The colour of the tiles was wonderful as were the lines.
Sometimes it is the angles even if TV aerials etc. get in the way.
And here are two shots taken from the roof of our hotel.
Still to come: the gardens we visited.
Tuesday, 9 October 2012
Alto Lazio: small details
Whenever I am out taking photos I am always on the look out for the less usual shot: small details, candid crowd shots etc. This is quite a challenge when you are with a group, both because you generally cannot stop for long enough or move away from the group, and also because the photos tend to have the heads of group members in them! A lot of my photos this time are like that and I do not think cropping in Photoshop is going to cure the problem. But I did manage to find a few things that were a bit different and/or could be used as design inspiration. First there were roofs:
The colour of the tiles was wonderful as were the lines.
Sometimes it is the angles even if TV aerials etc. get in the way.
And here are two shots taken from the roof of our hotel.
Still to come: the gardens we visited.
The colour of the tiles was wonderful as were the lines.
Sometimes it is the angles even if TV aerials etc. get in the way.
And here are two shots taken from the roof of our hotel.
Still to come: the gardens we visited.
Sunday, 7 October 2012
Alto Lazio: Bolsena
The first full day of our tour we went to Bolsena. We were staying in a small hill town called Montefiascone which lay on the southern shore of Lake Bolsena although you could not see the lake from the main part of the town.
Bolsena town was on the opposite side of the lake and we went there by private boat. It was a glorious day which everyone appreciated after our awful English summer. The boat left from a small town called Capodimonte. I had assumed this was connected to the china of that name but it appears that the Capodimontes were just a very important family.
Lake Bolsena is a volcanic lake and it reminded me of Lake Taupo where we used to spend our holidays as children. There is a chain of volcanic lakes in this part of Italy. We visited the largest, Trasimeno, many years ago and I have always wanted to go back. This time we also visited another one on the last day en route back to Rome. Crossing Lake Bolsena we circumnavigated two islands which had various religious associations. Here is a chapel, one of three, on an outcrop that is very hard to ascend.
The town of Bolsena is very attractive and obviously a popular holiday destination.
There appears to be some uncertainty over whether Bolsena was an Etruscan town but its main claim to fame comes from the miracle that led to the doctrine of transubstaniation and the festival of Corpus Christi.
After spending some time in Bolsena visiting the main church and a palazzo, in the afternoon we travelled the short distance to Civita di Dagnoregio. I had looked this up on Google images and realised that I would not be able to make the rather precipitous climb. It is a virtually deserted town built on a volcanic outcrop and to me the path up to it resembled the Great Wall of China (not that I have been there). So while the rest of the group climbed up I stayed at the bottom of the hill and took photos, then had an ice cream.
The countryside around was very rugged and in this part of Italy the towns all cling to the hill tops, many of which are volcanic outcrops.
Bolsena town was on the opposite side of the lake and we went there by private boat. It was a glorious day which everyone appreciated after our awful English summer. The boat left from a small town called Capodimonte. I had assumed this was connected to the china of that name but it appears that the Capodimontes were just a very important family.
Lake Bolsena is a volcanic lake and it reminded me of Lake Taupo where we used to spend our holidays as children. There is a chain of volcanic lakes in this part of Italy. We visited the largest, Trasimeno, many years ago and I have always wanted to go back. This time we also visited another one on the last day en route back to Rome. Crossing Lake Bolsena we circumnavigated two islands which had various religious associations. Here is a chapel, one of three, on an outcrop that is very hard to ascend.
The town of Bolsena is very attractive and obviously a popular holiday destination.
There appears to be some uncertainty over whether Bolsena was an Etruscan town but its main claim to fame comes from the miracle that led to the doctrine of transubstaniation and the festival of Corpus Christi.
After spending some time in Bolsena visiting the main church and a palazzo, in the afternoon we travelled the short distance to Civita di Dagnoregio. I had looked this up on Google images and realised that I would not be able to make the rather precipitous climb. It is a virtually deserted town built on a volcanic outcrop and to me the path up to it resembled the Great Wall of China (not that I have been there). So while the rest of the group climbed up I stayed at the bottom of the hill and took photos, then had an ice cream.
