcard) by last weekend I should’ve been doing twice round. I didn’t, so the jury’s out on whether I’ll be able to manage 5 times round this year…

The Steps are looking very spring-y with wildflowers blooming all over. On my walk back down the Rock, these apes were putting on a good show for the tourists near St Michael’s Cave.

Easter holiday fun


We’ve been doing a tour of Gibraltar’s parks this Easter holiday, first Commonwealth on Monday, then Europa Point on Tuesday… we went back again the next day too! I didn’t eat ice cream on every visit… I promise 😊.

Raising the roof


Mid week saw a bit on excitement on Queensway as traffic was given a front row seat to a very delicate operation. The roof of the one remaining gatehouse at the entrance to the Dockyard was lifted off so the structure could be dismantled and rebuilt on another location nearby. The contractors hearts must have been in their mouths as they watched the roof raised and swung round to another place after over 100 years in the same spot.

Lent Crochet


I made a pledge to crochet a square every day through Lent so that I could create another blanket for the Sixty Million Trebles project. The project aims to raise awareness and funds about the plight of refugees around the world through crochet. My pile of squares was getting bigger but would I succeed in completing the blanket by Easter Sunday?? I’ll have to let you know next week.

Five minutes of peace…

On Good Friday morning I found myself in town, quite early on, killing time before picking up a Little Postcard from an activity. I think it was the first time I had actually been alone (apart from the Med Steps trip) since school broke up for the Easter holidays (barring the shower and trips to the loo – although they invariable involve a knock on the door from someone). I thoroughly enjoyed my coffee with my crochet in hand watching Main Street spark into life around me.

More peace and quiet…


Later on Good Friday I got the chance to go back up the Med Steps, and this time I managed it twice round for the first time this year! I’m so pleased with myself, it’s a bit of a milestone to cross and I didn’t feel half dead at the end of it, so potentially I could have done some more had time allowed. Now I feel a lot less anxious about the Med Steps 5 Challenge which is fast approaching next month. 

This picture features a photo from each circuit of the Steps. I noticed this pretty honeysuckle was out on the road back down the Western side. It looked so pretty, sadly it had no noticeable perfume, but perhaps it comes alive in the evening.
Lunch with a view


Yesterday we enjoyed beautiful spring sunshine. We went round to Catalan Bay and met some friends for lunch. It’s at times like this that we are reminded how lucky we are to live here.

Thank you so much for stopping by, and hope that the coming week is a good one for you.

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog

Sunday Sevens #71 19.2.17

Hello there, this Sunday Sevens is being sent from sunny (well ok then, cloudy but dry) Manchester today as I am back in the UK on a flying visit to see my parents. Mr Postcard is back at home in Gibraltar with the Little Postcards and awaiting my return later today. It’s been such a luxury to be back in my childhood home again – just me, and to be spoiled by my Mum and Dad.

A new crochet project

Last Sunday really wasn’t up to much weather wise and we found ourselves sheltering indoors to stay dry. The highlight of our Sunday afternoon was a trip to Morrison’s supermarket café just so we could get out of the house for an hour! What else is there to do when you are house bound than start a new crochet project? 😉 I just can’t help myself.

This lovely yarn is Luisa Harding Pittura which I bought online a few months ago and was just waiting for the right project to come along for it. That project is the Spun Gold shawl by Kat Goldin of the Crochet Project. You can find it here: Kat Goldin’s blog. It’s working up really fast thanks to the quintuple trebles which pop up every six rows or so. It’s my first attempt at this stitch and so far so good, they are looking pretty even.

February weather

It’s been a bit grey and gloomy in Gibraltar all week, although it hasn’t rained all the time, it has threatened it for most of the week. This was the scene across the Bay of Gibraltar as we headed out to school on Monday, we rushed out and I rushed back home quickly in the hope of dodging the shower which was dumping it’s load across the Bay.

Whoops – spot the mistake…

So dressmaking class this week didn’t exactly go according to plan, last week’s faux pas is obvious above (note the extra bits which had to be added to the hem of two panels of my princess-line dress to-be). 

Can you spot the other mistake? Yes, I managed to sew both sides of the back of the dress the same way, so I have two left back sections instead of a left and a right….. Cue trip back to the fabric shop to buy some more gabardine (I couldn’t face unpicking the princess-line seam and the double row of zig zag I’d sewn to neaten the internal seam edge) and a good deal of catching up to do next week. Whoops!

