A favourite viewpoint of mine in Gibraltar has to be this spot on the Med Steps where you can look along the Eastern side of the Rock towards Spain. But last week I visited a completely different kind of viewpoint…
(It was obviously the time of day for Jet 2 maneuvers).
The visitor centre at Manchester Airport. We have a plane enthusiast in the family you see…
I don’t wish to sound like a broken record, but for this photo challenge, there can only be one venue… the Med Steps!
For those of you who haven’t seen it already, here’s my most popular post of all time…. The Med Steps: a few facts & figures.
And I almost forgot, my second ever Stroll around Gibraltar post was about the many steps you can find on the Rock.
Favourite… that’s a bit of a loose prompt. Favourite what? Well this photo seems to be a bit of a favourite over on Instagram – it’s had more likes than any other on my account. It dates back to April last year.
My favourite photo taken in Gibraltar has to be this one, taken after walking up through the mist and low cloud on the Med Steps.
My favourite pass time has to be crochet…
And my favourite finished blanket so far has to be this rainbow granny square one…
Next week’s photo challenge is button.
This Sunday Sevens is being sent by a rather worn out Postcard from Gibraltar, the reason why will become apparent in the sixth photo!
Sunday sunset
We had a beaut of a sunset on Sunday evening. So colourful. I’ve not included a sunset in Sunday Sevens for a while, so thought I’d put this one in.
It’s starting to look like a dress!
At last at my dressmaking class I am seeing progress. My dress is looking like a dress! Now time to fiddle with the frill!
A farewell lunch
An arty friend of mine is leaving Gibraltar and returning home to the Netherlands. This week I met her for lunch along with another arty friend to say farewell. We had Indian Tapas. It tasted as good as it looks.
Sunny morning walk by the sea
On Wednesday morning I went for a bit of a walk, I went for a coastal option rather than climbing up the Rock like normal. It was beautiful as I walked through Catalan Bay.
Experimenting with backgrounds
My next watercolour painting will be of nasturtiums, and I’ve been experimenting with the background to set them off nicely. I want a traditional Gibraltar stone wall, but how do I do that without drawing atttention away from the flowers? We’ll see if I can pull it off or not!
Med Steps
So yesterday was the Med Steps Challenge. It was really, really hard work – but then it wouldn’t be a challenge if it was easy would it? Not got much to add to that, still feeling rather tired!
Royal wedding fever
Royal wedding fever hit Gibraltar yesterday. I missed most of it slogging up the Rock, but had a quick trip to Ocean Village later on and there was a lot of well dressed people hitting the cava. One or two looked like they had started at breakfast time and were pushing on through to the FA Cup final. I think there may be a few sore heads around this morning!
That’s all for Sunday Sevens this week, thanks for stopping by! I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.
This, my friends is the Med Steps. Tomorrow it’s the Med Steps 5 Challenge, when around 200 brave/crazy people will attempt to walk it 5 times all in the name of charity.
The walk/climb takes you from the south west side of the Rock of Gibraltar, along paths, through a tunnel and up many, many steps round the south edge and up the west side to the summit of the Rock. It’s quite a climb.
I will be one of those walkers tomorrow morning, all of us raising much needed funds for the wonderful Cancer Relief Centre here in Gibraltar. Wish us luck!
(For more info on the Med Steps, this post may help you, and my experience of last year’s Med Steps 5 Challenge can be found here).
Challenge is the theme for this week’s Friday photo challenge, next week, it’s floral.
Well it’s been a busy old week, and one, which when I looked back at my phone to compile this edition of Sunday Sevens appears to have been a bit thin on the ground for photos to include. Apologies if this is a little repetitive! Here goes….
Pretty in pink
Last Sunday afternoon, we decided that the younger members of the Postcard family were in dire need of fresh air and a run around, so we headed to the Alameda Botanical Gardens and the great park there. We hadn’t visited for quite a while and fancied going back. As it turned out, I actually visited / walked through the Alameda gardens another three times this week, which was funny as I hadn’t been through it for quite a while. This blossom tree and the surrounding shrubs caught my eye. They are all so well co-ordinated – and pink!