The countryside around was very rugged and in this part of Italy the towns all cling to the hill tops, many of which are volcanic outcrops.
Friday, 5 October 2012
Alto Lazio: Orvieto
Autumn is here and it time to get back to blogging. First, my late summer holiday. In September I had a week in Italy with Art Pursuits http://www.artpursuits.com/. This is the third holiday I have had with them and all of them have been absolutely wonderful, if hard work. I consider the holidays to be my adult education for the year!
This year I went to Alto Lazio which is the Etruscan area north of Rome. The holiday included Etruscan ruins, medieval cities and Rennaisance gardens. I had not realised how hilly this part of Italy is and unfortunately my leg problems meant that I had to pass on some of the attractions including the Etruscan tombs which are underground. I am having increasing problems dealing with steps and did not dare risk falling so on that day I had to stay on the surface and admire the views of the countryside.
I think the best day for me was the day we spent in Orvieto. This is an amazing town built on a volcanic outcrop and approached by a funicular railway. Please bear in mind that when you travel in a group, taking photos is a bit difficult and I am very disappointed with mine this time. If you Google Orvieto and go to Images there are many photos so I am going to illustrate this posting mainly with shots of details. We were very lucky that one member of the group is a semi-professional photographer and he is going to send us all a CD of his photos which will be great.
This is the countryside around Orvieto. You have to descend into the valley and then take the funicular up to the town. Unfortunately Orvieto is a real tourist trap, partly because it is on the main railway line between Rome and Florence and partly because of the attractions of its cathedral and churches. It was the only really touristy place we went to and reminded me of Oxford in that the tour groups all poured in at 10.30 am and then left from lunchtime onwards.
Building of the cathedral began in 1290 on the foundations of an Etruscan temple. It was designed to house the relics of the miracle of Bolsena which led to the feast of Corpus Christi. We went to Bolsena earlier in the week and I will do another posting about that. The cathedral began as a Romanesque building but became Gothic. The nave is wonderfully sparse in decoration but the really outstanding features are two chapels: The San Brizio Chapel with frescoes by Fra Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli and Signorelli and the Chapel of the Blessed Corporal which also has amazing frescoes and the Reliquary which was made to house the consecrated host and the linen altar cloth stained with blood from the Bosena miracle. Of course I could not take photos of these chapels but the third great feature of the cathedral is the facade which is covered in amazing bas reliefs depicting scenes from the Old Testament and the New Testament.
These remind you of how important visual art was in teaching people their faith in earlier times. The facade also has wonderful paintings and mosaics and a copy of a sculpture of the Virgin and Child that is now in the museum next door.
After lunch we visited the museum which has a very well displayed collection of items from the cathedral. The 'secret' bonus was that an art restorer was at work on a painting by Signorelli and we were able to discuss the work with her. We also visited a couple of other churches but there was not much time for wandering through the streets.
The cathedral square, where some of us had lunch, was very touristy. My eye was caught by the souvenir shops which had amazing collections of ceramics hanging on the walls. I resisted buying anything and it was only later, when I read the official guide book I had bought in order to get photos of the cathedral's interiors, that I read that ceramics is one of the main industries of Orvieto.
I would really recommend visiting Orvieto despite the tourists although I am sure it must be much worse in the height of summer than it is in September.
This year I went to Alto Lazio which is the Etruscan area north of Rome. The holiday included Etruscan ruins, medieval cities and Rennaisance gardens. I had not realised how hilly this part of Italy is and unfortunately my leg problems meant that I had to pass on some of the attractions including the Etruscan tombs which are underground. I am having increasing problems dealing with steps and did not dare risk falling so on that day I had to stay on the surface and admire the views of the countryside.
