Sunday Sevens

Sunday Sevens #185 28.4.19

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Hello there, Sunday’s come around again rather fast. We’re in the middle of another bank holiday weekend here in Gibraltar as its Worker’s Memorial Day tomorrow. We’re at the time of year when we have few 5 day weeks at school. It’s nice in a way but a bit ‘bitty’ in others as it’s hard to settle into a proper routine.

Anyway, here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens:

Goodbye Blighty

Last Sunday (Easter Sunday) we left our lovely rental house in Padstow in Cornwall and headed to Exeter airport to fly home to Gibraltar. We flew to Malaga and then drove home from there. This was my last glimpse of Blighty for a while as we headed south over the English coast.

Easter Sunday sunset

And back at home in Gibraltar we were greeted with grey and wet weather, but then we got this lovely sunset! It’s good to be home!

Boating manouvres

The Little Postcards returned to school after Easter on Tuesday morning and I found myself down by the side of the harbour in Gibraltar and was mesmerized by the boats. This huge tanker was coming into port with the help of a little tug boat. The tugs are so powerful despite being so small!

Magestic morning arrival

This is a very impressive cruise ship which came in one morning with the golden morning sun shining on it. I watched it leave again later in the day with the sails unfurled. It was quite a sight.

Evening with friends

On Thursday evening I had a lovely catch up with friends in Queensway Quay. There’s no better tonic than a a good old giggle, and boy did we laugh. Just brilliant.

Same place, next day…

And just a few hours later I was back. This time with a friend from home (Manchester) who I haven’t seen for over 10 years, who happened to visit Gibraltar on a day trip from a holiday in Benalmadena. Another lovely catch-up. I’ve been very lucky this week!

Ladybird rescue

Yesterday we took a drive along the coast from Gib to Marbella and found ourselves in the midst of a ladybird bloom (if that’s the correct terminology). There were loads about and we found many of them struggling in a fountain. We fished about 50 out and left them to dry their wings out in the sunshine.

Beautiful bougainvillea

Where we were was also in the midst of the most beautiful bougainvillea. It was perfectly set off against the deep blue sky.

And that is where this week’s Sunday Sevens (or perhaps that should be Sunday Eights) comes to an end. I hope you’ve had a good week, and that the coming 7 days are kind to you.

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

Sunday Sevens #184 21.4.19

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Happy Easter! Here’s this week’s special Easter Sunday edition of Sunday Sevens. Last week I promised you a more interesting one than last week’s and here it is…

Leaving on a jet plane…

Last Sunday we drove to Malaga airport to catch a flight to the UK. We were treated to a view of Gibraltar away in the distance as we took off…

…can you see here through the misty haze? Our destination was Cornwall, Padstow to be precise, for an Easter break – bliss.

Pretty Padstow

Our home for the week. Our first day was wet and grey, but then the sun came out and we had fabulous weather – it was utterly glorious and very different to the grey weather Gibraltar was experiencing.

Tintagel

We met up with a dear friend on our holiday who lives near by in Devon. Many years ago, shortly after graduation, we all visited Tintagel for the day while staying with him and his family. It seemed fitting to repeat the trip, this time with the Little Postcards. You can no longer climb down to visit Merlin’s Cave due to health and safety issues, but with the gorgeous weather, it was definitely a magical day.

Prideaux Place

Padstow has its own stately home; Prideaux Place. The house didn’t open for the summer season until today, but we still managed to enjoy the beautiful grounds. It has featured in several TV shows and films and is really rather beautiful. I took lots of photos which will appear in a longer blog post very soon.

An Easter treasure hunt

The rental company we used to find our holiday home for the week left 3 treasure hunt sheets full of questions about the town for the Little Postcards to complete. The prize being chocolate Easter bunnies. One of the clues had us hunting around for an archway with a significant name. It took a bit of finding, but I wasn’t going to give up! We, or should I say, ‘they’ completed the quiz and treasure hunt and got their choccy treats.

Bike ride

We hired bikes and rode along the Camel trail from Padstow to Wadebridge. It’s on a former train line and gave us fabulous views of the Estuary, and rather tired legs. It was a lot of fun.

