Bowling on the Costa Blanca

This morning we played a rinks match in our Club competitions.  There had been so much rain overnight that when we arrived to play there was a duck pond instead of a bowling green but 1 rink was almost drained.  We decided to defer the start until 11am by which time the rink was playable.
Our team was Pammy Walker leading, Brian Dunn at 2, Allen playing 3 & me skipping.  We were against Brian Donohoe, Diane Hudson, John Ester & Russ Hudson.  They scored a 3 on the first end but we immediately picked up 3 on the next end followed by a 4 on the 3rd end.  This provided us with a comfortable cushion and although there were some close ends we pulled away and the closest they got was 6 shots. With 2 ends to play we were 10 shots ahead & picked up another 2 on the next end to win the match with an end to play.
This win puts us into the semi final - a good result with Pammy & Brian both in their first season of bowling.
Pammy & I are already through to the final in the Ladies pairs, & in the semi of the Ladies 2 wood pairs so this is another boost to her confidence.

A new activity

Well it is official - I have started doing Zumba classes twice a week.  The classes are Tuesday & Thursday evenings for an hour at a time.  They are such fun & a really good workout, which is good because I really want to lose some weight & tone up. At the moment it is a case of me going one way while everybody else goes the other way or the feet doing the right moves while the arms do a totally different dance, but no doubt they will all soon coordinate - I hope.
Will keep you all informed of how it goes - so keep your eyes peeled.

4 Nations

Yesterday we played the annual 4 Nations tournament, between expat bowlers from England, Scotland, Ireland & Wales.  Allen is a selector for the Welsh team 

While I have the honour of being Captain of England.

Each country fields 6 teams of 4 with 3 playing morning and the others playing in the afternoon.  After the mornings matches England were first by just one shot - but how the mighty are fallen. On a very tricky green (and thats being complimentary about it) the English managed to score only 38 more shots & finished in 4th spot - the humiliation! 

Ireland were just ahead with Wales, last years Champions in 2nd position so by process of elimination Scotland took the spoils and received a gold medal each.

Each country also gives a prize of a mug with the relevant design to each member of the highest scoring rink - needless to say I didn't get one!

We had one end on our rink where at the finish of an end there were only 2 bowls in play - out of a possible 16 - the rest had finished out of the playing area. Someone threatened to take a photo but don't know that they did. I for one won't look forward to playing at El Rancho anytime soon.

Thoughts

I was asked on Saturday to make a card for Allens' nephew Stephen to send to his new baby daughter at Christmas. Stephen is serving in Afghanistan & will miss his daughters first Christmas.
One of the Craftsuprint designers responded to my request for a special sheet & within 12 hours it was up on the site & in my basket. The card was made, but it the first time I have ever made a card which made me cry while making it.  I found it very emotional.  The designer of the sheet said she felt exactly the same.

I hope & pray that all our troops stay safe & return to their families.

How long till Christmas?

I haven't blogged for ages as I just haven't had any spare time.  I've been trying to get all my special Christmas Cards made for mine & Allens' lovely families back in the UK.  Got Allens' batch all done & sent to his sister for distributing. All the other special cards are made & ready to go as soon as I finished the little gifty bits to add in - was going to post piccis but as some of the family check my blog I can't until after the event.
Anyway I have just got to finish a bit of knitting & then I'm done & can start planning Christmas Day.  We have 4 or 6 friends coming for traditional Christmas dinner - I love cooking this meal so volunteer to do Christmas Day. The others then do Boxing Day & Three Kings, which is the main day for celebrations in Spain. Will make table gifts for everyone so have to decide what to do for each one before I can start to make them.

Spanish National Championships

Last Tuesday, Wednesday & Thursday Allen & I played in the Triples of the Spanish Nationals along side Keith Roberts.
On Tuesday we were against the all lady triples from El Rancho skipped by Maggie Furness.  This was never close & we won comfortably to move to the next round.
Wednesday morning we were back at Monte Mar against an Emerald Isle triples skipped by Rod Payne.  They had also comfortably beaten their opponents on the first day. Once again we were always in control and after only 16 ends we were through to the next round in the afternoon.
The afternoon match against Spanish International Sheri Fletcher, her husband Jim & Spanish National Team Coach Pat Metcalfe was always going to be difficult and over the first few ends they were in command of the match building up a lead of 10-2. On the next 2 ends we picked up single shots to double our score then on the next end we managed a good 4 to take us back to 10-8 down. A single on the next end and we were only 1 shot behind. As I went to the mat we were 2 down on the next end & Keith said to me "Who wants this the most?". My answer was "I do".  I played a bowl & managed to trail the jack slightly & we picked up another 3 shots to put us ahead. We kept repeating the mantra "Who wants it the most - we do" and never dropped another shot winning 21-10 with 19 unanswered shots.
The following morning we moved greens to Quesada for the semi final against the Country Bowls team Lynne Bishop, Noel Verity & Terry Padgett who had also come through from Monte Mar.  Allen struggled with his weight in this match but Keith & I played well. We progressed through to the final in the afternoon.
The final was against Debbie & John Colquhoun & Jan Dando of Indalo. Debbie & Jan are both Spanish Internationals. This time Allen played really well finding both line & weight but Keith & I could find neither consistently & we were beaten comfortably. A disappointing finish but at least we got to the final - there were plenty of favoured teams who didnt make it.