I think the best day for me was the day we spent in Orvieto. This is an amazing town built on a volcanic outcrop and approached by a funicular railway. Please bear in mind that when you travel in a group, taking photos is a bit difficult and I am very disappointed with mine this time. If you Google Orvieto and go to Images there are many photos so I am going to illustrate this posting mainly with shots of details. We were very lucky that one member of the group is a semi-professional photographer and he is going to send us all a CD of his photos which will be great.
This is the countryside around Orvieto. You have to descend into the valley and then take the funicular up to the town. Unfortunately Orvieto is a real tourist trap, partly because it is on the main railway line between Rome and Florence and partly because of the attractions of its cathedral and churches. It was the only really touristy place we went to and reminded me of Oxford in that the tour groups all poured in at 10.30 am and then left from lunchtime onwards.
Building of the cathedral began in 1290 on the foundations of an Etruscan temple. It was designed to house the relics of the miracle of Bolsena which led to the feast of Corpus Christi. We went to Bolsena earlier in the week and I will do another posting about that. The cathedral began as a Romanesque building but became Gothic. The nave is wonderfully sparse in decoration but the really outstanding features are two chapels: The San Brizio Chapel with frescoes by Fra Angelico, Benozzo Gozzoli and Signorelli and the Chapel of the Blessed Corporal which also has amazing frescoes and the Reliquary which was made to house the consecrated host and the linen altar cloth stained with blood from the Bosena miracle. Of course I could not take photos of these chapels but the third great feature of the cathedral is the facade which is covered in amazing bas reliefs depicting scenes from the Old Testament and the New Testament.
These remind you of how important visual art was in teaching people their faith in earlier times. The facade also has wonderful paintings and mosaics and a copy of a sculpture of the Virgin and Child that is now in the museum next door.
After lunch we visited the museum which has a very well displayed collection of items from the cathedral. The 'secret' bonus was that an art restorer was at work on a painting by Signorelli and we were able to discuss the work with her. We also visited a couple of other churches but there was not much time for wandering through the streets.
The cathedral square, where some of us had lunch, was very touristy. My eye was caught by the souvenir shops which had amazing collections of ceramics hanging on the walls. I resisted buying anything and it was only later, when I read the official guide book I had bought in order to get photos of the cathedral's interiors, that I read that ceramics is one of the main industries of Orvieto.
I would really recommend visiting Orvieto despite the tourists although I am sure it must be much worse in the height of summer than it is in September.
Wednesday, 25 July 2012
Second wall hanging on subject of Gwithian
All the wet weather we have had has meant that I have finally finished a small wall hanging that I started months ago. This is the second in an occasional series on the subject of the beach that runs from the mouth of the Hayle estuary to Godrevy point and lighthouse. I have used my imagination and various photos taken over the years as inspiration. It is quite a wild part of the coast although in the summer when the tide is out there are miles of golden sand.
This quilt demonstrates how you can use fabric that has been in your stash for years. The piece on the left is indigo dyeing from the workshop I did at Easter 2011 but the rest of the fabric is pieces that I made when studying with Committed to Cloth in 2005. The top piece was space dyed. The bottom strip was an experiment in printing.
I have had great trouble in photographing these close-ups, I suspect because it is very bright even in the house today. The bottom strip is blue and green thickened dye. I was attempting to give the idea of surf rolling in but you cannot really see this in either photo.
The five circles on this piece were also done with thickened dye. From memory, they were made with a small scrubbing brush of the sort you use for peeling potatoes. I cut them out and bonded them onto the space-dyed fabric. I then repeated the circle motif in the quilting and used some orange thread to pick up the colour from the bottom.
The colours have come out very badly despite my fiddling with the camera. You will just have to believe me when I say the overall background colour is a dull Wedgwood green with blue.
I finished the first Gwithian quilt in September 2011 and did a post on it but as I think I may have just deleted this by mistake, here is the photo of the first one again.