Ferry across the Camel

We caught the ferry yesterday from Padstow to Rock on the other side of the Camel Estuary. We had been watching the little yellow boat going back and fro from Padstow to Rock all week and decided to make the trip on our last day. The five minute long trip took us the huge sandy expanse across the water and to the small town of Rock. I wish I could think of a witty line about living on the Rock, but it escapes me!

And finally, happy Easter. However you are spending this weekend, I hope it’s a happy one for you. I spotted this lovely Easter wreath on a cottage door in Padstow yesterday.

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

Sunday Sevens #182 7.4.19

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Hello there and a very happy Sunday to you. I hope you’ve had a good week. We are edging closer to the school Easter holidays here in Gibraltar – just one week of school left to get jobs done before I have days full of boys! Here’s this week’s look back at the last seven days… (and, incidentally it’s my 500th Postcard from Gibraltar post! That sounds like rather a lot doesn’t it?!)

Mother’s Day lunch

We went out for a lovely lunch on Mother’s Day. A glass of Prosecco, rose and a beautiful view across the Strait to Morocco came with the meal.

Med Steps on a Monday

It’s been a long time since I’ve been up the Med Steps on a Monday morning, but I managed it this week. It was lovely up there, grey skies but some sunshine, and cool breezes. Perfect conditions.

And Spring has sprung…. the native Gibraltar Candytuft is blooming.

Dressmaking class

As I finished my jacket at last week’s lesson, it was time to draft another pattern for a new project at this week’s lesson. I bought this lacy fabric (below) from my teacher Dorcas a while ago because I loved it and really fancied making a top with it. That process has begun now.

Crochet blunder

I have been working on a filet patterned crochet jumper for a while and decided to pick it back up again this week. Unfortunately I paid the price of not rereading the pattern properly as I just carried on with a 4mm hook I found in the bag with the partially made jumper. Having done 2/3 of the front I got the measuring tape out to check if it was time to shape the shoulders. It was long enough, but, and it’s a big but, the pattern didn’t match the back. I was two pattern repeats short – I should’ve used a 3.75mm hook! It’s been unraveled, and I’m now playing catch-up!

Frustrating flights

We decided to do something we don’t normally do on Thursday – we went over to Spain while the Little Postcards were at school. It was a rather long drawn out process. We left home, got stuck in a queue to cross the runway as a plane was landing… then I realised I’d left my phone at home so we had to turn around and go home again to pick up the phone in case school called with a problem. Then I took this photo as we were stuck for a second time with another plane landing… instead of taking 15-20 minutes to get from our home to the border, it took 50!! Whoops.

We had to forfeit our lunch, instead of leisurely tapas we had a service station sandwhich in the car to make sure we were home in time to pick the Little Postcards up! Maybe we’ll get the tapas another time…

Stormy day

The weather on Friday was rather grim, wet, very grey and with gale force gusts. This was the rather uninspiring view of the Bay of Gibraltar around morning school run time. There were rumbles of thunder as I walked home – fortunately I made it back indoors before the horizontal rain started!! (The big grey ship may be a Spanish aircraft carrier coming into port in Algeciras across the Bay from Gibraltar.)

Saturday sunset

We’ve not had a Sunday Sevens sunset picture for a while. I caught the last rays of sunshine disappearing behind the hills opposite our home yesterday.

That’s it for this week’s Sunday Sevens, I hope the coming seven days are kind to you.

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

Sunday Sevens #179 17.3.19

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Another week has passed and here’s another Sunday Sevens!

Homeward bound

On Monday I flew back home after my parents’ Golden Wedding Anniversary celebrations. I left a sunny Manchester for a sunny Malaga!

Commonwealth Day

Can you spot the Commonwealth flag flying? It was Commonwealth Day on Monday and schools and government offices were closed. Many schools took an extra day off on Tuesday too, so no dressmaking class for me this week.

Crochet in the sun

We’ve had a few stunningly sunny days this week. Perfect for a bit of crochet in sunshine…

Watercolour flamenco

I don’t like painting people or animals, they usually end up looking like aliens! This flamenco dancer had an unusually long giraffe-like neck for quite a while… flowers & buildings are more in my comfort zone!

Rainbow lunchbox

I treated myself to this gorgeous falafel salad for lunch one day this week. It was as tasty as it looked.

Fun at the park

We’ve made the most of the good weather this week and had a couple of trips to the park at Europa Point. It’s been great to get the kids out for fun and fresh air.

