Easter Part 2

We have had a quiet few days at home, in between the quiet days we have been out and about. On Monday we visited RHS Wisley (RHS = Royal Horticultural Society) The RHS is the organisation who also puts on the Chelsea Flower Show as well as several other shows through the year.
Spring has been much colder this year which has held the growing season back. Wisley has lots of colour if you know where to look for it.

On the rockery many of the tiny daffodils and other flowers were beginning to show

 The Alpine House is filled with colour 

At the top of the rockery just outside the Alpine house are two beautiful cherry trees in bloom

In the glasshouse the Orchid exhibition which is on until 21st April was spectacular

We had an amazing day, Em needed some photographic material for her art project which she collected - 345 photos! and I thought I took a lot of pictures.  Wisley is a beautiful garden and one which I have know for many years. Orchids are one of my favourite plants so this was a perfect visit.

Hope you have a good week Jane

Easter Break

Winter is still hanging on and the days are cold between 2-5 degrees celsius, but now the hour has sprung forward to British summertime the days are longer. The birds are singing and the sun is shining, if you can find shelter away from the wind the sun has warmth to it. Over the Easter weekend we visited my family in Dorset and on Saturday went down to Durlston Country Park near Swannage.

 There is an Earth timeline walk charting the earths formation and change from molten ball of lava through to the beautiful place it is today. Along the path there were big stones nearly six foot tall with fossils in them and this was the most stunning (top right). We visited the castle which housed a cafe restaurant - booking before you go for a meal is essential as it is quite small. If you want morning coffee or afternoon tea you can sit on the balcony if its not too cold. The views from the top of the castle were beautiful, this is looking towards Swannage and Poole (top left)

 Below the castle there is a stone planet, which was carved in 1890 by George Burt, stone mason and former owner of the castle. The stone earth records the world which has seen many changes since in names and borders. From the position of the globe you can look up to see the turrets of the castle.

As we had not been able to have lunch at the castle we moved on to Swannage for the remainder of our day. Passing the Swannage steam railway and just in time to see the arrival of the steam engine pulling a train packed with families on Easter break travelling down from Corfe Castle or Norden Station where there is a big carpark. The engine seen shunting back to the end of the station line is BR Standard class 4 80104 the picture below shows the same engine just coming into the station approach.

 We had lunch on the seafront at the Quayside Restaurant upstairs in the Mowlem Theatre. The food was delicious and beautifully presented.

The tide was in and the wind was blowing straight off the sea so it was very bracing but the sun was out so it was lovely to be there.

 On our way back through the town of Swannage Em found a friend! Jeremy The Macheosaurus Rex who has his own facebook page. He was outside The Pottery Place on his own surf board how cool is that!

The remainder of the Easter weekend were spent with the family. Amongst the Easter decorations are the two lambs I knitted from Jean Greenhowes Christmas booklet one is cream and the other rainbow splash (King Cole yarn) 

 

Hope you had a good weekend Jane x

Oh No It Hasn't Gone Away (the rain)

We seem to have become Eeyore like, in so far as we have a permanent rain cloud stuck over the UK. Many parts of theses Isles are suffering awful floods and the mess and loss that goes with it, but as usual the British sense of grit and determination to get on with it and enjoy the "summer" come what may has surfaced.

One of the girls at work is leaving at the end of this week so we went out for a day last Saturday, we stopped for lunch in the Ship Inn at Itchenor. Then we boarded a friends boat and he sailed us around Chichester Harbour. We had such fun in spite of the weather and we filled the day with lots of happy memories.
Nearly time for the summer holidays which we have lots of plans for, see you soon. Jane x

Sorrento, Italy

Five days of sunshine and blue skies spent in Sorrento. We visited Pompeii, walked miles around its ruined streets, marvelling at the wall paintings that have survived. Em made friends with one of the local dogs that roam the ruins. All the time we were aware of the brooding presence of Mount Vesuvius behind the town.

We walked around Sorrento discovering all its delightful shops, views and marveling at all the beautiful plants which at home are house plants but in Sorrento are garden plants - Bougainvillea, white Jasmine, Bird of Paradise (Strelitzia), Date Palms, Prickly Pear Cactus, Yellow Mimosa in bloom, a stunning sight against the deep blue sky, figs, oranges and lemons and other plants I have never seen before. I spotted several birds - several birds which looked similar to a Bee Eater and a Black Cap bird (but it had airforce blue colour on its wings), Sparrows and I heard many other bird calls I didn't know. We enjoyed espresso coffee at Cafe del Carmine on the Piazzo Tasso. We visited Mt Vesuvius and walked (huffed and puffed) up to the top to look in the crater and admire the views. The views were hazy despite a bitterly cold wind blowing for two days, as you can see from the photos we were cold despite being well wrapped up.

Back in Sorrento much to Em's delight we discovered the big Supermercardo on Corso Italia, which stocks Gluten Free and Dairy Free pasta, rice cakes, cakes and biscuits as well as Alpro soya milk and rice milk, so we don't need to bring the special foods with us next visit. We stayed in a lovely appartment on Via Parsano with views across towards the hills behind the town of Sorrento. It meant that we could cook a hot meal which it turned out was necessary as we didn't find any restaurants selling chips or gluten and dairy free food suitable for Em. It gave us a chance to use the local shops, Tony spoke very rusty italian which hadn't been used since 1988 but like riding a bike he remembered most of it and gained in confidence as the days rushed by. I learned a few phrases and picked up a few more along the way, Em who usually stays silent on foreign holidays also attempted Italian and by the end of the holiday professed a love of Italy and would like to live there! I wonder how much of it was due to the idea that at the age of 16 you can learn to ride a scooter - she spotted a red vesper she'd like (oh no!) I did buy her a small model of one instead ;-) but she is keen to learn Italian, so when we return she can understand and speak more. Returning to the appartment one evening we spotted a beautiful little church up on the hillside above Sorrento all lit up. Finally on Friday we bade Sorrento farewell, but we will return because we had a wonderful time and we have more to discover about this enchanting area.

My final two pictures were taken from the Taxi as we left Sorrento the colour is wrong but that is because the windows were tinted. It does show the villages stretched out along the coastline, in the distance is Sant Agnello and Sorrento. Hope you have a good week. Jane x

Paris

Last week we visited Paris, T's cousin had a liver transplant and is slowly recovering as things didn't quite go according to plan. We also managed a little sightseeing during the days, we went up the Tour Montparnasse and marvelled at the views of Paris. We walked around the shops close to the Notre Damme and St Michaels fountain, along the way we found the church of St Severin and marvelled at the beautiful old stained glass windows although there are some new ones as well. we tried to visit the Chateau Versailles but the queues were so long we would have been waiting for nearly 4-5 hours so we went to find St Germain-En-Laye and walked around the village. This week has been spent going out with friends to the pictures and a local


museum. I have managed to find some time for my cross stitch and I have finished my Mary Wigham which was a pattern available from Needleprint. I started last summer and worked away at a great speed loving every stitch, but then I had to stop for samplers to be made for friends leaving/christmas stitching/knitting etc I have picked it up and done little bits during the year, but I managed to finish Mary Wigham this morning. I am delighted with the finished piece, I just need to decide how I want to display it, framed, or backed and on a dowel. Here is the before in October and the finished piece today.