This one incorporated rust dyeing. I have just ordered some new business cards using a close-up photo of the border on the right. I hope they come out! It is not that I need business cards as I am not in business but
I find having them useful, not just for textile friends and contacts, but also to use more generally. However, times have moved on since I and my husband made my last set. These days I realise that you only need to put your e-mail address and mobile number. I can no longer read the full address etc. I had on the old ones as I had to use a very small point size in order to fit everything on the card so I hope these will be better.
This quilt demonstrates how you can use fabric that has been in your stash for years. The piece on the left is indigo dyeing from the workshop I did at Easter 2011 but the rest of the fabric is pieces that I made when studying with Committed to Cloth in 2005. The top piece was space dyed. The bottom strip was an experiment in printing.
I have had great trouble in photographing these close-ups, I suspect because it is very bright even in the house today. The bottom strip is blue and green thickened dye. I was attempting to give the idea of surf rolling in but you cannot really see this in either photo.
The five circles on this piece were also done with thickened dye. From memory, they were made with a small scrubbing brush of the sort you use for peeling potatoes. I cut them out and bonded them onto the space-dyed fabric. I then repeated the circle motif in the quilting and used some orange thread to pick up the colour from the bottom.
The colours have come out very badly despite my fiddling with the camera. You will just have to believe me when I say the overall background colour is a dull Wedgwood green with blue.
I finished the first Gwithian quilt in September 2011 and did a post on it but as I think I may have just deleted this by mistake, here is the photo of the first one again.
This one incorporated rust dyeing. I have just ordered some new business cards using a close-up photo of the border on the right. I hope they come out! It is not that I need business cards as I am not in business but
I find having them useful, not just for textile friends and contacts, but also to use more generally. However, times have moved on since I and my husband made my last set. These days I realise that you only need to put your e-mail address and mobile number. I can no longer read the full address etc. I had on the old ones as I had to use a very small point size in order to fit everything on the card so I hope these will be better.
Tuesday, 26 June 2012
Porthleven
This non-summer drags on with day after day of rain and absolutely nothing in the garden coming into bloom. Our apples are still the size of walnuts, the peonie which normally flowers in early June, is still in bud and the day lilies are only showing tints of orange behind their closed petals. So when the sun came out on Sunday we took the opportunity to go and 'look at the sea' at Porthleven.
Porthleven is a small fishing village near Helston. We hadn't been there for some time and I noticed that it is gentrifying somewhat. There is at least one up-market restaurant and there was a Sunday craft fair in full swing.
Porthleven is on a very exposed piece of coastline. When there is a really good storm, the waves are unbelievable and photos of them regularly make it into the newspapers. There is a long pier sticking out into the bay which is closed when the wind gets too high.
Here is the red ball that is raised.
The harbour is a 'double harbour' which is essential to protect the fishing boats and the village from the worst of the winds. You can just see the entrance to the inner harbour at the left of the photo above and here it is from closer in.
There are plenty of small boats at anchor and we assumed that it is mainly a crabbing port. The most famous building is the 'institution' situated at the start of the pier.
According to Wikipaedia there have been many shipwrecks on this part of the coast as it is easy for ships to be blown in the direction of Loe Bar, a few miles away. There is a lovely walk from Helston down to the sea at Loe Bar which we have done in the past.
As you can see the bar extends almost across the shoreline and, to the left in this photo, there is a long lake.
Porthleven itself has a sandy beach but also a very rocky area which is popular with surfers.
These days Porthleven is also a popular holiday destination with many cottages to rent and lots of tourists. However, I think this group were locals, judging from their accents.
As always I was on the lookout for images that might be useful for my journal quilts. This week I have been reading up on Terry Frost and Patrick Heron, both St Ives modernists. I was not going to include them among possible artists for inspiration but then realised that they were both great exponents of colour. The book I found in the library on Terry Frost which was small enough to carry home, included a page on how he travelled from St Ives almost to Lands End looking for yellows. So when I saw this lichen on the harbour wall I had to take its photo.
I was also taken with this piece of iron on the wall of the building behind the group above.