Golden Hour stroll

Yesterday evening we had a lovely walk just as the sun was setting, everything looked so pretty in the golden light.

And that’s it for this week, I hope it’s been a good one for you in spite of the terrible things which have happened this week.

Sunday Sevens is a blog series which was created by Natalie from Threads and Bobbins.

Sunday Sevens #178 10.3.19

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Hello and greetings from Manchester! I’m over for a flying visit to celebrate my parents’ Golden Wedding Anniversary. Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens!

Sunday stroll up the Rock

Last Sunday it was a beautiful warm spring day and we opted to take a wander up the Rock with the Little Postcards. It was rather busy with tourists, but we found little pockets of solitude and enjoyed our mosey through the nature reserve and then dropped down into town via Castle Steps and were about the admire the Octopus House and the new street art paying homage to Gibraltarian artist Gustavo Bacarisas.

Monday morning walk

I was out pounding the streets again on Monday morning, I had an appointment to speak to someone who lives in Upper Town and rather than catch the bus, I walked there. It’s nice sometimes to just wander, don’t you think?

Pancake Day

I don’t know about you, but I’m a traditionalist when it comes to pancakes, lemon & sugar is the winner for me. We had all sorts going on pancakes in our house on Tuesday!

Dressmaking class

The sleeves are on my jacket, and so are the linings…. hemming time now!

Leaving on a jet plane

On Thursday I left Mr P and the Little Postcards to Head home on my own to see my parents for their Golden Wedding Anniversary. I’ve been looking forward to this trip so much, to see long time family friends and family. We had such a lovely celebration dinner on Friday evening.

Ta-dah!

Last week, I could only show you a little bit of my freesia painting in Sunday Sevens, because I was painting it to give to my Mum & Dad and didn’t want them to see it before it was given to them. Here it is, finished. I can’t claim credit for the design (I used a Pinterest image for inspiration – the artist is TwoYShop). I really wanted to do a freesia wreath as they are one of my Mum’s favourite flowers and she had them in her wedding bouquet.

Time for crochet

I have a bit of a backlog of Little Boxes of Crochet to work on, and I thought this weekend away was the perfect opportunity to begin one while I’m away from all my usual distractions! Here goes, my first attempt at Entrelac!

That’s all for Sunday Sevens this week, I hope it’s been a good one for you. As always I’m joining with Natalie from Threads and Bobbins for this weekly blog series.

Sunday Sevens #177 3.3.19

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Hello there, I hope you’ve had a good week! March already…. who would’ve thought that?! Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens…

Plane spotting

Last Sunday we had a football match to watch involving one of the Little Postcards. The football pitch they play on is right next to the runway and so plane spotting is a natural side show. It always amazes me that the planes come so close to where we are. Little did we know that just 24 hours later some poor souls would get the fright of their lives as they attempted to land st Gib… if you saw the news on Monday, you’ll know exactly what I mean.

A new project

Last week I was complaining that I haven’t done any ‘fun’ crafting lately as I’ve been too busy doing other stuff. So rather than keep moaning, last Sunday night I picked up my bag of odds and ends and set about granny-square making. It’ll be s long time before I can cover a double bed with it, but it’s been fun…

Stroll at dusk

Camp Bay

On Monday evening, after the crazy winds that disrupted air travel had subsided, I headed out for a lovely evening stroll.

Mosque at Europa Point

It was lovely to see buildings which I usually only see in the daytime lit up so beautifully.

St Bernard’s Church

Dressmaking class

The sleeves are on… and they’re staying on this time!

A jazzy underpass

The decoration of this underpass close to the Alameda Gardens looks like it’s almost finished. I rather like it.

Watercolour class

Now that I’ve finished my Church ceiling painting, I fancied freesias this week at my painting class. The wild freesias are out in abundance in Gibraltar at the moment…

Bunny update…

Diamond’s been a bit naughty this week. I know he’s a bunny and bunnies like to chew stuff but I was rather miffed with his nibbling this week. The bottom of his enclosure was covered with an old Laura Ashley spotted plastic tablecloth (the type of fabric/plastic used for wipe clean aprons) it worked pretty well for keeping the floor tiles underneath clean. But bunny decided he liked to nibble holes in it. He doesn’t seem to ingest the bits of table cloth as he leaves Laura Ashley confetti all over the bottom of his cage.