Airport visit
Unfortunately our car isn’t too well at the moment and we aren’t able to use it. We arranged to hire a car from the airport to tide us over until ours is back on the road, as I would be lost without one (multiple children with multiple bags in multiple locations all at the same time for after school shenanigans are a tad tricky – although not impossible – on the bus). When I arrived to collect the car I was a bit early, so had a coffee in the airport cafe enjoying this great backdrop while I waited.
You’ve gotta love a good zip
After literally months of drafting patterns, making a toile, and cutting and tacking the real thing, this week, I finally did some proper sewing at my dressmaking class. I put my invisible zip in, and I have to say I’m rather pleased with it!
Circling out at sea
During the week, a good friend came to the Rock and needed to be picked up from the airport. I got there on time, but was rather puzzled that the plane hadn’t landed. Then when I checked Flight Radar to see where the plane was, it became apparent that the journey hadn’t quite gone to plan. After attempting to land at Gibraltar, the pilot had aborted the landing due to poor visibility and spent the next 35 – 40 minutes going round and round waiting to see whether the next plane which was due in, would manage to land ok, before attempting another landing himself.
At one point I was convinced that my friend was heading for a diversion to Malaga Airport and a long coach trip down to Gibraltar by road. Thankfully, after watching his colleague land successfully, the pilot on my friend’s plane landed successfully too. Much to the relief of my slightly concerned friend. (This kind of thing isn’t uncommon when landing at Gibraltar – but I hadn’t prewarned my friend in case it worried her). Anyway, she got here in the end, and it was lovely to see her.
Back to the Alameda Gardens
When you have a new visitor to the Rock, one of the places you simply have to visit (especially if it’s sunny) is the Alameda Botanical Gardens. We took a walk through the shady gardens and it was lovely to wander away from the crowds in town.
Med Steps
I dragged some friends up the Med Steps with me yesterday. It’s less than a week to go now before the Med Steps 5 Challenge and I wanted to pack another training session in. This one was a bit different from normal though, as they had never done it before – we stopped for snacks and drinks en-route (safely far enough away from the apes – who would have loved our crisps!). There seemed to be so many more flowers in bloom this week than last week, and I spotted these beautiful irises for the first time, just sprouting up from a crack in the rock.
Another walk through the gardens…
Just for a change 😉 I found myself walking through the Alameda Gardens again yesterday and spotted something I hadn’t noticed before. These figures along with a number of other pieces of art work (produced using recycled materials I think) were made by local secondary school pupils. This figure really caught my eye as the whole thing is suspended from the tree branches above and gently bobs about on the breeze.
So that’s it from me for this week’s Sunday Sevens, I hope my multiple Alameda Gardens photos didn’t bore you too much… I’m linking with Natalie of Threads & Bobbins for this weekly blog series.
This beautiful lily is flowering, as I type, beside my front door. May is such a beautiful month for blooms. These ‘trumpet flowers’, as we call them in our house, were glorious at a place we visited in Spain at the weekend.
Isn’t this floral wall display I saw in Spain on Tuesday delightful? They were all genuine geraniums and they were gorgeous.
And of course, the Med Steps is gearing up to be in full bloom any moment…
Which reminds me of my attempts to translate them into yarny creations…
I’m linking with Sandra at Wild Daffodil for this monthly meet up.
Hello and welcome to this Bank Holiday edition of Sunday Sevens. We are enjoying a 4-day weekend here in Gibraltar with Workers Memorial Day tomorrow and May Day on Tuesday. Fortunately, we enjoyed some rather nice sunshine yesterday, although we have had heavy rain and thunder storms overnight, so it’s turning out to be your usual British bank holiday! However you are spending this weekend, I hope you’re having a good time 🙂
Heavy seas
Last Sunday I took a walk around the eastern side of the Rock and was mesmerized by the waves. They were crashing on the rocks below like billy-o and were quite hypnotic to watch.