And finally, as we made our way back towards the car I saw the Porthleven gig. Pilot gigs are traditional open six oar rowing boats which were originally used as general workboats and for taking pilots out to boats coming in from the Atlantic. The gigs would race to get their pilot on first and collect the payment for bringing the ship in safely. In the twenty-first century pilot gig racing has become a popular sport and most towns and villages in this area have at least one Pilot gig club. Both men and women crew them and the racing season culminates in the World Pilot Gig racing championships which are held on the isles of Scilly at the beginning of May.
And as you can see, the boat is yellow. Now I need to get on and make these quilts!
Porthleven is a small fishing village near Helston. We hadn't been there for some time and I noticed that it is gentrifying somewhat. There is at least one up-market restaurant and there was a Sunday craft fair in full swing.
Porthleven is on a very exposed piece of coastline. When there is a really good storm, the waves are unbelievable and photos of them regularly make it into the newspapers. There is a long pier sticking out into the bay which is closed when the wind gets too high.
Here is the red ball that is raised.
The harbour is a 'double harbour' which is essential to protect the fishing boats and the village from the worst of the winds. You can just see the entrance to the inner harbour at the left of the photo above and here it is from closer in.
There are plenty of small boats at anchor and we assumed that it is mainly a crabbing port. The most famous building is the 'institution' situated at the start of the pier.
According to Wikipaedia there have been many shipwrecks on this part of the coast as it is easy for ships to be blown in the direction of Loe Bar, a few miles away. There is a lovely walk from Helston down to the sea at Loe Bar which we have done in the past.
As you can see the bar extends almost across the shoreline and, to the left in this photo, there is a long lake.
Porthleven itself has a sandy beach but also a very rocky area which is popular with surfers.
These days Porthleven is also a popular holiday destination with many cottages to rent and lots of tourists. However, I think this group were locals, judging from their accents.
As always I was on the lookout for images that might be useful for my journal quilts. This week I have been reading up on Terry Frost and Patrick Heron, both St Ives modernists. I was not going to include them among possible artists for inspiration but then realised that they were both great exponents of colour. The book I found in the library on Terry Frost which was small enough to carry home, included a page on how he travelled from St Ives almost to Lands End looking for yellows. So when I saw this lichen on the harbour wall I had to take its photo.
I was also taken with this piece of iron on the wall of the building behind the group above.
And finally, as we made our way back towards the car I saw the Porthleven gig. Pilot gigs are traditional open six oar rowing boats which were originally used as general workboats and for taking pilots out to boats coming in from the Atlantic. The gigs would race to get their pilot on first and collect the payment for bringing the ship in safely. In the twenty-first century pilot gig racing has become a popular sport and most towns and villages in this area have at least one Pilot gig club. Both men and women crew them and the racing season culminates in the World Pilot Gig racing championships which are held on the isles of Scilly at the beginning of May.
And as you can see, the boat is yellow. Now I need to get on and make these quilts!
Tuesday, 12 June 2012
May Journal Quilt
Yes, I know we are now well into June but I have now finished my May journal quilt. The Jubilee weekend provided plenty of opportunity for hand stitching while keeping half an eye on the television coverage. I have managed to stick with my personal challenge of making these quilts 'in the style of'' various twentieth century artists although it is not always easy to think of artists whose styles adapt to the medium. I also wanted to try doing some more pojagi so began by dyeing a lot of fabric yellow.
These are pieces of silk organza. I learnt from this exercise that organza soaks up the dye. I put organza and ramie into the same plastic bag based dye and the organza mostly came out quite dark while the ramie in the photo below was much more pastel.
I also did a range of other fabrics that I am sure will be used in some of the other yellow quilts. The next photo includes linen and cheesecloth along with cotton sateen. I love yellow and am very happy to use it in quilts but I had used up almost all I had in the wedding present quilt I made my nephew last year.