End of the Silence

Well I haven't blogged for over a month.  I was away in UK for the whole of August & seem to have been fully occupied since coming back - hence no blogs.
Last Wednesday I met up with 3 other Craftsuprint card makers for lunch & a chat.  This turned out to be a very long lunch - 5 hours. We all got on like a house on fire & plan on meeting up again next month with a 5th member joining our group.
Photo shows Carol Sear, Joan Prince, Lorraine Appleby & Myself.

Margaret Swaby will be joining us next month. Who knows we might end up with even more of us "Cuppers".

Landscape Gardening?

Back in April the garden looked forlorn - overgrown, covered in weeds - to be honest - a mess.

We decided that to cut down on the weeds we needed to put down new plastic under the gravel. This meant that all the gravel had to be moved before the new plastic could go down and then put the gravel back.

After a lot of hard work the gravel was back down and looked much better. Under the 2 gazebos we removed the gravel and replaced it with plastic & green carpet. We refastened the netting around the gazebos and repaired the canopies. The conifers were cut down and it looks much tidier now.

Some of the gravel from under the gazebos was moved to the path down the side of the house and then the ivy & honeysuckle were trimmed back to finish the transformation.

Having got it all tidy I held my craft class under the gazebo as it was cooler than in the house. We made 2 cards before our new monthly girls lunch out.  One was a Christmas card - strange making them when the temperature is over 30C! 

New Bowls Club

A new bowls club has recently been completed here on the Costa Blanca. It is owned by the Spanish company Terrapilar and is part of the Vistabella sports complex. There cannot be a better view from a bowls green than this.

Allen & I were unsure whether to rejoin San Luis because of the vandalism problem and we didn't want to rejoin and then find we had lost our money. So with the new club opening we made the decision to join there and the journey is only 3 minutes more than to San Luis.

Having decided we were joining and paid our monies I was then approached and asked to take on the role as Captain - another decision to make but with Allens support I agreed.

The first official function was a cocktail party held to introduce the new club to invited members of the bowling fraternity. With the Presidents of Costa Blanca Bowls, Valencian Federation and Costa Blanca Umpires & Markers invited, together with various committee members of CBBA & SABA it was quite an occasion.

The Directors of Terrapilar, Eduardo Lopez, Benjamin Lopez, Joaquim Grau and General Manager Pablo Riestra were asked to bowl the inaugural bowls on the green and after some instruction on the bias of bowls they proceded to do so. Considering they had never even held a bowl never mind bowled one they did quite well and it will be interesting to see whether we can encourage any of them to join us on a regular basis.

Following the opening we retired to the club house for drinks & buffet courtesy of Terrapilar.

The following morning we held a small bowls competition designed to give some idea of the green & complex to bowlers from other greens. Ian Young (Club Chairman) & I were sporting our new club shirts which will be used for all our league matches and we posed with Joaquim Grau & Pablo Riestra.

The general concenus of opinion on the green was favourable and although heavier than most greens should be nicely bedded in by the start of the league season.

The winners were from Greenlands, Mike Regan, Penny Tompkins, Brian Miller & Barry Collins and they were presented with their trophies by Eduardo, Benjamin & Joaquim.

Once again Terrapilar provided a free buffet and a drink for all competitors. Eduardo decided that a glass of cava was needed to toast the new bowls club and so Ian, Allen & I joined Eduardo & Pablo in a glass to celebrate. Having finished the cava Eduardo disappeared and came back with a bottle of Moet & Chandon champagne for us all to try. Pablo whispered that the bottle cost more than 200€ - no wonder it was good. When we finished the expensive stuff Eduardo opened a bottle of Reserve Cava - we decided he liked having a bowls club!

Wonder whether we should start the tradition that he come with bottles after all our league games - or maybe just those we win.

To Vistabella Bowls Club - cheers!

For Your Delictation

I just had to share with you Allens latest culinary acheivement.  Made especially for me because Rocky Road is my all time favourite.  First attempt at Rocky Road Cheesecake.

And it tastes as good as it looks. Am I lucky or am I lucky?