Over time the tablecloth was looking rather messy and horrible, so this week I threw caution to the wind, threw away the old tablecloth and bought a brand spanking new one. It looked lovely, and lasted less than 12 hours. The tablecloth confetti is back… naughty Diamond.

Thanks for stopping by, that’s all from Sunday Sevens for this week. I hope you have a good one!

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

Sunday Sevens #175 17.2.19

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Hello there, I hope this finds you well and that you’ve had a good week. Mine has been full of jobs and not much that’s been worthy of photos…. I promise next week’s will be more interesting! 😉

An early evening stroll

Last Sunday was spent pretty much at home doing housework and lots of washing. We are in the midst of a kitchen renovation at the moment and I have only had limited access to the washing machine. That meant a frenzied washing session for a family of five!

By the time early evening came, I was craving a walk so headed out with Eldest to enjoy a golden hour stroll…

Dressmaking class

Do you remember that jacket sleeve from last week? It came off, went back on again and came off again at this week’s lesson…. I’ll get it right eventually!

Submariners visit

We were visited by another Royal Navy submarine this week. It always facinates me watching come into port. Not sure I’d like to go in one though…

It’s finished…

At my watercolour class this week I finished my watercolour painting of the ceiling at Sacred Heart Church in Gibraltar. It’s been a fun project, started way back in November! Got there in the end!!

We have fruit!

Our citrus trees are doing well at the moment – I don’t want to tempt fate, but for the past couple of years we’ve lost our fruit before it was ready to pick. Fingers crossed we’ll get to enjoy these in a G&T before too much longer…

Kitchen update

Progress has been made in our kitchen… we have a floor, plaster on the walls and even the beginnings of cupboards. I’m so looking forward to washing up in a sink rather than a bath!!

That’s it from Sunday Sevens this week. I hope the week ahead is a good one for you!

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

Sunday Sevens #174 10.2.19

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Hello there, I hope you’ve had a good week! Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens…

Another sunny Sunday stroll

Last Sunday we took a wander through the Alameda Gardens and Eldest realised it was the fourth consecutive Sunday that he’d done this… we’re nothing if not predictable!

Monday at the dentist

I’m not a huge fan of the dentist – well I’ve nothing against him personally – but being prodded, poked and scraped first thing on a Monday morning isn’t my favorite start to the week. On the plus side I do go a dentist in a marina so I get to see this lovely view when I step out of the front door – so it’s not all bad! 😉

Chinese New Year

Gibraltar had its lanterns out this week in honour of the Chinese New Year. There was a proper celebration with a Chinese dragon dance in town on the big day.

Dressmaking class

I tried and kind of failed to set my sleeves into my jacket this week. They were a bit wonky – so they came back off again…

Bees in the sunshine

On Tuesday evening a nasty bug struck Littlest Postcard. The rest of the week, I was pretty much housebound. We have had some lovely sunny days, so one afternoon I snuck out onto the balcony for a cup of tea in the sun and found myself mesmerized by the bees buzzing around our money tree.

Is that a tortoise I see?

On walking past the register office garden in town yesterday, I spied something on the grass… a tortoise! What a lovely spot for him/her to wander at will!

Seagulls attack!

I got the fright of my life yesterday while out for a walk. I heard some seagulls overhead making a right racket above me. Then suddenly I heard a plop on the road in front of me. It was a outside round of a loaf of bread – dropped from a great height!!! It gave me the fright of my life… imagine getting hit on the head by that!!

And on that wholemeal note, I shall end Sunday Sevens. I’m pleased to say Littlest is fully recovered from his illness, and so far (touch wood) the rest of us have managed to dodge it.

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

Sunday Sevens #173 3.2.19

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Hello! Greetings from a sunny, slightly chilly Gibraltar. It’s been a week of wild weather all over the shop. Thankfully we just had torrential rain and gales and no misplaced polar vortexes or cold snaps! I hope you’ve managed to stay warm and dry this week.

