Sew, Knit and Natter Friday

So after last week’s bombshell it was find a venue and food and and and , for the wedding later this month. Mission accomplished, village hall hired, wedding put back two hours to set up hall after a children’s party, disco told, table linen hired, trip booked to France for wine ,guests all ok with change of arrangements,  bride happy, groom happy,  draft report on unreliable and unhelpful hotel written for Trip Advisor!  Chill.

Last weekend I went to Wales to see my brother and Mum. Mum has Alzheimer’s sadly. She indicated many years ago that she would prefer to be in a care home should she become too unwell and need 24 hour care. She loves company and apparently is always to be found in the residents lounge, chatting. Sadly although she recognises P and me she doesn’t know who we are, just that she knows us and is pleased to see us. We finished clearing her bungalow , a sad but necessary task ,and I have come home with four great big boxes of her treasures. Mr E was really pleased to see them all! We are rather bursting out of the house already, some serious de-cluttering is called for if I am to accommodate these items.

Still lovely to be a totally new part of Wales. I knew the Black mountains, the Brecon Beacons and Snowdonia, but around Llandrindod Wells the countryside is rolling hills, buzzards, red kites and sheep. So many sheep , and I thought we had a lot of sheep in Yorkshire.

Lunch stop on the way, near Welshpool.

Whilst away I found my missing wool needle, attached to the zip of my tablet cover. I got out and put away my tablet three times that weekend and it was only on the third and final occasion that I noticed the needle. Now tell me how did the needle jump from the back of a crochet heart left on a sofa onto a tablet cover left on the coffee table shelf? The house Gremlin at work after all perchance?

Still enough of that. I said I had some more pictures from Greece to show you. I do love a Folk Museum. We went to one based in an old watermill. We travelled on the mini train you may have seen amongst my Turn pictures. I need you to imagine a single track road wending its way through olive gloves, to the sound of crickets and the delicious smell of wild thyme.

The watermill. (Photo by Mr E). First we toured the watermill which had been used to mill flour, before visiting the folk museum. It was only a single room but lots to interest the fabricistas and yarnies amongst us.

Loom with wool winder above?

Little bit of crochet here.

Bag hanging on the wall, I rather liked the star/flower on this.

Vintage sewing machine, not certain what the other objects are.

I liked this bit of tapestry/carpet on a shelf, the geometric pattern could come from almost anywhere , it reminded me of some I had seen in books from South America.

After our tour here, which we were rather rushed through it was up to the waterfall,which I shared in a 30 days wild post. Altogether rather a wonderful trip.

Anyway that is quite enough natter. No sewing to share this week and only a bit of knitting.

Very slow progress, but some nice mindless knitting. Two more inches to go on the back- should be done this weekend. Meantime I was in York this week at the dentist for a check up and all is well. I had run our of black embroidery floss so dropped into Hobbycraft. I really should send Mr E for single items like this. This is what I came out with.

Whoops! The bright colour is for Master T, I think this is what he means by bright, not what is currently on the needles, don’t you?

Seriously I have to stop by yarn. The Yarn diet starts now and ends in 2018! Really it does.

But best of all I got shoes for you know what. So that is me kitted out. Now to persuade Mr E he really needs a new suit!

I hope you all have a great weekend full of favourite people and things you like to do.

Be Happy!

 

 

 

One a week Photo Challenge- Turn

I had such a lot of fun with this prompt on holiday in Greece. I am going to put my favourite photo last.

Love this last one!

Please leave a link to your Turn photos over at Wild Daffodil and /or the comments below. We love seeing your pictures in the one a week photo challenge. Hard to believe we are now over the half way mark!

Next week’s prompt is Pair.

Happy Snapping!

More Wildness from Greece

It was rather nice taking the 30 days wild challenge to Greece with us as it meant  that we really did look about us and notice different things from the usual ancient ruins ( I don’t mean me and Mr E either) and beaches.

Just what is this ant about? (Photo by Mr E.)

