sew what!

sewing machine anyone? Wow I had really been missing having some craft to work on when we saw this in Portobello Rd - this was only one of about 3 walls covered in sewing machines -couldn't walk past without taking a photo and thinking of all my 'crafty' friends back home - now I wonder if they all work?

Pilgrims - part 2

wherever we went we seemed to be reminded of our time in spain as on the camino de santiago - yellow arrows and even this sign - a reminder that life will always be a journey and that we can still remain pilgrims even when not intending to be on a specific path - may we continue to put the lessons we learnt on the camino into practise in our everyday life

London - Family, Friends and Fun

The weather is sunny and we are enjoying catching up with people, we had a lovely evening with Fiona who used to work with me in Napier - we enjoyed the show Mama Mia and today are going to surprise Kylie at work and then Robyn & David for dinner. Managing the tube well and think the grey hair works wonders - have had young men give up their seats for me 3 times!!! Last time we were in London we bumped into my Mum and Dad on the tower Bridge so I am full of expectation that we will see someone else we know - early flight in the morning to Vancouver Canada...

Well dressing - Tissington

Every year since nobody can remember the village of Tissington decorate the seven wells - one theory is that it dates back to to the time of the plague when everyone around was being ravaged no one in Tissington died - they attributed this to their water supply so decorated the wells in grateful thanks - then laterly in 1615 when there was a severe drought the town was once again spared - it has been done every year since then - everyone is involved from digging the clay, picking the flowers and assembling them, each petal separately like tiles - it is open to the public for one week and we happened to be passing through on the last day - the wells were amazing but more so because everyone had worked together on it - the estate consists of 10 farms and 40 cottages - we actually just enjoyed wandering around this delightful village

Derbyshire

We are currently in the Derbyshire district, today in the town of Bakewell where Blair's Aunty Dorothy lives - we have just had morning tea with her and his cousin Sally which was lovely - the weather is great and it is such a beautiful part of the country - we were kindly loaned a car (BMW) from Blairs cousin June so made the journey much easier so all in all feel very blessed

Paris

two days in the same bed - a first for over a month - we have had a good day checking out the sights of paris - the Eiffel tower of course,hop on hop off Bus trip, a boat trip on the River Seine,yummy food but oh so many people - took us a day and a half to get here by train - first all the way across spain - 12 hours which took us 28 days to walk. then a short taxi ride to France to take another train to Paris - it is very cold here and sounds like it is even colder in London where we head tomorrow - maybe we will be at least be able to speak the same language!

Alice in wonderland?

There have been so many surprises and curious events along the way that sometimes I have wondered if I am in some sort of bizarre movie - can´t remember if I have already mentioned it but one day way back now we were about 6km from Astorga - we were climbing a hill in the middle of nowhere and found at the top a large barn and in front of the barn was a large table spread with the most delicious fruit, nuts, dates, fruit juice, herbal teas, biscuits etc then a most beautiful spanish man came out of the barn Hola welcome to my Casa - stay a while and help yourselves to the food - it was so nice - wanting a donation only. On entering Astorga I noticed lots of people in wheelchairs so I'm wondering if there was a hospital or therapy centre or something - saw the most beautiful sight - a man in a wheelchair pushing his friend who was in a bed alongside us as we walked - I would have loved to take a photo but thought it would have been a bit rude. They were heading to the town square to hang out. Astorga was quite a beautiful town and we stayed a few hours in the square watching and waiting for the clock to strike.... two large figures a man and woman dressed in Maragato fashion came out on the hour striking the time out on a bell.