Feeling virtuous

I don’t normally post pictures of food, but I am trying to be good at the moment, we have two family weddings coming up in the next few months and I really could do with shedding a spare tyre or two. This week I have been mainly eating salad and soup and lots of fruit and veg but no pasta, rice, spuds or bread. 

I got the chance to go out to lunch to Wagamamas in Ocean Village one lunchtime (my first visit) and I had this gorgeous chicken salad. It was soooooo nice and ticked all the right diet boxes too. 🙂

Off to a flyer


Thursday morning was looming ahead of me. I had an appointment and my watercolour class both at different ends of Gibraltar and no car so I set off walking in my wellies (it had been wet and was threatening more rain) and loaded up with bags containing everything I needed for the morning ahead. Imagine my joy when a friend pulled up next to me as I felt the first spit of rain and shouted ” Do you want a lift?” Thank you! I didn’t think twice. I made it into town dry and with time to spare for a coffee! Hurrah!

(There’s no watercolour featuring in Sunday Sevens this week as what I produced needs more work… I’ll share what I’ve been doing next time).

The weekend starts here…


On Friday evening I ran off and left Mr Postcard and the Little Postcards. I flew out of Gibraltar to Manchester to visit my Mum & Dad. I have never sat out on the viewing platform at the airport before, because I’ve usually got small people with me. This time though I was able to sit and relax with a G&T before take off… such luxury! 

Shopping!


I had a lovely time at the Trafford Centre yesterday shopping with my Mum. We don’t get the chance to do that kind of thing very often and we both really enjoyed it. We both had success and got most of what we’d gone for… hurrah!

Sunday Sevens is a weekly blog series created by Natalie from Threads & Bobbins blog.

Sunday Sevens #48 11.9.16

Crochet in the midday sun


On Monday we were given an extra bank holiday here in Gibraltar. We celebrated National Day yesterday, and as it fell on a Saturday we got an extra day off tagged on the end of the Gibraltar Music Festival weekend. Mr Postcard had to go to work for some of the day so I took the Little Postcards to Europa Point to take their bikes out for a spin.

As they cycled round trying to avoid taking out a few tourists on the way past, I carried on with my #sixtymilliontrebles project. It’s coming on so quickly it’s bigger than the lighthouse already ;-).

Sometimes it’s easy to forget just where we live. As I sat hooking up my trebles the voice of a tour guide was carried in my direction on the breeze ‘…the amazing thing about Europa Point is that from here you can see three countries, two continents, an ocean and a sea.’ Good point Mrs Tour Guide, and I’m just sitting on a bench hooking up granny squares oblivious to this amazing backdrop…

An evening out

We had a lovely night out child-free this week. We had no plans and went out for a walk not knowing where we would end up. Our final destination was Queensway Quay where we enjoyed a lovely meal. It was so pretty there at sunset.

And relax…


On Thursday morning I found myself with a whole hour of free time. It was the first time since all three children returned to school that I’d completed my to-do list with time to spare before heading out on the midday school run. Life will be so much easier once full-days return to school next week. (Schools here finish at lunchtime for the last few weeks of summer term and before National Day in September). 

I’d been to collect my latest issue of Simply Crochet magazine from the post office and all the shopping was put away. So I had a guilt free flick through 🙂

Aerobatics 


Friday saw the Rock gearing up for the National Day yesterday. A now regular feature of the celebrations is an aerobatic display. The pilots had a practice run late on Friday afternoon and it was quite a sight to behold across the Bay. I spied them out of the window and dashed to grab my phone for a quick photo. By the time I’d got out onto the balcony they’d gone from right in front of our building to down near the lighthouse at the tip of Gibraltar! 

They were amazing – although I couldn’t imagine ever having a ride in one!!

Gibraltar National Day 2016

It was a scorcher of a day here yesterday as Gibraltar celebrated it’s national pride in style. Some people choose to spend it on the beach, others in town. We had a quiet lunch with friends and a walk through the Alameda Gardens.


It wouldn’t be National Day without a great fireworks display. It was spectacular as usual (not so great for our four legged friends though).


So there you have it, the summer is officially over now. We had a long school summer break, the fair came to town, then the Gibraltar Music Festival last weekend and now National Day has passed us by. Schools go back on Monday for full days, so it’s packed lunches and after school clubs all the way to the end of October! 

Thank you for stopping by, this has been Sunday Sevens, part of a weekly blog series devised by Natalie at Threads & Bobbins blog