HAPPY NEW WEEK and HAPPY NEW MOON on Wednesday!
I want to send special wishes to OG. I hope she will get out of the hospital soon!
Everyone have a wonderful week!
Women of the Shetland Isles with Shetland ponies, circa 1900Photo labelled Public Domain (Copyright Free) Shetland Museum Photographic Archive
Some more pics, quick, before I stop to find something to cook tonight, from the freezer..
Some pretty flowers at the edge of the car park where we stopped at the viewpoint:
Flowers are so rare they are always noticeable! The nearby hill looks almost green!! I think its a crop of some kind.
We went on our way, having enjoyed the views once again. We go to this viewpoint every year as we never tire of it, nor of the journey. We wound our way down the mountain on the other side, passing a lot of cyclists toiling their way up - the area is very popular with cyclists and sometimes we see them being collected together with their cycles by large wagons which take them back to their bases again after a hard day of going up and down in the hilly terrain.
We passed through a green leafy central town, Betancuria, which is famous on the island. It was once used as the islands capital as the island was raided so often by various other nationalities and pirates that it was impractical to have a capital city near to the coast. I didn't take any pictures of it this year, as we have done so often in the past, but on the way out of the town I was intrigued and we stopped the car to look at an interesting rock formation -
In the centre of this picture, and nearer to, below:
We drove on, again. We always pass some pretty houses, usually painted white, but I am always fascinated by this very large house which looks very European, and expensively built (a millionaire's pad?!)
Its hiding in a garden, but the next picture is the nearest you can get:
In the front, you can just see some flowers and shrubs, and amongst them is a large swimming pool. A nice hideaway for some wealthy family.
Evening all: A big garden day today; tackled the olive trees, which were again threatening to whack unsuspecting neighbors out with their dogs. I've always just trimmed them, but took off some good-sized low-hanging branches today.
AQ: Ah, but you didn't find all the chocolate! Don't rush with your trip photos - and whatever you do, don't go on anything other than a day trip until I catch up with you. :-)
Lindybird: I can imagine it would be hard to live on salads, etc. during the winter when "comfort" food is so much more warming. Great news re the sales of kiddie books. Making extra prints of pix is exactly what I do - and I have piles of envelopes too. I've also loaded my favorites onto the computer so they constantly "rotate" in the middle of my desktop. Lovely views from that hilltop - and good to know some of those old windmills are being restored. Those hills look like ours after a good amount of rain (then they turn a tawny color). Interesting rock; makes me wish I knew something about geology.
EE: It's a wonder they haven't starting charging OG rent for that room! :-)
Heather: I was thinking your trip would raise memories - inevitable - but now you're making new ones. Hugs to you.
It's been unusually warm and windy this last week - September weather in April. Thank heaven we're expecting to go back to normal next week.
Have a good Friday everyone.
Unknown said:It's a wonder they haven't starting charging OG rent for that room! :-)
Our herring gulls are red listed birds. Think about that the next time you hear some flaming idiot calling for a cull of them.
Good morning, all. Our newly repaired computer is now back in the house! I'm letting Limpy do the necessary stuff of inserting cables and things where they need to go - and then I can see myself catching up with a bit of photo posting. A big bit!
Lindy, your photos are beautiful! Please keep them coming.
Hello, All. Could not write this morning, as the site decided I would have to sign in again, and my tablet refused to cough up the password, which I decided on so long ago that now I've no idea what it is! However, I'm still logged in on this desktop: the intricacies of the web are far beyond me!!
Been out to a garden centre with my OH to buy seeds (peas & beans, and beetroot) and on my part, more birdfood plus a huge new garden pot which I'm very pleased with. Now I just have to decide what to plant in it!
Here's today's pic:
Two warrior statues near to the viewpoint I've been showing lately, but this pic was taken in 2009. I forget now why they're there, but they're certainly impressive - at least twice the height of a normal man.
Clare: Glad you've finally got your pc sorted. Looking forward to seeing your pictures.
Not heard much from you lately: hope you and Limpy are well, plus Helen, of course, who I expect is busy studying now.
I see that Google is celebrating the invention of Camembert cheese today!!
A few more pics more recently taken:
We drove on through the green valley, which is one of the more verdant parts of the island. Some attractive and more profitable looking farms here. I took some pics by hanging out of the car window, of passing views:
Then we came to another, different kind of viewpoint, just a car park with views of a valley ahead. But in the shadows......
If you squint at the shadow, you can see a small stripey chap, eating some crumbs! Ground squirrels, or some call them "chipmunks" which they are not, of course. If you study the valley ahead, you can just make out a mud coloured bit of water, which is a valuable reservoir of precious water in these parts. The strip of bright blue on the horizon is the sea, never far away on this narrow island.
Managed to zoom in on this one: the males and females look the same. Very cute. Notices say not to feed them, but people do.
They have beautiful markings, and tails which fluff up when they're excited. They move very fast, and also can fight each other, though whether that was because it was mating season, I don't know!!
- - Some of the wildflowers at the side of the road, where the small amount of water that falls, collects. The whole area is so very dry, there is very little to admire in the vegetation, except for some of the magnificent palm trees, imported from nearby Africa, and planted by farmers and gardeners.
Nice pix Lindybird. Will catch up tomorrow.
Good morning everyone
Yes, LINDY, more great pictures. I like to hear about your trips and also read about AQ s adventures. Thank you for sharing.
I didn't get on here yesterday. We spent the morning preparing for Danish friends retirement bash. First, the tables had to be prepared. Luckily they have a very large open plan kitchen/living room so we had two long tables for 14 persons, a small table for six and fifteen other seating places, using sofas etc. Outside they have a covered seating area with an open fireplace so that accommodated all the smokers. The log fire was roaring away - pity that it was Smokehaven because I longed to sit by the fire - something I can't do very often!
About sixty guests arrived at 1pm. We had a long buffet table in the living room,plus more food and wine laid out in the kitchen. Everyone helped themselves to a glass of wine but before any food was eaten there were THE SPEECHES. First, our friend. He gave a resume of his career ( I think!) acknowledging various guests who he felt worthy of mention. It was not a short speech. Then, his big boss. She read her speech which was closely typed on two sheets of A4 paper. It was not a short speech. After that, glasses were raised in a toast to our friend, followed by everyone shouting 'Hurrah' three times, followed by a fourth very loud 'Hurrah!' All the guest brought gifts which were placed on a special table.
At last! They all helped themselves to food. Danish pork meatballs, 300 of them, all made by the hosts.Several bowls of potato salad and baskets of bread. Huge platters of salmon sides, garnished with dill, prawns, artichoke hearts, stuffed baby peppers and strawberries. A huge pasta salad served with pesto sauce. Several savoury tarts, some vegetarian. Big platters of mixed salad. Most of the food was made by the chefs of he Municipality.
My job was replacing empty wine bottles with full ones. Each table was kept well supplied. There was plenty of soft drinks and beer.
By six pm everyone was having A VERY GOOD TIME. It was raining outside and quite dark skies so candles were lit and lamps switched on. Google the word HYGGE and you will get the atmosphere. Someone played an accordion and we were given a song sheet.
The big food table became a bar. Whisky, gin, brandy, Bailey's etc all laid out together with wine and beer. By eight PM we were down to about 15 diehards. Most Danes can speak English so I didn't feel out of things. Indeed, two well lubricated ladies kept kissing me.......
At about 10pm our friends were left with four guests who looked as if they might stay for hours. I don't know if Danish hosts have signals for 'Its time you went home' because I slid off to bed. It was, apparently, not considered impolite for me to do that!
It was a long but happy day.