Poppies & partridges
Poppies and Barbary partridges were the order of the day for my Monday trip up the Med Steps. These were the first poppies of spring this year and are always such a treat to see.
Just killing time with a crochet rainbow
One afternoon I found myself with some time to kill in the car while waiting to pick up Little Postcards. Fortunately, I came prepared with my crochet. A lovely way to while away a few moments.
Another painting finished…
At my art class this week, I finished off my freesia painting. That’s four now that I have done in this style and I’ve really enjoyed painting & drawing them (all four are below). The first one (the purple iris) was a copy of a greetings card, which my watercolour teacher had by an artist called Judy Ball. The original was a lino print rather than a ink and watercolour picture.
I then copied that style to do my own compositions of daffodils, tulips and freesias.
Gib Rocks
The Postcard from Gibraltar ‘Gib Rock’ has been set free in the beautiful Alameda Botanical Gardens. It was left in a particularly tranquil spot, one that’s special to me, because it reminds me of my lovely Gran. She sat in this area for a while on her only trip out to Gibraltar to visit us. If you should happen to see my rock, I’d love to hear from you 😊.
Out of my window
I love that whenever I look out of my window here, my view is always changing. I glanced up while on the phone one lunchtime this week and spied this old fashioned ship picking it’s way amongst the bunkering tankers and cargo ships. I have a great app on my iPad called Marine Traffic (a bit geeky I know) which lets you see the name, country of origin and destination of many of the ships out in the Bay. Sadly, I was too busy to take the time to find out about this one. It does look rather magestic don’t you think?
And finally, time for something different…
I spotted this little chap in the middle of the lawn behind the Gibraltar Register Office this week. I hadn’t walked that way for quite some time and had never seen him before. I think he’s rather sweet, and I think Gibraltar needs more garden gnomes!
I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.
Hello there, welcome to the latest Sunday Sevens, a week which began in bright sunshine and ended with grey cloudy skies….
Don’t go into the water!
There were reports in the media last week that lots of Portuguese Man-o-war were being washed up on Gibrataltar’s beaches. Not wishing to miss out on seeing them, I headed down to Camp Bay with the Little Postcards last Sunday to see if we could see any. We weren’t disappointed. I had never seen them before and found them rather mesmerising with their bright blue colour and tentacles drifting below the waves.
We kept our distance though, as they can be very dangerous, even lethal in some cases. I thought it best to show the children what they looked like in case they should ever encounter them again. Now they will know to avoid them in future.
I’ve got a beach!
This week I managed to keep up with the Coastal Crochet CAL (Crochet along) and now have the beginnings of a beach on my Seaside Stash-busting Blanket. It was very nautical for a while there, but now I have wet sand, seaweed and pebbles.
3 times round
I can’t quite believe I am writing this, but although I didn’t plan it, I managed three times round the Med Steps this week. I had intended to do twice round but something Mr Postcard said as he went to work (along the lines of “two not three?”) planted the seed and once I’d completed number 2, thought, why not? I went for it. It was very difficult. This photo was taken at the bottom of the final set of steps. I was sitting on the bottom step at the time! I’ve got less than a month to go now before the Med Steps 5 Challenge, so there’s no time to waste!
Princess line seams
This week’s dressmaking class was all about the princess line seams. Boring photo I’m afraid.
Double daffs
I went crazy and splashed out £2 on a bunch of daffodils for myself this week. They had beautiful double heads and made me smile.
More stepping
The beautiful sunny weather we had at the start of the week had disappeared by Friday. I headed back up the steps. It was very blustery up there and just a little bit scary as I turned the corner onto the east side. It was blowing me backwards as if I wasn’t allowed to go up. Once I was properly round onto the eastern side, it was much more sheltered and not a problem at all.
