WOYWW 135

Hello to all my fellow crafters. I hope some of you have had a more productive week than I have. All I have achieved this week is one quick card for a grandson, that needed to be in the post today. I may do a short post about that later today. Here in Spain we are still in holiday mode as our big celebration is at the end of the week when it is Three kings Day (or Epiphany). Tomorrow night the kings will arrive on a float that will drive around the village, and they will throw huge quantity of sweets at the children. They then alight at a large marquee in the centre of the village and distribute gifts to the children (previously left at the town hall by their parents), after which there is a bar open around marquee, and music and dancing will go on until late! One year we drove the ten minute ride to the coast and spent the evening in Garrucha, where, this being an active fishing village, the kings arrive on a fishing boat, and at the port they transfer onto three very elaborate floats to process around the streets. The children also wake up the next morning to find three gifts under the tree, or by their bed - one from each of the kings. (They may have already had a Christmas stocking or gifts from Santa on Christmas day, but for many families, all this is saved for Three Kings day).

The following day our little village has a Three Kings Fiesta. We are the only village to do this around here so there will be plenty of visitors. During the morning the kings will arrive at the plaza, usually on actual camels, though last year they were on horses, and all the villagers dress up and reenact the scene at Herod's palace where the kings enquired about the whereabouts of the new baby king, as foretold in the stars. This is followed by a day of fun at a medieval market, and a free feast for everyone that could be paella, migas or tortilla.

I digress but I thought you might be interested to read a little about the traditions of this season in Andalucia. Perhaps it explains a little why I am not back into craft-mode yet, and why my desk is still as clear and empty as it was last Wednesday. So for today's picture I thought I'd show you where I go each week on a Wednesday morning. This is my Wednesday morning work desk, where I sit each week with a group of other ex-pats, and we either knit, sew, do patchwork, crochet, lace-making, or occasionally make cards, and as we work we chat, swap patterns, teach one another new skills, and share knowledge of shops and events in the area. When you live so far away from your family, a good network of friends is very important, so groups like this are very popular, and we know we could call on one another in an emergency and find help and support.

Now I am off to see how many of you (probably most of you) have been a lot more productive than me this week! Join us at Julia's blog and share the fun.