The friendliest people

I had heard that Glasgow is known as the friendly city. I can confirm that, having just spent a really happy weekend there.
Visited the Burrell Collection which has some really exquisite samplers made by children in the 16th and 17th centuries - it made me wonder what our children would create if they were to be deprived of television and computers for a few months!! No apologies for sounding like a grumpy oldie! Also the Mal Maison Hotel bar staff know how to mix a fab Kia Royale - and the breakfast kippers were to die for. But - to go back to the Burrell Collection I found the building just as wonderful as its contents (see pics). Would love to go back as the city has more to offer than can be seen in a weekend.

Round the gasworks to get to the river......

All you millions of people out there who are reading this blog - have you heard of or ever seen altered books. I saw one for the first time last week when I went to an Embroiderers' Guild meeting as the guest of a friend. I think that once you get over the horror of dismembering books it looks like a wonderfully new way to be creative. I am going round the gasworks to get to the river, as my Mother used to say, cos really this blog is about my 'altered mountains' pics which I took from the aeroplane en-route to Italy - hope you like them.

Round and round the garden....

Cupboard Love & Facts In Rows

I do now! Love my cupboards that is - well to be precise - my bookshelves. I have had such a marvelous clear out and have discovered that libraries will take second hand books - how fab is that? I hate the thought of throwing books away although I have managed to justify 'throwing' just as long as the books are recycled so that more books can be printed!! So now I have nearly tidy shelves.....with the stationery stacked neatly together and the books standing side by side like soldiers ready to take on empty minds and fill them with lots of wonderful facts and information. "Now, what I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts'. Well, that's what Mr Gradgrind believed.

Family Outing

Seeing Red

clouds of wonder

Oh dear......

Oh dear - have got the hang of this thing now - must also apologise for typing errors in last posts - too keen to get going that's the prob - will try to do better. Lots of pics I want to share.....how about this for loveliness..... the rain making fairy mirrors in geranium (?) leaves. I'm not very good at the names of flowers but I know what I love to look at.

Worrying ~ Fretting ~ Thinking ~ Wishing

Sometimes the night can be a safe and comforting refuge – sometimes it can be a lonely place to be. This poem reflects the latter but the picture – Florence at night – shows the night as a place of beauty.

It’s a long night when you can’t sleep
The minutes creep by so slowly
There must be other souls out there awake.
Worrying,
Fretting,
Thinking......
Wishing
that sleep would come.
Imagining
the rest of the world deep asleep.

Wondering
how to still the chattering mind.
Hearing
The dry drone of a distant aeroplane
Trying
To make up a story about the people up there seemingly in the stars
Hoping
that it will destract and lead to rest.
Remembering
other nights like this
Knowing
that this night will pass.
Understanding
That this worrying is human nature
Testing
The spirit’s fortitude
Then
Feeling
A sudden calm
Recalling that
‘this too will pass.’

Another View

This is a view of my favourite place in the whole world - the view is from the top of the Duomo - over 400 steps up to the top and - of course - 400 to get back down again...but it's worth it to see this beuatiful city stretching out before you.