Seeing as I can’t show you blue skies on this one, I took a few pictures of the beautiful wild flowers up there, including the Gibraltar national flower (the Gibraltar Candytuft: bottom right) which is in flower in a few sheltered spots now.
Gib Rocks
There is a phenomenon sweeping Gibraltar at the moment, especially for families with young children, called Gib Rocks. It started just a few short weeks ago, and the idea is to paint rocks and stones with bright colours, a message or a picture, then hide them somewhere in Gibraltar for someone else to find. It was sparked by one Gibraltar-based family’s trip to Battle in the South of England at Easter, where a similar scheme is in operation. On their return, they set up a Facebook page called Gib Rocks and at the last count it had over 3,600 members. It’s kind of mushroomed!
Anyway, we decided to join in too. I shan’t show you what the Little Postcards painted, as they wanted to keep it a secret, but I’m rather partial to rainbows so I could only paint one thing couldn’t I? It’s drying off nicely now ready for it’s final touches, I’ll keep you posted on where it ends up…. watch this space!
I’m linking with Natalie from Threads & Bobbins for this weekly blog series.
Hello there, and welcome to this week’s Sunday Sevens. It’s been a bit of a busy day, hence the lateness of this!
Sunshine ☀️
After a dodgy start, last Sunday was glorious. In the afternoon we took the Little Postcards to the park to run off a bit of energy ahead of school starting back the next day. On our return, Mr Postcard and I, took a few minutes to sit out on the balcony before dinner to soak up a few rays – rain was forecast for the next seven days – you have to take the opportunity while you can!
Back in the groove
Oh, how I missed my crochet while I was in the UK over Easter. I took a portable project with me but sadly the hook recommended was too small for my tension and although I had the next size up with me that was too small too… I did the first two rows of 300+ stitches and frogged it three times before giving up.
There was a lovely looking yarn shop in Sidmouth where we stayed but it was closed (understandably) over Easter weekend, and in London, we took a big diversion one day to visit Loop in Islington (a gorgeous yarn emporium). They had every size hook imaginable in stock apart from the size I needed – grrr! Never mind, I got to scratch my crochet itch on our return and managed to catch up on about 3 weeks worth of rows of the Coastal Crochet Seaside Stash Busting Blanket.
Med Steps training
I’m committed to doing the Med Steps 5 Challenge again in May this year, but so far my training hasn’t gone to plan very well. On Monday I managed a first for this year, twice round! The second trip was not easy at all but it feels like I’m finally getting somewhere!
As you can see above, I started the first trip up in drizzle with a rainbow in the Bay and finished the second in sunshine….
Back to art class
It feels like it’s been a long, long time since my last watercolour class. It’s got to be about a month since I last put pencil or brush to paper. This week I headed back to my class and began a new ink and watercolour painting, freesias this time.
Happy post & a bumble bee 🐝
I have been meaning to go and pick up a parcel from the post office since we returned from our Easter trip to England and a message on the radio gave me the kick up the behind I needed. The parcel post is moving locations across Gibraltar this weekend, to make way for a new school building project.
I didn’t want my parcel to get lost in the move, so hot footed it over to pick up my latest Little Box of Crochet. Being a native Mancunian, I just love my bumble bee brooch! I also have a friend who’s expecting a baby girl, so I have just the person in mind for that crochet project, once it’s complete!
Wet, wet, wet!
This week, we had storms on Tuesday and again on Thursday. It was pretty wet for us on Friday too but I persevered and climbed up the again on Friday. The Steps were closed on Wednesday and Friday after the storms so I went up the road on the other side instead. I’m chuffed with myself that I managed 3 training sessions in total this week.
Football crazy
Yesterday meant lots of football, and with it lots of very welcome sunshine. We had a league match to attend in the morning for one Little Postcard and then a 5-a-side tournament in the afternoon. Never a dull moment in this house!
And that, as they say, is that. Sunday Sevens complete for another week. Thanks for stopping by, I hope you have had a good week and that the week ahead is kind to you.
I’m linking with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for the Sunday Sevens blog series.