For the first time ever, this is Sunday Sevens on a Monday – I forgot to press publish!! ….whoops! 🙈

Here’s this week’s Sunday Sevens…

Surprise trip

Last Sunday I made a last minute surprise trip back home to see my parents. My Mum hasn’t been too well since New Year, so I headed back to try and cheer her up. I left Mr Postcard in charge at home and ran away for a few days. Mum was rather incredulous when my face appeared at the lounge window – but after the initial shock she was pleased to see me!

Sunshine

Coming from Manchester I have faced a lifetime’s torment about the fact it always rains there… here is proof that that’s completely untrue! It’s funny being back at home, within moments of going out to the shops I bumped into an old school friend and a friend’s husband. I had to message the friend to say that her husband wasn’t seeing things, and that yes, I was waving at him from my Dad’s car!!

Snow!

On Wednesday morning we awoke to a surprise blanket of snow. Little did I know the impact it would have on my day ahead and my trip home… if you saw my Friday photo challenge post this week, you’ll understand (2 hour long drive to the airport which normally takes 20 minutes and 5 hour delay for takeoff).

Where’s my kitchen gone?

So while I was dashing off home to visit my Mum, poor Mr Postcard not only had three young men to look after, he also had the builders in. After 6 years in our apartment, with a kitchen which was falling apart, it was ripped out this week. We’re living off very simple meals, takeaways and leaning heavily on the microwave!

Art class

I escaped the dust and power tools on Thursday to get to my watercolour class. It was bliss to get away from the chaos!

Stormy skies

On Friday we were greeted with gale force winds and torrential rain, just in time for the morning school run – it was rather grim! Fortunately the rain subsided later on, so we had a dry afternoon school pick up. It definitely felt like winter after a long run of good weather here. Not as bad as snow and ice though!

Food!

We had a gorgeous dinner last night – we went out rather than cobbling something together in our makeshift kitchen. It was delicious and I didn’t have to wash up in the bath afterwards!!! (#firstworldproblems)

I hope you’ve had a good week and that wherever you are in the world, you are dry and warm. Until next week, bye for now!

Sunday Sevens #169 30.12.18

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Blimey, I guess that’s Christmas over with. It feels odd really, when I was younger and living in England, the post Christmas lull was filled with turkey sandwiches, flasks of coffee with a nip of whiskey to stave off the cold and muddy walks along canal tow-paths and to National Trust properties. I do miss that rather a lot.

We have spent our post Christmas lull over the border in Spain, where we didn’t have turkey sandwiches, flasks of coffee or muddy walks, but here’s what we got up to:

And so it begins…

This curry signified the beginning of Christmas for me. Work was done, school had finished, presents were bought (at least I think they all were) and it was time to relax and enjoy the fun.

Giant Poinsettia

A pre-Christmas stroll through the Alameda Gardens and I stumbled upon this mahoosive poinsettia. Makes my small one (which will no doubt have lost its leaves in a couple of weeks) look rather inferior!

Turkey time!

My favourite meal of the year. It was delicious…

Boxing Day getaway

We ran away for a few days and rented a lovely house up the coast. It had a garden for the Little Postcards to play chase and football, it was a house so we didn’t need to worry about stomping on the floor and disturbing neighbours downstairs (or next door for that matter). It had a lovely outdoor area with this pergola draped with vines above it, we’re not sure but think it may be wisteria…

Castellar Zoo

We have long talked about visiting Castellar Zoo. It’s a very small place which seems to be focused on conservation and rescuing animals which have been illegally traded, much like the small wildlife park in Gibraltar’s Alamada Botanical Gardens. At this place though, you can actually get to hold/feed some of the animals. This little Fennec Fox seemed very happy to cuddled.

Hola Puerto Banus

I do enjoy it when we pop over to Spain for a change of scenery. We visited the rather posh town of Puerto Banus and did a bit of people watching, looked at the big boats and posh cars, and then mooched into H&M! No Dolce and Gabbana or Versace for us!

Can you see the Rock?

A lunchtime visit to Sotogrande port afforded us a view of home. There she is behind the masts in the distance!

And so that’s it, Christmas done with for another year, I’m writing this sitting in the sunshine (and not wearing a coat – very unseasonal!) and contemplating whether to make New Years resolutions or not…. onwards and upwards and into New Year.

However you have spent the Christmas period, I hope it has been a happy one for you and your loved ones. Until next time, thanks for stopping by and I hope you have a lovely New Year.

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