I settled on Mondrian as the artist for this month. His work is actually quite easy to mimic because it contains so many squares and oblongs. I was thinking of the fields of oilseed rape that surrounded our village in Northamptonshire and the bulb fields down here although I was surprised at how few photos I had, particularly digital ones. I chose to use ramie for the first side of the quilt but I used much smaller pieces than I had in the January Rothko quilt.
As it is not normal to quilt pojagi I decided to make it a 'reversible' quilt and do a second one from organza.
This photo is not brilliant but I forgot to photograph it before I attached it to the ramie side! And the bottom is straight - it is just the camera that lets me down. I included two red patches to represent the narcissi that have red centres. We have lots of commercial bulb fields in this area and they are mostly planted in blocks of different varieties so that the overall impression is of bands of colour. Again the photos I thought I had are just images in my mind.
I put the two quilts together with two rows of hand-stitching in variegated yellow thread. Then in order to 'quilt' it (a condition of the journal quilts challenge) I used variegated thread in yellow and orange to stitch some stars in randon squares. I worked from the ramie side but with such a thin item the embroidery is also visible on the reverse, albeit not in a planned fashion.
I think my June quilt may be inspired by one of the St Ives modernists although when I began this project I thought I would try and avoid them as being a little too close to home.
These are pieces of silk organza. I learnt from this exercise that organza soaks up the dye. I put organza and ramie into the same plastic bag based dye and the organza mostly came out quite dark while the ramie in the photo below was much more pastel.
I also did a range of other fabrics that I am sure will be used in some of the other yellow quilts. The next photo includes linen and cheesecloth along with cotton sateen. I love yellow and am very happy to use it in quilts but I had used up almost all I had in the wedding present quilt I made my nephew last year.
I settled on Mondrian as the artist for this month. His work is actually quite easy to mimic because it contains so many squares and oblongs. I was thinking of the fields of oilseed rape that surrounded our village in Northamptonshire and the bulb fields down here although I was surprised at how few photos I had, particularly digital ones. I chose to use ramie for the first side of the quilt but I used much smaller pieces than I had in the January Rothko quilt.
As it is not normal to quilt pojagi I decided to make it a 'reversible' quilt and do a second one from organza.
This photo is not brilliant but I forgot to photograph it before I attached it to the ramie side! And the bottom is straight - it is just the camera that lets me down. I included two red patches to represent the narcissi that have red centres. We have lots of commercial bulb fields in this area and they are mostly planted in blocks of different varieties so that the overall impression is of bands of colour. Again the photos I thought I had are just images in my mind.
I put the two quilts together with two rows of hand-stitching in variegated yellow thread. Then in order to 'quilt' it (a condition of the journal quilts challenge) I used variegated thread in yellow and orange to stitch some stars in randon squares. I worked from the ramie side but with such a thin item the embroidery is also visible on the reverse, albeit not in a planned fashion.
I think my June quilt may be inspired by one of the St Ives modernists although when I began this project I thought I would try and avoid them as being a little too close to home.
Tuesday, 5 June 2012
Jubilee weekend what's that?
We have realised that once you are retired, bank holiday weekends rather pass you by. Down here they generally mean an inundation of tourists but, possibly because it has been so wet, we have not noticed many people about. Although the local newspaper was full of information about events, especially Big Lunches and the lighting of bonfires, we have not seen much in our immediate area.
I can see this flag from my bedroom and I found one other cottage across the road that has bunting
but that is about it. There have not been any street parties in this immediate area but I think that is partly because it is quite 'elderly'. Probably just as well given how wet it has been.
Yesterday the weather actually cleared for a couple of hours and we were able to go for a short walk along the path that leads from Penzance to Marazion. We began from Long Rock which is a very popular place for the locals to take their dogs to walk on the beach.
The path goes all the way from Penzance railway station to Marazion bounded on the right by the beach and on the left by the main railway line. You have to be a bit careful as it is a shared path for pedestrians and cyclists and if you are walking you don't hear the cyclists because of the noise of the waves. Mounts Bay and the Mount were looking glorious:
What really struck my was the great variety of flowers, not all of which were wild. Here are some of the things I noticed.