The spiders on this walk were huge and all lurking in their webs awaiting dinner I assume. ( Mr E’s)

Cricket ( possibly my best picture of the challenge)

Another lizard.

Poppies- Warning you may need a lie down after the next picture.

Me returning from a wonderful walk through a river gorge ( this and the following two pics are by Mr E)

 

That was the best fun of all. I loved it. Bit chilly but simply wonderful.

Here is where I was most content and relaxed, the apartment gardens, two very happy afternoons spent here, just chilling and reading.

And you can’t write a post about Greece without a feral cat. This one guarding his boat and the nets.

A lovely holiday, I do hope you enjoyed the Greek wildness and weren’t too disturbed by one picture in particular!

 

 

 

 

One a week photo challenge- Wave

Boats gently bobbing on the waves in the evening sunlight, Parga Greece, June 2017

Next weeks prompt is TURN.

Please leave a link to your wave over on Wild Daffodil or in the comments below.

Going Wild in Greece!

Ttwo days after I sign up for the 30 day wild challenge, Mr E finds a holiday in Greece. Nothing for it but to take the challenge with me to Greece. We had a lovely time and Going Wild was wonderful. I even have some half decent photos and will only inflict one rubbish one on you.

Butterflies. Ever tried to photo a butterfly that just doesn’t land on a thing? There were lots of butterflies where we were. A whole host of brown ones. Here is the absolute best picture I could take.

I promise you that if you look very very carefully with a very high-powered magnifying glass there on the bend of the path are a whole flock of butterflies. I don’t suppose that the collective noun is really flock, perhaps someone can help out here. Elsewhere there white ones, blue ones, black and white ones and the most gorgeous yellow and orange ones and I got not one picture.

No matter it gets better from here on in.

Tahdah! Lizzard.

Swallow’s nest. There were lots and lots of swallows, just like at home. I swear it is a bumper swallow year.

A wonderful walk to a waterfall.

Less bad than the butterflies but not brilliant,  there really is a dragonfly there.

And some lovely wild flowers to finish with this time. The best is to come in the next post from our sojourn in Greece.

Now to tackle the wilderness that is our garden at home.

Greek Holiday 2015

We arrived home last Thursday but I am only just starting to come back to reality! My feet are still sore, as we managed to do so much in a short time. Trying to select a few pictures to share has been impossible! So I have given up on that. This first bunch are your more usual holiday pictures. Mr E takes such good pictures that I tend to go a bit off the wall with my camera. Those are the pictures which reveal more about me than our destination. I’ll post those later… Here is the short version of the travel log!

We went to Parga which is on the West coast of mainland Greece, opposite Corfu and down a bit. We weren’t certain quite what to expect in September. The temperature was in the 30s, quite hot enough for me, the tourists were mostly Scandinavian, Dutch and German and of the more older gentler age group, a bit like me and Mr E.

So that is Parga and up on the hill is a Venetian fortress, where we went on Friday.

Mr E checking out the view .

The next day we ventured inland to visit the river reputed to be the River Styx for which one pays the Ferryman to cross when you die. The source of the river is apparently melted glacier water from deep underground, certainly it felt cold enough to be true.

More coffee and checking the view was needed before we ventured to Necromantia where the ancient Greeks could be reunited temporarily with their  departed Lost ones ( Some skulduggery was apparently involved with by the priests). More info here

The next being Sunday we rested, well – swam, read and napped at our apartment.

Then on with the adventures

We have Rick Stein to thank for our visit here to Nikopolis, a deserted Greek/Roman/Christian city . It was truly fascinating with some lovely mosaics and the found objects were all in the local Air Conditioned museum, more on that later.

The next day which I think was probably Tuesday( tiredness makes it a blurry in my mind) we went to Ioannina ,  a lovely lakeside/ university city. With you’ve guessed it More ruins to view, this time Byzantium .

Best of all was the lake

oh and lunch!

Feta cheese pie and tomato salad.

And as for the quiet gentle walk on Wednesday, more on that one later!!!

Guess where my photo challenge picture for tomorrow was shot?