Goodbye Cocoa ... we'll really miss you....

Today has been one of the saddest days of my life because this morning our beloved African Grey parrot, Cocoa, died suddenly in my arms.  We didn't even know she was unwell.  Last night she seemed her usual chirpy self, we did our normal nightly routine where we say goodnight to both our parrots, and Cocoa always says "Night night Cokes" and blows us kisses.  She then comes up to bars of her cage, she makes 'kissing' sounds and I kiss her on her black shiny beak. 

When my hubby got up this morning to make tea at about 6.30am, she was on her high perch and again all seemed well.  He said good morning to her and as per usual, she ignored him!
However, when he came back downstairs again a little later, she was lying on the floor of her cage with her wings spread out.  He quickly called me and I rushed to see what was wrong, I lifted her from the cage and she felt sooo cold, but she was alive, so I tucked her inside my clothes and cuddled her.  I kept her there for four hours and during that time I gave her some water with honey through a syringe and also a little bit of mashed up cereal.  At one point I thought she was perking up a bit because she moved her wings as if to get more comfortable, but just after noon, she died still inside my clothes.  We just buried her in the garden.

I'm so very very upset.  I know that some people might say "but she's just a parrot..." and that's as may be to them, but to us she has been a valued member of our family since the day we brought her home, some 12 plus years ago, as a small little 12 week old chick.  She has never been a problem bird, she wasn't a screamer or a plucker and she really did enhance our lives with her funny chatter and her ability to pick up words, phrases and songs so easily!  She liked to be involved in everything and used to dance when we sang to her.  She was even bi-linqual as she could speak some Spanish words too!   Our lives will be quieter and less fun without her, she will be sorely missed.

RIP my little grey baby.....

Vespa it quietly....

......But I'm thinking of getting a motor scooter or moped! 

The town I live in is very very old and not designed for motor vehicles.  The streets are really steep and most are also incredibly narrow, so parking is an absolute nightmare for cars.  The majority of my errands around the town involve the use of the car as they are too far to walk, but then I go around and around, like everyone else, looking for a parking space.

So I suggested to my long suffering husband (who incidentally no longer drives) that maybe I should get a moped or motor scooter, which would be really handy for when I have to go out to the bank or post office, or nip to the supermarket for one or two things that I've forgotten.  Admittedly I would still use the car for the weekly shopping, or journeys outside of our town, but it would be so useful for everything else.  Amazingly enough hubby seems to agree that it is a good idea!  So today I nipped out in the car and went to the one and only motorcycle shop that we have here in Estepa.  They had some lovely models on display but I saw the cutest moped and so asked the owner of the shop all the details. 

Although I can't remember the make (it certainly wasn't a Vespa, unfortunately!) the model I favoured is described as the 'classic' model and he suggested I might prefer a 125cc to the 50cc that I had in mind.  Apparently the 50cc might struggle on the hills, and my driving licence enables me to ride a motorcycle up to 125cc without the need for another road test.  The guy must have thought I was so 'girly' when I said that I particularly liked this model as it was such a nice colour (cream), with an attractive brown seat and old fashioned look about it, and it had a little box on the back which would be perfect for my handbag!  The 'cargo' box, a crash helmet and an anti theft lock are all included in the price.......insurance would be extra but as my son so kindly pointed out, it wouldn't be that expensive for a woman of my age!!!!!!

Now to make the decision on whether I really will use it......because unfortunately they are not as cheap as I envisaged!!!

I guess I will have to think about it....so watch this space......!

Every dog has it's day.....

......And today was Yoda's turn to be in front of the camera.

Looks like there's a queue at the 'Free Salad Buffet'.....

Yoda, as usual is at the front of the 'queue'...and Choco, our only boy dog, is lining up behind her!

Yoda asks:

"Is this my best side, do you think?"

"Or perhaps this side?"

 

"Or maybe I just look good from all sides?"

 

A real mixed bunch.....

Yesterday I took quite a few photos in the garden so thought I'd put some on here.....some are dogs, some dolls and some plants....just random shots really, that I thought I'd share.....

Millie and Devon taking a stroll in the garden.  Millie is wearing one of the dresses that I made in anticipation of her arrival.  The sleeves are far too long so I need to get around to shortening those soon.  She is wearing matching knickers, but they can't be seen in the photos.  I made  'tap' pants from the same fabric and added some pretty cotton lace to the edges of the legs.  Devon is wearing a pair of cords that I quickly made for him a couple of days ago.  He needed something else other than shorts as his legs were getting cold!  ;)
Please excuse Devon's awful jumper....I really should stick with sewing!

We have a real 'glut' of lemons again this year, and I've not even used up all the lemon juice that I squeezed from the excess lemons we had in the summer......!  I think the fruits are getting bigger too!

This is the orange tree, although it wasn't until we'd been here a few years that we started to get lemons on it too....it has obviously had a lemon tree grafted on to it at some point....these oranges won't be ready until about Christmas....they are still quite hard and unripe.