Broom growing along the fence between the path and the railway line,
Sea thrift on the rocks. This is more what I expect to see at this time of year.
Oilseed rape and umbelliferous plants. There is an incredible amount of windblown rape this year although it is very late coming out. There is more of it in the first photo.
I rather liked this evidence of rabbits living cheek by jowl with the trains. Then there were some escaped garden plants. I don't know what this is!
I think this is a member of the hollyhock family. It certainly isn't originally a wildflower.
I am always on the lookout for more unusual photos when on this kind of walk and I rather liked this sign
which was on a very 'dead' hut. There certainly hasn't been a lifeguard on this section of the beach for as long as I have known it.
The rest of the weekend I have managed to make some progress on my May journal quilt. I began this as a second piece of hand stitched bojagi using ramie. I took it to Copenhagen but I didn't get very far. On Sunday I sat and 'watched' the river pageant in the best stitcher's way i.e. with one eye on the TV and the other on the needle. This side of the quilt is now finished but not quite the right size and I fear that when I come to trim it to size I am going to hit some seams.
While watching the St Pauls service this morning (not planned, I went to mark the Grayson Perry programme to record) I have started on the reverse side which is pojagi made of organza.
And my excuse for not getting this quilt finished sooner? Well, at the beginning of this week I took delivery of my new iPad. Having left my Kindle on the plane to Copenhagen I decided to upgrade. I have bought a painting programme, got all my Kindle books on to it and made good use of iPlayer but it is going to be a steep learning curve, particularly as we are a PC family and I have been told to expect no help!
I can see this flag from my bedroom and I found one other cottage across the road that has bunting
but that is about it. There have not been any street parties in this immediate area but I think that is partly because it is quite 'elderly'. Probably just as well given how wet it has been.
Yesterday the weather actually cleared for a couple of hours and we were able to go for a short walk along the path that leads from Penzance to Marazion. We began from Long Rock which is a very popular place for the locals to take their dogs to walk on the beach.
The path goes all the way from Penzance railway station to Marazion bounded on the right by the beach and on the left by the main railway line. You have to be a bit careful as it is a shared path for pedestrians and cyclists and if you are walking you don't hear the cyclists because of the noise of the waves. Mounts Bay and the Mount were looking glorious:
What really struck my was the great variety of flowers, not all of which were wild. Here are some of the things I noticed.
Broom growing along the fence between the path and the railway line,
Sea thrift on the rocks. This is more what I expect to see at this time of year.
Oilseed rape and umbelliferous plants. There is an incredible amount of windblown rape this year although it is very late coming out. There is more of it in the first photo.
I rather liked this evidence of rabbits living cheek by jowl with the trains. Then there were some escaped garden plants. I don't know what this is!
I think this is a member of the hollyhock family. It certainly isn't originally a wildflower.
I am always on the lookout for more unusual photos when on this kind of walk and I rather liked this sign
which was on a very 'dead' hut. There certainly hasn't been a lifeguard on this section of the beach for as long as I have known it.
The rest of the weekend I have managed to make some progress on my May journal quilt. I began this as a second piece of hand stitched bojagi using ramie. I took it to Copenhagen but I didn't get very far. On Sunday I sat and 'watched' the river pageant in the best stitcher's way i.e. with one eye on the TV and the other on the needle. This side of the quilt is now finished but not quite the right size and I fear that when I come to trim it to size I am going to hit some seams.
While watching the St Pauls service this morning (not planned, I went to mark the Grayson Perry programme to record) I have started on the reverse side which is pojagi made of organza.
And my excuse for not getting this quilt finished sooner? Well, at the beginning of this week I took delivery of my new iPad. Having left my Kindle on the plane to Copenhagen I decided to upgrade. I have bought a painting programme, got all my Kindle books on to it and made good use of iPlayer but it is going to be a steep learning curve, particularly as we are a PC family and I have been told to expect no help!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)