Wednesday Wildlife - 13 June 2018

This week's spots:

Around and about
Pigeons
Sparrows
Swifts
Swallows
Blackcaps
Gecko
Carpenter bee (absolutely enormous, very relieved to discover it wasn't a hornet!)

S'Albufera Park
Plovers (both ringed and Kentish)
Black winged stilts
Shelducks
Speckled wood butterfly
Cleopatra butterfly

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Making Monday - 18 June 2018

This week's roundup of crafting... FOs I have finished Jo's Pride and just need to get a decent photo - to edit shortly I hope. It has turned out really well, very wearable thankfully! WIPs I have started swatching for another shawl from the Victorian Lace Today book, not sure I like the yarn yet... Plans I am going to Ribes y Casals in Palma tomorrow so will keep an eye out for fabric there for the things I fancy making from the Moda de Pasarela magazine I have.

This week was... wonderful

A favourite word of my mother in law, said in a strong Nothern Irish accent, nearly rolling the 'r' and with an emphasis on the first syllable - WONderful. Trips My mother-in-law and a friend of hers are staying with us at the moment. This has been a great excuse to see some things that Mr Smartie isn't that interested in, and to revisit some of our favourite spots. We have of course been to the beach a fair bit (the weather has been generally hot) but also took the train to Sóller from Palma, visited S'Albufera, walked around Alcúdia, and revisited the Coves d'Αrta and Canyamel. We tried to have an afternoon at the beach at Son Serra de Marina but there had obviously been a storm out at sea because the beach was covered in mounds of seaweed. Even the sea was full of it, making the waves look black. Not especially inviting, although some of the locals did go out in it. Gargoyles at Palma Cathedral I have really enjoyed having them both here, they are gr...

Some ups and some downs

It seems to have been a while, sorry about that. In my defence, I've been pretty busy. The weekend away was lovely, just the right mixture of chatting, pampering, drinking and enjoying the countryside. I think we'll definitely be going again, we're heartily converted to spa breaks now! Since then though, work has been crazy busy and also just more difficult. I know it sounds stupid but I seem to be dealing with a lot more stuff that used to be above me. It would be great (career progression and all that) except that I've had basically no training or support to make sure I know what to do, so I'm basically making it up a lot of the time. Add to that working for some pretty awkward people and generally I've been incredibly stressed. I think that has triggered my depression so everything has been several times more difficult to deal with. I know I haven't been a lot of fun to be around! We have booked a holiday for next month though; we're going camping ...