Christmas in July

One summer one of my sisters-in-law decided to host a Christmas- in- July party. She was always having some kind of party. For her Christmas party we all exchanged presents and even had a real Christmas tree, something I wasn't very happy about. In those days I don't think anyone bought potted Christmas trees. Besides unless you went to a plant nursery or whatever they're called, you wouldn't have found a potted tree, so they cut one just for that party. Don't get me wrong. I love my now ex sister-in-law. However, I hate waste and cutting down a tree to enjoy it for a few hours is a terrible waste.

When I think of starting Christmas preparations in July, I'm always reminded of this particular party. I'm not so organized as to claim that I've started getting things ready for Christmas already, but I decided to make another round cushion - this one for my sister who loves green. As a matter of fact, the material I used for it I got from her last summer. I know she isn't a lover of lots of cushions on sofas, but hopefully she'll like this one. It took me a couple of afternoons to put it together as I first had to make the cushion pattern and the cushion - round cushions don't seem to be popular here. Once I got the cushion made, it was time to gather the green material around it and tie it with a rubber band like you would a bag and chop off the excess bit to form a 'flower'. The material kept fraying and I kept trying to repair it. Maybe I shouldn't have cut off so much of the extra material. In the end, I found this red ribbon that I've had for years and decided to use that to go around it. So here you have my homemade Christmas cushion. It's a good thing I don't give up easily.

Patience was called for this weekend that's for sure. As you know I usually go out for Chinese with friends every week. The other night I was in the bathroom when my landline phone rang and then my mobile neither of which I got to in time. I didn't know whose number it was, but decided to go directly to the restaurant so as not to arrive late. It turns out my friend Chris had sent me several whatsapp messages, none of which I'd answered. Later when I got home and was looking at my address book on the mobile, I discovered all my phone numbers had been deleted. How that happened I'll never know (I don't imagine).  I'm paranoid so I do use an AV even on my phone.

Yesterday and today are days that I'd 'take the weather with me where I go'. Thank goodness for a brief respite, because I've seen for later on in the week temperatures of 40ºC + (100º F +). I still remember a summer where we had 45ºC temps and had to even export electricity to Portugal. Next week I'll be on the gazpacho, but today I'm having lentils to celebrate.

Hope everyone is enjoying a fantastic day whatever you're doing and here's to a good week. Today is my youngest sister's birthday (the baby of the family). She weighed 3 pounds 5 ounces at birth, but there was nothing wrong with her lungs. Her photo made the local newspaper and her little mouth was wide open in a scream.