Sadly, the Mandarin tree is flowering now!  So we doubt that we'll get any fruit from it this year, as it is totally the wrong time to be flowering.  The smell is wonderful though, I wish I could share that as well as the photo.  It's such a shame that there won't be any fruit as when we have had some, they have been absolutely delicious....definitely the best I've ever tasted!

This little bee is happy with the flowers, obviously!

This cactus just gets bigger and bigger!  It reminds me of a coral reef with all those curves.

A bunch of tiny peachy/red flowers on one of the succulents.....you can see it's little fuzzy petals and leaves here:

I took some photos of the dogs too, but will make that a separate post.......

Sasha arrives!

Yesterday was a great dolly day for me but I was too busy to really enjoy it! 
My postman brought me two nice parcels, one was the book that I'd bought from Dorisanne Osborn, Sasha Dolls Through the Years, and what a lovely book it is too.  I spent a pleasant couple of hours reading it last night and looking at the lovely photos of Sasha dolls.  I learned quite a lot too, and never realised that the little Sasha toddlers weren't actually released ..... I must speak to my friend Ronny about hers, maybe she can give me more information on that as she has toddlers.

My second, bigger parcel, was my Sasha!  She was sent from the UK, I got her from Shelly of Sasha Doll UK.  She is a lovely blond girl and I think her name will be Millie, although that could change as I'm not 100% on it yet.  I couldn't do much with her yesterday as I was working on my custom (previous post today) but now that I've finished that, I've been trying the two dresses that I made for her in anticipation of her arrival.  One of them fits perfectly, and the second needs the sleeves taken up a little .... I think I must have been sewing for an orang utan!!! 

Also today I gave the bottom half of her hair a conditioning treatment.  Shelly had told me that her hair was dry and frizzy on the bottom but it's not too bad really, just needs some curlers in it or something.  It's still quite damp at the moment so I can't really tell if the treatment worked or not, but regardless, she is a lovely doll.  She has a tiny black dot near her eye which I'd planned on removing but it looks like a little beauty spot so it is staying for the time being....it makes her 'unique'!!

Anyway, without further ado, here is her photo, she is an English Trendon girl from 1971:

 

And here she is with her twin brother Devon:

Custom finished!

I'm very happy to say that yesterday I finished all the work on the custom Blythe that I've been doing for a lady in the US.  I gave her her hair treatment last night and then cut about 2 inches from the length of the hair as the client wanted the hair to be more managable.  I must admit that I was a bit nervous of cutting too much off because if I'd taken off too much, well, it's not like it's going to grow again, :) but I hope this will be just the right length.  This particular Blythe, Manuheali'i Paradise Girl, comes with very long hair, right down to her ankles and it is very thick and has a tendancy to be dry at the ends, so now it is a bit shorter but still long enough to be  styled in different ways.  It is now also lovely and soft and silky, with a great shine.

This morning I added the final touches which are the charms on the pull strings.  Unfortunately between adding them and taking her outside for photographs, the sleep pull cord has twisted and looks 'odd' so that will have to be replaced this afternoon before I can package her up for sending home.  That is of course if her 'mum' is happy with the finished result.

She has four sets of beautifully handpainted eyechips by Liquiriziadolly in the UK.....I love how they look and am tempted to get some for my own girls....although having said that, I really would like to have a another go at painting some more myself, it is just a matter of taking the time to get the paint and other supplies needed to do them.

Here are the final photos of her:

Sanding sanding sanding.....

Today I finished the colour-work on my Blythe custom!  I was really pleased to finish her faceup because I've had to sand off the sealant twice now, but hopefully that will be it.  Unless of course, the owner of the doll, once she's seen the photo, decides that she doesn't like it and wants me to start over!  Arrrggh I hope not! 

So tomorrow I will add a semi gloss varnish to the lips and then start on the rest of the work.  The eyechips are really lovely, the lady supplied them herself and they are handpainted chips from an artist in England, so with these in mind, I have to decide on the colour of the eyelids.  I'm thinking something bronze/gold/brown-ish.....I'll have to see tomorrow.  Then it'll be eyelashes, boggling and gaze correcting.  New pull ring charms and then on to her hair treatments.  It's quite a lot of work but I do enjoy it.

The first photo shows how she looked a couple of days ago before sanding and carving, and the second shows how she looks at the moment, minus her hair and eye mechanism, she looks a bit orangey but that is because the photo was taken inside with flash and my desk lamp has a very 'warm' tone bulb in it.  I don't usually use that lamp but the room felt cold today and it made me feel better to have this 'yellowy' glow!

Before:

After:

I will take more photos once she is complete. 

Apart from that, I also did some on line shopping ... dolly shopping again ... so my vinyl kids have some new shoes and new trousers on their way!  Talk about spoilt!!!

Nothing much else to report on the dolly front, but we did have our roof done today.  The guy came at 9am as promised (this is very good for a Spanish workman, to actually arrive when they say they will!) and sprayed our whole roof with a very quick drying foam, he then sprayed it with white paint stuff (technical term) and now it looks rather like a snow covered ski slope!  We really hope it does the job that it's intended for......to stop our internal water features when it pours with rain!!!

I don't think we'll have long to wait before it rains again....so watch this space!!!